Well, I finally watched the Patriot and it was awesome. I've always wanted to watch it since my high-school history teacher showed us a few clips from the movie. We even almost watched all of Saving Private Ryan or was it Windtalkers?
Anyway, before I begin, I'm going to give you all a little clarity on something for my story. Since we've only seen the Atlas military in the show, the uniforms and weapons of the Mobile Infantry from Starship Troopers. Their air force is basically the f-series of fighter planes with the exception of the F-8 Crusader, F-16 Falcon and F-18 Hornet. The armed forces of Anima will be explained at a later date.
Now, for those who have watched the Bad Batch, I got to give props to the Howzer for what he did. I hope this means that there will be other clones who do what that trooper did. Plus, we got to see Omega fly a ship for the first time, another awesome moment. Now all they need to do is bring in a Starfighter based on the F-20, F-14 or F-15.
Now, before I get to the reviews, I'm going to point out one thing. Whitley is going to be a better younger brother than he was before volume seven and eight. Also, for any of those who have a younger brother like me, ignore them if they call you mentally challenged.
Alright, onto the reviews.
Monster King: Thanks.
Spartan-626: Yes, Serra does have something to do with Whitley's change, but its much more than that. You'll have to wait and see for what that change is.
Darth Cody: As an older sibling, I care a lot for my own siblings, especially considering that to me, family is more important to me than anything in the entire world. As for March, Alice and Rose, please be patient.
Luffy L Deathwalker: I've got something else in mind for Whitley.
42: First off, good to hear from you again. In regards to Omega, she's not going to appear in this story, but my Bad Batch story I plan to do, you never know. As for Boba, if you've read my Lone Wolf series, you'll know that Boba turns out a much better person before the Empire.
Jack Smith 1: Amen to that, The Bad Batch rules and kicks ass. I heard they were based on the Dirty Dozen. Speaking of which, Crosshair somehow looks a lot like Golgo 13 with that face of his. Now in regards to your story, I get what you're saying and I'll say this: write the way you want.
Alright, reviews done, disclaimers are the same as always. ITS TIME TO UNLEASH THE WRECKING BALL AGAIN!
Chapter 47: Island of Doctor Merlot
Scanning the forest behind the wreckage of a downed S27, Hunter, Crosshair and Wrecker kept their weapons at the ready as Tech continued to extract the data from the fighter planes flight recorder. "Tech, how much longer until you're finished?" Hunter asked, his fingers poised to pull the triggers of his pistols. "I've got movement on my scopes and it looks we've got an incoming horde of Grimm."
"Perhaps you would like to try ascertaining the data from antiquated flight recorder?" Tech retorted. Hunter kept his mouth shut after that and sure enough, Tech had the data from the black box and the squad of enhanced clones quickly vacated the crash site just as a horde of Widows crashed through the trees. The spider like droid-hybrid Grimm scanned the area with their sensors but detected no lifeforms other than several nearby Ursa before they marched back towards Mountain Glenn. As for the Bad Batch, they had made their way towards a cave they were using as a bivouac for their mission.
In the months following the event that was being called the Fall of Beacon, efforts to retake Vale from the Grimm were underway despite numerous setbacks. Despite what assistance the Atlas forces were able to give the Vale forces, civilian and military casualties numbered in the thousand's thanks largely in part to the White Fang and Empire. Roughly fifty-percent of Vale's air force was destroyed while another twenty-five percent was sabotaged by Imperial and White Fang agents. The Navy lost almost all of their battle cruisers, frigates, destroyers and carriers while the army lost seventy-five percent of their forces, largely in part due to the Empire hitting many of their bases when they attacked.
Due to the loss of much of their military, a call went out to all available huntsmen and huntresses out on missions to assist in the retaking of Vale. Their efforts were able to help the military, clones and rebels' retake everything from the port to downtown while efforts to rescue any trapped civilians were underway.
But their success came to an end a month ago, when the Grimm were reinforced by the droid army. Early warning systems were still down after they were destroyed by imperial agents, leaving the forces in Vale unprepared for the surprise attack. They came from Mountain Glenn which was the last place anyone would have expected along with a swarm of Grimm.
Caught off guard, the city had to be abandoned once more this time to a larger occupying force. But strangely, the droids and Grimm didn't pursue the military out of the city limits and instead opted to reinforce the city with divisions of battle droids, tanks, fighters and support craft. The security of the city was as tight as the wallet of the Schnee company.
Military commanders of the local forces were demanding that another attack against the forces occupying both the city and Beacon, opting to flat out bomb the entire city back to ancient times instead of leaving it for the Grimm. This didn't sit well with many of the soldiers, especially the ones who lived in Vale.
The decision also didn't sit well with Sedyn and the other Mandalorian warriors who stayed behind to assist the kingdom, many of them finding children whose parents were killed by the Grimm and took them in as foundlings. Appalled would be an understatement for the Mandalorian's who saw this suggestion as cowardly, but thankfully such a plan never came to pass when Glynda and Aayla stepped in and purposed a different plan.
Intelligence located several heavy concentrations of Grimm located in several settlements that were completely destroyed following the Fall of Beacon. Rather than risking a full-frontal assault or a full-scale bombing of the city and risk killing any of the remaining civilians, Aayla purposed the following; ARC and ARF troopers along with any available huntsmen and huntresses would scout the settlements and determine the strength of the Grimm. If the concentration of Grimm was lite, troops would be sent in to clear the creatures of darkness from the settlement while searching for any survivors. If survivors were found, they would be evacuated to the safety of the safe-zone or the clone/rebel base and receive medical attention.
If the concentration of enemy forces was higher, fighter and bomber squadrons from Vale, the clone army and rebel forces would be sent to destroy the Grimm as soon it was determined that there weren't any civilians hiding in the settlement. The Mandalorian warriors even volunteered to personally eliminate the heavier concentrations of Grimm, finding the idea of fighting the Grimm to be a test of a true warrior.
Aayla and Kit agreed and decided it best to have the pilots focus on several off-shore floating war factories that appeared when the droids launched their counterattack and began to spit out hundreds of droids by the day. Colonel Bishop was put in charge of taking out the factories while the Delta Squad and Ghost Squad along with a detachment of ARC Troopers, Vale Special Forces and Mandalorian Warriors focused their efforts on hurting the droid forces in the city while also rescuing any trapped soldiers or civilians left behind.
As for the Bad Batch, Aayla and Glynda had a special assignment for them. They were to hit the Grimm concentrations outside the city and gather intelligence. The presence of the droids made the Jedi and Huntress concerned about what they were after at Beacon and the appearance of the same glowing green Grimm that they encountered months ago underneath the round table, along with the fact that droid army was supposed to have been completely shut down after the end of the war.
