The army of corrupted Atlesian knights and Paladins continued their march across the kingdom laying waste to the City of Vale and Beacon Academy with no end in sight to their paths of destruction, the resulting negativity from their attack and the supposed betrayal by Atlas only furthering to fuel the negativity across the kingdom drawing more and more Grimm to the ongoing fight between the huntsmen, White fang and Grimm, the first of the three factions quickly becoming overwhelmed.
"Vel!" Coco cried out as her partner was swatted aside by one of the paladins surrounding them and the others, the strike sending the rabbit Faunus skidding back into the center of the courtyard the fashionista grit her teeth turning the barrel of her minigun towards the paladin and opened fire her round pining off the weapon of wars armored chassis.
The corrupted paladin swiped its left arm towards Coco striking her in the chest, throwing her back into her partner as Neon shot by them, the rollerblader weaved around the griffon Ruby, Penny, Blake were engaging as Alex thrust his blade into one of the corrupted knights chests, while another attempted to get the drop on the Omni ranger while he was distracted by its comrade.
"On your six!" Neon called out as she skated into its path, leaping into the air she used the android's body as a springboard launching herself above the line of Atlas Knights Ren effortlessly gunned down.
Landing she slid under the gryphon fighting Yatsuhashi, cracking her nunchaku in the process activating the ice dust stored within the luminescent green light they gave off shifting to an icy blue as she closed in on the paladin charging Coco and Velvet, skating between its legs she struck the Paladins right leg with her weapon freezing it to the ground making it stumble. Seeing this Weiss summoned a glyph behind her, spinning the revolver barrel on her weapon selecting a cylinder of lighting dust before launching herself towards the Paladin yellow arc energy flowing down Myrtenaster's blade.
The ice holding the Paladins' leg shattered followed by its sensors picking up the incoming threat, with almost impossible speed the paladin spun to face the heiress Weiss cried out in pain as she was swatted aside by the Paladin.
"Weiss!" Neptune called out to her in alarm.
Yatsuhashi brought up his sword blocking a punch from one of the paladins, pushing back against the machine with all his strength managing to hold the paladin at bay for a few seconds before its massive strength overwhelmed Yatsuhashi slamming its fist and the flat of his own sword into the gentle giants face knocking him out. The paladin then turned its attention towards the green-clad ninja of team JNPR reeling its left arm back.
"Look out!" Nora cried shoving her partner aside taking the hit for him.
"Nora!" Ren called out to the unconscious bomber before being blindsided by the paladin, the green-clad ninja groaned rolling onto his back as a large shadow passed over him, his eyes widened as the paladin closed in on him.
"Insect." A deep robotic voice echoed from the Paladin drawing the attention of those close by.
Ruby turned away from the gryphon towards the source of th voice her eyes widening at what she saw. "No!" she cried out as the paladin raised its foot to stomp down on Ren, only then did she realize her mistake something her uncle had warned her never to do during one of their many training sessions, she'd taken her eyes off the Grimm.
The Gryphon swatted Blake into Penny its pulsing red eyes zeroing in on the red-clad reaper immediately taking advantage of her distracted state rushing Ruby while her back was turned. "Ruby!" Alex called out in alarm shoving the red-clad reaper aside putting himself into the path of the Gryphon bring his sword up as its beak snapped at him clamping down onto the blade of his longsword.
"No, you don't chicken wings!" Alex said pushing back against the Grimm refusing it give it an inch, pulling his blade from the Gryphons jaws followed by a kick to the face stunning the Grimm before slashing the Gryphon across the chest knocking it back a few feet. "Go help them" Alex called out to Ruby and Blake "Penny and I can deal with this prick!"
"On it!" Ruby responded she and Blake sprinting in the direction of the paladin, Ren rolled out of the path of the paladin's foot and then rolled to the right once more as its first came down on his left, Ruby's eyes narrowed her body engulfed by a hurricane of rose petals, they'd already lost so much today they weren't going to lose someone else.
darting across the courtyard Ruby slid between the paladins legs tackling Ren out of the path of the paladin's attack that crashed down where Ren once lay shaking the earth, Coco raised her Gatling gun peppering the paladin's body with hundreds of rounds a second alongside Neptune and Blake their combined attacks doing little to no damage to the war machines.
"Uhh, this is bad." Neptune said as the two paladins started to close in on them.
"Don't let up." Blake replied focusing her shots on the paladin's sensors hoping her attacks might be able to blind it. "They're strong but if we keep up our attacks they'll go down."
"Well, I guess now's a better time than any" Coco halted her assault on the paladin and turned towards her partner "Velvet!"
