A/N: Usual disclaimer of not owning Toaru and RWBY. This fic is turning out a little darker than I expected, I intended for this fic to explore the darker side of Remnant and I'm happy with where it is going. Special thanks to Furaiz for the beta-reads.
Time, the one element of any military operation that was rarely a friend, and today was not that day. Motoharu wasn't a soldier, but he had worked with military institutes several times whether it was the Mistral Military or the Atlas Military. At the very least, he could expect them to be decently disciplined compared to your average huntsman, and if there was one thing he could take away from this situation was that he was working with Atlas's finest.
"Just a couple of AK-130's, they probably have the big guns inside," Frenda passed on the binoculars to him. The FRST team leader, Winter and Motoharu were all prone on the ledge under the orange light as they carefully observed the breach site of the bunker. It wasn't long before the Atlesian soldiers and Motoharu rendezvoused with Winter who confirmed their suspicions.
The breach hole was still gaping wide open, only machines surrounded the hole with a few scientists and robots surrounding the area. It was adequately guarded against a minor Grimm attack, but against a military raid and Motoharu almost felt sorry for them.
"Great, now we just have to get in there, take'em down and hope Kami-yan's A-ok," Motoharu muttered, to make things worse when Winter reported of Touma's capture, the whole mission just got more complicated. He had honestly thought that Touma's bemoaning of bad luck was just him whining about realities of life, unfortunately, today proved Touma's relentless curse of bad luck.
"Won't be that simple, there's a lot of civilians inside. I don't know how you Mistral huntsmen do it, but we don't harm civilians if possible," Winter pointed out but Motoharu only shrugged as he passed the binoculars to her, "Seivelun, do you have any suggestions?"
Frenda glared at the site and then rolled to her side to glance at Winter, "We might have to ignore them, there's no way we can keep over four hundred people under control with just the ten of us… maybe… gimme a sec," Frenda then clicked onto her radio, "Tyrant, this is FRST-One."
"Go for it, FRST-One," Ironwood's voice answered, as cool as ice.
"Requesting reinforcements to our location to control civilians in Echo-Nineteen. According to Specialist Schnee, we have confirmation of multiple Project Revolution hostiles inside," Frenda reported, but Ironwood didn't respond for several seconds.
"...Hey, Ironman? This is pretty serious, you know? We're definitely undermanned if we want to do this," Motoharu commented.
"...I'm well aware, Tsuchimikado, You'll have your reinforcements. Until then, you must make sure that no one leaves the facility, that includes the civilians." Ironwood replied. Everyone froze, even Winter who was a staunch follower of the general lowered her binoculars, revealing a confused scowl on her face.
"But sir! We'll be stretched thin, and if Project Revolution is completed then there's no way we can rescue Kamijou, let alone capture the targets," Frenda argued, as she gestured futilely at the man on the other side of the line.
"On the other hand, they might kill Kami-yan if we wait too long," Motoharu muttered, rubbing his chin.
"No! There is someone on the inside who will help him," Winter answered that drew a raised eyebrow from Motoharu. The blond huntsman stared at Winter who peeked through her binoculars as she realised she answered a little too quickly.
"We don't have a choice. We risk casualties either way and if we wait any longer, we may lose the initiative. Continue the mission now, Tyrant out." Ironwood's command had a tone of finality and all three of them sighed. It wasn't like they hadn't dealt with seemingly impossible odds before but they'd rather avoid it if they can.
Motoharu's chuckle slipped through his lips, it was hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation and in a sense, it was almost comical. Winter stared at her fellow huntsman, letting him chuckle for a few more seconds before asking, "Is something the matter?"
"Nah… nothing," Motoharu dismissed as he stifled his laughs into clearing his throat, "Oi, Frenda, what's the plan?"
Frenda continued observing the breach hole and with a satisfied grunt, crawled backwards, prompting the other two huntsmen to follow her, "Well, considering that we're literally jumping into a completely unknown situation… Basically, Team SCLN will keep an eye on the breach point and entrance, as for us, we're going in. I'll be with the rest of my team, we work better as a unit."
"And that leaves us to work on our own, hmm?" Winter asked and lowered the binoculars, she turned to them with a tilt of her head, "Should we go in together, Tsuchimikado?"
