Stepping into a new mortal realm, Meztyse looks around the stone walls of the portal room. The squire who had informed her of the current situation, said that there are tomes within the command fortress that tell further of this world. Opening the doors into the rest of the building, she floats down the halls to the library. Finding it, Meztyse gracefully glides inside, spotting a thick book on a pedestal at the center of the room. Coming up to the pedestal, the tome is opened wide by her telekinesis. Scanning the pages, she is granted with a working knowledge of this world. Turning to the most fresh page, it shows to her the latest information gathered by the vampires. Seemingly, other human allied forces have joined the fight for Remnant. Oh well, her presence here will tip the scales back into their favor.
Closing the tome, Meztyse floats up to the roof, opening a hole in it with magic. The sun shines on her pale flesh, lucky for her that succubi do not succumb to the same ailments as her vampire allies. One of the few demon who do not burn under the morning star. Conjuring a bit of metal, the succubus princess shapes it into a compass. Her reading says that the nearest kingdom outside of the one currently being targeted is one named Atlas to the northwest. Seems rather arrogant for mortals to go and name their nation after a Greek titan who held the world on his shoulders. Maybe they felt there was a valid reason behind it, but they're mortals. So who truly knows at that point. The compass works as it should, revealing north to her.
Fantastic, now with direction, she may infiltrate this kingdom to begin feeding information to the invading vampires. As well as get herself a decent meal. You'd be surprised at how dull a soul can be made when they've built a world so comfortable they have nothing to focus on but negativity. According to the tome, this world isn't exactly filled to the brim with positivity. However, a more survival oriented society will tend to try and live more fulfilling lives since the possibility of dying soon is very high.
Wings shoot out from the succubus' back, flapping them to begin the trek towards the new kingdom. Floating is well and good, yet using wings allows for speeds comparable to some of the humans aircraft's. Being a demon has its advantages, not needing a silly curse to amplify her physical abilities in the mortal plane. Thinking on the information from the tome, she studies the knowledge on this so called titan kingdom. The most technologically advanced of the four kingdoms currently existing on this planet. Gaining a foothold in this nation and offering it to Vacati and his forces will earn her a greater standing with their faction. Especially with inside information that ECHO unit currently has forces in all four kingdoms. You can never be looked upon too favorably, it may also let her pick up some of the pieces of his crumbling kingdom should it collapse finally.
Oh yes, the vampires are falling rather rapidly. ECHO unit has dealt them a heavy blow by striking their royal capital. Which is actually impressive with how the capital holds the power to teleport to different areas of the world. Assisting Vacati to victory, however small that eventuality is, will grant her access to her own personal feeding grounds of properly raised humans. Assisting Vacati and he falls, grabbing up his artifacts and potentially some human slaves. Ancient artifacts from the king of vampires will act as valuable bargaining chips with human organizations capable of aiding her in feeding. It is what the humans would call, a win win.
ECHO unit presence on Earth has weakened demonic influence drastically, several key holds on Earth have fallen to their efforts. Less presence means it's harder to properly hunt, with no defenses against potential intervention, nothing would stop something like a wandering paladin or ECHO unit squad from striking her down. Now she knows that they can't be everywhere all at once, but the more disappearances reported, the higher the chance of it reaching authorities capable of dealing with her and her people. Collecting all those artifacts will allow for commerce with human traffickers, far easier and safer than attempting to hunt when demonic influence is at an all time low. Unfortunately, CHARLIE unit is known to conduct raids on criminal organizations and report any strange findings to their handlers.
Twirling through the air, the succubus princess can't help but hum in glee. It'll be a true unholy crusade, making it even sweeter is their dear rat. Humans sure can be nasty when you play on their addictions and flaws. Unfortunately it seems he's been far too busy to make proper timely reports. If it means keeping his cover intact then so be it. At least that's her thoughts on the matter, Vacati being notoriously quick tempered and unstable does not bode well for the poor man.
She'll have to give him a treat for being so resilient later. It's time to shake up Remnant.
Wailing in agony, a severed demon arm latches onto Alivi's own stone stump, drilling past the stone and deep in her undead flesh. The battle outside of the fortress had not gone well for her side. The lycan forces had indeed gained a foothold around dawn of the first day of attempting to push the lycans back and broke the line. Getting pushed back to the fortress walls, she'd been attacked by a nevermore tearing into her flesh with its talons. The wound on her back proving an unwelcome fact.
Any grimm could harm them, not even needing to be specially made to combat them. Apparently being creatures of darkness meant they have the ability to deal damage to other said beings, regardless of the difference in power. Absurdity at its finest. The dive attack had knocked her forward into an oncoming wall of lycans. There was nothing she could have done, for one of the mutts had latched onto her and ripped it right off. The only thing saving her from being ripped to shreds was a gargoyle crashing into her, sending her flying back into her men. Normally a wound of this magnitude for a vampire of her status would regenerate slowly, this time however the morning star had managed to shine down on the stump for a moment, taking its toll on her. How it had not turned her entirely to stone is odd. Not unheard of, but usually vampires would end up needing far more than a prosthetic limb after coming into contact with light from the sun.
