A/N: As of writing this, it has been officially 8 years since I first uploaded my character sheet to here. And man how life has changed. I have gotten married, not to the girl that I was dating when I started writing this, but a younger, single mother that I met while I was at work. I was dating both of them for a time actually, and yes, they both knew about each other. Eventually I broke up with one, and married the other. I have a stepson now and a son of my own as well. So yeah, life is crazy.

I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Chapter 42: obtained by the

~ Soap

"Have you ever heard of Grim's Blood?" I asked, packing up a few things into my bag.

"Do the Grimm even have blood?" Blake asked.

"Yes and no. Grimm Blood, the blood stuff can be extracted from the creatures of darkness and processed into a steroid and psycho-stimulant called Grim's Blood. It's effects vary from simple alertness, heightened sensory processing, and arousal in light dosages. In higher dosages, it can lead to increased strength, almost beyond a normal person's limit, and increased efficacy in semblance usage."

"I feel like there is about to be a however here..." Blake stated.

"However!"

"There it is!" Sarah stated excitedly.

"However, prolonged usage can lead to some really bad side effects."

"Like what?" Blake asked.

"Side effects are usually weakness in the very same things that Grim's Blood strengthens and can lead to a loss of the senses and even bone loss."

"I'm guessing that's why it's not used very often within Hunter society?" Blake said.

"Precisely! However, the same can't be said for Bounty Hunters." I said.

"Have either of you ever used it?" Blake asked.

Sarah and I both shook our head no.

"Why mention it then?" Blake asked.

"Sarah and I were think about trying to find a way to make Grim's Blood safer to use. But all that is for a discussion which we can have while we recover."

"I think it's an interesting concept. But I imagine that there is also a but to this?" Blake stated.

"It would require human trials while I get the compound mix right; but like I said, we can save this for a discussion while we are recovering."

We all sat and stared at each other for a moment before Blake broke the silence.

"Shouldn't we get back to training?" She asked.

"Actually no. We have about 20 minutes before we can leave. Finally might I add."

"Has a month really passed that quickly? It's only felt like a week." Blake asked.

"Well, when you have been staring at two other gorgeous, naked bodies for nearly a month, it's kind of easy to lose track of time." Sarah said, a naughty look on her face.

"Wanna spend the next 20 minutes in each others arms?" Blake suggested, copying Sarah's expression.

"No. No. No to both of you. We will have plenty of time to fool around later, after we have healed up. Which reminds me, we all need to get bandaged up before we get to the bullhead. Our pain is gonna hit us like a ton of bricks when get on."

"Remind me why we cant just teleport back to the base?" Blake asked.

"Two reasons: one, I'm not just gonna leave the bullhead here nor am I going to send Bucky out to retrieve it. This isn't really someplace I want anybody at the church going to. And two, the second we walk out of the seal surrounding the village, the pain will hit. We will collapse." I answered.

"Touché."

"How's the arm?" I asked Blake as we approached the village entrance.

"See for yourself." She stopped and showed me the injection site on her right wrist.

I examined her wrist before I spoke, "Good, the dust hasn't spread yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the dust that was injected hasn't moved very far beyond your wrist."

"How does that work?" Blake asked in confusion.

I gestured to the village around us. "Time distortion, remember?"

"Right. Forgot about that for a bit."

"How did you manage to forget about it?" Sarah asked, snickering to herself.

"Well, with how lovely of a time we have been having, and all the physical activity we have been doing, it was actually quite easy to forget."

"Is that what we're calling it? Physical activity?"

"You are a lot hornier that I thought you would be Blake." Sarah commented.

"I wouldn't mind going a round right now actually." Blake said, biting her lower lip. "With both of you."

"Is sex all you think about Blake?" I asked her.

"No, but we have been doing it quite a bit lately and I am still in the mood."

"Like I said, we will have plenty of time to play after we get back and heal up." I said taking a deep breath. "Now, getting back to the topic of your wrist."

"Right, you said something about the dust not moving yet?"

"Yep, let's hope that you are on the bullhead when it does start to move."

"Other than the pain, what else do I have to worry about? And why do I want it to start to move while I am on the bullhead?"

"Because your veins and eyes will turn black. If that happens when we get to the church, everybody is going to think that I turned you in to a Grimm."

We stopped just short of the village entrance.

I looked to the women beside me, "Y'all ready for this? Once we leave, we won't be allowed in for another 6 months. That said, please make sure you have everything."

"We're good Soap. I wanna go home and get a hot shower and sleep in a warm bed." A blush suddenly grew over Blake's face, "not that sleeping with you two wasn't nice or anything, but I miss my bed."

"Let's go. On the count of three: one, two, three."

~ Blake

Once again, they were right. Passing through the barrier around the village was easy enough; the seconds after though, not so much.

I fell to the ground almost instantly upon exit. I screamed bloody murder. The pain was worse than anything I had ever experienced.

"FUCKING GODSDAMMIT!" I screamed into the snow.

