Gamer4 in. I'm starting to question the wisdom of posting new chapters on holidays, when most people are unlikely to read them, let alone review them. Is that gonna stop me from doing it? Probably not. Let's get down to business.
Disclaimer: To defeat the Huns.
Chapter VIII
Jaune's Choice
Night fell swiftly across the desert, for all that it mattered to the residents of Yang's hideout, where neither sun, moon nor star shone. The hideout's idea of night was to dim all the lights, and for anyone still at work at such late hours to move gently and quietly in consideration for those at rest. Certainly, the vast hangar was empty when a flame pierced through the hatch above, carving a large hole and allowing the excess metal to clatter to the ground.
One by one, five gears dropped down through the hole left behind, each of varying size, builds, and color.
"Huh- thought their security might be a little tighter," pondered a voice from a tall green gear- its pilot was a man by the name of Clover Ebi.
"Your luck at work again, perhaps?" speculated the pilot of a taller, white gear- Vine Zeki.
"Or they could be a bunch of dimwits," speculated a shorter, brown one, guided by the hand of Harriet Bree.
"Who cares, we have a mission!" chastised Elm Ederne, the pilot of the smallest, bulkiest gear, a matching shade of brown.
"Nice place, for a bunch of surface-dwelling lambs," commented the final pilot, Marrow Amin- his gear was the only bestial one, taking the form of a great, black wolf.
"Probably an old fort from the reign of King Branwen IV," assessed Vine.
"Enough chit-chat- we need to find those gears!" Elm interrupted again.
"Over here!" called the Clover from the far corner of the massive chamber.
"Ah- those are Deurmods- standard pirate gears," Vine shook his head. "Those aren't our primary concern."
"But not worthless," pointed out Marrow. "These alone would be worth the trip."
After a moment, Harriet declared, "Explosives at the ready- 3... 2... 1... NOW!"
XXXX
Jaune's sleep that night was mercifully dreamless and restful... which made it sting all the more when he was jolted from it by flashing lights and blaring klaxons. "INTRUDERS!" cried a loud voice over the loudspeakers. "INTRUDERS IN THE HANGAR! WE HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED, REPEAT, WE HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED! FIVE GEBLER SPECIAL UNITS, ALL IN GEARS! THEY ARE ATTEMPTING TO BREAK INTO THE NIDHOGG! ALL PILOTS TO THE HANGAR- ALL PILOTS TO THE HANGAR! NONCOMBATANTS TO THE SHELTER!"
Jaune was on his feet in a second, his sleepiness forgotten. The men and women around him were already bustling around, grabbing their things and rushing to the door- on the outside, he could hear the children hurrying along. "I'm scared, I'm scared!"
He entered the hallway himself, watching as the large, freight-size elevator filled with combatants and non-combatants alike. He saw the panic, but felt disconnected from it, almost as though he was moving through a dream.
"JAUNE!"
He slowly turned to see Ren making his way through the crowd, raising his voice to be heard over the din. "Jaune, quick, get to Weltall!"
Just as slowly, Jaune turned away.
"Jaune, Sage and the others are already fighting! You can't intend to leave them-"
Then Yang was there, struggling just as much as Ren to make her way to the elevator. "That'll do, Doc!" she called. "It has to be his choice! Jaune, can you hear me?"
Jaune turned to meet her single azure eye, looking far more serious than ever he'd seen it. "You get to that gear, or get to the shelter, your call. Just make it quick, because I don't plan on letting you die today!"
Jaune watched as Yang pulled Ren the rest of the way to the elevator, currently being operated by Tukson- in a second, it was going down with its first load.
Yet still, Jaune did not move. He looked down at his hands- the hands that had both saved life, and taken it. "What... am I?"
He was the man who'd destroyed Ansel.
He was the man who'd saved Yang's life.
He was the man with more power than he wanted or needed.-
But he had it nevertheless.
"I..."
XXXX
The Nidhogg was hardly short on gear pilots, but none that had the training of elite Gebler soldiers.
"Weak- they're all so weak!" called Elm from her short, bulky gear.
She moved to bring her fists down on another nearby gear when a large chain came out of the darkness, wrapping around her arm and forcefully dragging her back.
Yang smirked as she advanced in her bright yellow gear. "Happy to pick on the small 'uns, huh? How about I show you how the big girls play, huh?"
She pulled Elm into range and delivered a sharp punch that sent her soaring backwards.
She paused to catch her breath. She was putting on her usual bravado, but this really didn't look good- the five ringleaders of this attack were just the tip of the iceberg- the hole they'd blown into the side of the mesa had permitted an army of smaller, unmanned drones to pour into her lair. On their own, remarkably weak, and nothing even the greenest gear pilot should have trouble with, but their sheer numbers...