Settling into place, the demon arm gives the Viscountess full feeling and range of motion. Flexing the arm, it ripples with enough muscles to make her sick, such a grotesque form. Floating back to her feet, she assesses the situation, at both the front line and rear guard. Fireballs explode all around them, incinerating a few foot soldiers too slow to get out of the blasts. Wind shields fly back into place as the lycan return to their siege tactics. Rushing to the rear guard, Alivi finds it barely holding on. A tidal wave of grimm had brought many of the knights and foot soldiers to magic exhaustion, forcing them to engage in melee. A valiant effort to be sure, but when a two ton bear slams into you while you fend off several grimm werewolves, the odds are not in your favor.
Drastic times do indeed call for drastic measures. Popping the corks on several vials of blood, the noble downs days worth of meals. Power surges through her body, purple energy nearly lighting the air on fire as it pours off of her. Feeling the strain on her battered body, a flame brighter than any morning star forms in her hands. Known simply as Satan's fire, she lets loose the bastardization of God's light. The orb of fire touches the ground gently, before exploding forth in a literal tsunami of fire. Rushing forward as if it were water, it spares her allies, flowing past them harmlessly. The grimm however find that it need not even touch them, the insane heat vaporizes them instantly. Only the strongest of their number get to feel the actual agony of such a powerful flame. Swallowing the sea of grimm whole, the Satan's fire ceases its momentum, crashing into the ground and dissipating.
Screaming in the anguish only known to those sinners who bathe in the fires of hell, Alivi falls to her knees and is knocked unconscious. To summon Lucifer's fire is to come with a price, to pay it, one must suffer. No mere vampire may simply do something so brazen. The surviving rear guard break rank and go to assist their leader to somewhere safe.
Seeing their leader get her flesh torn into by a nevermore has the Queen ecstatic, the giant wave of fire that exterminated her horde dulled that joy. To see any standard grimm will do to combat the undead is news great enough to remake her plans entirely. All of Mistral outside of the capital has fallen, all that must be done now is reclaim that land and assault the capital. By that point, Cinder should have attained the power of the maiden, meaning the relic of knowledge will be within her grasp. Using the questions so Ozma will never get the chance and she'll be able to find a way to defeat ECHO unit.
Ozma is a coward, his fall is as sure as the darkness at night. ECHO unit at his side complicates that, they're tactics and abilities are quite literally tailor made to combat creatures of darkness, and their string of victories keeps growing. Now they're training the natives of Remnant in their ways, going as far as to enlist the every day citizen into their ranks. If Ozma is a thorn in her side, than these humans are a dagger.
Every time they use that golden magic, it seems to reek like the twin gods. If they truly do call on a deity like the twin gods, it may be possible for them to kill her. That would be fine if she weren't holding out to fight against those blasted brothers. No, she shall not let herself fall to these outsiders. Death shall come to her through glorious gory battle between her and the ones who cursed her into immortality. Of course that is only if they manage to kill her, should Salem claim victory, she will take great pleasure in killing those humans of ECHO unit. Once they're gone from the picture, she'll savor every last bit of agony she will inflict upon Ozma until his death.
All things for the future.
Yang's head lands on the bar's clean counter with a loud thud. Heading into Junior's club to take advantage of her current status as untouchable in the establishment, after a well deserved beat down. A stinging slap lands on her back, making her howl like a cat for a moment. Snarling, a set of red eyes meet a pair of confident, if a bit sadistic, brown ones. Returning to their normal lilac color, the blond brawler's eyes quickly search for a menu. Taking a seat next to her, Diane relaxes in it, resting her arm around her current victim's neck. A single workout session with the Major had left the huntress in training depleted. Now Yang is most definitely very active, capable of keeping up with some daunting workouts. Never has she had to contend with a workout plan specifically designed for her that bordered on torture.
Mile sprints broken up by some of the most intensive arm exercises she's ever had, lifting well over a ton with each one. Then it was back to mile sprints, only for the next rotation to be focused on her core, doing something called planks. Planks by themselves were easy, but add hundreds upon hundreds of pounds, that's when the torture set in. To add even more pain to the mix, doing hanging sit ups with weight being strapped to her body. Back to more sprints. Then on to legs. Then rinse wash and repeat.
Ordering herself a strawberry sunrise, Yang groans as the Major squeezes her a bit. Diane orders a beer before the server can get away.
"you don't seem to be having a very good time blondie" patting the younger girl on her back, it elicits a grunt from her.
"Maybe if you stopped slapping me, I'd be in a better mood!" hissing in frustration at the older woman. Rolling her eyes, the Major smiles as the bartender delivers their drinks. Unfortunately for Diane, her times of running around in Vale enjoying the night life is coming to an end. Rennold is going to have her lead the new rotation of Vale's expansion missions, so she'll be rather busy. Not too busy to put Yang and Ruby through the ringer with some proper ECHO officer training. To give credit where it's due, the young blond huntress in training did a great job of pushing through it. Her younger sister on the other hand, had a much rougher time.
