Interlude 2-2: Grimm Eclipse
Team JNPR had once more found themselves in a Bullhead flying with great speed towards a mission, and so soon after the last one. That wasn't the issue for them though, nor was the mission itself, being a simple recon in force. No, their issue came from their transportation, specifically their pilot.
"We'll be entering Mountain Glenn's airspace soon, so make sure you're ready to drop at a moment's notice," warned Headmaster General James Ironwood from the cockpit, his voice carrying in from both there and the little ear pieces they all wore.
Yes, General Ironwood was their pilot. Jaune could hardly believe it, which was to say that he didn't want to believe it. There were far too many things implied by his presence there.
It was easier for Jaune to think about those implications than, say, why he was feeling so nauseous. Oh, sure, he'd implied to Ruby on their first day at Beacon that he'd been suffering from motion sickness, but in truth, it had been nerves more than anything: anxiety over how he'd perform, fear that he'd be caught as the fraud he was, worry that he'd make a poor first impression on his new classmates. He felt Pyrrha's hand stroking his back comfortingly, soothingly, and he couldn't help but wonder once again what in the world she saw in him. "Love at first sight" was romantic and all, but he'd seen his sisters be burned by that one too many times to trust in it.
Some day, she'd realize how pathetic he really was, and that terrified him. He had to be better. He had to live up to the potential she saw in him. He had to.
"We're already ready to go, sir," he said, mustering up all his will to speak without throwing up as he stood alongside his teammates in the cabin with their hands on the webbing above them. In addition to their regular gear, including their body cameras and headlamps, they also carried portable drives for any data they might find to download.
Ironwood chuckled at that. "You don't need to call me 'sir,' Mister Arc. You're not part of my chain of command."
Jaune paused for a moment as he struggled to come up with a response. Struggled, and failed. "No. I'm sorry, sir, but I just don't know what else to call you."
The Atlesian headmaster gave a resigned sigh. "That's what they all say."
Jaune shrank back at that. He thought back to the briefing they'd received on Mountain Glenn from Dr. Oobleck. The community had been Vale's last attempt at truly expanding the city, and it had been built with an extensive underground rail system connecting it to Vale proper. Despite an aggressive perimeter defense armed with the most advanced technology, Grimm attacks persisted, increasing in intensity, until eventually, the defenses began to fail. The people retreated underground, to the caverns that had been cleared for the subway system connecting it to Vale... until an explosion opened them up to another cavern, this one filled with Grimm. To save the capital, the Vale Council had had the tunnels sealed off.
Mountain Glenn wasn't just a reminder of the city's failure. It was a headstone for the world's largest tomb.
"How are you holding up, General?" asked Pyrrha, as if sensing the mood and wishing to ease it.
Ironwood was quiet for a moment before replying. "I think we've all seen better days, Miss Nikos."
"Maybe, but none of us are being attacked as you are," replied Pyrrha with that genuine kindness that was among her many great strengths.
"I'm a general, Miss Nikos," Ironwood said with a laugh, even though it seemed a little forced. "If you think this is the first time I've come under fire, then you still have much to learn. Given your own celebrity status, I'm surprised you aren't familiar with it yourself."
"Most of my critics weren't calling for me to be hanged for treason," she pointed out in a tone so sad that Jaune felt compelled to bring his own free arm up and give her a little hug.
"I can take it," Ironwood stated simply. "Whatever happens, I can take it. I'm more worried about the people calling the Huntsman Academies a failure. You kids deserve better than that."
The news had been... unkind to the general in particular, but the entire Huntsman system was being called into question as well. It hadn't escaped notice that the now-notorious criminal Cinder Fall had managed to infiltrate a Huntsman Academy and then proceeded to escape a trap laid by Headmaster Ozpin and the Atlesian forces under General Ironwood's command in the very heart of another Huntsman Academy. Couple that with Headmaster Lionheart's mysterious murder and the destruction of one of Atlas's prized air cruisers while it was on a secret mission ordered by Ironwood himself?
It didn't exactly paint a flattering picture. Some particularly vicious suggestions had come out of one of Mantle's young political firebrands - Starlight something-or-other - implying that Ironwood may have even deliberately arranged for Cinder's escape and the destruction of the Furchtlos in order to sabotage the Atlesian military in favor of the Huntsman Academies.
Ironwood had his supporters, of course, both military and civilian... but his most vocal supporters were Huntsmen or former Huntsmen, which didn't really help the divide on the subject of the Huntsman Academies. The secrecy of the Furchtlos's mission wasn't helping either, since Ironwood was unable to divulge the nature and purpose of the mission it was on at the time.
Jaune didn't even want to consider what would happen if it got out that it was Cinder who had destroyed the air cruiser. That slip to Team ABRN had been a mistake, and it was one he would make sure not to repeat. At least it was likely to get lost in the cacophony of other theories floating around about recent events.
