A/N: Hey there~ Have fun!

~Angel and Hel

Chapter Three: Fallout

-.-.-

"Goddamn," Maverick grunted, picking himself up off the thankfully no longer moving floor. He got to his feet and stumbled a few steps before bracing himself against the wall. "I knew the Trials were going to be bullshit, but that," he gestured to the wall that now had a slight splatter of blood from his crunched nose, "Is just not cool."

He patted himself down, made sure nothing was broken, and frowned. The alarms were off. The emergency lighting was failing. And of course he could hear- or more accurately feel- the heavy footsteps of something moving.

Oh, and the enraged yelling. That was always a good indicator of something gone wrong.

"I'm coming for ya, buddy!" he yelled, pulling his goggles down over his eyes and lighting up the world in spectacular orange. He sprinted down one, two corridors before barging into a room that had a fair sight more rubble down the far end.

And a big ugly Grimm jumping around dodging Dust shells coming from a particularly spacious looking slab.

"Heyyy, buddy!" Maverick grinned, pulling a pair of pistols out of the holsters at his thighs. "I've come to save you!"

He knew it'd get on ol' Deathstroke's nerves. The cheery joker saving the oh-so-serious Hunter-in-Training. That was why he did it after all.

The scene was pretty Grimm - heh, that was awful of him. Ol' buddy McHardass had one leg stuck under that slab, his hands gripping his… standard issue Atlesian military pistol? Did he not have a proper weapon? Anyway, he was pumping shots into the beast, keeping it at bay. Still hadn't cracked a smile, though maybe in this situation that was less surprising.

"Hey, numb-skull!" Maverick shouted, firing a few bolts at the creature's thick hide. They didn't quite penetrate before they exploded, leaving the Creep with leathery chunks missing instead of entire holes blown in its leg. It spun - one of the big ones, large enough to shake the corridor as it ran screeching at him.

"OH SHIT!" he shouted on reaction, the shaking floor making him lose his footing- again?!- and fall backwards. With a small rush of light, he landed next to Slade, rolling on his back to kickflip himself to his feet again. "Need some help?" he asked, offering his hand as the Grimm continued charging at where he had been.

"I'm trapped under a rock, Wilson." Slade rolled his eyes. "Getting up might be a bit -" His expression focused and he re-aimed the pistol pulling the trigger in three short bursts at the Grimm.

"Easy?" Maverick grinned, grabbing the neck of Slade's tactical vest and pulled them to the other side of the room in a twisted tunnel of space, hitting the ground just as the Creep slammed into the wall and shook the entire room. Rubble almost predictably fell on the spot Slade had been stuck in moments ago, shattering the slab and crushing whatever was left under it.

Taking a moment to line up a decent shot with the staggered Grimm's head, Maverick fired a bolt into its eye. One muffled whumph and a splatter of red and black from it's eye sockets later, the creature fell and started disintegrating.

"Thanks." Slade's speech wasn't as grudging as he'd hoped, but - was that a smile? By his shiny shoes it was! Not a large one, but a smile, nonetheless. "You're a good shot."

"Maybe I could teach you a couple of tricks sometime," Maverick grinned, lightly bumping Slade with his elbow. "The first one is to get a decent weapon. Seriously, that gun you've got? It's not gonna do a thing to a Grimm worth a damn."

"It's not my only damn weapon, and it was the only one I could draw after that earthquake. It's also a situational weapon." His lips twisted. "And I can't build my own weapons. Never got the knack. So commercial bought it is."

Maverick's face screwed up in distaste as he pulled a third, rather large pistol out of his holder and dumped it in Slade's hand. "Here." The thing was heavy- almost 8kg of gun- and had some brutal looking blades attached to the end. "Forty rounds, full auto, think of it as a railroad-spike shooting machine gun."

"... thanks again, I guess, even if the ergonomics are fucked." He sighted down it briefly then looked over at Maverick. "Why give me one of your weapons?"

"I've got plenty more." Maverick shrugged. "You look like you'd be a helluva Hunter… if you were armed properly." Aaaand his infuriating grin was back.

"I don't need to be armed properly. I can and have killed a Grimm with a fucking stick. Boy." His teeth were bared, white and gleaming in the darkness - then he stepped back. "But we should get on with this. Try and get out before more serious fuckers show up."