Elm turned around and cracked her knuckles as she began steering her gear towards this newest rival. "You think you're funny, don't you."
"I think I'm adorable!" Yang kept up the bravado- fake it til you make it, that was her motto.
On the hangar's other end, Ren was climbing up a set of stairs towards a gear Tukson had declared as pilotless. He ducked in and pressed a button- in an instant, the gear roared into life, illuminating the various levers, buttons and switches. "Very well... I hope I remember how to do this..."
He looked across the hangar towards where Yang was still grappling with Elm- as Marrow in his black wolf approached from behind.
"You dirty rats!" Yang snarled as she noticed the new threat. "Afraid of a one-on-one scrap, are ya?!"
"Yang!" came Ren's cry as he leapt before the wolf and grabbed its gnashing jaws with his gear's outstretched hands.
"That... that voice!" It was Clover, drawn over to where the fight was growing more intense. "You- it can't be-"
"No one of consequence," Ren interrupted. He knelt and used as much leverage as he could get to lift Marrow from the ground and toss him into Clover.
"Nice one, Doc!" Yang beamed as she cracked her chains at Elm. "How's the gear handling?!"
"It's quite the stallion. Don't worry, I'll be fine- it just needs some breaking in!"
"Roger that!" Yang barked back as she jumped over a swing from Elm, forming a crater on the ground when she landed. "Where's Sage?"
"Handling the small fries!"
Indeed, both Sage and Tukson had taken up the defensive on the other end of the chamber, fighting their way through hoards of unmanned drones.
"You keeping up, old man?" Sage asked.
"Heh- keep your eyes open, kid, and you might even learn a thing or two!" Tukson taunted back.
Elm grabbed on to Bumblebee's shoulders and attempted to climb up onto Yang's gear- only for Ren to force her off with a well-placed punch. "ARGH! That hurt, you bastard!"
Though she couldn't see it, these words brought a glower to Ren's face. "One such as you... during an attack like this... has no cause to cry out in pain!"
"Let's smack 'em down, Doc!" Yang agreed eagerly. She managed to wrap her chains around Elm again, giving Ren ample time to duck under a leaping Marrow and drive his fist into Elm's gear once more.
However, it didn't seem to do much good- no sooner had the hit landed than Elm, with a loud roar, managed to break free from the chains and unleash a flurry of punches on Ren, forcing him back.
Ren's mind went into overdrive. Admittedly, I may not be as strong as I once was, but that blow should, at the very least, have stunned her... they're far too unflappable. There's only one explanation!
"Yang!" he called. "They're using drive!"
Yang dodged a swing from Clover before answering. "The hell is drive?!"
"Battle enhancement drugs- normal attacks aren't going to work on them!"
"Well, ain't that a kick in the clit?" Yang grumbled.
Sage and Tukson were having their own troubles. "I think... I can handle things here, old man," Sage panted. "You oughtta go... watch the kids..."
"You're too... out of breath... to convince me, kiddo," Tukson chuckled dispiritedly.
Their attention was caught by a cry from the nearby catwalks. "Sis!"
"Kids?" Tukson eyes widened. It was the twins Jaune had met earlier, hurrying along the catwalks, hand-in-hand, eyes wide and frightened at the battle going on below.
He turned and started towards them, only to be cut off by the tall, white gear piloted by Vine. "I'm afraid I can't permit you to intervene. Nothing personal, just the mission, you understand."
"Shame these pirates had to resort to kidnapping," came a voice from a nearby gear- it was Harriet, leaping towards the kids in question. "What happens here is on them, not on-"
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" came a loud, furious voice, and Harriet found her arm in the hold of a large, black steel hand.
"Weltall?" Tukson's eyes widened.
"Jaune!" Sage grunted.
Weltall's hand had a vice grip on Harriet's wrist- she couldn't pull it away, no matter how much she struggled.
"Those children are innocent!" came Jaune's snarling voice. "Imagine what they must be going through- imagine if these were your children!"
"The hell... are you on... about?" Harriet choked out, just before, with a horrific sound of grinding steel, the arm of her gear was torn clean off- in the next second, Jaune had taken the arm and plunged it through the visor of Vine's gear just as he turned to render assistance.
"Damn!" Tukson grunted, his eyes wide. "For someone who doesn't want to fight, that kid doesn't screw around!"
"He... he's a monster!" Harriet gasped as she pulled away.
"Retreat, Harriet- our gears are compromised!" Vine urged. "I'm sure the others can finish things here!"
"Damn!" Harriet sounded anything but happy about it, but she complied nevertheless- the two retreated through the large hole created by the explosion.
"Where's Yang?" Jaune asked immediately- Sage and Tukson pointed to the opposite end of the hangar. They had children to take care of at the moment, after all.
