Anyone play RWBY ARROWFELL? If you have, then you'll be surprised to hear that once I finish my version of Volume 7, I'm considering in bringing some of those characters into the next part of the story, since I have plans for the fate of a certain someone who gives into his fear and allows his semblance to cloud his judgement.
As for the poll I put on my profile, keep in mind that the immediate result of the poll will not pre-determine what I will write next, but more or less gives me an idea of what my readers would like to see me post.
Anyway, time for some action. There's going to be some mech and plane action this chapter in addition to the basic combat we saw in the actual episode, but first let's answer some reviews.
Monster King: Thanks
BlindFaunusGirl: Originally, I was having Jacques pull a gun out on Weiss and have Neo cut off one of his hands, but I figured I'd have Robyn pull a Bulkhead punching one of Starscreams clones instead. It's a scene from Transformers Prime. Trust, me you're going to like the action in this chapter.
The Guest reviewer: Huh, I think I'll consider checking it out, although I prefer games where players can control the main character, pull the trigger of the weapon their character is holding and actually interact with objects in the game.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Yes, on all those fights, but not in this chapter.
Spartan-626: Even with all those plans, the Empire will complicate the evacuation.
SunPhoenix90: If you think Jacques getting arrested in this story is awesome, wait until I do it in my Bad Batch story and yes, things are about to go hot.
The second Guest reviewer: Battle of Hoth theme, huh? Yeah, that theme does fit the location considering Solitas is a frozen wasteland.
42: Glad you're all caught up, what did you like about the chapters I posted?
Silverfox3456: I agree, Wrecker is an awesome character. I love it when I see him toss enemies around like ragdolls. If he were to face off against a swarm of Scraplets, he'd take them down easy with nothing but his Knife and DC-17 ICWS. Weapons worthy of his name and his personality. Honestly, if I joined the army and specialized in demolitions, I'd want Wrecker to be my instructor. Provided he doesn't throw me around that is.
Songs this chapter are as follows, 'Mayhem' from Ace Combat Zero, 'Feel Invincible' by Skillet, 'Gladiator Battle' from Mech Assault 2: Lone Wolf and the Arc Trooper theme from the 2003 series.
Alright, let's que the intro.
(Start Rise, Tv version by Madkid)
(The camera moves fast over the frozen tundra of Solitas before it shots up to the floating city of Atlas and the city of Mantle below it. As fighter jets fly past, the title card is revealed with two lightsaber blades surrounding it.)
Remnant Unleashed
In this empty void, I found the way to light. Can't find my way in this lingering world. Searching fo the answer- the one that I can trust in. I'm just wandering around.
(The title card vanishes as a shot of Ironwood addressing his followers is shown, standing in full military gear. Among them is Galen and his team, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Lop, Faye, Kara and Zett, the students wearing new combat clothing. Behind them in the corner with their helmets off are Rex and his brothers who eye the general with suspicion.)
Yeah, still stuck in the shadow ey, But I never follow that. This pain at last soon will pass. Turn into my own unbeatable strength. This guy or that guy -dead or alive by hiding alone, can't survive. I don't want to lie to myself.
(Behind Ironwood are his Ace Ops and Winter who then dissipate into mist before being replaced by Jacque who has a devious grin on his face, while Whitley and Serra stand behind him looking at each other with worry. The scene then changes to Mantle where Boba, Robyn, Ahsoka, the Fox, Maria, Grogu, Pietro, Penny, Artoria and the Happy Huntresses look up towards Atlas, Robyn crossing her arms before looking at a picture of her, Ray, Neo, and Amber.)
Keep on the fight, get right I'll never lose and cry. Keep run up day and night. Time to rewrite. No matter what anyone say's I find my way. Never go away.
(The Grimm charge towards from the tundra as Galen, Ruby, Jaune and their teams ready for their weapons for battle only for Ruby, Jaune and their teammates to vanish into mist while soldiers appear behind Galen and his team aiming their weapons at them. Galen's eyes are shown and then narrow as he ignites his lightsabers.)
Now, nobody can stop me no way. I will make sure not to forget those precious things. Yeah, I'll take a stand, get back all that I've lost. Rise suddenly in this word. (I don't look back yeah.)
(Galen and his team then charge in, now fighting a top a speeding train in the tundra against the Ace Ops while droids attack both groups. Galen slashes a droid and counters an attack from Harriet, Rose dodges Elm's massive hammer, Arthur clashes blades with his cousin, March trades fists with Marrow who looks unsure of his choices as Vine's giant hands try to swat away two human shaped machines flying alongside the train, with Clover trading blows Rex at the front of the train.)
This repetition will repeat 'till the end. And the regret that's still lingering in my head. Time to get it all back, now turn over. Rise suddenly in this world.
(The scene changes once again as Teams RWBY, JNR, Domino Squad, the Bad Batch, Fordo, Alpha, Cody, Waxer, Boil, Kara, Faye, and Able fight against the Grimm which then change into Imperial troopers as the shadows of Vader, Palpatine, Barriss, Jacque, Watts, Maul, Salem, Emerald, Mercury, and a mysterious robotic figure loom over them. Ruby's face turns to fear before her eyes shine and a silver light engulfs the screen before the title card returns.)
(Song ends)
Disclaimers are the same as always.
Chapter 114: Out in the Open
Chaos and fear gripped the city of Mantle as hordes of Beowolves, Sabyrs, Spitters and Warriors rampaged through the city as Teryxes, Giant Nevermores, Hoppers and Yellowjackets flew over the citizens of Mantle.
A pair of Atlas soldiers fired at a back of Beowolves, but one of the Beowolves managed to tackle the soldier to the ground, biting into his neck before it was killed by a fiery bullet from the second one. The second soldier was then scooped up by a Yellowjacket that swooped down. The soldier's screams soon disappeared as Rex, Fives, Echo, Hevy, Hardcase, Jesse, and Kix ran onto the scene with Ahsoka leading them. "Open fire!" Ahsoka shouted to the troopers who skidded to a halt, raised their weapons and open fired at the Grimm while she kept on running towards the Grimm, slashing at them with her lightsabers.
"Hold the line! Don't let them through!" Rex shouted, snapping his rifle to his shoulder, and squeezed off a burst of fire that ripped through a Sabyr's body. "Hevy! Hardcase! Short-controlled bursts! Make every shot count!"
"Yes sir!" The two troopers responded as five Mantas flew overhead, only for one of them to be taken down by a Teryx. Three Sabyr's rounded a corner and charged towards them, only to be downed by a missile from one of the remaining Manta's. As the dust settled from the missile explosion, a group of civilians down the same street the Sabyr's came from, passing the hole in the outer wall of the city as a herd of Megoliaths began to pour through the hole.
The civilians were almost dumbo toe jam before the herd was peppered with blaster fire from an airborne Boba Fett who distracted them long enough for Ahsoka to throw her blades at the legs of one of the Megoliaths, causing it to fall trunk first before she leapt into the air and landed on the back of the second trunked monster, thrusting her green blade into the head of the second while throwing her blue blade to Boba, who caught the lightsaber and carved the head off the third. As the Grimm dissipated, Rex and his brothers rushed towards the hole in the wall and looked out into the tundra to see a sight they had seen in the last war, marching towards the city was a parade of battle droids and Death Bots. "Commander Tano to all personal! We have droids and death bots approaching from the east! We need reinforcements!" Ahsoka shouted into her commlink, taking her lightsaber back from Boba just as the droids came into range and open fired on them.
