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Scene 15:

Blackened Glory

A/n: I'm back

And this is Scene 15 now.

Deal with it.

Also, Ironically enough, I listened to Avicii's: Feeling Good while writing most of this.

But, when the Watchmen part comes up, I again recommend Imagine Dragon's: I'm So Sorry


Torchwick pov

"Hey Mila?" I said, getting my guards attention.

Apparently, the V.C.P.D had decided, "Screw the regs, this guy's annoying as fuck", and they were going to have Mila guard me all the time. I think it was because she was the new girl. That, or because she was a Faunus.

Still, though, they brought in another guy, Jack, when Mila got off her shift, but that asshole was usually only around for a few hours of consciousness for me before I fell asleep. Not really sure why he was here, though. Even though he was a dick, He seemed to be well respected in the department. Like he was an annoying older brother. You hated him, but despite that you still loved him. Plus he was funny, so he had that going for him

Mila, by the way, was about 5" 7', had black and white hair worn in a ponytail, and always wore a dark blue cap on her head. She had blue eyes. She also had a white rifle slung over her shoulder and two holstered pistols on her sides.

She wore a dark blue police uniform on her, and they fit her well enough. I could tell that under the uniform she had some muscle tone and an athletic body. Still, she looked kinda…average looking. The only thing that was really of note was the white highlights in her hair, but even they were hard to notice when she wore a hat all the time, making me think they might be natural.

Black and white hair, strange as it sounds, wasn't the weirdest hair color I've ever seen.

Fukcing Neo. I thought, tempted to roll my eyes.

Don't get me wrong, she wasn't ugly or anything, she was kind of cute, but she wasn't exactly a standout, bombshell, beauty. That being said, it was a nice change of pace from all the shapely and beautiful female officers I've seen. I mean, they were nice to look at, I guess, but being skinny with big tits didn't usually help you catch bad guys.

Unless they were perverts.

Like a certain bearded bartender I knew.

In any case, during our time together, we had gained an understanding.

"I have a new joke for you," I said with a smile.

I would torture and annoy her with terrible jokes, puns, dumb "funny" stories, anything really…

"Nooo." She groaned.

…And she would give me a smoke to shut me up.

"It's a good one." I insisted

"No, just please shut up." She begged.

It hadn't worked yet.

"Knock knock." I began, not waiting for her consent.

"…" She remained silent, trying to ignore it.

But I wouldn't give up

"Knock knock." I repeated.

"…" Still, she stubbornly remained silent.

"You know being quiet just drags it out, right?" I warned her

"…" And yet still, she turned her head away from the "window", crossed her arms, pouted, and "hmphed" at me.

Well, we can't have that, now can we?

I took in a deep breath to prepare myself for the onslaught I was about to unleash upon her.

"knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock knockknock" I said loudly and incessantly, grinning all the way.

If I had to, I would annoy her into submission. Besides, this place had surprisingly good acoustics.

Faunus hearing isn't so fun now is it?

"Who's there?" She moaned, giving in to my demands as she took her hat off to massage her assaulted dog ears. How they stayed comfortable under that hat, I would never know

I smiled victoriously, knowing I would always win in the end. These guys really didn't have much discipline.

"A broken pencil."

"A broken pencil who?" She asked cautiously, unsure if she wanted the answer or not.

"Never mind." I said dismissively

"What do you mean, never mind?" She huffed with an annoyed face.

"It's pointless." I said with a smirk.

Mila, in response, blinked, before she figured it out and groaned loudly. Pleased at the success of my antics I cackled at her pain while she cursed her own misfortune.

"Oh Mila, you're too easy." I laughed.

Frankly, I kind of liked Mila, at least, compared to most of the pigs in this shithole. Sure, she was incredibly gullible, and easy to torture like this, but she wasn't an asshole like most of the cops in this place. She didn't constantly taunt me about how "the great Roman Torchwick" was caught by a little girl.

Actually I'm not even sure if that last part is public knowledge. They might have given sole credit, publicly, to the huntress, Goodwitch.

The only annoying part was really how nauseatingly kind she was. Still, though, it was better than being an asshole.

That's my job, after all, and no-one does it better than me.

I was taken out of my thoughts by the conversation that a pair of detectives were having while they walked past my cell.

"So, what do you think happened to Le Livre Noir?" The detective with the black mustache asked his partner. I had learned that he was detective Johnson

"I don't know, but I think it's weird how he's dropped off the radar all of a sudden." The blonde one responded, also known as detective Williams.

"If by weird you mean suspicious, then yeah, I'm totally with you on that." Detective Johnson responded.

Soon, however, they were out of earshot. Still, they raised something that peaked my interest.

I turned back to Mila to ask her the question on my mind.

"What do they mean Le Livre Noir's dropped off the radar? He wasn't exactly a very public person in the first place." I asked

She shifted her feet, obviously not entirely sure how comfortable she felt discussing this with a criminal. In the end, she relented. Likely because now that I had brought it up, she really felt like talking about it.

"There's been absolutely no activity from Le Livre Noir for over eight months. We've gotten absolutely nothing at all. That's an unheard of amount of time he's gone silent." She responded.

I whistled. She was right. I suppose considering his profession it wasn't too surprising, but usually he did something every three months. Despite him having a relatively regular cycle, the police were never able to catch him. That was, in part, because he would only attack sometime within the month.

Say, if he struck sometime in September, then the next time he'd strike would be sometime in December. That's all they'd really know, it could be anytime within said month.

