The train was still moving fast and the Grimm were still running with us. I ignored both of these as I blasted past Ruby and into a few stray soldiers. She gasped behind me in surprise as I attacked the men. The first attempted to swing his gun at me, but I blocked and swung my sword into his legs. He fell off the train as I reeled onto the other two who were shooting at me.
Raising my arm against my eyes I channeled energy into the point of my sword. Purple fire burst and pushed the two off the edge of the train as well, most likely going to fall prey to the stampeding Grimm.
"Darren, where were you!?" Ruby yelled, her eyes still red from crying. You could honestly hear the sound in her voice that she partially blamed me for not being there, especially because I could have been strong enough to stop the 'monster'.
"Is Oobleck alright?" She asked me next before I could respond. I narrowed my eyes. "Explanations later, fighting now." I told her, and rolled out of the way as a hydraulics fueled punch landed on my previous position. I spun and slashed at the supporting steel, but this model must have been reinforced. Instead of the clean cut I was expecting on the ankle my blade only deeply scratched into some armor plating. Another mech began to close in on us with the first.
Ruby dodged backwards as a loud round sounded and blasted through part of the car roof. The metal was red around the edges signaling a powerful red dust round. "Don't get hit." She said, and charged in towards the gun arm. Before she could complete any movement of severing the second mech grazed a punch that still threw her onto her back.
"I can distract one, you handle the second." I told her. She was looking mad, but also worried. "What about number 3?" She said, and called a third approaching mech.
"I'll figure things out. Now go!" I yelled out, speeding past the first that struck the ground as I passed. Ruby went after the arm embedded into the metal roof as I forcefully uppercut the first mech with my sword, hoping to damage the cockpit.
My blade shattered some of the glass and the reflective surface, showing me the masked pilot. Still in the air from my rising slash I used a quick burst of force and fire to launched a ball of heat into the glass. The mech recoiled backwards as the glass melted and shattered fully. The pilot was mostly unscathed and raised its gun in panic, firing a shot.
I deflected the round into one of the walls, ignoring the jarring that it gave my arm. Trying for another slash proved near useless as now the pilot was guarding himself entirely. I decided to pull a Weiss, summoning multiple reflective glyphs around us and jumping into one. The faunus operator was unable to follow the randomized movements of my jumps and I stabbed him in the chest, throwing his body overboard before Ruby could see that I brutally murdered a man.
In my haste to conserve my identity I forgot the second mech, and received a flaming round to my chest. Embers flickered off my burned clothes as I almost lost my grip on the metal frame. Now more angered than in pain, I grabbed a joystick and raised the left arm, the cannon arm. One press of a button echoed the loud report I had hoped for, and severed the shoulder mechanism of his gun. With a forceful kick I shoved the empty machine off the train.
To my chagrin I noticed even more mechs rising up from a car in front of us. At least a dozen. I felt a hand on my shoulder that was at a high temperature and noticed Yang standing next to me. A few cuts and bruises, but she had one. Blake was behind her with Weiss leaning on her. She was drained, but not injured. Ruby walked to my side. "What do we do now?" She asked.
"I don't think we do anything." Blake said, pointing at the mechs leaving the train, including the one-armed mech we were about to finish.
I saw why. We were nearing the end of how far this tunnel was dug. I looked at Weiss intensely. "Ice, now. ALL OF IT!" I yelled. I could survive this no problem, but there was a good chance they would die without protection. Despite her tiredness Weiss jumped to the center of us and flared out a complicated Glyph that raised a thick ice dome around us. I supplied some of my own energy, forcing the temperature lower and hardening the ice.
I could hear everyone take a breath and hold it as they braced themselves for impact. A very hard impact. A noise much louder than any cannon sounded around us as the head of the train struck the wall. The ice held at that point, but then explosions went off as we struck the same wall, shattering the ice and any normal person's eardrums. As it was mine were ringing as I waited for the world to stop shaking.