Elsewhere in Mantle, more Grimm ran through the city some of which were slain by Fiona, May, Joanna and Ocho. A nearby Sabyr stood atop a car and watched the Happy Huntresses and Atlas operative before it jumped down and ran down the street, going around a toppled car and found a Faunus woman and child hiding. Just before the Grimm could pounce, a voice called out. "Here, kitty kitty!" Nora said as she jumped down and slammed her hammer onto the creature, killing it as Weiss directed the woman and child on where they should run while Marrow stood nearby having picked up a fallen machinegun from one of the Atlas soldiers that died earlier. Having placed the combat harness over his uniform, with the stabilized articulation arm attached to the gun now in his hands, Marrow noticed another large group of Sabyr's approaching from the street. Nora sighed as she, Weiss, Marrow and Ocho readied themselves for another fight just as Lop arrived.
At the same moment, in the railyard Droid Gunships had dropped off dozens of Super Battle Droids and Widows which crashed through the gate and began to march towards one of the evacuation points. Just as the first Widow passed through the broken gate, a rocket slammed into one of the Droid Gunships, sending it crashing down into the Widow.
(Start Arc Trooper Theme)
The source of the rocket was Fordo himself, a smoking rocket launcher in his hands. The Droids and Grimm turned towards the Arc Captain and charged towards him. Blaster fire from the attackers forced the Captain to drop his rocket launcher and run back towards the evacuation point.
Blaster fire zipped past Fordo's helmet as he continued to run down the street. He stopped briefly, turned around and fired his pistols, taking out several droids as the remaining Widows fired their missiles at the Captain. Fordo rolled out of the way of the missiles before he started to run again as several Sicario Rattlers dived towards the street, firing their 30mm cannons at the Manti inspired Grimm/droid hybrids, ripping several of them to shreds as he continued to run down the street.
As he ran, he holstered his pistols and drew his rifle, turning back around for a few seconds to squeeze off several rounds before he skidded and turned onto another street with the Grimm and droids still following him. 'That's it, keep on following me. Focus on the one shooting at you instead of the civilians.' Fordo thought as he kept on running before he finally came to a stop and turned around to face the horde.
Ordinarily, a single person couldn't hold off a large horde of Grimm or a platoon of droids on their own, let alone four platoons. But Fordo wasn't a single person, he was an Arc Trooper and leader of an elite unit of Arc Troopers, troopers who he called several days ago and were waiting for the enemy with their weapons armed and ready. "Clones!" one of the Super Battle Droids shouted before Fordo issued the order for his men to open fire.
A literal barrage of blaster fire flew towards the enemy, destroying the droids as a certain gunship flew overhead in a strafing run with its cannons roaring and focusing solely on the Widows as the Rattlers came in for another pass. "Keep up the pressure! Don't let them through!" Fordo shouted to his men, firing his rifle at the enemy.
Some of the Arc Heavy Gunners opened up with their rotary cannons, laying down suppressing fire on the droids while the gunners armed with quad-blasters focused on the Widows, killing them before they could get into range, leaving nothing but broken droids and the mist of killed Grimm.
(End Song)
In another sector of the city, Blake was running from a Megoliath and Three Ursai, two of which were running on either side of the Megoliath while the third ran behind the creature's hind leg. The Ursa behind the Megoliath shoved one of the Ursa out of the way, then attempted to tackle Blake, but the former White Fang member drew her katana and used fire Dust to create a fire-based clone, which killed the Ursa upon impact after it ignited.
The second Ursa tried to do the same thing, but this time Blake created a lighting clone and moved towards the other side of the street just as the third Ursa leapt to tackle her, but Blake created an ice clone before she jumped into the air, then turned around and fired her gun at the Ursa's head. The Ursa smashed into the ice clone, tumbled to the ground before it was crushed by the Megoliath's foot.
Blake continued to run as she turned a corner with the Megoliath behind her and making a wide turn which caused it to slam into the building, breaking the windows on the ground floor while shaking some of the tiles loose. The massive Grimm raised its trunk and let out an angry trumpet as it continued to chase Blake. Just as the massive creature was about to swing its trunk, Blake used her semblance to create a shadow clone that took the hit, leaving the massive Grimm on a direct path towards Elm who used her semblance to root herself in place. Once it reached the muscular Ace Op, she grabbed its face, stopping it in it's tracks while also creating a shockwave that shattered all the surrounding windows, using the Grimm's momentum to lift it into the air, holding it in place.
Down the adjacent street, Yang ran towards the Megoliath, firing her weapon behind her to propel herself forward. As the blonde-haired girl slid on her knees underneath the Megoliath, she planted a series of bombs on it. "Now!" she shouted. Elm then hurled the massive creature into the air, allowing Yang to detonate the bombs she attached and kill the creature. Just as they were about to catch their breath, Blake turned around to face several civilians that were hiding behind a toppled car and instructed them to head to the nearest evacuation point, that being a train station where civilians were being sent towards one of the tunnels the Fox told them about. "Those trains are gonna fill up soon unless they can get the clearance to roll out." Yang mentioned.
"They'll be cleared to move out soon. We just have to hold off the Grimm." Elm reminded the two, just as more Sabyrs arrived and ran down the street. As the Sabyrs ran towards them, blaster fire from one of the buildings rained down on the Grimm as Commander Cody, Waxer, Boil, and Able, along with Faye, and Kara joined up with them just as multiple Death Bots began to march towards them. "This is going to take a while." Elm sighed.
"Then it's time to get to work." Cody said, raising his rifle and opened up on the incoming hostiles. His three brothers followed suit as Kara used her maiden powers, conjured up a fireball and launched it towards the enemy. "Lucky for us, we got a Maiden and her master with us." The Clone Marshal said with a smirk under his helmet.
As the fighting continued on the ground, on a rooftop somewhere in the city, Qrow used his scythe to shoot at several Teryxes while Clover talked on his communicator with Ironwood who issued him new orders, resulting the two huntsmen to jump down from the roof.
The situation in the air was just as perilous as the situation on the ground. Due to the Grimm, Death Bots and Droids being within the walls of Mantle, close-air support was limited to only gun runs by Atlesian S34's and Sicario A10's while the invaders held nothing back. Widows launched missiles towards the incoming attack aircraft while Yellowjackets and Death Bot fighters engaged the aircraft, sending many fighters crashing into the city below.
More of Salem's forces arrived, this time in the form Vulture, Rogue-Class, Geonosian, Scarab and Tri-Fighters along with Hyena, Belbullab-24 and Trade Federation bombers, bombers which began to drop their payloads on the wall of Mantle while others proceeded with fighter escort to target the evacuation points. Dante saw this and switched radio frequencies to that of the 501st and 502nd squadrons. "Mobius One to Barkhorn, Wilcke and Rall. I've got eyes on multiple squadrons of fighters and bombers heading to evacuation points Alpha through Foxtrot. They need air support." He shouted into the radio.
"Barkhorn here! We'll take care of those bastards! The fleet's taking a beating from those enemy ships. We'll protect the evac points while you take out the enemy ships! The Galm Team and Hitman Team need some major backup!" Barkhorn shouted back over the radio.
