High above the Coliseum, a great battle raged on. While many of the avian Grimm had been drawn towards the gathering below the others swarmed the three Atlesian battleships watching over the event from above, three nevermore clung to the far right ship their talons and beaks attempting to break through the ship's hull and to the men inside with little to no success.
"Damn it" The fleet commander growled as his ship shuddered. He was a dark-skinned man with greying brown hair and a well-trimmed moustache, wearing one of the standard Atlesian naval officer uniforms. The video feed from the Coliseum cut off, turning back towards the main console he opened a channel to the other two vessels under his command.
"This is blue four. Blue's Two and Three, fall into defensive positions." he ordered
"Roger. Blue three in position" The ships pilot responded, although the other ship remained silent, something wasn't right.
"Blue Two. What's your status?" He ordered
/
"Blue Two, come in" The Commander's distorted voice echoed through the ships empty command deck. A lone Atlesian soldier dragged himself across the command deck towards the scroll laying a few feet away clutching his left side as a trail of red began forming behind him.
His fingers grazed the edge of the device when a boot slammed down onto his hand the grunt gasped in pain his head tilting up to the perpetrators a monster right out of his worst nightmares and his multicolored accomplice the ones that had slaughtered his comrades, just in time to see the blade plunge down.
Psycho Gold pulled his spear from the body beneath him before turning his attention back towards the controls, typing away at the console he pulled ups several camera feeds from across the ship, most notably its holding cells. "Neo" Psycho gold said drawing the diminutive woman's attention " He's on cellblock C level five, I'm unlocking the way for you now. I'll deal with the pest, give Roman my best won't you"
Neo smiled, nodding her head to the Psycho ranger she turned and made her way out of the command deck and into the elevator to the right the doors shutting behind her. Gold turned his attention back towards the console, the airship shuddered once more gaining altitude as it turned towards the others, the ships com channel came back to life a moment later.
"Blue Two! What the hell are you doing"
Psycho gold activated the comm relay on his end as a bright red cross-hairs appeared on the main screen showing the weapons were locked on the remaining two ships "Blue Two is no longer with us I'm afraid, only me, Goodbye" he said
/
"Grimm!" Ruby cried pointing skywards as a nevermore attempted to break through the energy barrier and into the arena below, the avian Grimm's assault on the barrier only furthering to fuel the growing panic throughout the Coliseum as thousands of people attempting to flee.
"All the negativity must have attracted them." Ren said rising to his feet. Looking out towards the crowd frowning at what he saw " All this panic isn't helping matters either if this doesn't stop more Grimm will show up."
"That's easier said than done" Weiss replied eyeing the chaos around them as people shoved past one another desperately trying to make their way to the air docks." Civilians panicking, that's normal. A level nine attack on the other hand, that hasn't happened in any kingdom since... since, I don't even know." Weiss looked to her teammates and friend a rare look of fear on the heiresses face. "There's never been this magnitude of Grimm recorded, ever."
The implications of those words were lost on nobody, Vale had never face an invading force of this size anytime throughout its history, they doubted anywhere else had and survived to tell of it, no doubt Atlas and Beacon were doing all they could to hold back the massive hoard, thought the steady growing presence of Grimm surrounding the coliseum painted a rather bleak picture on how that was going.
"Doesn't matter" Alex spoke up
"He's right." Blake said rising to her feet beside him "We need to get Pyrrha and the other and help with the evacuation."
"We have to stick together" Weiss reminded them "We still don't know who's behind this or if the Psycho Rangers might take advantage of this."
Ruby's eyes widened in horror. "Yang and Koan are still at Beacon, we have to hurry and get back there."
"We will." Alex said placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder "But right now there are people here that need us first. If anything does go down, they'll have Ben and Rook as backup."
Ruby nodded if a little nervously "R-Right."
"Our lockers are enroute." Weiss said staring down at her scroll tracking her team's weapons mid-flight.
"Ours too" Jaune replied
"Great, we just have to hold out unti-" Weiss was interrupted by the sound of a glass-like substance shattering above, and to their collective horror the nevermore burst through the barrier shielding the civilians from the Grimm. Several of the atlas Ak-200's turned their weapons skyward as did the trouper accompanying general Ironwood opening fire on the new threat, though the Grimm paid them little mind circling the arena once before converging on the only real landing site available, the arena below.
Directly in front of Pyrrha, Penny and General Ironwood, the impact blowing them across the arena, the soldiers accompanying the general were knocked out on impact with the arena floor. Rising back to his feet Ironwood quickly put himself between two girls and the nevermore as more avian Grimm began to stream through the opening in the barrier.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called in horror, Alex vaulted over the railing a moment latter Jaune moving to follow.
"Didn't you hear me, we can't afford to split up!" Weiss said.
"My partners down there!" Jaune snapped back "She's already split up from the rest of us and now so is Alex." The blond Knight shoved past the heiress and disappeared over the railing behind Alex. Ren and Nora shared a glance with one another before they too vanished over the edge. The rest of the audience continued to flee, with several students a certain monkey-tailed Faunus and his partner among them, attempting to make their way through the crowd towards the battle happening below.