"Oh c'mon it wasn't that bad, you handled it better than Ruby" being fair, even with the little red reaper being the one with a need for speed, the workout the sadistic Major came up with for her was brutal. Nothing like adding weight to a run to up the difficulty from a one to a ten. Ruby had pretty much needed a wheel chair near the end of that whole session. Instead of coming with them to celebrate surviving the first course, she opted to find a nice hidey hole to go cry in or something. Taking a long swig of her beer, the Major grins at its quality, Yang sips at her non alcoholic beverage.
"Yeah can't help but feel a pang of guilt from feeling better at not seeing me suffer alone" sending a vicious side eye glance at the blond brawler, she awkwardly laughs at her own joke.
"I'm not Thompson, I wont be swayed by sub par puns like that" dropping her jaw, Yang can't help but gawk at her older companion.
"Well pardon me ma'am, I didn't think you were such a snob about my comedic genius" feeling a bit of agitation rise at the emphasis put on that supposed respectful title, downing at least half of her mug of booze.
"If you're a comedic genius than Remnant's comedy world is fucked"
"You know you're not the first person from your group to make a remark like that. I guess being so old would make people bitter towards the younger years" downing the rest of her mug, hoping to drown out the spike in blood pressure at the second old comment.
"Don't forget lil miss, you'll be my age in ten years" finishing off her own drink, Yang mimics like she'd just had her alcohol to dull the pain. Watching her little act, Diane gives and exasperated sigh, only to give way to a laugh. Dragging it out of her, Yang joins in the laughing. It's a shame the kid is already trying to become a huntress, she'd do just fine in ECHO unit. Their laughter dying down, Diane orders another beer for herself, enjoying the taste of it. The nightlife hasn't yet started to flourish, the club just opened for the night an hour ago. "So do you always come here to drown your sorrows of having to actually work out?" making the get outta here gesture with he hands, Yang spins in her stool to face the dance floor as it starts to slowly fill up and the DJ hops up on stage.
"I came here the first time looking for some answers, might have roughed the place up a bit" that sounds oddly familiar to the Major.
"Wait a second, I heard about that in another club. You're the one who tore this place up a month back?" a bit of embarrassment shows on the young girls face as she nods. Diane bursts out into full on belly laughs "That is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a while! So you get full on free drinks cause you rolled up and rocked their shit? What a way to do it" Yang grins as she high fives the Major. Loud music fills the room they're in, giving people something to dance to, luckily the bar is just barely far enough away they don't have to scream over it.
"It was so much fun if I'm honest. Although not getting the answers I wanted did suck" taking a sip of the foam from her new mug, Diane can't help but have her eyebrow perk up at that. It's not everyday someone lays waste to a club of all places in search of an answer.
"You're not gonna leave me in suspense all night are ya? What were ya looking for?" biting her lip, the Huntress in training mulls over whether or not she should share something like that with. It couldn't hurt, so far the Major has proven to be a pretty good friend.
"Well, to put it simply, I was looking for my mom" eyes widening a bit, Diane looks at her younger companion expectantly. When she doesn't continue, the Major gestures for her to continue by rolling her hand. "Oh, did you want the complicated version?" pursing her lips, it earns a chuckle from the blond brawler. "Ok ok, I'll give a little more detail to it"
"Yeah you better, dropping a bomb like that and just looking around a fucked up room like you didn't bomb it" smiling, Yang catches the bartender's attention again to order herself a new drink.
"So, me and Ruby-"cutting her off, Diane looks at her with a devilish smug face.
"Ruby and I" scoffing at the Major, Yang rolls her eyes hard enough that they would have fallen out if she put any more effort into it.
"Do you want the story or not?" holding back her laughter, Diane nods as best she can.
"I do, I just had to get you on that one" squinting at the older woman, the blond brawler continues on with her story.
"anyways, my birth mom walked out on my dad when I was younger. It hit him hard but then he met Ruby's mom and they had her together. She never made it back from a mission one day. It really tore him up. Sometimes it felt like it was just me and her" the Major takes a solemn gulp from her mug, while Yang sips her drink from a straw.
"So you went after her for some answers huh?" raising her eyebrows, the huntress in training looks a bit surprised that someone like the Major would understand something so serious. Maybe that wasn't fair of her to do, but she always seemed so down to Remnant and relaxed. Rennold and Alexander both got angry and strict at times, the boss lady being the the worse of the two, so it would be easy to assume they had seen some stuff. She doesn't even want to get started on Thompson, the guy seems like a puzzle with mismatched pieces sometimes. So out of all the leaders she knows in their group, Diane just seems to be the most relaxed.
"I'll be honest I kinda expected you to not understand" finishing off her second drink, the Major hiccups a bit, she doesn't look all that upset about her comments.
"Trust me Yang, I've seen the full range of life stories, Ryan made a life of hunting animals and raised a family, got divorced when his kids left the house and went on his way. Honestly he hadn't really seen any crazy shit before joining. Then ya got Ethan and Cathy, those two went through hell and just didn't stop fighting. I've had plenty of practice in understanding motivations" well that was much deeper than Yang thought it would be. Starting to look like she needs to learn more about these guys, sure her current friends are cool and all but they're not nearly as interesting sad to say.