Like that one crazy theory he had heard that Blake had died trying to stop the plot to detonate the nuclear bomb before it happened. He had somehow been able to avoid it for months, but once pointed out to him, he couldn't get away from it. Why did everyone think that Blake was dead? How did anyone think Blake was dead? Never mind her walking and talking with them now, how had that crazy idea even gotten started? He'd probably never know, but it was still frustrating.
"Heads up!" called Ironwood from the cockpit. "I'm picking up contacts on the surface search radar at the base of the building. Looks like a collection of trucks and metal objects that could be androids."
"Hostile?" asked Jaune carefully.
"Unknown- wait, no, they're launching missiles. Going evasive," reported Ironwood with remarkable calmness just before the sounds of countermeasures of all sorts firing filled the cabin while everyone on Team JNPR held tightly to each other as the aircraft took a sudden nose dive.
"Can you get a visual?" asked Nora. "Who are these guys?"
"I might be able to, but I won't be able to look and dodge in an urban environment at the same time," Ironwood responded just as the vehicle began to level out.
"Got it. Pyrrha?" began Jaune.
"Already on it," replied Pyrrha as she dashed forward to the cockpit while the rest of the team headed for the seats and began to buckle themselves in.
Jaune trusted that she would be able to help. She was Pyrrha Nikos; she could do anything. More than that, she had the training and discipline needed to do the job.
From his seat, he was able to hear everything that was going on over his earpiece.
"Popping up now," said Ironwood, his tone still calm and level.
"They're Merlot Industries. Armed androids and partially-loaded cargo trucks," reported Pyrrha in that exact same calm tone.
"Deploying one point two inch gun. Use AP to disable vehicles, HE on androids. Try not to damage the cargo," ordered Ironwood.
"Roger. Firing now," was Pyrrha's response.
Jaune heard and felt the chin gun opening fire with its distinctive staccato, but he couldn't actually see what was going on. The craft continued its evasive maneuvers while occasionally deploying countermeasures, and the gun kept firing. It felt like some of the longest moments of his life, utterly helpless to what was going on, but they only lasted a few seconds.
"Targets neutralized," reported Pyrrha.
"Excellent," complimented Ironwood. "Head on a swivel until we touch down."
That did not take long, and soon, they were on the ground. Pyrrha rushed back from the cockpit, and they all joined together. Soon, Team JNPR was on the ground and advancing towards the cargo trucks.
"Great golly molly!" exclaimed Nora as she looked at the destruction all around them. "Did you shoot the wheels off those trucks, Pyrrha?!"
"I'm sorry," replied Pyrrha reflexively, and Jaune resisted the urge to smack Nora upside the head for getting that reaction out of his girlfriend.
"I think she was giving you a compliment," noted Ren. "That you were able to perform such a feat from an aircraft undergoing evasive maneuvers is quite extraordinary."
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was doing!" cheered Nora.
"Gotta agree, Pyr," Jaune chimed in. "You continue to amaze."
Pyrrha blushed adorably. God, he loved that smile.
"Now, come on," he continued. "Let's see what's inside these trucks."
The group came to the closest truck and climbed into the back. There were several sealed boxes inside, and at random, Jaune had Pyrrha use her semblance to tear one open. It was hard to say for sure what they were expecting: equipment, perhaps, or supplies. Instead, they found...
"Papers," commented Jaune as he reached in and removed one of the folders inside before touching his earpiece. "Sir, this is Juniper. We've found a collection of documents in one of the crates."
"Looks like we've caught them in the middle of their evacuation," replied Ironwood with a clear note of dark humor. "What sort of documents?"
Jaune paged through the folder briefly. "Looks like... some sort of dust research, sir," he reported.
"That doesn't make any sense. Merlot Industries wasn't in the dust business. They're primarily pharmaceuticals, with some cybernetics and robotics on the side. What kind of dust?"
"Something new, apparently," he reported. "I... can't really make sense of this stuff, but they're calling it... 'Angolmois dust'?" He paused and frowned. "'My Angel Dust,' really?"
"You recognize it?"
"The word, yeah," Jaune clarified. "It's a mangling of Old East Valish."
"I see. Does it say where they got it?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "We'll bring the papers aboard after we finish checking the trucks."
"Jaune?" Pyrrha called softly, her voice and face filled with curiosity as they continued searching through the trucks' cargo.
"Yeah, Pyr?"
"How do you know Old East Valish?" she asked. "I thought you were from western Mistral?"
"I am," he confirmed, "but my family isn't originally. We're actually from eastern Vale, going back centuries, but my great grandfather moved across the sea to western Mistral after the Great War."
"Oh, I see," she said. "I'd wondered about your name."
They didn't find much else in the trucks. There was a myriad of equipment and supplies, ranging from electronic components to lab equipment. There was also a far more worrying discovery.
"Explosives," Pyrrha identified.
"Pretty," Nora commented. "What do we blow up first?"
