Around noon, Hishan's militia took a lunch break, two people eating while two others kept their eyes open and one slept. At this time, I was currently stationed at Vanguard's barricade with Henry, the guy who first greeted my when I landed. After a few desperate attempts at conversation, he finally told me that he'd been a captain in Vale's military before taking a crippling slash to the chest from an ursa major that had attacked his camp. He'd been honorably discharged and came to Hishan to relax for the rest of his life.
"So what were you before you were discharged?" I asked as I bit into a baloney sandwich a few of the village's chefs had made for the all of the guards.
"Point-man." Henry replied as he kept his gaze to the forest, his rifle cocked and ready. "Proficient with shotguns and assault rifles."
I looked at the other people who I was eating with and they just shrugged. I finished my sandwich and stood. "I'm going to check the status of Goliath and Behemoth." I said to Henry, who just grunted in response.
I sighed and headed west, passing a few people roaming around in the streets. I knew that Deadeye was going to be fine since Grace was stationed there. Still though, I had an uneasy feeling. I clicked on the radio. "Archangel, this is Wardog. You see anything, over?"
A few seconds later, the watch responded. "Nothing yet Wardog, over."
I kept walking and was in the town square when I heard someone yelling.
"You think that just because you're a faunus I should give you a discount!?" A voice shouted. I looked to my right to see a shopkeeper waving his arms around angrily as another man with rhinoceros skin stood in front of the man's shop, staring back at the man with fists clenched.
Instinctively, my fingers went to the pressure switches of my gauntlets, ready to extend the blades, but Velvet's voice in the back of my head stopped me.
"I just want you to exercise some restraint." I sighed and walked over to the brewing situation.
"Something wrong here?" I asked both men as calmly as I could.
"Yeah this animal thinks that I should give him a discount just because he thinks he's 'special'." He spat out the word.
"That's not even close to what I said!" The rhino-man replied angrily. "I just asked that because we're under attack by grimm if he could lower his outrageous prices!"
"HEY!" I shouted, silencing them both. "What do you provide for the people here?" I asked the shopkeeper sternly.
He shrugged with crossed arms. "Just food and baking ingredients." He replied, anger still present in his voice.
"And do you charge more than usual for these products?" I asked.
"Fuck yeah, he does!" The faunus interrupted.
I turned my gaze to him. "Sir, if I want your opinion, I will ask for it." He nodded and kept quiet for the moment.
"Sir?" I asked, looking back at the store owner.
He shrugged again. "My prices may not be the best in the village, but if he doesn't like them, why doesn't he go somewhere else?"
"Because this is the only place left that has a particular food that I prefer!" The faunus interjected. I glared at him before questioning the other man further.
"Is that true?" I asked.
The shopkeeper sighed. "Yes."
"OK, and since the village is frequently being attacked by grimm, it wouldn't hurt for you to lower your prices." I stated.
"Yeah, but he's a faunus! Why should he get special treatment?" The man retorted.
I shook my head. "I never said to lower your prices just for him."
"But he's got rhino skin…" He began.
"And you've got a mole on the right side of your face. Does that mean that I should treat you like crap just because you look different than I do?" I interrupted him.
"Well… I-I-I…" I smirked as he tried to argue. "All right. I guess that I could drop my prices until the grimm stop attacking." He said resignedly as the man headed back inside his store.
"Wow. Thanks for that. I didn't think he'd ever back down." The rhino-man said astonished.
I shrugged back. "Don't worry about it. I just can't stand seeing faunus being abused for who they are."
He gave me a confused look. "Why? You're human." He stated.
I breathed deeply before answering. "My girlfriend used to get made fun of because of her rabbit ears. It's also because of her that I decided to approach your situation with diplomacy rather than force."
He smiled back at me and extended his hand. "Thanks for the help. Name's Gar by the way."
I shook his hand and smiled back. "Joseph. Anyway, I've got to get going. I'll see you around, Gar." I said as I released his hand and moved towards Behemoth's post. I walked past a few more buildings until Archangel came over the radio.
"Five beowolves approaching Vanguard's position, over!" I immediately broke off from my regular course and sprinted towards the north barricade. Automatic gunfire broke out almost immediately after the call from the watchman was broadcast. Once I got there, all five-people manning the station were standing and firing their respective weapons at the small group of creatures. Grace wasn't wrong when she said they attacked with ferocity. When they charged towards the small fortification, they snarled and roared the entire way and were moving faster than any other beowolves I'd ever seen. I observed the slaughter as the five wolf-grimm were quickly filled with bullets and a man with a dust rocket launcher decimated the group. As the five corpses began to disintegrate, Archangel came over the radio again.
"Fifteen beowolves charging towards Goliath's position, over!" A second later, extremely rapid gunfire erupted from the east barricade and I moved to assist, but Henry barred my way with a rigid arm.
He clicked on his radio and spoke into it. "Deadeye, divert three soldiers to the east, over." He ordered calmly.