"Sooooo, what's your deal?" puffing up her cheeks and blowing some air out of her mouth the Major motions for the bartender to come and deliver the check, which he does. Setting the lien card down and smacking Yang's hand away from paying, Diane looks at the blond brawler.
"that is a walk and talk right there girlfriend" leading the way out in the cool early night air of Vale, Yang walks alongside Diane. As they stroll through out the seedier parts of the city, it's a perfect night for a story
Ten years ago, Diane Jenkins was an entirely different person. Nineteen and filled with rebellion, her entire life had begun to spiral out of control after joining up with an anarchist satanic cult. Being raised by shitty neglectful parents, the young woman felt she didn't have much choice. As a child she acted out for attention from her parents, eventually the acting out became more and more spiteful and angry. It had gone from a cry for help to lashing out at the world, striking at it in any way she could.
A life of crime offered both a way to survive and fulfill her twisted desires. The cult was actually somewhat relaxed at first, behaving more like a gang than a true cult. Robbing stores, pharmacies, the occasional small bank, their power grew over the span of a half a year. Once the leaders felt themselves large enough, the cultish behavior emerged. Traveling from city to city on the east coast of the USA, they recruited more lost young people, indoctrinating them in the ways of Satan and crime. Before long they had an iron grip on the New England region of the country. Collecting more and more money and power, bringing hundreds of youths into the clutches of the devil in hopes of giving them a better life. Bringing children into the cult meant they would never have to suffer the neglect she had. The only time she was sober these days was when she would bring children into the fold, to her they were like little siblings. Being a leader in the cult now, she made sure the caretakers did their jobs, even while high.
Frankly, Diane didn't give a shit about the criminal aspect, too busy basking in the glow of narcotics and the love of her fellow leaders in the cult. If anything all the money the crime brought in could be put right into the children and facilities to help them. It even gave them a chance to learn different aspects of the world through better means than working legitimately ever could. Everything seemed perfect to her, as if nothing could possibly go wrong.
Until like all good things in the world, it came to a sudden screeching end.
A day like any other, except this time she had run out of her favorite coke. Running around all over the compound she had ended up in a room she never really noticed before. Entering the room, a horrid odor of death and decay slammed into her nose like an uppercut. Gagging and vomiting, she falls to her hands and knees. The room is dark with very little lighting, just enough is present so her eyes can adjust and reveal one of the most haunting sights of her life so that it may burn into her mind like a brand. Looking up from her position, several young boys had been ritualistically sacrificed, carved wide open with their organs on display. Horror and pain stuck on their faces, telling further just how gruesome it was for them.
All faces she knew, as Diane had been the one to recruit them.
They were supposed to be saving these kids! She had thought that this wasn't an actual following of Satan, just using it like those of the satanic temple! Barely able to climb to her feet, tears flowed down her face, how could she have been so blind to this? Was she truly so selfish and high that she'd been completely blinded to this?
Creaking open, the door reveals her lover and first true friend, the leader of the cult, Damian. No words were exchanged as for the first time in what seemed like forever, she got a good look at his eyes. They were dead and empty, like staring into some kind of robot. Seeing the utter anguish so clear on her face, he lunged out, easily overpowering her and subduing her. Silencing her with a cloth gag, he ties her up so she can't escape. Dragging her out of the room, he calls up his men, speaking of how there is a traitor to deal with. Flailing in her binds, Diane can only thrash around in desperation. Hanging his phone up, he leans down so he can speak quietly to her.
"I'm sorry Diane, but I know the look of a woman when she's going to turn traitor. I can't have you getting in the way of our plans, we're so close to our dream. See?" opening his palm a small ball of black flame ignites from nothing, some kind of purple energy flashing for a moment. "It's so much stronger now! It's like being high on power!" Eyes widening, some memories came flooding back. He's shown her magic before, stating that it was powerful but needed a little outside help to be so much more. Igniting like the flame in his palm, anger fills her being. This whole thing, it wasn't even a religion, just a way for him to gain some fucking powerful magic. Diane struggles even harder against her bindings as Damian begins dragging her off again. All she's doing now is tiring herself out.
Minutes drag on as her back is cut up on the rough stone floor, making her groan in pain into the cloth stuck in her mouth. The pain in her back helps her refocus her thoughts. Looking back on it all, with a clear mind, she remembers the first time she'd actually touched cocaine. It wasn't on her own, Damian had pretty much forced her to. Scattered memories come back to form a puzzle she didn't even know needed solving. Signs had always been there, Damian had just gotten her addicted to drugs so she wouldn't be any wiser. All the sex and supposed love that was between her and the leaders, she hadn't been sober for any of it. Thinking harder on it, even the cocaine itself was off, everyone knew it was white but the stuff they'd given her. It was purple.
Like the magic Damian used sometimes.
With everything clicking into place, she starts sobbing into the gag. It was all a big lie for some sicko to get power and she'd been a pawn. Damian's men come running up, surrounding her and lifting her up like an object, carrying her to where the main courtyard is. Entering the courtyard, she spots a pole set up above a pyre. Oh no, they're going to burn her to death. Struggling against the men currently securing her to the pole, it's all in vain as now she's forced to watch as Damian approaches with the black flame in hand. Fresh tears in her eyes, she turns her eyes to the sky, unable to watch her end approach.
