Chapter 16: The Great Below
The sun was at its zenith, and the scenery was beautiful. At face value, you'd never know that the Grimm were driving the world into a new age of mass extinction. The few clouds in the sky clung to each other over the mountain, casting a blissful shadow small portions of the forest below. Birds chirped, ignorant of the world's troubles, and the radio tower of Machtstaub could be seen in the distance.
The area appeared to be at peace. If it were truly at peace, then the sound of a pair of bullheads flying as fast as possible must have disturbed that veil of calmness. Engines roaring, they closed the ever shrinking distance between themselves and the mine. The larger, upgraded bullhead that Roman flew was in the lead, bringing teams RWBY and JNPR to the objective, while the second Bullhead held teams CRDL and VLVT.
"Lock and load," Roman called over the sound of the howling engines. "We're closing in on the objective!"
Ruby stepped into the cockpit and looked through the windshield, watching the radio tower grow larger and larger as they approached. She elbowed Roman's shoulder. "Just like old times, eh?" she teased.
Roman smiled. "This'll be the biggest Dust heist I've ever attempted! The anticipation is palpable. The take just might be enough for me to retire on."
"Don't bet on it," Ruby stated. "We have to split it up evenly between a couple hundred huntsmen and huntresses."
"Don't kill the mood, Red."
Weiss entered from behind Ruby. "We're ready, Ruby. How much longer?"
"Five minutes or so," Roman stated. "I didn't know these bad boys could fly this fast!"
A loud, reverberating beep erupted from the Bullhead's radio. "This is the Schnee Dust Company: unidentified aircraft, where do you think you are going?"
Roman raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think anyone was there."
"They're not," Weiss stated. "They have us on radar, but they're not here. They're probably at the Schnee Dust HQ, watching us from their monitors."
"You are in a restricted air space! Turn around, or we will be forced to press charges," the radio demanded.
"Allow me," Weiss grabbed the radio. "This is Weiss Schnee. Deliver a message to my father: while he's safe in his hole somewhere, there are innocents dying needlessly. I am commandeering this Dust under the authority of Beacon Academy, and as a Huntress. Any charges you press will be dropped by any courts that survive, and any threat you make to us will in turn be brought up in court and be used against you. Go back to hiding like the cowards that you are, and rest easy knowing that we are doing what you are too terrified to do: we're saving Remnant." She returned the radio to its position and smiled defiantly.
"Wow, Weiss," Ruby started. "I've never seen you like this...I like it."
The heiress sighed. "I gotta admit...that felt damn good."
"It always start with the rebellious stage," Roman muttered. "Next thing you know, you'll be a wanted criminal."
"Oh, please. Just do your job and fly. You're not here to run your mouth."
"I beg to differ." Smiling, he arched the Bullhead down. Now they could actually see the mine. It was a combination of a strip mine and several mineshafts: a large hole was dug into the ground, and every few levels a tunnel was dug into the mountain where the Dust deposits lay in wait to be mined. "Get ready ladies, and those of the other gender. Operation Machtstaub has begun!"
Nodding, Ruby and Weiss exited the cockpit. Sun greeted them with a smile. "Wreck some shit, guys!" he cheered as he opened the side door. Weapons drawn, teams RWBY and JNPR watched as the ground grew closer and closer until Roman leveled off and hovered about ten feet above the surface, at which point both teams of three jumped out. The second Bullhead did the same, and teams VLVT and CRDL landed with a subtle thud as they leapt from their respective transport. Landing in the "courtyard", they noticed a few forklifts, empty delivery trucks, and several empty cargo containers.
"Operation start!" Ruby declared. Ember rose in hand, she looked around alertly, searching for any sign of Grimm activity. "Weiss, this is your area of expertise. Lead the way. JNPR, VLVT, CRDL, keep an eye out for Grimm."
"Roger!" all three other teams declared.
Weiss nodded, and with Myrtenaster in hand she began to make her way to the loading docks for the mine's exports. "There might be some Dust in the shipping department, assuming the workers left in a hurry." Ruby and Blake followed the white haired girl's lead while the Destruction teams swept the area.
The first thing Blake noticed was the silence. While her human counterparts would hear the silence as well, it seemed deafening to her. Her superior hearing should have picked up some sign of life, but all she heard was the loud echo of nothingness. Nothingness, she thought. What a terrifying concept.
