"For many years, men did as they did before. They endured. They lived with a system that was built against them and settled for what they were given."
Guards are trained for many things. They are trained to deal with riots, Grimm, and thieves. These guards were trained to train people like they were less than human and to abuse them however they like. But one thing the guard were not trained for was a well armed, well trained, soldier to bust out of the Correctional Facility with a giant project shield that he used to crash his way through every person in his path.
Stark slammed into a group of five guards and turned them into a set of blood stains on the wall behind them. Stark whirled around and fired on every uniform he saw. Almost every bullet caused a head to exploded. One or two guards had their aura unlocked to protect them from his initial shot and immediately opened fire on Stark. That was until Stark had the shield in between the two of them and charged again.
There was a fine pink mist as Stark ran through them. Stark swung his rifle around and blew someone's head into bits before changing it to a spear and throwing it across the way at a guard that had been taking careful aim at him. Stark ran across the ground felt a dozen bullets hitting his blue shield. As he ran, Stark tried to create another shield to crush to men that had been lined up across the open ground. He failed as his aura went dangerously low.
He pulled his spear out of the corpse it had been stuck in and turned its barrel toward the people. A small hole opened up in the shield and shove his rifle through it. Eight shots and six people fell to the ground. A second later Stark's shield dropped and he dove into the building.
There was a guard waiting for him inside, but his puny pistol barely took off what was left of his aura. Stark cracked the butt of his spear across the guard's face and then stabbed the head through the man's neck. When the guard fell over Stark saw a family huddled up on the floor, clutching onto each other for dear life.
"We have failed the Queen," one of them said. "She has come to punish us! Punish us!" The rest of the family began to wail. Stark clenched his fist and his aura flared. He reloaded his rifle and cracked down the door.
His aura absorbed the wave of bullets that greeted him. He fell to one knee and lifted his rifle and began taking them out. The steady stream of bullets began to die as people fell to the ground around him. It only took one bullet for each person this time around. As Stark took a moment to reload and a Dust grenade rolled towards him. Before Stark even had a moment to throw a shield over it, a purple telekinetic field wrapped around it and threw it back.
Tecaelis leapt down from a building as the grenade blew about a group of guards. A cloud of ball bearings and assorted metal floated around him as he ran up to the nearest squad of soldiers. A flick of his wrist and two people lost their heads. A solid wall appeared in front of the soldier and blocked all his bullets. The nearest guard eyes widened until Tecaelis' metal fist burst through the cloud and sent the front of his face out the back.
A guard pressed his shotgun to the back of Tecaelis' head, but a quick shot from Stark caused the soldier's head to explode. Tecaelis nodded to Stark before someone tried to hit him on the head with the butt of his gun. Tecaelis rolled his eyes and threw his elbow backwards. The sheer force of Tecaelis' mechanical limb cause the guard's head, and much of his chest, to go across the ground.
"Where's Elic?" Stark asked as he fell in behind Tecaelis while taking easy shots at the guards.
"Putting his gear on and filling up his Dust injectors." Tecaelis raised his hand high and brought it down, causing a blade a metal to cut through a building guards were holed up in. It collapsed down on top of them.
"Dust injectors? What the hell does he need Dust for, the man is massive!"
"Eh, I wouldn't want to fight him when he is using Dust."
"Nevermind, I'm going to find the rest of these fools." And with that, Stark took off. Tecaelis nodded and stormed off in a direction of his own. Up above, Lucas' rifle was glowing hot as he fired on Grimm. Their number were increasing, Beowulfs and Boarbatusks were stumbling across the windy Plateau. Above a Giant Nevermore Circled just above the jet stream that covered the landscape. When it first appeared, it fired a torrent of sharp feathers down, but the winds blew them out of sight. Lucas grumbled and pulled out a spare flask out of his pack.
Stark burst it the control room and quickly dispatched of the two men working it. They weren't a problem, without the radio tower they took down there was no way for them to get a message back to the capitol. But from the control room he could look out over the town. There was no one in sight. Lucas was cooling his barrel down with a water bottle and Tecaelis was sweeping the area. But otherwise, there was no one.
Stark found a button marked 'intercom' and decided to play a hunch. He pressed the button and leaned into the microphone.