"Really!?" The Rabbit Faunus asked excitedly
Coco smiled and replies "Just make 'em count."
Velvet nodded and begins walking towards the paladin, just as Weiss began to regain consciousness "W-What is she doing" The heiress demanded as she stumbled to her feet, Ruby rushed over from her position beside ren and Nora to help support her while Weiss regained her footing "She's going to get hurt!"
"Don't worry" Coco reassured her. "Just watch."
As she approached the paladins the box strapped to Velvets lower back began to glow, she held her hand out to the side as five beams of light emerged from the box congregating in Velvets waiting hand, the beams spread out and began knitting themselves together forging a hard-light copy of Crescent Rose.
As one of the paladins took aim charging up its cannon velvet, she smirked. The paladin fired, and velvet leapt high above the blast, she spun mid-air the moon at her back the copy of Crescent rose crossed behind her back, the spitting image of Ruby own form when fighting. "Ha!" Velvet cried performing a triple overhead spin slicing down the front of the paladin with her scythe.
Her weapon disintegrated upon landing but was quickly replaced by a copy of Myrtenaster, the paladin reeled back its fist and her sword shot up forming a flaming barrier between her and the mechs fist as the attack connected, Velvet backflipped out of the reach of the paladins mechanical fists, adjusting her stance she thrust her copy of Myrtenaster forward launching herself toward the Paladin delivering three swift slashes across its chassis.
Following up with an aura fueled punch, both her forearms now encased in hard light replicas of Ember Celica. Velvet kicked off the paladin as it stumbled back cocking her gauntlets as she landed taking on a stance similar to Yang's own before firing three shots that the paladin blocked with its arm, following up with another swing of its massive limbs towards the Faunus. Velvet slid under the paladin's fist in a similar fashion to Blakes movements a hard-light copy of Gambol shroud and its sheathe appearing in her hands.
Backflipping into the air she stabbed the blade of her gambol shroud into the paladins arm the mech upper torso spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees in an attempt to shake the huntress off. Velvet leapt off the paladin's arm hanging on to the bow attached to the end of her gambol shroud using the moment created by the paladin's movements to spin her around its body with each pass the bow wrapped more and more around the paladin's legs Velvet's feet met the ground and she skidded to a halt, she spun around facing the paladin pulling the ribbon in her hand taught causing the rest wrapped around the mechs legs to constrict making it topple onto its side.
The second paladin rushed Velvet from behind, Velvet ducked under its punch while simultaneously hacking off its upper forearm with Gambol shrouds sheath. The paladin glanced down at its severed limb before looking back toward the one responsible, just as Velvet threw gambol shrouds sheath embedding it in the center of the paladin's cockpit before opening fire on the damaged paladin with a copy of her own partners Gatling gun.
The paladin pushes on raising its arm to shield itself from the barrage of bullets, pulling its free arm back as it closes in on velvet. The Gatling gun vanished from her grasp, more beams of light spread up her arm's forging a familiar pistol and gauntlet combo in each, Velvet leapt over the punch "Drive Vortex!" thrusting her right arm down a miniature tornado forming beneath her propelling her into the air, the force from the sudden cyclone pushing.
"Drive Defender!" Velvet took aim opening fire on the mech peppering its upper body with energy bolts, the miniature tornado came to an end and velvet dropped down towards the Paladin switching her copy of Alex's drive defender to its sword variant, landing on the cockpit velvet glared at the pulsing light from within delivering several slashes to the mechs upper body, flipping on top of the mech she thrust her sword down into its right shoulder severing the arm at the base rendering it useless.
Velvets gaze shifted to the first paladin as it began to rise back to its feet, spreading her arms wide a hard light copy of Penny's backpack formed on her back eight hard light blades emerging from within hovering over velvets shoulders, the rabbit Faunus flipped off the mech using the blades to sever the paladin's legs as she landed, the mech fell back flailing its remaining limb around like a newborn child, velvet shifted her weapons into their energy weapon variant charging up an attack to finish the first paladin.
However, the first Paladin rushed in from the right sucker-punching velvet, knocking her away.
"Velvet" Coco called out. Velvets vulnerable state prompting Blake, Neptune Coco and Ruby to open fire on the Paladin hoping to draw its attention away from their friend.
Weiss stood behind the others watching the whole thing, there two strongest fighters were either out of the picture, her gaze turned to Yatsuhashi unconscious form laying a few feet away from his teammates or occupied elsewhere with Penny and Alex busy holding back the gryphons her teammates had left behind to aid with the paladins and despite their combined efforts they weren't even making a dent in the Paladin.
She had to do something.