"I can't believe this!" Weiss said slamming a hand down on the railing " Am I the only one who realizes Alex is the only one of us who is armed."
"I don't think they care." Coco said, glancing down at her own scroll impatiently
"Where's Emerald?" Weiss asked in concern.
"Bitch gave me the slip." Coco responded clenching her fist. "Alex wasn't wrong about her either, the second she saw me she backed up into the crowd and then there were twelve of her. By the time I realized what really happened she was already gone."
"Forget about her. Right now, we need to stick together" Blake said " We could do that on our own with just the five of us, or we can get down there and stick together as eleven."
"Blake has a point" Velvet piped in "Were strongest together."
"Alright then, what do you say Ruby." Blake asked turning to the young leader. Ruby looked around panicked, but they all stood ready waiting for her command even Coco and velvet. None of their classes had ever covered something like this, not in their first year, she doubted any of the teachers thought something like this was possible.
And yet here they were, the world in chaos and no one else to give them answers, this was up to her.
"Let do it." Ruby said approaching the railing." Once we're all together we can start helping with the evacuation, then make our way to Beacon and protect it. Professor Ozpin will know what to do from there... He has to." A blinding white light shone from the center of the arena a moment later, forcing them to shield their eyes.
"What the hell was that!" Coco yelled as the light faded
/
The Academy shook as Koan rounded the corner sprinting in the direction of the academies infirmary, he'd left Yang's room to go grab some more snacks from the cafeteria when the fight between Pyrrha and Penny looked like it had toned down a little. On his way back, he'd noticed a large crowd gathering inside one of the student common rooms and moved to investigate.
Well over a dozen students were crowded around the monitor as the woman delivered her message to the entire planet, the sirens had started blaring a few moments and not long after, all hell broke loose.
While many of the teachers had departed from the academy to aid in the defense of the city several bullheads bearing the emblem of the White Fang docked at Beacons airport the second there doors opened Grimm poured from the aircraft and onto the academy grounds, the few soldiers that remained to watch over the academy were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of Grimm, quite literally dropped on them.
Rounding the corner Koan reached into his back pocket Koan pocket the two gold bracelets he'd taken from the locker room. Pulling out his plumber's badge "Ben, Rook where are you guys." Gunfire echoed over the com channel before Rooks' face came into view.
"Auditorium" he replied followed by a large explosion in the background.
Chroma stone, one of bens transformations stepped into view firing energy bolts at a small squadron of White Fang and Xborgs taking cover behind the large statue in the center of the courtyard.
His body was dark purple, with several dark lines and spots, he wore a green jumpsuit with white stripes on the waist and green-and-white striped gauntlets on his wrists and legs. His hands and face were formed from a magenta crystal, with shards on his back, two on his chest, and one on the top of his head resembling a horn with four smaller spikes running along the side of his head. His face consists of a mouth and one large green eye at the center.
"Were pinned" Ben replied raising his left arm to shield his face from debris as a bright red beam struck the pillar, he was taking cover behind" We'll try and hold them here, what about you?"
"I'm going to find Yang and get her out while there's still time. Has there been any sign of... them?" Tone asked his tone growing more serious.
"The Psycho Rangers were not present for the initial attack." Rook said, leaning around the pillar he fired towards a group of White Fang forcing them back behind cover. "Though I would advise you stay on guard, in the event they do show themselves."
"You don't have to tell me twice. Be careful out there, from the looks of things the White Fang may have breached the southern and western wings of the academy." Rook informed before leaning out of cover, firing an energy bowl at a small group of white fangs that had attempted to flank them, binding the squad together while delivering a small electronic shock rendering them unconscious.
"Got it, you guys stay safe out there, ok. " Koan replied before the feed cut off, pocketing the badge he continued on down the hall growing closer to his destination by the second, but as he did the sounds of violence only grew louder, along with a few muffled voices. Skidding to a halt Koan hugged the wall glancing around the corner, glancing around the corner his eyes landed on three white fang grunts each armed with a Laser lance. "Shit" Koan cursed under his breath.
"Did you hear that." The female Faunus of the group asked the two dark red fox ears peeking out from under her hood twitched slightly as they attempted to locate the source of the noise. The two Faunus behind her raised their rifles approaching the end of the hallway cautiously. None of their brethren were meant to be on this floor, so that left only two options for them, more humans that needed to be dealt with or one of the 'allies' their leader had mentioned, the ones responsible for their new weapons.
A bright crimson flash shone from around the corner causing the three Faunus to burst into a sprit, rounding the corner they raised their new rifles as they confronted the unknown combatant.
The three grunts froze as a dark figure rose above them it's three pulsing red eyes staring down at them menacingly, the creature let out an earthshattering roar as it thrust its left arm forward, several vines burst forth three of which wrapped around the barrels of the white fangs weapons tearing them from the Faunus grasp, the remaining four vines lashed out wrapping around the three unlucky Faunus coiling tightly around their bodies.