"Everyone come out and line up." The effect was instant. People crawled out of their homes and stood at attention. They looked uneasy. "Your town is free, we are giving it to you." Silence. Not a word, they didn't even look at each other. Stark decide to play another hunch. "The Queen commands you be happy." The people broke in cheering and joyful shouts. Tecaelis looked horrified as the people jump up and desperately tried convince them they were happy. Stark did know what was worse, them pretending to be happy or-
"Stark, we have Goliaths incoming!" Lucas shouted from the roof top. Stark's eyes widened furiously.
"Silence! Get back inside and wait!" The people scrambled to comply as Stark kicked the door off its hinges. "Tecaelis, come with me!" He shouted as he ran out onto the street. A quick glance to see where Lucas was pointing his rifle told him where he needed to go.
Stark climbed over the ridge the town was set in and look out over the flat land. A stampede of thirteen or fourteen Goliaths were charging towards them. Stark clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut, and then nothing. Stark's eyes suddenly looked on cold and uncaring.
"Alright, Tecaelis. Here is what we are-" He was cut off by the sound of a massive gunshot. Suddenly a hole the size of a baseball ripped through the lead Goliath and tore out the other side, clipping the Grimm behind it. Tecaelis swallowed and looked behind him.
Lucas' rifle had grown considerably longer and much thinner. The bipod was bolted to the roof and Lucas ejected an extremely large round from the chamber. It fell to the ground with a large clang and a trail of smoke.
"Oh shit, that's an anti-mech rifle." He could almost see Lucas smiling as he loaded another round and blasted a new hole in the next Goliath. Stark grabbed Tecaelis and shook him a little.
"We need to get ready, he only carries ten of those rounds with him. And there are more Goliaths than that." As if to argue this fact, another round glanced off the face plate of one Goliath and pierced through the sides of the two Goliaths standing to the side of it.
"What was that about telekinetics being show offs?" Tecaelis asked dryly. As the Goliaths drew closer the were able to see the hordes of Grimm coming with them. As it turns out, Goliaths are a decent wind breaker judging by the five dozen Beowulf's, twenty Boarbatusks, a handful of Grunts, and a bullish Taurus Grimm.
"Do you have any red Dust?" Stark asked. Tecaelis pulled out his Dust ration. Inside were a few vials of the powdered stuff and three crystals. One blue, one red, one yellow. He took out the crystal and matching vial. Stark took them and pulled out his own set. He slammed the crystals against his chest and poured the powdered stuff down his throat. In both cases, they disappeared as his aura consumed them. There will still two Goliaths charging by the time Lucas fired his remaining anti-mech bullet.
"You take the Goliaths, I got everything else."
"Are you insane you can't-"
"Do it Schnee!" Stark through up a bright red and gold shield of energy and charged like a madman against the Grimm.
There was a single terrifying moment when Stark though his shield might not hold up against the two massive Grimm, Dust infused or not. But as the Goliaths pressed their skulls against the shield, their faces exploded. The Goliaths next out a mangled cry as they were set on fire. Stark turned from them and charged the smaller Grimm as Tecaelis' telekinetic blades and metal saws cut at the Goliaths.
Stark felt strength blossom through him each time a Grimm burned up in his shields fire. He kept charging, putting everything he had in his shield. Beowulfs turned to ash instantly, boarbatusks were more resilient and managed to roll out of the way as Stark continued to steam forward. Some Grunts tried to leap over the shield and took a spearhead in their stomachs. The more Grimm that burned the wider the shield grew, causing it to hit more of them The Taurus head butted the shield with a mighty bullish snort. Stark slammed to a stop as the bull pushed against him, both of its horns drilling into the shield. Fire blasted at its face, but it didn't stop pushing. Suddenly the red ran out as the Dust lost effect and the shield shattered. Stark dodged out of the way as the Taurus stumbled to the ground. The two of them stared each other down for a brief moment. The white and red bone armour was scorched and a new set of eyes grew back in its sockets. It gave a snort and pawed the ground as it stared down Stark. His silver eyes stared at it. The Grimm hesitated as it couldn't detect emotion from the human. All except one; determination.
Stark stabbed and shot a Beowulf and Grunt that decided to charge him at the moment, all without breaking his stare with the bull Grimm.