Weiss noticed the quietness as well, and it filled her with just as much dread as the others. Forcing herself to make as little noise as possible, she made her way to the shipping department with her team following her. Slowly cracking the door open, for the large garage doors were closed, she peered inside to see what may lie within. Pay dirt! she wanted to cheer. Inside the shipping warehouse were four palettes of unshipped Dust. "They must have abandoned it early in the workday. Usually, these warehouses are packed full by the end of the day for the overnight trains and Bullheads to ship out."
"Any Grimm inside?" asked Ruby.
"Not here, but let's not get our hopes up." She produced her scroll. "Recovery M: we've found four palettes of Dust. Type and quality are unknown, but I don't suppose it really matters."
"Find a jack or something and bring them to the courtyard. How many palettes can fit inside of a cargo container?" came the voice of Roman from the scroll.
"Plenty," was all Weiss said.
"Find 'em, pack 'em, and we can go home."
Nodding, Weiss turned to Blake and Ruby. "Long shot, but would either of you happen to know how to operate a forklift?" Ruby shook her head, but Blake nodded.
"I did a lot of different work for the White Fang," was the only explanation she gave. Putting away Gambol Shroud, she hopped into the nearest forklift and turned it on; it was electrical in nature, so thankfully it was much more quiet than the more industrious, Dust powered models.
Quickly and efficiently, she moved the four palettes into a container in the courtyard. The ease of which they had retrieved these four struck Ruby as odd. "I don't like it," Ruby muttered quietly, shifting her eyes from here to there, watching for any bestial movement.
"It's...it's just like before," Weiss stated.
"Before?" Blake asked. "You mean when we went on the previous mission? The one where we...didn't all come back?"
The three girls repressed their sadness once again at the memory of Yang's death. "Exactly," Ruby replied. "It's far too quiet."
Weiss pulled out her scroll once again. "Roman, you've got a bird's eye view of the whole strip mine. Can you see any Grimm?"
A moment later, the debonair replied with, "Zilch. I hate to say it, but they're probably hiding in the mineshafts connected to the mountain. That or they aren't here."
Weiss shuddered. "Let's hope it's the latter."
"Well," Ruby began. "You died during this mission well before we ever actually took down Cerberus in my premonition. It's possible that the Grimm have completely left the region when we killed him."
"Thank God for foresight and ingenuity, then." Weiss looked at the mineshafts dug into the strip mine's walls, each layer and shaft going progressively higher over her head, towering over the teams. "All the same, let's avoid the tunnels. Only take the Dust that's on the surface.
The side door of the Bullhead was still open as Roman circled above, team SMMR keeping a watchful eye over the teams below. Sun grabbed the handle on the side of the door and leaned out to get a better view, the wind resistance causing his shirt and hair to blow about. Over the radio, Sun had heard the exchange between Weiss and Roman. True to Roman's word, Sun couldn't see any sign of Grimm activity. "The place wouldn't be abandoned if the Grimm had never been here," he yelled over the sound of the roaring engines.
"Maybe they left the area? There's no one here for them to devour," Militia chimed in.
"Let's not get our hopes up. The best I can wish for is that whatever is down there won't notice us until we've left." His eyes scanned the floor of the giant strip mine, when a shadow caught his attention. It was sudden; too quick for him to get a good glimpse of it. He wasn't even sure that he actually saw it. Better safe than sorry. "I think I saw movement to the west. Tell the teams!"
"Right," Roman yelled back from the cockpit. He once again opened a channel to the teams. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking, we believe we may have spotted movement in the western portion of the mine. Proceed with caution."
"Well, that's probably not good," Weiss muttered, having heard Roman through her scroll. "How much do we have?"
"The container is half full," Blake stated. They had begun moving quickly to avoid a prolonged stay in this menacing mine. "We still need to find more."
Ruby was about to suggest the next area to search, when the four teams heard a blood curdling sound; the dark squawk of a Nevermore. Looking up, Ruby spotted the beast. It had emerged from one of the western mineshafts; the more shallow of the tunnels. It looked around the craterlike mine, it's beady eyes darting this way and that in search of prey. It was aware of the Bullhead's presence, but seemed disinterested; it must not have known that any living thing was on board.
"It's just one," Sky said from nearby. "We can take it!"
"No!" Ruby barked. "Your orders are to remain with us and to protect us from any immediate threats. The Nevermore hasn't spotted us yet, and we should keep it that way."
