Chapter 20
Cerise was in a temporary office on another ship saddened by the turn of events the fleet of ships she had brought was now sitting outside of Atlas her soldiers scattered to who knows where, the worst of them all is her two children she doesn't know where or how they are, she watched from the window seeing her own ship in the ship dock being repaired seeing it damaged bridge being pulled off turning around she smiled at the cup of tea that was poured out by her friend "thank you!" she said sounding tired.
"your empress what your next move?" she face the many Generals and advisers in this room.
Placing her cup down "what is the static of our ground force?" she asked one of them.
A female Faunus walked up to her with a date pad in her hand "um your empress we are still trying to get the final count who is missing and who isn't but the majority of the forces have pulled back to the old mining area while some of them are still in the city" she closes her eyes in thought.
"okay since our enemy has finally came out of her hiding place I am authorising the mobilisation of our entire military" she said before taking another sip of her cup.
"and the six sister's ships?" she hears one of her Generals asking.
Getting up off her chair "leave them at the empire the one that is with us will stay here with the fleet where it is safe" she began to walk to the door "now if you all will excuse me I am heading down to the old mining place to visit our troop to give them a moral boost she-wolf knows they might need it" she said leaving the room with her friend behind her.
...
Crimson was next to her brother as they both were checking their weapons along with both Winter pack and Sienna pack they were holding up in some rundown building were they noticed Oscar and Ruby walking in at this point they saw both Yang and Ruby arguing at each other.
Jaune got in the middle and stopped them as he went on about some plan he made up about splitting in to two groups.
"what about you lot?" Ebony looked to his sister as he hears Jaune asking this seeing her looking towards him and nods they both knew what they need to do.
"we have been hearing radio chatter about a group of our soldiers being hold up in some church we know who they are I along with Winter pack will go with Ruby to help her while my brother with Sienna pack will head to the church to see them then they will head to the old mining where the majority of our force is at the moment" Crimson saw Jaune looking worried.
She walked up to him "don't worry I will be fine" she held his hand "we are going with Ruby to help distract Ironwood away from you all as well as my brother" she saw him now smiling at her.
"okay just be careful" she chuckle a little at him and gave him a little kiss on the lips.
"I will be" she said as they began to all make their way out to their location.
...
Ebony walked up to Penny "hay so your going with Ruby?" he asked her as he was worried about her.
"yes I can help them get in" she saw him placing his hand on her hand.
"okay please be careful I can't lose you again!" he said as he felt her placing a hand on his cheek making him looking up to her.
"you won't I promise!" she smiled to him as they shared a kiss before they too went their own way.
...
1 hour later
At the mining area a soldier got off the truck he had arrived on and saw the whole area was busy several tents set up with injured troops in them he saw lots of soldiers laying around some writing, others trying to find their squad mates just then he noticed one of their troop carriers planes coming down to land it doors open up to reveal some of their empress guards walking out with the empress here herself.
...
Cerise saw the door open up to a huge massive army some injured others laying around she felt sadden by the sight of this taking a deep breath she walked out of the plane along with her friend by now she saw her troops looking at her and was about to stand up in attention but she quickly held her two hands up to stop them all "please don't get up to salute me please you all have earned the rest" she said to them all seeing them sitting back down.
During her walk she saw a lot of covered up bodies walking up to the area she felt weak at the sight and felt sick seeing them here dead "I am sorry may the mighty she-wolf guide you all to the promise land" she said bowing her head to them turning to one of her guards "call the fleet tell them to send planes to collect the wounded and get them to the medical ship now!" she said in a demanding voice as she watched him rushing to his radio to fulfil the order.
Cerise looked around seeing a central point in all this and walked in to it catching everyone attention she looked very hard and carefully in each of her troops faces seeing them lost, sadden and anger she then spotted in the distance the empire flag and smiled at her mother's word telling her the story's about the empire and some lessons about what it means to be in a pack.
"soldiers of the empire!" she shouted out making everyone go silent "I know how you all are feeling right now lost, sadden and angry at this situation as I am as well because not once in our entire empire life has the military retreated like this not since the great pre-hidden era" she paused to take a deep breath to keep herself strong "you know when I was a child I always wondered about our empire and why we use the word pack rather than regiment in our military" she looked around seeing different badges of the military.
