Main theme: Can't Trust Anybody Now by Jeff Williams
Arc Theme: Deep Stone Crypt from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Theme: Fallen Empire from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
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DOWN
"DOWN!" Emerald cried out as she grabbed Ruby and Jaune and pulled them behind the ruined cars around Gris Square once more, just as-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
{BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM}
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
-The firefight began once more.
white-armoured Providence soldiers let loose lines from their ships and rappelled down onto the floor, letting blue rounds from their rifle roar across the square as some of them landed onto the roofs nearby, kneeling onto one knee and laying down supressing fire onto the black-armoured soldiers below as their fellows landed on the floor and laid down fire from their carbines- ML-15As, Jaune remembered Ruby referring to them as- Filling the world with flashes of blue as the black-armoured soldiers opposing them returned fire, shading the dark word in a violent violet.
After pulling them to cover, Emerald (How was she here? Why was she here?) Ducked down to behind the car with Jaune and Ruby, and-
{BANG BANG BANG}
-Fired off a trio of rounds into the black-armoured soldiers on the other side of the square, before frowning as another pair of SWAT vans drove into the back of the square- One of them even-
{CRASH}
-Smashing into the side of an abandoned car- Before the dozen SWAT officers from each car, dressed in tactical gear and armed with shields and rifles, stormed out and across the square, providing covering fire for the black-armoured soldiers near them.
More corrupt officers, it would seem.
"Dammit!" Emerald hissed as Gris Square returned to chaos once more, heat and flares of light flying through the air as she turned to Jaune and Ruby next to her, "We need to move-"
Nearby, a corrupt SWAT trooper with a shield and a pistol flanked them, and raised his gun to shoot them.
"-MERCURY!"
{SLAM}
{SNAP}
Suddenly, the boot of a silver-haired boy, around Emerald and Jaune's age and wearing a grey and black two-tone zipper jacket with black trousers, connected with the neck of the SWAT trooper, snapping it, and forcing the corpse down onto the floor.
Ruby looked like she wanted to throw up at the sight, but Jaune didn't pay it any mind (It hurt slightly that he was numb to it) As he turned to face Emerald's friend(?)- 'Mercury', it would seem- As he asked, "Emerald, what the fuck is this?! Why the fuck are you-"
Emerald picked up a gun from off of the floor and tossed it to Mercury, "Keep us covered, and make sure none of these assholes get around us. I'm getting Orion to safety."
"A-And Ruby!" Jaune found the energy within himself to say as he gestured his thumb to the red-caped girl next to him, "And Ruby as well... Please?"
The girl in question looked frazzled for just a moment, before she patted the side of her head to regain herself, and nodded along with him as well.
Emerald seemed to hesitate, before she scowled, "Fine," and then looked to Mercury, "You understand what I'm telling you to do?"
"Wha- What kind of question is-"
He stopped himself as he ducked down the car opposite them, just as-
{BANG BANG BANG}
-A trio of green rounds flew though where he had been standing. If he hadn't moved, he would've been killed.
"Ugh, fine!" Mercury shouted out to Emerald over the carnage, "But I want an explanation after all of this!"
"That depends on if I feel like it," Emerald coolly retorted, before looking down to Jaune and his bloody, broken ankle, and asking, "Can you move?" not 'Are you alright?', because it was a redundant question.
"Yeah," he winced as he moved his leg, his foot loose underneath his ankle, swaying to the side as it dribbled blood, "I can move," he didn't go into detail. It would just make it more painful for him if he did, if only on a psychological level.
"Can you move quickly?" Emerald asked with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah," another wince. He didn't actually know if he could move quickly with a broken ankle. He'd probably just make it worse, in all honesty. But, right now, it didn't matter, "I can move as quickly as you'd like."
Emerald didn't seem to buy it at all, looking from him to his red-stained ankle repeatedly, before she conceded with a grim nod, and then turned to look down at the battlefield around her, just as-
{VWOOSH}
-The smoke around them turned a glowing purple, shading the square in an even greater violet hue than before.