"Better for us to be separate actually," Motoharu stated, "We'll cover more ground, besides we'll just get in each other's way." Winter narrowed her eyes at Motoharu's assessment, Frenda's eyes darted between the two of them, a little impatient at what they're getting at.
"...Agreed," Winter said, she couldn't deny his idea. While the both of them were excellent huntsmen in their own right, they've never fought together as a team and any huntsman knew that it was a potential death sentence if you fought with someone who doesn't gel to your style.
"Good, so, basically, we just have to at least capture Gin and the Project Revolution… maybe your student will be all good once that's done," Frenda replied and Motoharu just stared at her with a raised eyebrow, "What?"
"Geeze that's cold, Frenda. You haven't met Kami-yan and you basically wrote him off as dead," Motoharu commented with a slight smirk and Frenda rolled her eyes. It wasn't like she wanted this Touma guy to be dead or anything, but from what she has heard about him, he wasn't anything special and the fact that he got himself captured was just a point of incompetence in her book.
"Hmph, if an Atlas student were to make that mistake in their first mission, they would basically be considered a liability until they can prove themselves," Frenda scoffed but unknown to her, Winter inhaled as she closed her eyes, clearly not interested in joining the conversation.
Motoharu snorted but didn't rise to defend his absent student, after all, Touma was inexperienced and had virtually no knowledge on what was really happening with the mission. Still, perhaps after this mission, this would teach Touma that a bit of caution is warranted no matter what the circumstances were. "Yeah, yeah, you Atlas SpecOps are the best of the best in all of the lands," Motoharu muttered as sarcasm dripped from his mouth, "Your humbleness really resonates with me!"
This time, both Winter and Frenda rolled their eyes at the mocking blonde huntsman, but they couldn't argue with that. They both prided themselves on serving the Atlas military as part of the Special Operations group and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they were considered one of the best if not the best combat force in Remnant.
"Well, we should get going, don't want to delay the showtime any longer… shall we?" Motoharu asked with a grin and the three stood up each of their eyes glinting for a different reason.
Touma Kamijou had watched a fair amount of television shows; comedies, dramas, spy thrillers. It was a little funny that since he followed Harumi, he felt like he was in a spy movie, dodging the attention of roaming AK-130s or an occasional scientist, Harumi hacking into a computer and reaching towards a seemingly plain office. However, it really drove the point of that spy movie feel when Harumi pulled out a crate behind from behind a bookshelf and opening it revealed all sorts of weapons that would make Ruby go over the moon.
"Here," Harumi was brisk, as she held out a piece of equipment to Touma while her other hand sorted out the gear inside the crate.
Touma held up his hands, eyes darting at the gear and her multiple times before asking, "Uhh… does it work with dust?"
Harumi tilted her head, "Of course it does, almost all the latest weaponry and technology uses dust…"
"Ah… well… I can't use it… my semblance negates dust so…" Touma scratched his head sheepishly as Harumi simply stared at him blankly. He could've sworn that there was some kind of gears turning inside her head because her face hadn't even twitched at his reason.
"That explains a lot of things," Harumi surmised before returning to her crate and stripped of her lab coat, almost causing Touma to turn away, knowing that she'll probably strip further. However, the scientist grabbed what looks like an expensive looking armour and placed it over her sweater.
Touma cleared his throat, feeling a little awkward that he's watching Harumi doing all sorts of things while he wasn't really doing much, "So, uh… can you tell me what's going on?"
Harumi paused, as if something flash-froze before she resumed to fiddle with the crate as nothing happened. Touma sighed, a little annoyed that he was in the dark until she said, "... your team had somehow forced Dr Gin to utilise those children for self-defence," she closed the crate and two resounding clicks indicated the lock, "I'm going to remove them from his control."
"Wait… Children?" the blonde girl flashed in Touma's mind and he almost recoiled at the fact that Harumi implied that the girl was being used as a weapon. Was that what Dr Gin meant by the permanent solution? He couldn't believe it, Dr Gin seemed like a good person, albeit a little scary and genuinely wanted to do good for the various settlements throughout the world.
"Yes," Harumi's tone held no intention to elaborate as she immediately headed out for the door.