"We still need to find more Dust," Weiss added. "Let's check the production line. There should be some Dust in there. Not all of it will be refined, but beggars can't be choosers." She gave the Nevermore one last glance. "Let's keep out of Mr. Poe's sight, shall we," she added, trying to be humorous. It almost worked, but they had all been through too much to let themselves smile right now, let alone laugh.
The teams entered a nearby building, marked by a Schnee logo and a sign that read "Production/Refinery", and observed their surroundings. It was a jumble of refining machinery, barrels, crates, and empty palettes. The windows and equipment all had a layer of dust upon them; they had not been disturbed or cleaned in quite some time. On the floor near the entrance was a fluorescent light bulb that had been knocked out of its place, broken into tiny pieces all over the floor. Once again, they were greeted by silence, only being disrupted by the occasional crowing of the Nevermore outside.
"Split up," Weiss said. "This room is too big for us to group together if we plan to find any Dust." The others all nodded.
Jaune, the leader of team JNPR, took his solace very harshly. He tried his hardest to look for Dust, but his mind would always find its way to Ren. That was his closest friend. That was his teammate's lover. And, above all else, Jaune thought of Ren as a brother. He was dead, yet Jaune and the rest of team JNPR yet lived.
Thus his thoughts were preoccupied, but a sound ripped him away from his thoughts. Was that a jar rolling on the ground? he asked himself. Sword drawn, he looked around alertly. Glancing across the room to his comrades, he saw that they heard it too. Ruby gave the signal for all four teams to converge in the center of the room. Jaune took a step in the proper direction when his eye caught the source of the sound; an empty vial, most likely intended to contain Dust, rolled lightly across the floor. This wouldn't bother him so much, except that none of his allies had made it to the area where the vial had come from.
He faced the way the vial had rolled from and backed away slowly before coming into contact with Pyrrha. "There's something in here," he whispered.
The red head simply nodded, her eyes scanning the room intently.
"Did you get a visual?" Blake asked, also using a whispering tone.
"No," the knight replied. "I call for a vote: all in favor of getting out of here with what dust we have should head for the door." Not surprisingly, everyone slowly inched their way to the exit, happy enough to take what gain they had and leave in one piece.
Another vial rolled across the floor, this one bearing a crack from the impact on the hard floor. That sealed the deal. Everyone quickened their pace, though only slightly, to leave the building. Velvet was the closest to the exit. She turned on her heal to make sure she wasn't about to walk into a wall when she heard a sound come from beneath her foot; the sound of glass shattering. She winced and looked down; she had walked right into the broken lightbulb. Shit! she thought.
A loud sniffing sound was heard echoing lightly within the building, followed by a bestial grunt. Blake saw it; a Beowulf had just leapt on top of a pile of crates and was looking right at them. "Guys," she said. "I think it's time to run."
The Beowulf stared for a moment longer before erupting into a loud howl, triggering the responses of more Grimm. "I think you're right!" Juane agreed. All thirteen of them bolted out of the door.
Nora was the last to exit. She made one final glance behind her, and terror filled her being. She slammed the double doors closed and grabbed a nearby crowbar that was used to opening crates, and barred the door with it. Everyone paused to see what she had done. Eyes still wide, she yelled, "They had an Ursa Major in there!" before running and catching up with her comrades.
The giant, cratersized strip mine now sounded like a sports stadium full of Grimm, as howls, squawks, and roars filled the hunters' ears. "Roman!" Weiss called. "Grab the Dust container, now!"
"What's going on down there?" he replied hastily.
"We found the Grimm."
"How many?"
"Lots."
"Lots?" he asked.
"LOTS!" Weiss yelled back.
"Have everything ready! I'm on my way."
The mineshafts dug into the side of the mountain began to erupt with Grimm, pouring from the walls as though they were liquid. The number was astounding; they were equal to, or greater, than the force of Grimm that forced Yang to sacrifice herself. "We need to contain these Grimm!" Velvet exclaimed. "There are far too many here to simply let live!"
"What do you expect us to do?" Sky asked.
"I don't know, but Fort Stein isn't that far away. Should these Grimm decide to attack, then nothing will stop them!"
"We can detonate the remaining Dust," Weiss stated as a matter of fact.
"Isn't the Dust too widespread?" Juane asked, eyeing the oncoming Grimm nervously. The rest of team VLVT was securing the Dust container for Roman's Bullhead, which was coming into view.
"No. Dust is very volatile. It's not out of the ordinary for us to have mining accidents. While safety precautions have made such accidents almost a thing of the past, the Dust itself, regardless of elemental type, is still just as dangerous. Refined, it'll usually erupt in a controlled state, but unrefined, like say, I don't know, in a mine, any sort of eruption becomes catastrophic."
