I know it's not the 29th, but screw it. What's one day?
I actually have a question for you. Starting from here, the chapters are going to get longer, going from anywhere between 5k to 10k words. Do you guys prefer longer chapters or shorter ones? And no, this isn't a half-assed attempt at getting more reviews, definitely not.
;P
Peace out, guys.
#1
Connie leapt from Grendel, drawing her blade in midair before hacking off the arm of a lunging Beowolf. She sprang off its head as it yeowled and flipped in front of another to slash down its front as she fell, gutting the beast and coating her with red ichor. The slime dripped down her suit as she stood and casually stabbed through the front of the armless one behind her, piercing its heart before it could bring its remaining claws down on her, leaving it to moan in pain at her feet as she stared at the others in the pack. There were twelve in number – not including the pair at her feet – though she was sure there were more hiding in the trees.
"Come," she said.
And they did. A pair snarled as they lunged at her. Connie ducked under the claws of one and hacked at the knee of the other, buckling its legs and sending its slash straight into its ally's neck. She slashed the throat of the second as it stumbled and turned to the next, leaving them both to drown in their own blood.
Ten left.
A Beowolf howled and lunged, forcing Connie to the side to avoid it. She was recovering her balance and couldn't react in time when it spun on its heel and swiped, bowling her over and sent her flying towards a tree. Instead of panicking she flipped in midair, letting her feet slam into the tree instead of her head, absorbing the impact with bent knees. She smirked as her boots and gloves hummed to life, and before the beast could react she half-ran half-crawled up the trunk and disappeared into the branches. The pack was confused, searching for their wayward prey when she dropped onto the shoulders of the one that sent her flying and dug her blade into its skull, killing it.
She rolled away as it dropped to the ground, a puppet with its strings cut.
Nine.
Connie had turned to the next one when she was tackled from the side with all the force of a freight train. She was knocked off balance and the Beowolf snarled in triumph as it slashed its arms at her side – though the armor held up well with to the first slash, a claw managed to tear through on the second, sending splitting pain through the girl's body and drawing a pained yell from her. It didn't get farther than that as she fell back, slashing her blade across its eyes, and left it to scamper back amid pained howls.
Eight and a half.
Gasping, she crawled back as far as she could from the slowly advancing pack, holding a hand to her injured side and stopped only when she hit the side of her dead tank. A glance told her the cut was as bad as it felt and deep enough to show the white of her rib, though she wasn't in any danger of keeling over right then. Then again, it seemed that her luck had cursed her once more, as it was her right side that had been slashed, matching her throbbing left side with its fractured rib. But even so, it wouldn't matter with the Beowolves hungry for her blood. Connie gritted her teeth, hoping that the end would be quick and painless. Or, at the very least, quick.
-O-O-O-
"What do you mean 'don't interfere?!'" Yang screamed, holding the prefect by his jacket. "They could all be dead in the next thirty seconds, and you tell me 'don't interfere?!'"
The auditorium was in an uproar. Several students were aghast, struggling not to lose their lunch at what they were seeing. Others were dismayed that the fun hadn't lasted longer. But most, like Yang, were ready to tear down the doors to go help. Ruby was there alongside her, along with Weiss and Blake. The prefect was shaking in his boots at the sight of the four angry huntresses, but held his ground.
"I-I realize this is difficult-"
"Do you?!" Yang screamed, her eyes flashing red
"-b-but I'm under direct instructions to not let any students leave! I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do!"
Yang glowered and held up her fist. "Oh, yes there is. You can step aside and let us through, or I can crater your face and then we'll go through."
The prefect's eyes narrowed. "You can turn and walk away, or I can give you all detention for a month!" he shot back.
Just before Yang was about to punch her way through the guy, Ruby heard a commotion on the screen and turned. "Yang! Look!" she yelled excitedly, a large grin on her face
Most of the hunters heard the loud whine, and when they turned to look their jaws dropped. Yang was no exception, the red in her eyes fading instantly. Blake was completely silent, while Weiss was utterly flabbergasted.
The cavalry had arrived.