"I'm more worried about what they're planning on blowing up," Jaune murmured. He reached up and touched his earpiece again. "Gen- Headmaster, we've found a half-full box of explosives. Demolition charges, looks like"
"Probably planning on rigging the building to blow," speculated Ironwood.
"Should we investigate the tower?"
"Your mission, your call, Mister Arc," was the non-reply. "Be advised, there are probably more androids inside, and they almost certainly have already set some charges, maybe not enough to bring the building down yet, but certainly enough to use as improvised weapons."
"Let's load up the documents first," Jaune said. It would give him time to consider the situation.
As they loaded up the papers, he ran through the potential ramifications of investigating the tower or not. The documents they were loading up would surely yield plenty of valuable data... but they didn't have any other leads, so if the papers didn't pan out, they'd have to come back. And if Merlot was rigging the tower to blow...
"We're going in," he declared. "We can't search the whole building, so we'll just head straight to the top and go for the executive offices."
The rest of his team voiced their acknowledgement.
The inside of the building was shrouded with darkness that was only broken by the shining lights upon the heads of the four Huntsmen of Team JNPR. They were close, and all of them were searching about, looking for any sign of the androids that Merlot Industries must have inside the building. So far, they hadn't seen any, but that didn't mean that none were coming.
The lobby looked eerily normal. Aside from broken windows and the utter absence of life, it was like nothing had happened. One could almost imagine that the receptionist had just stepped away for a moment.
"Stop," ordered Jaune quietly.
They all stopped as ordered, and Nora looked to where her fearless leader's light was shining. It was the door to the emergency stairwell that led all the way to the top of the building, and in front of it… well, in front of it was a thin line pulled very taut. Sloppy.
One of the first things she and Ren had learned from their unofficial ninjutsu teacher was how to properly conceal traps, starting with how to properly conceal the trigger. First lesson was not to set it out where your advancing foe could easily see it. It should have been set on the other side of the door.
"This could be a double trap," whispered Ren. "We disable the line trigger on this side of the door and think we're safe, but then when we go through, we trip a second line that triggers the trap instead."
Blast. Renny was right, of course. She'd been thinking too quickly and had skipped over some of the possibilities. That was one more reason they went so well together. They always had, and they always would.
She caught herself in a mirrored surface: her dress crimson and embroidery gold like the sun, her ginger hair decorated with jewelry and gems. On her lips was a smile, and why shouldn't there be? Before her was her wonderful lotus blossom, just as happy as she was to be involved in this ceremony to bind them together like two jian birds. He…
Nora snapped herself out of it. What was wrong with her? They were in the middle of a mission. She should have been focusing on that, not daydreaming about… about… Blast it! Those stupid Fairstars with their stupid team name and their stupid tech support had messed with her head!
"We could take the elevator," offered Pyrrha, pointing to a nearby pair of sliding metal doors.
"Will that work with the power out, or will we have to energize the engines somehow?" asked Jaune inquisitively.
"No need," replied Pyrrha as she put her hands on the doors and gently moved them apart such that there was hardly a sound made. "I am the engine."
With that, she put out her hand, and the elevator moved to meet the open door. Then the doors on the elevator opened. It was simple, effective, and best of all, quiet.
Pyrrha smiled, and Jaune smiled back.
I really suck at this, thought Nora sadly as they got on board and shut off their lights, leaving them in darkness. I'm barely able to hold it together, and here Jaune and Pyrrha are, able to do their jobs and carry on a relationship at the same time. I should be more like them instead of the mess I am right now. Leave the relationship stuff for another day and save the day you have now.
The elevator passed floor after floor with a minimum of sound. They kept count. Eventually, the car came to the executive offices level, and the ascent stopped.
Nora and Jaune leaned out, and together, they pulled open the outside doors to reveal a sun-soaked hallway, lit through broad windows that ran floor to ceiling. Together, they swept the hall and checked their corners. Ren was the third one out, followed by Pyrrha. It looked like they had caught the enemy off-guard.
"Bet they didn't see that coming," commented Nora as they crept towards the company head's office. "Well, unless it's because we got here first."
"Good point," acknowledged Jaune. "Pyrrha? Nora? Find the stairways and cover them. Me and Ren will go on to the office."
Pyrrha and Nora explored the floor and found a hallway lined with offices. Once again, the seeming normality of the scene struck Nora as eerie. Desks and chairs sat undisturbed in some offices, while others were bare. Some of the work terminals were gone, but others remained. Coffee mugs rested on desks, as if the owners had merely stepped out for a moment, their contents long-since dried up and congealed into an unidentifiable mass stuck to the bottom.
There were four stairwells and thus four entryways, but two of them were barricaded shut, desks and even a couch shoved in front of them. To cover the other two, the girls split up. When Nora came to her destination, she put her ear to it and heard metal feet scrambling up the steps. She didn't need further invitation.
