"Wait, Cardin?"
I narrowed my gaze towards the voice, and sure enough it was the leader of CRDL. He sat at the top of the stairs, slumped against the statue of my great-grandfather with his mace thrown on the ground next to him. He was in rough shape; the skewed bridge of his nose provided a reason for the crusted blood trails that ran down from his nostrils, and his left arm was bent awkwardly against the joint. Despite the pain I'm sure he was in, I only noticed a gobsmacked expression on his face as he looked at me.
"Wha- how the fu-"
"What are you doing here?" I asked, cutting him off as he stumbled over his words. He snapped back to the conversation, shaking his head.
"Just doing my duty as a premier Huntsman, Jauney-boy! After we lost the tournament, we've been staying on campus. I didn't expect it to turn to shit, but I like to think I'm good enough to defend my academy." He explained, smug despite his condition with his chest puffing with pride.
"Premier Huntsmen have broken arms, do they?" He scowled at my jab, which I laughed at. "If you've been fighting, where's the rest of your team?"
His scowl had some heat behind it now.
"Those losers split the second the anima- er, White Fang showed up. If I see them again, I swear I'll beat their wuss asses to the hospital and back!" He growled out the answer, and I just hissed sympathetically at the explanation.
"Bummer. For them, I mean." He snorted. I took the time to clear the stairs while he was amused, careful of stepping on the defeated Fang members. "Also, when did you start censoring yourself?"
"I'd rather you not crash a Nevermore into me if I get on your bad side. Seriously, what's up with that? That's some Bruce Willis shit!" He almost sounded awed, but I didn't think too much about it. I just shrugged at him.
"Need to get to the tower. Not really that big a deal."
He chuckled at me, resting his good arm on a hiked-up knee, and laying his head back against the stone of the statue.
"Looks like you're not the only one, Jauney-boy."
"What do you mean?" I asked, eyeing him curiously.
"I beat a group of these Fang a couple blocks from here, crushed them pretty good. From what they said, they were told to gather at the main tower." He shook his head, looking pensive. "They wanna blow a hole in the supports and send the whole thing crashing."
My blood ran cold.
'Pyrrha's there! If they topple it while she's in there…' Even in thought, I didn't want to finish the sentence.
"You still going?" He asked simply, shaking me out of my worry. Even with my mouth dry, I gulped before answering.
"Pyrrha's there… so yeah."
"HA! Nothing else to say then, lovebird!" He laughed heartily, to which I groaned. He gained his composure quickly though, and reached for something. From behind his slumped back he pulled out a white stained burlap sack, which he then held out to me. "Here, take this."
I grabbed the bag, noticing a collection of wires tied to multiple mismatched rings that hung out of the drawstring mouth.
"Why, what is it?" I loosened the drawstring, eased it open and peered inside. Immediately, my face lost all color and I held the bag at arms-length.
"WHY IS IT FULL OF GRENADES?!"
"DON'T BE A BITCH!" He shouted back, laughing at the panic on my face. "Found those little guys on the Fang I mentioned, decided to take them and rig it up a bit. Good stuff. High-yield Dust mix; those things can send shrapnel through brick walls."
"What do you mean by that? What did you rig?" I asked cautiously, tightening the drawstring just the way it was before.
"Those wires connect each ring to five different release pins. Pull them all, and the whole thing goes live." He smirked, no doubt proud of his ticking time bomb. I ran the rings across my palm.
"So this is literally a burlap sack filled with like 25 grenades?"
"… something like that." He muttered. I looked closely at the rings and wires, sliding my gaze to Cardin.
"… are these wedding bands?"
"No comment."
I looked at him narrowly as a smug smile slowly moved across his face. Finally, I rolled my eyes. No use worrying about the matrimony of terrorists.
"Thanks. They'll probably come in handy." He nodded as I threaded the sack through my belts, carful to not tug on the wires or rings. Once finished, I paused to look to the Winchester. "Can you make it to the evac area like that?"
He just waved me off, gesturing towards the rapidly dissolving Nevermore behind me.
"If you can take out over thirty Fang in a second, me and Executioner can handle twice as many on the way out!" He boasted, grabbing the mace and steadying it forward. I scoffed, turning away and walking towards the clearest path to the tower.
