Previously, on The Defenders of Remnant...
"So, do we know exactly where we're going?" Jessica asked.
"Mountain Glenn," Ruby answered.
"That's right! It was an expansion of Vale!" Yang added. "But in the end, it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off by the rest of the city…"
I was going to ask if you would assist Roman in loading up the train. From what I understand, company is on the way, and everything must be set to go."
"They're already coming?" Taskmaster asked.
"That's what happens when you take one of their own. Speaking of which, how is our guest?"
"Pretty sure I just washed bits of flesh away with his blood, so I'm definitely happy."
"How kind of you to make him a smaller package for them to carry," Cinder smirked.
"Still don't get why they don't get to carry him back in a body bag," Taskmaster said.
"I know you want him dead, and trust me, he will be. Just not yet."
"Well, she's still just a kid," Weiss said.
"She's only two years younger," Blake said. "Peter told me he was fifteen too when he started being a hero, and he didn't have any training. Face it, we're all kids."
"Well, not anymore. I mean, look where we are!" Yang replied. "In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth?"
"It's the life we chose," Blake agreed.
"It's a job," Weiss corrected. "We all have this romanticized vision of being a huntress in our head, but at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people. And whatever we want will have to come second."
"So you have done as we have."
"That was another life," Marc denied.
"We all have one life, and wasting any part of it fretting about the past is time that could be spent on the future," Raven said.
"Is that why you abandoned your husband and daughter? Why you left your team to fend for themselves? At any point, did it occur to you that had you stayed with your team, regardless of how you felt about Ozpin, that Summer Rose might still be alive?"
"Stay your tongue," Raven snapped. "My tribe, my family needed me here. Without my leadership, this tribe would have fallen long ago."
"Your family is exactly where you don't want to look: behind you. You have a husband and a daughter that you abandoned without a second thought-"
"Of course I gave it thought," Raven snarled. "But I don't need to explain my decisions to you."
Raven stomped out of her tent, following Marc out. "You have run my patience thin. I will no longer tolerate your presence in my camp. So you will leave with your ideas of a false god, or you will die with that belief! Make your choice!"
"W-What is this?!" Raven asked in confusion.
"Raven, what is it?" Vernal asked. "What are you seeing?"
"This… this proves nothing!" Raven exclaimed before she let out a bolt of lighting from her hand, an attack Marc stopped effortlessly by simply putting out his own hand. Raven's eyes widened and she took a step backwards, pure shock and even fear running through her.
"Need I remind you, you carry merely a fraction of a fraction of a god's power. But I am the genuine article," Khonshu said. He then glanced up at the shattered moon. "Allow me to show you." Khonshu and Marc both simultaneously put a hand out towards Remnant's moon. Raven, Vernal and the rest of the present tribe members looked upwards, looking at their broken moon curiously, and nothing happens for a moment.
Then the broken pieces start to move, piecing back together one by one until Remnant's moon had become whole once again.
Raven's eyes widened even further, and her grip on her sword loosened. The weapon slipped from her hand and clanged on the ground, and the tribe leader dropped to her knees, her vision locked on Remnant's now whole orbiting moon.
"So, Raven," Khonshu boomed, his own voice echoing through Marc's mouth as well, so every bandit heard him, "What was that you said about a false god?" Marc and Khonshu then swiped their hands down and the moon blew back apart, shattering once more,
"Now, what is Ozpin hiding?"
The Defenders of Remnant
Chapter 24: No Brakes
Matt slowly led the way into the hideout, with the other seven of them trailing behind. They had slowly descended far below ground into an abandoned cityscape even more barren than the ruins above ground, more forgotten. "Well, it's no wonder we didn't find the base sooner," Danny remarked, "We were looking for them in the old city, not below ground."
"Yeah, what is this place anyway?" Yang asked.
"Well, if Doctor Oobleck's words are anything to go by," Matt said, "after Grimm overran the city above, the survivors blocked themselves in the old subway tunnels down here in hopes of surviving. But once Grimm still got through, that's when the kingdom sealed this extension of the city off for good."
"They turned their hope for growth into the kingdom's largest tomb," Danny added.
"Jesus christ…" Jessica whispered.
"We can't dwell on the kingdom's past right now," Weiss said. "We have to find Peter and stop the White Fang, preferably in that order."