"The hell?" Emerald muttered, before looking backwards at their end of the square and spotting the blonde woman with the black and purple cape raising what looked like a riding crop into the air and casting from it a purple shine.
So, magic was a thing now, it would seem, just like with Ruby and her rose petal bull crap.
Questions for later.
"T-Telekinesis!" speaking of the devil, Ruby piped up with a nervous stutter as she gestured first to the blonde-haired woman, and then to the glowing purple smoke around them, "That's what her semblance must be! She lifted the soldiers up into the air with it earlier! She must be a Huntress."
Emerald frowned (For some reason) And drawled out dryly, "Great," before shaking her head and going, "Whatever. She's about to do something, and when she does, we move out," she then looked down to Jaune and Ruby, and asked, "What are we looking at in terms of aura? Can you two use yours?"
"M-My aura's out," Ruby confessed with a shaking voice, "I used it all up pulling Jaune along, trying to- Trying to escape from the bad guys."
"I..." Jaune looked down at his feet, ashamed of himself, "I-I don't know what aura is," seriously, if he had known that this aura thing- Whatever it even was- Was important to becoming a Huntsman, he would've looked into it more.
Well, he tried to, but of course his sisters would be making sure that he didn't go onto specific online sites about being a Huntsman. Said that they were all 'Fake news'.
Maybe now he could start looking at those sites. See if there was anything important that he was kept from.
There probably was, in all honesty, but he would like to look and confirm it anyways.
Ruby looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes, as if he had just asked something that should be obvious, but Emerald didn't even make any serious note of it. She just nodded, "Right," and then looked to the side street nearby, "When I say go, we run. You follow me, and you don't stop running," it was an order, not a question. Jaune and Ruby nodded in agreement to her, before she turned to Mercury next to her, "Merc, you keep us covered as we move. Got it?"
Another trio of green rounds slammed into the car hood near them, and Mercury just growled in response as he fiddled with the gun in his hand, "Got it."
"Good," Emerald nodded to him, before turning back to Jaune and Ruby, and asked, "Any questions?"
Yeah, a lot. Why was she here? What's happened since Jaune last saw her? What happened after Tipoca? Was she a Huntress now?
A million more questions after those began to circle around in his head as he looked at the first friend that he had ever made, now suddenly before him, and suddenly stronger than ever.
TRUTH
TRUTH
TRUTH
TRUTH
TRUTH
TRUTH
TRUTH
TRUTH
He needed to know the truth behind all of this.
But, at the moment, none of those questions mattered. Not in the middle of a warzone. They could wait for later.
"No," Jaune said to her, "None."
"S-Same here," Ruby stuttered out with a raised hand, flinching for a second as a bullet flew through the shattered car window above, flicking down stray shards of glass into her hair.
"Good," Emerald said, before looking out to the glowing purple smoke around them, "Now, wait..."
Then, suddenly, the purple smoke began to swirl around the,, before collecting into the air-
"Wait..."
-And then flying back into the soldiers on the other side of the square.
"GO!"
As the soldiers opposite them were blinded by the white and black cloud around them, with the SWAT and corrupt officers coughing from all of the carbon dioxide invading their lungs, Jaune, Ruby, Emerald, and Mercury jumped up onto their feet and out of cover, Emerald and Mercury's guns spraying into the fog and the blinded enemies within as they ran with their charges towards the side street nearby.
With every step on his crumpled ankle- With every scrape of bone and wad of splattered blood that wept from his wound, Jaune hissed, whimpered, and bit down the searing, biting pain stabbing at him like a knife, his foot twisting and flailing with each wild step as he moved. Tears streamed down his eyes and mixed with the dried blood that had been splattered onto his face from the dust store before, as each step from his wounded leg became more and more like a stumble and shuffle.
It hurt, to sum it all up.
It hurt like hell.
Next to him, Emerald seemed to notice as she ran up next to him, "Orion."
He took in a sharp breath through his teeth as he continued to run and stumble, and then said, "Y-Y-Yeah?"
"Shield."
Ah. He saw what she meant.