'Emotions grant you strength' Her sister's words echoed through the back of her mind. Weiss glanced down to her rapiers, it was risky and with little chance that it might actually work. But that didn't matter right now, she had to try something if she didn't... her hand tightened around the hilt of Myrtenaster, she didn't want to think about that.
Weiss' eyes snapped towards the paladin fury burning in her eyes as she rushed into the fray, several velocity glyphs appeared beneath her granting her the speed needed to reach her injured comrade, as she closed in on Velvet and the paladin a second Glyph appeared above her this one far larger and more complex in appearance than the others.
Skidding to a halt in front of Velvet, Weiss raised her rapier eyes shut jaw clenched waiting for the pain the would most likely follow, only it never came. Sky blue eyes cracked open and instantly widened at what they saw, hovering above Weiss was her summoning Glyph the arm of what appeared to be knight extending out from its center its sword blocking the paladin's fist.
The arm forces the paladin's arm to the side slamming its fist into the concrete the arm raised its sword high before splitting the paladin down the middle the two halves toppling to the opposite side of one another. Weiss couldn't believe it, she stared up at the glyph, more importantly, the arm and sword extending from it, true it was a full summons but as she sat there panting, she realized that didn't matter in the slightest to her. She'd done it. She'd actually performed a summon.
A sudden flash of a camera replaced Weiss awed expression with one of clear confusion, turning back to Velvet she found the rabbit Faunus staring down at the camera variant of her weapon, a chipper smile present on her face.
The moment ended as quickly as it began the ground beneath their feet shaking as something else closed in on their position, another paladin this one far sleeker than the first two with an insectoid-like body rushed in from the western courtyard skidding to a halt in front of them, it's 'eyes' flashing a deep red hue as it shifted its arms into their cannon variant.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Sun cried out slumping forward at the sight of the new threat. The paladin steamrolled towards them with no sign of stopping, two compartments opening up on its shoulders revealing four rows of what appeared to be missiles on each side as it's duel energy cannons charged up to fire.
Those among them still standing raised their weapons prepared to take on this new threat, the ground beneath them shook once more a deep rumble echoing through the academy the pathway beneath the paladin burst out launching the mech into the air, six piercing red eyes shone from the fissure below, their owner bursting force it's massive beak-like mouth closing around the paladins midsection eight insectoid legs closing around its limbs trapping it in place.
The huntsmen's eyes widened as the giant worm erupted from the ground beneath them, none of them could tear their eyes away from the colossal beast in front of them. Its hide was a deep lavender with a white underbelly, horizontal burgundy stripe ran down its back alongside over a dozen grey spikes beginning from the Nemetrix secured around its neck and ending in a pincer-like set of spikes at the end of its tail.
The monster thrashed its head side to side its jaws closing further on the paladin's chassis sparks, oil and coolant spewing forth as its body was crushed in the worms massive jaws, the worm tossed its head to the side one more time throwing the paladin broken form aside before turning its piercing red eyes towards the Huntsmen below.
"Ohhhh, come on!" Sun cried out. "First the paladins now some giant worm Grimm!"
The worm's body was consumed in a bright crimson light blinding those in the surrounding area, Koan emerged from the light spitting a glob of black sludge off to the side "A thank you would be nice, I'm going to be tasting motor-oil for a week." Koan said rubbing his tongue on the sleeve of his straitjacket while thoughts previously unaware of the shape-shifters abilities stared at him in both awe and intrigue, he ignored them for now, turning his attention to Alex, more importantly, the longsword in his grasp.
"So, you pulled that old thing out of the closet huh? Well, can't say now isn't a better time than any." He said before smiling at his longtime friend "Good to see you're alright man. When we heard about what happened at the Coliseum, we didn't know what to think."
"Likewise." Alex said before asking "Where are Yang and the others?" His question was answered when a voice cried out from their right
"Ruby!" Yang sprinted across the courtyard to her little sister scooping her up in a bone crushing hug.
"Y-Yang!" Ruby cried in joy returning the hug in full burying her head into her sister's shoulder. "You're ok."
Yang chuckled "What? You think a bunch of angry robots and Grimm could stop me?" she asked playfully.
"Is anyone going to explain what the heck just happened?" Scarlet asked looking to the others hoping for an explanation.
"I'll explain later" Koan said before turning to address the others. "For now, we need to start making our way to the air docks, Yang and I managed to set up a perimeter with Atlas grunts they called in air support and are going to start evacuating people."
"What about NDGO and ABRN they stayed in the fairgrounds to help evacuate civilians." Blake pointed out "We can't leave them behind."