"my mother told me in the empire history even though my family founded the empire but it was broken up in different land who fought against each other my great grandmother stepped in and United the land under one banner she told me why they chosen the wolf" she looked back at the flag "it because a wolf is strong and loyal to the end it is smart and cunning on it own but as a pack it becomes an even greater creature when it is United with fellow wolf's she told me when the land united it was like they were forming a pack" she turned to noticed some of her troops were broadcasting this but she didn't care about that.
"I asked her why we use the word pack she told me it is because when using the word regiment it didn't feel like we were connected to each other where as a pack felt like you were apart of a family a loyal one were others would watch your back no matter what because a pack always survives even if there is only one" she paused to noticed more planes were now landing to begin taking the injured away.
...
Winter was still laying on the bed worried about this whole situation now she was listening into her aunty speech from a small device she got off her "My fellow soldiers I know I have the right to order you all to go back there and fight but I am not because that is a death sentence to me instead I am asking you all would you all continue the fight for the empire I will not look you all down if you don't" he mind was at war with itself trying to think what is right and what is wrong.
...
Cerise stopped to look around seeing her troops all looking at each other until one of them started to cheering which made the other to join in as she suddenly felt a surge of pride running through her body she held her hand up to silence the area "our new found enemy may think they have beaten us but no they only have injured us but like a wolf we will go away and lick our wounds, rethink our strategy then we will hit them where they less expect us to" she finally said to them making them all cheering out again "thank you" she said as she walked off to a tent hearing her troops all shouting out orders to each other's about getting themselves organised.
...
2 hours later
Ebony and Sienna pack was rushing through some of the empty streets avoiding cameras while keeping their radio off so not to be tracked when they turned a corner they gasped at what was in front of them it was a horrible sight laying on the ground was 30 empire soldiers all laying dead they saw it was an artillery group due the amount of heavy artillery or what's left of them a makeshift wall with some heavy machine guns there were some fire raging here and there.
"what happened here!?" one of the soldiers said out quietly as they were checking the bodies.
"SIR OVER HERE!" a female soldier shouted out making everyone rushed to her position.
When Ebony arrived he saw the female helping a fox male who was holding his side as he knelt down to next to him "what happened here?" he asked him.
"Grimms...!" the male ground in pain "we couldn't...!" they saw him taken a deep breath "get out tried to!" as he winced at a stinging feeling coming from his left arm seeing it was a medic doing something "we were surrounded...!" again he taken another breath "I was the last blew up our guns...!" he finally finished before he collapsed unconscious.
Ebony watched as the medical staff looked him over "he is still alive but we need to get him to the hospital ship and fast" he nods in agreement as he saw two troops picking him up and they carried on.
...
Crimson arrived with Ruby group at a strange building with tubes running off to somewhere as they listened into Weiss explaining what this place was and told them they had to find the right one Crimson was thinking how Jaune and her brother was doing as she ordered her troops to spread out to help.
...
1 hour later
Ebony was nearing the location of the church "so you said you know who this pack might be?" he hears Sienna asking as he nods to her.
"yes the pack is called the Templars of She-Wolf they see themselves as guards to the church and are deeply religious about it all believing that they should only fight on church grounds and die on them" he said as they round a corner when they heard gun fire going off in the distance.
When they all round another corner they stopped to see a church that had a make shift wall surrounding it with lot of vehicles and troops all over it they all noticed Grimms were everywhere and machine guns were firing off from every point of corners and the two towers "let get in there" Ebony said as they rushed ahead killing any Grimms that came near them.
...
Once in side they saw injured troops being tended to and soldiers moving to and from places while Ebony and Sienna noticed at the altar a huge armoured person was kneeling down a huge hammer lay next to the person "okay you all get some rest while I and Sienna see the leader" Ebony said as he and her walked up to the altar.
...
Sienna followed after Ebony as she looked around she noticed this pack was a mixture of both humans and Faunus she also noticed some troops wearing normal combat gear while other wearing heavy armour when she turned to see the leader she saw a huge woman with white rabbit ears on her she had a scar running down the left side of her face "ah Ebony" she hears the leader saying as she watched Ebony and the woman hugging into each other "glad to see the might she-wolf has kept you safe".