Jaune pulled out his shield Crocea Mors, extended it outwards into its shield form, and thrust it to his side, facing the other side of the square covered in slowly dissipating smoke, his once-white now blood-stained red cloak trailing behind him, weighed down by still-wet blood as Emerald ducked behind him and his shield, positioning her guns between the sides of his shield, and-
Ah. Again.
-Worming her arm underneath him, pushing him upwards and supporting him as they moved through the thick of the fight around them.
"Ah- Emerald!" Jaune yelped out as they moved, a round whizzing past them as they moved, "What are you-"
"I'm helping you."
"You shouldn't-"
"But I am," Emerald cut in with, "You're in pain, you can't move, and I'm-" whilst she was talking, she let a pair of rounds fly out from her revolvers, "-Helping. You have a problem with that?"
"I-I-"
"No, you don't."
Jaune couldn't help but gape in confusion at her. Emerald seemed so... Different, than he known her before.
What had changed?
He supposed that in a way, she was still the same, yet had also changed a lot. After all, it had been, what, a decade since they had last seen each other? Yeah, a decade. And, from what he could tell when they went their separate ways... She hadn't been as lucky as he had.
Life on the streets changed people. Some more than others. Jaune knew that, so it was clear to him that she had stayed on those same streets longer than he had, so of course she had changed so much (And yet had stayed the same as well).
What confused Jaune was to why she was in Vale, now. After all, the last time that they had seen each other, they had been in Mistral, within the city of Kuchinashi, with Emerald sneaking onto a Bullhead to escape to Vacuo after they left the burning husk of Tipoca (Which was his fault, really). Had she taken the wrong Bullhead, or had she indeed gone to Vacuo, and then hitched a ride to Vale? Where had she found her weapons? Or made them. The last weapon that she had found was the knife that she had... Yeah. So where had she found her new weapons? Had she been found by a Huntsman or Huntress? Was she training to be one? Is that why she was in Vale? Who was her-
Nearby, the sniper that had been leading the people attacking them leapt out of the smoke, and raised his rifle to bear.
Emerald saw this, and tried to pull Jaune back down to cover, "Orion! Get down-"
{BANG}
One rifle round bounced off of his shield in a green flash, leaving a smoking scorch mark on his shield and throwing him off kilter as he and Emerald were left exposed, out in the open, and-
{BANG}
Everything seemed to go in slow motion for Jaune.
A green flash erupted from the rifle of the sniper, the bullet turning and coiling in the air as it sped towards them.
Towards Emerald.
Right towards the space between her eyes.
A killing blow.
In an instant, Jaune lurched forwards and pushed Emerald down to the floor and out of the way of the shot, just as-
{CRACK}
-His ankle gave way once more in a splatter of blood, leaving him falling forwards, and-
NO!
"ORION!"
{SLAM}
The bullet slammed into his head.
He was send flying to the floor, blood pouring from the long gash across the side of his head as he-
{THUD}
-Banged his head into the car nearby, and collapsed to the ground below.
His eyes closed, and darkness overtook him...
And the voices?
WE BEGIN IN EARNEST
Ruby's day was going terribly.
Well, actually, it had been going well at first. She had had a good day in Signal Academy, she had seen her sister off for the day (She really should've gone with her earlier, shouldn't she?), She'd visited her favourite weapon's shop in Vale- And talked to Winry along the way (And actually held a real conversation with somebody. Now wasn't that the biggest prize of all?)- And she had even made a new friend along the way. A fellow cape-wearer like her, in fact!
A cape-wearer that held her symbol on the back of his very white cloak, and seemed to not know anything about what was required to be a Huntsman, or even about the Vytal Festival.
Ruby didn't mean to be offensive if she did, but really, that should've been the first sign.
Soon, she was being shot at in the middle of her favourite dust shop, with other a dozen people dead around her. Then, she and her new friend were chased across half of Vale, only to end up in the middle of a public square and causing the deaths of dozens of people and a gun had been pressed against her head and then she had almost died and-
"ORION!" the green-haired, chocolate-skinned girl with ruby red eyes- 'Emerald', apparently- Cried out as red bolts of light separated her from Jaune, forcing her behind the same car as the silver-haired man- 'Mercury'- And herself.