Jaune was able to cross the hangar in half a minute, where he found Yang and Ren struggling against the remaining three invaders.
Yang brightened immediately when she spied him. "Hoho! Jauney-boy to the rescue!"
"The black gear!" Clover gasped.
"Your luck again!" Marrow called.
"Why are you doing this?!" Jaune challenged as he, Yang and Ren stood, ready to fight. "What do you get out of this fighting?! What if this was your hometown?!"
"Enough babbling, kid, let's fight!" Elm growled.
"No!" Clover interrupted. "Things have changed- Elm, we need to report back to base!
"Clover-" she started to object.
"He's right," Marrow interjected. "We've finally located the black gear- this changes everything!"
Elm growled, but followed as the other two turned and dashed for the hole.
"Oh, no you don't!" Yang shouted, taking off in hot pursuit, Ren and Jaune hot on her heels.
No sooner had they exited into the desert beneath its blanket of stars than one final great machine descended from the top of the mesa- it was cone-shaped, like a drill, with long, tentacle-like appendages that almost made it resemble a spider.
"BASTARDS!" Yang swore as she ducked out of the way of one of the swinging legs.
"Yang- the legs!" Jaune called. "Your whips- the legs!"
Yang's snarl suddenly became a grin. "Gotcha!"
She lashed out with both arms, spreading her chains as wide as she could, and managed to capture three of the four legs- two with her right whip, one with the other. She groaned as she pulled, forcing the great behemoth to the ground.
"Ren!"
"Right!"
The two joined together and tore into the machine, ripping everything apart until they were certain it could move no more.
"The gears- where did they go?" Jaune asked quickly.
Ren looked across the desert. "...Beyond our reach."
"DAMMIT!" Yang swore loudly.
"Let them go."
It was Sage, his gear standing in the hole the invaders had blown into the mesa. "They're too far for us to catch now. Come, the Nidhogg needs her captain."
Yang was far from happy about it, but for the moment, conceded the point, turning and guiding her gear back towards her ship's hangar.
XXXX
"Th... th... th... thanks, Jaune."
Yang, Jaune, Ren, Sage, and Klein had all gathered together in the Nidhogg's hangar- Klein was fussing over Yang, looking for any injuries or signs that she was in any way not well-off, but she was ignoring him in favor of forcing out a 'thank-you' to her guest.
Jaune crossed his arms. "Those people... I couldn't just let them have their way."
"We thank you anyways," Sage agreed, raising an arm to his chest. "Two lives, at the very least, would now be lost if not for you, and who knows how many more?"
He fired a glance nearby. When the battle had ended, Tukson had approached his niece and nephew and walloped them around the heads for putting themselves in such danger, shortly before pulling them into a bone-breaking bear hug. Even now, in the safety of the Nidhogg, he refused to let them out of his sight.
"Apparently, they thought they could provide mid-battle gear maintenance," Sage sighed. "A childish idea... perhaps it's our own fault for forgetting they are, in fact, children."
"I'm just... glad they're okay," Jaune smiled wanly. After so much time beating himself up for the destruction he'd wrought with his power, it was strange to finally have saved someone.
He turned to Yang. "Yang... you were right."
Yang blinked. "Well, I'm not exactly one to complain, but... right about what?"
"I was just running away. There was no path laid out before me, and I was using that as an excuse. But now I see you, forging out your own path, blazing your own trail... that's what I should be doing, right, Ren?"
Ren gave a small smile, but said nothing.
Jaune looked to Yang and Sage. "I want to join your fight to retake Vale- to end this pointless war. If... that is, if you'll still have me."
Yang broke into a grin. "'If I'll still have you?' Buddy, after the crap you pulled in that fight, I should be begging you to join us!" She thumped him on the back. "Welcome to the crew!"
Jaune's smile grew more sincere. "I think, by following you... I'll find my own path, too." The smile disappeared. "And I can't just stand by while people like that run around ruining peoples' lives."
"Damn right, we can't!" Yang thumped him on the back again. "And Ren told me about that Bane bastard that's followin' you around! One good turn deserves another- an enemy of yours is an enemy of mine!"
The smile returned. "Thank you, Yang."
"So, Yang..." Sage asked gently. "What's our next step?"
Yang glanced between him, Ren, and Jaune. "Well, we've got two new gear pilots, and now that we've been compromised, there's really nothing else for it..."
She cleared her throat. "As of tomorrow, it's time we rode on in to Vale and got my cousin back!"
XXXX
A distinctly shorter chapter than previous, set mostly during an action sequence. I'm not sure of my skills in writing such scenes- is it good? Bad? Could use a little work? I'm always trying to provide the best story I can, and the best way to help me in that aim is to drop a review with any thoughts you have! Next time, La Resistance truly begins! Until then, don't you dare go hollow- Gamer4 out.