A suicide mission if there ever was one, the Bad Batch eagerly excepted the mission, each of them grabbing a specialized version of the Vale militaries primary weapon. A Bullpup assault rifle with a magazine capacity of one-hundred and sixty rounds was given to each of the enhanced clone troopers, opted for their specialization.
Crosshair's rifle was modified to use one-hundred round magazines with an enhanced sniper scope. Wrecker's rifle had an under-barrel-pump-action grenade launcher while Hunter's kept the traditional under-barrel-pump-action shotgun for close-quarters combat. As for Tech, he carried a carbine version of the rifle. Each of the troopers carried these weapons as backups in the even they ran out of powerpacks for their blasters, but took as much ammo as they could carry.
For weeks, they located and destroyed concentrations of Grimm with devastating results and gathered intelligence from the various droid patrols they encountered. Every bit of intelligence they gathered indicated that someone had given someone who they believed to be the true mastermind behind the Fall of Beacon access to the remnants of the droid army that somehow made its way to Remnant long before and during the Clone War.
The identity of this person was still unknown, but it was clear that they were able to keep these droids from being shutdown long after the CIS was disbanded. But at the moment, they were concerned about the downed S27 they were just checking out. "Alright, Tech. What do we have from the black box?" Hunter asked.
"It's as I predicted; this aircraft belonged to Whiplash Squadron of the Atlas Air Force. The squadron primarily uses S27 and S35 fighter jets due to their air-superiority or rather used them. It appears that the squadron was sent out to escort several ships carrying relief supplies to the city, mostly food and medical supplies for the civilians. During their flight to meet out with ships, they received orders to intercept a formation of enemy units coming from Mountain Glenn so naturally, they followed orders." Tech explained.
"Something tells me that those fighters didn't make it back." Wrecker surmised.
"Did you just figure that out now?" Crosshair scoffed, irritating the big trooper.
"Obviously they didn't. Sometime before they arrived, they were intercepted by unknown enemy craft. The data retrieved from the black box of the lead plane indicates that the enemy they were sent to intercept was waiting for them and launched surface-to-air missiles at the squadron, destroying half of them before they were attacked by numerous Yellowjackets. That's what the local forces are calling the Grimm/droid hybrid species now, since they swarm a target like a swarm of insects. They of course engaged them, but they were still taking surface fire from several hidden anti-air units, possibly Hailfire droids. The last of the squadron was, unfortunately shot down by the enemy forces and were all killed. Thankfully, the black box from the lead S27 indicated that they spotted a series of cargo ships docked somewhere near Forever Fall. More of those cages we found on that train several months ago were spotted loaded with captured Grimm were being loaded onto a ship at the dock." Tech continued.
"Why would someone want to capture Grimm?" Hunter asked. Before he could get an answer, the squad heard the sound of a ship's engines from outside the cave and rushed out to see the Rogue Shadow hovering overhead before Galen leapt out and landed in front of them.
"Ha! Told you he was alive! You ow me two credits!" Wrecker shouted to Crosshair and pulled Galen into a tight hug. "The Demon Lord is alive and kicking!"
"Yeah! Good to see you too, Wrecker." Galen gasped before Wrecker let him go. Catching his breath, Galen made his way towards Hunter. "I take it that the four of you are on a mission?" he guessed.
Hunter was quick to explain their mission to Galen who was curious about this. "So, someone lured a flight of S27's and S35's towards Mountain Glenn, shot them down with hidden Hailfire droids and a swarm of the newly dubbed Yellowjackets. Someone is capturing Grimm in cages and using them for who knows what and transporting them to a cargo ship which we have no idea where it's going and you're now tracking the ship." Galen surmised.
"That pretty much sums it up. We've been eliminating concentrations of Grimm for the last few weeks before we found one of those wrecked S35's yesterday. We already contacted Generals Secura and Fisto and sent Delta and Ghost squads to continue our mission while we investigate the ship. Only problem is that we're nowhere near where the ship is and it's going to be dark soon."
Galen put his hand to his chin before he turned to Tech. "Tech, can you bring up the tunnel system Trigger gave you?" he asked.
"I'm not sure how that will help, but I can do that." Tech replied and pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet and brought up the tunnel system underneath Mountain Glenn before Galen then instructed the trooper to bring up all the previously unknown tunnels. Of the various tunnels that appeared, only one of them headed towards the forest of Forever Fall when crossed over with the current rail map that Galen had stored on his scroll. "What am I looking at?" he asked.
"This tunnel here." Galen began pointing towards the only tunnel that made its way towards the forest. "This tunnel leads towards the forest. Trigger told me that when construction of the Subway under Mountain Glenn began, the railroad constructed a separate tunnel leading towards the outside world to bring in supplies for building the subway. When the city was abandoned and the people took refuge underground, they used this tunnel to bring supplies from the surface down to the people, before they were all killed. They used an old 0-6-0 tank engine that was to be the main attraction of a museum being built above to transport the supplies in and out of the underground city, ten cars long if Ray's info is correct. My guess is, that train and the cars are still underground and weren't even touched by Roman and the White Fang. This line goes right towards the forest, so if we take the train towards the forest, we should be able to get to the dock before the ship leaves." Galen explained.
"If the train is still down there, how are we going to put it on the right track?" Hunter asked.
"Easy, we'll have Wrecker move the train onto the right track with his strength." Galen simply said with a smirk.
"I've always wanted to move a train with my bare hands!" Wrecker exclaimed.
"Since when?" Crosshair questioned.
"Since I met Trigger and he said I could move a locomotive with my bare hands!" Wrecker replied with excitement.
"That's assuming the train is down in the tunnels, still intact and not stripped for parts by the late Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. On the off chance that it isn't down there, what's our back up plan?" Tech asked.
"If the train isn't down in the tunnels, then we have a long walk ahead of us. I also know where to enter the tunnels." Galen stated and added.
"Well then, we better get a move on then. Unless we want to lose that ship and any lead on where those glowing Grimm are coming from." Hunter said in agreement, putting his helmet on before kicking some dirt into the fire, putting it out. "Just so you know, Rex, Cody, Fordo and Alpha are with your girl. Last I heard they were somewhere in Anima, but we haven't had any luck in pinpointing their location. Best I can guess, they aren't anywhere near Mistral."
"At least I know Ruby is in safe hands." Galen sighed with relief before he and the clones headed towards Mountain Glenn.
It took them all of the rest of the day before they finally made it to Mountain Glenn under the cover of night. Some rubble from one of the ruined buildings fell to the ground once again confirming that the ruined city was dead quiet with only the Grimm wandering its desolate streets. "Does anyone how many people were living here when the Grimm invaded?" Hunter asked.