-O-O-O-
#2
Connie gritted her teeth against the pain, waiting patiently for the nearest Beowolf to bite her head off when her helmet crackled, the radio coming to life as a voice sputtered, "-Respond… hammer inbound, please res…"
The pain was brushed aside at the sound of the familiar code word, and she wearily raised a hand to her throat mic. "Hammer acknowledged. Be advised, anvil is close. Repeat, anvil close," she said, though her voice was strained.
The radio crackled, sputtered, and finally stabilized, the voice on the other end evening out as the signal connected.
"Repeat last," a man said on the other end.
"Anvil close, minus twenty. Any assistance you can give is appreciated."
"Acknowledged, anvil close. We've got your signature, paint your targets and we'll bring the rain."
Connie touched a button on the side of her helmet, linking the camera feeds to Grendel's own systems. She could hear the dull whine of incoming Bullheads, though they were much closer than she thought if they could detect her tank through the trees. The feed sent through the system was processed by Grendel's onboard computer, and it turned into raw targeting data that then streamed directly to the incoming gunships. In turn, their systems lit up and locked on to the nine surviving Beowolves, as well as heat signatures of the ones hidden around them.
"Good tone, targets acquired. Wild Geese engaging."
"Good hunting."
As Connie had spoken to the Bullhead pilots, Nina and Patrick had looked on in confusion. Patrick managed to get his hands on his weapon and Nina had gotten her second wind. They were ready to slaughter the rest of the Grimm in the area when the pilot of the tank had begun to speak, seemingly to thin air. Then there was the distinctive whoosh of air of the Bullheads, leaving the pair to look around in confusion.
They were even more confused when the wounded girl looked to them, her helmet's glare freezing them in place as she said, "You two find cover. Now."
Before they could even think to, the Bullheads settled overhead, just barely visible through the canopy. The sheer noise from all four aircraft was deafening, but nothing could prepare them for the utter hell that happened next.
Rapid-fire booms reverberated in their chests as bullets rained down, targeting each Beowolf and shredding the beasts before they even had time to move and face the new threat. Connie scowled when the ichor of a hapless Grimm sprayed across her visor, and curled tighter into a ball as bullets thudded around her. Patrick and Nina fared no better, as Nina had forced Patrick to the ground and was crushing him beneath her armor in order to protect him. It worked surprisingly well – the shield on her back deflected several bullets, but Patrick was blue in the face as he struggled for breath. All they could do was watch as bullets sprayed from the heavens, decimating the Grimm that had been ready to end their lives not a moment before.
It didn't end once the last visible Beowolf fell. Rockets screamed out of missile tubes and ripped into the forest around them, and tortured howls echoed as fireballs and shrapnel tore through hide and trees alike. The Bullhead pilots were merciless, not stopping until a hundred foot patch of forest had been cleared away and they had all but vaporized the pack that had been hounding them, leaving nothing but burning, fallen trees and piles of greasy somethings that may or may not have been breathing a minute before.
Connie shook her head, her ears ringing from the assault.
"This is Goose One to unknown Armor pilot. You alive down there?"
Coughing, Connie sat up and winced as her side screamed at her. "P-pilot to Goose One. Call sign is Grendel. We're still alive."
"Glad to hear your voice, Grendel. You're the newbie from yesterday, right?"
"A-affirmative."
"It'll be good to see one of us show these hunters what we can do. We'll rearm and escort you in."
Connie nodded as she watched the flight of Bullheads rocket away towards Beacon, even though she knew the pilots couldn't see it. A pair of groans could be heard from the single standing tree in the middle of the destruction, where Nina and Patrick were trying to extricate themselves from the armored girl's flying tackle. Granted, the tree was missing half its branches and some parts were on fire, but they weren't dead. That counted for something, right?
If nothing else, she could see the Beacon Cliffs with the trees cleared around them. To her frustration they were only a few minutes way.
-O-O-O-
"That," Patrick groaned, throwing his partner off him, "was fuckin' banjaxed. Let's never, ever, ever fuckin' do that shite again."
He grunted when Nina half-heartedly slapped the back of his head. "Watch your language," she groaned, glancing at her dented shield with distaste. With a click of her tongue she unstrapped it from her arm, leaving it to drop unceremoniously to the ground.
