We Hear The Word
The rally was going so well; lots of new recruits. They had these new atlesian weapons, acquired by Fall and brought by the Master Thief. Even the older members- that were stationed in the city, so they were unaware of the thief's aid -were buying Torchwick's speech after the initial disapproval caused by his presence.
Just when Lt. Banesaw thought something good was coming out of this deal with the bitch, their special comrade goes and gets in the Paladin to chase after two infiltrators- his child-sized sidekick let him know, before leaving too.
And now here he was: in a warehouse filled with panicking faunus- including the older members ,minus one war machine, and the authorities will- probably -show up at any moment and bust this place.
Damn humans. You give one step forward and they make you take two steps back.
Now he had to step up and take control of the situation, to finish the last part of the rally. Recruitment.
"Everyone, please-" nobody payed him any mind in the chaos of scared faunus. "LISTEN!"
With that command yelled at them with his mighty deep voice, everyone in the room went still as statues, and quiet like mutes. All waiting for what the masked man had to say next.
"To those of you that still want to join and fight, we'll relocate to finish recruitment." He saw doubt in all of them, clearly reluctant after an ally almost killed some with the Paladin. "And if you don't, you can leave if you wish." Some started to reach for their masks slowly, while others were already leaving. Carrying the masks given to them in hand.
"BUT!" Everyone went still again. "You better don't show up again to any rally or meeting of any kind of the White Fang in the future. We want fighters, not cowards."
A male dog faunus- wearing glasses on his mask-lowered his hand from his face. Others did the same, convinced this was the right decision.
From those that almost left, a female deer faunus was the first to come back with her mask back on- after some thought. A few from the group did the same while others didn't, leaving their masks at the entrance.
Pleased by the amount of faunus still present and willing to join, he continued. "We have two bullheads in the alleys nearby, four vans parked outside, and six bikes in the sewer below us." He saw varying emotions on the recruits' faces, but heard no protests. "The bullheads will be used by soldiers mostly. The vans will be shared between soldiers and recruits. The bikes will be for those left without transportation, so if anyone came in a vehicle, share it with other recruits and follow the vans at a distance- they have a mark like the one outside this building, but red instead of white."
He took out his scroll, sending the location to a few soldiers. Another warehouse, but not one of theirs.
It's only fair Torchwick. We're working together after all.
"Let's move! I'll go down to the bikes with a group of eleven, nothing more, nothing less!"
He walked towards the back with quick, long steps, while most left through the hole. He heard someone scream 'my car!' while he checked to see the group following him nervously- they heard the sirens in the distance. Grabbing Seething Reparation on his way- his trusty chainsaw.
He led them towards a metal door, opening it and walking down the gray concrete steps- making sure no one fell behind him with how nervous some of them moved -, facing another, more rusted metal door. Once opened, the smell hit them all, making some gag and cough behind the giant. Bane opened the door of the wire partition that separated them from their vehicles, seeing the motorcycles parked in a twin formation, he walked to the one at the front.
The tunnel was big enough for them to drive, but if it wasn't for their faunus eyes he wouldn't have even made this an option- the lights lacked the potency to illuminate the filthy place.
The lieutenant sat on his black and white bike, sheathing his chainsaw in a custom made scabbard on the bike. "Deery, with me." Bane commanded the girl, using the nickname Torchwick gave to her after she shouted at him.
The deer faunus exclaimed. "That's not my name-!"
"It doesn't matter what your name is!" Bane interrupted, hearing police sirens above them. "We're on a time limit, so get on. That's an order recruit." He started his bike.
She complied, grumbling about how 'that's not my name' while getting on the bike with him. "Listen here, sir,my name is- Hyaaaa!" She held onto him for dear life, not expecting him to take off like a rocket. "Why didn't you warn me?!"
"I shouldn't have to state the obvious now." He said, uncaring and unfazed by her complains. "You'll become a soldier of the White Fang, and this is nothing compared to our operations against the human system. And hold on, unless you want to deal with the cops… or grimm." If it wasn't for his aura, the girl would've left some bruises on his abdomen.
"I thought sewer-dwelling grimm were just an urban myth?" She asked, more scared at the idea of seeing grimm. She lived on the city after all, never having to worry about the monsters outside the walls.
"I can assure you, there are grimm dwelling in the sewers." Bane got quiet for a second, listening for something. "In fact, I think we're about to see some." He took out Seething Reparation with one hand in preparation.
Deery looked around, worried and scared by the lieutenant's words. She could hear them too, now that she wasn't thinking about her nickname and the dangers of the White Fang life- coming from the rusted and leaking pipes above them and on the walls. Thumping and scratching coming from them, with an almost muted squeaking getting louder. They broke through the rusted metal, falling in great numbers in front of them.
"AAAAHHHH!" She couldn't help but scream in terror at the sight of the big rodent like grimm swarm coming towards them.
