Chapter 3

"And the young boy ran. Faster and faster, he pushed his legs, but for every step he moved the creatures of darkness crept ever closer."

80, 81…

"He leapt over crumbling walls, clawed his way past the scattered rubble and dove deeper and deeper into the maze of ruins. Yet the Grimm never left his trail."

84, 85...

"Until finally, he could run no more. Collapsing in a dark room, all he could see were the malevolent crimson eyes of the Ursae and Beowulves surrounding him. There was no way out."

88, 89…

"Scrambling back until he hit the wall, the boy desperately grasped for something, anything that might help him. Fortunately for him, the dust-coated floor had one last secret for him."

93, 94…

"His hand found a hilt, jagged and rough to the touch. He gripped it and swung the weapon wildly, as the first Beowulf lunged for his throat. And then, to his wonder—"

"And that's a hundred!" Tony's yell cut off the rest of ADA's recitation. "Another bout, come on."

"ADA, pause. Tony, give me like, a two minute break here. I was almost done with this story." Nick replied, breathing heavily and rolling over onto his back.

"You can talk, that means you can fight. Come on, up you get!" Tony grabbed Nick's arm and hoisted him up to his feet. "What are you listening to anyway?"

"Believe it or not, children's stories. Cedar has been nagging me about it. Found a new book, wants me to read it to him and Cam during their bedtime. I've been having ADA recite it to me so I can make it more," a tired sigh interrupted his explanation, "dramatic. Let's do this, Cyrano mode ADA!"

Nick picked up his weapons from the floor and took on an updated battle stance - unstrapping Soulkeeper from his right arm and grabbing it in Kite Shield mode instead, while holding onto Dusk with his left hand.

"You're facing a single opponent, unarmed and holding a standard brawler pose." ADA's voice became steely as she shifted into being a combat assistant. "Holding for now. It seems they want you to make the first move."

"Prioritize positioning, sudden shifts only." Nick curtly ordered ADA and raised his voice to address Tony. "Come on Tony! You're just gonna wait and let me recover?"

"If you insist." And in the next second Tony moved from being a good twenty meters away to standing right in front of Nick, poised to strike.

"Incom—" ADA's alert came in just quick enough for Nick to raise his shield and block the first hit aimed for his stomach. In an instant, Tony shuffled back and kicked high. A quick whisper of 'Up' from ADA allowed Nick to raise his shield and deflect the blow. This continued for the next dozen hits; with Tony raining blows from all angles and Nick only barely blocking or deflecting those hits with ADA's help. Tony then feinted, winding up to throw a punch, but then shifting into a leg sweep. To his surprise, Nick leaped over his attack and used the momentum from the jump to take a swipe at Tony's head, which he narrowly dodged. Nick used the opening to widen the distance between them, raising his shield back into a defensive stance.

"You're getting better at this!" Tony chuckled, "Is that all you, or is ADA actually helping?"

"Bit of both." Nick said, before suddenly launching Dusk. Tony deftly sidestepped the chakram, only to find himself being rushed by Nick's Semblance. Tony had to admit, even after all the times the two of them trained together, fighting against the shade of Nick's father was a touch intimidating. He could swear the spirit had a mind of its own, despite Nick's word to the contrary. Plus, seeing Mavros brought back memories of the first time Tony had met Nick's father; memories that he always found unpleasant to recollect.

Ignoring that train of thought, Tony channeled his own Aura into his arms, making them glow grayish-white. Swiftly blocking the strike aimed for his neck with his left hand, he then threw a light jab with his right fist that connected with the stomach of the shade, and activated his Semblance. Within a second, the shade dissolved into nothing, and Tony felt his Aura strengthen by just a touch. Unfortunately for him, that restored bit of Aura depleted straight away, as a charging Nick crashed straight into his raised arms. Nick's use of his semblance as cover meant Tony protected himself only at the last second. Nick also shifted Soulkeeper to Tower Shield mode before his charge, and the added size made it difficult for Tony to move out of the way. After a few seconds of struggling, Tony eased off his arms and fell onto his back, with his fur cushioning the fall. The sudden lack of resistance unbalanced Nick's forward push. Tony quickly took advantage of Nick's loss of balance, kicking into the shield with both feet and pushing him back. Tony somersaulted back up onto his feet and rushed forward to attack again, but both combatants suddenly froze when the door to the training room opened with a loud 'ding'.

"Hate to interrupt you boys, but something just came up." A tense voice spoke up near the doorway.

"Ah, what is it this time Steele? For your information, I did not mess with your notes. Or those dust cartridges you were working on. Or your other notes, although Vir may or may not have peeked into them." Tony replied, his fist hovering just a few inches away from Nick's face.

"No no, it's not any of— wait, she did? No wonder I couldn't find page 57—but that isn't the point! I think I might need your help with this Tony, best you follow me." And with that, Steele turned around and started marching away.