"One day you should pull that stick out your ass and kill another Grimm with it," Maverick gave Slade his best shit-eating grin as he prepared to run.

"Just - don't tempt me."

"No promises."

-.-.-

Yolona bared her teeth in a predatory grin as she and the Grimm circled each other. It made a move and she banged her sword against her shield twice, sending the thundering clangs echoing down the halls.

Creeps. Dwellers of the ground, their eyesight wasn't the sense they relied on.

The thing shrieked a hiss at her and bristled, clawing at the ground. That was usually a sign they were about to charge. Yolona let out a roar as she smashed her shield into the ground again, activating the spikes as she charged at it herself.

The Grimm threw its head back- it was going to try headbutt her with its maul-like skull- and that was not its first mistake. Yolona slammed into it and her shield struck home in its soft underbelly, catching and holding it as she continued charging down the hallway. It writhed and screamed and bled as it's tail dragged along the coarse floor and caught on rubble.

"Hey, what's-"

"HOLY-"

Two irritatingly high-pitched voices shrieked from down the hallway, thankfully fleeing quickly. The noise grated on Yolona's ears. The Creep tried to claw at her around the shield, but it only got one foot hooked on her shoulder before-

The pitiful creature's shrieking stopped with a thundering crash as Yolona hit the wall, crushing it between her and a hard place. One thing she found quite nice about slamming things into walls was that whatever she was trying to kill provided the most satisfying cushioning on impact.

She stepped back and slammed her shield into the floor, retracting the spikes and letting the dissipating corpse fall to the ground.

"Hmph."

She'd faced Grimm more challenging than that before. And of course, the main reason she was here was to face more worthwhile foes. So far, she was rather disappointed. A second beastly outcry didn't raise her hopes in the slightest - but it was worth investigating. She could already feel her Semblance starting to decay.

Lighting up her shield again, Yolona made her way down the corridor with heavy steps, rounding the corner in a battle-ready stance.

Another Creep. Was this all that had caused the alarms? She cracked her neck and -

A whistling whirling vertical whirlwind of a shape cleaved the Grimm in half. The figure bounced off the wall, landing in a low crouch, a bladed dagger snapping back into their gauntlet.

The girl with the sword. Flashy manoeuvre.

"Good kill," Yolona grunted begrudgingly, heaving her shield up into a more comfortable resting position and collapsing her sword to store against her back. She wasn't secretly considering the other girl a kill-stealer, was she? Working in an environment with other potential Hunters and Huntresses was… new to her.

"Should've got it before it went round the corner." She hefted her sword from the ground, rested it on her shoulder. "Think this is real?"

Yolona snorted. "Real. Quakes cannot be faked. Nor can Grimm," she rumbled, kicking what remained of the creature's head.

"Grimm can be captured. And the Creeps burrowing in here -" She shrugged. "I suppose we'll find out."

"Hmph. I was told the Trials were challenging."

"Then the Grimm aren't the challenge."

"DAMNIT, NOT ANOTHER DEAD END!" one of the high-pitched squealers whined loudly, her voice travelling terribly well through the corridors.

"I told you we shouldn't have-"

"SHUT UP, YOU OVERCONTROLLING FUCKWIT!"

Yolona scowled. "The challenge must be dealing with these… children." she grunted, bringing up her shield for light and heading down a different hall, one that was hopefully away from the irritants.

The girl was following her, watching over her like a vulture. Hmph. She hadn't expected that.

They continued on in silence. Watching the darkness. Waiting for something to leap out at them. But nothing did, and several intersections later, it felt like they were in the same place they'd left. "This place is a labyrinth." Yolona growled, stopping at the… another crossroads.

"Hmm. Look at this." The Watcher was looking at an etched metal plate on the wall - coloured symbols, lines, half coated with dust and dented by debris. "It doesn't - work, though. The corridors on it don't line up to those we've come down. Not enough turns."

Yolona peered at the wall, bringing her shield up so she could see. "Hmph, good eyes," she mumbled the compliment, not seeing any gear over the Watcher's eyes. A faunus, perhaps? They could see much better than she could in the dark. "Useless map," she growled.