"Got it Henry, over." Grace calmly replied. I nodded at Henry in understanding and waited.
"Archangel, how are they doing, over?" Henry asked.
"Vanguard, the grimm are almost exterminated, over." The man in the tower replied as he exhaled deeply into the radio.
"This is Deadeye, there's around twenty beowolves charging towards our position!" A man came over the radio, extremely panicked. My eyebrows shot up and sprinted southward.
"Hold on Deadeye, Wardog is heading your way! I want all of Deadeye to regroup at the south barricade now, over!" Henry ordered over the radio. Once I got to the barricade, the two remaining snipers were quickly firing and reloading their high-caliber, bolt action rifles at the sprinting, snarling, vicious attackers. I extended my blades as they ran through the clearing separating the village of Hishan and the surrounding forest. Seven dropped as bullets hit their skulls and three simultaneously jumped over the four-foot wooden barricade while the remaining ten continued to charge forth, unfazed by the death of their comrades. I planted myself underneath one of the beowolves as it was about to land and it impaled itself on both my blades. The weight of the corpse fell on me and I pushed it off as I got up and slashed diagonally at the next target. To my surprise, it saw the attack coming and dodged out of the way. The beowolf slashed back and I rolled towards its unprotected stomach. Thankfully, I was the faster that time and delved my right blade into its chest while my left plunged into its stomach and dragged it upwards, causing massive bleeding damage to the grimm. Black blood flowed out of the large gash and I shoved the corpse away from me. The third took advantage of my temporal daze and leapt at me from the side with an eardrum-shattering roar. The hind legs of the beast were pinning my legs to the cobblestone path of the village while it maliciously slashed at my face with its razor claws. I shielded my face by crossing my gauntlets over-top each other as it continued to claw me. A few loud cracks rang out and the beowolf dropped suddenly. With a grunt, I shoved the body off me as the remaining few beowolves retreated back into the forest.
Grace ran up next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked, concerned.
I nodded back. "I'm fine, check on the others." I said, gesturing to the other two shooters. I retracted my blades and crossed my arms as I curiously watched the beowolves pull back. After we both checked on our fighters, we found that one had the unfortunate luck of having his throat viciously torn out by a beowolf. I headed north to report to Henry the casualty. I found him crouched next to a wounded man about twenty years old, his assault rifle slung across his back. Upon seeing me, he scowled and stormed towards me.
"You want to tell me what the hell just happened?!" He yelled. I immediately scowled back.
"Those weren't normal beowolves." I replied calm as I could, still remembering Velvet's lesson in my mind.
"Holy shit! I think you're a genius!" He yelled sarcastically.
I held up a finger. "But it wasn't the beowolves themselves. They were more intelligent, faster and they knew our weak points, like they were being led. It's the same principle as having a group of soldiers with a leader. Guided, they can do just about anything. But take away the leader, and they're running around having no idea what to do, just killing any enemy that they see." I explained.
Henry paused before he opened his mouth again. "So, what your saying is that these… creatures." He paused, knowing where I was going with this. "Are being led by something."
I nodded slowly with crossed arms. "Yes." I stated.
"But the only thing that can lead grimm is…an Omega." One of the soldiers' part of team Vanguard said from behind Henry.
"Exactly." I said to the woman. "They targeted our strong points when they could've just as easily climbed over the buildings and fought in the middle of town. That, and they waited to attack Deadeye's position until most of them had been diverted to help Goliath and they retreated because they were told to, not because they wanted to. The Omega must've given them the order to fall back when they realized that I was here. It wanted to assess what were capable of; how many of them we could kill before one of us fell." I let out a sigh. "And it looks like they accomplished their objective."
Henry gave me a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
"A member of Deadeye is KIA." I replied bluntly.
Henry sighed. "Shit. I guess you'll be posted there until we kill this thing."
I shook my head. "We have to find it first."
Henry's scowl disappeared, but he still wasn't happy. "Okay then, we'll send out a patrol..."
"No!" I shouted before he could continue. "You do that and you're only going to be leaving the village undefended! You need someone who's familiar with grimm; someone who knows where an Omega might make its den." I said with iron-clad determination as I stared into the veteran's green eyes with my own purple orbs.
"Okay then." He replied. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I'll go."
I shook my head again. "That's not happening. You're the leader of this militia and they need you. If I die though," I smirked and let out a light laugh. "Nobody needs me." I stated.
Henry let out an exasperated groan. "Fine, fuck. I want you up and out of here by o-five hundred hours tomorrow morning and you're finding out where this thing is but you leave killing the Omega to us." He pointed a finger at the rest of Vanguard at the word 'us'. "Understood, Wardog?" He was pissed now.
It was the only option; I knew that going up against an Omega yourself was a death wish. A trained huntsman could kill an Omega on their own, but just barely. "Understood."
