AN: GUESS WHO'S BACK!
WOOOOOOO
But yeah, I'm not dead.
And I have NO intention of quitting this story anytime in the near future.
Ch47: Charlie Foxtrot
(Tues, Y+1, M+5, D+4)
[The Vault, Beacon]
Brimstone and Ignis quickly remove The Coffin from its housing, and prepare it for transport. Apparently it has a built-in hover device of some description so transport is actually rather simple, just push it forwards. Sven and Ivan move up to get a line of sight around the tangle of machinery.
"Clear." Sven reports back a minute later.
"How's the elevator shaft?" Brimstone asks.
"From here it looks relatively intact, although it is missing both the doors and the actual elevator car itself."
"Good. Move up and get a clear look at the elevator. Make sure it can still get us up to the surface." Brimstone orders.
"Ivan." I order. "You're with Sven."
"Da." Ivan says, and quickly moves up with Sven.
'"Well that was something."' Neo 'says'. I take my helmet off and exhale deeply.
'"Indeed it was, I'm guessing you didn't recognize half of those tapestries."' I reply. '"But that entire experience was actually rather eye-opening. Never really cared much about what would happen after I die, but all in all those women were rather remarkable."'
'"Quiet you."' Neo jabs me in the side with her umbrella, in precisely the right spot to avoid my armored plates.
"Ach!" I rub my side. '"That hurt. No need to be so jealous. You're still the most beautiful psychopath I know."' I stare her in the eyes and wink. '"And that's what I love about you."'
'"You really think I'm a psychopath?"' she mock-pouts.
'"Hey, it takes one to know one."' I respond with a smirk and replace my helmet.
"Sir." Sven comms. "The elevator is totally gone. Nothing to take us up. Enough handholds and debris to use rappelling gear. But it'll take some time unless…" Sven pauses. "Kurt? How far can you teleport?"
"Far enough. But I'll need a visual. I'd rather not bamf inside something. Hasn't happened yet but I'd rather not learn how that works the hard way." I reply, heading over to the other side of the underground vault. I wave to Neo and she walks up alongside me.
Sven tosses something into the elevator shaft, it seems to launch itself upwards. 'Huh, drone.'
"Sven. That a drone?" I comm.
"Yep."
"And how exactly do I get to see the recce?"
"I'll patch it to your scroll."
I pull out my scroll from a hardened belt pouch. "What's the wifi code?"
Sven holds out his hand.
"Here." I give him my scroll and he slides a small probe into a port and taps a few commands.
"And that should be good. It's also been linked into our network, so there's that. The two buttons here control altitude, and the little tab here controls direction. Press this to change to IR, heat signatures, that kinda stuff."
"Thanks." I take my scroll back and immediately take stock.
The area outside the CCT's entrance is surprisingly intact, showing only the scars of light and medium weapons. A number of AK-200s lie inactive or destroyed, along with a Paladin. The real issue, however, is the Grimm. There are a lot of them. Mostly Beowolves, Creeps and a few Ursai as heavy 'infantry' support.
They are currently running amok on the grounds, trampling around and it seems that they are guarding the tower. Then, all of a sudden they all turn to one direction and charge. I pan the drone's camera and see Ruby and Weiss heading towards the CCT, cutting their way through a small army of Grimm.
"Scheiße!" I mutter. "Something's wrong… She's still here." I pan the camera up. "Scheiße!"
"You already said that. And who's still here?" One asks.
"Sohn einer Hündin!" I say, rather loudly as I bring the drone up to level with the top of the tower. Cinder v. Pyrrha. I would consider it an entertaining fight, if it didn't look like Pyrrha was doing her damndest to stay alive. And to make the entire citywide shitshow (to which I seem to be getting a mandatory front row seat) worse, a rather large Grimm dragon is inbound from the direction of Mountain Glenn.
"Brimstone! Get your air support on the line! They've got a dragon!" I bark out, panning the drone's camera downwards, to the ground. "I'm going up! K(rak)In! Hold on!" I shout, grabbing onto Ivan and Sven, while I feel Neo hold onto my greatcoat.
*bamf*
I place my scroll in its usual pocket and bring Blue Death to ready, immediately opening fire on the Grimm surrounding the CCT. "Pick your targets and hold this area!" I order. "Cover Me!" I add as I start to move upwards towards Ruby and Weiss. In the distance I can see that there are no longer any airships in the sky. The Alpha Company Firebase however is still putting up one hell of a fight though, I can see tracer fire, missile contrails and the black powder-puffs of air burst munitions covering the sky. If it weren't over the city that I've come to call home, I would have called it beautiful.