Right, Jaune wasn't really 'Jaune Arc', was he?
This woman- Emerald- Had called him 'Orion'.
So he had lied about his name? Why? Neither of them were familiar to her (Save for the story about the Two Brothers and the Mother Dragon), So why lie about it? Was it an old name that he just didn't feel the need to mention? Didn't think that it was that important?
Was it something to do with her mother?
All she had were questions, with none of the answers. Nothing made sense about all of this.
Nothing at all.
Nearby, the sniper seemed to falter. Quail. As if he was in shock. He hadn't intended to hit Jaune (Orion?) Then, but hadn't he threatened him before? Hadn't his goons wounded him? Why was he faltering now?
Emerald didn't seem to care at all as she stretched her arm out towards the black-armoured sniper, the green flicker of her aura flaring over her (Her semblance? Was she casting something over him) Before she charged forward to grab at Jaune, and-
Nearby, the sniper shook himself off and raised his rifle once more.
"Emerald, don't!"
Mercury grabbed Emerald's arm and pulled her back, just as-
{BANG}
-A green round flew right where her head just was, and slammed into a broken van nearby in a shower of light and sparks.
"You fucking moron, that guy can see through your illusions!" Mercury threw back to her as he kept her restrained, "His helmet must have thermals, or something!"
Illusions? So that was her semblance? Good to know.
"Let me go!" Emerald squirmed in his grasp, trying to wriggle her arm out of his grip as she growled at him, "I have to get to-"
"Leave him! For god's sake, Em, why is that little idiot so-"
{BANG BANG BANG}
A trio of green rounds soared overhead, and landed on three of the Providence soldiers on the rooftops above.
{BANG BANG BANG}
And then another trio into another three soldiers, and then repeat, then repeat, then repeat.
As several Providence mercenaries fell dead to the floor below, the rest of the soldiers on the ground were forced to give ground and shelter behind cover as behind the sniper and through the fading smoke, their enemies- Black-armoured soldiers, corrupt police, and SWAT Troopers alike- Began to reform themselves and move forwards once more, flinging rounds into the other side of the square, forcing even the blonde-haired Huntress with the riding crop (A unique weapon, truly) And the black and purple cape (A fellow cape wearer, eeeee!) To duck down to cover as red flares of light sparked against the cars and buildings behind them.
And then, over the chaos, the electronically-muffled voice of the sniper cried out, "Only one way out, little Rose! Now, make your move!"
Emerald and Mercury scrunched their faces in confusion, but Ruby froze up in fear as she remembered their goal:
They were here for her. They wanted her.
All of this violence and death was because of her.
"'Little Rose'?" Emerald muttered in confusion, "Who the hell is 'Little Rose'?"
"...That's me."
Emerald and Mercury both blinked, and then looked to Ruby, as her cloak, still heavy with wet blood, weighed her down.
"My last... Name is... Rose... They're after me."
What were they going to do? They're Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training, right? They both are, right? They'd help her. They had to. It was what a Huntress was supposed to-
A hand grabbed her by the neck, choking her as it clamped down around her windpipe, before-
{BANG}
"ACK!"
-She was slammed into the side of car they were behind, with a pair of blood-red eyes glaring at her through narrowed, angry eyes.
"Then what the fuck is stopping me from handing you over to them, and taking Orion away from here?"
"I-"
"Better yet: What's stopping me from just killing you myself, right here, right now?"
The hand around her throat tightened, and Ruby croaked out, "P-Please, I-"
{KER-CLICK}
Emerald levelled one of her guns to Ruby's chest, and pressed it against her left breast, where her heart would be.
"Give me a good reason."
"Please... I..."
Emerald's finger teased the trigger.
Ruby's ragged breathing began to grow erratic- Faint- As Emerald's hand continued to clamp down on her throat, her own fingers clawing at Emerald hand, each drag of the nail against her skin creating chalk-like lines in her flesh as her feet writhed on the ground and her face began to turn pale then purple as bullets continued to fly past her and spark against the metal around her and something wet soaked her legs and feet and-
Ah. She's just wet herself in fear.