During our fight with Onyx, it seems that I had broken, if not shattered, most of my body's right side. My right leg basicly collapsed under my own weight, luckily, I was able to snag one of Sarah's pipes before we had left.

I pushed myself off the ground with the help of said pipe.

Through the pain my ears picked up a strange noise in the forest surrounding us. A howl.

Not just any howl though, a Beowolf howl. A very, very deep Beowolf howl.

"Beowolf." I said though clenched teeth. "Very old. Calling for help."

"What?" I heard Soap say from the ground.

"Fuck it. In your heads." I yelled.

"There is a very old Beowolf in the woods; I think it's spotted us." I said in my head.

"That's not good. This area is known to be home to large Nevermore and ancient Teryx's. If a Beowolf is calling for help, that means that it thinks us worthy prey. Move as quickly as you can and get in the bullhead." Soap said, managing to get himself off the ground. "Fuck, I'm going to need some help. I think my ribs and spine are completely shattered."

After we managed to get to the bullhead, Soap got himself in the pilot's seat.

"Girls, get to the mounted machine guns on each side, I can control the front and rear guns from up here. Whatever you do, don't let those Nevermore near us. Three hits and we go down." He shouted from the cockpit.

"Only three?" I shouted back to the cockpit.

"This bullhead is only meant for recon, it's not a gunship. Prolonged battles favor against us here. Kill them so we can get back to the church safely."

"And we're supposed to do that with some little rinky-dink .40 cal's? Soap, your pistol has a higher caliber than these." I called back.

"Hey, say what you want about those .40 cal's, but those things will tear their damn heads off if you aim right." Soap said as the Teryx's started to swam around us from the tree line. "Here they come, mow them down girls!"

I grabbed the trigger of my .40 cal, aimed at the nearest raptor-like Grimm, and gave the trigger a light squeeze.

The first round connected and blew the monster to pieces. "You didn't tell me they were explosive!" I screamed over the roar of the engines as we lifted off the ground.

" Come on now, what kind of man am I? I thought that one was obvious." I heard Soap say as the gatling .80 caliber guns below us screamed to life. "Once one of you run out of ammo, come up here and grab the gun controls in the co-pilot's seat; they are better guns, but it's a little hard to fly and shoot."

"When will we run out of ammo?" I heard Sarah ask."

"If you fire continuously, 5 minutes. So please, pick your targets, line up your shot, and do not just spray and pray."

We we finally past the forest when the giant Nevermore appeared. This thing was gigantic, likely the size of a small skyscraper.

"That's one big bird." I screamed as it got within range.

With a deep breath, I aimed for it's head and pulled the trigger.

The rounds connected and detonated, however, the bird just seemed to shrug off the bullets. "These pea shooters aren't doing anything to it."

"Well no shit, that thing is at least a thousand years old and probably has a bone mask thicker than a bank vault. You're going to have to aim better than that!"

Just then, the giant bird of prey shot it's wings forward, shooting out deadly 40 foot long feathers.

"Hey, careful Soap, I'm in direct line of fire here." I yelled.

"That's kinda hard to do do in this thing."

Just then, a feather connected with the fuselage of the VTOL effectively skewering it.

"Make that 1,500 years old! It's aiming for the fucking engine's. If either one take a single hit, we are going down in flames."

I steadied my hands as I lined up my sights with the bird's left eye. I fired, draining the last of my ammo.

At the last second, the bird reared it's ugly head to scream at us causing all my bullets to fly harmlessly past it's head. "I'm out of ammo!"

"Then get up here and get on the main cannon controls. Sarah, I'm spinning around so you can take some shots at it."

I stumbled on my way to the cockpit as he did, nearly falling out of the sky. "Are you flying backwards just so Sarah can shoot at it?"

"Again, this shouldn't be surprising for you Blake. Soap's got a few screws loose."

"Yall are fucking crazy! How the hell did I fall in love with some batshit lovebirds?"

"Don't ask us, we have been asking the same question ever since you confessed to us." Sarah screamed in reply.

I finally managed to get myself in the gunner's seat in the cockpit. "Ok, I'm here. Now what?!"

He pushed a couple buttons on his end and I watched my console light up.

"Aim at the damn thing's head and just hold down the trigger. .80 cal. will eventually kill it."

"Ok." I said as I squeezed the trigger.

The rest of the fight seemed to pass by quickly; in the end, we did kill the Ancient Nevermore, but not before taking another hit to the fuselage.

I passed out promptly after the thing was dead.

Next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake from the bullhead landing.

"Blake, we're home. Time to get off this fucking thing." Sarah said beside me.

"Come on, time to go heal up."

A/N: 2000 words after a several year break. I'd like to think that's a decent amount.

Yes, I know that last scene feels rushed. It was. I'm running off of 2 hours of sleep and a 12 hour work day; I am very tired.

I might clean it up a little bit tomorrow, but for now, I just want this chapter uploaded so I can return to the flow of things.