Hello again! As per every Wednesday, the new chapter is here! I hope you enjoy the 50th part of the story!
Thanks once more for following, favoring or simply reading the chapters. It really means a lot to me.
I wish everyone to be as well as possible under the circumstances we have come to lately live with. Yang in there and see you all next week!
Bullets hurled all over their heads, ricocheting on the front car's armored plating with loud metal sounds. "Well, I didn't expect them to have extra people in hiding" Blake's voice sounded through the mask.
"To give credit where is due, Fenris was always a cautious one. As almost as you" Ilia answered, throwing her own mask away.
"Let's be happy they were on the opposite side of the car or we would have found ourselves in a very tight spot." The cat girl replied, checking her newly acquired weapon's ammo.
A couple of bullets found their way through the car's side window and showered them with broken pieces of glass. Both girls hastily cleared them off. "I think we are in a tight spot anyway. What do we do Blake?"
The yellow-eyed beauty finished counting. In the exact same moment, the rain on bullets stopped. "Think they are recharging?" Ilia asked. "More like baiting us" the reply came "but that gives us a chance."
She finished filling her rifle. "With my semblance and ammo combined, I can give you less than a minute. Can you reach them without being seen?"
The chameleon girl smiled and quickly discarded the uniform, revealing her normal outfit. "Forty seconds will be enough. Just be careful" she replied, attaching her whip to her side.
"Yes, Sun. I will" Blake joked halfheartedly. She didn't like asking Ilia to take them on her own. But she would hate to let her friend be the diversion even more.
"Go!" the cat faunus jumped out of the vehicle's cover, shooting with her weapon towards the trees. She didn't care whether she hit or not, just to provide cover fire.
Immediately, Ilia's skin changed and assimilated the ground's color. The chameleon girl crouched and quickly moved towards the location of their enemies.
Blake kept shooting for a few seconds, until the loud 'click' of her clip was heard. Retaliation was swift to come and she found herself the target of heavy gunfire.
As a pair of bullets pierced her eyes she teleported away. The response was immediate and she had to roll on the ground before blinking again.
The girl found herself on top of the armored vehicle's roof. The shooting continued, bullets hailing all over the air and totally annihilating the tree line behind her.
She jumped down. Before even touching the ground, she used her clone to return to the top. The further she blinked, the tougher it would be for them to adjust their aim. Or at least, that's what she hoped.
A few seconds later, the shooting stopped. A series of sizzling sounds accompanied by gasps of shock and pained thuds followed it. "Clear!" Ilia shouted.
The raven-haired girl threw off her mask and stared at the other side where the situation had been resolved as well. And now, the tough part… she thought.
A few minutes earlier
Yang and Simon hadn't yet made a move, still sizing each other. Black eyes narrowed and red ones blazed in anticipation, as the sound of gunfire filled their ears.
The faunus attacked first. With a swing of his arm, he created a poison mist and sent it towards the huntress. Not waiting for her reaction, he ran through it taking advantage of the cover it provided him.
Thank dust he demonstrated his semblance earlier! Yang jumped forward and used her metal arm to grab one of the over-sized barrels.
Without even getting bothered by the immense weight, the brawler tipped it over. Simon screamed in horror as the precious cargo got emptied on his mist-covered body.
The clear, fresh liquid washed the poison away and soaked him to his very being. But, save for the feeling of cold that permeated his body, there was no other issue; not even smell.
He licked his wet lips. "Water?" he asked in confusion and then immediately rolled away to avoid Yang's left hook. He stood up, taking his distance from the dangerous woman.
"Dunno what you were expecting, but it seems that Carmel was as willing to uphold the deal you made as much as you, pal." She spat on the ground to clear her mouth "as I said, today's not lucky for you."
He didn't reply; instead, he slowly let his toxin cover his skin and wore his spiked knuckles. If she wanted a close quarter fight, he would make her regret it for sure.
Grinning widely, the terrorist charged forward. Poison dripped from his knuckles as he entered the woman's threat range. A mere touch would be enough- it would corrode her aura in no time.
Yang changed her body stance. She placed her right shoulder forward and raised her mechanical arm, holding the left one backwards for balance.