"I don't have an exact number, but I would say probably around one-hundred thousand or less." Tech answered.
"All I know is that the last time we were here, we had two other commando teams with us along with two unknowns and under attack by the droids, empire and Grimm. I lost track of how many kills I got." Crosshair stated calmly, keeping his focus gazed on the potential locations for enemy ambushes.
"So, any reason why all of you are carrying slug-throwers?" Galen asked.
"Back up weapons. Sure, they aren't blasters but after seeing a Sergeant Baker mow down multiple Grimm with a single magazine, we figured it would help to have a weapon that uses conventional ammo native to the planet. Plus, they are a lot better than those cheap Atlas imitation blasters." Hunter answered.
"Speaking of Atlas, what's the situation with Ironwood. Last I heard, he was starting to believe that it was because of me that the Empire attacked Remnant." Galen inquired. Hunter quickly explained the situation to Galen and not surprisingly he found that Ironwood was fearing that the world would blame Atlas for the Fall of Beacon and attack them. Based on the information given to them by Robyn, Mantle was suffering just as badly as Atlas.
Galen had a feeling that Ironwood knew something that he wasn't telling the rest of the world and he had a feeling that someone would be trying to take advantage of it to make a profit. "There's an entrance to the subway close by, if it wasn't completely blocked off, we should be able to get underground or else we'll have to blast our way through." Galen said to the clones as they made their way through the old city.
By now, the sun was starting to set and the sky went from grey to red. Some Grimm like Beowolfs and Ursa were starting to become more active at night ever since the Fall of Beacon and that meant that they would look for the source of an explosion of they didn't detect any negative emotions. The now five-man group reached the entrance to the subway station, only to find station was blocked off by a thick metal barrier.
"The barrier appears to be too thick to cut through with a lightsaber." Hunter pointed out before turning to Wrecker. "Wrecker. Get up here and see if you can lift this barrier." He ordered.
"I'll lift this thing in no time flat!" Wrecker boasted, slung his rifle over his back, bent his knees and gripped the metal barrier, lifting with all his might. The barrier creaked and moaned but didn't budge an inch. "Come on… you stupid… metal… bastard… open… up…!" he grunted before finally the barrier was finally removed from their path. "Told you I could do it!" Wrecker proclaimed before he took a step inside the station.
Unfortunately, Wrecker triggered a makeshift alarm that the people who survived the initial collapse had set up in the event the Grimm managed to break down the barrier. The alarm alerted the Grimm already inside the station which then charged towards the group. "Uh, I think I might have alerted the Grimm to our location." He said meekly.
"Indeed, you have, Wrecker. I'm clocking multiple contacts coming from inside the station. I suggest we make our way down to the platform before the Grimm from outside start to follow us." Tech advised. Galen agreed and called on the force, pulling down the barrier just as several Ursa's crashed into the barrier.
"That barrier won't hold them off forever! We need to move now!" He shouted, igniting his blue blades and dashed past the Bad Batch, slashing through several Beowolfs that came up from the platform level.
"I like this kid!" Wrecker exclaimed, pulling out his new rifle and opened up on the Grimm. A burst of fire cut through several Creeps. "Yeah, I know Sarge. No explosives in a confined space." He groaned, remembering Hunter's orders not to use the grenade launcher in close quarters. That didn't stop Wrecker from firing his weapon one-handed while grabbing a Creep with his free hand by the neck and snapping the creature's neck.
Hunter followed suit with his rifle's shotgun attachment, blasting Grimm after Grimm with buckshot pellets as Crosshair and Tech followed after their brothers. Bullets clattered to the station floor as the clones blasted their way through the horde of creatures.
Galen, who was much farther ahead of them slashed the arms off several Beowolfs before pushing them back with a blast of the force. The Grimm were sent flying into the air, some of them breaking their necks when they skidded across the ground. Slashing another Beowolf across the chest, Galen soon sensed an impending threat as a line of green spikes appeared out of nowhere and headed straight towards him.
Diving out of the way, he saw the source of the spikes; a mutated Beowolf larger than the Alpha type and glowing green. "Great! Now these things come in extra-large? Who the hell created these things?" he cursed, throwing his blades at the mutated Beowolf's arms severing them before electrocuting the Grimm with a charge of lightning.
The glowing green Grimm dissipated into mist as more and more Grimm charged towards Galen. As the Grimm drew nearer and nearer to the young Jedi, he spotted a weak section in the ceiling and called on the force, pulling down the section of the ceiling which crushed the Grimm with the stone slab.
Not all of the Grimm were crushed, but the ones that weren't crushed were gunned down by the Bad Batch once they caught up with Galen. "Watch out! Incoming!" Hunter shouted as appearing from behind the Grimm were half a dozen red metaled, tall and top-heavy red androids with neon blue highlights and carrying a double-ended glaives. "What are these clankers?" he demanded.
"Doesn't matter! You four head for the train! I'll deal with these things!" Galen roared, bring his lightsabers up to block the glaive of one of the androids. His lightsabers sliced right through the glaive's blade, leaving the android defenseless before Galen turned it into scrap metal. The other androids charged towards Galen only for four of the remaining androids to join their comrade in the scrap pile. The last android charged towards Galen but to his surprise, the android separated its glaive into two separate glaives and swung violently around, hoping to get a hit at Galen.
Galen easily dodged the androids' attacks and slashed the android to pieces. "These aren't Ironwoods junkheaps. Someone else built these things, but who?" he pondered before racing off to join up with Hunter and the others.
When Galen caught up with them, they had finished dispatching the Grimm and found the train they were looking for. The train consisted of a modified 0-6-0 tank engine with a balloon stack on its funnel, headlamp on the smokebox and a cowcatcher. Coupled behind it were several boxcars, standard freight cars, a flatbed car and a caboose. One of the boxcars had its doors opened but not by Wrecker. Instead, the group was greeted by none other than Boba Fett himself. "So, you're tracking down these creatures as well, huh? Seems we share a common goal." He mused to himself, lowering his EE-3 carbine.
"Who are you?" Hunter demanded, not taking his gaze off the Bounty Hunter.
"Someone who's decided that working with the Empire isn't what I thought it would be." Boba answered, removing his helmet and showing his face to the clones and Galen. "My father would never work alongside terrorists who openly target civilians, even if they are collaborating with the Jedi."
"Father? Wait a minute, you're Boba Fett! Jango Fett's son!" Galen exclaimed.