"Wonder what her problem is?" Tony asked, finally relaxing and dropping his arms. Nick only shrugged as returned Soulkeeper to Buckler Shield mode and recalled Dusk. Tony gave Nick a light pat on the shoulder, before he too made his way out of the room. Seeing that he had nothing else to do before dinner with the training session cut short, Nick re-summoned Mavros beside him and started following Tony, curious to see what was happening.

…

Nick was a touch surprised when the three of them walked right out of the main building and out into the open. He could not see it, but Nick knew from the time that it was close to sunset. A slightly chilly breeze ruffled his hair, and Nick stopped for a second to take a deep breath and savor the crisp air outside. Winter had come and gone in the three months Nick spent recovering, and training. Dr. Polendina had still not returned from his assignment at Atlas, but Nick knew he would often be gone for months at a time and was thus not worried. Getting no word from Aki, Bianca or Beryl was a touch more worrying. Nevertheless, Nick always trusted their abilities as fighters, and knew he ought to do so even now. Shaking his head and exhaling, he took a few long strides to catch up to Tony and Steele.

"—as if I don't have enough on my plate already with Pietro gone! Me, overseeing half the facility? Managing the dust stocks, making sure the food supplies that come in are handled properly, repairing the weapons and armor, and that's only the top three things on the list!" Steele's exasperation at her duties was clear from her voice. Nick did not need eyes to know Tony was going through his usual 'smile and nod' routine to try and placate Steele. Having no desire to get roped into Steele's complaints just yet, Nick slowed down and followed from a few paces back, choosing to focus on his surroundings through Mavros instead.

Right now, Nick was walking through the commercial center of the settlement. His Semblance picked out the aura signatures of some of the residents sitting just outside the tavern, enjoying a cold drink after a tiring day. He also noted that the few shops and stalls were closing, and the hustle and bustle of packing up could easily be heard. Nick knew that ever since CCT communications had gone down and Atlas closed its borders, travel had slowed down to a crawl and far fewer people passed by Polendina's Rest on their way to the other major Kingdoms. He smiled at recalling the name of the settlement, and the history of how the name came to be. Nick knew, because he was here almost since the beginning.

Dr. Polendina had entered into some sort of mutual agreement with Atlas; well, more specifically one James Ironwood, now General Ironwood, over a decade earlier. In exchange for providing Atlas with the latest and greatest advancements in prosthetics, weaponry and dust applications, Atlas would build a state-of-the-art, discreet research facility for Dr. Polendina to work in, in addition to providing him supplies and personnel to the best of their ability. They decided to establish the facility of Polendina Technologies on this continent, Tenebris, located to the north of Sanus and west of Solitas, the only continent without a major Kingdom. Settlements had existed on this continent prior to the Great War, but apparently there had been some devastating battles in this region during the War itself, and most of the settlements had been wiped out. The remaining few were abandoned soon after due to the rise in Grimm and inability to protect themselves after the War had taken its toll.

There were some doubts as to whether such a remote facility would survive, but the protection provided by Atlas in the early years, along with a few favors Dr. Polendina called in from huntsmen contacts he knew, had been enough to clear out the Grimm in the surrounding areas and establish the base. The researchers and scientists that moved here to assist Dr. Polendina had their own families with them, and some people from both Mantle and Atlas had moved here throughout the early years with monetary incentives from Atlas to help keep the base operational. This naturally evolved into a small bustling settlement; bigger than a village but not nearly large enough to be a town. The inhabitants began to call the place Polendina's Rest in honor of the man that had made the venture a success and gave so many people a place to call home. Despite the chagrin of Dr. Polendina himself, the name stuck. Granted, due to the nature of the research conducted here, Polendina's Rest wasn't an officially recorded settlement, but many travelers by ferry between the kingdoms had a tacit knowledge of the settlement and would often stop for supplies and trade.

Nick's own parents were old friends of Dr. Polendina since their Academy days and jumped at the opportunity to help. Even after the base had become self-sufficient and Nick's mother had died, his father had continued to call this place home. Nick's earliest memories were of running around the settlement, helping carry things from one spot to another or staring in wonder at Dr. Polendina's work. Reminiscing happily in those memories, Nick did not notice a small figure jump straight onto his back, knocking the wind out of him.

Before Nick could figure out what had just happened, the figure whispered urgently into Nick's ear. "Niiiiick, help me! We're playing tag and I'm the last one left! Please hide me!"

Recognizing the voice belonged to Camilia, Nick smirked and had Mavros pick her up by the scruff of her neck and drop her unceremoniously on the ground.

"You're supposed to run in tag, not hide. Best get going before the others catch up." Nick said, quickly patting Camilla on the head before turning back around. The young girl sat stunned for a few seconds before screeching, "NIIIIICK! HOW COULD YOU—". The rest of her tantrum was cut off when she spotted the other kids running around the corner, and she quickly made herself scarce.