The beast whipped its arm to the side bringing the captured White Fang members with it, their bodies crashed into the stone walls the vines holding them burrowing into the wall coiling and expended around the grunts body's trapping them in a cocoon of green until only their head remained free. The captured Faunus attempted to break free but froze as the creature stepped into the light looming over them, the simplest way they could describe it was, a walking tree
It's massive upper body slouched forward resting on its knuckles, moss, mushrooms and other forms of vegetation clung to its form sprouting out of its upper back and chest, concealing its ruff bark-like hide beneath, resting between its shoulders were two hollow trunks, expelling a pungent green mist into the air, as the monster drew breath.
The creatures head was tiny in comparison with its body with three pulsing red eyes, one present on each side of its head while the third was located on its forehead, it's mouth split into four separate mandibles revealing rows after rows of serrated white teeth and a long slender tongue, the Nemetrix resting around its slender neck.
A low growl slipped from the Methaurside as it passed the White fang members daring them to make a move. They did no such thing, the three sat silently in their cocoons frozen with fear as it strolled passed them, only when the creature rounded the corner did, they all release a shaky breath in unison.
Koan continued down the hallway his massive form shaking the school's foundations, the floorboard beneath his feet creaking as they struggled to support his new forms weight, their protest ceased as a crimson flash enveloped him once again. "God those guys are annoying" The blond muttered pushing open the door into the infirmary.
Dashing down the long hallway he skidded to a halt outside Yang's room. "Yang" he called out slamming his fist against the door the electronic lock disabled a few seconds later granting him entry. Yang was sat against the edge of her bed lacing up her combat boots, her hospital gown had been discarded and was replaced by her usual combat attire, minus the jacket that was hooked into the guard at the foot of the bed, circuit sat close by a holographic screen projected in front of him showing a security feed from the hall outside.
"Have you heard anything from the others?" She asked as he closed the door behind him.
"I couldn't get through on my scroll" Koan responded
"Same here" Yang responded her face twisting into a scowl, she glanced out the window towards the Coliseum.
"Ruby will be fine Yang, Alex is with her and the others." Koan reminded her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
" I know" Yang replied, pulling her eyes away from the Coliseum and back towards the others blond. "How are things looking out there?"
"The White Fang are all over the school." Koan said glancing out the window, the sky outside had been blackened by both the large numbers of Grimm and the smoke rising from Vale in the distance. "Ben and Rook are holding most of them back at the auditorium but they won't be able to hold out much longer. What happened to the soldiers meant to be guarding you?"
Yang glanced off to the side her head falling slightly. "When the alert was sounded, they told me to stay put while they went to make sure the infirmary was locked down... I haven't heard back from them since."
"Are you sure you're ok to move?" Koan asked
"I'm fine" Yang responded hopping up from the bed she grabbed her scroll from the nightstand, pulling up the controls for her rocket locker "I just need to get my gauntlets from my locker and I'm set."
"Already taken care of." Koan replied holding out Ember Celica in their compact form towards her, Yang smiled in response, quickly securing them around her wrist pumping her arms she shifted them into their gauntlet form. "Ready when you are." she said
"Good" Koan turned his attention toward circuit "Circuit can you patch us through to the Coliseum or something, what's the situation like up there."
"Not good" Circuit replied as the display split into four separate screens showing a live camera feed of the chaos inside the Coliseum, as Atlas attempted to hold of the Grimm assault as the civilians were evacuated." The Grimm are swarming the coliseum they've already broken through most of their defenses, the soldiers are doing what they can but... It doesn't look good."
"Has there been any word from the others?" Koan asked Circuit shook his head in response.
"What about Adam or Lilly what are they doing about this?" Yang asked
"Lilly is at the Coliseum already, she went there to keep a close eye on the fights after what happened to you" Circuit explained, one of the small screens expanded outwards showing lily fighting off a gryphon, with her signature bow-staff while a group of Atlas soldiers escorted a small group of civilians away from the conflict. "Cam and Cassie are already heading there to help her with the evacuation, the last I heard from them Adam and Aurico is that they were in the city when the attacks started, I haven't heard back from them since."
Yang and Koan shared a glance, that definitely wasn't a good sign.
"What do we do now?" Yang asked, " The others are stuck up there we have to do something?"
"And we will" Koan responded walking towards the window he stared won at the courtyard below, as more Bullheads carrying White fang reinforcements arrived dropping into the school grounds and the rooftops above, Koan's eyes narrowed in response. " If... When the others make it out, they'll be heading straight for Beacon. The White Fang are swarming the docks, Ben and Rook are helping Atlas keep the Fang from pushing further into the school, but when help finally does arrive we need to make sure the ports are clear."
"So, we meet up with Ben and Rook and help them take back the bullhead port, sounds easy enough." Yang responded.
"Are you sure you're up for that?" He asked placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, don't worry about me, the doc was going to discharge me later on today anyway." She said waving his concern off " I'm fine"
"Are you sure?" Koan asked once more, yang rolled her eyes taking a step closer to him "After everything that's happened, you know you don't have to do this, rig- mph!"