"Wait! Why would he do this?" Touma asked Harumi's face revealed nothing as it stared blankly at Touma.
"Don't know, but all I know is that… these children… they don't deserve this," Harumi muttered, a small glint appeared behind her tired eyes and she turned, ready to open the sliding door, "I only care about getting those kids out."
With that, Harumi left and Touma inwardly cursed as he was left with more questions than answers and chased after the scientist. However, this time, Harumi was more than eager to take on the patrolling robots, tossing out the anti-drone grenades or using her dust rifle.
While Touma certainly helped out with his weapon, he had been reminded how 'useless' he was against such adversary like the AK-130's. Sure, the primary function of a huntsman was to deal with Grimm, but when he watched Harumi systematically take down the robots with the plethora of weapons she held, he felt a little ashamed at not being able to help as much.
Room by room and through each hallway, Harumi had left a graveyard of AK-130's in her wake, soon enough an alarm had echoed through the hallways as the intercom blared instructions for everyone, but Touma ignored it as he continued following Harumi, careful to back her up when an AK-130 approached her flank.
Eventually, they entered a large room and attached to the walls were a number of tube-like beds, most of them from what Touma could see only held white padding with the transparent lid opened. The alarm had gone silent as the doors slid shut behind them and he could see the one person that he needed answers from. Dr Gin stood over a closed tube bed, his fingers flying over the keyboard while that Yang look-a-like stood next to him like a statue.
He heard Harumi silently curse as she immediately dashed forward, her rifle trained at the scientist as she ordered, "Gin! Stop, don't move!" Gin paid no heed to Harumi, seemingly more interested in the keyboard. "I won't say again, move from the keyboard, now!" Touma jumped slightly at her sudden increase in volume, next to him, the seemingly quiet and introverted woman was far more proactive than he had expected, even after he saw her take down squads of robots with relative ease.
Touma noticed that Gin still didn't respond and in the corner of his eye, Harumi was restlessly shifting her stance as her face seemed to contort with a strange mix of resolve and disgust. In that split second, time seemed to slow down for him, as what he saw only told him one thing before he knew it, he dove at Harumi's rifle, screaming, "No!" the dust rounds fired before Touma could reach the rifle and her torso, Harumi grunted in surprise as the two of them tumbled to the floor.
Harumi recovered, glaring at Touma before turning her attention to Gin who still paid no heed to them, but this time, the blonde girl stood before him as if to shield the man from the dust rifle and to Touma's relief, she was completely unharmed. Gin finally finished with what he was doing, ending it with a tap to the keyboard, the tube bed lit up in a bright blue colour and began hissing as the lid slowly rose up.
Touma slowly stood up, a little curious to see what was in that tube bed, but at the same time, he felt like he was scared to know what was inside. There was a girl inside with tea-coloured hair with what looked like fox ears and wore the same outfit as the blonde girl. He stepped forward, all sense of danger forgotten as he craned his neck to get a better look.
The girl's eyes slowly opened, her ears twitched once and sat up stiffly, something that reminded Touma more of a robot than a human. She stepped out and stood beside the blonde girl, being a little taller than the latter, but as the blonde girl, her eyes were very much alert but seemingly soulless. At that moment, the blonde girl's eyes glowed and the other girl's eyes soon followed.
"Mr Kamijou, Dr Kiyama, I honestly regret that you two didn't share my vision for the future," Gin stated as he stepped forward as he nodded to the two of them, the two girls simply stood behind him, hands at their sides. "To see that both of you are affiliated with the Atlas military is very troubling."
"Wait… What do you mean the Atlas military? I don't even know what's going on!" Touma refuted, but Harumi shoved the boy aside, her rifle set on the man before her as she aggressively approached the group
"Gin, I won't ask again, release them or I'll shoot," Harumi threatened, but Gin shook his head, neither discouraged or frightened. Touma's eyes widened and were about to scream at the woman to stop.
However, Harumi fired and like a blur, the two girls stood in front of Gin like a wall and dust rounds collided onto them, but they didn't even flinch and not a single scratch was etched upon their bodies. It was like Harumi had never fired at all. Touma also couldn't believe his eyes, he knew aura was like an armor huntsman and even soldiers used to protect themselves, but to not even flinch against it was a little unnerving.