Then she perked up as she realized something.

"Hey wait, how do you know about him? He's not supposed to be public knowledge?" She questioned, looking at me with a furrowed brow.

In response I just gave her a dull look and replied, "Criminal. Mastermind. Figure it out." As I gestured towards myself.

Then, after a half second of thought, she blushed and looked at me sheepishly, saying, "Oh, right, yeah, I forgot."

"You got any theories." I asked, curious.

"Well…It's not like we were getting close to catching him or anything…" She began

"So I think that maybe his activities caught up with him. Or maybe he pissed off the wrong people. Considering the backing he had, I'd be surprised, but considering what he did..." She explained.

I nodded in agreement.

"Makes sense. Being an assassin isn't exactly a cushy job." I responded

I guess that might explain why Adam was so tight lipped about him, then.


Goodwitch pov

By the time Ms. Schnee's team and I managed to repel the wave of terrestrial Grimm that were assaulting our position, the school's Bullheads were only 3 minutes away. Unfortunately, due to the rushed job, not all the Bullheads in the school's hanger were able to be prepped and in the air in time. They could have made sure that every Bullhead was in the air, but that would have taken time, time we didn't have.

While we always had a small fleet of Bullheads ready to go, usually we had more warning, and as such did not keep every single Bullhead prepped and ready to take off at a moment's notice. As a result of the rush, only 4 Bullheads were able to be launched in time, with each carrying three huntsmen teaching at the school. This meant that we would not be able to get every student out of here in one go. That was, of course, assuming that every student got here in time.

Fortunately, the V.A.F was sending its own Bullheads and Gunships, more than enough to get everyone out of here safely. Unfortunately, they would be another 13 minutes, forcing us to wait at least another ten minutes before everyone could leave.

Even worse, the Tornado Watch had been upgraded into a Warning, meaning that the Tornado was inevitable, and likely to touch down in 15 minutes or less. If we were unlucky, then it would hit before the V.A.F. got here.

On top of that, I couldn't track any of the student's progress through the forest. The surveillance system usually in place was having trouble connecting to my scroll thanks to the storm's interference. I had no idea where anyone was, whether they were close to the evac zone, whether they were safe, whether they were in danger, or even if they were dead.

I felt helpless.

All I could do was sit here with these initiates and hope the others safely arrived while we kept the evac site safe. As much as I wanted to run into the forest and help guide groups of students back here safely, I knew it would do no good. Since I had no indication of where anyone was, I would be running around blind, doing no one any good.

So, I had to sit here and wait and pray. Pray that we chose a good enough spot, pray that the Tornado does not land before we can leave, pray that we can defend this location, pray that everyone arrives here safely, and pray that Ruby is okay.

I know I'm supposed to be impartial, but in this situation, it's impossible not to. I care about every student here, and I want them all to get here safely, and I won't abandon any of them to their fate over Ruby. That said, I've gotten to know Ruby. Not terribly well, the girl is quite reclusive, withdrawn, and secretive, but well enough.

All I know about the other students are what their transcripts tell me. I have a face, a name, and what they've done in school. I don't truly know them, I haven't spoken to them, I haven't discovered any little nuances about them. I don't even know the sound of their voice.

Ruby, on the other hand, had been living with me for a couple months. Again, I don't know her terribly well, I don't know her whole life story or anything, but I've still learned a lot about her. I've learned about how expressive her eyes can be while her face remains stony, how inquisitive she is. I've learned about her love of engineering and science, as well as the effort and care she puts into her weapons.

Most of all, I've learned to care about her. I've grown accustomed to having her live with me, and the near constant aura of unease she radiates. I barely even notice it anymore.

And now she's out there in that forest, and I can't do anything to help her. This morning when she got up, I knew something was off about her, she didn't look well, and yet still I allowed her to go out there into Initiation, thinking she would be fine.

What could go wrong? I thought at the time.

I don't know why on earth I thought that, I was sending a young girl who is clearly unwell into a Grimm infested forest. And yet, she didn't even seem the slightest bit concerned about it. Though that comment about Lucifer unnerved me. I can't be sure whether it was a joke or not, we didn't manage to find the time to continue the conversation.

When she told me he was the voice in her head, I was taken off guard by that. Ruby didn't seem the type to make something like that up, and yet, the way she gave me the tiniest of smiles after I choked on my breakfast can't help but give me lingering doubts. It could have been her attempt at humor. If it was, then that was something we need to work on.

Still, at the time, I think I felt that if she was fine enough to crack terrible jokes, then she was okay to go to Initiation, something she seemed to agree with. And now, my thoughts were coming back to haunt me.

Things had gone far worse than I could have possibly imagined.

And now she was out there, sick in the storm. I didn't even know how she was doing. I could only have faith that she and her teammates would get here safely. That was probably the only saving grace. Miss Nikos was her partner, someone strong and reliable, someone who could keep her safe.

Even still, I can't help but be worried. I can't shake this indescribable feeling in my gut I thought worriedly.

I was shaken from my thoughts by Ms. Schnee.

"Ms. Goodwitch?" She asked, getting my attention

It was at this moment that I realized that I had been standing upon a hill in the clearing, glaring into the forest this entire time.

"Yes?' I responded, turning to her

"When are the Bullheads supposed to be getting here?" She asked, her brow slightly pinched together in concern.

I took the time to look back down at my scroll.

"They should be here in a minute or two." I answered, turning back toward her.