"That's right. I am the son of Jango Fett and I'm the one who supplied the White Fang with imperial weapons." He admitted. "I had no idea that Cinder and Adam would target civilians, or that Cinder would murder Trigger's sister."
"You know Trigger?" Wrecker asked in surprise.
"I met him once, shortly after he and hid pink haired friend paid respects to his father. I know what it's like to lose a parent and that got me thinking, is this what my father would want me to do, target innocent civilians that aren't even affiliated with the Jedi? Those who aren't even a threat? Those who can't fight back? I might be a bounty hunter, but I'm nothing like Cinder or Adam are. To me, they are the lowest of the lowest scum in the galaxy."
"You tried to kill General Windu early in the war after your father lost his head, why should we trust you?" Crosshair questioned.
"I've had a lot of time to think about what I've done and the clone that Aurra killed just to lure out Mace Windu. If I had gotten my revenge, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father still died and isn't coming back. Trigger told me something when I met him. 'Revenge will not bring back those we have lost' and he is correct. I've decided to abandon my contracts with the Empire and decided to make things right on this planet. It's the honorable thing to do, it's what my father would have wanted." he answered.
The Bad Batch still kept their weapons trained on Boba as the bounty hunter put his helmet back on and turned back to the bodies, he pulled out of the train car. All of them were skeletal remains of the people who tried to use this train to escape the underground nightmare but failed. "The Grimm that killed these people, they weren't the ones that glow green. Those things, they were created by someone. My guess, it was by this Merlot fellow that had his building above this city." he stated.
"What makes you so sure Merlot might be behind this? He's dead." Galen questioned.
"You're really going to trust this bounty hunter? He probably killed several Jedi over the years." Hunter reminded.
"I sensed he was telling the truth. He wasn't lying, he really has changed his ways. But that doesn't mean I'm completely convinced." Galen admitted.
"Then why don't you let me convince you with my actions." Boba stated as he walked towards the locomotive. "My knowledge on these sorts of vehicles is limited, but I've already got this engine's boiler heated up. It doesn't use Dust, it's one of those wood burning locomotives I read up on when I did my research on this place." He explained.
"Someone's done their homework." Crosshair mused.
"It's important to know your terrain just as it is to know your enemy." Boba simply replied.
Galen then took a good look at Boba's armor when it dawned on him. "You're the one. You're the one who saved Ruby on Ironwoods ship!" he exclaimed.
"So that's her name, huh? Well, after what Torchwick said when he was gloating, I figured it was the right thing to do." Boba replied. "I didn't know she had someone special that was a Jedi." he added, climbing into the cab of the locomotive, but not before he told the others that there was a turret in the caboose. The clones and Galen followed Boba's lead, climbing onto the train just as Boba pulled the regulator and started the old locomotive.
The train jerked forward, its wheels slipping on the rails trying to get a grip before it finally moved slowly forwards down the tunnel towards the exit. It was at that moment that Galen asked Boba a question. "So, if you're the one who supplied the White Fang and Cinder with imperial weapons and equipment, then you must know something about Cinder."
"Sadly, I don't know anything about Cinder. I never asked any questions about who she was working for, but I did notice something completely evil about her. She's completely obsessed with becoming the most powerful person on the planet, yet she seemed to be taking orders from someone else. It's like she's been promised something, but whoever promised her this power might only be using her for their own gain." Boba answered.
'If Cinder's being used by someone else it's obviously not the Empire.' Galen thought to himself. As the train continued down the tunnel, he sensed something was watching them and it wasn't the Grimm. "We're not alone down here." he said to Boba.
"I know." Boba replied just as Wrecker's voice came over the commlink.
"We've got company! Some kind of biker clanker approaching fast!" Wrecker shouted, alerting the others to the enemy presence. Coming up behind them at high-speed were dozens of the same white and red androids from earlier but instead of legs they were attached to several motorcycle-like bodies and had two machine guns attached to the sides by the front tire. "Scratch that! It's our android friends from earlier!" he corrected.
The androids soon closed in on the train before they broke off into two separate groups surrounding the train on both sides before some of them shifted into their android mode, whipped out their mini-guns and glaives before they jumped onto the train. "Looks like someone doesn't want us reaching our destination." Boba stated aloud, aiming his EE-3 at one of the androids and fired a burst at one. The blaster bolts slammed into the android's head, knocking it off the train where its body collided into several androids still in their bike mode, causing them to crash and explode.
"Open fire on these scrapheaps! We can't let them stop us!" Galen shouted, igniting his lightsabers and leapt out of the locomotive and onto one of the freight cars while Boba stayed in the cab to operate the engine.
(Chase through Coruscant begins)
The androids that managed to jump onto the train quickly turned their attention to Galen and opened up with their guns while the glaive armed androids charged towards Galen. Several androids took a long wide swing at him only for Galen to dodge both the blades and bullets. Some of the androids completely ignored Galen and went for the engine. "Boba! You've got androids heading your way!" he shouted into the commlink.
Boba was quick to let go of the regulator before he pulled out his father's old WESTAR-34 blaster pistols and fired several shots at the androids, knocking them out of the cab before they could get close to him. "Keep these things away from me! If they stop us, we're not going to complete the mission!" he reminded.
"Easier said than done!" Wrecker shouted into the commlink from the caboose, grabbing hold of the turret and opened up with the gun. The guns three barrels slowly rotated before a hail of bullets ripped through multiple androids before they could get within distance of the train. "They just keep coming! I'm definitely going to be scoring more kills than you Crosshair!" he gloated with excitement as he kept on spraying bullets at the androids.
"This isn't a competition, Wrecker." Crosshair remarked without a care, firing his sniper rifle at the androids that made it onto the train from the roof of one of the boxcars. His shots blasted a few of the androids off the train while the rest of them had their heads blown off. "But I just took down seven of these androids."
"The amount of armor on these machines suggests they were originally intended for military use, or a replacement for Huntsmen and Huntresses." Tech observed, riddling an android with bullets from his carbine. The android now deactivated fell backwards allowing Tech to get a good look at the emblem on its chest. "Or they were designed as security by Doctor Merlot."
"Shouldn't these things be deactivated them? Merlot was reported dead when Mountain Glenn fell!" Hunter exclaimed, firing his rifles shotgun barrel at a few androids and pushing them off the train. One of the fallen android's glaives broke off as the wheels ran over the blade, flying right into the coupling of the last two cars. "Wrecker! Those cars are about detach from the train! Get back here now!"
"Copy that Sarge!" Wrecker exclaimed, letting go of the turret and running through the caboose and two of boxcars before he leapt off the last car and onto what was left of the train while the detached cars disappeared into the distance as the train emerged from the tunnel. "Uh-oh!" Wrecker said when he noticed that they were now traveling through a mountain pass. "I think we took the wrong track!"