A pained grunt drew the Huntress's eye. Connie was holding a hand to her bleeding side and struggling to get to her feet, leaning heavily against her tank, and though Nina couldn't see the girl's face she could tell she was in a lot of pain. With a grunt of her own, Nina staggered to her feet, leaving Patrick to sputter in indignation as she limped to the Armor pilot. She grabbed the girl's arm, the seemingly uninjured side, though she still yelped in pain.
"If you're going to stand, at least let me help," Nina said, looking into the red glow of her 'eyes'.
"… Just get me to my cockpit," she said, her voice strained and weak.
Nina sighed, but helped the girl with her slow progress, her arm over her shoulder and supporting her weight by gripping the back of her belt. "At least take your helmet off, we're out of danger for the moment."
"Speak fer yerself!" Patrick yelled, watching the treeline. "I'm the only one good fer combat at the moment!"
"At least you're good for something," Nina muttered.
"What was that?!"
"Nothing, you Vacuan psycho! Watch the treeline!"
Patrick grumbled under his breath but hefted his Gatling Lance and watched the edge of the clearing around them.
The girl chuckled at the two of them – their banter was funny.
"What's funny?" Nina asked, helping the girl to the front of the tank.
The girl grunted as she waved off the knight and reached into the cockpit, opening a panel as she said, "Nothing."
Nina couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Wind whistled through the newly-made clearing as the girl pulled a beige sack from the tank. Nina looked on curiously as she leaned heavily against her machine and unceremoniously dumped the contents out, hands shaking as she grabbed a syringe of glowing, pale blue liquid. The knight's eyes widened as she watched the girl prep the syringe and aim it at her side, just below her left breast.
"That's water Dust!" Nina said, halting the girl from plunging it into her body. "Only the best hospitals keep it stored on hand, how did you get it?"
The girl jabbed the syringe directly into her heart and pressed the plunger, shivers racking her body as she emptied all of it. "I stole it," she said breathlessly, tossing the now-useless needle aside.
Nina blinked. "Wait… you… what?"
The girl grunted as the Dust began to work its magic. Her skin glowed at the cut as tiny motes of light played along the injured flesh of her side and knitted it back together, as well as healed the fractured rib she managed to get while slaloming around. She gritted her teeth, the pain working itself out as her skin reformed, though it was disturbing to feel her rib shifting and settling back into place beneath her skin.
After several seconds the lights faded, and she let out a heavy sigh as she slumped against her machine. "I… stole it…" she gasped, her legs shaking from trying to keep her upright.
Nina leapt in again, throwing the girl's arm over her shoulders as she said, "You do realize how illegal that is, don't you? If you took it from a hospital, I have to report you."
The girl snorted. "Hospital? Where I got it from they were giving it to the hospitals, and not from any goodness of the heart either. They wouldn't… miss it…"
A cold pit formed in Nina's stomach when the girl trailed off, and not a moment later she slumped entirely, becoming nothing more than dead weight.
"Shit. Patrick! She passed out!" Nina yelled, setting the girl on the ground.
Patrick cursed foreign obscenities under his breath as he loped over and plunged his weapon into the ground before getting to his knee. "What kin I do, Nellie?"
"It's Nina. Find … ugh, find something to get this helmet off, I need to check her breathing."
"Could it be the birdy just, I don't know, passed out from bein' knackered?" Patrick asked, a sarcastic tone in his voice.
He recoiled at the fiery glare his partner gave him. "I would believe that if she hadn't just injected herself with water Dust not even ten seconds ago," she snarled.
"Wait, what?! She stuck herself with Dust?!"
Nina examined the seam where the helmet met the suit. "Yes. I don't know if she's unconscious or going into shock, but I need get this damned thing off!"
Her hands scrabbled along the seam, and she was ready to just tear it off when her thumb hit a button under the chin and the material around the neck loosened and fell away with a hiss of escaping gas. Nina jerked her hand away as if stung, but immediately leapt back in and all but threw the headgear away. The girl was pale to be sure, but her breathing was fine, and after Nina stuck a pair of fingers under her jaw she found that her pulse was steady and strong.
