"So, on one hand you have the family who wants to bring their son home in what they believe is a stupid dream," Taiyang said. He was sitting on Jaune's bed. "On the other hand, we have a son who is very happy where he is, and clearly wants to follow his dream."
"Yep," I said. Taiyang breathed in deeply as he looked between the impatient Nicholas and the tired looking Jaune, Pyrrha massaging his shoulders in an attempt to soothe his distress. Saphron, Nora, and Ren had exited the room in order to keep Adrian from being subjected to more yelling between father and son.
Yang was next to me, rubbing my head affectionately while Liya sat by the door. None of us had expected today to go off like this, but we were all willing to stay and support Jaune through this hard time.
The patriarchal Xiao Long sighed as he looked at Nicholas. "Agh, this kind of stuff always sucks," Taiyang mumbled. "Not what I was expecting when I decided to visit my girls. Look, Nick. Your son is clearly grown up, you don't have a right to force him to do anything."
"He is an Arc. And he is to always obey what's good for him," Nicholas said. "But clearly, Beacon's ruined his perception of what it means to be family."
"It taught me how to help people," Jaune began before Taiyang held up a hand, and he quieted down.
"Your son has matured," Taiyang continued. "Why do you want to hold him back?"
"It's for his own good," Nicholas said. "You didn't have to see him grow up, bullied on a daily basis, always having wild fantasies about fighting Grimm and getting himself hurt every day playing make believe."
"We had to bring him to the hospital so many times," Sapphire said. "All he ever wanted was to be a hero, and he never understood how dangerous it was."
"But did you give him the chance to find that out for himself? Or did you forcibly shelter him?" Taiyang asked. Nicholas and Sapphire fell silent, and Taiyang sighed. "I've been where you were before. My daughters went out of the house one day...and they were nearly killed by Grimm. I was worried sick for weeks, always wondering if they'd try again, always scared that one day I'd get news that their corpses would be found..."
He sighed. "Then they decided to train and become huntresses. I wanted to say no, but they wanted to help people. I taught them at school, told stories of my experience, and showed them how to fight. I didn't like any of it. But I trust my daughters to know what to do, to take this career seriously," Taiyang said.
"Jaune may be able to take things seriously, but that doesn't remove the risk of what could or would happen," Nicholas retorted. "You remember Gretchen."
I flinched at that name. I forgot about her, though I suppose that deaths in Beacon were an occurrence. A rare occurrence, but clearly something that happens more than once.
"Gretchen was a tragedy. And that was just a few years ago, don't bring up other people's events just to prove a point with your own," Taiyang said.
"She died despite training hard and being careful, because she didn't understand the risks," Nicholas said, his vehemence on the matter draining and showing a tired expression. "I'm just saying that I don't want my son to be subject to a tragedy like that again."
"I hear you Nicholas, I'm always worrying about my daughters. But I love them enough to trust their intuition. Because my daughters are my entire world, and they'll grow up better than I ever did," Taiyang pointed out. He looked to Yang, who beamed at his words.
Jaune cleared his throat. "Hey...Markus?" he said. "Don't get offended, but can you and the others leave? It's...it's a family matter after all."
"You sure, Vomit Boy? We wanna help," Yang said. The sisters all giggled at Yang's nickname, and Jaune turned pink.
"It's fine," Jaune said. "We'll be fine. Arguments tend to burn out pretty quickly between us, then it's all talk right afterwards."
Yang looked at me and tugged my arm as Nicholas spoke up again, not as loudly but still defending his thoughts on pulling Jaune out of Beacon. "Hey, wanna spar?" she asked. "Not sure if we should be a part of this."
I looked to Jaune, who was still sitting with Pyrrha. I looked to his sisters and mother, who were all now rather unsure about the argument rather than against Jaune. Sighing, I looked at Yang and smiled. "Sure," I said. "You could use some more practice."
Laughing, Yang yanked me towards the door. "What, saying I'm already rusty?" she asked teasingly, Liya getting up and opening the dorm room door.
"Nah, just saying that you can never fight too much," I said as I was pulled out the door, my partner following. Ren had chosen to stay with Jaune, and Jaune accepted. JNPR was practically family after all.
We walked down the hallway, with there being plenty of silence between the three of us. Then Liya spoke up. "Not gonna lie, I almost exploded in there," she said. Yang and I turned to look at her, and she took that as a sign to explain. "My parents were always controlling...very controlling. Business over anything, family over others, blah blah blah..."