A spiked punch flew to her head- she deflected it. A second one went for her stomach. She elbowed it. A kick to her ankles. Yang jumped high and punched the man, forcing him to stop his attack.
And all these, while using only her metal limb. Annoyed, Simon rushed to her left side, trying to attack her weak spots. Yang wasn't caught flat-footed. She had been anticipating this from the beginning.
The huntress stepped heavily on her left foot and swung with all her might. Her speed was so great; the faunus was forced to stop his attack midway and guard.
The woman's punch threw him to slam his back on the car. Before he could even think of counterattacking, Yang ran next to him.
Considering this his chance, the terrorist ran to her, intending to poison the huntress with a full-body slam. He quickly reached her- wait, what is she doing?
Instead of trying to defend, Yang grabbed the second barrel from the truck. "AAAAAGG!" with immense effort, she flipped it upside down and tossed it on him.
Simon's vision was filled with metal as the empty barrel came on him. He tried to block by holding it with his hands. That was his big mistake. Yang had already picked the last one.
The exact moment the man threw the improvised weapon away, he found himself getting showered by even more water. Before he could even react, the brawler used the flipped barrel to trap him.
Yang jumped next to the now-trapped faunus. "They say some faunus have very good hearing; are you among them?" she asked, as she started punching the barrel's outer walls.
A cacophony of painful sounds filled the inside of this makeshift prison, forcing Simon to try and close his eyes. The echoing sounds inside it were loud, merciless and hurt worse than gunfire.
"Ahhh! AA! AAAAAAA! STOP! STOP IT, PLEASE! IT- IT HUURTS! AAAH!" "SURRENDER AND FALL TO THE GROUND, OR I DON'T STOP!" the reply came.
The man closed his eyes and fell to his knees. "OK! I FELL! GAH! NOW, PLEASE STOP!" The barrel got removed and the drenched, hurt and disoriented person was exposed to the huntress' furious glare.
"Come over here" Yang grabbed him. "And if I sense any poison coming from you, I will break your neck" she added, before dragging him off with her.
-o—
"So" Yang addressed her two friends. "What are we going to do with those characters?" She pointed towards the eight unconscious faunus tied up inside the armored car.
"Well, the guy you nearly deafened is Simon; an ex-White Fang member. He seemed to be the one in command here. Gathering information from his seems sensible" Ilia replied.
"Good. Then I will wake-" Blake stopped her partner. "We have to discuss something first, Yang. What are we going to do with them afterwards?"
"Hmm, nothing I guess" the blonde replied. "We just took their weapons and provisions; we can't simply let them here die! This is something they would do!"
Lilac narrowed in a very serious manner. "Blakey, you know how much I treasure your opinion and respect your morals" she fumed from her nose, trying to carefully choose her next words.
"But from what Little Cham over there said, that bitch Carmel is planning to do something really stupid and has brought Weiss along with her. We have zero time available and lack of proper info."
"I agree with her" Ilia stared at her fellow faunus. "Both for your friend's sake and ours, Aegis Forest isn't a good place to spend a lot time into. We don't have time to babysit our enemies, Blake."
"I agree; and this is why I wanted us to discuss it. If we let them here die, wouldn't you both feel just a little guilty?"
Yang rubbed her nose "if we just let this Simon guy take care of them? An average Grimm is not a threat for someone of his power. And don't worry about us; we can take care of them no matter what."
"It's not the average Grimm I am afraid of" the petite chameleon replied. "Aegis is known among the faunus who live in Solitas for the immensely powerful ones; average Grimm avoid it if possible."
Blake and Yang exchanged a worried stare. "Fenris' occult stuff. Carmel's plan. The Grimm avoiding this place… I see a pattern here and I really don't like it" the tall girl said.
"We have to get Weiss and leave this place as soon as possible; regroup with Ruby and organize a proper plan this time" Blake agreed and then closed her eyes in defeat.
"Ok, I accept your points. Wake Simon up and we will let him guard his men." Yang moved forward and smiled gratefully at her partner before moving on to the unconscious man.
A few not so graceful attempts later, and Simon found himself getting stared by the trio. He checked his binds; not so tight, but he was sure Xiao Long would beat him again if he tried anything funny.