"Wait!" Touma stood in front of Harumi, his hand held out to each side as he glanced to each one, "I'm sure we can settle this peacefully, okay?"
"No… it won't work-" Harumi started to argue but Touma's eyes laid upon her with a pleading look and the woman could only click her tongue. Touma relaxed with a tired sigh, as he saw Harumi lowering her rifle, but her face still held nothing but a deep-seated disgust. At least the tension was relaxing and Touma was more than happy to take that any day.
"...Very well, perhaps I was too hasty in your arrest Mr Kamijou," Gin replied with a nod and the two girls in front of him stepped aside.
"... Why did you try to arrest me?" Touma asked, "I don't know what's going on and everyone's just fighting for something I don't understand. I thought this place was supposed to be something where the scientists can help the settlements and stuff."
"It certainly is," Gin answered with a curt nod, "I've mentioned this to you before, but all the small projects; automated turrets, specialised walls and other defensive measures were a temporary solution. Here," he gestured to the two girls behind him with a hint of pride, "Are the permanent solution we had been seeking."
"A solution that's all about exploiting children and using them as weapons!" Harumi spat as she stepped forward. Touma baulked at the statement already forgetting that Gin didn't even answer his question, children being used as weapons? He glanced at Gin whose eyes narrowed into a glare.
"A necessary sacrifice… this project aimed to provide safety to all the settlements across the world. So far, every counter-measure had been inadequate, even Atlas failed to do this with their armies and fleets," Gin replied, his steady voice seemed to be layered with a harder edge.
"Wait… I'm a huntsman, we can handle Grimm easily enough-"
"Hah! Huntsmen!?" Gin interrupted Touma mockingly, his mouth twisted into a smirk, "Boy, every kingdom may have huntsmen at their disposal, but all of them can't even control them and make sure they work to their purpose!" Touma clenched his hands, irritated but he couldn't find it in himself to argue back.
"The Mistral Huntsmen only cared about Lien, not a single settlement could afford them without being financially crippled! Vacuo only cared about themselves and never others, Atlas huntsmen are bloody war dogs that will only listen to the top brass no matter the consequences and Vale… Vale huntsmen are glory hogs… they don't care about protecting settlements or ensuring safety! They only cared about taking down big Grimm and boasting their accomplishments to their peers!" Gin's rant had him more animated than ever, his arms flailing about and he paced in circles before turning to Touma, his eyes gleaming in a way that had the young huntsman stepped back unconsciously.
"But there is a solution to all of this! Project Revolution," Gin's voice lowered into his usual calmness as once again he tilted his head slightly upwards, "Second generation huntsmen that don't require Lien when they are fully developed, able to ensure minimal casualties among settlements. Even casualties among huntsmen would decrease as they are the perfect anti-Grimm measures that we sought."
Harumi snorted and casually took a few steps forward, "Oh? Funny you mentioned casualties, considering the amount of failed subjects within this project."
"To which each time we find success, less will pay for it," Gin replied, nonplussed by her retort.
Touma glanced at the girls behind him and the insinuation that there were 'failed subjects' left a vile taste in his mouth. Throughout all that argument, he noticed that the girls had not even twitched and he almost felt like they didn't blink either. He pushed the feeling of disgust down and stared straight at Gin, "Were they forced to do this… Project thing?"
Gin's eyes narrowed as he approached slowly, the gap between him and Touma shrinking until they were barely an arm's length away, "Yes… you see, they were orphans… survivors of destroyed settlements. I gave them a possibility… a chance to destroy the things that destroyed their lives. In doing so… they'll become a revolution to the anti-Grimm solution."
"Of course, they had to go through a number of invasive procedures and augmentations to be up to your standards!" Harumi spat as she advanced, but Touma held her back as he saw the girls suddenly shifting at Harumi's aggressive movement but Gin scoffed and offered no more words.
Touma closed his eyes as his head shook side to side, disgust no longer lingered inside him and instead, all he felt was disappointment. He had believed that those with power should always use that power to help and protect anyone it can. In a sense, Gin was doing something to deal with the Grimm, but it also taught Touma one thing. The intended results were something Touma could understand, but the means to get there was hard to swallow.