As the train passed over a steel bridge a horde of Beowolfs howled in the distance before they appeared over the ledge above a distant tunnel and landed either on the tracks or onto the train. "We got Grimm!" Hunter shouted and opened up on the Grimm as did Tech and Crosshair while Wrecker kept his focus on the androids still chasing them.
Galen slashed through several red androids before he redirected a grenade from one of the white androids away from him. The grenade exploded, but the explosion echoed all around the gorge and triggered a rockslide. "ROCKSLIDE! PUSH THIS THING TO FULL SPEED!" he shouted as the rocks came closer and closer to them.
Whether it was fate or luck, the train was able to make it into the tunnel just in time while the rockslide blocked off the tunnel and killed many of their pursuers. The group wasn't in the clear yet as emerging from several blocked tunnels were half a dozen armored trains bearing the emblem of Merlot industries. A section of track lay ahead that split into three separate lines. The track on the left headed towards Vacuo, the middle track continued towards Forever Falls while the right track led to a dead end. "We're going to crash!" Wrecker shouted in panic.
"Not if I can help it." Boba declared and leaned out of the cab. Carefully aiming his pistol, he fired a shot that hit the switch controls and changed the points to the Forever Fall. As the train raced over the points, the armored trains behind them all switched onto the other tracks, getting alongside the commandeered train before they opened up with their machine guns. Bullets tore through the wooden boxcars sending splinters of wood flying as the gunfire alerted the Grimm inside the tunnel, running right towards the train.
Many of the Grimm were crushed by some of the armored trains, but some of them were able to jump onto the trains and went after those onboard. "Light 'em up!" Hunter shouted and that's just what the Bad Batch did.
Boba climbed out of the cab of the locomotive and fired his wrist rockets at several of the armored trains, but they did little damage. "Those trains have some tough armor. My rockets aren't doing any damage!" he shouted, only to have a Beowolf pounce on him from behind. "Get. Off. Me. You. Pathetic. Excuse. For. A. Wookie!" he grunted, delivering several elbow jabs into the Grimm's ribcage before the jamming the barrel of one of his pistols into the Grimm's chin and fired. The Grimm fell backwards off the train, but it was then that Boba noticed the King Taijitu slithering after them.
A quick reload of his wrist rockets and Boba took aim at the snake like Grimm, firing both wrist rockets. The rockets computer targeting guided the rockets straight towards the heads of the snake Grimm and exploded leaving the headless corpse behind before it dissipated into black mist. "They claim these creatures are a threat to the world? Some threat these things are." Boba remarked.
"A large horde can easily overwhelm an entire settlement, even if they have the most advanced weaponry and vehicles!" Galen stated from one of the armored trains before jumping off the enemy train just as it exploded from a grenade he took from Wrecker.
A piece of the armored train flew into the coupling connecting three more cars of their commandeered train, detaching from the train before they backwards past the incoming horde of Grimm and androids. A grenade fired from one of the white androids flew towards them, but Galen redirected the projectile towards one of the armored trains, where it exploded and took out several enemies.
Their train continued down the tracks before finally they lost the armored trains, but not the androids and Grimm which continued to pursue them. "Crosshair, get on the roof of the boxcar and snipe those hostiles! Wrecker, Tech, Hunter! Keep them from boarding the train and getting to the locomotive! If they wreck the controls, we won't be able to complete our objective!" Galen shouted, dashing towards the front of the train and slashing his way through whatever boarders remained. Boba followed suit, using his flamethrower and burned several Grimm to ashes.
They soon reached the cab just as the train burst through a blocked off tunnel, sending splinters of wood flying as they chugged through the forest of Forever Fall with the Grimm and Androids still behind them. Much to their surprise, both the Grimm and androids ceased their pursuit as their train rocketed over a set of points taking them towards the coast. "Not sure what that was, but I think it might be a good idea to slow down now." Galen sighed with relief.
"That might be a good idea, look!" Boba exclaimed and pointed towards an approaching makeshift dock where a cargo ship was waiting and the tracks ended. Grabbing the breaks, Boba pulled with all his might to slow the train down but it was going much to fast as it drew nearer and nearer to the docks. "Grab onto something!" Boba shouted to his companions.
They did as the bounty hunter instructed and grabbed onto anything stable and braced themselves as the train burst through the buffers and continued down the tracks that were in place should a train break through the buffers and stopped just a few inches from the edge of the dock.
(End song)
"Talk about a wild ride!" Wrecker stated with a bit of excitement.
"Well, we may have lost a few of the cars intended for the museum, but at least we found our cargo ship." Tech added, taking notice of the emblem on the cargo ships. "I believe that this cargo ship and the androids belong to Doctor Merlot."
"A dead man can't send orders to his employees or machines." Crosshair pointed out.
"Not unless the man faked his death to continue his work. It is a logical conclusion that Merlot allowed the rest of the world to believe he was dead so he could continue his work without any interruptions from those who wish to cancel his research or from those who wish to steal it and claim it as his own." Tech explained before Wrecker dropped one of the destroyed androids from the train onto the ground. "I did a little digging into this machine's memory banks and it appears that it was given orders to eliminate any and all individuals who discovered that they were capturing and transporting Grimm to this location where they are than loaded onto the cargo ship. Where they are being sent, I have no idea. But it is a safe bet to assume that it is somewhere far away from the kingdom."
"Then I suggest that we board the ship and find out where its going." Boba suggested.
"I agree, we need to complete our mission and stop these glowing Grimm before they kill anymore people. Maybe we might even be able to figure out who gave Cinder the orders to destroy Beacon." Hunter said in agreement. The others agreed and boarded the cargo ship, but not before Galen placed a beacon on the train so that someone would pick it up.
No sooner had they boarded the cargo ship, its engines started up and left the dock all under its own power which surprised them all since there wasn't even a single sailor on the ship. The sun had already started to set and the sky had turned red as ship made its way to open water. "Looks like there's no turning back now." Galen muttered.
"You guys better get down to the hold! I found something you guys are going to want to see!" Wrecker said over the commlink.
Everyone raced to the hold of the ship where they found a large number of deactivated battle droids and androids, cages designed for holding Grimm and a large number of weapons and ammo. "Looks like however is operating this ship is transporting a lot of firepower and ammo." Wrecker stated, picking up a shotgun with a drum magazine.
"Someone could start a small war with all this gear, but at least we got ourselves some ammo." Hunter stated, grabbing several magazines for his rifle, as did Tech, Crosshair and Wrecker. "Tech, once you've topped off your ammo, see if you can send a message to General Secura. Tell her we've got another lead on the origin of the glowing Grimm and that we'll be out of contact for a while." He instructed.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, our communications are being jammed so until we find the source of the jamming, we won't be able to contact them." Tech answered.