"Good." The veteran said with a nod. "Rest up, you'll need it." I looked at the time on my scroll and it was only 3:40 and with my sleep schedule, there was no way in hell I would be able to sleep for more than fourteen consecutive hours. Instead, I prepared my gear for the scouting mission tomorrow, laying out a black hoodie with a black t-shirt and dark green jeans and running shoes so that I would blend in with the grass and darkness of the forest. I then decided to call Ozpin and give him an update. Like every other student at Beacon, I had Ozpin's number to his office phone on my scroll and I dialed it. The phone rang once before the headmaster answered.
"Yes?" He asked, calm as ever.
"Hello, Professor Ozpin? It's Joseph."
"Mr. Taren, I was hoping to hear from you. It's comforting to know that you're still alive."
I let out a light laugh. "Thank you, Professor." I then remembered recent attack, bringing down my mood significantly. "I'm afraid that I have some bad news."
He let out a sigh. "You believe that an Omega is orchestrating the attacks on Hishan?"
"Yes Professor, these particular grimm are smarter, more vicious, coordinated and faster than any normal beowolves I've ever seen."
"Yes, an Omega has an inspirational effect on the same type of grimm." He paused. "Thank you for the update, Mr. Taren. Your mission is to now find and eradicate the Omega."
"What about all the other beowolves?" I asked.
"They will disperse once the Omega is dead." He explained.
"Okay, I'll call you again once the Omega is dead."
"I wish you luck then, Mr. Taren. Goodbye." With that, he hung up and I decided to calm myself down by walking around the village, assessing the damage to the buildings and people before going to sleep.
It was a normal morning at Beacon, but something in the back of my mind told me that something was wrong. I was walking on the edge of the Emerald forest, wearing my day-to-day clothes including Castor and Pollux when I heard a low growl. I glanced towards the forest and saw two burning red eyes that belonged to a creature of grimm, the rest of the body camouflaged by the shade of the forest. I aimed my gauntlets towards the grimm and fired all twelve of my grenades at the creature. After the smoke cleared, the trees next to where the body of the grimm were completely disintegrated but in the middle, was a beowolf fifty percent taller than an Alpha and looked to be five times as strong, it's muscles the size of small boulders. The normally unprotected underside of the monster was almost completely covered in white armored plates with a few bearing cracks that formed a vertical line on its chest. I extended my blades and rushed forward as the creature growled again. I slashed at it about half a dozen times, but not once did it even flinch. The hits appeared to do nothing as it swung its massive paw at me and sent me flying more than thirty feet. I landed on my back and the creature stood over me, letting out another low growl as it opened its maw and lunged for my throat.
I jolted up in my sleeping bag and immediately extended my blades. After I looked around at my surroundings, reality sunk in. It was still completely dark which meant it was probably around midnight. It was just a dream. My fingers left the pressure triggers and I retracted the blades to pick up my scroll that I realized had been vibrating on the floor next to my head. Well that explains the growling. I pressed the 'accept call' button.
"Hello?"
"H-hi Joe." A familiar voice said nervously.
"Velvet." I said, now fully awake. "Hey, what's uh... what's up?"
"I'm sorry, did- did I wake you?"
"No, I was just trying to find my scroll."
"So um… Jaune told me about your errand for Professor Ozpin." Something sounded off in her voice.
"Velvet." I started. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm fine." She said.
"Velvet…" I said sternly.
"Joe, I had another nightmare." She said quickly.
Shit, I'm out here and I can't be there for her. I thought, remembering our agreement. "So since I'm away and we promised each other that we could cuddle with the other if either of us had a nightmare, you thought the next best thing would be to call?" I asked.
She paused. "Y-yeah. I'm… I'm sorry I woke you Joe; I just didn't know what else to do."
I let out a sigh. "Velvet, you can phone me any time of the day; noon, midnight, morning or evening. It doesn't matter. I'll always be there for you even if I can't." I paused. "If-if that even makes sense."
She let out a quiet giggle, bringing a smile to my face. "Th-thanks. That makes me feel a little bit better."
"Do you remember what it was about?" I asked.
"No, not really. I just woke up about half an hour ago."
"And you decided to wait that long until calling?" I asked a little more aggressively than I intended.
"I-I-I'm sorry it's just that…" She trailed off.
I took a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry Velvet. Please understand, I'm not mad, I'm just concerned about you, okay? I don't want you to be up all night."
A minute passed before Velvet spoke again. "O-okay I'll phone you immediately after my next nightmare."
"Good, but hopefully you won't have to." I said with a smile. "Good night Velvet. I love you."
"Love you too, Joe. Goodnight." Her voice said from the other end of the line. I waited until I was sure she had hung up before I ended the call on my end. I removed the device from my ear and stared at Velvet's smiling face on my scroll.
I smiled. "Huh. I guess there's at least one person who needs me." After placing the scroll next to my pillow, I lay my head down and slept until morning.