"Were not" Yang spoke up placing a hand on her partner's shoulder. "NDGO and ABRN showed up a little while ago with a bunch of civilians, said you guys were making your way there but got caught up with the paladins, we came to back you up."
"Well, its appreciated" Coco replied taking the time the lull in combat created to reload her minigun. "We've got a few wounded, Yatsuhashi and Nora are out cold and Ren's' arm is dislocated, we could use a hand clearing the way to the air docks from here."
"Then you've got it" Koan said before glancing around the crowd of familiar faces noting two absent from the group "Wait?" He asked. "Where are Jaune and Pyrrha?"
"We don't know" Ruby replied in clear concern for her friends, Pyrrha could handle herself without a doubt, but despite how far Jaune had come with his training sessions with Pyrrha he was still the most vulnerable out of all of them. "They were with us when we left the fairgrounds, but we haven't seen them since."
"Do you think they got separated along the way?" Velvet asked
"I don't know" Alex replied
"She took the deal, Alex" All eyes turned towards the green-clad Ninja of JNPR cradling his partner's unconscious form in his good arm.
"Deal, what deal?" Blake asked turning her gaze towards Alex, he appeared conflicted his face morphed into an unreadable expression, his hand tightening around the hilt of his longsword " Alex?" Blake asked all eyes quickly turning to the Omni ranger.
A sigh slipped past his lips "There with the headmaster, I don't have time to explain right now but if everything going the way I think it is, I don't think I'll have to." Alex said he didn't like not one bit and judging by Koan's darkened expression neither did he, but it wasn't their choice to make, it was Pyrrha's and there was nothing they could do to change that. "Pyrrha and Jaune are safe, but there are still people here who need our help."
"But we can't just leave them." Sun argued taking a step towards Alex
"Sun, he's right." Ruby spoke up, Pyrrha and Jaune were with the headmaster probably the safest place they could possibly be at the moment, but all the negativity those people at the air docks were producing was going to act like a beacon drawing in more Grimm.
"There are still people trapped in the school and Nora and Yatsuhashi aren't going to able to fight anytime soon, our best bet is to link up with the others and start helping with the evacuation." Ruby said. She still didn't know what this deal was Pyrrha made was but if it involved Ozpin then it might be something that could help turn the tide of the battle against the Grimm and corrupted Atlesian knights.
Sun was conflicted, they had a choice either rush off to aid in evacuating the wounded leaving not only their friends but the headmaster behind in the process but the headmaster as well. Or they could split up and try to search for them, halving their numbers in the process and making them a much easier target for the Grimm. He didn't like either choice but wasn't blind to the fact one of them would mean most of his friends would live.
Ruby reached out placing a reassuring hand on his arm. "There with the headmaster, they'll be fine." She hoped so because right now that's all any of them could do. The brief moment of peace ended as a massive shadow enveloped the school grounds drawing all eyes skyward, the highjacked Atlesian battleship had moved in above the school, many among them held their breath expecting the ship's cannons to be turned towards the school, instead several hatches lining the bottom of the aircraft opened, the students could do little more than watch in horror as Atlas's android army rained down on the academy below.
" We need to get moving " Alex spoke up breaking the others out of their horrified stupor "NOW!"
/
Glynda swung her riding crop in an arc, her violet aura spreading down her weapon culminating at the tip, thrusting her crop forward Glynda unleashed an orb of violet energy towards a group of Creeps charging towards her, the ball of aura split apart into four energy bolts intercepting oncoming threats ending their lives with little to no effort.
Qrow lept down from above thrusting his blade into a corrupted knights chest pinning it to the floor, his head snapped towards two more Knights raising their weapons towards him, Qrow pulled his weapon from the knight's chest darting towards them, the Knights opened fire on the Black Reaper, Qrow strafed in between in between their shots, switching to a backhanded grip he slashed the first android across the chest.
Ducking under another shot from the three remaining Knight he slashed upwards with his sword severing the knight's arms following up with an overhead swing cleaving the android in half, shifting his weapon into its magnum variant he opened fire on the androids, the rounds punching two holes in their chest plates.
Cardin vaulted over some rubble charging into the fray, swinging his mace Cardin caught a minuscule Ursa cross the jaw the impact knocking its head back a sickening crack echoed through the air as it flopped to the side its neck bent at an unnatural angle, the young man stared down at his handiwork in satisfaction unaware of the android duo closing in behind him.
The knights cocked their weapons alerting the leader of CRDL to the threat behind him, the young man spun on his heels his eyes going wide as he stared down the barrels of the android's weapon, their fingers squeezing the trigger. A Gunshot rang out, the lead's android head was knocked from its shoulders its command turned towards the source suffering a similar fate as another shot rang out.