"yes she has how are thing here?" she hears Ebony asking her seeing her face turning into a serious look.
"not good we are running out of ammunition and soldiers but she-wolf had given us a path out here one of our drones spotted a hole in the wall not being guarded so we are planning to gear up and head there" Sienna saw the woman showing a pad with the picture of the hole.
"good we are coming with you as well" she saw the woman smiling.
"excellent it will take time so let get moving" the woman said walking off leaving them both at the altar.
"okay Sienna get some rest" she nods to Ebony and ,left to find her pack to get some rest herself.
...
Crimson saw Nora screaming out to them all as they all gathered round and was listening into Weiss explaining how to use this when suddenly she was sucked up into the tube worried for Crimson was now filled with worry for her cousin safety she turned to see Nora filling with excitement as they all went one by one into the tube .
35 minutes later
Once everyone was checked and was ready to move on they noticed the base was full of guards "okay let get going" Crimson said as they all got in the cover that the Faunus person was making and they began to move out.
...
2 hours later
Ebony was still at the church when he saw everyone was ready to move out as he and Sienna pack climbed into a jeep "okay let's move out!" he hears the woman shouting out making the convoy move forward at speed as they crushed any Grimms in their way using their tank as a battering ram.
...
45 minutes later
Crimson and her pack Were with Ruby in the elevator when they saw two soldiers walking in, quietly moving to the back they all over heard them talking about the Grimms when the female spoke "you know what even crazy is how that empire turned their backs on us" everyone turned to face Crimson and her pack and saw they were angry at this accusation "I know and their all holding up in the mining area our force can't get near them their guns are shooting our birds out of the sky" the door had opened and they all walked off keeping Crimson and her pack calm as possible as they walked away.
No sooner later they came to the command area where there was a lot of people the Faunus person then told them that he couldn't get everyone through there that when Penny started to explained Ruby semblance which got everyone confused even for Crimson but before anything could happen the whole place went into lock down and Ironwood voice rang out telling everyone about an intruder "okay Ruby me and Winter pack will help with the hanger we can also make a distraction to keep the guards busy" Crimson said as Ruby nodded and then Nora got an idea as well.
They all watched Nora tripping a man over who was carrying Coffee when Crimson saw Ruby moving off the her friends Crimson and her pack along with the Faunus then rushed off to the hanger "so what the distraction you mentioned?" she hears him asking.
"simple we will contact our mother asking for a distraction which no doubt she happily give then we would have a much better time getting out of here" Crimson said as they rushed into a cupboard room were one of her troops gave her a radio "okay going to have brake radio silent" she said taken a deep breath "hello any of our ships hearing this?" she said waiting for a reply.
"roger this is the night howl how can we help you Crimson" she smiled hearing a male voice.
"can you tell mother we need a diversion sent our way we are at the command base in Atlas" she said hoping they would allow it.
"sure thing we will get it to her right away" she smile giving the radio back to the soldiers "now we wait" she said as they staid where they where.
...
Cerise was in a tent when she received the message about her daughter asking for a diversion "granted get two bombers planes loaded up with infiltrators Spiders" she said seeing the soldier looking worried.
"but your empress they are trained to kill only!" she hears one of her troops saying worried about this.
"I know but what choice do we have Ironwood is our enemy now so get four of them to my children's location we will reprogram them not to kill just knock them out" she said seeing him nodding and rushing off.
...
In amongst the empire fleet of ships sits a weird looking type of ship that has a flat top almost like a runway on it with a big cover on the back part but deep in it body a huge room where there were several different types of shells a bunch of crew members watched as four black metal balls shape were placed inside each shell then huge arms carried each of them upwards through a hole.
...
The shells appeared in a huge room looking like a hanger were several different types of aircraft's were two huge long body with long wings and three engines on each wings both planes were being loaded up with said shells two of each shells under it belly were a hatch closed up concealing the shells.
Soon a huge door opened up to reveal the runway as both planes were then propelled outwards and into the sky.