"I suggest we take whatever firepower we can carry. Even if they are slug-throwers, we'll probably be running into who knows what we'll find when this ship docks. Maybe we should get some rest." Boba suggested, grabbing one of the same rifles that Hunter had along with shotgun shells for the shotgun attachment.
"I'm with Boba on this one, let's find the crew quarters and get a little rest. I'll take first watch." Galen agreed.
It took them a while to find the crew quarters and while Clone Force 99 got some shut-eye, Galen stood on the deck of the ship and kept his eyes peeled for any signs of sea type Grimm. Boba walked up behind him and joined Galen. "I may not be a Jedi, but I can tell you're worried about your girlfriend. You think she might be targeted by Cinder and her followers?" he asked.
"I don't know." Galen admitted. "If Ruby is targeted by Cinder, then it probably has something to do with that blinding light I saw before I passed out. I've never seen anything like that and for some reason, I think it has to do with her silver eyes. Though I can't be one-hundred percent sure, there is still a lot about this world I don't know about, especially when it comes to silver eyes and the Grimm."
"All I know is that there is something more about the Grimm than anyone knows. I want to say that they have a hive mind mentality, but they aren't bugs. Whatever it is, I don't think anyone else on the planet knows about it." Boba agreed, removing his helmet. "As for whatever kind of power your girlfriend used, I'm at a loose just like you, but I have a feeling that it's the kind of power that someone is afraid of and will do anything to destroy it before it can become a threat to them." he added.
"If someone paid you to protect Ruby, would you see it just as another job or as the right thing to do?" Galen asked.
"She's only a fifteen-year-old girl, though she's probably sixteen now. But to answer your question, I'd do it because it's the right thing to do, the honorable thing to do, something that my father would do." Boba answered as he stared out at the sea. "I used to take only jobs that agreed with my beliefs and brutal style of justice, but after what happened on this planet, it's time I let go of those beliefs and start over. I might have agreed with the Empire's beliefs once, but I think it's time I take the fight to the Empire. I'm nothing like Cad Bane or Aurra Sing, I'm not a merciless killer."
"Everyone has the potential for change, it just takes time for you to figure out how you are going to change." Galen stated.
"Yeah, you're right. I think it's time I start looking for my redemption and my destiny." He agreed with a chuckle.
A couple of hours later, Boba and Galen were relieved of watch duty and were getting some sleep when the ship suddenly shook violently, throwing both of them off their bunks. Both of them got back to their feet and rushed to the deck above and found that they had run aground on the coral surrounding a small island. At first, they thought the island was abandoned, but it soon became clear to them that the island wasn't abandoned.
After leaving the cargo ship, the six-person group discovered the island was covered with numerous radio towers, metal fences and a single dock which was used primarily for unloading the cargo from the ship they had used. As they moved further into the island, they found a large automated pumping station drawing a strange green substance which Tech scanned as radioactive. Fortunately for them, the waste wasn't nuclear or anything that would kill them from prolonged exposure, but something about it felt off with Galen.
"I'm still not getting anything on the comms. We're being jammed and I bet those radio towers are interfering with the signal. We need to disable them before we can call for a lift once." Hunter stated.
"Unfortunately, it would take too long to disable them all one at a time. Fortunately for us, we have a terminal right here. If I'm correct, this terminal connects to all of the radio towers so it shouldn't be a problem for me to disable them all from here." Tech told the others.
"Aw man, I was hoping I would be able to blow something up!" Wrecker groaned.
"You'll get your chance, Wrecker. You always do." Crosshair reminded the muscular trooper. This got Wreckers hopes up. "Then again, we might not also be drawing a lot of enemies towards our location once Tech gets to work. We're being watched." He added.
"Crosshair is right, those camera's have been tracking our movements the moment we passed through that first gate. We don't have a lot of time before the Grimm start showing up, maybe even more of those androids as well." Hunter observed, blasting one of the cameras with his pistols. "Tech, get to work on shutting down the towers. We'll keep the enemy of your back."
"I'm on it, Hunter." Tech replied, cracked his knuckles and started to work his magic. No sooner had he started, they heard the howl of a Beowolf and large group of them charged at them from behind, hungry for blood. Weapons at the ready, the group open fired on the incoming horde while Galen ignited his lightsabers and dashed towards the rear most Grimm.
(Mace Windu theme, Battlefront 2, 2005 starts)
A slashing dash through the horde of the Grimm, Galen's blue blades slashed through several creatures of Grimm, turning them into black mist. Ducking and dodging to avoid the swipes of the Grimm's claws, Galen hacked his way through dozens of Grimm, twirling his lightsabers around. A use of the force lifted dozens of Grimm into the air, allowing the Bad Batch and Boba to gun them all down with their ranged weapons.
A few Grimm were able to dash past Galen and would have killed his allies had Boba not burned them to death with the remainder of his flamethrowers fuel. The burning Grimm dissipated into black mist before Boba unloaded a barrage of bullets onto several other Grimm, riddling their bodies with bullet holes before they to turned into black mist. "Hey big guy! Use your grenades!" Boba shouted to Wrecker.
"Now you're talking!" Wrecked exclaimed with excitement and immediately started firing grenades at the Grimm. The explosions took out numerous Grimm, but none of them were close to Galen who continued to cut down Grimm after Grimm. "Come and get it!" Wrecker goaded, laughing away as he fired more grenades at the Grimm, sending them flying into the air, some of which were downed by Crosshair.
"Keep them coming, Wrecker. I can do this all day." Crosshair said dryly, firing bursts of gunfire at the Grimm from his overwatch position, scoring headshot after head shot. Occasionally, he would fire a long burst of automatic fire at some of the Ursa's that had just arrived. "We've got Ursa's approaching. They take a lot more punishment than Beowolfs." He advised through the commlink before he fired the last of his magazine into one of the Ursa's, weakening it long enough for Wrecker to kill the beast. "You can have that kill, Wrecker. I'll get you next time."
Firing his rifles shotgun at the Grimm that got closer, Hunter downed several Beowolfs with the buckshot rounds before he needed to reload. Instead of doing so, he pulled the trigger for the rifle mode and unleashed a torrent of lead onto the Grimm. The bullets tore through the Grimm's body as if it was made of tissue paper when he spotted Crosshair using his regular customized 773 Firepuncher rifle.
"Crosshair, make sure you hit your targets. I don't know when we'll get resupplied so go easy on the blaster." Hunter reminded.