"That's rough...I'm glad Ruby and I weren't like that but damn... Weiss mentioned her dad was pretty controlling, manipulative. She didn't even wanna talk about her mom," Yang said quietly. "Man, there's been a lot of rough childhoods."
"My parents can't make me leave Beacon. Same with Jaune," Liya said. "The two of us are here now. And that's all that matters."
"Awww," Yang cooed as she ruffled Liya's head. Liya giggled before swatting my girlfriend's hand aside.
"Not gonna lie," I mumbled. "I'm kinda jealous. Your dad's super nice."
"Pfft, of course you'd think that he's nice," Yang said. "You and him were trading dad jokes all night when he came over."
"Yeah, but he's so supportive," I said. "And kind, and just an awesome dad if he raised you and Ruby. Seriously, you and your sister are just...amazing."
Yang smiled. "And you're awesome too," she said, side hugging me. "Now come on, enough moping, let's go and fight!"
"Can we?"
The three of us stumbled from the sudden inclusion of a fourth voice. Turning, we saw that Olivia had followed us. The older girl had a snarky grin on her face. "Sorry, I just got bored of the arguing and wanted to leave," she said.
"I thought you'd wanna stay behind and keep picking on Jaune," Yang said.
"Eh, that was before he left. Now, I'm pretty sure he could kick my ass," Olivia said, holding up a gloved fist. Aura glowed around her fist, a bright yellowish green hue enveloping it. "Well, with Crocea Mors anyway. I could wipe the floor with him in hand to hand."
"You have your aura unlocked?" Liya asked.
"Yeah. I'm the only one...well, besides Jaune. Dad had to after my ex tried to sneak in the house and stab me and...well, let's say things didn't go too well for him. Still, it was a pretty close call there," Olivia said, lifting up her shirt to reveal a nasty scar above her belly button.
"Nice," Liya said, unmasking herself and showing her own facial scar. Olivia whistled appreciatively at the large mark.
"Gnarly. Anyways, I still like picking on him now and then but that doesn't mean I don't give a damn about his happiness. I don't care whether Jaune stays or goes," Olivia said.
"I thought you were against him staying," I said.
"Eh, that was before I found out he was boning one of the best fighters on the planet during his time here. And as long as he knows how not to get himself killed, I trust him. Even if it means I won't be able to spar with him," Olivia said. "So does Saph. Heh, she's always believed in Jaune. And believe it or not, mom's kind of leaning towards letting him stay as well."
"You sure?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. She just trusts dad a lot more. Not that his will is stronger than a woman's intuition," Olivia said, half amused as she crossed her arms. "But the old man is a huntsman, so his word on the matter goes, ya know? Either way, she's on the fence."
"Huh," I said, a bit surprised. From all the fanfictions I read, as well as what I heard from Jaune, no one in his family except for Saphron would've ever dreamed of supporting Jaune's decision to become a huntsman. I was glad to hear that not everyone was so narrow minded. "So what's your semblance?"
"I can make shockwaves out of kicks and punches. As far as I know, they have a radius of a few meters. I can't have any weapons since my punches alone are probably strong enough to kill," Olivia explained.
"Makes sense," Yang said. "I bet I can still outpunch you."
"Bring it," Olivia said, grinning. She was about as tall as Yang was as the two of them continued to make their way down the hallway, trash talking each other as they walked, leaving Liya and I standing in the hallway.
"Yang will be Yang," Liya said, and I chuckled. "Come on, I'm hungry."
"Right behind you," I said, and the two of us walked to the cafeteria to grab some food. The two of us got burgers at a relatively empty cafeteria and began to eat in comfortable silence. Said silence didn't last too long as Liya spoke up.
"So...I've been meaning to say something," Liya said out of the blue.
"Yeah? What is it about?" I asked.
"I might be bi," Liya said.
I turned to look at an awkward Liya. "Oh. Not gonna lie, I thought you were lesbian," I said.
"Huh? Why?" Liya asked.
"Well, you were never looking really interested in guys," I said. "And you were shooting looks at Arslan earlier. And you never freaked out over me walking in on you changing."
Liya blushed and picked at the scar under her eye. "Well, I may have peered at you when you changed," she said. "Not flirting, just had to say it."
"Heh," I said. "You think I look good."
"Hah," Liya said, elbowing me lightly. "Anyways, I'm bi. Honestly thought you were gonna blow up on me or something."
"I ain't homophobic. I'm pansexual," I said. Liya whipped her head at me once again, and I laughed. "Yeah, I'm not too open about it either, it was never a big deal for me. I mean have you seen Jaune? Or Sun?"