In a few minutes, Nick found Tony and Steele standing by the Communications Hub. This was where the sole CCT tower on this continent was located. Although it was only a support tower, it was enough for the people to connect to the wider network. At least, it had been, until the Beacon tower went down. Now it just stood uselessly, since it was too far from the other local towers on Sanus or Solitas.

More interesting to note were the clunkier and shorter handful of towers that stood just beside the CCT tower itself. These, Nick knew, were the radio towers that had been hastily set up soon after the network had gone down, to ensure the settlement was not completely cut off. By themselves, the signal from such a small cluster would not be enough to reach any of the other Kingdoms. Fortunately, this part of Tenebris had been an active battleground during the Great War, and many of the derelict radio towers used back then were still intact enough to restore into a usable state.

"And therein lies the crux of our problem." Nick heard Steele say as he got close enough to be able to listen in again. "The radio signal was working just fine up until two hour ago, until the signal from this cluster of towers," she paused and pointed to a section of a map that showed up on the main terminal, "suddenly went down. I've tried figuring out if it is a problem on our end, but I don't know nearly enough about these blasted towers to say for sure. I'm still inclined to believe something is wrong with the booster towers. Either they ran out of power, or the Grimm finally noticed and destroyed them." Steele finished, her voice sounding almost despondent now.

"Didn't we fill up the generators with enough dust to run the towers for at least 6 months?" Tony inquired.

"Exactly, and I don't think we made a mistake there. Then again, why would the Grimm attack the towers after ignoring them all for all these decades. More specifically, why these towers and not all the other boosters? I just don't know." Steele replied, absently fiddling with the glasses resting on her forehead.

"Well, I can go check out the location, see what's up and report back. Or." Tony paused, turning to stare at Nick, who had been standing silently thus far. "Or, this could be your first post-recovery mission Nick! Seems simple enough to me. I think you're ready now to get back into the field and handle this much."

"I'm fine with it." Nick acknowledged, stepping forward to stand beside Tony. "However, I wasn't there when the two of you activated the towers, so I don't even know where exactly they're located."

"Ah, that isn't an issue. Give me your Scroll." Steele extended her hand and motioned for Nick to pass his Scroll. Nick nodded and did as asked. Steele snatched the Scroll and hurriedly connected it to the terminal showing the map. After a few seconds, she handed the device back to Nick.

"You'll have all the info you need about the location in there now." Steele continued. "ADA should be able to guide you there without any problems. I want you to head out early tomorrow, traveling there can take a few hours on foot. Atlas recalled the Bullheads and Mantas sitting at base, or I'd have flown out myself right now. Damn them and their good-for-nothing blockade." Steele angrily shook her fist and abruptly started walking away.

"Huh, I take it we're dismissed then." Tony said. "Come on Nick, let's head back. Dinner must have gotten cold by now."

…

"And then, to his wonder, the Beowulves were reduced to dust! The boy stared at the blade in his hand with both wonder and fear. Never loosening his grip, the boy slowly made his way back to his village. Everyone there thought the weapon was a blessing by the Gods, and the villagers set up a shrine in its honor. As news about the blade spread, more and more travelers passed by every day to witness the blade in action. Yet slowly— I know you're still sulking under there Cam. I've already apologized." Nick interrupted the bedtime story to poke at the blankets on the bed to his right.

His poking was met with muffled grunts. "Hmm? I can't hear what you're saying." Nick poked a little harder. He heard soft laughter from the bed on his left, and he knew Cedar was finding his sister's predicament hilarious. Nick continued poking until Camilia's head popped out and she stared furiously at Nick.

"You sold me out today. Left me to fend for myself against Cedar and the rest!" Camilia pouted, trying to make her voice sound angry. Nick thought it sounded adorable.

"I did no such thing!" Nick put a hand on his heart and feigned a flinch. "You know I can't help you with your game, or else Cedar here would be the one sulking instead. Besides, you're the fastest runner of the lot, you could keep them chasing you for a long time."

Camilia huffed at that and put her head back under the pillow. Nick sighed, and decided to try a different tactic.

"Look, I'll be heading out on a short mission tomorrow. Once I'm back, I'll tell you both all about what happened and how I took care of all the Grimm. I'll even take over some of the training routines that Tony runs you through, change them up a bit to make it more fun!" At those words, Camilia slowly peeked out and muttered, "Do you promise?"

"Absolutely, I promise." Nick replied. "Now, it's gotten late enough. I'll finish the story some other day. Be good kids, and try not to bother Steele too much while I'm gone."

Camilia finally smiled and hummed in agreement. Satisfied, Nick gave her a small hug as he got up to leave, doing the same to Cedar on his way out, who was already half-asleep by then.

…