"Weiss is right, we need to focus," Blake agreed.
"We'll waste time trying to do one before the other. We need to split up," Matt said.
"Split up how?" Ruby asked.
"We need to-" Matt suddenly stopped speaking tilted his head.
"What is it?" Jessica asked.
"Three heartbeats are coming this way. Hide. We can't be discovered too soon," Matt said. The eight of them then pressed themselves against both sides of the alley as three voices started to approach.
"How soon will the train be ready?" A voice, Prowler, asked. He came into view with two White Fang members behind him.
"Within the hour," One of the White Fang answered. "Torchwick has the charges set and ready to go."
As they walked by, Prowler glanced down the alley the eight heroes were in and stopped. They all tensed up, ready to move the instant they were made. Prowler's eyes narrowed. "Have you called in the status of our patrol yet?"
"No, sir. I was about to on our way back," The second White Fang member answered.
"Good," Prowler simply replied. He then backhanded the closest of the two with his metal gauntlets, quickly sending him to the ground. The second immediately raised his gun, but Prowler twirled around and kicked it out of his hands before dropping to one knee and punching the side of the terrorist's knee, creating a resounding crack as the lower half of his leg bent the other way. The faunus's cry of pain was short-lived as Prowler flipped and brought his foot down on his neck, smashing his face into the pavement. As the first faunus was recovering, Prowler spun back and punched his skull back to the ground, knocking him out cold. The criminal then returned to his feet and glanced back down the alley. "You can come out now. We were the only ones this far out." At first there was nothing, then Matt was the first one to step out of the shadows.
"What are you doing?" Matt asked.
"I never signed up for any of this," Prowler replied. "I was with Fisk just as security. But ever since he died, I've had a gun pointed at my head to stay here. And now everyone else has gone fuckin' crazy."
"What are you talking about?" Yang questioned.
"Torchwick has set bombs on railcars they're sending straight for the city," Prowler answered, pointing back the way he came. "They never told me the whole plan, but from the looks of it, they have enough explosives to send the entire city to kingdom come."
"And you're telling us this, why?" Weiss asked.
Prowler pulled off his mask, revealing he was a dark-skinned man with a bald head and goatee. "I didn't want this. I'm not up for killing innocent people. I see kids like them, like Spider-Man, and think of how many like them will die if they get away with this."
"Is he telling the truth?" Luke asked Matt. Matt listened, homing in on prowler's heartbeat. It was steady, consistent.
"Yeah, he is," He answered.
"If you're worried about all this, then why not help us stop them?" Ruby asked Prowler.
"Because I'm not looking for a deathwish, kid," He answered. "If I do that now, they'll kill me, and I got a nephew back home I intend to see again. I'm getting as far away from here as possible."
"Can you at least tell us where they're keeping him?" Blake asked quickly. "Can you tell us where… where Spider-Man is?"
Prowler nods and puts his mask back on. "They're keeping him East of the junction, in a secure room. Two guards inside, two out."
"They won't be a problem," Matt assured him. He then turned around and started leading the others towards the junction.
"Oh, and Daredevil?" Prowler said. Matt glanced over his shoulder in Prowler's direction. "Stop these assholes, and find us a way home, alright?" Matt smirked a bit, then faced back the other way and continued. They all followed, but Ruby looked back as Prowler went the opposite direction, quickly leaving Taskmaster, Torchwick, and the White Fang behind.
"We'll divide and conquer. I'll take Blake and Weiss to go get Peter. Ruby and Yang, you go with the others to the junction," Matt ordered.
"What?" Ruby cried.
"I know you want to see him as soon as possible, and you will, but we have two missions to accomplish here. Please, Ruby…"
Ruby sighed. "O-Okay…"
Matt nodded. "Go to the junction and wait. Once we have Peter, we'll call, and that's when you'll hit them. It'll stop them from moving, and give us time to catch up. Alright, let's move." Matt then took Blake and Weiss and split off from the rest of the group, taking the route around the junction.
"That's not why you had Ruby stay behind, is it?" Blake asked.
"No, it's not. But if we find Peter in a bad state, or we're too late, I don't want her seeing any of it."
"And you think we do?" Weiss questioned.