"Huh," Liya said as she picked up her half eaten burger. "Wanna move on?"
"Yep," I said as I picked up a fry. "So what do you think of Arslan?"
Liya choked on her burger for a split second before glaring at me. "I thought you agreed to move on," she growled.
"What? It's a genuine question. And I ain't talking about sexualities and whatnot anymore," I said. "Gonna date her?"
Liya kept up the glower before she sighed and looked down. "No, I asked Bolin. She's straight," she said.
"Oh. Sorry," I mumbled.
"It's fine. Just means you can't tease me over my love life," Liya said, cheering up a little.
"I mean, maybe Reese is open," I said.
"She's not really my type. A bit hyper," Liya said.
"Blake?" I asked. "You two would probably get along with how often you read"
"Too edgy. And have you seen the two of us? We practically look like twins with different fashion choices," Liya said. I snorted at this before looking around and spotting Cinder and Emerald eating at a nearby table. I wondered what they were doing here, but I decided for now, those questions could be asked much later.
"Hey, Emerald!" I said. Emerald looked up to see me stand from my seat, ready to head over to her. Cinder turned as well, an eyebrow curiously raised.
"What are you doing?" Liya hissed, but I was already gone, having walked over to the dark skinned illusionist a few tables away. I heard Liya get up after me when I reached the table.
"My partner's been feeling lonely. Do you happen to be single?" I asked. Emerald sputtered, dropping her spoon in her soup as Liya came over and smacked my upside the head.
"I-I-uhh," Emerald said, her face tinting a bright pink at the blatant question. It was kind of cute, actually. I wondered if Liya saw the same. "Ummm...n-no."
"Are you interested?" I asked. "She's fun to be around. Unless..." I looked at Emerald and Cinder and feigned a bit of surprise. "Are you two already a thing?"
Cinder giggled as Emerald burned beet red, looking down. "I'm afraid not," she said in her silky smooth voice.
"I'm so sorry, please ignore him," Liya said as she began punching my back, which probably would've hurt a lot without aura.
"It's fine. However, Emerald has been a bit lonely every now and then," Cinder said, and Emerald put together what Cinder was about to suggest, betrayal on her face. "Perhaps a date would clear up that mind of hers-"
"I'm fine!" Emerald squeaked.
"N-no thanks!" Liya giggled nervously, before delivering a final smack against my neck. Ignoring my yelp, she dragged me across back towards our table. "Sorry for this idiot of a partner bothering you."
As we left, I could hear Emerald and Cinder talking again. Specifically Emerald saying "No offense ma'am, but you're the worst..." in a croaky voice and Cinder just laughing afterwards.
We finished lunch before heading to the training areas, Liya chastising me over what I did all the way. We reached the first gym, where Olivia and Yang were still fighting. Nora and Saphron were watching over Adrian in the sidelines, who was waving his arms and babbling excitedly at the fight before him.
Meanwhile, Yang was blocking punch after punch from Olivia. Like Olivia said, every punch she dealt created a massive wave of force that increased the kinetic force Yang felt with every hit. Judging by the way her hair was burning, Yang had been sending back damage since the match started, and both were looking tired.
Yang landed a few more punches in quick succession, even with their fighting slowed down. The older woman managed to dodge a few punches, taking some with her aura, before landing a smash against Yang's face, making her stumble.
Eventually, Olivia performed a roundhouse kick against Yang that sent her flying, even though she tried to block with Ember Celica. As Yang got floored, Olivia panted in exhaustion, her aura finally breaking.
"Not bad," Olivia said. "How long have you been training?"
"Since I was seven," Yang said, with the small amount of aura she had left shattering moments after, having worn out of stamina before she could run out of aura. "Damn...I really thought I had you."
"I've been kickboxing and roughhousing around since kindergarten," Olivia said. "Sorry, I got more tricks than you do."
"Heh," Yang said. "Experience, huh?"
"Yep. But you almost got me," Olivia said, helping Yang to her feet before spotting Liya and me at the entrance. "Yo!" she called.
"Nice fight," I said. "Got any teachers?"
"Yep. Defense classes back in Ansel. And Dad after my aura was unlocked," Olivia said, stretching her arms and cracking out the kinks in her neck before looking to Saphron and Nora. "You know, I was expecting you to go back and support Jaune."