She breathed out a breath of relief before nodding back at me.

"Good, good. That's good." She responded, knitting her fingers together.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried. She seemed anxious, though it wasn't hard to figure out why.

"Yes! Yes, I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine." She answered quickly, as she hurriedly tried to force her hands to her sides.

I sighed, realizing that due to her upbringing she likely wouldn't like to show any sign of perceived weakness.

"Ms. Schnee, it is perfectly natural for you to be nervous. The key is to accept, and move past it, rather than pretend it is not there." I tried to explain to her

In response she frowned, looking down towards the ground and muttered something under her breath. The only word I could pick up from it was "Winter", and given who I was looking at, it wasn't terribly hard to figure out what was going through her head.

I was about to say something else when Ms. Xiao Long got my attention.

"Ms. Goodwitch, is that them?!" She shouted over the roaring winds.

Turning to her, I brushed my hair out of my face again. I saw her pointing into the sky, and sure enough, there were several shapes in the air heading toward us from the school.

They were hard to make out in the darkened skies, but the lights on them helped make them stand out, as well as marking them as different to the various types of flying Grimm.

With that, I let out a breath of relief.

"You see Ms. Schnee. You, and your team, will be able to leave in just a few moments." I said as I turned back to her.

And indeed, she seemed visibly relieved.

"Good. Go-" She began to say

"Contact." Ren interrupted her, talking over the winds.

He raised up his two weapons, the Stormflowers I believe they were called, and looked into the forest with narrowed eyes. The second he said that, the rest of us tensed up and readied our weapons as well.

I frowned, realizing I had let my guard down in my attempts to calm Ms. Schnee down. Turning to the forest, I raised my crop again, waiting for whatever it was to show itself.

Sure enough, not seconds after he gave the warning, could I see glimpses of movement through the trees. It was hard to tell, mainly because the roaring winds were shaking anything and everything so much that it was hard to tell what was the wind, and what was a Grimm. It didn't help that the sound of the wind drowned out nearly any warning sounds that could alert their approach.

The simple fact that he had noticed anything unusual through all of this was nothing short of extraordinary, be it either luck or skill. Especially considering the distance to the tree line.

Considering how easy it would be for a Grimm to surprise us, we had made our stand about 100 yds from the tree line on a hill. We might have went back further, but at the moment everyone was out of ammunition, save for Ms. Schnee and I, and even we lacked infinite resources. All in all, this was as optimal of a distance as we could create in such short notice.

Still, whatever was moving through the trees was doing so extremely slowly. Something that was immediately suspicious, as if it was a Grimm than it likely wouldn't hesitate to charge at us at full speed.

Then finally, whatever it was, broke through the tree line, allowing us to get a good few of it. The second I lay eyes upon them, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Mr. Winchester, glad you could join us." I greeted him over the winds, lowering my weapon.

Likewise, the others relaxed seeing as how it wasn't more Grimm, and instead a small group of students led by Mr. Winchester.

"Is this it?" He questioned loudly as he marched over to us.

In response I simply raised a brow questioningly.

"Where's everyone else? Where are the Bullheads?" He continued.

I sighed, remembering who I was dealing with.

"Calm down Mr. Winchester." I began, trying to placate him before his negativity drew in more Grimm.

"If you direct your attention over there…" I continued, pointing in the direction of the incoming Bullheads, "You will see that help is only moments away."

"Oh." He said simply, his eyes wide in surprise at having the wind taken from his sails so suddenly.

I resisted the urge to shake my head with ease, and instead directed my attention toward making sure nothing got the jump on us. It would be simply pitiful for us to fall prey to Grimm seconds from salvation simply because we were all too distracted looking at our rescuers to notice or killers coming from behind.

"Don't get distracted, keep an eye out for any more Grimm or students." I shouted over the winds.

"Remember, you won't be able to hear them coming, so unless you keep an eye out you won't notice them until they're right on top of you." I warned.

At that, they all had different emotional reactions, ranging between sheepish, stoic, and annoyed. Nevertheless, they all complied, turning around and surveying the forest.

After a couple more seconds of nothing, I then began to feel a slight tremble in the air. Sparing a glance behind me, I observed the quartet of Bullheads pass over the cliff, angling there engines as they slowed down and shifted into a hovering alignment.

Then they began the slow descent downwards, as graceful as their names suggested. Finally, they landed, and the doors opened, revealing the hunters inside. There were 12 of them, 12 teachers from the school, three per Bullhead.

As they all got off, I turned to the students behind me, who had all directed their attention to the landing aircraft. In response I held back a sigh and bit back a small lecture at disobeying my orders.

"Well then, it appears your transport is here." I began.

"Bu-" Ms. Xiao Long attempted to argue again.

"No." I sternly shot down. "I already explained this before."

"Now, all of you are getting on one of those Bullheads, and they are going to take you to Beacon before one of you dies trying to be a hero." I glowered at them, crushing their will to resist.

Some would say it was cruel, mean, cold, and heartless even. They might have had a point, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to let them stay here while they were tired, low or completely out of ammunition, and dangerously low on aura. If I had to be the bad guy to do it, then I was more than willing to fulfil that role.

Ms. Xiao Long had surprised me with how insistent she could be regarding staying here to help. She had also surprised me with raw hate she radiated when killing Grimm, something that she would need to work on. That said, considering who her father is, I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised.