"Understood. Mobius One turning to engage." Dante replied as he turned in the direction of the enemy ships. The ships were Munificent-class frigates, Providence-class carriers, Recusant-class light destroyers, Droid-Control ships, and DH-Omni Support-Vessels, the last of which were supplying the bombers with their payloads. "Seems like a large-scale operation just to take out the kingdom. Does Salem really need to throw all this firepower at us?" Dante said to himself.
Just then, R8 beeped in alarm, causing Dante to crane his neck, and looked to the right where he saw the last of the Schnee Team take out one of the frigates before they were shot down by Geonosian fighters. "We just lost the Schnee Team!" he exclaimed before he contacted Atlas command. "Mobius One to command. The Schnee teams down! They're all dead! We need fire support from Stonehenge now!"
"Mobius One, this is Major Deanna McOnie! We need targeting data on the enemy ships or else we'll risk hitting one of our own ships! I'm sending you the targeting link now, send us the target and we'll hit them with everything we got. Be advised, it will take time for us to target the next ship, so make sure we actually hit the damn thing." The Atlas army major said over the radio.
"I'll have a target for you in a minute, ma'am." Dante replied, spotting a formation of bombers and their fighter escorts heading towards the city. "Galm Team, Hitman Team, Shamrock, Mickey, form an element with me and target the enemy fighters and bombers. We can't do any damage on those capital ships, focus on the small fry, and keep me covered when I'm about to target one of those ships for the ground forces."
"Galm One copies! Let's scrap some fighters." Cipher acknowledged as the seven planes formed up with Dante, then dived back into the fight.
(Mayhem starts)
Cannon fire zipped past Cipher's cockpit, followed by the Death Bot fighters that fired, but their target was actually one of the Atlas airships that was engulfed in flames as Manta's escaped the doomed vessel. As the airship crashed into the snowy ground, the Manta's then came under fire from the fighters, knocking several transports out of the air.
Pitching his aircraft over in a steep vertical dive, Cipher left the targeting solution of his XMAA's to R3, as he came closer and closer to the enemy fighters. Another Manta was downed, exploding in mid-air before Cipher had his targeting solution and fired his missiles. Four Death Bot fighters were turned into flaming balls of metal while the other fighters broke off their pursuit of the Manta's and dived towards another airship. Cipher gave chase, but the anti-aircraft fire from the airship bracketed his plane as well, reducing the strength of his shields, but Cipher continued to give chase after the fighters, weaving between the AA guns, firing his cannon when one of the fighters came into his gunsights. Two of the Death Bot fighters were shot down but crashed into the airship while the last two were downed by AA fire, allowing Cipher to pull up from his run and climbed back to a higher altitude. "Larry, Patrick, I've got eyes on a flight of friendly bombers heading towards one of those cruisers. Those boys aren't going to do any real damage, better give them some support."
"Copy that, Aaron." Larry replied and pushed his afterburners to full power, with PJ following close after him. They soon spotted the flight of Manta's loaded with bombs making an attack run on the nearest cruiser, but fire from both the ships turbo lasers and enemy fighters took down half of the flight before they could even drop their payloads. Those that did drop their bombs, did no damage to the cruiser or it's shields and soon joined their comrades in death. "Damn it! Friendly bombers are down. Pixy to command, advise you don't send any bombers to target the ships Your weapons can't penetrate those shields!" he called out, firing a missile at a Geonosian fighter that was trailing smoke, which then rolled over in a death spiral and slammed into one of the cruisers turbo lasers.
Breaking hard left and pulling away from the cruiser, Larry formed up with Patrick and sped after a flight of Tri-Fighters going after a pair of S33's. Discord missiles from the Tri-Fighters tracked the S33's which execute a series of random and evasive maneuvers to shake the missiles off their tail. One of the S33's was able to avoid the missiles, but the second plane was soon covered with Buzz Droids and just seconds later, the systems of the plane completely shutdown before the droids sliced their way into the cockpit and killed the pilot, who's screams could be heard over the radio before they finally stopped, when the plane exploded in mid-air. "I really hate those damn things!" Larry snarled.
"All pilots hate them." Patrick reminded his wingman, firing a volley of missiles at the Tri-Fighters, taking out four fighters before the rest of the flight broke off into opposite directions. "I've got the fighters on the left! Larry, take the ones on the right!" Patrick called out, turning to engage the fighters that headed towards the left. His afterburners roared as he closed the gap, lined up his plane behind the closest fighter and pulled the trigger. His cannon roared to life, spitting out hundreds of rounds into the droid fighter which then spun and crashed into another droid, earning him two kills. The other Tri-Fighters circled around and got on Patrick's tail, firing their cannons at him, and forcing him to evade the fire.
Enemy fire soon came from directly his front, the source of it was pair of Death Bot fighters, but Patrick continued towards the fighters as his shields began to drop. At the last second, Patrick dived towards the ground while the fighters slammed into each other. "They fall for the oldest tricks in the book." He mused to himself.
Mickey and Shamrock on the other hand, stayed glued to Dante's wing as the Ribbon fighter flew towards one of the enemy supply ships before he broke off from his approach. A few seconds later, a large blast slammed into one of the droid ships, literally snapping it in two. "What the hell was that?!" Marcus exclaimed in surprise.
"That was Stonehenge. They finally got the railguns online, and not a moment to soon." Dante clarified over the radio. "Coordinated fire from all eight guns, nothing can withstand firepower like that."
"At least it's on our side and not firing on us." Mickey said in relief as several Yellowjackets zipped past his cockpit and into the city. "We got more Grimm, let's not give them any more victims." Mickey soon rocketed after the Grimm, followed by Dante.
Marcus was about to follow after them, but his attempt was cut short. Coming in from high-altitude was a flight of Hyena Bombers on a straight path towards the command ship of the Atlas Air Fleet. "What are those machines planning?" Marcus wondered aloud. He soon got his answer as the laser batteries from the command ship opened up on the bombers, too late to stop them from slamming into the airships frame. Some of the bombers were shot down, but one of the bombers slammed itself into the bridge of the ship, sending a chain reaction through out the entire ship before it then exploded. Other vessels of the fleet suffered similar fates. "Damn it! Actual Suicide Bombers? I thought that was something the White Fang had done long ago?" he cursed.
Another flight of bombers was heading towards another air ship, this one already firing its batteries at the bombers, but most of the batteries were already destroyed by weapons fire. "Not today!" Marcus snarled and dived after the flight of bombers. His headset tone echoed through his ears as he positioned himself behind the bombers and armed his missiles. "Fox 3!" he shouted. All eight of his XMAA's streaked towards the bombers, slamming into the droid craft, and sending eight bombers down in flames.
The rest of the flight of bombers was quick to brake off from their suicide run and made their way towards the city, intending on dropping the bombs on the evacuation transports. Thankfully, they were intercepted by the Hitman Team along with the Longswords and Sabyr E's of Gunsel and Assassin Teams, two other mercenary squadrons that were a part of Sicario. "Galaxy Eyes to all Assassin, Gunsel and Hitman pilots. Head back to base if you're low on ammo, you can't fight without bullets and missiles. Monarch's already back in the air with that F22, he'll pick up the slack if any of you need to resupply." The Sicario AWACS said over the radio.