The doors to the courtyard explode open, forcing everyone's attention to the scene. Silenced gunshots can barely be heard as bullets find themselves ripping through Damian's goons. Men in military gear swarm the room, putting bullets into both of Damian's knees, he doesn't even cry out in pain. Either too shocked or dead inside to react. The majority of the men continue on into the rest of the building. A few stay behind, two even help take her down from the pole.
Rasping as he slowly bleeds out on his knees, Damian stares up at a man with the most hateful look she'd ever seen on anyone. Pointing the barrel of his gun at the kneeling man's head, the military man speaks, voice colder than ice.
"May god have mercy on your wretched soul, for there is none here" snarling Damian goes to attack only to go fully limp as a bullet tears through his head. Holstering the pistol, radio chatter can be heard. They're saying the children are being secured and the final members of the cult are being rounded or killed.
Diane is in utter shock, going from being at death's door to being saved now back to uncertain waters. The very man who had executed Damian stands before her, only for the hate to wash away from his face, replaced by a kinder expression. Taking a knee in front of her, she sees the gold flash of a crucifix around his neck as he starts untying her.
"I'm truly sorry you had to see that miss. Nasty business this line of work. I'm Virgil, from the look of you, you're Diane Jenkins correct?" even with the gag removed, she still found herself speechless. The man didn't lose patience with her as she began to try and calm herself down. Five minutes feel like an hour before she can get her bearings again.
"Y-yes I am Diane" smiling brightly, the man offers her a hand. Taking it, she's gingerly guided to her feet.
"From our intel it would seem you're just as much of a victim in all this as anyone else. An inside source had reported the entire happenings of this compound for a couple weeks and beyond that. C'mon, lets get you out of here" with that being said, the men start escorting her out of the compound, looking back she finds a massive line of kids being rescued, a lot of them seemed to be pretty messed up.
How can any of them keep going now with this nightmare haunting them for the rest of their lives?
All Yang could do was stare in absolute horror at the Major. What made it all worse was how nonchalant she was about it.
"Diane, when you said the other two had gone through hell, you never said anything about yourself! That was horrible!" adding to the terrible situation, Diane can only chuckle, as if it hadn't happened to her.
"Yeah, I went through it pretty bad, but it did lead me to ECHO unit and God. Granted I'm not always following his example to the letter, but these past ten years I've made an actual difference. Really saving kids, Stopping bad guys, and regaining control over my body and mind" the body comment made the blond brawler shudder, from the way she told the story, it made it seem like she'd been... oh... seeing as the atmosphere was already darker than the stomach of a grimm, might as well confirm it.
"Diane, did they-" cutting her off, the Major saw the look on her face and knew what she was going to ask. Simply nodding her head. Curiosity really did kill the cat, as Yang felt awful for even attempting to ask about it. Pulling the huntress in training close to her with a side hug, Diane gently rubs her back, careful to not disturb her hair.
"Hey kiddo, don't be sad, I've gotten plenty of help since then and I feel better than ever now. I've made peace with my past, now I work for a better today and tomorrow. You'll be fighting for that tomorrow too one day. We'll have to run missions as a couple of boss babes. What do you say, future partners?" reaching out with her free hand, Yang grins widely as Diane's words help shake off some of the horrid feelings in her gut. Shaking hands, the two give each other their best widest goofy smile before they continue on down the sidewalk.
Staring up at the nonsensical stack of papers before her, Rennold can only hold onto her sanity by emptying her mind as if she'd been lobotomized. This whole bullshit early in the morning trend is starting to get really old. Advertisements had been floating around since the conception of their Remnant enlistment program. Now that the day to actually start accepting and declining came about, the number was ridiculous. At least a million people had sent in applications that were stored in the archives for later use. Now the cartoonishly huge stack of papers loomed over her in need of her attention. Thank the Lord that at least half of these are online, otherwise the logistics of this would be impossible. The IT guys that Vale provided won't be happy to go through all that, but that's what they're paid for after all. It's still a lot of paper in front of her though.
Calling in a hundred clerks to help her in this endeavor, even with that amount the division of labor is still immense. It'll take days of work to be through them all, probably a full week to parse through both paper and online documents. Lucky for them, most of these seem to have the proper information on them, like prior combat experiences. Once all these applications are sorted out, it'll be up to her soldiers and the Valean military to further screen them for any issues not covered by their application.
Sorting through the papers, she finds that there are a lot of huntsmen drop outs, or those who shifted from heading into their final academy to here. Even aside from those, the health standard in Vale is far better than those held in the states. An hour into this whole ordeal, a particular application catches her eye. Looking over the application, the huntsmen transcripts are clearly fake. Jaune Arc huh? Reminds her of Joan of arc, especially with the sword and shield he's got. Alright then kiddo, stamping the paper with her seal of approval, she slides it into the accepted pile.
One of the clerks brought in a shredder for the denied pile that was starting to form. Even though the majority of people in these applications are healthy there are plenty of those who wouldn't make it through basic training. Adding to that pile are clearly suspicious individuals, those who refrained from putting any information on their past, or no personally identifiable info.