That said, I haven't really found any definitive signs that she feels the same as her father, at least, towards her sister, Ms. Rose. Then again, it's not like I've brought it up in conversation or anything, so I can't really be sure. But, if her reaction to the Grimm is anything to go by, then Ms. Xiao Long might not be as bereft of problems as she wants to appear.

Still, my little lecture was enough to crush any last traces of rebellion they held. Even still, they all had varying reactions to leaving. Some took it as a blessing, and others reluctantly. Nevertheless, they all walked up to the now empty Bullhead behind me and stepped inside.

Soon the doors closed, and the engines roared once more, and they were on their way out of here.

"Was that really necessary Ms. Goodwitch?" A voice to my left asked.

Turning to him, I suppressed a sigh, instead saying, "They don't understand how close they came to dying. They want to be heroes, but they don't truly understand what that means. And in a way, I pray they never do."

Then, a sigh managed to escape past my lips as I glanced down, one I followed up by sadly stating, "In another way, I hope that they learn it here. I hope this experience shows to them that being a hunter isn't as simple as being a heroic monster slayer. It isn't a happy little story about slaying evil and saving children."

Then I looked back toward Prof. Port, finishing up by saying, "And that sometimes, even when you win, it still feels like you lost."

In response he nodded sadly.

"A fact we know all too well." He solemnly agreed.

"Nevertheless, that is why we became hunters. To face the horrors of Grimm so others didn't have to." He added resolutely.

"And we became teachers so we could prevent our students from repeating our mistakes, did we not?" Dr. Oobleck commented to my left.

"Well said Dr.!" Prof. Port complimented with a loud slap on the back.

Despite the encouraging little speech, I couldn't help but have a nagging little doubt. As much as the two were correct in their statements, they conveniently forgot something.

And yet, despite our best attempts, we can't save everyone. Sometimes we fail, and sometimes we fail spectacularly.


5 minutes later

As I watched the last Bullhead take off, I couldn't help but feel a bit of failure in myself. We had sent the second and third Bullhead off with only 16 frightened students onboard after a large wave of Grimm attacked. One we successfully managed to fend off after they safely left.

Then, this fourth one, only had 7 people onboard, all of whom had various injuries ranging from Aura depletion to severe gashes, and even broken bones. One of them was even a teacher, someone who got unlucky repelling a vicious wave of Grimm. They had been sent off because they were in the most danger, and several were in need of critical care.

At the same time, however, this meant that only 30 of the 80 students had been saved so far, and we had no more Bullheads to spare, at least not in time. Even worse, we had lost a teacher, a huntsman, someone who was supposed to help bolster our defenses. Without them, it would just be that much harder to fend off the successive waves of Grimm.

The worst part was probably deciding who left and who stayed.

You see, when I told the fourth Bullhead to takeoff, we still had 22 other students down here, all of them wanting to go home. But, as much as I wanted to send as many as I could, I had to be pragmatic. As much as it hurt, as much as it crushed my heart, as much as I didn't want to do it, I had a job to do as the leader of this little rescue force. And part of that job was doing the bloody math of the real world.

Logically, I knew it made the most sense. Get the ones who are mostly useless and in the most danger out of here.

I also knew that our only hope was to hold the line, to survive, until the V.A.F. got here. I would have to hope they would be enough for us all to get out of here, and that no one would have to get left behind. But until that time, we were on our own. For five more brutal minutes, we would be on our own. And to survive on our own, we would need manpower.

Manpower we would have to get from the students.

As much as I detested it, we would need them to fight for their lives. I wanted to protect them from this, save them from this, because I knew in my heart they were not, could not, be prepared for this. And yet, if we were to last for long enough for the remaining students to get here, we would need them to fight along with us.

All I could do was fight as hard as I could to keep them all alive.

But even for me, there was only so much I could do.

And that's when it all started again.

It began with a loud cacophony of ROAR's that could be barely heard over the sound of the wind, accompanied by several small tremors. As the tremors slowly grew louder, so too did the various sound coming from the forest. Then, as it approached we began to see several tree's in the forest falling over in the path of what was likely another horde of Grimm, here to rend us to shreds.

In response, all 34 of us turned and braced for whatever it was that would meet us.

Then, to my surprise, another team of four students burst out of the woods, running for their lives. They all had expressions mixed with both relief and terror as they charged toward the safe zone. Several of them were even blindly fire behind them, hoping to hit whatever was chasing them.

Then the tree line erupted behind them.

First, several dozen Beowolves charged from the foliage, practically running over each other to catch the fleeing students. In immediate response, the students and teachers who still had ammunition unloaded into the incoming pack of Beowolves, tearing them apart with their combined fire.

With their help, the incoming group of Initiates managed to make their way safely behind our loose defensive line on the hill.

Unfortunately, it felt like for every Grimm felled by their bullets, two more sprung from the tree line. Still, they never got far. The thick barrage of suppressing fire coming down from the hill tore them apart before they even got to the foot of it.

Then, came several Ursa, charging out of the foliage. Their more armored and muscular forms soaking up bullets, and allowing them to get just a little bit closer. Next were Boarbatusks, their heavily armored forms allowing them to actually make it up the hill. Still, despite that, once they crested the hill they were met with the brutal close-quarters melee weapons of the students and teachers.

And such was the balance. They kept pouring from the trees at a somewhat steady pace, and we kept slaughtering them like the mindless beasts that they were. There were enough of us that we could for each other if we needed to recover or reload, without straining the line.