"Assassin One to Galaxy Eyes, returning for resupply." Arnold replied, having taken command of his squadron.
"Gunsel One to Galaxy Eyes, my squadrons only got a handful of bullets left for our guns. We're heading back."
"Hitman 2 here. Hitman's 3 and 4 are returning to base. Monarch, keep us covered." Prez called out to her squadron leader as they turned back to base.
Monarch rocked his wings in acknowledgement as he headed back into the furball in his new aircraft. Just days after the runaway, his F14 was destroyed when someone infiltrated the mercenary base and placed a bomb in the plane's engine. That someone, was none other than Tyrian Callows who had planned to plant bombs on all four of Hitman teams planes, only to be stopped by Mara who sensed his presence the moment he infiltrated the base. Unfortunately, Tyrian escaped, and the bomb managed to not only destroy Monarch's plane, but also killed about a dozen members of the flight crew who were checking on his plane before the blast.
'A plane's a plane no matter what type it is.' Monarch thought to himself as another barrage of railgun slugs slammed into more enemy warships. Pitching his craft over, he dived towards a flight of Trade Federation bombers that were heading for the wall. His missile tone crackled as he opened up his weapons bay and launched a volley of XMAA's at the bombers, who's shields had been knocked out by surface-to-air fire from the ground forces.
Several bombers were taken down, but the remainder of the flight continued flying towards the wall as Monarch's missiles reloaded. Banking a hundred and eighty degrees to his right, Monarch fired a pair of missiles at two of the bombers, then opened up with his fighter's gun, shredding a third bomber with bullets as he flew through the formation. This time, the bombers broke off from their attack run, but multiple Rogue-Class fighters soon targeted Monarch and began to chase after him.
Monarch liked these odds and pushed his Longswords engines to full power as he flew towards the enemy fleet, executing a series of scissors moves to keep the enemy fighters from getting a clear shot at him. As he drew nearer towards one of the Control ships, the massive guns on the vessel started to bracket his plane as he continued his maneuvers, resulting in several fighters being knocked out of the sky by friendly fire. The ships following him numbered about two dozen, but that number was virtually cut down to a mere six thanks to Monarch's maneuver.
The fighters on his tail soon managed to get into firing position and opened up with their cannons, but Monarch slammed on his brakes and executed a perfect post stall maneuver and positioned himself behind the enemy fighters, firing his cannon and missiles at the fighters which then crashed in the control ship.
"Watch yourself, Monarch, radar's picking up six Flying Fortresses vectoring in at bearing 350 and closing in fast. Looks like these droids have more than one. Keep on your toes when taking on one of them." The mercenary AWACS called out.
Monarch saw the approaching Flying Fortresses appearing over the mountains and moved into attack them. Another volley of rounds from Stonehenge slammed into more of the enemy ships, but losses were still mounting on the defender's side as more Atlas airships began to fall out of the sky. Flak continued to bracket his plane as he drew nearer and nearer to the Flying Fortresses before he pulled back on the stick and took his plane in a steep climb, well out of the range of the flak fire.
Climbing rapidly to forty-five thousand feet, Monarch pulled a sharp one-hundred, and eighty degrees turn to the right, positioning himself directly above one of the Flying Fortresses, then kicked in his afterburners and dived towards the airship. His weapons bay was opened as his headset crackled as he waited for tone as flak fire once again bracketed his plane, but Monarch continued his dive until finally he had tone and fired. The missiles in his weapons bay dropped and streaked towards their target, slamming into the airship as he pulled up, almost slamming into the airship as another blast of rounds from Stonehenge slammed into the airship. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long, Boss. Let's scrap these things." Comic called out over the radio as Hitman Team formed up once more, resuming the ongoing dogfight.
(End song)
Back in Mantle, in an area near Mantle's outer wall, Marrow slayed a Sabyr with his weapon, but a Beowolf leapt over him, promptly getting impaled by Weiss's Arma Gigas summon and almost got Marrow's tail. Beside the wall, Nora stood protectively in front of a group of civilians with Lop and Ocho. The lights on the street continued to turn red as Grimm alarms continued to sound off. Afraid of the Grimm, the civilians backed up against the wall. "Take us to Atlas. We won't survive down here." One demanded.
"Why isn't Ironwood doing anything?" Another asked, before they and the rest of the civilians turned their aggravation towards Nora, Lop and Ocho.
"Please, everyone. We're doing our best. We will get you to safety." Nora told the civilians.
"Just give us a little more time! We'll get you to the stations and out of the city." Lop added, throwing her lightsaber that cleaved an unseen Beowolf in half.
"What do you mean out of the city? Why aren't you taking us to Atlas?" a third civilian shouted. Just then, there was a loud ping noise, followed by a cyan screen which caused to civilians to stop and look up at the wall where a giant hologram depicting Robyn herself.
"Atlas, Mantle. I know you're scared. I'm here with General Ironwood and we have a message for you." Robyn began as the camera zoomed out to reveal that she was holding Ironwood's hand, both of which were glowing green. "What he has to say may sound unbelievable… but it's all true."
Confused and still scared, the citizens of Mantle listened to while in another part of Mantle, Ruby and Harriet worked together to kill a Beowolf before the two of them stopped and looked towards a nearby holographic screen. "An ancient and terrible evil lies outside of our Kingdom. It was responsible for the destruction of Beacon, the attack on Haven, and for the recent attacks on Mantle. This powerful force goes by the name of Salem." Ironwood began, getting Ruby to grin.
Elsewhere, Ren fired the blades of his weapon to swing himself from a traffic light and dropped down on a Sabyr that was chasing civilians and stabbed it with his blades. Jaune used his shield to slam another saber against an overturned truck that Ren leapt over, then slashed the creature with his lightsaber. "Salem seeks only to divide us. To turn us against each other. If she can incite hatred in us, then we will lure in the Grimm and destroy ourselves." Ironwood continued as another group of Sabyrs charged in the direction the civilians were fleeing in.
Thankfully for them, Vine jumped onto another armored car and used his Aura arms to split the group of Sabyrs and pinned them against the wall. "Salem herself does not work alone. Her minions have invaded our very city and have been using her own army of machines to complete her objectives." Robyn spoke.
"Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows. These two men are the ones responsible for the recent murders in Mantle and for sabotaging the very the safety of our kingdom, including the release of the so called 'Death Bots'. But we cannot let ourselves give into fear and panic. That is what she wants! Instead, we must unite, and fight back, together. Every single one of us!" Ironwood continued as Jaune issued some commands to the civilians who placed a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them, allowing Ren to use his semblance, which Jaune amplified with his own semblance to conceal the civilians' emotions. "This, my friends, is why I was forced to 'commandeer' and divert resources from Mantle – for the Amity Communication Tower. Amity Tower is now complete and ready to launch. It will re-establish all global communications. Because the safety of every citizen is imperative, the council and I have decided to evacuate everyone in Mantle to Atlas. I am withdrawing all defenses from Amity in order to assist with repelling the Grimm, droids, and Death Bots in Mantle."
"We must put aside our differences and band together to defeat this threat. I fully support General Ironwood's plan." Robyn added, getting the people of Mantle to cheer.
From their safehouse in another part of Remnant, Watt's was taken aback by what he just heard. "The Colosseum remodeling was a communications tower? How did James get this past me?" Watts asked himself.
