Ch. 32
The first thing the Cerberus did was fire three huge fireballs at the huntsmen. They quickly jumped out the way, making sure to gain distance from the explosion the fireballs caused.
"So, what's the game plan for this thing?" Jurano yelled.
"That hide is too thick for most firearms to pierce," Abaddon replied. "It's best we all use melee. Jurano, your hand cannon is strong but I'm afraid you'll need to fire a kinetic shot at its vital points to do any considerable damage. Also, it's too big for you to immobilize with your electricity."
"I need a bit of time to charge it and I can shoot about 6 more times before the vial converter needs to be replaced," Jurano told him.
Abaddon nodded. "Emma, I need you to distract it with hit and run tactics. Stay out of the way of its claws and teeth."
"Got it!" And Emma was gone.
"Kathleen, me and you will be the damage dealers. I'll use my twilight in tandem with your semblance and Jurano's hand cannon to kill it as fast as possible. If we don't, we'll be surrounded in an uncontrollable forest fire," Abaddon explained before rushing the Cerberus itself.
Jurano went left, Kathleen right, and Abaddon center. All three heads of the Cerberus followed each of the three huntsman, but then Emma land on the middle head and fired both rifles at it. She teleported as it shook its head and reappeared on the ground in front of it.
"Come on big guy. I'm right here!" Emma teleported once more before three fireballs scorched the spot she stood on.
She landed on its back and fired rapidly at its flesh. The Cerberus shook again, trying to get her off, but failed to notice Abaddon going in between its front legs. He slashed cleanly through the backs of its front knees, causing the beast to roar in pain. A few seconds after, Kathleen slashed the back-right knee while Jurano slashed the back left. The beast trembled, as if to fall to its knees, but stayed strong and remained standing. One of the Cerberus' heads glared at Jurano, but that was its mistake. Jurano already had Irakkamarra aimed and charged. He fired the kinetic blast, and when it hit, it bore a hole into the left head's left eye. The Cerberus roared even louder this time. Its remaining eyes not only glowed a brighter red, but red cracks also started to spread from them and the fires emanating from its mouth grew in intensity.
"It's enraged!" Abaddon yelled. "Everyone stand back and stay on your toes!"
Jurano and Kathleen stepped back, but Emma didn't hear her brother. She continued to teleport around the beast until she appeared too close to its tail. The Grimm noticed this and managed to smack her with it. Emma flew and landed in front of the Cerberus. Momentarily dazed, she shook her head but was unaware of the immediate danger she was in. The Cerberus, with one of its legs raised, was ready to crush her. Emma didn't notice until she saw its foot bearing down on her. In the nick of time, Abaddon pushed the girl to safety and caught the Grimm's paw with his bare hands. The Cerberus continued to bear down its weight on the boy, all the while preparing to spew fire on him.
"Don't get a hot head!" Abaddon tossed the paw to the side, then jumped up with one of his great swords in hand. He sliced through one of the heads, the middle one, and landed on its back. He then created a huge twilight orb and slammed it down on the Cerberus' spine, finally crippling the beast. With such a powerful blow to its body, the Grimm's rage faded, and its legs gave way.
"Kill it while it's burned out!" screamed Abaddon.
Jurano nodded. "Hey Kat, let's try that combo!"
Kathleen brandished her nodachi and used her semblance to rocket towards Jurano in a cyclone. She grabbed Jurano's hand as he electrified his chain scythe. An electrified cyclone made its way up to the Cerberus' remaining left and right heads and in no time at all both were sliced cleanly through. The beast's body started to dissipate into smoke, as all Grimm do when they pass.
Abaddon jumped down from the Grimm's back to check on his sister. "Emma, you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good," Emma replied, dusting herself off. "Thanks for the save. But what about the fires around us? Left unchecked, this could still turn into a forest fire."
"Don't worry, we killed it fast enough to keep the fires here small, so the forest won't burn. Plus, this area is far away from the city, so it doesn't matter that much," Abaddon explained.
Kathleen and Jurano then joined them. Kathleen had just finished talking on her communicator before grabbing hold of Abaddon's hand.
"Our bullhead should be here in a little while. Although, I don't know if we've gotten all the Ghouls in the area," Kathleen said.
"We did," Jurano added. "I read the full report, and the mission only had less than ten confirmed Ghoul sightings in this area. And only within a certain radius. We're done here. I call dibs on the first shower though."
Kathleen smiled, but then something caught her attention. Her communicator was picking up radio chatter. She turned the volume up but couldn't understand who or what was speaking.
"I may need to get closer to the source then," she thought.
Kathleen started to walk away from her team, trying to locate the source of the chatter.
"Hey Kat, where ya goin?" Jurano asked.
"I'm looking into something." Kathleen continued to walk. She found that the further she walked along the edge of the ravine, the clearer the radio chatter became. With her team in tow, Kathleen walked about six meters and found a bloodied white mask next to a tree.
Abaddon picked up the mask to examine it. "It's a damaged White Fang mask."