After a whole hour of this, the accepted pile is already huge as hell, and the shredder is only a fourth of the way full. The thing making this so rough is that they can't just go crazy with it, blowing through the applications would mean that they could either miss out on a golden ticket or let someone in that'll potentially be trouble for them. At this rate the secondary screening is going to be hellish, probably a whole month's worth of physicals and interviews. If everything goes well they're looking at a giant additional force totaling in the hundreds of thousands. Of course that's far in the future, right now both Earth and Valean factories are producing exo suits and standard issue weapons for the upcoming influx of new soldiers.
In addition to exo units, any trainees without aura will have it unlocked should they choose it. Plenty of her own soldiers hadn't unlocked their aura so it's unclear of whether or not it should be a mandatory aspect of the training. The first rotation of trainees will consist of a hundred man division led by a pair of instructors, one ECHO and one Valean soldier. The training is gonna be pretty rough, definitely a couple levels above standard army training. It may come off harsh, but the reality of ECHO unit is that the grand majority of them are recruited from active service in the military or people with years of fighting experience. Out of hundreds of already accepted applications, only a couple dozen had any kind of formal huntsman training or prior time as a soldier. The rest are civilians. So it seems that the basic training will be hard enough to root out those who don't have the stomach for it.
Better to flunk out of training than die unnecessarily and risk more lives in the process.
ECHO unit sure is investing a lot into Remnant, makes the auburn berserker wonder if every time the Lexicon Project happens upon a new world they sink this much into assisting them. On that note, TANGO, ZULU, and X-RAY have been making their own ventures into Remnant, trying to get some kind of progress for their own projects. A TANGO and X-RAY rep has been making preparations to come to Remnant to have discussions with Atlas and their scientists. ZULU analysts are currently poking and prodding grimm in cages somewhere on base.
No idea where the Lexicon Project gets all this money, probably best not to ask those questions when BRAVO unit exists. Better to just focus on the absurd amount of paperwork in front of her.
Watching as the hunting Major's crossbow mechashifts into a giant double bladed ax, Lye is filled with the kind of dread one would feel upon seeing the legitimate grim reaper coming for your soul. Ruby on the other hand looks at the scene like a mentor who just saw their disciple pull off something magnificent. When the two had managed to get this monstrosity crafted is a mystery to the veteran huntsman. Bringing the ax form of his weapon up, pointing the bladed side at a target, an arrow flies, striking it dead center. Only issue with it is that in the melee form the magazine can't be accessed for more arrows, making it a single shot deal.
"Well I have to change my pants now" passing the crossbow over to the little red reaper, she yelps as it's a lot heavier than she thought it would have been, struggling for a moment. Alexander walks over to the target and rips the arrow free from it, well more like a damn bolt from the size of it.
"I wouldn't be too scared Lye, I don't see any bone plating on you" shaking his head a bit, he peers past the man to see Ruby struggling to use the weapon in either form.
"When did you two even get together to do this?" taking his newly modified weapon from the pouting huntress in training, he places a gentle hand on her head and rustles her hair. Much to her dismay.
"It was like a week ago, didn't you notice me using a rifle for a while?"
"No, I'm not usually watching the people who took my job doing it" waving him off, the cross ax shifts back into a full cross bow before going back to its place on his back.
"You know there are still plenty of villages out there who need help, as well as people who need bodyguards"
"yeah yeah old man, I'm just not sure what I'll do when you guys pretty much help us reclaim the world" now that is a pretty valid issue to mull over, with the way things are going the grimm aren't going to be around forever. Whatever enemies are currently fucking shit up in Mistral seem to be stuck outside the capital. When ECHO unit pushes them back to Earth, it'll pretty much be exterminating the rest of the grimm on Remnant. A grimmless Remnant sounds like something out of a fairy tale in all honesty.
"Not to mention at some point, you'll probably be called up to assist with our work. I feel like huntsman will always have a place somewhere" that's all the veteran huntsman can hope for at the end of the day really. Going over to a nearby table, the Major starts putting on his combat gear as well as his sidearms and extra ammunition. It looks like he's gearing up to go out for a fight.
"What are you doing Ryan?" the older soldier looks over at Lye with a smug smirk, one that the veteran huntsman has grown to hate since they started sparring together.
"Testing my new weapon out, and you're coming with as back up and chaperone for the little speedster" mouth opening at hearing that, Lye gives the hunter an incredulous look. Meanwhile Ruby is bouncing around as much as she can given how her legs seem to wobble like jelly.
"I'm sorry, when did I agree to this?"
"When you walked in" of fucking course he'd have some stupid ass answer like that, why even be surprised at this point.
"Why does she even need to go?" whipping her head to look a the veteran huntsman in betrayal, he awkwardly avoids making eye contact with the huntress in training
"She helped me build it, seems fair she gets to see it draw first blood. Or ash in this case. Look it's either this or you break a young girl's heart" picking up Ruby like a prop, Alexander holds her up so Lye can clearly see the girl full on pouting. Averting his eyes from the pathetic display, it reminds him too much of his niece when she would get sad over whatever it was a child would be worried about.