Tyrian on the other hand, slammed his metallic fists into a concrete wall and screamed in anger. "The Grimm should have destroyed our enemies, not made them friends!" he growled in fury.
"Wait. Our tin soldier's heart has cost him his mind. We need to keep their attention on Mantle for as long as possible." Watts said.
"You want more chaos than an invasion of Grimm and machines?" Tyrian asked as if he had a crooked grin on his face.
"If anyone on Remnant could deliver that, wouldn't it be you?" Watts asked just as Robyn began to hover his hands over Robyn's face.
"If you've made it to your local shelter, stay put. Help is on the way. And for those of you in Sector 17, I'll be seeing you personally." Robyn declared, getting Tyrian to come up with an idea of his own.
Outside in the tundra, droid tanks, Widows, Tankers, death bot tanks and blast bots marched towards the openings in the wall towards Mantle as more Landers arrived to drop off more enemy forces. One of the tanks drove over the destroyed bodies of several Super Battle droids before a pair of missiles slammed into them.
Standing on small hill, were the Blood Asp and Star Adder, primed and ready for combat. "So, how do you want to play this out, Ray?" Neo asked from the Star Adder's cockpit.
"Let's take a page from Hunter's book and go straight to them." Ray smirked from the Blood Asp's cockpit and his fingers poised over the trigger. "Let's crush them!"
(Gladiator Battle starts)
Pushing their controls forwards, the two Mandalorian's moved to engage the enemy, firing another pair of heavy missiles towards their enemies as snow crunched beneath their massive feet just enemy fire flew towards them. "This is what I like about you, Ray. You're the type of guy who doesn't hold himself back and know exactly how to kick ass and take names in battle. I think Cinder could have learned a few things from you, fighting on the frontlines of a conflict greater than just her desire for power." Neo said from the cockpit of the Star Adder, firing her four autocannons and taking down an MTT.
"Cinder's desire for power was her undoing. Her hunger to become the strongest and most feared person in all of Remnant is what led her to be driven by such desires, leading her to becoming Maul's apprentice and Salem's pawn." Ray answered, launching a pair of missiles towards an AAT while crushing a GAT with the Blood Asps legs. "Whatever happened to her in the past, it led her to become the person she was before I killed her. If things were different, I would have gladly excepted her as a friend and fellow warrior."
"Trust me, when I say that the less you know about Cinder, the better. She had a rough life and the last thing you want to feel is guilt for killing someone who took someone from the both of us." Neo reminded, cutting loose with a barrage of pulse laser fire that mowed down several squads of droids, followed by a pair of missiles that slammed into the body of a Widow. "She never talked about her past, but I think we was abused and treated by people far crueler than some of the people I remember Roman meeting and believe me, they were some of the worst killers and thieves on the entire planet, probably in the entire galaxy."
"Then what do you say we stop talking about the past and keep on scrapping these metal heads. I've got plenty of bullets for everyone!" Ray said with a bit of excitement in his voice as machinegun bullets ripped through the Grimm and droids with deadly effects.
"Sounds good to me." Neo smirked under her helmet as the two mechs turned towards the wall of Mantle, pushing their mechs in reverse and firing back at the enemy, continuing to inflict casualties upon the enemy with their weapons and the feet of their war machines. "We'll hold position at the opening. We won't let anymore hostiles through that part of the wall. Amber, prepare the Alpha Strike and lock onto those incoming Protodekas. They take the highest priority."
"Understood. Beginning to charge the Alpha Strike for the Star Adder and Blood Asp now." Amber confirmed.
"No, charge the Alpha Strike for the Star Adder first. It wouldn't do us any good if we both have to let our weapon systems cool down after firing those plasma weapons. Charge my weapon system later." Ray countered as he unleashed a blast of Plasma PPC shots towards another enemy tank, vaporizing it and the infantry beside it. "Heads up! Incoming aircraft approaching! Looks like some bombers heading our way."
Heading in fast and low directly towards them were dozens of Hyena bombers as Ray pointed out, all of them loaded with enough bombs to flatten an entire city block. Moving his controls, Ray opened up with the Blood Asps machine guns, downing a few bombers, but he couldn't down them all as they flew over them and headed into the city. "Trigger to Howzer, you got enemy bombers heading your way! Take cover now!" Ray shouted. Howzers reply was inaudible as the sounds of explosions erupted through the commlink. "Howzer, come in! Report! Respond that's an order soldier!"
"You don't need to shout. I'm alive, but some of my men aren't so lucky. Your dog's fine and so's the kid, but we can't hold out for much longer against those bombers and we've got tanks bearing down on us! We need some support." Howzer answered.
"Hold tight, we'll think of something." Ray shouted before he turned to Neo. "Sis, Howzer and his boys need some back up. Think you can hold them off on your own?"
"Don't worry about me. I can handle myself. Go help Howzer and the boys. They need some support, so give it to them with a bit of a Mech Assault." Neo told her brother.
"I'll be back as soon as I can." Ray promised as he turned his mech back to the city and proceeded towards Howzer's location. As he moved through the city, he restricted himself to his machine guns, not wanting to damage any of the buildings while he gunned down droids and Grimm.
"Kalani to Trigger, more hostiles are entering the city through another opening in Mantle's wall. They are rapidly approaching Captain Howzer's position. I've allocated several Maulers and Missile Crawlers to their position, but they don't have the firepower to contend with the firepower they are about to face." The Super Tactical Droid reported over the commlink.
"I'm making my way towards the captain's location now. This thing isn't the fastest mech, but at least it's not as slow as a heard of Bantha." Ray pointed out as his mechs massive feet crushed a Sabyr into mist as he her continued to spray machine gun rounds at the enemy units. A GAT was then crushed by the mech as he turned the corner and spotted Howzer and his men, facing off against an AAT and several Tankers. Several Maulers and Missile Crawlers were already destroyed, leaving only about half a dozen of both vehicles still standing. "Charging Plasma PPC's now." He said to himself.
Holding down the triggers, his plasma weapons began to charge up, which the enemy noticed. One of the Tankers turned around and began to stomp its way towards the Blood Asp, resulting in Ray firing his plasma weapons at a twenty-five percent, sending the blast towards the Arachnid Grimm but the blast didn't do much damage against the armored Grimm. "Damn it! Switch to pulse lasers."
Flicking the switch on his controls, his mechs machine guns retracted and, in their place, four pulse lasers took their place which then opened up on the enemy, scoring hits on the head of the Tankers head before it finally fell over and died, crushing several of it's allies as the Maulers continued fire at the remaining Tankers. The Grimm dissipated into mist as they died when their heads exploded, resulting in the AAT to turn around and focus its attention on the Blood Asp.
This left it vulnerable to a well-placed rocket to its back rear panel, destroying it in a single shot. The shooter was Howzer who had picked up the rocket launcher from one of his dead brothers and avenged them. "That's for my men." Howzer snarled as he threw down the spent launcher, just as the Blood Asp marched towards his location, turned around and faced another wave of enemy units. An explosion from outside the walls echoed all around them, indicating that the Protedeka that Neo had designated as a target was destroyed.
"I took out one of those Protodeka's, but the others are still coming. I can't hold them off alone, I'm falling back inside the walls, I'll have to engage them from inside Mantle. Kalani, am I clear of any civilians in the area?" Neo asked over the commlink.