It was during this stalemate that Prof. Port nudged my side, trying to get my attention. In this cacophony of roars, gun blasts, and howling wind, there was no way I'd be able to hear his voice if I wasn't paying attention to him.

I turned to him, annoyed that he was distracting me from something I considered more important. When I did, I saw him gesture off into the distance with a dark frown as he took some time to reload his blunder-axe. Directing my attention to the area in question, I saw, to my ever increasing worry, that the funnel cloud had finished forming.

The Tornado had landed.

I could see the large dust cloud formed at its base as its violent winds tore apart everything in its path, ripping it out of the ground and turning it into deadly debris. Even worse, I could see scores of trees ripped out of the ground and being sucked into the cyclone, as if the sky was reaching down to devour the forest beneath it. That meant it had to be at least an EF3, if not higher.

I could only pray that the twister didn't last long, or didn't come our way. We didn't have a chance in hell of surviving such a thing, nor could anyone caught in its path, not unless they found cover.

Which brought me to another concern.

I hadn't seen Ruby yet.

In fact, there were still an unsettlingly large amount of people unaccounted for, and I had no way to know how they were doing, nor did I have any possible way to rescue, locate, or assist them, something which was slowly gnawing at me, constantly. Even still, I had to push past it. I had people here I had to take of now. Worrying about things I couldn't have a realistic impact on right now wasn't logical.

That said, humans aren't exactly logical creatures.

Pushing away those thoughts and leaving a silent prayer for those not yet here, I redirected my attention to the battle ahead of me. All things considered, it was going well. We had pushed them back down to the bottom of the hill, giving us enough space to breath. Those who had ran out of ammunition or Dust were hanging back, letting those who still had ranged capabilities take over.

If this continued then we'd soon push back the third wave of Grimm, and then we'd wait for the others to come, as well as the V.A.F. and then we'd all get out of here, safe and sound.

Just a little bit longer, then we can all get out of this alive I thought, pushing myself to work just that extra bit to bring everyone back home alive.

That is, of course, when I saw something flying toward us out of the corner of my eye, before it, and my optimism, came crashing down into the earth with a loud, wet, THUD.

The first thing I heard after the dust cleared was screaming. Somehow, over the guns, wind, and Grimm, I could hear this screaming above all else. The wail cut through the interference and drowned everything else out. But, it wasn't hard to see why. The object that had flown through the air…it wasn't an object.

It had been a student.

Once.

Now, it was broken body that more closely resembled roadkill than a human being. They were so severely mangled, crushed, and shredded that it was impossible to truly identify even their gender. They had landed on their head, causing their neck to be bent back at an impossible angle, and spill out of their body to a degree.

Their head had been crushed on impact and their torn face had been flung off. The severity of the impact cause the chest cavity to rupture, spilling many of their organs, such as their intestines, stomach, and a lung, to fall out and onto the ground.

To say their bones had been broken would be an understatement. In fact, I doubt they had any intact bones left, many of them were even sticking out through their skin. In addition, most of the blood in their body had explosively vacated them, and instead fled to the surrounding area.

Part of that surrounding area included a promising young girl by the name of Cathy Adams, who was now covered in the blood of this recently deceased student. Unsurprisingly, this was also the person who was screaming at the top of their lungs. Not an unreasonable reaction to be covered in the remains of someone your age.

Unfortunately, it had severe and unforeseen consequences.

As the scream of disgust and terror rang out, it drew the attention of several students and even a few teachers. The students, lacking real-life experience with the horrors of fighting Grimm, or even experience seeing such gruesome death up close and personal, felt similar feelings of horror, terror, and disgust. The teachers, having experience matters such as these, took it better, but even still, seeing such a grisly death of a child isn't something you can just shrug off without feeling anything.

And so, with that simple action of a child falling from the sky to their grisly death, they had damned us all. With that act, a plethora of negative emotions spread like wildfire through the ranks as moral plummeted. The first domino had fallen.

The second was close behind.

In their fit of fear, the students had become distracted, and the line weakened just enough for just long enough for our fate to be sealed.

In a flash, a King Taijitu used the moment to strike the right side, rushing across the field and snatch up one of the more vulnerable student into its jaws. As the white headed serpent raised him high into the air, the student screamed out, struggling to free himself. As several of his surrounding peers tried to free him, more Grimm struck.

A Beowolf tackled another student to the ground and began mauling him. The Grimm was soon blasted of the student by his partner, but even still, he was covered in deep lacerations.

Then I heard another outcry on the left, and saw a Deathstalker breaking the lines and impaling a student on its stinger. A teacher tried to distract it with their electrified whip, to give the other students a chance to escape its wrath. That she was then pounced on by an Ursa Major, which was then joined by a pack of Beowolves as it savagely eviscerated the poor teacher.

Scenes like that erupted all around me as the lines shattered, and everything fell to chaos. I wanted to try and save them, but there too many to save, and I couldn't be everywhere at once. For every student I saved by blasting a Grimm of them, I saw two more get assaulted.

For every cry of terror, of pain, of despair, the moral plummeted and the infection of negativity spread. As it spread, more and more Grimm poured from the forest in a veritable flood of darkness. And we drowned in that flood, desperately attempting to tread water, and failing miserably.

As I desperately fought for my life, and the lives around me, I couldn't help but think one thought.

Is this how it all ends?

Then I saw a glimpse of several object flying above me, followed by a-

BBBOOOOMMMM!