Throwing open the door, she swept her light down the paths of the twenty foot wide room with steps spiraling down the walls until she caught sight of a red android. Nora activated the barrage function on Magnhild, and a cluster of six grenades shot out. The android didn't have time to dodge at this distance.
The stairway was filled with the deafening booms of explosions as pink light blossomed out to briefly illuminate three more shapes on the now-shattered stairs. One of those shapes - a white one - was holding a rotary machinegun and unleashed a flurry of tracer rounds onto Nora's position. Some connected, but she managed to dodge the rest.
Another stream joined the first, and they seemed to be firing in bursts. Nora was already reloading, and after a moment, she was able to move out with her light off. They wouldn't see her coming.
It was easy for people to forget that Nora had some unofficial ninja training. She'd picked it up right alongside her Renny. She just chose not to use it. Ever.
Wellll... almost never. Situations like this were an exception. After all, it wasn't like anyone was there to witness it. She liked to think of it as being sneaky about being sneaky.
Deftly avoiding the incoming fire, she came to a new position and fired out another barrage of six to blow away the rearmost and the stairs it was on. Nora was already reloading and setting up for another barrage when she caught sight of a glint in the shadows. The second of the red androids had leapt the gap and was now coming after her with its polearm.
Nora backflipped out of the way and transformed Magnhild into its hammer configuration. She was forced to backtrack and dodge very quickly, but she soon got her opening. When the glaive-wielding android had forced her back to the stairway entrance, she swung her weapon around to hit it squarely in the chest and then pulled the trigger to detonate a grenade that sent the mechanical monstrosity flying into the opposite wall before it tumbled down the central shaft to the ground.
She barely got a chance to contemplate that before another white android wielding a rotary machinegun stepped out of the shadows to open fire on her. She dodged, and the floor was torn apart by the android's bullets. Before it could open fire a second time, though, the weapon was wrenched out of its hands.
It seemed taken aback by that until a flurry of green sparks from Ren's submachine guns hit it. Then Pyrrha's rifle spoke, slamming it in the head. Finally, with a cry, Jaune gave a running bash with his shield that sent it onto the railing, where a second bash sent it tumbling over the edge.
Jaune stood there for a moment before he looked down the shaft.
"Huh, looks like they're all dead," he commented before looking back to the ginger who had fought them. "Good job, Nora."
She smiled in reply. "Like I said, it's just another day at the office."
"Yes, but I didn't expect you to be quite so literal," observed Pyrrha as she walked up, holding the large rotary machinegun and offering it up. "Anyone want this, or should we throw it away?"
"I'll take it," replied Jaune, reaching out for the weapon. "I mean, I don't have a ranged weapon like you guys, so it makes sense, right?"
The team leader hefted the weapon experimentally, and he looked down at it curiously. "Huh. Lighter than I thought it would be."
"More like you've gotten stronger," Pyrrha corrected. "I don't think you realize just how much you've grown as a Huntsman since coming to Beacon, Jaune."
"And I owe it all to you, Pyr," he said tenderly.
"Not to break up the lovey-dovey moment," Nora interjected, "but did you guys get anything from the office?"
Not that she was getting tired of seeing the happy couple be... couple-y. No, not at all. She'd been pushing for those two dorks to get together for so long, that would be silly.
"Oh, uh, sort of?" Jaune said. "We used some lightning dust to power it up and started a data dump to one of the portable drives. Should be done by now."
"We also found this recording device," said Ren as he held out a small, black, rectangular device emblazoned with the Merlot Industries logo. "We were just about to play it."
"Don't hold back on our account," replied Nora as they began heading back to the CEO's office.
Ren hit the play button, and soon, the offices were filled with the voice of someone who sounded like they had perhaps had one too many bottles of wine.
"I have chosen a name for the lunar sample: Angolmois dust. Like an angel, it descended from heaven, and it is mine. It could change everything! It will change everything."
Jaune flinched as the recording played. "I really hope this guy doesn't turn out to be some long lost friend of the family or something."
"Oh!" Pyrrha said. "I found one of those too." She held up an identical recorder and hit play. It was the same voice.
"The effects of Angolmois dust on the Grimm is simply extraordinary! The underground caverns will hold them for now, but I must have more test subjects. It shouldn't be too hard to lure them here."
Nora felt a chill. "Guys... is that saying what I think it's saying?" she asked, hoping she was wrong.
"It... sounds like the Emerald Forest wasn't the first time he's sabotaged anti-Grimm defenses," observed Jaune reluctantly.
Team JNPR continued back to the CEO's office in silence. Once they were there, Jaune walked up to the desk terminal and checked the screen, disconnecting the portable drive.
"Let's go over this place one more time, just to be sure," he ordered.
It didn't take them long to find additional papers, though few in number, and another recorder. Nora found this one sitting at the back of one of the drawers. They didn't have much time at the moment, not nearly enough to give the tower a full sweep, but they really should return at some point, just in case they missed something.