"All civilians in your sector have been transported to the designated evac point. I strongly advise you use your other weapons and refrain from using the Alpha Strike unless absolutely necessary." The Super Tactical Droid advised.
"Works for me. I'm heading towards your position now, Ray." Neo confirmed.
"Find with me, I'm going to make these monsters pay for what they've done to our family." Ray replied, opening up with his machine guns once more. The fight was far from over.
(End song)
As the fighting continued, a large fleet of Manta's began to arrive in Manta to begin the evacuation. One of the Manta's landed near the crowd of civilians that Nora, Weiss, Marrow, Ocho, May, Joanna, Fiona, and Lop were protecting. The side door slid open, and the ramp of the vehicle deployed, with two soldiers ordering the civilians to board the airship while Nora guarded the ramp. More hostiles started to arrive as Marrow finished loading up the machinegun, took aim and fired at the Grimm as above them a bright green streak soared across the sky, following the loud bang of something above them.
Blaster fire was laid down by the troopers of the 212th and Able as another Manta landed in an intersection near Blake, Yang, Elm, Faye, and Kara. Blake ran into the Manta while Yang beckoned the civilians towards the ramp. Suddenly, a rumbling sound was heard just as the Grimm sirens began to blare as three Megoliaths turned the corner and headed towards the Manta, causing Blake and Yang to worry. "I've got this!" Elm exclaimed as she stood between the Megoliaths and the Manta, holding her hammer.
Rooting herself in place with her Semblance, she transformed her hammer into a rocket launcher, and with a smirk, took aim before sending a pair of rockets towards the Megoliaths, killing them as the citizens aboard the Manta cheered, getting Elm to turn at them and look in surprise before she grinned, doing an 'Ok' sign with her hand as the same bang from before and green streak soared across the sky.
In another section of the city, Ruby, and Harriet stoon with some civilians as Thire, Jek, Rhys, Stone and Thorn huddled around them with their weapons at the ready while Ruby used her communicator. "Alright, we need to get everyone to closet evac point." The young leader said.
"The closest evac point is—" Harriet began, pointing down the street just as the ground began to shake again. A manhole cover clattered with each thump as a car goes tumbling across the intersection. "There." Harriet finished as an Alpha Megoliath rounded the corner and turned to face them. It uttered a loud roar before it began charging down the street towards them, charging through the blaster fire being sent towards it from the clones.
The blaster fire didn't do much damage, but a large green laser from behind the creature was able to strike its tusk, causing the Grimm to tilt its head to the side, stopping it's charge as Penny flew down, standing next to Harriet and Ruby.
While Penny and Harriet rushed to fight the Alpha Megoliath, Ruby closed her eyes and began to concentrate, partially blocking out the sounds around her, but the Grimms roar broke her concentration, causing her to open her eyes wide and looked at the fight. Penny was using her swords in their gun mode while Harriet sped around the Grimm. A quick glance down at the Relic of Knowledge, still on her belt was all that Ruby did before she used her semblance to position herself on a nearby rooftop before fruitlessly using Crescent Rose 3.0 in its sniper mode to fire at the Grimm.
Flying near the Alpha, Penny arranged her swords in a circle and spun them around like a buzzsaw, slashing at the side of the Megoliaths head, then stabbed her swords into the side of its mask causing the Alpha to trumpet in pain as it attempted to turn its head away. Noticing the resistance from Penny pulling on the threats, the Alpha looked at Penny who gasped before it jerked itself from side, yanking Penny towards it, slamming her into its tusk and then sent her flying over the buildings while screaming. Ruby was quick to fly after Penny, only to find her friend unconscious from the crash in the road that damaged it.
"Penny, are you okay?" Ruby asked. Just then the light in the middle of Penny's bow turned on, opening her eyes, and then looked at Ruby with a smile.
"Ouch." Penny said before hopping back to her feet and putting her fists to her hips while Ruby stood back up. "Those tusks sure are dangerous." Penny noted.
"They sure are." Ruby agreed, holstering her hybrid blaster and drew her lightsaber. "I think I have a plan."
"What is it?" Penny asked with a curious nod of her head.
Meanwhile, Harriet continued to speed around the Alpha, leaping and reaching for the creature's trunk, but was kicked in the back, knocking her to the ground. The Grimm then tried to step on her, but she held its foot above her. The red wires in her weapon soon began to glow brightly as the weapon itself began to spark with electricity, emitting a noise before she finally pushed the Alpha's foot away from her, but sent herself flying backwards and tumbling across the round. Her Aura flickered as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Suddenly, a laser was fired at the Alpha's tusk before it could crush Harriet. "Over here, you big bag of bones!" Penny taunted.
The streetlamps along the road that Penny was standing on turned red as the Grimm sirens blared before the Alpha started to charge to Penny, who then began to shoot at it with Crescent Rose 3.0 in her hands. Blaster fire flew towards the Grimm, but it kept on charging towards Penny who kept her finger on the trigger. The Grimm's movements soon became slower while Penny slid backwards a little bit, continuing to fire at a single point, the mask on the creature.
"Now!" Ruby shouted from nearby. Penny ceased her fire, allowing the Grimm to charge at full speed again, only for Ruby to use her semblance and flew through the air with her lightsaber ignited, slicing off the tusks of the massive creature before flying back around and landed on the creatures back, stabbing her saber into it the creatures back, causing it a great deal of pain before she jumped off and then sliced off it's head with might swing from her blade, finally killing it. The streetlights then returned back to their normal color as the sirens fell silent, causing the civilians in hiding to come out and looked at Penny and Ruby.
"Yeah, they saved us!" a civilian with dog ears shouted with excitement.
The other civilians began to cheer in clap, surrounding both Penny and Ruby while Harriet just rolled her eyes. "Just sent the ship up. Heading to the next evac point." Yang said over the communicator.
"Ditto!" Nora replied as well.
"Same here!" Jaune said as well.
"Galen, what's your status?" Ruby asked into the communicator.
"We've got a lot of enemies heading towards the station. We got Delta Squad and the Bad Batch helping us out, same with Mordred, and Artoria. We've got this covered. Just keep on sending the civilians our way." Galen reported.
"Understood. We'll be at your location as soon as we can." Ruby replied.
Penny then used her own communicator to contact Robyn. "Mis. Hill, the southern outskirts are clear." Penny said.
Elsewhere, Robyn stood with Onyx, Bella, Grogu and some civilians, listening to Penny on her own communicator. "It should be safe to begin the evacuations now." Penny reported.
"Great work, Penny. Over and out." Robyn replied, then turned to Bella. "Get these people to safety, I'm going to look for any stragglers." Bella nodded and hopped back into the driver's seat of her dozer while Robyn headed down a nearby alleyway alone with her pistols in her hands. Above her, Tyrian watched her from the roof, chuckling before he jumped down into the alley way behind her, forcing Robyn to turn around and aim her pistols at him.
"Robyn Hill. For such a little bird, you have quite the impact around her!" Tyrian said playfully. Still angry at Tyrian for what he did to Katie, Robyn fired her pistols at Tyrians metallic head, but the psychopath leaned and twisted to the right, avoiding the bullets, then turned to face her again and began to walk toward her. "Bringing hope and a smile wherever you go." He said, this time aggressively as he caught a bolt that Robyn had just fired with his middle and index fingers. "I find it… upsetting." He growled.