"Eh, Adrian was hungry," Saphron said. "And you know dad, he'd argue all of us and win just by saying the same point over and over. 'I'm your father, what I say goes', and then he'd explain the reason much much later after we're too tired to keep going. Not worth it."
"Also seeing everyone dote on little Adrian here was fun. Turns out that Professor Goodwitch is a major softie for babies," Nora said. "Spent like ten minutes doing the goo goo eyes before she saw me with Saph."
"Goodwitch? Really?" I said, surprised at that little tidbit of news right there.
"Yep, turns out the cold witch does have a heart," Nora said. "Like Weiss!"
"You'd better be happy Weiss or the professor aren't around to hear you say that," Liya said before looking at Olivia. "So, you're a martial arts kind of girl, huh?"
"Yep," Olivia said, pounding her fists together before wincing. "Ow...right. No aura."
"Eh, it'll take some time. Jaune's aura is super fast, so yours should be pretty fast as well," Liya said. "Speaking of which, should we go back?"
"Maybe. They're probably cooled down by now," Olivia said before looking over at Yang, a much more provocative expression on her face. "That fight was pretty fun. If you ever wanna have some more fun, hit me up."
"Oh. I'm already dating," Yang said, coming over to me and yanking me into a side hug.
"And if you really want a hot badass girlfriend like mine, Liya happens to be into-" I said before Liya tackled me and Yang with unmatched ferocity.
"Once! Just once I tell you and you wanna just tell the whole world!" Liya screamed angrily as she strangled me on the floor, Olivia giggling nearby. Nora and Adrian just cheered the start of this new fight, while Saphron sighed and looked away.
Eventually, we were all able to go back to JNPR's dorm, Liya constantly shooting little glares at me. When we opened it, we were surprised to see that things had calmed down a lot. Taiyang and Nicholas were no longer in deep debate, and Nicholas was sitting in front of Jaune.
"So...how is everyone now?" I asked.
"I...I'm not gonna force the issue if that's what you're worried about," Nicholas said. "I don't like it, and I won't accept Jaune's decision. But there isn't much I can do about it, is there?"
"He's grown up," Saphron said. "He made his choice, and it's our job as family to support it."
"You're on his-no, I shouldn't be surprised. You and your brother are always close," Nicholas said, chuckling softly. Sapphire rubbed her husband's shoulder, even if it was armored.
"Sorry dad," Jaune said. He was tired as well, and Pyrrha was hugging his left side with Ren having his hand on Jaune's right shoulder. "But I have a family here too. And I won't pick one or the other."
Nicholas nodded sadly, a smile on his face. "I know," he said before standing up. "I...I owe you all an apology. I shouldn't have come here and try to take my son away. It's clear that you all care for him very much."
"Especially you, Miss Nikos," Sapphire said. "I'm sorry if anything my husband or I said offended you. We didn't mean to imply that Jaune wouldn't be looked after-"
"No," Pyrrha said. "It's fine...you're just worried for your son." I couldn't help but detect a hint of envy in her voice. "I'm just glad any and all misunderstandings are cleared up."
"Thank you," Sapphire said before Violet spoke up, clearing her throat.
"Umm...does this mean Pyrrha is our sister-in-law?" she asked. Pyrrha went bright red and Jaune choked on air.
"And there's another topic I wanted to talk about," Sapphire said, her soft motherly tone going very strict - Goodwitch strict - at once. "We know you've been having sex and I wanted to address some things you must know."
"Mooooooooom!" Jaune whined.
"See, Jaune never got the talk," Sapphire continued, her focus on Pyrrha. "He was always so antisocial to both boys and girls that I thought he didn't need it. He had to be coaxed out of his shell to make friends, I'm sure. As for the big step to playing around in the bedroom, I imagine he didn't know what to do?"
"Oh, he didn't," Pyrrha said, giggling and ignoring Jaune's gawking at his girlfriend's betrayal. "I had to take charge...as they say."
Jaune's sisters giggled, except for Olivia, she downright guffawed. Sapphire gave a wry smile to Jaune, who was burying his face in his hands. Yang and I were snorting in laughter as Liya shook her head in amusement. "So does this mean you have all the embarrassing stories of Jaune 'Vomit Boy' Arc?" Liya asked.
"Mom, no-" Jaune tried to protest before Sapphire silenced him with a look.
"This is for not writing to us and making us worry for months on end," she hissed before her angry mother expression turned back into an amused one. "I suppose you should all make yourselves comfortable."
"Wait, can I call the rest of my team here too?" Yang asked before Jaune could protest more.