Making their way through the smokescreen the figure flicked open the cylinder on their revolver loading in a fresh set of eight rounds, snapping it shut as they emerged from the smoke James Ironwood stood before the army of corrupted knights, the remnants of dress uniform hung loosely from his upper body revealing the extensive cybernetics that made up most of his torso and right arm.
Raising his revolver he took aim and fired, cutting down the first three androids in his path the force of each shot knocking them back into the squadrons behind them, the fire dust infused in each shot igniting upon impact reducing the corrupted knights to scrap metal, the remaining few left active but unarmed in some cases literally, began rushing the general from all angles in a last-ditch ditch effort to end this new threat.
Ironwoods eyes narrowed taking aim he fired at the first android on his left punching a hole through its chest plate, taking aim at another the concussive rounds severing the android's legs upon impact, tossing his weapon in the air Ironwood caught it by the barrel as he ducked under a Knights punch thrusting the rear of his weapon into its chest the strength supplied by his aura and cybernetic limb making the knights outer armor crumple inward on it chassis.
With the threat dealt with Ironwood called out to the hunters present "This area is clear we need to-"
"Ironwood!" A voice called out drawing the three hunters attention towards the robed figure's sprinting towards their position at unnatural speed. Unaware of the robed figures intentions Glynda and Qrow raised their weapons towards the unknown figure alongside the General
"Stand down!" Ironwood commanded, the robed figure ignored his warning and continued their charge, violate arc energy spread down the cloaked figures arm, culminating in the palm of their white-gloved hand, before spreading out forming a familiar black and bronze axe in their right hand, while the other drew a short sword from the seethe strapped to his back, Ironwood raised his revolver towards the oncoming threat ready to fire.
Qrow's eyes widened recognizing the iconic weapons almost immediately" Adam, Aurico wait!" he called out as the first shot tore through the air, his eyes snapped back towards the General widening further when he saw the gryphon already mid-pounce and he moved "Jimmy!" Qrow yelled darting towards the beast his weapon already shifting to its scythe variant but even he knew at this distance he wouldn't have enough time to prevent the attack, but maybe enough to prevent the Grimm before it could do any serious damage.
The duo darted out of the path of the generals first shot violet and red arc energy spreading across their bodies, they vanished into duel beams of violet and red energy closing the distance between their target in seconds, emerging above Ironwood in a flash of light the robe's around him disintegrating into embers reviling the Black and red ranger beneath, following their movements the general's eyes widened at the sight of the Grimm closing in on him.
"Izza!" Aurico cried delivering several slashes across the gryphons body severing its left arm and wings in the process, before vanishing back into a beam of red-light making way for the Black ranger above.
"Power Axe!" The axe blade glowed white as Adam swung down, bisecting the Grimm down the middle the two halves sailing over the cyborgs head crashing down into the street behind him. The black ranger rose back to his feet turning back to face the trio of huntsmen resting his axe over his right shoulder.
" ...Thank you" Ironwood replied followed by a heavy sigh, rubbing his brow as Glynda approached from behind resting her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't mention it." Adam responded nodding his head to Qrow and Glynda in greeting. "Sorry we're late"
"You're here now, so better late than never." Qrow turned back to face Ironwood leaning against his scythe as he spoke. "So, what's the plan General?" He asked
Ironwood straitened up addressing those present "Someone's done the impossible and taken control of my machines and is using them to lay siege on Beacon. And that enormous Grimm seems to be fixated on the school." whether that be from the high amount of negativity from those still trapped there... or something else entirely. Ironwood turned towards the blond combat instructor to his left " Glynda, form up with the local huntsmen and establish a safe zone here in Vale. We need to evacuate Beacon. Qrow I'm leaving that to you and my men."
"I still have to get aboard my ship there's a certain individual being held there, and I'd rather not see slip away in all the confusion." His eyes turned towards the Black and Red rangers stood close by "Mr. Park can I count on you and your comrades support in our efforts."
"Aurico and I will help set up the safe zone" Adam replied " Two of our own Cassie and Lilly were at Amity when all this started, we haven't been able to get in contact with them, but Cam on one of the camera's boarding an airship heading for Beacon, he's still trying to get a lid on all this since your bots went haywire." Adam gestured to the remains of the Atlesian knights surrounding them.
Ironwood nodded in response, though he didn't like the idea of someone outside the Atlesian military poking around his machines there was little he could do on the matter here and if they were able to shut down the Knights before they could cause any more damage. "Then there's little time to waste" Ironwood replied stepping away from the group "Qrow " The red-eyed huntsmen sent one final nod toward Glynda and the others before breaking away from the others.