Yang's lips were upon his own her hands gripping his collar pushing her body into his own, her half lidded Amethyst eyes stared into his dark ocean blue. Koan's wide eyes began to droop, his arms slowly wormed their way around Yang's waist settled around the small of her back, the chaos of the world around them fading into nothingness.
After what felt like an hour the two blonds pulled away for air Yang pressing her forehead against Koan's staring into his eyes "You and Alex always worry too much, you know that." Yang said
"Grble..." was his reply making her snicker and his face going even redder as he tried to form an intelligent response. Rolling her eyes Yang pressed a finger to his lips shushing him. "I'm doing this, ok. Beacons our home and I'm not just going to sit by and let those bastards get away with this, whether you're with me on this or not."
Koan swallowed thickly, finally managing to get the color of his face under control. Yang stared up at him a slender eyebrow raised expectantly, waiting for any protest he might give, he knew there would be no arguing with her, not at this point, she was stubborn that way... guess that's why he liked her so much.
"I'm with you." Koan replied firmly "But we stick together out there alright, I'm serious."
"You coming with, little guy?" Yang asked turning her attention back to Circuit
"Don't worry about me. If anything goes wrong, I can just Fall back into the morphing grid." Circuit said. "Koan I've connected to your plumber's badge, I still have some control over most of the camera systems that are still active across Beacon, I'll contact you if somethings up."
"Alright." Yang responded sauntering towards the door, cocking her gauntlets " What do you say we show these guys, why it was a bad idea to mess with our school."
/
The nevermore snapped its beak at them, Pyrrha, Penny and Ironwood lept to the side out of the Nevermore's path. Ironwood drew his revolver, his eyes shifted back to Pyrrha and Penny, the taller girl had pulled Penny behind her the remnants of the android girl's swords hovering around them coated in a black aura, angled at the nevermore towering over them.
Ironwood raised his revolver, firing two shots at the Grimm attempting to draw it attention away from the students the first shot impacting the nevermore shoulder the second just above its right eye, the Grimm shook its head the impact of the hit making it stumble back slightly, tilting its head towards James it unleashed an earsplitting screech as it reared back preparing to charge once more.
The general stood firm taking aim at the Grimm once more, pulling back the handle on his revolver. If he should have to die to ensure the students had time to reach a safety, then so be it.
Though it would seem fate had other things in mind, a glowing white missile collided with the nevermore, the Grimm screeched in both surprise and pain as a steel blade slashed into its chest, the figure kicked off the nevermore sending it skidding back across the arena before landing in front of the three of them.
"You want them, you gotta get past me first. " Alex said pointing the longsword gripped in his right hand at the nevermore. The sword's blade was a dark grey with several glowing blue runes engraved on the flat side of the blade leading from the black and grey cross guard to halfway up the full length of the sword.
Although what drew the generals attention the most was the hand gripping the blade, more importantly, the grey armor plating covering his hand and continued to grow up his forearm, forming a white hourglass dial on his wrist, beneath that spreading up to his elbow was a black skin-tight mesh with a hexagonal design that ended at his elbow.
The nevermore rose up once more, taking flight it circled around the arena before diving back down towards the Omni ranger, Alex's grip tightened on the hilt of the sword, shifting into a defensive stance he stared down the approaching Grimm. The Nevermore was struck in the back by one of Beacons rocket lockers, the Grimm cried out in pain as one after another the steel missiles rained down on its form effectively pinning it to the arena floor before the final locker struck it in the back of the head rendering it unconscious.
The lockers sprung open revealing a large array of weapons belonging to various students, including Crocea Mors, Gambol shroud, Ren's Storm flower and Crescent Rose. The owner of said scythe pulled her weapon from its locker and was quickly joined by many others Yatsuhashi, hoisted the large cleaver-like sword over his shoulder, Sage twirled his flintlock while adjusting his grip on his cutlass while his partner sage pulls his own sword from the locker Neptune and Sun stood beside them and was quickly joined by the remaining members of CFVY, ABRN, Flynt coal and Neon Katt of team FNKY and Weiss Schnee and Blake belladonna of Team RWBY, standing alongside one another.
"Those guys certainly know how to make an entrance." Alex muttered resting his longsword over his shoulder, it was definitely a sight to behold, all of them, here, together.
The nevermore began to shift underneath them as it regained consciousness and attempted to rise back to its feet, they weren't about to allow that. Ruby kicked of the nevermore alongside Ren and Blake, twisting mid-air Ruby fired sending a dust round into its left eye, the nevermore reeled back screeching in agony. Ruby landed on the balls of her feet, already moving as the Grimm tried to crush her beneath its talons.
Angling her scythe behind her Ruby fired once more the recoil of her shot pushing her out of the path of the Nevermore's attack, while simultaneously hitting it in its right leg making it stumble allowing Blake and Ren to rush forward peppering the Grimm's body and head with gunfire, several of its shots struck it's already injured eye making it real back in pain allowing Ren to rush past its guard and deliver three slashes along its neck and upper body while Blake slid under its massive form slashing at its exposed underbelly and injured leg forcing it down.