"Of course. Good luck, Winchester." I said, waving behind me as I marched on.
"Same to you, Jauney-boy."
I'd walked around a block from the courtyard by now, strafing around the occasional fire and avoiding the smoke, careful to keep myself aware. Coming to the end of the building, I swung around the corner.
Immediately I froze and reversed, slamming my back against the wall I passed with a pale face.
"… shit." I muttered under my breath. I took a second to gather myself, then peeked around the corner. Two White Fang were swaggering down the walkway, sticking close to the wall. Luckily for me, they were going the same way I was, which means I'm still incognito.
'How am I gonna get around them?! I should've thought about this more!' My thoughts ran rampant as I watched one of the Fang shoulder-bump the other, and I could make out the butt of a rifle as he did. A crumbling sound ripped me from my thoughts, and my eyes snapped upwards. I felt shock as I looked at the remains of a bullhead, one that had obviously gotten hit and lost control as it was currently resting in a hole in the side of the building I was hiding behind. Smoke and flames poured off the machine from a couple stories up, and I watched captivated as it shifted in the wall, sending a brick portion of it and a window falling.
I trailed the wall as it came down silently, only to flinch as it landed directly on top of the two Fang. I narrowed my eyes and looked around. Seeing no more danger, I jogged to the crashed wall and peered over it onto the terrorists.
"Out cold." I said to myself, nudging an arm with my shoe and getting no response. "So they don't have aura, I guess."
Shrugging at the new information, I simply turned away from the wreckage and continued on towards the tower, though this time it was with Crocea Mors drawn. I paused though, as I kicked something. Looking down I saw my shoe resting on the barrel of the Fang's assault rifle and flinched, quickly stepping off it. My eyes stared at it for a second, shifting my gaze around me before snatching it off the ground. I examined it, and satisfied that it wasn't bent or damaged, slung the strap over my shoulders. My feet marched onwards, but as I went to pass an intersection, I was bumped by something.
"Wha- huh?"
I heard their confused sounds, but when I saw white and black I didn't waste any time. I dropped my blade and grabbed my shield with both hands, reeled back and clobbered them in the head with no hesitation, growling with exertion.
They fell to the floor like a sack of rocks, and didn't get back up.
I looked at the White Fang I'd just assaulted, then to my shield. After looking between the two for a second, a wide grin crawled across my face. I grabbed my sword and tucked it into my belts, but kept my defense out in front of me and continued on. I didn't take time to step around the outfitted fighter either, instead walking on them.
"I can definitely abuse this." I told no one, humming a tune as I cleared the segue between buildings.
Suddenly, footsteps caught my attention. Quickly I ducked behind a nearby bench, squeezing between it and the wall and waited. A second passed, and I saw the booted feet of Fang operatives rushing back where I came from.
"Quit draggin' ass, Percy!" A scratchy feminine voice groused.
"Shut up Quill. You think you're the Commander or something? Talking to me like that…"
I listened to them jab at each other, all the while leaving my shelter and trailing behind them. I followed in their footsteps, more thankful with each footfall that they hadn't noticed me. Eventually they stopped at the scene I left behind, the White Fang on the ground now with blood slowly trailing from his nose. The girl Fang kicked the one on the ground, and I had to fight a sigh watching it.
"You thinkin' Grimm?" Quill asked. Her partner shook his head.
"If he's still breathing, no." He said flatly.
I looked between the two, measuring my odds between them.
"What, is Percy scawed of some wittle wogue student?" She teased, squatting down to pick at the Fang's pockets.
"Do I sound like I'm-"
THUNK
'You should be, buddy.' I quipped silently, watching his body flop on top of the girl he came with. She jolted up as soon as he fell on her.
"PERCY?!"
We locked eyes for all of a second. It was all I needed to lunge at her with a grin across my face.
"Lights out!" I shouted, smashing the shield into the width of her forehead with a harsh thunk. I wiped off the feathers she left stuck to the surface before backtracking towards the tower.
[AN- Thanks for all the buzz & comments. I appreciate them! Enjoy]