"I… can't agree with you, Dr Gin… sacrificing anyone for anything without them agreeing won't make it any better," Touma said, as he stared at the girls before focusing on Gin, "There are other ways, academies at each kingdom are training new huntsmen to deal with those threats."
"And as I stated before, those huntsmen are useless," Gin retorted with a dismissive wave, his eyes glinted as if mocking the boy before him, "An outdated system like the four academies that only served to put more self-serving and pointless huntsmen into the world."
Touma flinched at Gin's response, "... You may be right that huntsmen have lost their way, but that doesn't mean they can't find it again…" Touma glanced at his left hand, adorned by the weapon he created so long ago, "I named my weapon to remind me of what I do… what I should do."
Gin tilted his head and asked, "Oh? And what would that be Mr Kamijou?"
Touma's lips twitched upward ever so slightly as his left hand turned into a grip, "Well… I'm not really a good namer but… I called it Retterhand…"
Gin raised an eyebrow and replied, "Saviour's hand?"
"How'd you know?" Touma asked, a little surprised. After all, he only managed to get this name thanks to Weiss back at Beacon.
"... it's an old language a former kingdom used," Gin replied and then shook his head, "However, while you may seem genuine, Mr Kamijou, you are merely… the minority. The Project is the only surefire way to ensure the safety of settlements across the world."
"I can't agree with you, at least those who entered the academies did it of their own will, you just force people who might not want to fight into a battle they don't want," Touma returned.
"Then… we are at an impasse, the importance of this project is too much to give up!" Gin declared and Harumi growled, trying to push past Touma's arm.
Touma shook his head with a sigh, resolving himself to something he didn't wish he had to do, "If words can't convince you… then I'll shatter that screwed up illusion of yours," he stated evenly as he slowly approached.
Gin's eyes narrowed and his lips pursed at Touma's words, his face growing stonier with each step Touma took. He stepped forward, his chin tilted upwards and stated, "That's where you are wrong, Mr Kamijou… That illusion will be a reality, long before you can do anything about it."
"Doctor… One and Three have engaged with the Atlesian enemy forces… suggestion, we must evacuate you now," the blonde girl reported in a monotone as he eyes glowed once more.
"I see… well, Mr Kamijou, Dr Kiyama, I regretfully must leave this… illuminating discussion in favour for more pertinent matters," Gin said with a small smile and as he turned towards the door, he told the blonde girl, "Have Four keep them company and… rendezvous with us when she is done."
"Wait!" Harumi lunged towards Gin and as she did, Touma saw a blur from the corner of his eye and immediately tackled Harumi down, forcing her to grunt in surprise. Touma quickly rolled to a kneeling position, firing his concussive round at the tea-coloured girl. He didn't bother to check if he hit the target, immediately grabbing Harumi's upper arm and helping her to his feet and then stepped in front of her like a shield, reloading Retterhand with another concussive round.
Four, the girl Gin had named, had her eyes glowing and raised her hand as she announced, "Moving to aggressive response…" with that, a green light began to form at the palm of her hand, a humming sound started to fill the room and Touma could hear a light gasp from Harumi as he swallowed the lump in his throat, his heart drumming against his ears, "Firing."
Breach, destroy robots, arrest civilians, repeat. Like a well oiled-machine, team FRST systematically moved room by room, quickly taking out hostile robots and arrested the civilians with lightning speed and surgical precision. They had yet to run into any serious threat and deep down, Frenda felt a little disappointed she doesn't get to go all out with her explosive semblance or go cross against someone with her tonfas. Even with the bloody alarm blaring and the intercom relaying the same message, one would expect that a secure bunker would be sending out their best by now.
The four of them breached the door and immediately rushed in, weapons raised and auras flaring only to see it completely devoid of any robots and scientists. Instead, there were only several workbenches, some machinery that looked like it was half-complete and various other high-tech objects Frenda wasn't familiar with.
"Clear!"
"...Clear," Frenda's weapons collapsed to its dormant form and she stretched her neck as her team gathered towards her, each one of them sheathing their weapons.
"That should be all of the outer rooms, boss," one of her subordinates reported and considering it didn't even take twenty minutes to clear the outer rooms, it was a strong performance if Frenda had anything to say about it.
"I'm just glad we didn't run into any of those 'Project Revolution' things," another soldier muttered.