After a loud minute or so rubble began to settle and my eyes opened. I heard fain sirens and yelling for help. Around me the rest of the team seemed to be gathering their consciousness and sat we heard growling. We were on the edge of a giant crater that had opened up dead in the center of downtown Vale. The growling got louder with rumbling, and a King Taijitu sprouted out of the tunnel with many lesser creatures following.
Each of the girls with operational scrolls pressed the distress signal on their screens before rising. I did the same and pushed the rubble off my shoulders. "What's the plan now, Ruby?" Blake asked.
Ruby looked at us with a frantic expression. Between the crash, losing somebody, and now the threat to civilians, she was nearing her wits end. "Get the people, wait, cover the, no... Kill the Grimm, fast." She said, shooting off with her scythe towards a Beowolf chasing down a mother with a stroller. With our orders given we each dashed off to a corner of the ruin.
My corner just so happened to have the city's biggest snake in it, so I attacked headfirst. When the black head made to bite me I sliced, taking a foot of thick tongue and a large fang. Behind the brother rose and struck while I was in the air. With no ground to push off of i was smashed into the ground by the head. It roared for assistance and I suddenly found myself being dug deeper into the ground by four snake heads bashing me repeatedly through the park foundation.
As one of the heads reared back I summoned a force rune in front of me. The one-ton head smashed against it a foot away from my body, shaking the deep chasm around me. On the next strike I raised my sword, embedding it into one of the eyes. It took the blade with it, and I was still cornered. The strikes didn't hurt as much as the golem Grimm did, but they were a close second.
Another strike barreled into me and my skin pierced, the rare venom of a King Taijitu flowed into my shoulder and lit that arm on fire. Despite the pain I raised the other with another force rune combined with fire and lightning. A few seconds burst of this was enough to drive the heads away was just long enough for me to get on me feet and jump out of the hole.
A head struck at me and I jumped off its head, blasting another lightning bolt at the next aerial assault. Then, like any trusty weapon, my sword came back to me with the present of a head to kill. When it chomped at me I kicked off the gnashed teeth and grabbed my sword, wrenching it out and spraying black blood over the both of us. It screamed and we began to fall. I made sure to land so that my sword drove through the center of the head and I twisted.
Three heads to go, and my scroll vibrated. I grabbed it with my free hand and jumped over the first head, digging into the neck. When I answered the call I heard Ozpin's voice over the line. "Thank the gods you picked up. Listen! There are currently no hunter teams available. You must hold them back until Atlesian forces arrive to evac the civilians." Ozpin explained to me.
Another typical shit-show it seemed. I grunted affirmation and hung up, letting go of the snake's neck and slicing a power-filed line of energy towards the neck. This one had some tougher scales and the cut only made it halfway through the skin. A thin line of black ichor stood out against the white armor plating. I slashed twice more, once to get through the skin, and once to get into the meat. Once past the scales the impact tore through the flesh and the spine, killing it.
Once I hit the ground again I took in the situation. Ruby and Weiss were defending a group of people that had taken shelter inside of a shop. Blake was running around culling any Beowolves and moving along stray citizens. Yang stood at the precipice of the hole and blasted backwards any larger Grimm that dared to climb up.
The snakes in front of me screamed, bringing my attention back to them. The two struck one after the other. I dodged the first and stabbed upwards against the second. The force pushed me through some bricks and onto my back, but the blade had penetrated through the base of the jaw and hooked through the bone. I smiled and forced lightning through the blade. With a scream and a dying jerk I was once again wrenched from my weapon and into the waiting jaws of the final snake.
I went spread eagle in effort to not get swallowed. What followed was not much better as I ended up feet on the tongue of the serpent and hands upwards, embedded into the fangs. Both arms began to feel as if on fire as I was injected with venom once again. I bent my knees slowly and then jumped hard. The force cracked the jaw of the snake open and it let me go. Summoning shovel-like claws onto my hands I attacked the head.