"Fine! Just keep that thing pointed away from me" letting out an indignant squawk at being referred to like a dangerous object, and another as soon as the Major drops her like one. Rude.
"Excellent, let's go" Lye and Ruby get to arming themselves for a proper outing into grimm territory. Being in an ECHO base means there's more than enough gear and weapons for killing anything that goes bump in the night. Catching up to the Major, he's waving them over by a transport helicopter that's already idling for them. Boarding the aircraft, it lifts into the sky and heads toward the nearest wall of the city. Passing over the defensive structure, the helicopter lowers itself enough for the group to jump out and land without needing aura. The pilot tells them he'll be standing by on one of the walls landing pads. Flying back to the wall, the trio are on their own for now.
"Ok, asshat how are we going to do this"
"That's a swear!" groaning loudly, Lye's frustration is promoted to frustration AND regret at being blackmailed into this.
"Simple really, just keep being a poor sport about it, they'll be all over us" the veteran huntsman would have gone to retort if it weren't for a beowolf making a beeline for them from a small group of trees nearby. Ruby and Alexander share a victorious chuckle at the expense of their reluctant third.
The beowolf actually explodes into a bright golden fire ball as a bolt from the Major sails through it. How had Lye not seen that before, that was fucking cool.
"What kind of bolts are those!?" an ursa finds itself cut in half as soon as it emerges from the tree line.
"The enchanted kind" Ruby is vibrating in anticipation for the mechashift, pumping her arms in excitement. Grimm start to appear from all angles now, the veteran huntsman and his newfound ward draw their weapons just in case. Hitting a button near the center of the crossbow, it quickly starts to shift, metal plating sliding here and there as motors rev. Forming the ax, the Major charges forward, cutting the head off of a creep. Keeping the momentum, Alexander spins, driving his ax into the head of a beowolf, splitting it in half. Turning on a charging king taijitu and firing the single bolt straight into its mouth, setting the beast on fire that quickly immolates the rest of it's body. Ruby explodes in excitement at the scene, she zooms off and engages the grimm side by side with the Major. Cursing under his breath, Lye jumps in with them, running his glaive through a beowolf.
Shotgun blasts and the crack of high caliber rounds accompany the sound of holy fire and slicing as the trio decimate the local grimm population. The group even manage to pull off some combo moves, some combinations of Lye sticking a grimm with his longer range weapon letting either Ruby decapitate or Alexander split their heads open. The veteran huntsman shouts as the Major picks him up and throws him like a javelin at an approaching nevermore. Piercing its chest with his pole arm, Lye uses it to throw himself on its back as it falls and crashes into the ground. Pulling his Poke and Bang free from the dead grimm, he rejoins the the duo.
"We're going to have a talk about that one Ryan!" laughing at his comment, the Major throws his ax at a death stalker, the holy ax head splits the armor wide open and digs into the insect flesh underneath. As the grimm scorpion's corpse burns, the Major reaches into the fire retrieving the weapon. Since holy fire has little to no effect on humans, it doesn't wound Alexander. The rest of the grimm had been dealt with as he threw his weapon. Ruby lets out a satisfied huff, only to have a hand reach out and pinch her cheek.
"You young lady, should have not engaged, you don't even have a huntress license yet" she helplessly slaps her hands against the arm of the offending hand currently stretching her face out. Letting go of her, she rubs her cheek and pouts.
"I couldn't help it! Your weapon is so cool!" hefting the mighty crossbow in his hands the Major can't help but grin down at her.
"What are you going to name it?" Alexander was about object to it, but the little red reaper must have sensed the words cause she's staring daggers at him. Or it could have been the pinching. Looking at the custom made crossbow, he never really had the idea to give it name even though it's been with him for years. The only name that comes to mind is a bit confusing given his current situation. Eh, it's his damn weapon.
"I'm going to call it The Huntsman" shifting The Huntsman to its ax form he swings it around, radioing in for the helicopter to pick them up.
"Really? That's what you came up with?"
"How many animals have you hunted? Grimm not included of course" sighing, the veteran huntsman gives up upon hearing that. It makes sense he supposes, the officer has been hunting his entire life, now he's added grimm to the long list of prey.
"I don't really get it" right, Ruby wasn't around for that conversation.
"I have a lifelong list of creatures I've hunted down before, so I picked the name I felt suited it best" hunting and huntsmen, she's never really made that connection before. Well it would have made more sense if she hadn't seen dad kill a rabbit on Patch back when her dad dragged her along for a hunting trip. The helicopter comes by before the conversation can continue. Landing nearby the trio quickly boards to head back to the ECHO unit base.
The ride ends soon enough and the group walk back to the weapons workshop. Stepping into the large building, Ruby hits the palm of her hand with her fist, as the energy she had earlier stops clouding her head.
"I forgot to mention, I met Mister Ozpin at Cathy's ceremony. He offered me a spot in ECHO unit's training program!" Lye and Alexander look at the huntress in training in amazement. It's good news, but Lye is a little confused by it.
"Don't you have an upcoming year at Signal?" why would Oz even offer something like that?
"I do, but he said that participation in the program could count as formal training and if I do it for long enough I'll get my huntsman license" ECHO unit does seem like it could prove to be a really fruitful path for training, if a bit unorthodox.