The few soldiers with them took out their guns, shooting at the Plague Bringers while he sliced through with swings of his chainsaw at them. "If you know how to shoot, grab a gun from the saddle bags!" Bane commanded the recruits. Even those that didn't know how to grabbed one out, fueled by survival instincts.
They started shooting wildly to the swarm of rat grimm, except for one. The brunette with the glasses on his mask. He was shooting as well as any soldier, trying to not let fear dominate him as best as a civilian could.
And then there was Deery.
The girl was strangling him, and her legs where wrapped around him. "How long until we get out of here?!" A Plague Bringer jumped over her head, making her shriek on his ear.
"Not much further. We just need to get through them, and-" another rat grimm jumped towards a recruit, landing on his chest, biting at the neck. "Avoid their bites if you don't have aura…" He watch solemnly as the poison took effect, dooming the rider and the passenger.
"… Do you know how to use a gun, Deery?" Bane asked his passenger.
She shook her head. "No."
He didn't want to risk their lives with an accident, so guiding her how to shoot was out of the question. "Ok then, take out a sword out from the saddle." She did as told. "Now, it's up to you if you either block their attacks or strike at them."
"Ok." She wasn't sure she would be able to block one armed against these things, so she swung downwards, cutting the face off one and half a tail of another. Her strikes became more determined to kill more of the dark rats, and her hold got firmer on her weapon.
The grimm, sensing their many losses while they just got two victims shrieked in response. Calling for another creature of destruction.
"What does this mean?" Deery asked.
"Trouble." Answered the giant.
They heard a sound coming from the wall; the moving of dirt, and the breaking of rocks and metal. A Creep as tall as an Ursa busted out of the wall with a roar- the spikes on it's back signaling it was an Alpha. It started running alongside them, uncaring of the smaller grimm it stomped to get to them. And more Creeps started to come out of the hole moments after it.
A lesser Creep tried to bite and claw at one of them, barely missing the faunus on the bike. "Ahahah, pathetic. How is this even danger-" the rider didn't get to finish as the Alpha struck him with a tail swipe, throwing both faunus out of the bike and into the horde. They screamed while the lesser Creeps took bites alongside the Plague Bringers.
The Alpha Creep decided to target the lieutenant, sensing that killing him would make the others easy prey. It tried to strike the bike with a headbutt, but Banesaw caught it with his right foot, kicking it back. "Deery, grab a grenade!"
She did as ordered. "What now?"
"Wait for it to bite. Once it does, throw it inside it's maw." He instructed the girl.
While Deery waited for the moment to throw the grenade, Banesaw was provoking the Alpha with his weapon, hoping it would open it's big ugly maw in response. The other faunus keep shooting at all the other grimm, hoping to survive until they arrived to the new location.
The Alpha finally took the bait and tried to bite the chainsaw. "Now!" Deery threw the grenade. It was so big and close to them, it would've been hard to miss.
Once the grenade landed inside it's target, Banesaw swung at it's left leg, cutting it off above the knee. The beast fell down behind with a mighty thump. "Everyone! Throw grenades at the walls and the grimm!" the soldiers did it before he finished, while the recruits clumsily did as told after.
The Alpha's head exploded with most of it's body, followed by the other grenades, causing debris to cut off most of the horde from them.
"Good job, everybody!" Banesaw looked behind him to the faunus. Deery gave an appreciative nod, the rest did the same while the faunus with glasses gave him a thumbs up. He stared right to their path again. "We're closer now! Just handle the few grimm left with us and we'll be fine."
They heard, and started slaying the monsters that got close. They survived the worst part after all.
Lt. Banesaw rotated his neck, and stretched his arms to relax. The interviews were always an annoying, but necessary affair to end recruitment.
He just wished people stopped confusing them with a cult or a gang. They where a revolutionary force dammit! Not common thugs, and certainly not religious nutjobs.
Thankfully those just were a small, but constant, group of faunus. Most accepted members were just civilians tired of humans abusing the system, with a few being exceptional enough to be recognized through the uniforms.
Two faunus came to mind. Coincidentally, they were with him on the sewers. And he was looking forward to working with them- After they did the newbie missions.
He chuckled at that, glad he didn't have to do any glorified chore as a member when he joined.
Perry and Deery were worth keeping an eye on. They already probed their worth to him, and he hoped they kept doing it for the cause.
Things are still going well.
He made his way towards the exit of the dust-filled warehouse, glad to go back to the camp outside the walls. Ready for new orders from Adam. Hoping things would work out, even through the odds.
Just like today.
I'm very disappointed in myself, I thought I would put up a new chapter earlier than before, and ended uploading at the last possible moment. Hope it wasn't too bad for y'all.
Kadan Draws owns the Plague Bringers, and I don't. The same goes for RWBY and any RT production and product.
A bit of action this chapter, and more Edward than the first. Hope it was more enjoyable than previous chapters.
As always, don't forget to review and to give your opinion on the chapter.