My strikes did not end until there was a fair bit of brain matter under my nails and the head stopped shrieking. Seeing the final snake dead and all of the civilians in cover Ruby called a round up at the storefront. I walked over while Blake and Yang caught up. The crater had stopped belching up Grimm for the next few seconds.
"Problem check." Ruby called out.
"Out of ice and almost fire." Weiss said.
"Aura's low." Said Blake.
"Out of ammo." Blake told us.
"No reinforcements." I informed them. Ruby stared at me wide eyed and even more broken than before. Things were on a downhill slope and moving fast.
"Well who is coming?" Weiss asked me. I told them quickly about the Atlesian soldiers and our objective to hold off or kill all the Grimm. We were all silent after that until multiple roars and heavy footsteps started approaching from the tunnels.
"I have a plan." Ruby said at last. We made for her to continue. "We jump in." Ruby said. I was certain that she'd finally cracked.
"What!?" Weiss exclaimed. Ruby held up her hands in defense.
"We jump in and seal up the hole with earth dust." Ruby said quickly.
"That's suicide!" Weiss yelled again. The pounding steps got closer. "I know. But what else can we do?" Ruby argued.
Nobody offered up a better solution and we silently agreed that we would have to do that. I sighed and grabbed my sword out from under the jaw of the snake. Of the five of us I was the first to jump into the hole. Ruby, Blake, and Yang followed. Weiss was last and began casting a large glyph over the hole to fill it with created rock.
A horde of Grimm was about thirty seconds from colliding with us when Ruby issued the final commands. "We aren't here to defend or control. We're here to kill, so don't hold back. Weiss, use all the dust you have. Blake, no ammo conservations. Yang, Berserker. Darren, you're on the front lines with Yang. I'll be weaving in between to cut them down before they hit the others.
A role-call of agreement sounded before Ruby grunted and her eyes lit up along with her aura. She charged with such speed that the wooden track beam she placed her foot on cracked from the force. Yang clashed her fists together and lit up the area around us with her bright white hair and glowing blue eyes. Weiss and Blake took a few steps away in order to not get singed from the radiating waves of heat.
I took off with her while gunshots reported in the tunnel as Blake picked off the heads in the back of the group. Ruby weaved in and out as a blur of petals while swaths of wolves were cut down. She was quite vicious when she used her weapon and Velocity together.
Yang impacted the horde head on and put all she could into the first punch to send a rain of bodies away. Each blow after that would thoroughly turn the upper half of the Grimm's body into broken charcoal. I smiled at the utter slaughter and began slicing wildly, the energy off the blade leaping 10 feet away from me and ripping down the numbers. Any that got by us was taken down in the docens by arcing lightning.
Despite all of this assault power we were still being overwhelmed. Ruby slowed down from the thicker numbers and Yang took hits. Blake and Weiss were forced to deal with increasingly more Grimm that broke through. Not needing wanting else to die unless I needed them to, I took matters into my own hands.
From within me I pulled out a power that I had not showcased publicly since initiation day, and my body became a blur. Now matching Ruby in speed I began rapidly attacking the edge of the front line, making accelerated passes that kept the horde at bay. The rest needed a break though, and Ruby called out.
"Yang, All or Nothing!" She yelled. This was something she had come up specifically for Yang's semblance. Yang hopped back and stood in a stance she hadn't used before. Almost instantaneously her skin began glowing a deep blue while her hair raised up into the air with increasing blue streaks. Her eyes darkened from a blue to a deeper color that was almost purple, but held death in them.
After a few more seconds Yang yelled at me to get back as she ran forwards with the ground igniting and metal tracks glowing red from her heat, and punched the first Grimm she came in contact with. It was immediately turned into ash with a blinding flash of blue plasma, but the energy carried forwards across the entirety of the horde. The first 50-100 of them were shattered into burning bits while the dozens upon dozens behind them were either killed of broken by the impact. Ruby had jumped briefly to the ceiling in order to avoid the shockwave.