Emma went to the other side of the tree and instantly recoiled. Abaddon grabbed her, pulled her close, and covered her eyes.
"You really can't stand gore," Abaddon stated.
Emma shook her head. Before them were the remains of several White Fang, their innards and body parts were strewn about the stained grass. Emma also covered her nose to shield it from the smell.
"Brutal…" Jurano walked through the carnage, noticing a small flashing red light coming from a mutilated torso. He knelt and carefully picked up a bloodstained handheld radio.
"Hey Abb, catch!" Jurano tossed the radio to his leader, who caught it in his free hand.
"Is this what you were looking into?" Abaddon asked Kathleen.
"Yeah," Kathleen answered. "I picked up its radio chatter. It was going across several channels for some reason."
Abaddon adjusted the frequency on the device until a female's voice came through crystal clear.
"Hey! For the fifteenth time is anyone there?! I've been trying to contact you guys nonstop since we lost visual of the Ghouls. Remember, try to lure them somewhat close to the city or the combat school if you can, and capture any rebellious faunus you can find. If there are any huntsman in training nearby, let the Ghouls handle it. None of them have experience with those damn things. The less huntsman the better. We think there's also a Cadejo pair in the area so really keep your wits about yo-."
"Was it worth it?" Abaddon asked.
"What? Who's this? Where's my tea-."
"The White Fang you sent here are dead, killed by the same Grimm we just destroyed. The Ghouls crushed, Cerberus beheaded, and Cadejos humiliated. They were a noticeable distance from the city, but nowhere near enough to cause widespread alarm. And even if your comrades were alive, I would've handled them myself anyway. Your little attempt failed miserably. So, I ask again, was it worth it?" Abaddon asked.
"W-we…we won't be deterred…by the likes of y-you…. We are the White F-Fang a-and we will…"
"You're scared, aren't you? Good. You should be quiet, before I decide to go for you as well," Abaddon threatened. "And it won't be pretty. It never was."
The radio stuttered into complete silence.
XXXXXXX
"You destroyed a fusion Grimm? That's impressive. Especially the fact that you exploited its weak point," Cinder mused.
After returning to Beacon, teams KAJE, MNCE, RWBY, and JNPR gathered in the dorm common room to tell each other of their missions. Emma and Neo shared one of the recliners while Cinder sat in another playing with her hair, Mercury was reading comics at a table with Emerald, Wiess, Ruby, and Yang, Blake took refuge in a large blue bean bag chair that someone left behind, Abaddon and Kathleen sat together on one of the couches, and one of the other tables was occupied by Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and a lightly snoring Nora. They were the only ones there, save a few students who were beginning to leave.
"I know right!" Ruby cheered. "Team RWBY is the best there is!"
"Fusion Grimm are very rare. They're only somewhat common on that dragon-shaped continent west of Atlas," Abaddon told them.
"How do you know that? Have you been there before?" Mercury asked.
"We all did: Me, Cinder, Abaddon, and General Vesuvius," Neo answered. "Although, we were near the coast."
"What about that place made the old man go with you?" Yang asked. "Couldn't you three have done it yourselves?"
"They usually don't tell you this, but the dragon continent is like a playground for the Grimm. We had to assist several nomad groups that were stuck there during their yearly trading pilgrimage. You could describe that place like this: you kill a few Grimm, more will rush at you like you just disturbed a beehive or an ant hill. You'll be overwhelmed in seconds. Plus, there's more Alphas and Majors and the like roaming those lands than anywhere else. We barely made it out," Cinder informed them.
"Yep. I killed ten Ursa Majors that day," Abaddon said. "It was awesome. But what Cinder's saying is that you don't wanna go there."
"So, Cinder, what did you guys do all day?" Ruby asked.
"Oh us? We stayed on patrol inside the city with the local police," she said. "Kind of relaxing and nothing much to do though besides apprehending the occasional thief. Although we did catch a few White Fang. And while they were being arrested, one of them was muttering about Ghouls coming towards the city."
"Maybe the officers with you caught that and did something," Ren hoped.
"We'd all like that, but some of them have brains that make even the likes of Cardin look smart," Emerald added, causing the others to laugh. "It went largely unnoticed by everyone else."
"Yeah, but we had to deal with it," Kathleen said. "There were eight Ghouls in total, along with a Cadejo pair and a Goliath-sized Cerberus."
"Your kidding!" said Weiss.
"Nope! We crushed the Ghouls with boulders, outsmarted the Cadejos, and cut off the Cerberus' heads," Emma said happily. "But we also found a small squad of White Fang that had been slaughtered by the Grimm. We used their radio and learned that they had lured those Ghouls here, and the extra Grimm just tagged along for the ride."
"Weird that you guys have had White Fang encounters today, but not us," Blake said. "Seems too easy to me, like they wanted to be found out."
"But why would they want that? Seems strange," said Jaune.
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there," Abaddon said, pulling a blanket over his head and laying on Kathleen's lap. "For now, I'm taking a nap."