She turned the recorder over in her hand, inspecting it curiously. It was, as expected, a simple voice recorder. Cheap, disposable, and portable, meant to take dictation of quick notes and reminders. She idly wondered whether the Merlot Industries logo was part of a custom order, an aftermarket addition, or an indicator that it was an in-house product.
She clicked it.
"No matter my efforts, I cannot seem to replicate Angolmois dust. This is unacceptable! I am so close to a breakthrough! I must have more! I must find a way! Hmm, maybe if I used Grimm as a catalyst? Yeeessss. They react so well to it. They must be the key! Most of my avenues to sabotage the defenses have been cut off, but gods only know why! Most of the sheep are running underground! Why not leave the surface to the wolves of science, you idiotic cretins?!"
The longer the recording went on, the more Nora felt her jaw dropping. This was… How could… She couldn't think of the words. How could anyone think of the words?
"If he's not dead already, I'm going to kill him," vowed Ren resolutely.
"I'll be right there with you, Renny," vowed Nora in turn.
"Come on," Jaune said, his voice quiet. "Let's get out of here."
Pyrrha activated her earpiece on the way out. "General Ironwood, we're done for now. Heading back to the VTOL."
Ren resisted the urge to fume as they made their way across the broken concrete to where General Ironwood had landed the Bullhead. Broken, of course, because of Merlot. When Professor Oobleck had given them the briefing on Mountain Glenn, he had made it seem like such an inevitable thing, like it was doomed to fail from the start, but it wasn't. It wasn't the hubris of man that had destroyed Mountain Glenn, but the hubris of a man.
Mountain Glenn wasn't just the world's largest tomb. It was also the world's largest crime scene. And Team JNPR would be the ones to bring closure to the victims and justice to the guilty.
"How bad was it?" asked Ironwood as they stepped into the VTOL.
"Worse than any of us could have imagined," replied Jaune as they deposited all the information they had gathered with the cargo from the trucks. "Let's get out of here."
It was at that moment that a red sports car roared around the corner, headed straight for them.
Without prompting, Jaune leapt out, and Ren followed. They were going to try and stop a speeding vehicle, clearly, so perhaps it was good that Pyrrha and Nora jumped out too. The General brought the Bullhead back up into a hover and deployed the cannon. It might have been easier if instead, they had-…
The car shifted and transformed as it was moving towards them, revealing itself to be a Cybertronian.
"Huntsmen," he - because it clearly spoke with a masculine voice - growled. "I should have known you half-measures would be here, a day late and a dollar short."
"What, worried we're going to foil your plans?" mocked Nora, perhaps unnecessarily.
Before the Cybertronian could reply, there was a massive, deafening boom that shook the land. They all turned towards the source, the mountain, as the top completely caved in on itself with a massive cloud of dust, lightning spewing from the newly-formed crater before the rim flash-froze solid, with a sprinkling of other minor elemental effects mixed in. It wasn't just a cloud of dust, Ren realized. It was a cloud of dust.
"Huh," observed the Cybertronian. "I thought for sure there'd be a bigger boom than that."
Just as those words registered in Ren's ears, there was a second boom, this time with the collapsed top shattering apart in a hail of shrapnel. Then there was the sound of something that, though he had never conceived of it before, he knew deep in his bones that he never wanted to hear. Man was not meant to hear that noise.
An ear-piercing shriek, like the roar of horrors, swept out in all directions.
The brief silence that followed was broken by an answering howl in the distance. And another. And another. And another. They were soon joined by many more, an unholy chorus echoing across the dead city. The Grimm were coming. All throughout the murdered city, the Grimm were coming alive. More than that, above them, flying Grimm started to congregate.
General Ironwood opened fire on them from his Bullhead, but it was clear he needed to focus on evasive maneuvers. "Juniper, get to cover! Now!"
They didn't need to be ordered, but that order drove them on. The Cybertronian had whipped out some sort of gun and was firing at the swarming Grimm. JNPR was focused on something else.
Nearby, there was an entrance to the underground city. It was a road tunnel that had been closed off when the population had fully fled underground. Something told Ren though that they would find it remarkably clear.
They didn't, not quite. There was a whole pack of Beowolves looking to cut them off. JNPR cut them apart instead.
"Maybe we should find another way," said Pyrrha as she took aim at another pack of Grimm closing in on them.
That wasn't all that was closing in on them. The Cybertronian was coming at them too, though he was firing his weapon at the various Grimm. He was actually a pretty decent shot.
He turned and seemed to notice them. "Oh, no, not you again!"
Again, before any of them could come up with a response, that terrible shriek sounded.
Once more, they looked back to the mountain, and what they saw made Ren's blood run cold.
It was a dragon, a massive Grimm dragon crawling out of the rubble. It spread its wings and flapped into the air, creating huge gusts of wind that they felt even in the city as it flew higher and higher. It flew up high enough that it blocked out the sun, casting the ruins into shadow.
It was a Grimm eclipse.