Arslan hooked her rope dart around the Nevermore's neck swinging down to pluck Yatsuhashi off the ground, a black glyph appeared beneath the Nevermore's body trapping it in place, the Grimm began to struggle violently as attacks came from all sides. Taking advantage of its state Nora ran up the back of the Nevermore's neck bringing her hammer down onto its head firing a grenade from her weapon upon impact adding to the force of her blow slamming its head into the stadium floor.
Reaching the peak of her flight Arslan whipped Yatsuhashi into the air, Sage leapt into the air joining him, the two broadsword wielders slashed down onto the back of the Nevermore's neck the force of their strikes doubled by the speed of their decent. The Grimm's neck muscles and bone gave only the briefest of resistance as the two swords tore through its neck decapitating it, it's body crashed to the arena floor and began disintegrating into black particles.
Ruby stepped back from the Nevermore's body glancing around the arena frantically 'Please be alright, please be alright, please be alright.' she repeated in her head before her eyes locked onto the forms of Pyrrha and Penny, the latter sat leaning against the wall of the arena, Alex was knelt down beside them while general Ironwood stood a few feet away pacing back and forth scroll in hand.
Ruby twirled her scythe shifting it back into its compact form, spinning on her heels she sprinted away from the Grimm's carcass a trail of rose petals behind her as she dashed towards two of her closest friends. "Penny!" Ruby cried out skidding onto her knees beside the two redheads. "a-Are you ok!?" She asked frantically her eyes locked on the stump dripping green fluid onto the arena floor.
"I am ok, Ruby." Penny responded offering what she hoped was a comforting smile to her friend " My diagnostics are showing no critical damage to my systems, given time I should be able to recover."
"This is all my fault" Pyrrha muttered "I should have known something was wrong from the beginning"
"Pyrrha you couldn't have known." Alex responded
"You warned us something like this could happen." Pyrrha snapped back at him, her head falling lower " The signs were all there. I should have known something was wrong, I should have seen it sooner, now... Penny, I'm so sorry" Tears threatened to fall From Pyrrha's eyes.
"You're wrong."
All eyes turned towards the source of the voice, and saw Jaune approaching them Miló and Akoúo̱ in hand, stopping in front of them he continued " Whoever was on that microphone... There the ones that caused this, not you. And we have to make sure they don't get the chance to try and take anyone else from us." Jaune held out Pyrrha's weapons towards her, rising back to her feet she took her weapons back from Jaune the two sharing a look of determination with one another.
Weiss coughed " I don't mean to interrupt but Jaune has a point" She gestured to the sky above, several dark shapes flying about the stadium "Most of the spectators have already started evacuating, but we need to figure out what we're going to do."
Penny pushed herself up onto her knees, Ruby reached out wrapping an arm around her friend's waist helping her back to her feet. "Standard procedure dictated students are to aid in the evacuation of civilians in the area before joining them, you are not expected to risk your lives in such a situation."
"What! We can't just run away." Sun said in disbelief
"I know" Penny replied flexing her right shoulder," I said it was standard procedure, although I expected you'd all be combat ready and prepared to fight. Although defending this position is now pointless"
"She's right." Blake responded, " The coliseum's going to be empty soon, we should focus our efforts on getting back to Beacon."
"Beacon" Pyrrha muttered her gaze drifting over to the general knelt down beside his men who had started to come around, their eyes met for a split second before he turned his attention back towards his scroll, even from the distance between them she recognized the caller ID as the headmasters, the general hung up his scroll a moment later before he and his men began making their way towards one of the exits, the general paused glancing back towards Pyrrha sending a nod her way. Was all of this fates way of telling her that what Ozpin had told her, what he had shown her was meant to be her destiny?
" I... I agree" Pyrrha spoke up her voice slowly regaining its confidence" It would be for the best we head back, there are people there who might need our help, not to mention the school itself. There are other stands and stalls down there as well, there could be innocent people watching." She received no argument from the others, the very thought of fleeing hadn't crossed any of their minds, she was certain of that much at least.
"Pyrrha" Alex spoke up sending a concerned look her way "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I don't think there any other way." Pyrrha replied "And if it can help me protect my team. Protect Beacon, then it's well worth the risk."
Ruby shared a look with her teammates, hoping they might have an answer sadly they seemed just as confused as she was.
The moment ended as several roars echoed down from above all eyes turned towards the source, several Gryphon's sat perched on the edge of the Coliseum the leader of the pack stood out the most due to its larger size and more developed armor, there pulsing red eyes locked on the hunters below, the lead gryphons roared once more signaling for its brethren to take flight, heading straight for them.
"Anyone got a plan of attack?" Neptune asked readying his weapon as the gryphons circled them from above. The alpha swooped in low, its eye locked on the smaller group disconnected from the others, standing defensively around Penny. Alex and Ruby moved to intercept the Grimm when suddenly an explosive dust round struck the alpha in the face blasting it aside.
The students all turned to the source, Professor Port and Oobleck.