"What? Scared, Tundra?" the last soldier teased with a snicker.
"Enough with the chatter, move to the next round of rooms, let's double-time it so we can get home in time for midnight drinks," Frenda ordered and the four affirmed her order, heading towards the door that would lead them deeper into the bunker.
However, the door slid open and a girl with a chestnut hair that reached only to her neck stepped in. Frenda stepped back, a little surprised that there would be a girl, probably no older than fifteen or sixteen years old in this lab. Almost every civilian they had apprehended were no younger than their thirties.
"Hey! On the floor now! This is for your own safety!" one of her subordinates ordered as he and another one approached her, waving their hands in an attempt to signal what they want.
Frenda narrowed her eyes as questions started popping up in her head, there were no reports of children ever appearing here despite the claims made by Echo-Nineteen. The girl's mouth opened and stated, "Hostiles sighted, engaging." Frenda's eyes widened as she raised her hand rushed to stop her team.
With a resounding crack and flashes of light, the two soldiers that approached the girl were sent flying as their aura flared numerous times before succumbing to the sheer electrical blast made by the girl. The two of them crumbled, smoking and Frenda could only watch as two of the best soldiers in Atlas were so easily taken out without so much as putting up a fight. The two soldiers' bodies slowly moved, but it was hard to tell if they were still alive and Frenda felt white-hot fury in her chest as she had to bite her bottom lip from jumping at the girl.
"Targets down… moving to eliminate remaining forces," the girl stated as she raised her hand and crackling started to emit from her.
Frenda cursed as she dove behind a workbench, her last subordinate shouting into the radio, "Shit! Shit! Tundra and Rust are down! I repeat, FRST-Four and FRST-Two are down!"
The electrical attack cracked over Frenda, making her flinch from the sudden attack. She shook her head, her tonfas transforming into the rifle and shouted, "Steph, get them out of here! I'll deal with this!"
"But!" the subordinate stopped as she backed off at Frenda's glare.
"Now! Or I'll blow you up, get out of here!" Frenda shouted. Her last soldier paused, staring at her for a few more seconds before cursing and bolting for the fallen soldiers, easily picking them up before rushing to the exit while Frenda popped out of her cover, aura flaring into her weapon and began firing a storm of dust bullets at the girl. Immediately, the girl began to stumble back from the miniature explosions from the dust rounds, and Frenda grinned as she watched her semblance work its magic on the person that just took out two members of her squad.
Dust eventually clouded the girl, but Frenda didn't stop firing. The moment her rifle ran dry of the dust bullets, she reloaded in a fresh magazine fluidly and continued firing, slowly approaching the door as she roared. Frenda stopped firing and smoke trailed from the barrel of her rifle before it clicked into a pair of tonfas as her mouth dried up and her chest took in air, expelling it just as quick. As the dust cloud settled, Frenda's eyes widened as the girl stepped forward, the same dull eyes trained on Frenda, yet not a single blemish on her person was shown. It was as if she never even noticed the hail of explosive dust bullets she was just subjected to.
"Oh… you have got to be kidding me," Frenda whispered as she retreated hurriedly, the girl's body began cackling in static before thrusting her hand out and a bolt shot forward.
Frenda dove as the bolt of lightning almost crashed into her, she had no idea how intense it was, but judging from how the girl downed her team so easily, it was likely her aura wouldn't be able to handle the attack at all. She quickly recovered and dove behind a bench, her mind running into overtime as she began to realise that she may have run into one of those Project Revolution subjects.
She had to admit, she knew that they were going to be powerful like some sort of 'next-gen huntsmen' but the sheer display of power by just using aura was overwhelming. Her dust bullets empowered by her explosive semblance had little effect on the girl. Frenda had never seen someone who could just take that on with aura alone, most huntsmen would avoid it like the plague because it hurt like hell and take out a chunk of their aura.
"Damnit… just another day at the office, my ass," Frenda muttered to herself, despite the fact that she smiled. She didn't know why but deep down in her chest, she didn't feel fear or nervousness, just pure excitement at the idea of fighting something monstrous. Grimm were often too slow or complex while most criminals were a snooze in the park, but a human weapon? She chuckled lightly as she readied her tonfas, and slowly stood up to see the girl standing there with those lifeless eyes.