The dragon shrieked again, this time in pain, as gunfire from Ironwood's VTOL raked across it.
"Get out of here, Juniper!" he ordered over their ear pieces. "I'll hold it off! Just escape!"
Horrified, that order drove them on into the tunnel. The Cybertronian followed as well. He… he… but they had to escape. They couldn't escape.
Team JNPR came to the end of the road, the rest of it having fallen away into the biggest cavern any of them had ever seen.
They turned back, only to see the inevitable tide of Grimm still pursuing and the Cybertronian blasting away at them.
"Get on!" the Cybertronian ordered, dropping to one knee. "On my shoulders and hold on!"
Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren exchanged looks, then looked to their team leader for guidance. Jaune eyed the horned robot, then gave a quick nod. With that, they scrambled up the Cybertronian's body and grabbed onto his neck as he leaped off into the void.
As they fell, clinging to the Cybertronian's neck, great gouts of flame erupted from the red bot's feet. Rocket engines, Ren realized. It wasn't enough to arrest their descent, but it slowed their fall considerably as they descended into the depths. Around them, the Grimm pursuing them that had failed to stop fell past them, a peculiarly literal rain of death and destruction, only to themselves be swallowed up by the darkness and impact somewhere down below at terminal velocity.
Illuminated by the flame, they saw the ground rushing up to meet them, but they touched down relatively gently onto concrete.
"Who are you?" asked Pyrrha as they dismounted, and it was a very valid question.
"Name's Cliffjumper," replied the Cybertronian. Ren tensed and could see his teammates doing the same. This was the "Autobot" - whatever that actually meant - that had attacked Teams CFVY and RRFL.
"Fitting name," deadpanned Nora.
The red Cybertronian seemed to bristle at that. "I'm not that bad."
"What are you doing here?" Jaune pressed, taking charge and squaring his stance.
Cliffjumper shrugged. "Been poking around. Found that big ol' Grimm shrikebat asleep and vulnerable, along with a stockpile of dust someone just left lying around. Figured that was a problem best nipped in the bud, but I guess I kinda overestimated the yield I'd get. This 'dust' stuff of yours is kinda weak."
"So... you tried to kill it, mixing a bunch of different dust together, which probably neutralized each other, and instead, you woke it up," Team JNPR's leader summarized. "And now, Vale has to deal with a giant flying Grimm of legend lurking around right after the Atlesian military recalled their air fleet."
He got an embarrassed cough in reply.
Ren wondered exactly how a Cybertronian coughed. Did they even have lungs?
"Well," Pyrrha said diplomatically, "regardless of what led us to this point, we are all in the same situation. Might I suggest a temporary alliance? At least until we find a way back to the surface?"
Cliffjumper looked at Pyrrha, his eyes boring down on the red Huntress.
"Just don't get in my way," he said finally.
The big red bot started walking off in some random direction, the "headlights" on his body lighting up the whole way.
Team JNPR exchanged wary looks, and as they began to cautiously follow Cliffjumper, Jaune sidled up next to his girlfriend and murmured quietly, "You sure about this, Pyr?"
"What do we have to lose, Jaune?" she asked reasonably, keeping her voice low. "If he does turn on us..." she trailed off, holding up a hand and waggling her fingers meaningfully.
"So to speak," muttered Nora, and Ren decided not to parse her words for a deeper meaning.
They continued on for a time, their lights sweeping across the terrain. Occasionally, they encountered a Grimm, but they were dispatched easily, either through the merits of Team JNPR or through a gigantic melee attack from Cliffjumper. Ren had never seen a Beowolf get punted that far before. They traveled like that for quite some time until they came across the remains of a lived-in prefab, with the body of a White Fang grunt hanging out of its window.
Ren leaned in for a closer look and raised an eyebrow at what he found. "What do we have here?" he murmured, picking up his find. Caught in the White Fang corpse's pocket was another microrecorder, a different model from the ones they'd found in Merlot Tower; this one was shaped like a pen. He glanced at the rest of his team, and they hung back to allow Cliffjumper to pull ahead some distance before he clicked the play button.
"First, we drive 'em out, then we invite 'em back in. Adam needs to make up his mind between Cinder and that Sunfire girl, which is going to mean one heck of a crossfire. Don't even know what Sunfire is, but he seems pretty fond of her. Seriously, with the way they argue all the time? Gotta be love. Anyway, word is out to lay low for now. Something big's in the works."
Jaune glanced at Pyrrha, then scoffed as they picked up the pace in order to not be left too far behind. Cliffjumper had already awakened a giant Grimm; who knew what other trouble he'd cause if left to his own devices? "'Argue all the time'?" he quoted skeptically. "That doesn't sound like romance to me. That sounds more like me and my sisters."
"Maybe," Pyrrha said, "but Blake seems convinced they are a couple, perhaps in an abusive relationship."
Jaune shook his head. "No. I know what's going on here. You can chalk this up as my theory: Adam and Sunfire are brother and sister."