"And you're the psychopath who killed Katie! No, killed is not the right word. You butchered her! She had a life and you cut it short by skinning her alive and taking a damn trophy like she was game! All you seem to care about is killing people and enjoying their suffering, their screams, and their deaths like it gives you pleasure. I respect the Faunus more than anyone else in the world, but you… you're exactly what all the bigots call you and the rest of the Faunus, you really are a monster." Robyn snarled.
Tyrian just turned the bolt and bent it with his thumb, flicking it away with his wrist while deploying his lightsabers. Laughing maniacally, he charged towards Robyn, slicing through her bullets as he approached her. However, just before he could land his blades on Robyn, a fishhook flew from out of somewhere, but her knocked it away and hopped backwards, looking in the direction of where the hook came from. "Huh?"
He then looked towards Robyn, as Qrow and Clover drop down behind her, with Qrow wielding the lightsaber he took from Haven, it's blade now changed from red to black, similar to the Dark Saber. "Sorry, Callows, I really wanted to pummel you on my own, but the General insisted that I share." Robyn said with a smirk.
Qrow and Clover both walked forward and stood beside Robyn, with Qrow's lightsaber ignited and Clover igniting one of Ray's lightsabers with Robyn doing the same. Blue, green, and black blades illuminated the alley as they stood ready to face Tyrian. "Well, you're not the only one with a grudge." Clover said.
"You'll both have to get in line." Qrow pointed out while Tyrian glared and growled at the three.
While Qrow, Robyn, and Clover were handling Tyrian, the fighting at the train station was increasing with every passing second. Trains were leaving the lower city full of evacuees as other trains returned and to pick up the rest of the civilians. The longest of these trains, was Big One, coupled up to about forty passenger cars with Whitman, Wally, and Stan at the controls.
Atlas soldiers had set up defensive positions outside the station, keeping the Grimm, Death Bots and droids from getting close to the station, but their ammo was starting to run low, and their numbers were being depleted with every passing second, especially considering that most of the soldiers were new recruits.
Lucky for them, they had two teams of Clone Commandos protecting the station, along with the two Penwolf sisters and Team GARM themselves.
Using his semblance, Galen replenished the aura of his teammates and Penwolf sisters, completely draining his aura to the point it was almost like he didn't have one to begin with. But despite the lack of aura, Galen stood at the front of the defensive lines as more hostiles arrived. "Hold the line! Don't let anything through!" Galen shouted, leaping over the defenses placed in front of the station with his lightsabers ignited and at the ready. Standing by him, were March, Mordred, Artoria and Arthur, each of them with their swords at the ready. "You guys ready for this?" Galen asked.
"A true huntsman defends all those from the creatures of Grimm. We Penwolves are true huntsmen, and we will defend the lives of these people no matter the cost." Artoria answered.
"Good enough for me." Galen answered, turning his head towards Hunter, Boss, Rose, and their squads who joined up with them. "Let's get to work."
(Feel Invincible starts)
With a dash and a leap, Galen propelled himself forward with the force leaving the others behind him. "Let's not be out done by the Demon Lord. Let's go brothers." Hunter told his squad.
"Take offensive formation!" Boss instructed his squad.
"Let's kick some ass!" March shouted and activated his own semblance. With his swords in hand, March slashed through several Death Bots and Grimm before he deactivated his semblance and flicked his swords, causing the hostiles he slashed through to fall apart, completely cut in half.
Several warriors charged towards him as he switched his swords back into their pistol mode and opened up on them with some bullets, aiming for their nerve stems like Tech had mentioned back in Mistral. "Maybe I should have chosen machine pistols instead of handguns. They got a higher rate of fire and better ammo capacity, but then again, the caliber of these babies is a heavy hitter and I've got bigger clips than basic pistols." March mused to himself, quickly reloading his handguns, then fired them again, this time at a Sabyr which he jungled in the air with his guns, then dashed after a quick shift to sword mode and slashed it in half. "Jackpot."
Rose took a knee on top of a nearby overturned van, aimed her rifle at one of the Death Bots and fired. Her bullet slammed right through the machine's optic, sending the remains of the bullet through another machine. Chambering a new round, she shifted her sights onto another machine, fired, shifted her sights again and repeated the same process. "Come and get it you scrap heaps! I've got plenty of ammo for everyone!" Rose shouted, only to move off the van when the enemy was in range and fired at her.
After a quick reload of her rifle, Rose drew her shotgun and fired several electrical slugs at the enemy, electrocuting them and sending an arc of electricity through the others, short-circuiting the machines while the living targets were electrocuted to death. Pumping her shotgun, she was hit by a Sabyr that managed to sneak up on her, knocking her shotgun out of her hands and herself to the ground. Pinned to the ground, Rose rolled to the side as the Sabyr swung its claws, trying to take her face off.
A growl from the creature on top of her gave Rose a chance to pull out one of her pistols and blew the brains of out the creature, pushing the corpse off her body. Getting back to her feet, she loaded a single round into her pistol, drew her second pistol and 'painted' several targets with semblance and fired. Twelve hostiles fell to ground as she quickly loaded her pistols back up with fresh rounds, recollected his shotgun and kept on firing at the incoming wave.
Anti-armor rounds flew through the air, blowing Death Bots and Grimm to pieces, followed by sonic grenades exploded and ripped through the organs of Grimm, killing them as Scorch loaded a fresh round into his launcher while Boss lobbed another sonic grenade towards the enemy. "Fire in the hole!" Scorch yelled as he fired another round, blowing up several enemies. "We could really use some air support right now!" he groaned as more hostiles approached.
"We can't risk letting Watts and Tyrian know the location of the evac point. We're on our own, for the moment, but we're not alone." Boss remined his squad mate, opening up with his blaster, downing several Death Bots and droids as sniper fire from behind them took down a Sabyr at it attempted to pounce on Boss. "Nice shot, Sev."
"There's more with that came from." Sev replied from nearby, aiming his sniper rifle and firing as Fixer called out targets. "Heads up! Spider droids inbound!" he called out as two Advanced Dwarf Spider Droids marched towards the station, one of which fired a series of missiles at the defenders while the second fired a low powered shot at the station. "Spider Droids are targeting the station! We need to take them down before they bring the building down!"
"I know, Vod!" Fixer exclaimed, firing his blaster after he lobbed a few droid poppers towards the horde. After he threw the grenades, he noticed that Hunter and his squad had somehow disappeared. "I think Clone Force 99 must have flanked the enemy. I'm not seeing them anywhere!"
"If I know those badasses, I think we're about to hear the big guy yelling right about…now." Mordred shouted, cleaving a Death Bot in two with her blade while a blade of fire was held in her left hand. "Thank the gods for our family semblance! Glad it's not just the Schnee's that have a hereditary semblance like us." She quipped, swinging her blades around and cleaved more hostiles. Throwing the sword she created, she impaled a Blast Bot through the optic which then powered down and exploded, sending bits of metal flying into the horde. "That got them."
Artoria leapt in with her own sword, carving three Death Bots in half. "Try to maintain the destruction to a minimum. We maybe evacuating all of Mantle and Atlas, but we must make sure the people have homes to come back to." Artoria remined, switching her sword to its rifle mode and fired several shots at the enemy, using the lessons that Rose gave her on the art of using a firearm. "A sword is more suited for a knight, but one must always adapt when the times change." She said, loading a fresh clip into her rifle, then fired once more.