"There's one problem with that," Pyrrha started. "For an explosion of the scale we need, we have to have plenty of heat. We need a fire."
"And I'm the only one present who can create fire," Weiss added. "My Dust skills aren't long range either. The farthest I can cast my fire is roughly one hundred yards. I could do it from a Bullhead, but we'd be too close. We'd be caught in the blast."
Ruby wanted to slap Weiss. "Fuck the Grimm," she said. "I know what you're planning, Weiss. I've seen it. You will do no such thing!"
"But Ruby, it's just like Yang; some things need to happen!"
"Is that how you see the timeline? Well, fuck the timeline, fuck the universe, and fuck you! You are not dying here today! None of us are. If need be, we can return and drop bombs on the mine, but for now we're escaping. Nothing else."
The Bullhead arrived, cutting off any argument Weiss would have made with it's roaring engines. Dropping cables, it quickly grabbed a hold of the container with magnets. "I can't help but overhear your little conversation. I'm siding with Ruby on this one. Everyone, hop in!" Roman yelled, nervously eying the oncoming Grimm from his cockpit. Something struck him as odd. Where did the Nevermore go?
Ruby grabbed Weiss's arms and threw her onto the Bullhead violently. Weiss would be angry with her, but Ruby didn't care. She was saving Weiss this time. The remainder of the teams boarded. "We're ready to go!" Ruby yelled.
Roman eyed the skies nervously. "Right," he said flatly. Slowly, he picked up the container and began to ascend into the sky. So far, he had seen no other sign of the Nevermore. Maybe it left.
Sun glanced out of the open door to watch the Grimm. Once more he saw the shadow of movement, but this time it looked as though it was above him. He glanced up, and his eyes went wide; there it was, coming right for them. Oh, fuck! "Roman, look out!" Sun yelled.
Too late. The Nevermore had already snuck upon them. It spread its wings and fired feathers down upon them. Pyrrha, Sun, Ruby, and Blake all began firing their weapons at the feathers, trying to knock away as many as possible. One grazed the tail, one bounced off of the engine, and the rest seemed to miss. It came a surprise, then, when the Bullhead lurched to the side.
Sun stumbled, but kept his footing. He moved quickly to the cockpit. "Roman, what's wrong?" he asked, but he soon saw what was wrong. One of the feathers had pierced the windshield and imbedded itself into Roman's leg. To keep from crying out, Roman was biting his own lip; he bit so hard that his lip was bleeding. "Militia! Roman needs help!"
The girl in question rushed to the front and used her claw weapon to slice off the feather, which Sun pushed out of the cockpit through the hole it created. Pulling Roman out, Sun took over as pilot.
"Is he gonna be alright?" Ruby asked, concerned.
Militia ripped the hole in Roman's pants even wider to get a better look at the wound. She shook her head. "He needs a proper surgery to fix it. He'll bleed out before we ever get back to Beacon. The wound is to terrible for me to effectivly stop the bleeding. There's nothing I can do."
Roman gasped, finally done with holding the pain inside, and he screamed a short, agonized scream. "Good!" he spat. "Like I said, I overheard your conversation. If I'm dying anyway, let me take as many of those Grimm as I can with me!"
"Roman," Ruby warned. "Don't do this. You're supposed to survive everything."
He met Ruby's gaze. Once he thought her to be young, naive, and a pain in his ass. Now he only saw her as young. "Listen, Red, I know what you said about my future...I don't want it."
"W-what?"
"My fate is to survive all of this, only to watch you die in my arms. You will perish, and I will live on to watch the world burn. Even if the world survives, there's no promise that you won't die. I'd rather go on ahead and wait for you. I don't want to wait to join you."
Ruby began to tear up. She hadn't truly cried these last few days. She thought her heart had hardened to stone after watching so many die; she was wrong. "Roman," she whispered.
"I love you, Red. You're almost like my own kid. I wanted nothing to do with you at first, but now I want the best for you." He turned to Weiss. "Give me your fire Dust cartridges. They'll fit in my cane."
Weiss nodded, producing the ammo in question. "Are you sure about this, Roman?"
"More sure than anything I've ever done before. Sun, make sure you fly us away from the mine. Everyone else, you should try to kill the Nevermore before I reach the ground. It might eat me before I make it. Weiss, I need you to use your glyphs to catch me before I hit the ground."