"I can count on you two to keep your composure. Yang is volatile, and Ruby could break down in the middle of the battle. They would jeopardize Peter, us and the mission with an emotional outbreak."
"You're unbelievable," Weiss scowled.
"He's right…" Blake said.
"What?! Blake, you can't be serious!"
"If something happens, we can still focus on the mission. But Ruby and Yang care about him too much. They'd go off the rails," Blake looked away.
"We care about him too!" Weiss replied. "That's not an excuse!"
"You forget, he's my friend too. But if the worst has happened, we still have a city to save. As I recall, Weiss, you preached about your duty as a Huntress. Prove it," Matt said. Weiss's scowl only got worse, and even Blake furrowed her brow. But they didn't have time to keep arguing. They had to save Peter, they knew he was alive. He had to be.
When they reached what had to be the room, Matt quickly dealt with the guards outside. There were two, just as Prowler had said. Matt listened into the interior of the room. "There are three heartbeats. Which means Prowler was telling the truth about two guards."
"Which means Peter's alive," Weiss sighed in relief, holding a hand against her chest, a weight lifted off her shoulders. Blake also felt relief flow through her body.
"Weiss, put glyphs here," Matt pats a spot on the wall on one side of the doorway, then does the same on a different spot on the opposite side of the doorway, "... and here." The heiress nods and points Myrtenaster at both sections of the wall. Two of her signature glyphs appear, and a rumbling is heard inside. Matt quickly kicks the door down, only to see Taskmaster standing behind Peter, who was tied up and beaten bloody in a chair. He looked left to only see one White Fang goon unconscious.
"Good plan. Except the third heartbeat you heard was mine," Taskmaster said. Blake and Weiss entered behind Matt and quickly aimed their weapons at Taskmaster. The villain extended metal claws from his fingertips and brought them to the unconscious Peter's throat. "Which is faster: your Dust or my fingertips? And is that a bet you wanna make?"
"Let him go!" Blake exclaimed.
"Blake Belladonna. Good to see you yet again. This is, what, the third time now?"
"I said," Blake changed Gambol Shroud to its gun form, aiming right at Taskmaster's head, "Let. Him. Go."
"Seems like kitty's got her claws. Unfortunately," Taskmaster pressed his fingertips more on Peter's throat, "So do I." Blake was furious, yet afraid. Her hand slightly shook, though out of anger or hesitation, she couldn't tell.
"B-Blake…?" Peter quietly rasped, his voice hoarse and tired.
"Peter!" Blake replied in a worried tone.
Taskmaster just chuckled. "You really do care about him, don't you?"
"I'd shut your mouth if I were you, scoundrel," Weiss threatened.
"Or what, princess? You'll cry to dear old Dad?" Taskmaster replied.
"I can handle myself just fine," Weiss sneered.
"Is that why Jacque Schnee was able to abuse you and your mother your entire life? Because you can 'handle yourself'?" Taskmaster replied. This caught Weiss off guard.
"W-What?" She stammered. Taskmaster didn't elaborate further and faced Blake.
"And you. You want to take me on to free the boy. But you're too afraid. You always are."
"You don't know me!" Blake snapped.
"Blake Belladonna, age eighteen, born as a faunus in Menagerie as the daughter of Ghira and Kali, the very founders of the White Fang. When your father stepped down as leader, you stayed with the Fang against his wishes and left Menagerie, abandoning your family and your home to further the agenda of those who would soon become terrorists, including one Adam Taurus."
Blake's eyes widened and she instantly fired her weapon. Taskmaster quickly dodged the shot and held Peter's throat even tighter. "Shut up!"
"I understand you more than you understand yourselves. And I know what you're fighting. In the end, you're nothing but toddlers with nerf guns. You won't win, and you'll die alongside all the rest," Taskmaster said. Matt quickly threw one of his billy clubs into the wall and ricocheted it at Taskmaster, but the villain simply caught the weapon in his hand, seemingly without effort. "No matter how many people you save, no matter how hard you fight, your world will burn. And I'll be on the side that watches it happen." Taskmaster then tossed the club back and pulled his hand away from Peter's neck. "Take him. In the end, nothing will matter." He then turned around and headed for a door at the back of the room.
"Where are you going?!" Blake exclaimed.