"Students" Professor Port began "I believe it is best for you to leave"
"Professor, we can still f-" Jaune tried to say
"Mister Arc!" The historian interrupted " This day will surely go down in remnants history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it. So please..." he gestured towards the exit "Do so."
Ruby nodded in response "Let's go." Ruby ordered jogging towards one of the exits leading off the field, followed close behind by the others as the jovial laughter of Peter Port echoed behind them.
"One final match, eh, Bartee!" Peter said standing back to back with his longtime friend and co-worker as the gryphons began to swarm around them. "Ha, Ha! Place your bet's!"
/
Civilians continued to flee in panic towards the air docks, those who were already present crowded around the entrance point to several airbuses Atlesian soldiers stood to the side directing the civilians into the aircraft.
However as more and more civilians arrived, more Bullheads bearing the White Fangs emblem arrived depositing more Grimm into the docking bay. Two Atlesian knights escorting General Ironwood towards his ship effortlessly gunned down an Ursa, before moving forward to deal with the rest. Suddenly one of the white fang bullheads heading for the docking bay exploded mid-flight, scream's erupted from the crowd of civilians as debris rained down on the docking area, followed by a low rumble as something landed on the dock.
As the smoke began to clear the massive lumbering form of a Beowolf Alpha emerged, although what caught the Generals eye the most was the twelve glass cylinders running up it's back connected together by several cables and tubes, the cylinders twisted clockwise followed by a hiss as glowing silver liquid filled them before thrusting down into the Beowolves back.
The Grimm slouched forward it's body shaking rapidly as its muscles flexed and grew in size, vein's bulging across its body, its eyes snapped open glowing vibrantly as it reared back on its hind legs howling to the shattered moon above. The Atlesian knights opened fire, rounds peppering the mutated Beowolves body although their attacks seemed to only annoy the Grimm more than hurt it.
The Grimm lunged forward crushing the first knight beneath its massive form, it's left arm lashed out snatching the second off the ground, slamming the knight into the ground twice before lifting it high above its head, it's massive paws gripped the upper body and legs of the Knight and pulled tearing the android in half with little to no effort.
Ironwoods eyes narrowed, and he began moving towards the altered Grimm drawing his revolver from his coat as he gradually picked up speed, charging the chemically enhanced Grimm. The monster saw him coming and charged towards him on all fours, as the Beowolf pounce the General dropped down sliding under it, raising his revolver he fired two rounds into its stomach.
The Grimm charged Ironwood again, taking three more shots to its body as it closed the distance between them, swiping at the general who lept back out of the way, the Grimm charges at him again reeling its left arm back furrowing its claws before swiping at him once more, Ironwood brings up his right arm blocking the attack, the force behind the enhanced Grimm's blow pushing him down to one knee.
The general grit his teeth in pain, before bringing his gun up and firing into the Grimm's leg, the resulting explosion causing it to go airborne, gripping the Grimm's paw, Ironwood swings it back down onto the ground, dragging the abomination back to its feet ironwood jammed the barrel of the revolver beneath its chin and fire's, the Grimm falls limp in his grasp and Ironwood drops the body and turns to head back towards his ship, he glances back down at his right arm, clenching and unclenching his hand, the movement was much slower and forced then before, perhaps the Beowolves strike did more damage than the first thought .
The Beowolves eyes snapped back open, the chemicals in its system forcing it to fight on. Climbing back to its feet it lunges once more at the General, Ironwood eyes snapped back towards the supposedly dead Grimm, he raises his revolver and fired off two more shots on the third trigger pull, his eyes widen as a resounding click sounds from the weapon acting quickly, he spun his weapon round using the barrel as an impromptu shield against the creatures attack.
A chain lashed out wrapping around the Beowolves neck yanking it back, the large weight attached to the end crashing into its jaw, knocking a few of its teeth out. the chain was grasped in the hands of a blond woman in her late twenties, she slammed her heel down onto the chain keeping it taught as the Beowolf gasped for breath, its paws clawing at the chain tightening around its neck attempted to free itself, taking the chance Ironwood emptied his revolver slotting in a fresh eight rounds.
"Shoot it!" She called out to the General who in response placed the revolver against the Beowolves forehead and emptied his weapon into the monster until nothing remained above its shoulders, the chain retracted allowing the Beowolves body to flop forward burning away into black particles.
Ironwood sighed " Thank you." He said looking back towards the Huntress.
"Don't mention it. " She replied holding her hand out to the general "Name's Lilly."
The general shook her hand in response "James. I take it your one of the others mister Park mentioned"
Lilly chuckled "Is it that obvious?" She asked glancing past the general "Heads up, looks like the cavalry's here." Ironwood turns back to find the students exiting out of one of the arena hallways into the air docks, Ruby nudged Alex's shoulder pointing the general's way the young man eye's flicked to the woman next to him and he seemed to do a double take before moving towards them the others following close behind.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked
"The Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang have invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, some... Vagabond has seized one of my ships." The general said glancing back towards his personal flagship that continued to rain down death on any other that dared grow to close." Until we gain command the skies are out of control."