"Don't worry, sarge. I always hit my target." Crosshair remarked, firing his blaster and scoring a headshot on an Ursa, killing it. "I always hit my target and you know it." He reminded his leader.
"Yeah, you do." Hunter smirked, loading a fresh magazine into his rifle. "Tech, how much longer!?"
"Almost done. I need another five minutes!" Tech shouted.
"Just hurry it up! We're getting swarmed here!" Hunter shouted back, throwing a grenade towards the Grimm. The grenade exploded and took out several Grimm just as several turrets emerged from the sides of the wall and opened fire on the Grimm, riddling them with bullets and launching missiles at the Grimm. "Tech, what did you do!?"
"I just activated the facilities defense systems and reprogramed them to fire on the Grimm instead of his." Tech simply replied. 'These turrets are more advanced than anything I've seen before. They're a lot like the automated turrets on ships like the Prosecutor. Why would these turrets be on this island?' Tech thought to himself.
While Tech continued to slice the terminal, Galen dodged the powerful claws of an Ursa before it was killed by Boba. The two of them took notice of the large number of hostiles surrounding them as they stood back-to-back. Boba flicked his wrist and fired all the whistling birds he had, killing several Grimm with the small rockets and allowing Galen to electrocute multiple Grimm with a powerful force lightning attack.
One of the incoming Beowolf's was one of the glowing green ones which promptly slammed its fists into the ground and created a line of green crystals that knocked Galen off balance and caused him to drop his lightsabers. The other Grimm took a swing at Galen who ducked and dodged each of the claw swipes before recalling his lightsabers to him.
Boba laid down some covering fire with his rifle, killing five Grimm that were about to pounce on Galen. The bodies of the wolf-like Grimm dissipated into black mist before one of them got close enough to take a swing at the clone bounty hunter, only to have its head blown to bits by a blast of buckshot from his rifle.
The automated turrets continued to fire away at the Grimm until they had either run out of ammunition or were blasted by several of the mini-gun/grenade launcher androids that had arrived. Thankfully, Tech had finally finished disabling the comms towers. "I'm finished and I'm opening a door!" Tech shouted, opening a nearby door.
"Everybody inside. Move it!" Hunter shouted, lobbing one of his few remaining grenades towards the Grimm and androids. The grenade took multiple hostiles out with the blast, giving the others plenty of breathing as they bolted for the door.
Galen dashed through the horde, slicing through multiple creatures and androids before he joined the others as the door slammed closed. "Well, that was a near thing. I didn't think there would be this many Grimm on the island." He commented.
(End song)
Boba was about to speak when a nearby terminal powered up and appearing on the screen was an elderly man with disheveled gray hair, matching mustache and beard, prominent looking eyebrows, red cybernetic eye, robotic right arm, light gray jacket with a high collar and a red shirt underneath it. "I apologize for the bad reception out here, it's a constant problem on this island. But I must say you are the most intriguing visitors I've had in a long time and you carry some interesting weapons with you." The man said.
"Who the hell are you?" Wrecker bluntly demanded.
"Oh, where are my manners. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Doctor Merlot and I welcome you all to my island. You may not know me, but I am thrilled that you are all here. You are exactly what I need for a very important… experiment." He explained.
"We don't have time to be a part of your experiment." Galen stated.
"Oh, but you will be a part of this experiment, Jedi." Merlot countered, catching the attention of Galen. "I'd recognize a lightsaber anywhere, especially since the last time I encountered a Jedi they tried to stop me from completing my research. Thankfully, they didn't survive long enough to stop my research."
"You were reported to have died when Mountain Glenn fell, how the hell are you still alive?" Hunter demanded.
"Preparation, my good man. Mountain Glenn was a mere speed bump on the superhighway of scientific research. None of you could possibly imagine the ramifications of my latest research. Yet it did prove useful in the Fall of Beacon. All the data I have acquired has been most useful in my research." Merlot continued.
"All those people died because of your damn research and you call it a 'speed bump'?" Boba growled. "Do you even have a heart or did you trade it when you got your prosthetics?" he demanded.
"All scientific research has its risks, but enough of your concerns about my research… Welcome, to Merlot industries, where we're building a better tomorrow… today." Merlot scoffed. The terminal shutdown and the lights turned on, revealing that the group was inside Merlot's production facility.
"Looks we stumbled onto something a lot deadlier than a simple Grimm infestation." Galen said before he took notice of a map on the wall. "We need to shut this place down." He declared.
"Unfortunately, it appears that we can't call in an airstrike. Merlot was able to build a series of anti-aircraft guns that will shoot down any aircraft that even comes close to the island. If we called in some Y-Wings, they would be shot down before they can drop their bombs, not to mention Merlot may still be able to mass produce these new Grimm even if we crippled the island." Tech stated.
"Then we split up. Crosshair, Wrecker. Take out those AA guns. Tech and I will destroy whatever is being used to create these Grimm. Galen and Boba, see if you can track down the good doctor. We need to determine if he's working with the Empire or Cinder. Any damage we can inflict onto her will be a good thing." Hunter instructed.
The others broke off into their separate groups and headed towards their objectives.
Boba and Galen headed towards the area that Tech believed to be the control room, but as they moved forwards Galen sensed something extremely dangerous and hoped they didn't run into it. His thoughts were broken when a large wave of Grimm came charging at them.
Boba powered up his jetpack and rocketed into the air, firing his rifle at the Grimm while Galen unsheathed his lightsabers once again and attacked the Grimm. Cutting an Ursa across the stomach, Galen ripped a part of the wall and brought it straight down onto the Grimm, crushing them as a wrist rocket from Boba slammed into the ground directly a center of a large group of Beowolf's. "Seems like the good doctor has decided to leave us some company." Boba smirked, quickly reloading his wrist-launchers.
"More like it's a test or something!" Galen countered, leaping over several Grimm and unleashed a powerful telekinetic explosion that disintegrated the entire wave of Grimm. A series of explosions rocked the facility and they both knew that it meant the Bad Batch had completed their objectives. "Let's get moving!" Galen shouted and sprinted down the corridor with Boba right behind him.
They soon reached a large testing area and once again, they were greeted by Merlot. "Welcome to the testing grounds, my test subjects. Why don't you get acquainted with some of my other test subjects, they could use the exercise." The doctor welcomed as multiple mutant Creeps, Beowolves, Androids and several Alpha Beowolf's emerged from the door in front of them and they were ready for a fight.
(Diamond Eyes starts)
"Great, we've got ourselves quite a workout." Galen remarked, his lightsabers ready for battle as Boba reloaded his rifle. Both of them readied themselves as the waves of enemies charged towards them. "Time to show me how a bounty hunter of your caliber can handle these kinds of odds."