'Hold on just a little longer' Qrow thought ' Cavalry is on its way kiddos'
/
Blake slid under the oncoming fire from one of the corrupted knights, kicking back up and disarming it with her heels leaping back wrapping Gambol shrouds ribbon around its neck and dragging it into the path of a Beowolf that had tried to murder her from behind, its existence coming to an end its head was crushed inside the Grimm's Jaws.
The Grimm had little time to celebrate its victory before its skull was pulverized by Yang's punch, her partner leapt ahead of them punching her fist forward unleashing a barrage of explosive shells from her gauntlets carving a path through the Grimm and to the main courtyard ahead.
The plaza was in ruin, several craters of varying sizes marked the landscape whether they were from explosives or the android army dropping in from above, the stone archways running around the edge of the courtyard had collapsed toppling several lampposts dotting the cobblestone path the remains of one of the corrupted paladins half buried beneath the rubble, the statue in the center of the courtyard once a monument portraying the two hunters standing over the defeated Grimm, lay in ruins.
The sight alone struck at the heart of each student that called Beacon home, memories of the day they first arrived at the academy their feelings of awe and nostalgia only adding to the pain of seeing somewhere that had become a home to many of them reduced to a war zone. Despite this, they pushed on, there could be time to grieve later, right now they still had to meet up with NDGO and ABRN.
"The others are just across the courtyard." Yang said as they passed under the archway and true to her words, they could already make out the young women of NDGO alongside a small group of twelve Atlesian soldiers mopping the last of the androids.
"Let's give them a hand" Koan said. A crimson flash enveloped the blond shapeshifter, Buglizard lept forward crashing down on two of the knights, his tongue lashed out latching around another's neck whipping his head to the side tossing it into one of its comrades sneaking up behind Dew.
"I see you found the others." Nebula kicked one of the corrupted knight's back before slashing it across the chest in an X pattern. "Glad to see you guys still in one piece."
"What?" Yang quipped firing her gauntlets into another's chest "You thought these buckets of bolts could take us down."
"They have the numbers and the firepower" Dew replied pulling a knights legs out from under it with her spear, twirling her weapon she stabbed down into its torso the crimson light of its visor growing dark "Better to be cautious than cocky right now." Yang rolled her eyes in response to dews reminder as she pounded two androids into the ground.
A flurry of rose petals passing by her, Ruby emerged behind three androids twirling Crescent Rose she swung her scythe in an arc cutting all three in half "Anyway, the situations just about what you'd expect, Gwen behind you!" Octavia called out, there was a small yelp as Gwen spun on her heals ducking under as wipe from a corrupted knight, stabbing one of her throwing knives into its knee joint forcing down before stabbing it through the visor with another. " We've got some civilians who were visiting the academy further down the path, Arslan and her team are keeping an eye on them while we help set up a perimeter here."
"Do you have any injured?" Weiss asked
"Nothing more than a few cuts and bruises on the civilians, one of the Atlas medics are looking over them just in case." Dew replied " A couple of guys showed up a little while after you left, looked like one of them took a pretty big hit his friend was practically carrying him." Dew turned to Alex and Koan." They were asking about you as well."
"What did they look like."
"One was a Faunus with Blue haired and this weird armor, never seen anything like it." Dew noted "The other was a guy with brown hair and green eyes wearing a white hoodie.
"Ben and Rook?" Ruby said in slight horror.
"Yeah that's them, do you know them?" Nebula asked Alex glanced down towards the docks half of which was concealed behind a fallen pillar from the archway, without another word Alex broke off into a sprint towards the safe zone they'd helped create "I'll take that as a yes, you guys better go on through, we can hold things here for now."
"We'll be back once we've dropped off the injured, save some Grimm for us, ok." Coco said to her fellow leader as they passed.
"You had to ask?" Gwen called back to her, as Coco jogged after the others.
Alex gained a short lead in front of the others, Dew may not have been specific on the extent of their injuries but the fact one for them was carrying the other screamed urgency, Ben and Rook were some of the best fighters he knew, there weren't that many individuals who could match them in a fight, if it was the Psycho rangers they would have come after him and the others as well, regardless of their numbers.
As the group grew closer the barrels of several weapons popped up over the top of the pillar baring their view of the docks, skidding to a halt the students raised their weapons towards the pillar. "Huntsmen hold fire!" A voice called out followed by an atlas grunt stepping out from behind the pillar signaling for them to move forward "Wounded over by the left." He instructed as they passed gesturing to an area off to the side, he and his men had reserved for injured. "They'll be airlifted directly to Vale once air support arrives."