"Right," she said, preparing her semblance. "Shoot the barrels. They contain unrefined Dust."
Roman nodded as he grabbed a nearby hand hold at the edge of the Bullhead, wincing to at the pressure he's placed on his injured leg while blood spurted out. He gave Ruby one last glance, which she returned in the form of a tight hug. "See you around, Red," he said, returning her embrace.
Sniffing and fighting back tears, Ruby replied, "M-my name...isn't Red."
Roman broke the hug, almost shoving Ruby away. Leaning backwards, he let himself fall out of the Bullhead. Ruby whatched in horror, and she felt as though time had slowed down. As he began his descent, the wind from the Bullhead's flight made Roman's coat swish back and forth violently. His well kempt red hair swayed gently, and his handsome face flashed her a smile. While Ruby's pounding heart wouldn't let her hear his next words, she read his lips; "You're right. I'm so sorry...Ruby."
He fell. He didn't know if he was lightheaded because of the exhilarating feeling of free fall, or the blood loss. It may have been both. He turned his body to face the ever approaching ground. Cane loaded and ready, he prepared himself for the landing; no matter what, it was going to hurt. He got to about thirty feet above the ground when Weiss's glyph appeared below him. Landing gently in its magical embrace, he floated for a moment before the glyph failed. He landed on his feet, but his wounded leg came out from under him, forcing him to the ground.
"Gah!" he exclaimed, feeling all of the pain. His body's natural pain killers must not have been working. "Fuck!" He stood up slowly, using his cane as a proper walking tool, and looked around. He was surrounded by Grimm. "Hello," he said suavely. "Good afternoon. Wonderful weather we're having, isn't it?" He heard gunfire. Risking the look up, he saw the teams in the Bullhead gun down the Nevermore. If only we knew where it was before, we could have done that to begin with. He smiled with pleasure as he watched its corpse fall and disintegrate. "Well," he sighed, taking aim as he leaned on a nearby light pole. "There's no time quite like the present." Spotting a nearby barrel, he pulled the trigger. He wouldn't live long enough to see the results.
The Schnee Dust Corporation had proven that unrefined Dust, once ignited, would start a chain reaction that would erupt into a violent explosion. It's best to keep any possible ignition source away from such materials, or the end result could possible look similar to a nuclear meltdown. That depended, of course, on how much Dust was within a two hundred yard radius of the ignited Dust. Machtstaub was a Dust mine; the amount of Dust within a two hundred yard radius was astounding.
As such, teams RWBY, SMMR, VLVT, JNPR, and CRDL watched in awe from the Bullhead as Machtstaub erupted into a blinding light before sinking even further into the ground. The mineshafts had collapsed, the Grimm had been incinerated, and the blast's shockwave could easily be mistaken for a minor earthquake.
Sun opened the cockpit door. "I've just received word from Goodwitch. The other missions have proven to be successful. Minimal losses, and they've all recovered a reasonable about of Dust. I guess we can call this a victory?"
Ruby nodded. I love you, Red. You're almost like my own kid. One single, final tear ran down Ruby's cheek. It would be the last tear she would shed for quite some time. Closing the side door to the Bullhead, she sat down to rest before they arrived back at Beacon.
Song: The Great Below-Nine Inch Nails
"And I descend from grace, in arms of undertow. I will take my place in the Great Below"
AUTHOR'S NOTES
That quote from the song is what sold it to me that I should use it. Also, i just killed the character whom I love writing for the most in this story. I'm kind of sad.
This story is planned to be a Prologue, 20 core chapters, and then an Epilogue...that means we have as many as 5 more chapters to go before we finish for good! So close! I think I'll let you in on a little secret: the character death is almost over! I don't have many more deaths planned, and they have to stop eventually! You'll find out what's left in the coming weeks, of course! Hold onto your butts! I really am looking forward to finishing this story. Its taken up way too much of my time. Not that that's a bad thing, per se...
Fun Fact: I ordered a Roxio HD Capture Pro yesterday. For those of you who are interested, I may start doing let's plays sometime soon. I'll let you know more as this develops.
Fun Fact 2.0: For those of you who DON'T work/go to school tomorrow for Labor Day, I hope you have a wonderful day. I have to work as the garbage man until 10:30 AM, so I still have to wake up for work. Although, once we pick up all of the day's garbage, we get to go home, so it's not too bad. And I get paid for it, which is nice.
Till next time!