"Where are you going then?" Alex asked
"To take it back. I understand many of you may have a similar objective in mind." The general answered casting a glance towards Pyrrha though he did not miss the small glare Alex sent his way, stepping onto the ramp of one of the bullheads he paused once more he turned back to address them all. " You all have two choices. Defend your kingdom and your school... or save yourselves." Ironwood said, "No one will fault you if you leave." he added concern present in his tone.
Turning on his heels he boarded the bullhead alongside a squadron of HK200's, for Alex and the other students, there was little thought needed to make their decision. "I mean come on." Sun commented.
"There are a few shuttles still hanging around, we should be able to take one to Beacon." Alex said gesturing to some of the few remaining shuttles still taking on passengers.
"Good a plan as any" Lilly commented as the students sprinted off towards several different shuttles, reaching the entrance ramp to one of the airships Ruby turned her eyes focusing on Beacon in the distance several plumes of smoke rising from the school accompanied by a bright amber glow.
"Ruby" She turned back towards Weiss Blake and Alex standing at the top of the ramp waiting for her. "Let's not keep Yang and Koan waiting." He said, Ruby smirked they were going to find Yang, they were going to save Beacon and nothing out there would stop them.
/
Roman paced back and force in front of the console, so far, the boss ladies plan had gone off without a hitch his position might not have been the most glamorous in the beginning, though at least he was far away from that mess below, the air defenses Goldie had activated also made the possibility of any Grimm interfering in their affairs next to none.
Turning to his multicolored cohort he said: " You know, all these buttons are fun and all..." He droned on waving a hand towards the console "But where's the big one?" he asked. Neo smirked wickedly drawing a custom black scroll from the Atlas uniform she'd "borrowed" from one of the female crew members a few hours prior, holding it out to Roman the master thief smirked.
"Oh, ho, ho" Roman chuckled inserting the scroll into a loss on the control panel " This one of yours Goldie, the boss lady mentioned you were good with tech."
Psycho gold chuckled "He's a friend of mine"
"He?" Roman asked as a small bar appeared on the screen showing the download had begun. "What, you got lonely a built yourself a friend or something." Roman asked mockingly. Silence was golds only response his helmet tilted up towards the screen as he typed away at the console.
The main screen went black before the entire command deck was bathed in crimson light, both Roman and Neo raised a hand shielding their eyes from the light. The light faded a few moments later leaving a large unblinking red eye staring back at the display from the display, the eye zeroed in on the occupants of the room, a deep booming voice echoed from the display.
"Download complete, full system override in progress, system override complete." The robotic voice said. The red-eye zeroed in on the occupants of the room. "Psycho Gold, I trust things are going as planned?"
"Of course." Gold replied, " Did you doubt me."
"No, the probability of your success was determined to be at ninety-six percent, factoring in the possibility of failure due to the inefficiency or incompetence of the Organics you have aligned yourself with." The program responded.
"Standing right here, Hal" Roman said narrowing his eyes at the tin can bad mouthing him.
"Roman Torchwick, age 33, born November 16th 46 AVD in southern Vale." It said the massive red eye looking the criminal up and down "Wanted on multiple accounts of Theft, Counterfeiting, Grand larceny, Murder in the first, second and third degree."
"What?" Roman asked his eyes widening in alarm as did Neo's, this thing shouldn't have known anything about his Romans eyes narrowed " Goldie what the hell is this."
The Psycho ranger chuckled stepping back from the console "Roman, Neo." Psycho Gold said gesturing towards the screen "Meet Venjix, a self-aware computer virus I came into possession with a year back, he's been most helpful with our endeavors in Vale."
" Yeah, nice story." Roman waved off "Are we finished here or what?" Roman asked eyeing the computer virus wearily, something didn't feel right about all this. Once the program had been uploaded, he was supposed to watch over the ship with Neo and Goldie in the event any of the crew they might have, or one of Ironwoods specialists boarded and tried to retake the bridge, that was the task he'd been given, that was the whole point of him being captured.
"Not yet" Gold replied evenly, turning back towards the console he typed away at the controls before looking back towards Roman and Neo Venjix following his gaze "There are still a few loose ends that need tying up."
"Organic infestation detected. Initiating Extermination protocol" Venjix replied, the doorway into the bridge opened allowing nine Atlesian nights entry their face visors glowing a similar red as Venjix eye.
"What!" Roman said in shock raisins his cane gun at Psycho gold, with Neo's sword extending out her parasol. " You backstabbing piece of..." Before he could finish Romans, cane was sliced in half, Golds boot struck him in the chest launching him over the row of consoles behind him.
Gold stepped back as the tip of Neo's blade thrust past his left eye, his hand shot out grasping the short woman's wrist twisting her arm to the side he slammed her face first into the display a large crack forming along its surface, his knee shot up striking her in the chest with the force of an Ursa Neo hacked flecks of blood flew from her mouth splashing against the screen, her aura flared around her before flickering out of existence.
Gold seized Neo by the back of the neck, arc energy down his arm and across her body Neo threw her head back unleashing a silent scream of agony, this lasted for a few seconds before her world dark and her body slumped in his grip.