Yatsuhashi made his way over to the makeshift field hospital the soldiers had set up depositing an unconscious Nora onto the ground, Ren collapsing down beside her one of the atlas medics moved over to them a few moments later. Yatsuhashi jogged back over to his teammates drawing the massive sword from his back as another explosion shook the four moving to back up NDGO alongside SSSN.
"Are these all the people who made it?" Weiss asked, there had to be what two maybe three dozen people hunkered down on the fields surrounding the platform, a group of White Fang grunts sat off to their arms bound behind their backs, their eyes seemed to be locked onto Blake faces twisted into a fierce snarl, the word traitor was whispered among them.
Blake scowled turning away from them, they'd all made the choice to attack Beacon, flooding it with Grimm killing countless innocent people in the process, it was not the kind of fate anyone deserved, though she was certain those Atlas managed to take into custody would answer for it, her brothers and sisters of old had chosen to start this, now it was her job to finish it.
"There could still be people trapped in the academy." Ruby spoke up, despite the situation they were facing she sounded hopeful "Or maybe they managed to escape before the robots went haywire, we can't assume the worst."
"Yeah...good point sis. "Yang said although she didn't sound confident in her sister's words, there had to have been hundreds of people visiting the Academy and the fairgrounds when the attack began and after everything, they'd seen on their fight to get here, it seemed very unlikely.
"Alex" A familiar voice called out to the Omni ranger.
Alex turned in the direction of the voice, his eyes immediately locking on Ben the Omnitrix bearers white hoodie making him stand out among the crowd of civilians. "Ben!" He called out to the older teen, weaving in between the passing soldiers and civilians. Ben was knelt down beside Rook, a bloody bandage wrapped tightly around his left forearm, though it was Rook who was worse for wear.
The Revonnahgander lay beside his partner, several darkening bandages wrapped around most of his chest and upper left shoulder. The Id mask he'd been wearing at the time was still intact securing his identity his proto-tech armor, on the other hand, lay off to the side, the chest plate was scorched the armor plating melted in an arc matching the injury across Rooks' chest.
Alex skidded down beside them "Dude you have no idea how glad I am to see you guys." Ben said
"What the hell happened?" Koan asked as Ruby and her teammates crowding around Alex and Ben.
"We ran into a couple of White fangs inside the cafeteria" Ben began leaning back against the stone pillar behind them, rubbing his bandaged forearm. "We managed to push them back and gave the people hiding their time to run here, at the time it looked like we won. The Omnitrix dialed out and then the next thing I know there's this red flash, at first I thought it was you and Yang coming to back us up then Rook shoves me out of the way and we both get blown across the room."
"Was it them?" Weiss asked
Ben shook his head "It wasn't one of the Psychos. A creepy guy dressed in all black, with red hair and bull-horns swinging around a red sword and a bunch of White Fang backing him up, looked like he was calling the shots, I grabbed rook and got out of there before the dust settled." Blake's eyes widened as Ben finished his description, why would Adam be here, he had nothing to gain by leading an attack on Beacon, unless... Had he come for her?
Adam wouldn't have accepted her abandoning their mission on the train as anything less than a betrayal, not just to the White Fang but to him and everything they were to one another... no, what they had or at least what she'd thought they had together at the time, it wasn't right, it wasn't real. He wasn't the man she thought he was, his actions on the train were proof of that, as well as all the "accidents" on the missions he led long before that.
And because of her betrayal, he'd turned his sights on beacon when it was at its weakest point, he would tear through everything and anyone who got in his way to get to her. Blake's eyes flicked over to her friends, if Adam came for her, they would all stand in her defense, they hadn't faced anyone like Adam before and while her friends may hold back, he wouldn't.
"Jaune and Pyrrha are still with the headmaster. " Ruby realized
"If the White fang are pushing in from the cafeteria, then they're going to cut them off from the rest of us." Koan added rising to his feet. "We need to find them, now."
"We don't even know where they went?" Weiss pointed out, causing Alex to clenched his teeth. She was right, despite their talk about making the deal with the headmaster of all the things Pyrrha had covered about the maidens, the machinery and Ozpins brotherhood, she'd neglected to inform them where the procedure would be taking place.
"Then we buy them time to get here." Alex said "If we can-"
Blake stopped listening as cold shiver shooting up her spine. If Adam knew she was at Beacon he would know about her teammates, her friend's... about her and Alex. A vision of the two facing off against one another flashed through her mind, along with the bloody climax of their battle, Alex was a skilled swordsman, and his ranger abilities only added to it.
He could fight Adam, maybe even beat him, but there was that small voice in the back of her mind whispering, "what if?".