"I'll show you, what kind of bounty hunter I am." Boba retorted and fired his rifle. A burst of bullets ripped through several of the mutant Creeps which exploded upon death. Boba was then quick to snap his attention to one of the Alpha's and fired a long-concentrated burst at the larger wolf-Grimm. The Alpha's tougher skin and armor forced Boba to use nearly a full magazine to put the creature down.
As he reloaded, one of the mutant Creeps got close enough to him before it exploded killing not only itself, but several other Grimm as well. The explosion even made Boba drop his rifle which he was quick to scoop up before he activated his flamethrower once more, creating a wall of fire that burned the Grimm to ashes. This however used up the rest of his fuel for the weapon so he ignited his jetpack once more, pulled out his father's pistols and began to fire on the enemy from the air.
Galen slashed through multiple androids, sending their remains flying towards the Grimm, killing many of them. One of the Alpha's managed to get in a good swing at him with their claws, knocking his aura down a bit, but Galen was able to eliminate the Grimm with a vertical cut right down the middle of its body.
"Damn it! How many of these bastards does this guy have!?" Galen shouted as a howl from behind forced him to turn around as more Grimm started coming in from behind. "I had to ask."
As the Grimm from behind drew nearer and nearer, the loud roar of weapons fire caught the ears of everyone as the incoming Grimm from behind were mowed down in a hail of gunfire. Leading the charge was Wrecker with the shotgun he picked up from the ship earlier that day as the rest of Clone Force 99 followed him through the Grimm horde with their rifles blazing with life. "Remember this shit at Christmas! HA! That's what Trigger would say!" Wrecker shouted excitedly pushing through the horde of Grimm.
"Damn, that things loud!" Galen shouted as the Bad Batch joined up with them. "Glad you guys could make it to the party. I was beginning to think you were going to miss it." Galen admitted.
"Like a bunch of Grimm and Androids could keep us down." Wrecker replied, shouldering his shotgun before charging in like the madman he is and proceeded to beat down any Grimm or Android that got in his path with his fists. "YEAH!" he shouted and kept on attacking the enemy with his one-man assault.
"I almost feel sorry for those things, almost." Hunter admitted.
"Well now, the whole gang is here. Now I can let you be the first ones to face my latest creation." Merlot said, but no one could tell if he was impressed with their skills or he was just taunting them. The doors in front of them opened and stepping out of the holding cell came a large mutated Deathstalker, it's stinger glowing bright green with whatever Merlot used to create it.
"Uh, Sarge. I think it might be a good idea for me to use the grenade launcher now." Wrecker stated.
"Yeah, I think you're right about that Wrecker." Hunter agreed as the massive Grimm prepared to strike them with its tail.
"Scatter!" Boba shouted. Galen and the others were quick to dodge the tail of the massive creature. "Galen! You've fought this thing before! How do we kill it!?"
"How should I know!?" Galen snapped, rolling to one side to avoid the creatures' deadly pincers. The same couldn't be said for the androids it caught which were broken in half by creature. "Good thing that wasn't us or it would be a lot messier."
"Start shooting it!" Hunter shouted. Tech, Crosshair and Boba were more than happy to oblige while Wrecker started shooting grenades at the Grimm. The grenades exploded, causing the Grimm an immense amount of pain as it moved back towards the holding area.
Galen saw this as a chance to charge in towards the Grimm, leaping into the air before he landed on its back and plunged his sabers into the creature's exoskeleton, causing it even more pain. Despite its armor being more durable, Galen continued to strike at the creatures back as it tried to buck him off. "Wrecker, I need you up here now!" Galen shouted.
Before Wrecker could even respond, Galen pulled the muscular clone towards him and onto the Grimm's back. "Shot this spot and throw a grenade inside this things body!" he ordered. Wrecker was more than happy to oblige and fired his rifle at the exact spot Galen stabbed the creature. Bits of bone and flesh flew up as a hole was made in the creature's exoskeleton.
"Fire in the hole!" Wrecker shouted, dropping a grenade inside the Grimm's body before he and Galen leapt off the Grimm. When they landed, the Grimm exploded from inside out, sending the remains of the Grimm flying everywhere. "Let's do that again!"
(End Song)
"It's over Merlot. Tell Cinder and the Empire that they won't be getting your Grimm." Galen demanded, looking up to the control room where Merlot was observing them the entire time.
"I don't know anything about this Cinder person or this Empire, but I know that none of you will be leaving this island alive!" he declared and triggered the islands self-destruct system.
"The joints going to blow!" Hunter exclaimed. Just then the roof above them was blown open by the Havoc Marauder, which hovered above the remains of the Grimm.
"Let's get out of here. We've outstayed our welcome! Come on!" Galen shouted. The others were quick to board the ship as the entire island continued to explode around them. As they flew away, the island went up in a massive explosion, taking everything and everyone still on the island.
All those onboard let out a collective sigh of relief with the mission complete. "Well, that was a tough mission. But at least we completed it." Hunter stated.
"And it gets even better. We've got a lead on Ruby's location. She's in Anima, but I can't exactly say where in Anima she is. I do she and her group were last seen in Shion village, which was destroyed by the Grimm." Tech reported.
"Get us to Shion village as quick as you can!" Galen demanded. Tech was more than happy to oblige, but when everyone turned to Boba, the bounty hunter told them that he was going with them, saying that this would be part of his redemption. The others were glad to have Boba onboard and headed towards Anima.
Sorry for the long wait. I had an issue with my laptop which changed my search engine from internet explorer to another search engine. Microsoft Edge, I think. That and there several days when I just didn't feel like writing and just wanted to blast some monsters in a video game or two.
Anyway, Boba has changed sides and before anyone even thinks it's a trick, it's no trick. He's one-hundred percent on the good guy side, like Neo. I get that Boba hates the Jedi for killing his father in front of him, but after working with Cinder who doesn't care who gets killed in her quest for power, he wants to redeem himself, like John Marston and Arthur Morgan.
The rifles used by the Bad Batch and Boba are basically the Morita assault rifle from Starship Troopers, each of their versions are from the 2005 computer game and movie.
Merlot, from RWBY Grimm Eclipse made his appearance and he's dead for good while the Grimm droid hybrids are now called Yellowjackets.
We will be returning the main story next chapter, but don't expect Galen and Ruby to be reunited until much later. Also, if anyone has an idea for who should replace Tyrian if I decide to kill him off, give me your idea in either a review or PM message. They can be either faunus or human, but not from another series.
Until then, please read and review and I'll see you all next time. Oh, and Spartan-626, happy late birthday.