Think, Ruby, think think-
Emerald's eyes narrowed, and her grip on Ruby's neck tightened.
Think
Think
Think
Think
Think
Think
Think
Think
An idea came into her mind.
It was an awful idea, but she wanted to live.
So, she took in as much breath as she could, and yelled out:
"J-Jaune would be mad at you!"
Emerald blinked in surprise, and her grip around her neck lessened just a little bit, "What?" the green-haired girl didn't even seem to notice the rounds continuing to fly around them as she looked at Ruby with suspicious, analysing eyes.
"He... He's a nice boy..." Ruby stuttered out through choked, ragged breaths, "He wouldn't... He wouldn't be happy with you... Killing me..."
Ruby's own eyes narrowed intensely.
"Would he?"
Ruby hated this.
She hated being this... Manipulative.
She hated toying around with other people's feelings like this.
But as Emerald seemed to waver, pulling her hand from her throat and the gun from her chest, she knew that it had been effective.
"Fine," Emerald sneered, before ducking her head back down as the bullets continued to fly past them, allowing Ruby to collapse against the dented car behind her, her mind dazed and her breath recovering as she massaged the bruising skin around her neck, before pulling her cape's hood over her head, tears streaming around her face as she pulled her wet knees to her chest and began to rock in place
Around her, the bullets continued to fly and whizz past, screams of the dying punctuating the air and mixing together into the cacophony of the battle of Gris Square.
Nearby, the body of a Providence mercenary dropped to the ground, a smoking hole in his neck that wept a trail of blood.
Further away, another car exploded, spraying flaming shrapnel across the ground around it as a pair of corrupt SWAT Troopers far enough away from the explosion to not be affected by the overpressure were felled by gunfire, their blood spraying over the ground behind them as they crumpled dead to the floor.
Up above, the attack shuttles of Providence continued to hang in the air, one of them lowering its frontal cannons down to the ground and-
{KA-CHOOM}
-Spraying twin green bolts of light into the ground below, right where their nameless enemy was-
{BOOM BOOM}
-Scattering
All Ruby could do, in response to all of this chaos and death around her- All of the screaming and burning horror, the dead and the dying- Helpless, and without a weapon of any kind, was catch her breath through gasping gulps of air, and looked back to the downed Jaune nearby.
Jaune... Please wake up... Please...
JAUNE
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
What... Where are... Where am I?
What's... What's going on?
JAUNE...
…Yes?
TRUST ME
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Okay
…
FOR IT IS IN PASSING THAT WE ACHIEVE LEGENDS
AND IT IS IN LEGENDS THAT WE SAVE THOSE WE LOVE
AND IT IS IN LOVE THAT WE BECOME THE HEROES OF OUR LEGACIES
THROUGH THE DARKNESS, BE THE LANTERN THAT GUIDES THEM THROUGH THE NIGHT
THROUGH THE COLD, BE THE FIRE THAT GRANTS THOSE YOU LOVE WARMTH
IF THEY ARE WITHOUT A HOME, BE THAT WHICH GRANTS THEM SHELTER
IF THEY ARE WITHOUT COMPANY, BE THAT WHICH GRANTS THEM FAMILY
AND IF THEY ARE WITHOUT HOPE, BE THAT WHICH SAVES THEM FROM DESPAIR
ONCE LOST WITHOUT PURPOSE, AND NOW WITH PURPOSE FOUND ONCE MORE
I RELEASE YOUR SOUL
AND WITH YOU EVER STEP OF THE WAY
SAVE THEE IN NEED
Emerald fidgeted with the revolvers in her hands, and then looked to both Orion and Ruby, "You two cover me! I'm going to grab Orion!"
"Oh, don't you fucking dare!" Mercury yelled at her as nearby, Orion wriggled and writhed unconsciously- He was still alive, oh thank the gods- Whilst bullets and blasts continued to fly across the square, "If you go out there, you'll die! You will die!"