What if the Psycho Rangers were with him?
What if Adam got a lucky hit in?
What if Alex lost?
If she stayed the others would be in danger, if she ran, then the result would be the same... Unless she did something crazy
Calling on her semblance she took a step back from the others leaving a shadow clone in her place, to them it would seem like she'd never left at least until the deed was done. She turned on her heels making her way through the crowd of civilians gathered near the edge of the platform her hand slipping towards the hilt of Gambol shroud.
Drawing her weapon from her back she knelt down by the edge glancing backwards making sure no one else saw her, and she jumped. The wind whipped her in the face blowing her hair back as she fell, shifting Gambol shroud into its pistol form Blake rolled onto her back lashing her arm out towards the cliffs, her weapon discharged as it left her grasp, the recoil from the shot adding to her weapons momentum, as her weapon made contact with the cliff face she pulled the black ribbon in her hands taught.
Her heels connected with the uneven surface of the cliff and she started running, her weapon acting as an anchor as she moved across the cliff face building up more momentum with each step, pushing off the cliff she pulled on the ribbon in her grasp pulling gambol shroud free, flicking the ribbon forward she embeds gambol shroud back into the cliff, repeating the same process over and over again as she navigated her way across the cliffs.
After she was certain she'd passed the main courtyard she pushed of the cliffs pulling on the ribbon once more and swung herself up dislodging gambol shroud from the cliffs in the process and landed beside the river connecting to Beacons waterfalls, rising to her feet she sprinted across the field in the direction of the cafeteria hugging the toppled archway surrounding the courtyard, concealing her presence from both friend and foe.
True to Bens words as she got closer to the structure, she could start to make out a few White Fang Grunts, three from what she could see although there may have been more inside. Scouts most likely, Ben did mention he and Rook managed to push back their main force before Adam intervened, they must have been making sure that there were no more surprises waiting ahead. If she dealt with them here, they wouldn't be able to report back to the others, delaying their advance further into the academy.
Moving into the foliage lining the cobblestone path she drew Gambol shroud from her back, pulling back on the slide of her weapon she ejected one of the dust bullets into her hand, rolling it between her fingers she flared her aura pushing a small amount into the bullet, not enough to make the dust inside detonate in her hand, but enough to make it unstable.
She flicked the brass casing into the center of the path, it bounced once, then twice, quickly followed by a small but bright flash of red and a resounding crack as the round discharged. The lead grunt a bear Faunus judging by the pair of dark brown ears sticking from his hood ducked his head down in response to what sounded like a gunshot, his eyes darting around the surrounding area as he drew a large red machete from his back, the two behind him one sporting a pair of deer antlers the other's forearms covered in dark maroon scales stretching up from the palm of his hands to his elbow mimicked his actions as they moved to investigate.
Blake sat in silence watching as the three Faunus closed in until their leader stood directly in front of her, Blake edged forward causing the foliage around her to rustle slightly, the bear Faunus ears twitched slightly picking up on the rustling to his left he turned towards the source his dark hazel eyes locking with the pair of bright amber glaring at him from within the brush.
Blake leapt forward driving her knee into the grunts chin the force behind the blow whipping his head back and sending his body sprawling across the cobblestone path, the two remaining grunts rushed forward the dear Faunus slashed at Blake with his machete, using her weapons sheath she parried the blade off to the side driving followed up by driving the hilt of Gambol shroud into the side of his head.
Ducking under the last grunts machete she flipped over him, slamming her heel into the back of his knee, the grunt cried out in pain as he was forced down his world turning back as he was struck across the back of the head by the flat side of gambol shrouds sheath. Blake caught the Faunus as he fell dragging him into the bushes and out of sight doing the same with his comrades.
Emerging from the bushes she shifts Gambol shroud into its pistol form, running over to the cafeteria she hugged the stone wall edging her way towards one of the openings in the side of the building, she paused her ears twitching as she listened for any sign of movement inside, there was nothing, taking a deep breath she made her way through the opening and was met with a gruesome sight.
The several bodies lay scattered across the cafeteria three she was able to identify due to their Atlesian military uniforms the remaining four looked like civilians... moving further inside she knelt down beside the closest body a student judging by the black Haven uniform her blazer was stained a dark red a large gaping wound present on her abdomen.
Blake pressed two fingers to the girl's neck hoping against all odds that she'd find that familiar rhythm...nothing.
"You're wasting your time." A voice spoke up and Blake immediately froze her terror-filled eyes turned towards the man that inspired more fear in her then any Grimm could hop too, looked at her with an ominous smile.
"Hello, my darling" Adam said eerily.
To be continued