And then the bull charged, its heavy feet thundering across the ground. Suddenly, its head snapped to the side as a sniper bullet sparked across the bone armour encasing its head. The Grimm turned its eye back forward just in time to see Starks fist, wrapped in a small golden shield, strike its face. A second later and he shoved his rifle underneath the Taurus' neck and unloaded the remaining clip into it. The bull was stunned for only a short second, after which it heaved its massive body and threw Stark off itself.
Stark rolled to his feet, switching to his spear as the Taurus charged. A small shield appeared across the ground, causing the bulls powerful legs to stumble as they broke through it. Stark took the opening and began wailing on its head with a shielded fist, holding his spear in his left hand. The bull looked up at him as its armour cracked and opened its mouth to snarl… letting Stark shove his spear down its throat. He gave it a twist and yanked it out. A thick glob of black goo pulsed on the end it. With a quick flick of his wrist, Stark put a shield in its throat and expanded it until its head burst.
Tecaelis was sweating with the effort of fighting off both Goliaths. To be fair, telekinesis was a pretty distinct advantage to have. Both hands were a blur as he commanded two spinning disks of metal. He was using Dust by now to keep him from burning out, but it was barely enough.
The Goliaths were burned, cracked, and bleeding black ooze. Every few seconds two sniper shots would take out their eyes, letting Tecaelis bare down on them.
Stark reloaded his rifle and charged forward. He ducked under the Grimm and began slicing and stabbing wildly. The Grimm was regenerating fast, fast enough that Stark could pop a pin out of a grenade and shoved it inside its regenerating tissue. Stark dart out from under it and began firing at its face. The Goliath lifted up its trunk and got ready to shoot some boiling liquid at him, and then its guts exploded and it legs buckled. Stark shoved his spear as far into its eye as fast as possible. Even then the Goliath began to get back up, but Stark twisted the spear and yanked out what he could only assume to be the Grimm replacement for a brain.
Stark turned back towards the remaining Grimm which was now the subject of Tecaelis' full attention. All the metal assembled together in the form of a giant thin spear. The Goliath shot boiling black liquid in his direction. Stark threw up a shield a moment before Tecaelis was completely covered in the acidic goo. From behind the shield, Tecaelis managed to shove a spear of metal its trunk. The Grimm let out a screech and charged. Tecaelis paled as his aura failed and he lost control over his metal as the Grimm continued to charge at them.
The Grimm went crashing to the ground as Stark slammed into its side with a massive shield. He raised his spear, but The Goliath began to kick wildly and Stark went flying across the ground. There was a bit of blue light as his aura burned out. Tecaelis let out a shout and brought out a rotary saw made out of pure energy as a last ditch effort brung back the tiniest amount of aura. In the fraction of a second he manifested this weapon, he sawed the Goliath's guts open. And still, the creature tried to get to its feet as it crawled towards Tecaelis.
"Ah, give it up already!" He shouted as he pulled his own submachine gun out and levelled it at the creature. Fire Dust rounds cause a small line of miniature explosions across it.
They had a brief moment to breath when the last one died. Stark got to his feet and casually stabbed the beowulf that had decided to charge him at the moment. Stark and Tecaelis shared a smile as the wind roared around them and they were pelted with small rocks and bits of Grimm. Then Stark frowned.
"What is that noise?" Tecaelis thought for a moment.
"Sounds like Lucas is using his machine gun."
"But he hates his machine gun. He would only use it if-" and then they saw them.
Nearly a hundred woman like Grimm shot down from the sky and wailing. They screeched through one of the few places they didn't have any bone armour, their sharp beaks. Nearly one hundred Harpies, descending from the sky like a could of black death. There was no way they could-
"Die you Harpy bastards! Die!" And then everything exploded.
The thick cloud of Harpys blew apart in an instant as a series of rapid-fire explosions ripped the formation apart like it was paper. In just a few seconds nearly a hundred of one of Mistral's worst Grimm was reduced to something closer to twenty.
Stark had thought Elic was massive before, and he wasn't standing up straight at the time. But even then that was nothing to him now. He was completely clad in thick heavy armour, painted black and green. And the old scratches didn't make it look any less intimidating. He was as tall a short building, and in his hand was a grenade… machinegun. A grenade machine gun that was probably in the largest hands in the world.
"Die you flying bitches!" He shouted as he unleashed a wild spray of grenades in a dozen different directions. Stark didn't expect much trouble after that.