"Hello Simon" Ilia said. "Hello traitor" he replied. Immediately, a strong hand grabbed his arm and squeezed like an iron vice.
"Say anything stupid again, and I will not hesitate to break a bone or two" the woman told him. "We need some information, Simon" Blake continued. "Then, we will let you all be."
"And why should I tell you anything?" he asked. "Because if you don't it will be barrel time for you all over again. And this time, I will NOT STOP until your ears bleed buddy" the blonde smiled sweetly.
"Fenris will skin me alive, human, if I tell you anything." He turned to the other two girls "like he did with Carlo, for example."
Ilia's eyes shot open. "What? Carlo is-" "Dead. And knowing Gray, I can ensure you his end was not a peaceful one." The chameleon girl looked at Blake, who was visibly saddened.
"How did he find out?" the cat girl asked. "Turns out Ms. Carmel was watching your phones; she sent the recording to Gray and the rest, well, you can imagine them."
"This must be how she knew we were coming to her" Yang turned to Blake. "She must have heard from Cherry about us."
"I agree. And eavesdropping on our communications would be pretty easy for the owner of one of Atlas' biggest communication companies. We played right into her hands."
"If not for Little Cham, we could actually be dead right now!" Yang stood up "where is Fenris? Carmel must be going to him. If we find him, we find Weiss."
"That is something I am not going to tell you even if you torture me. I am sure you can't be as terrifying as him." Yang grabbed the man "try me; I will be more than happy to prove you-"
"Yang" Blake had walked next to her "please calm down. You- you are scaring me right now." She turned and glared at her "good. It means that this little piece of shit will piss his pants then."
"Hey, what's that smell?" Ilia's voice cut both of them off. "What smell?" Yang, visibly annoyed, asked her. "I don't-"
"It's like the air just got musty…and heavy. And there is something sweet lingering around, like blood." The voice had come from Shayne, who had woken up along with Terry and were sniffing around.
Yang threw Simon on them, earning a loud protest from the two wolf men. "Hey" she heard the petite girl say again. "Why are only those trees over there moving?"
The blonde girl quickly inserted a dust shard inside her metal arm's gun. Thank Mr. Polendina for using average military-grade cartridges. "Because something moves behind them" Blake's voice replied.
"Wake everyone up and get inside the armored car" Yang told Simon. "Unless you want to die, that is" Blake added "we can't protect you out here in the open."
The three faunus got up, hands still tied, and tried to move towards the rest of the captives. "Hey guys. Wake up; we really have to go!"
Meanwhile the huntresses were focused on the strange movement. The musty odor became heavier to the point even Yang could smell it.
It reminded her of wet straws piled up on top of each other; and filled in animal corpses. The wind blew heavily and messed up her hair- not even touching Blake's deformed curls.
"Hey guys. Please, wake up." In the background, Shayne and Terry's voices cut off the silence. "We really have to-"
It suddenly appeared. There was no movement, no sound, nothing. As if the strange, sickly sweet wind carried it along, the creature suddenly appeared above the two wolf men.
It was as tall as a house. The body was human-like; dark as if night itself had been infused in it. Long pitch-black clawed arms, resembling tree branches. Black legs ending in hooves made of white glistering bone.
The same white covered its breast, shoulders and groin, but instead of hard armor, it seemed like it was flowing like the remains of a tattered cape.
The worst part was its head, however. It was made of bone and resembled the skull of a stag, with one pair of large horns. Its eyes were pulsing, unlike any other Grimm's, with an abyssal black glow.
Nobody moved. The speed at which the Grimm appeared among them was insane. It lowered its head at the unconscious faunus and sniffed the air.
"RUN AWAY!" Blake was the first to break out of the shock. She raised her borrowed rifle and shot at it, allowing Shayne, Terry and Simon to make a mad dash for the trees.
Ilia followed suit and the monster got penetrated by series of dust-powered large-caliber bullets. Aiming high to avoid hitting the prisoners lying at its feet, they emptied their clips-
As quickly as it appeared, the thing vanished. Without any indication that it got destroyed, it simply disappeared before their eyes.
Yang held her breath "stay vigilant! It may still be around here!" She tried to go after the runaway terrorists, but got distracted by another sound.