"You can stop me, or you can stop the train from setting the kingdom ablaze. Either way, you lose." Taskmaster then left the room, slamming the door behind him. The three stared after him for a moment, then Blake dropped her weapon and quickly rushed to Peter.
"Peter! Peter, look at me!" She panicked. Peter's wounds were more severe up close. His Advanced Suit was torn to shreds, and his body was covered in bloody bruises and deep cuts. She started shaking him by his shoulders. "Peter, wake up!"
"B-Blake…?" Peter said again. He looked around in a daze, his vision blurred, unfocused.
"C'mon, Pete, focus on me! Focus on me…" Blake said to him. Weiss quickly took up his side and started undoing his restraints. Peter's attention shifted from one side of the room to the other, back and forth. Blake hesitantly brought a hand up to the side of his face and forced his head to face forward. "Peter… just look at me… I'm right here in front of you…" Peter's vision very slowly cleared, and his senses started coming back to him. He saw Blake's face barely a foot from his, and felt her palm on his cheek. Quickly, all of the pain caught up to him as well.
"B-Blake..? I-I think I'm cramping a little from sitting in this ch-chair too long…" He joked. Blake let out a happy sigh of relief, as did Weiss.
"Glad to see your running mouth wasn't hurt," Weiss remarked.
"Seriously, though, everything's on fire," Peter groaned in pain.
"Well, it's about to get worse," Matt said. "We're going for a train ride."
"I-I don't have my mask…" Peter rasped.
"Here…" Blake took her scarf from around her neck and tied it over the lower part of his face. "It's no mask, but it'll hide your identity until we get home."
"Th-Thanks, Blake…" Peter weakly replied. Blake gave a small smile and slowly helped Peter to his feet, with Weiss quickly taking up his other side. Both Huntresses slung one of his arms over their shoulders to prop him up. Matt took out his scroll and called Danny.
"We have him, and we're on our way. Light it up."
Torchwick finished loading up a crate onto the train and dusted himself off before grabbing his cane. That'll be all of this car packed to the brim, he thought to himself. "Hey, has anyone seen Prowler? He should have been back by now, and I hate lifting this stuff! Perry, you see Prowler?" Torchwick gestured to a nearby faunus with tanned skin, and who wore glasses over his Grimm mask. Perry shook his head, and Torchwick sighed. "Doesn't that idiot know we're heading off soon…?" The entire area then shook, breaking dirt and dust free from the walls and ceilings of the nearby buildings.
At first, Torchwick thought it was just a simple tremor, until it came again, then again a few moments later. "What is going on here?!" He exclaimed. He then saw further down the path, at the turn of an old street corner, a group of White Fang were fleeing back towards the junction, firing their weapons from the direction they came. Torchwick narrowed his eyes and watched as he could make out the figures of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, a woman he didn't recognize, and Ruby Rose. Little Red, of course! "Somebody kill them!" He ordered. He then pointed the barrel of his cane forward and the crosshair popped up, allowing him and the other White Fang to fire on the approaching heroes.
Unfortunately, the entire group either avoided, or in Luke's case straight-up took, the gunfire. While the others continued to shoot, Torchwick started to bend his cane in frustration, then wheeled onto the closest of the White Fang. "Attach this car and spread the word! We're starting the train!"
"But we're not finished!" The faunus replied. Torchwick pinned the Faunus and lifted him up against the side of the train car with his cane, applying pressure at the base of his neck, choking him.
"Do it, or you're finished," Torchwick threatened before dropping the Faunus and heading for a further part of the train, leaving him to hack and cough to get air back into his lungs.
As the first four made progress towards the train, Matt, Blake, Weiss and Peter approached behind them. Yang turned back to see them coming, and her eyes widened. "Peter!" She exclaimed. She rushed over and took Peter from Blake and Weiss, pulling him into a warm, but careful, embrace. Peter weakly tried to hug back.
"H-Hey, Yang…" He groaned in response. Ruby quickly went to Peter as well.
"Peter, are you okay?!" She asked.
"Just peachy…" Peter let his body relax against Yang, his muscles feeling too heavy to keep himself up. Yang more than obliged to hold him up and pull him into cover with her out fo harms way.
"He'll need medical attention once we get back to the kingdom," Matt said.