Frenda shifted to her battle stance, her grin stretching wider at the idea of going face to face against a girl that seemed to control electricity at will, "Alright bitch, let's do this!"
Winter rushed into the room, her sabre held high and her aura flaring, ready to conjure any glyph for confrontation, but with one quick scan, she relaxed her stance. So far, she had only a small confrontation with an Atlas Knight that was easily disposed of but not a sign of Touma, Harumi or any of the other targets. As Winter's footsteps echoed throughout the room, she suddenly heard crashing sounds, steadily growing louder. She fell into a battle stance, her grip tightened on her sabre and her mind formulating a plan for whatever came and that was when the door she had yet to enter began to groan.
She turned, ready and waiting as the door continued to groan, its shape starting to morph as if something was forcefully being pushed through it. A glyph lit up underneath her as she quickly deduced that whoever was behind that door was an enemy. It couldn't be the Atlesian teams because she was in the inner labs, and Motoharu doesn't have the strength or power to break through a door. Within a split second, the doors burst open, the two slabs of twisted metal hurtling towards Winter who quickly glided forward and jumped through the gaps like an acrobat.
As she recovered, a thin pale boy with white hair stepped forward, his arm outstretched with despondent eyes. Winter twirled her sabre a glyph appearing before her while she seamlessly plucked a dust vial off her belt, flaring her aura and soon, a flaming ball zoomed straight at the boy. The fireball was dissipated as it closed in on the boy, yet Winter simply narrowed her eyes as what happened only confirmed what she expected.
The eyes of the boy began to glow as he stated, "Hostile sighted, engaging." Immediately, objects large and small shot at her like bullets, the glyphs hummed in response and Winter ducked and weaved almost like a dancer as she avoided the attacks, "Maintaining pressure on target," the boy droned, his eyes glowed as he raised his hands and the machines and benches around him began to scrape against the floor, Winter scowled as she readied herself for another round of assault.
Winter weaved through the projectiles, using the glyph under her feet to speed up as she observed the white-haired boy in front of him. As he launched another machine, Winter zoomed forward, twisting her body to avoid the large projectile before thrusting her sabre out.
When she reached near the boy, her sabre felt like it sank into a tub of thick gooey liquid, slowly halting with the tip of her blade barely a few centimetres from the chest of the boy whose eyes regarded her dispassionately. Next thing Winter knew, her sabre was pushed back, her arm suddenly felt the tremendous weight as she found herself rocketing through the room, forcing her to flip and recompose her stance as she landed, a little annoyed that physical attacks were just as useless.
The boy didn't stop there, he slowly walked forward as his eyes glowed once more and machines suddenly rushed at Winter once again. The woman quickly manipulated her glyphs, speeding up her movement as she flipped, jumped and twisted around the projectiles. Her mind continued to click, trying to figure out what the boy was capable of. Was it telekinesis? Magnetism? It seemed to be the case, but the fact that he seemed to be able to throw small non-metallic objects at astounding speed was leaning more towards the former.
"Adjusting offensive strategy," the boy muttered, and suddenly he rocketed forward catching Winter by surprise as his fist buried into her and her aura flared in an attempt to shield her.
Winter was quickly blown away slamming into thrown benches and bouncing off the floor multiple times. She coughed as she felt the dull pain encroaching her stomach, her lungs attempting to intake breath as she shakily stood up. Winter realised her sabre was missing, probably from when he flew into her, she had lost her grip.
The boy then began approaching and suddenly, he charged with the same attack, but Winter threw her hand up with three glyphs conjuring before her like a series of walls, at the same time she uncorked vial of blue dust. In a matter of mere seconds, the boy crashed into her first glyph and the third one began to spin faster. A shattering sound reached Winter's ears and as if it appeared out of nowhere, a giant ice block appeared before her.
Gasping for breath, Winter's arms fell like jelly before gingerly rubbing her stomach, flinching slightly from her own touch. She had managed to capture one of the Project Revolution subjects and she could hardly believe it. Collapsing on to her knees as she felt her muscles relax for the first time in days, she decided to take a quick break, she was almost sure that had it gone any longer, it wouldn't look good for her.