"Of course, dear," Sapphire said. Shuddering, I sat down by the wall, not envying Jaune whatsoever.
"Do you have any stories about the onesie?" Nora asked. Jaune croaked.
- the next day -
Pyrrha dodged blow after blow from her opponent, the hooked gauntlets scratching at Akoúo̱ in rapid succession. Her opponent in the singles match was a student from Atlas, a Faunus with a wolf tail. He was fast, but Pyrrha was faster. He was strong, but Pyrrha was stronger.
Every attack he had, Pyrrha countered without a problem. Every blow she dealt was one that whittled his aura down. He wasn't a bad fighter by any means, just outmatched. We watched as Pyrrha bore down on the opponent, flipping around his attacks and dashing quickly at his strikes.
While I was watching the battle below, I wasn't focused on it. I wasn't thinking about Pyrrha or her opponent, or how the cheers around us were deafening, or how a few people were holding up signs with Pyrrha's face surrounded by spray painted hearts. All I could think about was what was Cinder's plan.
The only reasons they could've pulled off Penny's death back in the original Volume 3 battle was because of Emerald's illusions, Mercury figuring out and ratting on Pyrrha's semblance, and Watts sending Cinder the plans for Penny. But with no Penny on the board, as well as Mercury never having Pyrrha before, only fighting me, there was no way that plan could have worked.
But what was the next plan?
A few minutes later, Pyrrha spun out on her hand and performed a spinning split kick that finally destroyed her opponent's aura, blue particles shattering as he landed on the arena floor, unable to get up. Everyone cheered loudly as Pyrrha bowed. As she went over to help her opponent up, I got up and headed for the exit of our seat area.
"Markus?" I heard Liya ask. I didn't acknowledge her, simply going down the hall towards the announcer's booth of Amity Colosseum. It was a pretty long walk, giving me time to go over the plans that Cinder had.
"The White Fang attack is a guarantee when it comes to what's been planned. There was no way for me to track down Adam or stop thousands of Faunus and hundreds of Bullheads. Not to mention all the heavy weapons they'd likely have. But we locked out Watts from the Atlesian garrison. There's no way for him to control even one airship, much less any Atlesian Knights or Paladins. There aren't even any here," I thought to myself. "No way of psychological warfare and calling out Ozpin or Ironwood without Penny dying or Yang's framing either. What could they be planning?"
Marrow and Harriet were guarding the door, Marrow holding Fetch in automatic rifle mode while Harriet had Fast Knuckles deployed, her arms crossed under her breasts as she leaned back on the wall.
"Is the general in?" I asked.
"Yes," Marrow said. "Why?"
"I have to talk to him," I said. "Privacy isn't necessary since you're already in the know. But it's important."
Harriet huffed, looking at me with disdain before Marrow turned and knocked on the door. A few moments later, General Ironwood opened up and looked out to see me. "Ah, Markus. What's the problem?" he asked.
I waited for him to step out and close the door behind him before I spoke. "Something's not right. They should've made a move by now," I said. "Pyrrha ended up fighting in the finals anyway, but they didn't do any shock and awe stuff yet. I'm not sure their plan is even that anymore."
"Then we have to keep a watchful eye on Cinder and her team," General Ironwood said. "So far, they aren't on Amity. They're enjoying the festivities below."
"Huh? You're monitoring them?" I asked.
"Yes," General Ironwood said, pulling up his scroll and bringing up a sky high camera view. It was from the ventral port scanning suite of one of the Atlesian Airships - the A.A.S. Titan's Spear - near Amity Colosseum, showing the city below. The camera angle zoomed in, and four small dots were shown amidst the people. "They haven't been able to get out of our sight, but they also haven't done anything."
"Great. So now we aren't in the know," I said. "Well, have patrolling airships or dropships reported anything? On the edge of Beacon?"
"No," the general stated as he zoomed out. "No Grimm of any kind and no unregistered vessels detected anywhere near Beacon or the city. Not yet, anyway."
I scratched my chin before looking back at the camera. The festivities were still going on, and Amity Colosseum was in a smooth drift around the stationary airship, moving slowly across the screen...
...
Wait...
"General. Why is the Amity Colosseum moving?" I asked.
"I'm...still not sure. Must be something the technicians below have to deal with," the general said as he looked closely at the large floating arena. "The generators tend to require constant on the clock maintenance, even when in use. No doubt they wanted to make sure flight systems are operational, it's fairly common."
"In the middle of the tournament?" I asked as I thought hard. "Seems strange."