Psycho gold lowered Neo back onto the floor before turning his attention to the scuffle a few feet away. "Get off of me!" Roman growled struggling against the two corrupted Knights forced roman to his knees before Venjix and Psycho gold, his eyes drifted over to Neo's still form showing a rare ounce of concern.
"Don't worry she's still alive" Gold reassured him "I'll need her that way for later."
"You touch her I swear-" Roman began
"You'll what, Roman?" Gold replied kneeling down in front of the master thief "What will you do now, hmm, in case you haven't noticed yours in no position to be making any threats." Roman reared his head back before slamming it into Gold's, the Psycho ranger stumbled back the androids raised their weapon towards Roman.
"You're a real fucking idiot, you know that." Roman spat a small trail of blood running down his face, the attack had done as much damage to him as it did to gold, never the less he smiled. "You really think all this, is going to get you anything but a knife in the back, you think old Cindy's just going to sit by and let you cross her. I've known I was expendable since the beginning, we all are to her. And when she finds out about your little coup..."
Psycho Gold threw his head back and laughed, his hand shot out grasping roman by the neck raising him off the ground "Roman." He began " I'm not crossing Cinder, I'm not trying to take power, this is the completion of stage four." He said his grip tightening around Romans throat the master thief clawed at Golds arm, his face beginning to turn a shade of dark blue" And you've outlived your usefulness to Cinder, and to us." Gold twisted to the side a low crunch emanating from the master thief's neck his body twitched slightly before going limp.
Gold tossed Romans lifeless body aside the rush he felt from the kill fading not long after, turning his attention back towards Neo he scooped the diminutive girl up into his arm.
"Why do you insist on keeping the female alive?" Venjix asked in a mix of curiocity and disgust
"You spent your entire existence attempting to eradicate the people of Corinth and yet you still failed." Gold stated rising back to his feet he made his way towards the exit " You should know better than anyone of both their resourcefulness and tenacity. With the right motivation they can be a better weapon then any android you could hope to create." He tilted his head to the side staring down at Neo's unconscious form "Especially, this one." Pausing in front of the door he turned back to the virus " I trust you know what to do from here, old friend."
"Very" Venjix replied
/
Glynda thrust her crop out a telekinetic blast launching a Beowolf through a storefront, ducking under a lung from another she whips her crop towards the Grimm lifting it into the air before slamming it down on two of its brethren. Qrow jumped down behind her beheading an Ursa before slicing a Creep across the chest and kicking it into a wall.
Qrow and Glynda stood back to back cutting down any Grimm that came in their direction, a small squadron of Atlesian Knight stood close by covering the two Hunters flanks. After gunning down a charging Ursa the six Knights halted and lowered their weapons their facial visor turned a bright red, their grip on their weapons tightening, their heads snapped back towards the two hunters.
Qrow thrust his sword forward burying the blade into a Beowulf's chest, a gunshot rang out, the round struck Qrow's sword drawing his and Glynda attention. Both turned to find the knights stood single file the weapons trained on the two of them.
"What!" Glynda said in alarm.
"I am Venjix." The six androids said in unison
/
In Beacons courtyard, a different battle raged on between the White Fang and the school's defenders how few in number they may be. Yang leapt over the statue in the center of the courtyard firing two explosive shells from Ember Celica towards a squad of White fang grunts taking cover behind some overturned benches exploding at the feet of a squad of White Fang, launching them back.
Two grunts rushed her from the side machete in hand ready to cut the blond down, the first he hadn't taken two steps from his hiding place before being pinned to the cobblestone path by electro webbing courtesy Terroranchula. A black cable wrapped tightly around the second's upper body and pulled taught, orange arc energy spread down the cable and into the grunt rendering him unconscious.
Rook retracted the cable back into his Proto-Tool ducking under to energy bolts sent his way. "I gotcha partner" Chroma stone said dropping down in front of Rook his body absorbing the energy bolts without issue before sending them back at their adversary the resulting explosion incapacitating the remaining white fang. A crimson and Green flash enveloped Ben and Koan returning them to their human forms.
"That looks like the last of them here" Koan noted as Ben gathered the unconscious white fang together, rook tying them together with a tether from his Proto-Tool, the sound of metal boots on concrete came from there left Yang perked up slightly at the sight of a dozen Atlesian knights approaching their position.
"Hey, looks like back up's finally he-" The knights raised their weapons and opened fire.
"Down" Koan cried out tackling Yang behind one of the overturned benches and out of the line of fire.
"I am legion" They chanted
/
General Ironwood typed away at the console in front of him attempting to open a secure channel to his men down below in an attempt to organize their counter-offensive against the Grimm while still in route to his flagship. The knight's position for launch in his drop ship's cargo hold, reactivate their visors turning bright red as they joined the ranks of Venjix's new army.
Turning back towards the cockpit two knights approach the general from behind, hearing them approach Ironwood looks back at the androids in confusion just in time to see them raise their weapons towards him "Your world is now mine"
"No!" The general yelled
To be continued