"I can tend to him once we're on the train," Danny added. The screech of a PA system filled all their ears, followed by the even less-pleasant voice of Roman Torchwick.
"Get to your places, we are leaving now!" He said. The train blew out steam and started to move.
"Which we should be getting to about now!" Weiss said. Yang picked up Peter and slung him over her shoulder, and the group of them all sprinted for the moving locomotive as its cars started to pass by.
Torchwick was in the front most car with one other of the White Fang, conducting the train forward, as another one of the White Fang opened the door. "Sir! They made it on the train!"
Torchwick groaned. "Then grab some cargo, and get them off the train!" The faunus nodded and rushed back into the further cars, and the door closed behind them. Man, animals, every one of 'em." He then saw the conductor next to him stare. "Oh, uh, not you though, you're great."
The nine of them were atop one of the train cars furthest to the back, with Peter only hanging on by sticking himself to the hull. "We need to get to the front car and stop the train," Matt said. He then sniffed the air. "Prowler wasn't lying, there are a lot of explosives. Each car has enough to level an entire district."
"We need to get inside! Peter can't hold on much longer!" Danny warned. "Once we're inside, I can take the time to start healing him!"
"We've got baddies!" Ruby warned. They all looked down the train, and all the way towards the front of the locomotive, coming out of one of the last cars, were White Fang.
Matt tilted his head, beginning to hear beeping. "And the bombs below us just armed. Everyone, move! Blake, cut the caboose!"
"On it!" Blake replied before slipping down in between cars. Everyone else leapt over to the next car, but before she cut it loose, it detached itself and was quickly left behind. "Huh?! It decoupled itself!"
"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train," Yang remarked as the far along caboose exploded.
"Problem. The one below us just armed too," Matt said. "Keep moving!" The group jumped two more cars forward before realizing the number of White Fang atop the train was growing, and the distance between them was shortening.
"Get the humans!" One of them cried.
"We really need a plan here," Jessica said.
"Just keep them off us for a sec. Iron Fist, start healing Peter." Matt ordered. Danny nodded and propped Peter up before placing his hand on the young man's chest. A greenish-yellow glow emanated from his palms. Luke, Jessica and the Huntresses stepped forward to fight the White Fang. One went high and kicked Luke in the head, only for his foot to make a cracking sound. He let out a cry of pain before Luke smirked and sent him through the top of the train with a single punch. Weiss pulled Myrtenaster up to her opposite shoulder, then thrusted forward and sped through the crowd, trapping a dozen White Fang in ice through the burst. Matt heard another car decouple and, without turning around, listened as that car also exploded and broke an opening in the top of the tunnel, but that wasn't all. Soon, Grimm began crawling through the opening. "Oh no…"
"What is it?" Ruby asked.
"Grimm just entered the tunnel. They're not trying to level the city, they're trying to lure hordes of Grimm right under it."
"And blow a hole open for them to walk right into the kingdom," Blake finished.
"What do we do?" Ruby asked.
"Peter and Iron Fist need to stay topside, where jumping the cars as they detach will be easier, and he can heal Peter up to at least something close to full strength. Ruby; you, Luke and Jessica need to cover them and deal with the White Fang up here. You three," He gestures to the remaining members of team RWBY, "You and I will go inside, push our way to the engine, and stop this train."
"Yes, profess- Oh! Um… Daredevil!" Ruby replied. Matt leapt through the opening Luke had created, and soon the other three young huntresses joined him.
"I guess this is what we trained for," Yang said.
"Yes it is," Matt agreed. "And now your kingdom is counting on you. So, y'know… no pressure."
As they started to progress, Weiss gave Blake a Dust magazine. "Here, this should help you," The heiress said. Blake gladly took the magazine and loaded it into Gambol Shroud. The four then started to sprint until Neo dropped down between them and the door to the next car with a smile, parasol in hand.
Yang scowled. "You three go on ahead. This one's mine." The other three all nodded and started sprinting for the exit. Neo smirked and moved to stop them before Yang fired an explosive Dust round that caught the mute off guard. She backflipped away from the blast, but the others sprinted by her and left the car. She didn't bother chasing them, and instead kept a smirk as Yang stomped over to her and stopped just in front of her. Yang had a solid foot on the shorter criminal, but Yang knew that didn't mean anything, especially if this was Torchwick's right-hand woman. So Yang furrowed her brow, tightened her fist, then threw a hard right hand hook. Neo, however, pushed Yang back with one thrust of her parasol. She smirked and opened it, holding it at an angle over her shoulders.