"Might be a pattern to the changes. Would take too long to work out though." The Watcher's jaw shifted under their collar. "Hm." The dagger popped from her gauntlet and she carefully levered the map from the wall, holding it up to hide her face. "I can study it as we walk. Might help me work it out faster."

Yolona frowned, spotting something colourful on the back from the light of her shield. "Other side." she ordered.

The Watcher turned the slab, looking for a moment, barely visible face scrunching into a frown. "It's another map. In worse condition, far cruder. But, I believe, more accurate." She looked up. "Good catch."

Yolona grinned under her helmet. "Now we leave."

-.-.-

At some point, Winter had become aware of how horribly light Helia was. It should've been a relief, not to heft some brutish weight around, but instead all she could think of was that she weighed less than her sister - her prepubescent sister. She could feel the bones of her spine through her neck. Her legs, stick thin. It was a wonder she could stand at all, even before -

She hefted her a little higher. Didn't want to drop her.

She'd been moving at a swift jog for the past few minutes. Still no sign of an exit. Damn. Or at least, nothing that looked like an exit. There had been one white, rounded door, almost akin to an airlock, but she doubted that would lead to a stairwell up.

A second door. Hm.

A vehicle bay, maybe. Or some sort of engineering lab. Or a laboratory in general. Though given the earthquake, the risk of dangerous chemical spills was - high. But acceptable, in preference to Grimm and darkness, and her fading timestop on Helia's wing.

She adjusted Helia slightly, trying to fumble for a handle, or something that might open the door. The faunus twitched in her grasp and she slowed, trying to keep her steady.

"Hhnn…" Helia mumbled, her breathing quickening as her face screwed up in pain. Her eyes started fluttering with each step. "Whh…"

"Shh, it's ok." She would think of her as like Weiss when Weiss had eaten too much sugar and crashed. "We're going to get you upstairs and somewhere comfortable. And get your wing looked at."

"Ahhnn…" Helia gasped as Winter stopped, trying to move slightly before quickly giving up on that notion. "Hnn, th-h-thanks, W-Winnnter…" she moaned, her eyes staying shut as her head lolled limply.

"What did you call me?" She hadn't said her name, how had she known, how had she known?!

But the faunus was unconscious again.

Winter was still trying to get the… possibly garage door open when she heard someone coming down one of the adjacent corridors. Heavy footsteps. Really heavy. A large Grimm? No, too uniform, too much with the rhythm of human feet. Perhaps an Atlesian military mech, such as those her father had bought to defend -

The drunken giant from earlier rounded the corner at a steady jog as a sudden series of hearty clacks and hisses traveled down the other hall. A momentary burst of gunfire was interrupted by a roar that Winter knew Creeps did not make.

The giant cursed loudly as she slammed her shield into the ground and unfolded her sword, getting into a battle-ready position. "Watcher!" she bellowed, smashing the sword against the shield and sending thunder echoing down the halls.

"Right behind you, Bastion." Something - someone - shot over the giant - over Bastion's head, a cross between a sword and a spear brandished in one hand and a near invisible coiling loop of rope pulling them onward in the other.

Something was coming, that much was clear. But - with the girl in her arms, she couldn't fight. And putting her down - what if there was another quake, or whatever it was got past her? No, she'd observe for now. She wished she could use her glyphs.

The sound of skitters and gunfire came closer. Winter could see the bursts of light getting brighter with every moment. "SKREEEE!"

"How the fuck did you think that would work, you moron!"

"I didn't! It was for SCIENCE!"

"How is poke the Grimm with your bayonet science!?"

"Trial and er- OOF!" the voice - that annoyingly familiar voice - was cut off with a whumpf as the Grimm must have hit him and thrown him away - and there was Maverick, flying through the air with his limbs flailing. His companion was right. He was a moron.

One final burst of gunfire and several hearty shots chipped away at armour before several much smaller clicks rang out. "Fuck." Then the more heavily armoured of the pair hurtled past as well. "SKREEE!"

The noise. The inability of their weapons to do damage. The noise.

It had to be a Deathstalker. One of the more dangerous Grimm. Resilient, strong, venomous.

Bastion slammed her shield into the ground- as she seemed so very fond of doing- and pulled up her sword, which… cannonised itself. The handle shifted, the blade split, and Winter found herself staring at some sort of Dust cannon. Bastion leveled it at the beast and roared a challenge as it charged up, glowing brighter every moment.