One look at Yang would have told you that the attack took its toll. Her leading hand was burnt badly and her skin was covered in sweat. Her hair was dull and there wasn't an ounce of aura left in her kneeling body as she struggled for oxygen. It wasn't in vain though as a solid 90% of the remaining horde was destroyed and the remaining ones were disoriented and easily cut down by Ruby and I.
When we returned to the rest of the group Ruby almost grabbed Yang to help her to her feet, but instead stuck out Crescent Rose's handle after feeling the residual heat on Yang's skin. "Did we do it?" She asked in a daze.
"We sure did. Darren, could you open the hole?" Ruby asked, hoping to leave before more Grimm showed up from the sound of Yang's attack. I nodded and cast a new rune onto the surface of the rock. The stone withered away in dust that rained down until sunlight shone through. There was authoritative yelling above and after a few moments a rope ladder with white metal rungs was lowered through the opening.
"Guess the soldiers showed up." Ruby said. A head appeared in the hole and called down to us.
"Anyone of you injured, because we can get a med evac down here in minutes?" He asked. After making sure Ruby yelled up that none of us were injured and we all started ascending the ladder. The soldier that called down the hole had left, replaced by a man with stars on his shoulders, a general. He shook each of our hands as we exited the hole, ignoring how hot Yang's skin probably was.
"We were informed of the situation and responded as fast as we could. All of you, even if in training, have definitely earned your stripes in my book. You've done a great service to your kingdom today." He told all of us. Ruby rubbed the back of her neck and responded.
"We were just, you know, doing our job." She answered. The general smirked as he walked away. "Modesty. How about that."
A few moments after he left another man in a different uniform jogged up to us. "There's a Bullhead waiting to take you back to Beacon. One of your instructors is on board and is waiting to question the five of you on what happened in those tunnels." He told us and pointed at an airship with roaring engines. Inside the passenger area we saw Ozpin waiting patiently.
Ruby thanked him and we slowly got on board. Yang basically passed out in the chair while Blake and Weiss left the questioning to us. Ozpin was about to speak but Ruby beat him to it. "Why weren't there any reinforcements? There are a bunch of teams that should have been able to make it. JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, that one group with that Fall girl. Where were all of them? Not to mention the other Hunters." She asked.
"You are aware that there were multiple detonations, correct?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Well, then it will make sense to tell you that we were spread out as those tunnels had multiple openings in the city. A different team each aided by one of our instructors was stationed at each opening, and Glynda is currently making rounds to repair the damages. As for Team JNPR, they were current;y held back because Ms Nikos is in the infirmary." Ozpin explained. Ruby slumped backwards in her chair once her question was answered. She did make to ask about Pyrrha, but he told her it would be better explained by her team.
"Now, I've got a few things to get sorted out, so first things first, where is Doctor Oobleck?" Ozpin asked. The mention of his name looked quite like it had stabbed Ruby with the sound of it. "He... He didn't make it." She told him.
Ozpin was the one to slump backwards in his seat this time, his own eyes wide. He then shook his head and his professional look returned. It pleased me that I had apparently killed a close friend of his. "I didn't take him to be one that would fall prey to Grimm." He said. Ruby shook her head.
"He didn't. It was that... The thing that murdered the Atlesian squad in the woods. He stayed behind to hold him off while we stopped the train. He was at the station." Ruby informed him. He nodded solemnly.
"I'll have a recovery team sent down, and we'll give him our respects. Let's force our way through the rest of the event for now, and then you and your team can rest." Ozpin said. Ruby and I nodded. For the rest of the flight we recalled a detailed event map of the whole situation, and I took care not to explain any of the parts that I 'wasn't there' for.
I was also forced to explain where I was when the rest of the team jumped down to help Ruby. My story was that I was chasing down a small pack of Grimm because I could not sleep. Eventually I heard explosions and found the hole that they jumped down. By the time I reached the station the train had already left and I followed the car detonations.