The world lit up from a second sun spawned on the earth, for a second all sound was blasted into silence. The force of the blast reverberated through my body, rattled my teeth, and even pushed me back a bit.

As my ears rung and I struggled to regain my sight from the stars that plagued it, I felt more and more powerful Thumps pass through my body, each one shaking the earth beneath me. As I finally opened my eyes, I was greeted to a blessed sight.

Several gunships hovered overhead of us, launching missile after missile into the horde of Grimm, breaking them up and tearing them down. Each one detonated with a Thump muted by my temporary deafness, nevertheless I could still feel them, and could still see the glorious sight of the fiery explosions tearing the savage beasts apart.

The rockets were matched with the loud BRRRRRRTTTTTTT of their chain guns as the spat streams of high-caliber explosive bullets down on the world below them. They tore through the Grimm like they weren't even there, causing blood and body parts to go flying high into the air.

The V.A.F. had arrived.


Jack pov

I looked down at the world below me as the Cardinal gunships tore the horde of Grimm apart down there with a hidden smile.

The pilots were careful not to hit friendlies, and instead focused on cutting a line between the hill the hunters were on, and the forest the Grimm were pouring from. They did this through the liberal use of explosives and ammunition. Soon, there was a large line of craters creating a sort of no-man's land between the forest and the hill.

From there, that's where we came in.

Looking at them like this, I honestly couldn't feel that same resentment or negativity I normally felt when dealing with hunters. Instead, I saw people in need of help, help I was more than willing to provide.

I saw Robin raise a hand up to the side of his helmet and pressed a button to turn the comm on, and connect it with the pilot.

"Hey, are we good to drop?" Robin asked

I heard a couple more bursts of fire from the chaingun in the nose before he responded

"Yeah, boss, let me just bring it down into position, then you can try and break your legs again." He remarked.

"It hasn't happened yet." Robin shot back.

"First time for everything." The pilot retorted dismissively as I heard him flick a switch.

And with that the bay doors opened, exposing us to the harsh winds outside.

"Alright Watchmen, lets save some Hunters! I've always wanted to have one owe me a beer!" Robin rallied.

"No thanks, my fiancé doesn't like it when I drink." I commented as I got up.

"Dude, you are so whipped." Robin remarked as he walked to the edge, checking his rather special "rifle" once more.

"What does he mean when he says this?" Ymir asked, joining him at the entrance.

"He's just jealous because he doesn't have a girl." I explained teasingly as I joined them.

In response Robin looked at me and said, "I don't need a girl, I have Marian" As he held up his weapon of choice.

And with that, he jumped out of the craft.

As he did, I could hear Ymir sigh loudly over the comm. Giving the giant a pat on the back I said, "Cheer up buddy, we get to save people and kill monsters."

He nodded silently, and without another word, we. both jumped. By the time we hit the ground, Robin was already getting to work, using the semi-auto function of his gun to put down Grimm in a more... conventional form. Still, the 7.62 mm Dust round tore large gory holes in every Grimm he shot at, each one in the perfect place to maximize effectiveness.

When Ymir hit the ground, he practically shook the earth itself as his tremendous mass made a small crater at his feet. In comparison, I rolled as I hit the ground, minimizing my impact. At the same time the other Bullheads were unloading the two squads of soldiers, and the team of medics we brought with us.

I raised my rifle and fired my 6.5 mm AP Incendiary Dust rounds from Llofrudd Mawr at any Grimm I could set my sights on. Knowing how effective it was against Grimm, I only used a single three-shot burst on each target, but I knew it was enough.

When I fired at one Ursa moving to strike a huntsman from behind, I shot a burst directly at its neck. Each round penetrated deep into its neck, before bursting into flames. The incendiary detonation burned the Grimm from the inside out, causing it to violently panic and flail. But it did it no good, and soon the fire spilled out from the wound and covered the beast. By the time it finally died, I had already moved on.

I spared a glance to Ymir, who was using his massive Himlens-Dån to rain down round after round of his punishing 7.62 mm Blizzard Dust rounds. Each time a round hit a Grimm, it instantly exploded into clump of ice, partially freezing the Grimm. In only a handful of rounds, he could completely freeze even an Ursa Major, though, in some cases, it wasn't enough.

He turned his fire towards a King Taijitu. Each round spawned another growth of icy crystals, and slowed the beast down. Soon, it was completely frosted over, and yet it continued to live. It was slowly breaking out of its frozen cage, struggling against its frosty restraints.

That was quickly solved by a blast from Marian.

As the resounding CRACK echoed through the field, and a bolt of electric blue light trialing behind the projectile was the only sign of it. The round impacted the frosted snake with incredible force, penetrating through its thick scales and lodging itself in its head. Then, after a moment, a series of electrical arc began to spark from the impact point before running across its body, then, the two different Dust forms violently reacted with one another.

The King Taijitu detonated in an explosion of ice and gory. Shards of ice flung from it, and turned into deadly shrapnel as they speared and shredded other Grimm surrounding it.

I spared a glance behind to see Robin pointing his Bloody Marian toward us in its crossbow form, its four arms extending horizontally from the end of the barrel which had two large rectangular rods both above and below the primary barrel. When it was like this it was really a combination of a railgun and a crossbow, using both magnetism and tension to fire a bolt at incredible speeds. A bolt that often had an Indra type electrical Dust detonator, one that reacted violently when combined with other types of active Dust elements.

After taking down the King Taijitu, Ymir had to reload his Himlens-Dån, unfortunately even if he had to pause, the Grim didn't share that sentiment.