"Chalk it up where?" asked Nora. "We don't exactly have a chart for all these theories."
"Maybe we should," replied Ren. "Things seem to be getting a little complicated these days."
"It's not complicated at all," interjected Cliffjumper. Evidently they were close enough now for him to hear them. "Autobots good, Decepticons bad. You're either with us or against us. Simple as can be."
"Is it?" Jaune prodded. "So far, I'm hearing a lot of 'us good, them bad' and precious little to prove you're any different."
Cliffjumper whirled around, leaning down towards him. "Listen here, kid, I don't play nice. You can't in this war. Sometimes, you've gotta crack a few skulls to get things done."
With that, the Autobot turned back to the tunnel ahead and began stomping away.
The group continued down the tunnel until it opened up into a larger cavern... with rail lines in the ground.
"This must be part of the rail network that transported people between Vale and Mountain Glenn," Ren noted.
"We'll follow them, then," Jaune declared. "Keep an eye out on the ceiling for escape hatches in case the ladders are gone. According to the plans, they're spaced out every thousand feet or so."
Ren understood what he meant. According to the briefing, the escape hatches led to fortified mini-bunkers on the surface that would be equipped with supplies, weapons, and a small communications tower to tap into the CCT network. At least, in their heyday. Time, neglect, and the Grimm surely compromised most - if not all - of the escape bunkers, but at the very least, they would be a means to reach the surface.
Of course, unsaid was the fact that those hatches would hardly fit Cliffjumper. Ren had never felt too broken up about betraying criminal scum, and this hardly seemed different. As long as Nora was safe, he could live with whatever needed to be done.
Nora… what was he going to do with her?
Ever since the dance, she'd been acting peculiarly, swinging from being incredibly supportive of Jaune and Pyrrha's new relationship to acting almost... envious of it. Her actions in the last mission to the Emerald Forest, however...
Nora and Ren had always been a little protective and possessive of each other. But it had become increasingly clear that, for all her insistence that they weren't together-together... it seemed she wished it were otherwise.
Ren couldn't imagine a life without Nora, but the prospect of taking that step was more than a little intimidating. And ultimately, they were in the middle of a mission... not just to Mountain Glenn, but this entire situation with the Decepticons and the SDC. The fate of the world was potentially at stake here, and personal issues within the team could cost them their lives.
They had been lucky that the mess caused by Ruby and Jaune's breakup had happened during a lull in missions. Luckier still that Jaune and Pyrrha had found comfort in each other. But could Ren really trust himself to take that kind of risk when their lives - the whole world - depended on them?
It was a critical question, but one that would have to wait until later. There was another light down there in the gloom with them. It was no flashlight moving towards them either, but an eerie and sickly green glow.
They all turned their own lights towards the incoming unknowns. It was a pack of Grimm. The common Creep, but something was different about one of them. It was Nora who spoke first.
"A green one? Ooh! Kill it, kill it."
As one, Team JNPR plowed into battle. Unsurprisingly, Pyrrha easily took the lead, carving a path through the Grimm toward the strange green one with ease before dispatching it. The redheaded champion seemed surprised and even a little disappointed as it fell at her feet. She turned to the next target, only to be interrupted as Jaune tackled her.
"Jaune! Wha-?"
That was when the glowing green Creep exploded.
"Wasn't me!" Cliffjumper preempted.
"What was that thing?" demanded Jaune.
"Grimm infected with some kind of dark energon," the Autobot said grimly. "A tox-en variant. Been running into these things for a while. Why do you think I was sticking around? Dark energon is bad news."
"And what is dark energon, exactly?" Ren asked.
"The Blood of Unicron the Destroyer, Lord of Chaos, Planet Eater. At least, that's what the stories say," Cliffjumper explained with an ominous tone. "Whatever it really is, it corrupts Cybertronian biology and technology, it's deadly to organics like you, and it reanimates ravenous zombie hordes. Any questions?"
"Just one," Nora piped up, raising a finger. "When did we go from science fiction to horror?"
"Kid, what are you talking about?" the Autobot fired back. "Ever since I woke up, I've been living in a fantasy vid."
"Can we stop debating what genre our lives are and get back to figuring out how to get out of here?" Jaune interrupted the budding argument.
"We could try taking that train," Ren suggested as he pointed further down the rail tracks they had been following to where a train sat, barely visible in the light from his headlamp.
"Worth a short," Jaune agreed. "It has to go somewhere, and it sure beats walking."
"Not like I got any better ideas," Cliffjumper grumbled.
Soon enough, they had boarded the train, slain the Grimm that lurked within it, and gotten it moving. Cliffjumper had opted to stay in one of the empty cargo cars, while JNPR was in the locomotive.
"This train is in remarkably good condition," observed Pyrrha. "Someone's been maintaining it and keeping it operational."