Nina fell back with a sigh and tugged her own helmet off. "She's fine, just unconscious. It was probably from the strain of her body healing so suddenly," she said, running a hand through her matted hair.
"What the-!? Oh, fuck a duck!" Patrick shouted, staring dumbstruck at the girl.
With an irritated growl, Nina was prepared to give her partner a piece of her mind when he pointed at the girl – at her head, to be exact. Nina was shocked to realize that she had a pair of long fox ears, something she'd missed in her panic, and suddenly the horns in the helmet made a startling amount of sense. She didn't know what she felt right then – respect, or maybe even camaraderie. She pushed it out of her mind as she carefully leaned the girl up against her tank and let her head fall to her shoulder.
Nina sat back once she was done, expressionless as she grunted, "Huh."
"Huh?! That's all ye got ta say?! Huh?! The Faunus could've killed us!" Patrick yelled indignantly.
Unencumbered by her armor, Nina was up in a flash and got within an inch of her partner's face. "What?" she snarled. "This Faunus got us out of that back there. Initiation or not, you know just as well as I do that we wouldn't have been able to break away from that mess. Like it or not, you owe her your life. Show her some respect."
He pushed her away. "Bollox that shite! Didn't ye saw that back there?! That machine leveled an entire horde! Whoever had the bright idea ta give her that thing had ta be knackered in the head! You talked me into participatin' in this Initiation for her, Nellie! I wouldn't have been caught dead doin' this if I'd known that that,"he motioned to the girl, "was that pilot of that."
Patrick waved his hand at the dead tank.
"Why? Because she's a Faunus?" Nina murmured.
"Yes."
"I knew you had a problem with Faunus, but I didn't know you were this pathetic," she said, turning from Patrick as she sat next to the girl. "Go back to Beacon."
To his credit, Patrick was concerned about leaving his partner behind. "Nellie –"
"Go. Back. To Beacon," she hissed, leaving no room for argument. Patrick stared at her before scoffing and turning away, ripping his Lance out of the ground as he strode off.
Nina snorted and waited alongside the Faunus girl. It took another twenty dull minutes of watching Beowolf remains cremate before the Bullheads came back. One landed and a team of medics rushed out to them. They were quick and efficient, pulling the unconscious Faunus into the Bullhead before examining her. Nina herself was ushered onto it before she even realized what was happening. They were back in the air as another swooped down and hovered over the dead tank, waiting as a team of operatives rappelled down to recover it.
Before she could watch, the Bullhead turned away and sped back to Beacon, where the infirmary and answers awaited them.
Hopefully.
-O-O-O-
"Weiss! Wait! Come back!"
The heiress was fuming, all but shoving people aside as she made her way back to their dorm room. Several students stopped to stare, but when they were met with her murderous, glacial fury they immediately turned and hurried past her. She stopped only once they got to their dorm, only then stopping long enough for Ruby to grab her partner by the shoulder.
"Weiss! Calm down! What's with you?" Ruby asked, spinning Weiss to face her. She immediately regretted it when the girl shoved her away.
"Hey! Watch it, Ice Queen!" Yang shouted, who was hot on her sister's heels and came in just in time to see Weiss's abuse.
Weiss held back a growl as she turned away, clenching and unclenching her fists as she struggled to contain her anger.
"Do none of you see an issue with this?" she hissed.
Blake, who had hung back and watched as her teammate imploded, narrowed her eyes. "I think the only one with an issue is you," she said blandly.
"I have a right to have an issue with it!" Weiss shot back. "That was barbaric. At least Huntsmen and Huntresses face their enemy head-on! They don't cower in hunks of steel and level half a forest just to complete a mission! A fake one at that!"
"Is this because of the tank, or is it because she's a Faunus?"
"Yes."
Blake's bow twitched and she tilted her head to the side. "Which one, Weiss?" she asked again, her eyes narrowing.
Ruby shifted closer to her sister, who in turn wrapped her arms tighter around her comfortingly. "This doesn't look good," Yang muttered.
"Both!" Weiss snapped. "That's military grade equipment, with military grade Dust! Whoever had the bright idea to arm a Faunus with a weapon of that caliber had to be the biggest fool on the face of Remnant."
Blake's lip curled, baring unusually sharp fangs.