Yang growled and rushed forward again, throwing a rapid series of straight punches with a few kicks sprinkled in between, none of which connected. Yang dropped low to try and do the same, to no avail, and when an opening was found, Neo flattened Yang to the floor with a single downward kick to the blonde's neck. Yang looked up, meeting Neo's unmatching eyes before she flipped and tried to stomp Yang to the ground. Yang quickly rolled out of the way and regained her stance. She sent a strong right hook that Neo sidestepped and caught before twisting Yang's arm, high-kicking her in the face, then spin-kicked the huntress back to the ground.
Neo launched herself behind Yang as she got back to her feet, and Yang tightened her fists in anger. She started firing Dust rounds with her punches, but the flame from her Dust was blocked by Neo's parasol. Regardless, Yang persisted, and between the series of blasts, Neo jabbed Yang with the parasol, pushing the huntress over to the opposite side of the car. Yang screamed and blasted the floor at Neo's feet, but Neo flipped out of the attack, back across the car, and landed perfectly in a sitting position on one of the storage crates, left leg over her right, her smile as intact as the rest of her.
Matt, Weiss and Blake were sprinting forward for the further cars when the Lizard blocked their way, snarling. "You two go on ahead!" Weiss called.
"Got it," Blake and Matt replied simultaneously. Lizard took a wide swipe with his claws, one Blake countered with Gambol Shroud's sheath, putting the transformed faunus off-balance and allowing Blake and Matt to slip by. Weiss slowed herself before taking swipes at Lizard with Myrtenaster. Lizard countered with his claws for a few strikes before Weiss gave one powerful slash that sent him onto his back. Blake took one glance back before her and Matt moved onto the next car. The Lizard got back to his feet and snarled again, but then chuckled.
"Finally, I get to kill a Schnee," He cackled. Weiss narrowed her eyes and pointed her weapon to the mutated faunus, the revolver in the barrel spinning to load her next Dust shots.
Blake and Matt stopped when they were just one car away from the engine, and blocking their path now was none other than Roman Torchwick himself. Blake scowled at the criminal. "Hello, kitty cat! You miss me?" He smirked, spinning his cane by the hook of the handle. "Y'know, we really oughta stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk. And you…" Torchwick looked at Matt. "I remember you, hornhead. You were there the night of the Dust robbery. It has been so long! Nearly four months! Oh, how time flies…"
"Roman Torchwick, you'll be coming with us for several charges, including armed robbery, attempted murder, and on account of aiding the White Fang, treason," Matt said.
"Oh, spare me the lawbook, your honor. Chances are I've broken a lot more than that. Now, if we're going to dance, I think I'd like a partner of my own." As if on cue, dropping into the car from a hatch in the ceiling was Tuksen, or as he was now called, Sabretooth. Matt turned to face the enhanced faunus, gripping his weapons tightly.
"Get Torchwick. I have your back," Matt said. Blake nodded, then glared at Torchwick before sprinting forward. Torchwick ground and also launched himself towards his opponent. Blake gripped the hilt of Gambol Shroud, and just before Torchwick took a swing with his cane, she shot fire Dust and activated her semblance before sidestepping out of the way, leaving behind a shadow clone made entirely of flame that exploded as soon as Torchwick made contact, sending him flying upwards. Blake leapt up to meet and hit him with a still-sheathed Gambol Shroud, forcing him flat back onto the floor of the train car.
Torchwick quickly recovered and fired his weapon just as Blake landed, but she faked him out with another stone shadow clone that took the hit. She drew Gambol Shroud from its sheath, holding both pieces as weapons, and leapt forward. Torchwick tried to strike her in the air, but merely hit another shadow clone before Blake sent out a series of quick strikes that Torchwick barely kept up with. When he found an opening, he tried to strike her left side, only to then be stuck in an ice shadow clone, with the real Blake backflipping away and landing safely at a distance. She transformed her weapon into its firearm form and aimed, and only then did Torchwick see the single crystal of fire Dust poking out of the ice clone's right shoulder.