Her ears picked up a rattle, then a crack and Winter was almost afraid to look up, only for the ice coffin she encased the boy in had started to rattle and crack more violently. Winter scrambled up and retreated slowly, the tomb shattered, ice shards flying outwards forcing Winter to summon a glyph to protect her from the attack. The white-haired boy stood up, his eyes simply watched Winter without a spark and she could only dread what happened next. She grimaced as the boy began to walk towards her slowly as his eyes glowed like a threatening demon. Winter's jaws tightened in a grim determination, she wasn't out of the fight and if she can't win, then she'll have to make a win in a different way.
"...How long ago was this?"
Ironwood sighed as he observed the man who he saw both as a friend and very close comrade, "About an hour or so." It was a little hard to hear over the intense humming noise, but he had little time for luxuries.
While he wasn't personally on the ground, he still felt a little gnawing of guilt that one of his finest and by extension, him, had let a student of another academy got captured under his watch. Despite the mission have a few unforeseen circumstances, Ironwood refused to give himself any room to breathe for letting that happen and he knew Schnee had a good reason to let Touma get captured.
The man on the screen sighed and stated, "I understand that you are limited on resources, James and that there are greater stakes on the line, but I hope you can get him out safely."
"Oz, I'll make sure everything is alright…" Ironwood assured and as Ozpin opened his mouth to respond, "Personally, I will be there personally."
"...That's strange of you to do this James," Ozpin said as he interlaced his fingers, "It almost seems reckless."
Ironwood was aware of some of the concerns Ozpin had, it wasn't like he would go to the battlefield to fight Grimm or other enemies all the time. However, he was a soldier at his core, and though he may haven't seen a real battle in a while, he was far from being rusty. Even then, he wasn't foolish enough to drop into a dangerous zone alone.
"I'm well aware of that Oz, that's why I have a platoon of manned AP-290's with me," he announced, taking a brief glance to see lined up in the cargo hold were two lines of hulking robots, each one with a person inside the cockpit making several checks inside the machine.
"Atlas Paladins? That's a lot of firepower you're bringing to a civilian settlement, James," Ozpin commented, his eyebrows creased at Ironwood's report, "There are a large number of civilians in that sector, and your methods would attract a lot of Grimm."
"Agreed… but if Schnee's report is true, then we can't afford to get in undermanned and outgunned. This is the best possible solution I can come up with," Ironwood pointed out and the Beacon headmaster sighed but nodded. It wasn't the first time Ironwood had to make decisions that would be met with disapproval, but he was the General for a reason.
Ozpin simply stared at Ironwood for several seconds before nodding and sat back, "Very well, I don't need to remind you, but be careful." With that, the line was cut off.
Ironwood clicked on the radio at a nearby crate and said, "SCLN-One, this is Tyrant, can you read me?"
"Tyrant, this is SCLN-One, hear ya' loud and clear!" a perky voice replied and Ironwood's mouth twitched slightly upwards. He was well aware that Atlesian soldiers were famed for being disciplined, precise and extremely professional, even called 'living robots' due to their usually cold demeanour. However, he had never really enforced this type of behaviour and to hear someone a little less uptight wasn't always a bad thing.
"Do you have anything to report?" Ironwood asked as he turned to another crate, upon it was a map, a type of document he was all too familiar with.
"Uhmm… nothing really sir… wait…," Ironwood could hear hurried footsteps, he had imagined that Saiai had found something. Suddenly, he could hear a crash, screams and some very loud humming sounds.
"SCLN-One! What's going on! SCLN-One! Kinuhata!" Ironwood called out as urgency crept in his voice. He could still hear the sounds of chaos from the radio and Ironwood's hand began to tap the crate impatiently, "SCLN-One, what the hell's going on!?"
"Unknown hostile! He… he took down Caramel!" Ironwood's eyes narrowed as Saiai's voice shouted over the crashing and firing in the background. There was only one element that could take on SCLN team by surprise and it certainly wasn't a bunch of outdated Atlas Knight Robots. Ironwood was worried for his team down there, but there was a bigger implication behind what happened as he felt his right shoulder ache slightly.
"Sit tight SCLN-One," Ironwood replied as he picked up his large silver revolver, checking the chamber before clicking it back in, "Help is on the way."