"I think I know who," Jaune said after he opened the door at the back of the locomotive to the car behind. Ren peered through past him. A corpse lay on the floor, wearing a White Fang mask and bearing claw marks suggestive of a Grimm or wild animal attack. Given the location, Ren felt safe in assuming it was Grimm.
Nora stepped through and examined the body.
"Got another one!" she called, pulling a pen-like voice recorder out from under the corpse's vest and clicking it.
"This is it. I knew it. The big one. We're not going to lose this time. This time, we'll have our revenge. Adam asked for volunteers for this, and I stepped up. We've got the train rigged up in case things go cockeyed. I just hope nothing happens between now and then."
The four teenagers exchanged worried looks.
"I guess we're about to find out where the White Fang went," Jaune noted.
"Something clearly did happen though," noted Pyrrha sadly, in accordance with the recording's last words. "I think we all forget how easily life can be cut short. I know that he was a terrorist, that he probably wouldn't have hesitated to kill me and all I love, but… maybe he was someone like Blake? We'll never know."
"And this 'big one' he's talking about..." Ren said quietly. "I feel sick thinking we might have that monster Merlot to thank for stopping whatever it was." Given the corpse's likely cause of death and the recording they'd recovered from Merlot Tower about storing Grimm test subjects underground...
"Maybe he didn't? Maybe it was something else? The Vytal Festival is coming up soon. That would be the perfect place to stage a big flashy terrorist attack," strategized Jaune before he shook his head. "Too many unknowns. Just like always. I just wish we knew a little bit more. I'm tired of being in the dark."
Nora was quiet for a spell before she said, "I hope General Ironwood made it out okay."
"I don't know if that's possible, Nora," Ren said quietly. "There were a lot of Grimm, and I don't believe the Bullhead has the firepower to hurt that Wyvern." It pained him to see her expression crumple, and he pulled her into a comforting hug.
Some things might be confused between them, but this part was clear. He would not allow Nora to suffer.
"Maybe it is impossible," Pyrrha admitted morosely, "but maybe it's time for something impossible to happen. A straight win, no strings attached... is that too much to ask for?"
She must have been remembering her time in the tournament circuit. A simpler time, when victory or defeat was clearly defined.
"No, it isn't, Pyr," Jaune assured them, pulling Pyrrha into a hug. "Just remember, even in the darkest hour, there is a light, and maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, we're gonna beat this. I know it."
"We could call Ironwood," Nora suggested. "Signal underground might be spotty, but we could."
Jaune shook his head. "No, we can't. Not with Cliffjumper here and this... 'dark energon' involved. It might not have started out as one, but this is a Team Rainbow mission now."
The four of them lapsed into silence as the train rolled on through the darkness into the unknown.
'Til the end of the line.
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
Oh, Cliffjumper. Living up to his name for once.
These chapters with long contiguous scenes are hell for us to write. A large part of this is because we can't just jump around, split up the chapter based on who's inspired on which scene, and write simultaneously... because it's almost all one scene.
Anyway, about Jaune's motion sickness, I'll start by pointing out that his only line about it is that he's saying it's a much more common problem than people let on. I also find it strange that it literally never comes up ever again, not even during, say, aboard Manta 5-1 at the end of volume six and the beginning of volume seven. So, this is my personal headcanon as to why he experiences that nausea precisely once in the entire show.
We didn't spend much time on it, but I just love the whole Late to the Tragedy atmosphere, that kind of eeriness you get when the protagonists arrive on a location in which something has happened and left it deserted, like the scene when the Marines first arrive at Hadley's Hope in Aliens. I especially like it when there are odd incongruities like the coffee mugs vs. the barricaded stairwells in this chapter. I suppose that's one reason I was so amenable to the inclusion of the audio logs, even if they are pretty video game-y.
It's kind of curious how that ending line has taken such a recurring place in our story. That happened kind of by accident.
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
Team JNPR is our favorite team. Why has this interlude been so hard to write? I mean, seriously, it is pretty stonking difficult. We're half way till the end though, so here's hoping that the next two chapters are easier to write.
The audio logs… Honestly, they don't make a whole lot of sense in the context of real life, but they've always been one of my favorite storytelling mediums in video games. Now here I am, getting to actually write them and include them in the story. It feels good, man. I think we can all agree too that these make for far more interesting relics than the chess pieces in the game itself.
Oh, more relationship drama with Team JNPR. This is why fraternization is a bad idea. It makes things far too messy when things get thrown against the wall. This sort of lack of discipline just will not do. Ah, but they're teenagers, perhaps I should be more accomodating? I mean, they've already got a newspaper fish like me writing for them. Isn't that making their love lives hard enough?
On a sillier note, I have to apologize for making a reference to The Last Jedi. I shamefully misremembered the quote as being from The Empire Strikes Back. In my defense, I was likely being confuzzled by bokon1's multiplayer recaps.
Author's Note 3 (Cyclone):
I think we made up for it with the other reference to Star Wars I inserted.