Then it unleashed a glowing ball of lightning, visible for an instant, before it zoomed into the darkness.

The Deathstalker's screeching was cut off for a moment as a bright light flashed through the hall, stray arcs sparking off the metal surfaces in the area. Winter felt her hairs stand on end with the residual static energy sweeping over her.

The other girl - Watcher, backflipped back into view, sword swinging in an arcing cut at something out of sight. Even as she struck, the huge gold stinger of the Grimm struck back - but she rolled aside.

"Gahahaaaa!" Helia was suddenly awake and twitching and trying to scream- but her voice wouldn't raise past a whisper as she struggled and writhed in Winter's grip.

"Helia, stay still, please." The sword clattered off chitin as Watcher span again, this time a leaping circle across the floor. But the blade was too high angled. Another blast from the giant's cannon, but again, nowhere that would do real damage. "Helia, we don't want to draw attention from -"

The Deathstalker's claws lashed out, pinching and snapping at the air as it turned to look at them and roared.

Several rounds pinged off the Grimm's carapace around its eyes. "Over here, ya fugly git!" Maverick yelled out, waving his arms. The Deathstalker barely even gave him a glance before ignoring him.

So he shot it in the face with a flare.

"That's not going to work!" His heavily armoured companion stood, having reloaded their brutish looking rifle and fired a burst.

But it could work. Winter grinned, then shouted, "Get the flares in its mouth! You, boy with the spikes, try to pop its eyes - fire when its armoured eyelids aren't closed."

Maverick's next shot went wide as he burst into laughter. "Boy with the spikes!" he exclaimed, quickly running away from brute in case he decided to switch targets.

The boy in question growled but kept up steady burst fire.

Maverick pushed against the wall, bringing up his guns and sliding to a halt in front of Winter and her charge. "Open up!" he yelled, that insane grin on his face as the Grimm did just that, opening its mouth to roar and rearing back to sting him.

Behind it, the giantess roared as her cannon reformed into a sword - and blades flipped out at the end, transforming it into some kind of… bladed pickaxe-scythe? She twisted around, making a full turn before swinging the blade and hooking it around the tail as the Deathstalker reared back, pinning it and her blade into the ground.

"Remove the stinger!" Winter ordered, shoving Maverick away from herself and her fragile charge. The last thing she wanted was the Deathstalker's attention in her direction.

Answering the call, Watcher spun again, launching into the air, whirling like a Boarbatusk as she came down on the joint between the stinger and the tail itself, slicing it free. The Deathstalker let out a pained, fire-mouthed shriek as it flailed, unable to move forward or back and waving it's pincers around in a desperate attempt to hit something as the fallen stinger pierced its bony carapace.

Winter stood still - she couldn't drop Helia and draw her saber. She couldn't use her glyphs without revealing her identity. With how close her fellow would-be-students stood to the Grimm, they would invariably see something.

But she could end it here. Hold its limbs in place, freeze it, burn it, launch it. One pincer smacked into Watcher as it flailed. The other barely missed severing that moron Maverick's leg.

No. She'd have to risk it.

She adjusted Helia's position in her arms, extending a hand and flicking two of her fingers. A repulsion glyph in a loose piece of the ceiling, primed and ready to fire. The grimm wasn't under it though - she whistled sharply and the beast spun to look at her. "Here, Grimm. I'm unarmed. Come fight me."

The beast chittered, roared, and scurried forward, fast - it was so big -

She launched the piece of rubble down into the stinger.

In hindsight, maybe she should have put a tad bit less power into that glyph. In the blink of an eye, she'd gone from staring insectoid death in the gaping maw to scrambling to keep herself from falling on Helia as the floor shook and bright red gore splattered around them, the thundering boom of impact leaving her ears ringing.

Winter almost jumped in fright as the rear end of the corpse slid to a stop, nudging her outstretched leg. It was… steaming?

As the ragtag group picked themselves up, the Deathstalker's muscles started relaxing, leading to the almost comical view of its remains slumping to the ground.

"HOLY FUCK THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!" Maverick exclaimed, an insane, idiotic grin plastered on his face as he looked back and forth between Winter and the decaying corpse, gesturing wildly in his unbound excitement.