"Death Stalker, left side." Robin called out as he re-armed his Bloody Marian

Turning to our left, sure enough, there was a large Death Stalker coming our way with murder in its ten red eyes.

Ymir dropped his machine gun, allowing it to hang by its sling, before drawing his massive Warhammer, Slägga Av Berget. The sling reeled in, drawing his machine gun to his back, before the magnets took hold and held it firmly to his back.

As the Death Stalker charged straight for him, Ymir braced himself, rearing back his Slägga, and preparing to strike.

Then, just before the scorpion reached him, he swung the hammer, maul side first, and drove it into the Grimm like the Fist of God.

With a loud Crack! The hammer smashed into the Death Stalker's thick armor. The thick armor, capable of deflecting nearly everything save anti-tank rounds, cracked under the massive, crushing, pressure of Ymir's hammer and might. The force was so great, it even caved in the front of the Death Stalker's body a bit and knocked it back a ways.

Just after impact, the Ice Dust in the Berget activated, triggering a small explosion of ice on the face of the Death Stalker. From the impact point, ice began to crawl it's way slowly across the Death Stalker, freezing it. Just like the King Taijitu, however, this wasn't enough to kill it.

But again, that wasn't the point.

I holstered my Mawr on my back as I drew Sleas, my axe, from it with my right hand. After holstering Mawr, I drew Llosgi from the small of my back, wielding the double short-barreled shotgun in my left hand.

I flicked my wrist holding my axe, "arming" it as a brief flare of fire exploded from it's razor-sharp serrated blade. When it died down the tip of the blade was glowing red-hot from the fire Dust charging it.

Without another word, I charged straight toward the frozen Death Stalker while Ymir got to reloading his Himlens. Before I could get there, however, and Ursa Major tried to get in my way, swiping at me from my left. I saw the strike coming from a mile away, and as the CQC specialist, the lumbering swing of a large, slow, Ursa seemed painfully slow.

So, in response to the attack, I spun and ducked under the swing with contemptuous ease, and as I counter attack I simultaneously slashed my axe at it's armpit for the limb trying to strike me down. The heated blade cut deep into it's body, slicing through hide, muscle, tendon, and bone, before the Dust triggered against the Grimm. The result?

After cutting of the bear's massive left arm, the stump of a shoulder it had remaining burst into flames. Flames which quickly traveled to the rest of the beast. Ignoring the cries of the immolating Ursa, I resumed my sprint to the Death Stalker, which was still attempting to break out of it's frosty cage.

Before it could, however, I jumped and landed on top of it's face. I pointed my Llosgi at it, shoving it directly into the epicenter of Ymir's strike, and pulled the trigger. Two massive blasts of Dragon's Breath shells blasted directly into it's ice covered face. Dragon's Breath being another special variant of Dust ammunition, one which also reacted quite violently when introduced to more active Dust.

The small, focused, fiery explosion wasn't very big, but when the Fire Dust interacted with the Ice Dust, the reaction started immediately. Glowing red cracks appeared in the ice covering the Death Stalker, quickly spreading to encompass it's entire body. Before it could blow, I jumped off it's back, landing a few yards from the Grimm. Not a second later, the Death Stalker detonated just like the King Taijitu, in an icy explosion, one which took out several Beowolves surrounding it.

Turning around, I managed to catch Robin detonating the Ursa I had lit on fire with his Bloody Marian. The Crack of the Indra round get lodged in its side was all the warning it got before the fire Dust and lightning Dust violently reacted, causing the bear to exploded into a massive, bloody, meaty , fireball. One that got a few other Grimm around it too.

The series of Dust explosions going off so close together cleared the area around quite a bit, allowing us to take a breath and reload. I switched back to my Mawr, put in a fresh mag, and looked around for a bit.

With us coming in with reinforcements, things didn't look too terrible. The grunts were doing a good job working with what few hunters were injured to keep the medics safe as they did their best to perform triage. The gunships were providing covering fire, killing scores of Grimm as they left the forest, but even still, some got through. Considering how many were pouring out of those woods, we likely wouldn't be able to hold this position long. Once the gunships ran out of ammunition, we would be swamped with a massive flood of Grimm I doubted we would be able to handle.

I was about to voice this opinion to Robin when the comm crackled to life.

"Guys, I just got word that from the pilots that the tornado's heading our way. Fast." He explained.

"Are we pulling out?" Ymir asked, his voice rumbling through the comm.

"Don't have much choice. I'd prefer to leave before the gunships run out of ammo, or before the Tornado screws up our pilot's ability to fly even more. I mean, they're good, but there's only so much they can do." Robin explained.

"So, I guess we're cutting our loses?" I offered.

I heard Robin sigh loudly over the comm.

"Looks that way. As much as I might want to take my time and make sure I got all my ducks in a row, the rest of the universe doesn't appear to agree with that sentiment." He reluctantly agreed as he looked off toward the incoming cyclone.

Then he turned back to us and said, "But, we still got a job to do. We need to keep everyone else covered as the pull out. We're the last out, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"That just means we get to kill more shit." I responded with a grin.

"It's what we're here for." Ymir stoically agreed.

"That's what I like to hear." Robin relied, his own grin evident in his voice.

And with that, we resumed our littled slaughter, working together to take down every Grimm in our way with contemptuous ease. Compared to fighting a human opponent, one with Aura, they were laughably simple and easy to kill.