"Well this is karma…" He groaned. Blake hit the Dust with a single shot and it exploded, destroying the clone and sending Torchwick flying backwards and smacking into the car door front-first. His cane went flying out of his grip and rolled down back onto the floor, his entire body gasping for air. When he tried to sit up, Blake stomped her foot onto his chest and pinned him there, holding her blade up to his face threateningly.
Torchwick coughed hoarsely. "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally. We're on the same side and you know it." Blake scowled at him, then they both heard the continued fight between Matt and Sabretooth. They both looked over to see how the battle was going.
Sabretooth lunged forward to grab Matt, but the hero flipped over the faunus and immediately dropped low and swiped his legs under both of Sabretooth's, putting the faunus to the floor. As soon as Sabretooth landed, he clawed at Matt, actually managing to tear through his uniform and scratch his leg. "Agh!" Matt yelled out in pain before flipping over and kicking Sabretooth in the head again, both of them still on the floor. Sabretooth snarled and rolled over onto his feet, and saw Matt already back up and crouched atop one of the storage crates. He lunged for the hero only for Matt to move out of the way, letting Sabretooth smash his skull into the metal wall. Matt backed away from the faunus, who was momentarily stunned, then turned back and growled at Matt with blood dripping from his nose. "Looks like you're not going down easily…" Matt remarked, bringing his guard back up.
"Looks like your friend is having a tough time," Torchwick remarked with a smirk. Blake growled and kicked Torchwick in the face, knocking him out cold with a single hit. She then changed Gambol Shroud to its gun form and fired three ice Dust rounds at Sabretooth. All three connected and quickly formed chunks of ice that inhibited his movement, eventually stopping him dead. Matt glanced towards Blake and put his hands out to his sides, as if asking What?
"We're on a time limit," Blake sighed. "What, you expected me to stand there and watch?"
"Fair enough," Matt replied, starting to follow Blake to the front car. Blake tossed him a crystal of fire Dust, which he caught quickly.
"You might wanna actually knock him out," She said.
"Hey, let me out of this!" Sabretooth snarled.
"Fair enough," Matt replied before precisely throwing the crystal. It ricocheted off the walls twice before hitting Sabretooth dead-on and exploding, breaking the ice and blasting the faunus into the wall of the train car, knocking him out this time. Matt and Blake then continued to the front car.
The Lizard lunged at Weiss, claws outstretched. Weiss stepped to the side and curved her to bring her blade against the side of her body, protecting herself as Lizard's claws scratched the surface of Myrtenaster's blade. Weiss thrust her weapon forward, pushing the faunus back a little before flipping over him, landing a strike on his head and landing behind him. What Weiss didn't expect afterwards was for the humanoid reptile's tail to swing and hit her, blowing the air from her lungs and sending her crashing into one of the storage crates.
As she tried to recover, Lizard's large, scaly fingers wrapped around her skull. "C'mere, princess!" She was then hauled up briefly, then smashed face-first into the floor, breaking through the top layer of flooring beneath them. Lizard then tossed her up before spinning and hitting her hard with his reptilian tail, sending her rolling across the car to a stop back on the opposite side. Her aura wasn't broken, but she groaned in pain as she still felt the impact in her stomach.
Yang approached the completely calm and smug Neo and threw another punch, which Neo twirled out of and kicked Yang backwards before returning to her feet, only to flip towards her twice, double kicking her in the movement and sending the huntress even further back. Yang growled out of frustration and fired two more blasts of Dust, which Neo blocked with her open parasol, just as before. She then quickly closed it and used it to block, redirect, or counter all of Yang's subsequent attacks, including moving Yang's arm just enough so another shot of Dust flew right by her. Neo kicked high, but Yang caught the attack and threw the criminal backwards, only for Neo to gracefully flip and get back to her feet without any trouble.
Neo leapt up onto Yang's shoulders and twirled around gracefully, moving her body around Yang's own, just avoiding the blonde's reach. Once Neo had built up enough momentum, she forced herself back to the ground and launched Yang upwards. The huntress slammed into the ceiling, then dropped like a brick back down to the floor out cold, with both impacts creating a loud, echoing sound. Neo's smirk remained as she pulled on the handle of her parasol, revealing a hidden blade attached to the curved handle piece.