Ozpin was silent for the almost all of our story, not even bothering to write anything down during the routine parts of the mission. Only after night had fallen did he begin to take any interest. The old man seemed to take great interest as we explained Ruby and Yang's newfound limits with their powers. The most involved he became was when we spoke of the 'man' that killed Oobleck. He got every physical and mental detail possible out of that form.
After we reached the point where the soldiers lowered the ladder Ozpin stopped us and slipped the notebook inside of his outer coat. "I thank you for the detailed accounting of the events. We seem to be about to land, so I will leave the five of you alone until the funeral is held. Oobleck wanted a pyre, and we'll make it glorious." Ozpin said, the last part quietly. He slid open the door and seated himself next to the pilot, leaving us to ourselves.
I glanced over to Ruby, expecting tears or at least sadness, but she instead had a cold and faraway stare straight into the wall in front of us. I didn't comment on it and simply waited for landing. I could almost feel the rest of the team gauging Ruby's reaction as she was the most innocent and childlike of us all. The most likely to be heavily affected by death.
The ship landed and we unloaded from the ship. Yang leaned on me without my say in the matter and I was forced to guide her to the dorms. Ruby remained silent and Yang shot her glances every so often, wishing she had the energy to comfort her. Weiss and Blake didn't say anything different as well. We entered the room and Yang collapsed on the bunk.
Ruby sat at the desk with her music and Weiss was the first to go and shower. That left me and Blake alone in the room. Against her usual ritual of picking up a book and detaching from the world, Blake sat on the bunk in front of me and stared at me. She seemed to be figuring out the words to say something to me, so I waited.
"I want you to train me." She pushed out. Her voice was forceful and clear. I looked up at her.
"So what's changed your mind?" I asked.
"Oobleck did. Well.. Mostly Oobleck, but it was something that monster said to us. He was right. Oobleck had no hope, but even with all of us fighting against him, I don't think we could have won, even with you. So I need to get stronger, strong enough so that maybe together we'll have a chance against something like that. After seeing just how much more Yang and Ruby are able to do, it makes no sense not to." She went quiet.
"You just don't want anyone else to die around Ruby. That's it, isn't it?" I asked. Blake nodded.
"It's not that she's bad at combat, but in terms of dealing with the hardships of battle, she's still a child. In her mind the light always beats the dark, but she doesn't know what to do if the dark wins. But maybe I don't want her to deal with it, maybe an innocence like her should be preserved." Blake argued her case.
"People are going to die Blake, you can't stop all of it. And truth be told I wouldn't even know where to start with your semblance. Your instincts are true, your form is perfect, and you don't leave any openings." I trailed off as I explained this to her, but I was really testing her resolve.
"But I could be better. I've never once thought I was as good as I could get, or that I didn't have flaws I needed to work through. I know that you could teach me to be stronger in more ways than just my semblance." She told me. I nodded and looked at her.
"Flaws, huh? Yeah you've got a few. The first is your issue with courage." I blatantly said. She made to argue but I continued first. "Before even knowing if we were going to criticize or hurt you, you ran the second we found out you were in the White Fang, and I don't fully believe you would have come back if we hadn't found you. And even now you still wear the damn bow." I told her.
"You don't know if people in the school will be okay with it. I enjoy not getting the aggressive sideways glances walking down the streets or through the halls." She argued.
"Yeah, well people are going to. If you hide from it you'll never learn to deal. You are literally living a lie right now because you're too afraid to embrace the truth, despite watching everyone around you live it."
"But-" Blake tried to defend herself and I held up my hand.
"You want me to train you, to make you better? Lose the bow." I told her coldly. Blake looked at the floor and I turned away from her. A few tense seconds passed and I heard her voice.
"Okay." She quietly said without looking up. I heard the rustle of fabric as the untied it. I glanced up as she finished and tossed the article of cloth at me. I caught it in my hand and focused. The durable fabric smoldered for just a moment until it caught all at once. Blake almost reached out for it as I let go and the scraps of material dissipated into embers.
"We start tomorrow." I told her, and rolled over to sleep.