"I'm certain it's nothing serious. Why? Did Amity not move the last time around?" Ironwood asked.
My blood ran cold. "No," I said. "Amity's moving, and Cinder and her cohorts happen to not be on Amity. That can't be a coincidence."
Ironwood's expression darkened, before the colosseum jolted. It was a very little jolt, and there was no doubt that everyone outside watching the matches would be able to notice with all of the noise.
But we could. Marrow and Harriet bumped against the wall, and I stumbled a little. "What was that?" I asked.
The general's scroll pinged, and Ironwood answered it, putting it on speakerphone. "What is it?" he said.
"The generators are shutting down, all of them!" a somewhat panicked voice, one of the specialist squad leaders stationed below said. "We found the technicians in Generator Room Onw dead, and we're trying to reboot them but they're stuck on their shutdown procedure, all of them! Five minutes till-"
A gunshot was heard, and the call ended. General Ironwood wasted no time, pocketing the scroll as he looked at me, a determined expression on his face. "Guess we know their new plan. They're trying to drop Amity on the city of Vale. Marrow, sound the evacuation. Harriet, you're with me."
"How high up are we?" I asked as the three of us began to run down the hall towards the elevator.
"About eight kilometers. Dropping something as large as the colosseum at this height would destroy the city and Beacon. Even if we turned on the generators right after they shut down, their reboot process won't stop the fall. We'll all die. We have to stop the shutdown," Ironwood said. "Dammit, Amity was a large target, how could we rule out that possibility?"
The alarms began to blare, and a loud automated female voice was heard over the speakers. "Evacuation procedures have begun. This is not a drill. Please make your way to the nearest exit leading to the docks in a calm and orderly manner," the voice boomed. "Evacuation procedures have begun. This is not a drill. Please make your way to the nearest exit leading to the docks in a calm and orderly manner."
"Son of a bitch," I growled. "They still managed to get the jump on us."
"That doesn't matter right now," Harriet said, running alongside me. "Our focus is to get everyone off while getting those generators back online." We reached the elevator and I pressed the button.
"We have to evacuate the city." Ironwood said. "Our airships can house thousands, and we have plenty of embarked craft. We can get Ozpin to-"
His scroll went off again, and Ironwood answered it at once. "Captain, what is it?" he said.
"We have readings of Grimm approaching us from the East!" the captain of one of the airships said. "Hundreds! Requesting permission to engage!"
Ironwood froze, and I realized this was their plan. Protect people or fight the enemy, we couldn't do both. Even with several flying battleships and hundreds of combat dropships, they were in no position to split their forces without seriously risking everyone.
"General, what do we do?" Harriet asked. The elevator door pinged and opened, and the three of us rushed inside, Ironwood pressing the button that led to the maintenance and service level. He spoke again as the doors closed.
"We focus on defense," he said before looking down at his scroll in his hands, the captain awaiting orders. "I want all battleships in defensive positions between the populace and the incoming wave. Deploy all air squadrons in screening positions around Amity and over the city. We can't let the Grimm through. As for all ground forces, I want all of them focused on protecting the populace as they evacuate."
"Understood, sir!" the captain said before hanging up. Ironwood called someone else, who answered within one second of waiting. "General?" Clover's voice said over the speaker.
"I want all specialists and soldiers not tasked with assisting in the evacuation to head to the service levels," Ironwood said.
"Understood," Clover said before he too hung up.
Ironwood once again pocketed his scroll and drew Due Process from his military coat as the elevator door opened. Thank the Gods for fast lifts. We ran down the spacious hallway towards a power room, naked wiring hanging from the ceiling as well as pipes and conduits along the walls.
Outside the large door, two Atlesian soldiers lay dead. "Dammit!" Harriet growled as Ironwood pressed the button to open the door. With a hiss, it slid open and revealed several consoles surrounding a massive glowing generator with multiple glowing pipes feeding power and Dust to the machine. Each pipe was slowly going dark, and each moving mechanism was slowly powering down. The consoles and control systems were all vacant, with a few dead soldiers on the floor with several more dead men in engineering uniforms and hard hats lying deceased as well.
But that wasn't what worried us. What concerned us was the man standing by a console , waiting as he looked over at us. "I see the tin man's joints aren't as rusty as I thought. I thought it would take you much longer to get down here," the man sneered as his fingers danced on the console controls. "Though I suppose one must always be ready for surprises, wouldn't you agree?"
Ironwood frowned, his grip on Due Process tightening. "Arthur Watts."