1 hour later
Both planes were nearing the base as the pilots looked out the window and noticed they were under gun fire that was coming from the place they were heading to "okay opening the bomb bay door" a crew member said flipping a switch which opened up the belly to reveal the shells as a crew member looked through a targeting when he thought it was the right time to let the bombs go he pushed a button and soon both bombers let their two shells fall from the bay and heading towards the target.
...
Ironwood was in a room when he was told about two strange objects were heading their way looking out the window he could see two huge planes were indeed heading in his direction "get gun fire on them now!" he ordered seeing the guns opening fire but didn't do much as he soon noticed four shell falling put of the planes he watched in worry as the shell fell and smashed into the hanger part of his base.
...
Crimson was told the diversion was on it way as they all were in the hanger hiding behind some crates they saw a lot of guards around when suddenly a huge crashing sound and a huge cloud of dust they packed out a little seeing the hanger was wrecked but a plane still survived they then noticed the Atlas soldiers walking up to the dust seeing nothing until they all heard a mechanical noise and three red dots appeared in the dust.
A few seconds later they saw an Atlas soldier being dragged into the cloud of dust by a robotic arm with claws on it then being thrown to a wall Crimson suddenly realised what they were "she send them!" she said shocked by this.
"what are they?" she hears the man asking.
"Infiltrators Spiders they are quick and ruthless killing robots they were designed to go against the bigger and tougher Grimms" she said just then they all saw four round body shape with six legs, a small gun and each having three red dots as eyes.
They watched as Atlas soldiers tried to kill them but were being thrown about and being knocked out "strange their not killing them!" Crimson hears one of her soldiers saying with confusion as she nods to him.
5 minutes later the hanger was clear with Atlas troops all being knocked out as Crimson walked out she noticed the robots saw her and bowed a little "good work and thank you for not killing them now one of you go find Ruby and help her while the rest of stay here and keep this place safe while we get the plane started up" she said seeing one of them moving off with lightning speed as the rest the went around the room checking the place as she saw the man running to the plane and using his semblance to hide the plane while Crimson was wondering how her brother is getting on .
...
Ebony saw the convoy was bearing the hole when he heard Yangs voice over the radio about something important worried about it might have something to do with Oscar he picked up the radio "hay leader I am taking this Jeep to help with Yang you go on ahead" he said.
"okay may mighty she-wolf guide you and your friends" he heard as he nods to the driving who turned the Jeep around to head towards Yang location.
...
Ruby saw Nora managing to burst the door down when they rushed through she saw Penny running towards Nora and the Ace ops were there but just then everyone turned towards the other door that was soon burst opened to reveal a weird looking thing "what is that?" Ruby heard one of Ace ops asking.
Ruby looked carefully and noticed a wolf empire badge on it and smiled "that is our help" she said seeing it jumping in the air and flying around and landing next to Ruby and her friends as they all got ready for a fight.
"can you keep Nora safe" Ruby hears Weiss asking the thing as she saw it bowing it head she thinks as it moved next to Nora as they all rushed.
Ruby and her friends were thrown of the edge as she used her semblance to save them all but just as they got back up they saw Ace just grabbed Penny sword and rushed off leaving them confused by this.
Penny help Nora up into her arms as they rushed off to the hanger with the Empire robot acting as a guard.
...
20 minutes later
They all came into the hanger and noticed more of those things and the whistle of the man rushing in they saw the plane with Crimson and pack as they all climbing into the plane and one of the robots making a hole so they could get out.
Firing up the engine they all flew out with the four robots following behind them acting as escorts in case enemies came near.
10 minutes later
Crimson saw Penny going off toward the Arena as she looked to two of her Spiders "you two go with her keep her safe!" she said seeing them both bowing then went off as they then went in a different direction.
...
Ebony meet up with Yang "hay Yang what wrong?" he asked seeing them driving down the streets.
"some huge Grimm just snatched Oscar" he hears Yang saying as be looks ahead and sure enough he could see the Grimm with Oscar in it grip.
"what is that thing" he hears one of his troops shouting out.
"we have no idea" he hears Jaune saying.
"don't worry we'll get him back" he said nodding to the driver "let go with them" he said following after Yang while he was worried for Oscar he was also worried about his sister and Penny wondering how they were doing on their end.