Arthur's wrists lit up the street as a salve of whistling birds flew towards the enemy, before he drew back his fist and fired his flamethrower at the horde, burning the Grimm while the whistling birds exploded upon contact with a target. Drawing his sword and lightsaber, Arthur dashed in and sliced through the Grimm, Droids and Death Bots as another low powered shot from one of the Spider Droids slammed into the station. "The Grimm are being drawn towards the station by the fear from the civilians. The droids are helping the Grimm feed on negative emotions!" he shouted.
A Megoliath stomped towards the station, forcing everyone to focus their fire on the tusked creature. Roaring in pain as it charged forwards, the Megoliath smashed through one of the makeshift barriers of cars that had been set up earlier, sending one of the cars flying into the air which then landed in one of the buildings. Weapon fire continued to hit the creature until it finally died from a well-placed shot from Excalibur's blaster mode. "That creature might be down, but's broken through the first barrier!" Arthur shouted.
His shout was almost completely drowned out when the sounds of a swarm of Hyena bombers managed to break through the defenses and were making a bombing run on the evac point. Some of the bombers were shot down by the Landstalkers and Missile Crawlers defending the station, but some of the bombers managed to drop their payloads on the barriers instead of the station, clearing a path for the ground forces, which now had tank support. "Fall back to secondary positions!" Artoria shouted as the enemy charged their location.
As the others pulled back, an excited Wrecker charged onto the scene, bashing into the enemy with his shoulders, before he grabbed a Sabyr by the neck, using it as a living shield while firing his shotgun with one hand. The Death Bots and Droids fired at the muscular clone, but the Grimm kept on charging towards the station. "Crosshair! Let 'em have it!" Wrecker shouted as his shield finally died, allowing him to charge towards the enemy once more, bashing away anything that got in his way, heading directly towards the advanced-Spider Droids.
As Wrecker charged towards the droids, Crosshair fired down on the enemy from a roof top, landing headshot after headshot. "Don't need to tell me twice, Wrecker." Crosshair remarked as he kept shooting the enemy. A Death Bot spotted the glint from Crosshair's scope and rotated their body into firing position, but it too fell to Crosshairs sharpshooting prowess. "Just remember not to get blown up." He snarked.
"Oh, I don't need to be told that." Wrecker said as he literally ripped the plate of the first droid's legs, then rammed it so hard into the droid's cannon, it literally bent the barrel that when the droid attempted to fire, its cannon overloaded and exploded, taking the droid with it. "Here, why don't you take my plate!" he shouted, throwing the plate of the now destroyed spider droid into the optic of the second droid, creating a large opening where Wrecker tossed a grenade into. "Boom!" Wrecker shouted as he double timed it away from the droid and charged through the horde as the droid exploded, sending pieces of the droid flying everywhere. "Told you I could handle it!" Wrecker shouted to Hunter and Tech who were holding off the enemy all by themselves when Wrecker reached them.
"Impressive work as always, Wrecker. However, I don't think the same tactic will apply to those incoming tanks." Tech pointed out as the said tanks continued to approach their position. Their rifles weren't enough to do any real damage to the tanks, but they were able to thin the horde of enemies coming with the tanks.
A blast from one of the tanks exploded near them, sending up a cloud of dirt and stone into the air which rained down around the three clones, forcing them to fall back with the enemy closer to the station. "Odds like this aren't exactly in anyone's favor. If we didn't have those tanks to contend with, we would have pushed the enemy back by now." Hunter pointed out as he, Tech, and Wrecker vaulted over one of the barricades, pointing their weapons back at the enemy.
Soon, they bore witness to a massive telekinetic explosion that disintegrated dozens of Grimm, droids, and Death Bots. Galen landed on the ground, his lightsabers ignited as he charged towards the tanks with tremendous speed, that he slid underneath the tank and sliced through the bottom of the tank, creating a hole large enough for him enter and allowing him to destroy the droids inside the tank, popping out of the top hatch where he then sent the remains of the droids flying high into the air.
The second tank aimed its cannon at the tank Galen was standing on and fired, but Galen leapt off the tank and onto the second one, carving a hole through the top hatch and then flung the droids controlling the tank out the same way he did the remains of the other droids. Leaping off the tank, he reached out and grabbed the tank with the force, which he then sent flying through air which then collided into an incoming Hyena bomber.
His aura had now recharged as Galen stood face to face with the horde, his lightsabers still ignited as he narrowed his eyes, the fight was still young, and he had only just begun to show Salem's forces the power of the force and the resolve of his team, of his family.
(End song)
As the fighting continued through out Mantle, Watt's had managed to procure a Manta which he used to transport himself to the Tower, which was now using Gravity Dust as it's power supply rather than Wind Dust. As he walked through the hallways, he noticed the supplies and ladders still lining the walls, cables hanging from the ceiling and other signs of construction as he reached the area. "Hmm… This will certainly do the trick. Although I wouldn't exactly call it finished." Watts said to himself, pulling out his scroll ready to hack into the systems of the tower when he noticed something. "Strange, James said he would be here… now where is he?"
Suddenly, there was a crack and then a whip snatched Watt's scroll from his hands and then ended up in the hands of the Fox. "I don't think you'll be needing this anytime soon, now will you, doctor?" the Fox remarked.
Watts turned around and looked at the masked individual, dropping his bag to the floor. "So, it was all a trap. And who are you supposed to be?" Watt's asked, casually unzipping his bag.
"I thought your friend, Tyrian would have told you about me. I'm the Fox, Mantle's TRUE protector. One who has caused you quite a headache." The Fox answered.
"Oh yes, how can I forget, you're the one who was always stopping Tyrian's killing sprees. You've caused us a lot of trouble boy." Watts said, pulling from his bag a gray and bronze double-barreled revolver with a large cylinder that held about twenty rounds.
"Not as much trouble as you've caused the kingdom as a whole, doctor. To think, all of this was because you were jealous of the fact that Ironwood picked Doctor Polendina over you for the position of head scientist." The Fox said.
"So, you figured it out, didn't you?" Watts asked almost impressed.
"It took some time, but yes, I was able to put the pieces of the puzzle in their rightful places. To think, that the one who created both the Flying Fortress and the Scinfaxi submarine carriers, along with paladins faked his death and joined forces with someone who would bring about the end of the world, all because of some petty jealously." The Fox said with a scowl.
"I gave Ironwood everything to make Atlas the strongest kingdom in the world and what does he do!? Ignore all my achievements and creations for some old fool who's only true achievement is playing the role of the gods." Watts scoffed. "I suppose you're here to stop me, aren't you?"
"No. I'm here to kill you." The Fox clarified, cracking his whip which then transformed into a single shot revolver with nine shots. "If it was Ironwood, he would arrest you and have you work for him, which you would do only to help your mistress destroy Atlas, then Cinder and Neo would have left you to die a fiery death, along with Atlas and Mantle being destroyed. I won't allow that to happen."
"We'll see about that." Watts remarked with a growl, aiming his revolver at The Fox who did the same thing. "19."
Both men then fired their revolvers.
Alright, tell me what you all think of this chapter, and I'll see you all next time.