A huge gust of wind hit the road, throwing snow and mud upon them. Trees started moving, their branches furiously swaying in the sudden breeze, albeit in a totally unnatural manner.
"Wait! Don't go towards the trees!" she screamed trying to stop the men running to their doom, but to no avail. Simon heard her and stopped "Terry! Shayne! Don't-" His comrades were not that lucky.
A series of vines and branches shot out from the dark part of the forest. They surged and lashed, like primordial claws trying to ensnare their prey.
Ilia stifled a gasp as the protruding vegetation mercilessly snapped and crushed the two men. Their screams of agony were the last thing the survivors heard before their corpses were dragged inside the woods, leaving a horrifying red trail behind them.
"NO!" Simon tried to chase them, but Yang jumped and grabbed him. "Don't be a moron! We have to go and help the others!" she cut his binds "if you try anything stupid, I will kill you" she reminded him.
Braches and vines erupted from the other side of the road as well. They swarmed the area, trying to capture the rest of them. They reached the armored car and grabbed it.
"No you won't! Ilia get them out!" Blake screamed and drew a pair of hunting knives. She dashed towards the deadly appendages to stop their advance.
Flipping her knives, the faunus cut off a pair of branches. Another one impaled her clone, as she sidestepped and cut it off. Two more aimed for her legs but she blinked away again.
Meanwhile, Ilia had stepped inside the vehicle. She grabbed the first person and- the entire car shook, as a powerful force started moving it. It's dragging the car into the woods!
Yang and Simon reached out to the attacking mass of wood and vine. The man punched, kicked and snapped with fury evident on his face.
Yang, meanwhile, grabbed the car and started pulling. The thing was strong; immensely strong actually. But so was she.
"AAAAA!" she put all her strength in her arms and waist, planting her legs on the ground. The briars' pull stopped and the fiery blonde started stepping back, slowly dragging the captives back to safety.
Three vines let go of the car and launched at her, but Blake was there. She twirled her knives and sliced, allowing her duplicate to get torn apart in order to cut through the last one.
Ilia found her step and started pulling them out one by one, throwing them away from the contested vehicle. She wasn't one for manual labor, but she hoped she could do before Yang gave in.
Unfortunately for them, their enemy didn't show such kindness. The ground shook and hundreds of wooden spikes and stakes raked the earth. They pierced the floor of the armored car, killing all the faunus and grazing Ilia who barely managed to avoid being hit.
"Gurg!" Simon didn't even realize what happened, as his impaled body was risen high, spilling blood all over the snow. Yang was hit by countless attacks and was forced to leave the car.
Blake sliced, cut and evaded. Her semblance was trying to keep her alive but her vision was blurry from the insane amount of white, brown and blood red swirling around her.
"Ilia get out!" she heard Yang scream. She activated her ability and performed a series of consecutive jumps to reach her partner.
Tears in her eyes as she stared at the corpses of the people she failed to save, the chameleon rolled off the car and grabbed Yang's arm. She saw that Blake was next to her and that at least made her feel better.
"Hold on tight!" Ilia had barely managed to realize that the blonde woman had pierced her left arm with a small purple dust shard. She instinctively grabbed her waist seconds before she jumped away.
Empowered by the dust and her semblance, Yang landed quite the distance away from the massacre sight. She heard a couple groans from her friends- the only people that made it out of there alive.
"We have to go. Can you walk?" she asked as she stared towards their back. Ilia and Blake mimicked her, rifle and knives at their hands.
The site was a messy mixture of spikes, mist, dust, blood spatters and, well… human parts. A gust of air raked the area and the Stag-headed Grimm appeared as suddenly as before next to Carlo's corpse.
Without even paying attention to them, it lowered its head. The girls' felt a chill running down their spines as it ignored them and silently started devour Carlo's remains.
Yang closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "We have to get out of here, as soon as possible. We don't have anything to gain from fighting it right now" she told the two faunus.
Blake had a sad look on her face, ears flat on top of her head. "I agree; we have no time to waste." Ilia merely nodded, gun aimed towards the opening.
There was nothing more to say. Battered, exhausted and cold, the three women ran away from the atrocious Grimm, their pride and dignity severely damaged.
Behind them, the creature feasted on the corpses, the sickening wind of death whispering behind the trees its only companion.