Before anyone could say anything further, Ruby cleared her throat, causing the two of them to glare at her.
"What?" they growled.
Ruby swallowed nervously. "U-Um … I just want to point out that those two hunters wouldn't have been able to escape that horde if it wasn't for that pilot…" she trailed off, twiddling her thumbs.
Their glares deepened before Weiss finally sighed, turning to the book bag on her bed as she began to unload it. "Look, I'm done talking about this. You guys can talk to her if you want. Become her friends, even! But leave me out of it. I have no intention of fraternizing with some rabble pretending to be a Huntress."
With that, she pushed the argument out of her mind. Ruby and Yang sighed, and though they couldn't exactly just ignore it, they at least buried their feelings to maintain the group dynamic. But Blake, she took the sudden fury she had for the heiress and locked it away, if only for the chance to unleash it on her later.
-O-O-O-
Far away in a darkened boardroom, a meeting was taking place. Four old men glared at each other in the shadows, each daring the other to break the silence. Finally one did, and growled out, "How could you let this happen?"
"Me? What have you done?" a second asked.
"More than you."
A third sighed. "Squabbling won't get that girl back. We need her."
"Yes," said the fourth. "All our plans depend on us finding her. As soon as possible, in fact. The sooner we get her to agree to sign the company over, the sooner the Reclamation can begin."
He sighed. "What an absolute mess…"
The first growled under his breath. "Damn you, Eduard Carlisle."
"Don't forget the fool's wife."
The fourth cleared his throat. "While cursing their names may be cathartic, we have no time for it. Find her. Find the shipment manifests of any ships leaving in the last month – we'll track her down though brute force."
"And drag her back by brute force as well."
"We will reconvene when we have more information. In the meanwhile, look hard. Dismissed."
The four old men left the room, set on their tasks. They either didn't notice, or didn't care, about the fifth in the room, their amber eyes glowing brightly. The shadowed figure fiddled with the earring in their right ear, made of a deep purple, luminescent metal, and gave wicked smile as they crushed the photo of Constance Carlisle in their hand.
-O-O-O-
CODEX: Dust Reactor vs Dust Capacitor
On paper, dust reactors and dust capacitors are very similar. They both hold Dust for later use. Both use magnetism to compress the molecules in such a way that it ceases to be a solid, but not quite a liquid. But above all else, they do this to increase the output than if one used raw Dust alone.
Despite this, there is one notable difference between the two – capacitors are passive containers, and reactors are active. A capacitor can convert a single twenty gram Shock gem into fuel, and in a state of non-matter can give out nearly double the projected electric charge by compressing each molecule down to where there is nearly no distance between them. In this case, the capacitor casing acts as a large magnet to achieve compression. However, much of the charge is wasted on powering the magnetic field, which increases exponentially to how large the capacitor is. If the magnetic field collapses, the contained Dust returns to a solid state inside the capacitor and can be reconverted later. This system can be applied to virtually any container, as long as a magnetic field is present, and is particularly effective in a hybrid reactor/capacitor system to amplify the power available.
Reactors use a similar process. However, instead of a single chamber to store the compressed Dust, a Reactor uses a number of circular tubes flanked by dozens of small magnets. The compressed Dust dumped across each of these tubes. The diameter of the tube also denotes how much power can be pulled from the contained Dust at a time, which can be as large as half an inch to as narrow as a single molecule. In contrast to a capacitor, the Dust is propelled along these tubes by magnetism – while the magnetic field isn't nearly enough to compress the Dust alone, the kinetic energy gained from the circular motion does, provided that it can be propelled at high enough speeds. As a single field isn't being maintained, much less power is used to keep the Dust in a usable state while the size of the tube ensures that more power can be extracted from each molecule. However, a reactor has a severe drawback. If the magnets ever suddenly stop propelling Dust, it will solidify at speed and rupture the fuel lines, causing a catastrophic meltdown.
Alternatively, both reactors and capacitors possess the ability to 'dampen' their output by rapidly oscillating the magnetic wave of their containment fields – as maximum output is only achieved with a stable field, an unstable one can reduce output by as much as sixty percent without collapsing the field, with the added benefit of consuming less fuel.