"I don't care!" she really didn't. Not at the moment, at least.
"I do!" Mercury seemed to backtrack on himself as he crinkled up on himself in embarrassment, before retorting to her, "And Cinder would be angry at you if you do die here."
…
That got Emerald to pause, if only for a moment.
In truth, ever since she had found Orion in the streets of Vale only a few hours ago, she hadn't given a single thought to Cinder, or how she would react to all of this. Emerald had revealed herself to the public- And to Orion and whoever his red-cloaked friend was- And had dragged Mercury out into the open with her. Not only that, but she had almost been killed in this fight against whoever these people are, had exposed her fighting style and possibly her semblance to them as well, and may have just made a new enemy of Cinder in these attackers as well. And that wasn't even going into the possible response that the Huntsmen of Beacon might make in response to all of this.
How would Cinder respond to all of this?
She didn't know, and that absolutely terrified her.
Emerald's hesitation was enough for Mercury to capitalise on as he then went, "Yeah, Cinder would get mad at you. She's probably mad at you already for getting us both into this mess!"
Emerald winced, and looked away.
Mercury was right (Though she wouldn't admit that to him). Cinder probably was mad. Angry. Beyond angry, even. Emerald had been lucky in never seeing her like that before, but... The way that she had threatened both the White Fang and the now-deceased Roman Torchwick into submission...
She didn't dare think about it.
"Now you get it," Mercury fired back.
Nearby, Orion's body glowed. Amidst the chaos, neither Emerald, Mercury, or Ruby noticed.
Nor did they notice one of the corrupt police officers, armed with an automatic rifle, move around the side of the square, trying to flank around them as he weaved around the broken and smoking cars, provided covering fire by his allies as finally, they began to dwindle in their numbers, slowing dropping dead, one by one, though the officer didn't seem to concern himself with this at all. If anything, it just seemed to spur him on.
But none of the others noticed that at all, of course. They were too busy trying to make a plan for themselves.
"What the hell do you propose we do, then?" Emerald fired back with as she reloaded Thief's Respite, "I'm not leaving Orion behind! Not while he's still alive! He'll die without me!"
"We'll die here either way," Mercury retorted back. She wasn't going to budge, why couldn't he see that? "Now, you can either stay here and die for some dumb blond kid, or-"
"He's not some random kid! He's my friend!"
"And I'm not going to let you kill yourself over him! So shut the fuck up, and let's-"
Nearby, the corrupt officer from before made himself known by standing tall, and raising his gun to them.
Mercury and Emerald's eyes widened in panic.
And then-
{BANG}
…
…
…
…
{THUD}
The body of the corrupt police officer fell to the ground, slamming its head into the car next to it, and then coming to a halt on the floor below. Blood began to pool out of the hole in his head as his eyes went dull, and the faint trail of smoke emerging from the hole faded more and more, before finally going cold.
Time slowed to a halt. It was like the world around them had frozen still. Even the enemy that they were facing- Or hiding away from, more like- Seemed to grind to a halt, the sniper leading them lowering his weapon in clear surprise, if Emerald were to judge by his body language.
There, suddenly standing up, and over the corrupt cop's still-warm corpse, with blood covering his face from a glowing gash in his forehead that was sealing itself up, and an ankle that was being healed and forced back into place on its own, cricking and cracking sickeningly along the way, was Orion himself, his eyes wide with the realisation that he had just killed someone, as the random pistol that he had picked up off of the ground leaked smoke from its cooling barrel.
Then, time picked up once more.
The sniper seemed to recover himself as he raised his rifle once more, only for Orion to wheel himself around, as if someone had warned him to do so-
Ah, so he was still dealing with the voices in his head, then. She thought that she could sense them around him again.
-Aim the pistol in his hands at the sniper, and-
{BANG BANG BANG}
-Fired off several rounds at the black-armoured attacker, forcing him down to cover as Orion continued to fire.