The orange armoured figure beside him tilted his head. "That was...something." He grinned. "Good job. However you did that."

Bastion's sword folded down as she holstered it on her back. Nodding to Winter, she chuckled heartily. "Yes. Good kill."

Watched simply nodded, hilt of their spear sliding back down and into the greatsword Winter recognised from the locker room.

"It was nothing. Really." As nice as it was to receive praise, too much attention on her glyph-use wasn't what she wanted. "You all had done far more damage to it, I simply delivered the killing blow."

"Buuullsshiiit…" Helia's whispered voice came from somewhere buried in her side. Her weak coughing as the dust settled didn't help. Her wing was barely frozen and oh god, Winter must have jostled her while making the glyph. She hoisted her more carefully back into her arms.

"Hey uh- is she okay?" Maverick asked, quietening down for a moment. For such an irresponsible jackass he was showing an awful lot of concern for her wellbeing.

"No. The earthquake hurt her considerably." Winter glared at him over Helia's body.

A sudden ka-chunk and a hiss behind them drew their attention to the door. Bastion pulled up her shield and sword again. Maverick shifted stance and had one hand in his holster. Watcher adopted a low stance, sword held to one side as Deathstroke readied that heavy bladed rifle he held.

When the door finally slid open, bathing the group in light…

"Ah, good, you're all still alive." Ironwood's strong voice rang out, causing everyone to immediately put away their weapons and stand down.

Helia grabbed on to Winter, holding up one arm to get the General's attention as she croaked out, "Medic, please…"

Winter glanced down at her, making sure she was - oh god - her blindfold had slipped and was tangled up in her hair, but that wasn't the part that made Winter's throat close up. H-her eyes, they - that soft baby blue, her snow white skin, it- she-

Weiss is hurt what do I do I need to do something oh god hold on sis it'll be okay oh please let it be okay I'm here I'm here Weiss I'll make it okay-

"How. Dare. You."

She didn't realise she was speaking until she'd started, a low animal growl from somewhere deep in her brain.

"How dare you, general. How dare you appear and comment on our survival as though it was a charming breakfast arrangement. You have failed your Kingdom - Grimm attacked this base during the Trials and broke in and your students are hurt and all you say is 'Ah, good,' like some insipid - insipid nurse?"

Ironwood folded his arms and opened his mouth, half smiling, but Winter continued.

"Such callousness is unacceptable. How dare you stand there and act as though nothing has occurred that is unexpected. You should be fired - no, executed for gross misconduct and inability to prepare adequately. How was the earthquake not detected?"

"Miss -"

"Don't you 'miss' me." Winter's hand dropped to her saber. A second later she recoiled in shock as someone stuck their finger up her nose. Looking down at her assailant - oh no - her throat clenched and her heart throbbed. Weiss used to do that when she was young and fragile and come here you poor baby I'm here for you Weiss I promise I'll always be here for you -

"Miss Winter." Ironwood's voice was soft. He was still smiling, the bastard. "Your fire in defence of those under your command is commendable. And were this an accident, you would be correct, I would deserve court martial. But instead, I must congratulate all of you on passing the first stage of the Trials." He smiled a little wider. "Even if they were… shaken up a little. Well done."

Behind him, a trio of Technical Support Officers came into view. Two carried a stretcher between them and set it down next to Weiss, detangling the winged faunus from Winter. "We'll take her to the medbays," one of them reassured her, his data-visor clearing up.

Winter let out a choked thank you- or she tried, at least. The TSO's features softened slightly.

"You can keep her company," he suggested, standing up. Weiss - Helia, damnit - moaned in pain from behind him.

"Y-yes. I think I will." Winter nodded, focusing on W- Helia. Helia. Focus, Winter, you know they're not the same.

Ironwood stepped aside and nodded to the rest of the prospective Hunters. "We should get moving. You aren't the only ragtag squad that got through this incident scathed and regrouping the Streams is our main priority right now."

Winter had to shield her eyes from the light after so long in the darkness. As she followed them deeper into the heart of the landscape, she wondered… do the tunnels ever end?

-.-.-

A/N: We'd love to hear from you. Did you enjoy it? Were there parts in particular you liked/didn't like? Anything you think we could have done better/paid more attention to? Feedback sustains us!