She strided over to Yang with a strut in her step, and readied to to stab Yang with it when another figure appeared out of the corner of her eye, and she leapt away just in the nick of time as Raven, in her white and red mask, slashed her blade twice, just narrowly missing. Before Neo had a chance to compose herself, she felt the impact of a fist against her spine and fell to the ground. She quickly turned around to see Moon Knight towering over her.
"So, Mary Poppins, what's it gonna be?" Marc both quipped and threatened. Neo panicked and in an instant, she blinked away. "Good move." Marc then looked back up to see Raven looking over at him.
"You should've just killed her," Raven said.
"I could've killed you. But you had a daughter to save," Marc replied. "The resemblance is uncanny."
"My business is done here. If you wish to aid in this mission, so be it," Raven said before swiping her sword in front of her, summoning a red portal from thin air.
"So that's it? You save her from being stabbed, and then go on your merry way without a word?" Marc questioned.
"Do me a favor, Marc; stop them, then take your god, and leave this world and never return."
"Don't think yourself so lucky, Raven. We just might see each other again."
"Perhaps. In Hell," Raven replied before stepping through the portal. It closed behind her just before Yang started to come to. Marc went over and put his hand out to the young huntress.
"H-Huh?" Yang stammered. "How did you get here?"
"Long story," Marc answered as Yang took his hand. He pulled her back up to her feet. "We need to stop this train."
"It's being worked on," Yang replied.
"Clearly not fast enough. Let's go." Marc and Yang then both entered the next car, where the Lizard was holding an unconscious Weiss by her neck, with its gaping maw widening to take in her skull. "Hey, creature!" The Lizard stopped and looked at the two before snarling. "Leave that kid alone!" The Lizard hissed and tossed the heiress aside before lunging towards the other two.
Luke shoved off another Atlesian Paladin and watched it tear apart at the speed it was falling and bouncing along the tracks. "Please tell me we don't have more of those to deal with," Luke panted.
"I think that's all of them," Ruby said. A blast then came out from one of the cars further back, tearing a whole in the side of the train, and shooting out of it was none other than the Lizard, who hit the tunnel wall and was left behind by the train, eventually fading away into the darkness that was the ever growing Grimm horde.
"I almost feel bad for that guy," Jessica remarked.
"Nothing we can do for him past a solid wall of Grimm," Peter groaned. After a few moments, everyone else came atop the cars, climbing up from inside.
"Spector? How'd you get here?" Danny asked.
"Long story. How much farther until we're to the city?" Marc responded.
"Not far enough," Matt answered.
Blake added, "The controls were rigged, we can't stop it from the engine."
"So what do we do?" Ruby asked.
"Danny," Peter said, "How far along's the healing?"
"Not far enough," Danny answered.
"It'll have to do," Peter said as he forced himself up.
"Peter, what are you doing?" Blake questioned. "You need to let Danny heal you and-"
"No time!" Peter said before sprinting to the front of the train.
"Peter!" Ruby called after him, but he didn't listen. He ran up to the front of the train and leapt onto the guardrail in front of the grill. He then quickly started shooting countless strands of webbing onto the walls of the tunnel, gripping every strand as tightly as he could until his hands were packed full. His arms were quickly yanked against the front of the train, but Peter didn't let go, holding on with all his strength to try and use himself and his webbing as restraints to slow the train. His arms shook violently, but still he tried to hold on.
Until one of his wounds ripped back open. He screamed in pain and let go of one handful of webs, and the other set quickly snapped. He held his reopened wound and started to stumble, but before he fell off, Yang quickly reached down and grabbed him. She hauled him up back onto the top of the train. "Please don't do that again. Look what happened last time you ran off," Yang joked.
"As I recall, you told me to go," Peter replied.
"Remember when I said not far enough?" Matt said. "Well, now we're really not far enough." The entire group looked forward and saw the tunnel was barricaded ahead by a metal door.
"Everyone, get close!" Weiss exclaimed. Everybody quickly grouped themselves together. Weiss twirled around, pointed Myrtenaster down, and stabbed it downwards, creating a glyph that formed a thick barrier of ice around all of them, protecting them as the train collided with the barrier and burst through up to the surface.