His shots were messy and wide, and he looked like he was seconds away from letting go of the gun in his hands from the recoil alone. But, his actions allowed Emerald to get up onto her feet and-
{BANG BANG}
-Send off her own rounds as well, joined by the remaining Providence mercenaries around them, allowing them to regain control of the fight, and force their enemies back on the retreat.
Behind his cover, Emerald could hear the sniper speak through his electronically-muffled voice, "This fight is no longer advantageous," and heard him attach something to his rifle. From behind their cover, Emerald could make out the rest of the black-armoured soldiers, few as they were now, doing the same to their own rifles.
Then, suddenly, the sniper poked himself out of cover, aimed his rifle up to one of the Providence airships in the air- The slim one, not the fat one with the dorsal fin and cargo bay- And-
{TWIP}
-Fired a cable from his rifle into the hull of the ship above, followed by cables from the other black-armoured soldiers as well.
"Salem sends her regards, little Rose."
The blonde-haired Huntress with the riding crop and the black and purple cape froze in fear at the sniper's words for only a moment.
"Until next time."
It was a moment too long, as the sniper suddenly flew into the air, ascending on his cable towards the ship above, followed by his subordinate soldiers behind him, as he attached himself to the ship and breached the open door at its front, his soldiers following behind him.
Emerald, Orion, and the remaining Providence mercenaries with them, fired blindly at the ship above wriggled in the air, almost loosing control of itself as green lights flashed within the ship itself, before it spun itself around, and-
{KA-CHOOM}
-Fired a green bolt of light into the side of the fat ship next to it, cutting off part of its wing in a cloud of sparking fire and smoke, and forcing it-
{CRASH}
-To land on one of the flat rooftops nearby, scraping up the ground as it went before it spun around once more, and-
{VWOOSH}
-Flew away.
Down below, the corrupt officers and SWAT Troopers flicked something in their mouths, and collapsed to the ground, foaming from the mouth. They must've had cyanide pills stored away in their mouths. Maybe behind a fake tooth.
Silence fell over Gris Square once more, this time for real. Sparks and flames burned from cars around them as the holographic lights of the square flickered on and off, giving blue light to mix with the hadean glow of the fires around them, smothered by the blackening smoke that began to rise into the air once more, whilst in the distance, sirens blared and began to grow closer and closer, mixed with the faint barking of dogs and the howling of scared civilians nearby. The ground was smothered red and black with blood and ash, mixing together into an ugly tapestry of violence and death as bodies were stained red, as was the shards of glass and shrapnel, creating islands of detritus within seas of blood as those who were left in their homes around the square looked through their doors and windows, wondering if the violence was finally over.
Emerald walked over to Orion's side, and gently nudged him in the arm, "Hey."
"Y-Yeah," he looked lost. Staring up into the sky. Perhaps the reality of the situation- The reality of the fact that he had just killed a man- Was finally catching up to him.
"I think we won."
"R-R-Really?"
"...Yeah."
And then Orion collapsed into her arms.
Whoever was in that ship- Whoever their attackers were- They were sure to try and kill them again. It was what their leader had said.
But for them- Now- The battle was over.
Reviewer response time:
Xealchim: Would you believe me if I said that the bank scene was massively inspired by The Dark Night?
ReDestrobo: Destabilisation is definitely part of their plans, but there is so much more going on than just that. And people didn't know who Raven was in the lore? I thought that it was common knowledge. My idea was that people knew who she was, but not where she was. I mean, Anima has to he around the size of Europe and Asia combined after all, if you look on the maps. It's one hell of a big continent to get lost in.
VV: I haven't seen Code Geass (Then again, I haven't seen most mainstream anime) But thanks for the compliment. And yeah, the Cult of Silver are going to definitely be a much more 'In the shadows' organisation than in the previous version, hiding behind proxies and feint attacks. I would say that they serve as a direct parallel to the Ascendant Court in my other fic Ascendancy: Whereas the Cult now favours espionage and manipulation, the Ascendant Court are all about pure brute force.
And here we are, the end of the battle, but not the end of this arc. Next chapter will be all about the aftermath of this fight.
So until then, leave a review, follow, favourite, and I shall see you all then!
Titanmaster117 out!