"I say it there's not much difference between huntsman and ECHO soldiers so it makes sense" the veteran huntsman can't find a reason to disagree with the Major, serving in ECHO unit is pretty much acting as a huntsman in everything but name. This day has been eventful enough for Lye, so he takes his leave before getting dragged into anything else.
Taurus has never really been a calm man, yet he finds himself angrier than ever now. The White Fang cell in Mistral fell apart out of nowhere, Atlesian specialists have joined with Valean anti terrorist units to push into their territories from two different angles. Vacuo is on high alert after some other asshole attacked those ECHO unit humans, forcing the cell their into hiding. Right now, the White Fang is essentially trapped in Mountain Glenn and their scattered forest bases. They won't last long and may have to fall back to Menagerie.
If Vale keeps spreading like this, the push on their forces will only get worse day by day. There's no way to replenish their numbers either, not with how hard the White Fang has been failing recently. No faunus would want to join a sinking ship.
It will all come down to holding Mountain Glenn
Another day of teaching magic done, within two weeks the classes will be graduating and certified to teach magic as instructors. Meaning his work will be done in Atlas and he can rejoin the main forces in Vale. Once he's back under Rennold's command, he can request to go fight with Mistral's forces. With Ava by his side in combat the two will be unstoppable, their combat ability together is so great that he's never broken a sweat with her by his side. Outside of combat however, she's the most likely threat to his bodily safety. He can feel his ribs creaking as the lycan warrior squeezes him like a teddy bear, making it hard for him to breath and enjoy the scenery. Not wanting to wrestle her away for fear of the struggle knocking them both off the ledge and send them plummeting down to Mantle.
A shiver goes down his spine as he feels something slimy trace up his neck. Looking over at her with wide turquoise eyes, her own brown eyes stare back with something he can't quite place.
"Don't look at me like that. It makes you look like" leaning up into his ear, she gently nibbles on it and whispers directly into it "prey" brain quickly losing any and all functionality as that seductive tone bounces around his now useless head. A deep red blush quickly spreads on his face as Ava drags him a bit further away from the ledge and pushes him down. Too stunned to react, the lycan warrior mounts her prey. Staring up at her, the look in her eyes is reminiscent of that of battle. Hungry and excited. Feeling her weight against his crotch, an unwanted memory hits him like a solid slug. Panic surges and the young Captain practically launches himself from under her and away, taking a combat stance. Falling onto her back, Ava looks up in confusion and anger. The pure terror in his eyes wipes those feelings away.
Frozen in that spot Ethan doesn't seem to be able to calm down. Thinking back on it, she remembers exactly why this would happen. Horror and guilt grow in her gut like a malignant tumor, climbing to her feet she slowly approaches him. Reaching out to him, he swings at her, most likely unable to tell whats happening. Taking the hit like a true lycan warrior, she doesn't even buckle from it. The whole thing seems to stir Ethan from his panic induced stupor. Realizing what he's done, he immediately starts crying and recoils in horror.
"A-ava I'm so sorry! I-I d-don't know" pulling him into a gentle hug, she rubs his back. It's rare to see, but some lycans have had similar showings, usually after being brutalized by an enemy.
"You're alright Ethan, everything is ok. You hit like a baby anyways" the suddenness of the joke gets a snort from him, making his struggle between crying and laughing. He hugs her back tightly, resting his chin on her head.
"It's not my fault you've got such a mannish jawline" her tail swishes behind her as he banters back.
"One of us has to have it" the two share in a laugh. Lifting her head up to look at him, he blushes and licks the cheek he struck. Her eyes shrink down in joy at the symbol of it, licking your mate's wound.
"I guess I'm not completely over what happened, even though it's been a year now" placing her hand on his cheek, they locks eyes yet again.
"We all heal at our own rates my love" he kisses her deeply at that, the two squeezing each other as hard as they can.
enjoying the silence between them, the mood recovers just fine.
"Cheating on me are we Ethan" in an instant, pistol and claws are drawn, both aimed at the source of the voice who is floating just past the ledge they're next to. Ethan looks on in terror upon seeing the object of his fear and pain, pistol shaking in his grip. Ava takes a defensive stance in front of her mate, much like a female wolf guards the males throat in confrontations. She's beyond livid, fur and muscles exploding out as he eyes glow with a hateful energy.
And the night was looking so much better too.
If you're wondering how she got there so fast, demonic magic is a hell of a thing. It's time to finally reveal what exactly happened to Ethan, if it wasn't already made clear enough. I am not immune to cliff hangers shamefully enough. But this will be the first instance of a fight against a higher being of hell, one that needs specific love and care to finally fucking die. So the fight won't be over with just a bit of pew pew.
Originally I hadn't meant for Diane's story to be quite so dark, considering her back story was relatively bare bones. But it kinda just flowed out of my fucked up dome so its now her official story. A lot of dark pasts involved with fighting hell apparently. Anyways hope you all enjoyed, feel free to review, fav, follow you do you boo boo. It's currently 3 am at finishing this up so ya boy is rocking that goofy ass mind set so I'mma bounce.
Lolz out