The only real problem they gave us was the fact that there was so damned many of them. If we had been there for more than a few minutes, we would have probably been overwhelmed. Then again, hold the line tactics aren't exactly the specialty of Watchmen, so that isn't terribly surprising.

Fortunately, after a minute or two, mostly everyone else had cleared out. It was just us, the few hunters still in fighting form, the gunships to give us covering fire, and two Bullheads to get us all out of here.

"Alright guys, let's pull back." Robin ordered over the comm.

"Can do." I replied as I began to turn back, but, as I did, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.

Something white.

"Wait, I think I got something." I said as I turned to it, raising my rifle to get a better view of it.

"What is it?" Robin asked, pausing to give me covering fire.

I zoomed in the scope and looked for that flash of white. Then, I spotted it.

"What the hell?" I muttered under my breath.

"What is it?" Robin asked.

It was...a white Beowolf.

I think. It looked like a Beowolf, but it was...different. It was completely white, and not because of it's armored plates or anything, no. It's normally onyx black fur was alabaster white. It's normally red markings and eyes were black, black as a starless night.

And it was just standing there.

Watching us.

Watching me.

I could see it in it's eyes, there was something there, something most Grimm lacked. An intelligence that was beyond most of them. There wasn't uncontrollable hunger or hate in it's eyes, it wasn't struggling to hold back it's desire to rend me to shreds. Instead, it seemed to watch me like a predator, an intelligent, cunning, predator.

It was a look I'd seen many times before, and time and experience had taught me that that look meant nothing but trouble. Some people might have become curious about it, wondering what it wanted. Not me. I saw a Grimm doing weird shit, and those two things should not go together.

"White Beowolf in front of me, marking it now." I said as I activated the marking feature on my HUD, allowing me to designate target for my teammates.

The second I said that I began to lay down fire on it in short controlled bursts. It was at the edge of my range, just far enough for my to hit it with Mawr. As the incendiary rounds traveled to the target I waited to see how it would react to getting fired on.

I never got the chance.

I flash of lightning going off in front of my blinded me for a moment. A second later my helmet speakers dampened the sound of the rumbling thunder that accompanied it. But, the instant the light from the lightning was gone, so too was the white Grimm.

"The Fuck?" I wondered.

"Jack?" Robin asked.

"It's gone." I explained.

"The Beowolf?" He asked.

"Yeah, it just...disappeared." I said, mystified.

"Well, just be glad it isn't eating your face. You can worry about the rest later." Robin replied.

"Got it boss." I said absentmindedly.

And with that, we turned and got on board our Bullhead. As the other one took off, I saw two hunters approaching ours. Normally, I might have been a bit irritated at the idea of having some of them riding with us. But, seeing the looks on their faces changed my mind pretty quickly.

It was a green haired man with glasses and some sort of flaming spear thing, and that blond woman with the glasses and wand. Each of them looked like they were walking away from a crushing defeat, which, in a way, they were. They may have gotten out alive, but by no stretch of the imagination could anyone truly call this a "victory".

So, we let them get on board, and a moment later the craft shook as we began to take off. As we did the woman kept looking into the forest, desperately searching for something.

Only when the doors closed and we left the forest behind did she stop and turn away from the window. For a minute, we rode in an uncomfortable silence. Then, Robin decided to speak up.

"So how many did we leave behind?" He asked somberly.

The woman looked down and took a deep breath.

"24. 24 students didn't get on a transport." She replied

Then she lowered her head, hiding her eyes from us as she whispered with shaky breath, "Including Ru-...Lilith."

Then she turned from us and held her head in her hands.

Before I could absorb the fact that we had left 12 kids back there to die, my curiosity got the best of me as I wondered about that name.

Turning to the green haired huntsman, I decided, against my better judgment, to ask, "Who's Lilith?"

The green haired man looked at me uncomfortably before glancing toward the woman.

"Lilith is..." He began, pausing for a second.

"Lilith is Ms. Goodwitch's niece. She is...was...one of the initiates this year." He explained, gesturing towards the woman.

"O-oh."

What else could I say?

Suddenly, I felt like a real asshole for asking about her niece, who she had just left behind in that hell.

Turning to her, I apologized sincerely, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

But she didn't even look up, didn't even respond. Can't say I was surprised. I don't even know how I would react if I was in a situation like that.

Then it the severity of the situation hit me. They had suffered tremendous and severe casualties. I suddenly realized how fucked up this whole situation had become for them. It was so bad they had to ask us, the Watchmen, to help them. And even then, we couldn't save everyone.

I sighed, realizing how true my earlier thought was.

Truly, there was no glory won here. Only losses minimized.


A/n:

Right, so this is Scene 15: Blackened Glory.

We got a bit more Torchwick

Team WVYR got out safe and sound.

Most everyone else didn't.

Ms. Goodwitch did, but a lot of the student body is dead now.

Yeah, I kinda killed a lot of kids.

Not sorry.

At all.

Not even a little bit.

Oh, and the Watchmen finally did things.

Awesome things.

In case your wondering, "What happened to team ANBL? Why didn't they get on a transport?" Well, the answer to that question is coming next scene.

Also known as the scene in which I wrap up Act I.

Scene 16's going to be pretty awesome.

Oh, and the things that happened here are going to have an impact on the rest of the school year.

This is setting a precedent for how the rest of the story will probably go.

The story is going to split off the rails from cannon even more so from here on out, and it's not going to a place filled with sunshine and rainbows.