Weiss and Ruby pause not far from the tower, the Grimm's numbers starting to dwindle thanks in part to our fire-support and Neo generally being a melee beast. I see she's started using the P90-knockoff I gave her. 'Hooray for common sense. And conventional weapons.'
I turn to figure out how my little sister is doing. Turns out she and Weiss were a bit pinned down by a Nevermore, which had decided to strafe them occasionally while also attempting to dodge the occasional SAM getting thrown its way from the general direction of up. I quickly decided that the origin of the missiles was a problem for later. Knowing my luck, later would be when they started falling on me. But, for now, I just tried to figure out how to take that thing down. There are three main options: call in support, take the thing down myself, or run like hell. Personally I would prefer to save the last for after the previous two have been attempted. And since Brimstone has (presumably) already called in air support, I decide to help Ruby and Weiss out with their not so little flier problem. I dash over to a nearby wall, conveniently at about chest-level. I crouch down and switch Blue Death to sniper form, and I aim for the Nevermore's head.
"Everyone target the Nevermore. On my mark, open fire." I order, switching the fire selector to single shot. '"Neo, keep the Grimm off of Sven and Ivan."' I center my aim on the Nevermore's head. 'Glowing red eyes. Wonderful targets.' I pull the trigger. "Open fire." I order, as my round slams into the armor just barely below the Nevermore's eye, ricocheting upwards and into its eye, blinding it. 'Damn, a bit off.' Milliseconds later, a barrage of rifle rounds slam into the beast, along with a single AP rocket. The bullets do far more damage to the beast than even Dust rounds, and the rocket blasts a wing clean in half, causing the Nevermore to fall to the ground. Weiss then speed-glyphs over to the beast and ends it.
"Quoth the raven; Nevermore" I say aloud, switching Blue Death to AR mode. I walk towards my former teammates. "Weiss! Ruby!" I call out, bringing Blue Death up and placing two bursts into a pair of Beowulves before sensing something behind me, spinning around and unload another pair of bursts into an Ursa Major's head. "Long time no see, Ja?" I jest, reloading my AR.
"Sorry Kurt, can't talk! Pyrrha needs help!" Ruby shouts as Weiss sets up a line of speed glyphs leading to and up the CCT.
"Good. Looks like I won't be the only one." I say, sliding an attachment to the rails under my rifle. Flammenwerfer. Not dust-based either, this baby's got napalm. Amazing what a few textbooks on 'outdated' weapons and techniques can get you. Along with some chem textbooks and school-subsidised weaponry budget, that is.
"Try to keep up sis!" I say, holding my AR in one hand and tossing an abrupt salute with the other.
"No fair Kurt! You can-" I hear Ruby say.
*Bamf* I teleport, entirely intentionally, a half dozen yards above and short the top of the tower itself to get a bit of last-second recon in. What I see isn't good. Mortal-Kombat Fatality not good.
*Bamf* I pull a flying, teleport-tackle into Cinder, knocking her away from Pyrrha. I manage to knock her back a bit.
Okay. She's still got the evil glowing eyes of doom™. Not. Good.
Heavy ordinance:
-Conc-Frags (4)
-AP charges (2)
-Freeze-nades (1)
-Holy Hand grenades (0)
-Flammenwerfer canisters (1+1 in chamber)
-Smoke grenades (4) (Black and blue)
-Tear gas grenades (2)
Recommendation: Purgation by holy flame.
I quickly bamf a few feet back, retaining my momentum and stumbling forewards a few steps. I quickly begin to torch her, as she catches herself and puts up some sort of aura-shield. 'Great.' I back up a few steps and take a hand off of my rifle. I clip my rifle to my back and start running and popping smoke and teargas. I finally notice the MASSIVE FUCKING DRAGON a couple of yards from me.
"Scheiße!" I shout aloud, skidding to a stop. I hear evil laughter. Under most other circumstances it would have sounded actually rather nice. I quickly turn and see Cinder. What are tho-
"AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH" ' . OUT." *Bamf" I reappear on the other side of the tower, just in time to look Ruby in the eyes. My vision's getting blurry, and I'm in quite a good deal of pain. I notice her eyes. So silver I can actually see my own reflection.
"Kurt!?" 'Why does she look so shocked?' Her gaze shifts. "Pyrrha." 'What was I thinking? Oyeah, her eyes. Like freaking mirrors.' "CINDER!" 'Since when did my face look like that?'
*ThumpThump*
You know how they always say in the movies that your life flashes before your eyes when you die? I get the feeling that they're not telling the truth. And it hurts a lot less than I would have guessed. Although I guess that's the shock setting in. And what happened to my fac-
…
*Thud*
…
'"KURT!"'
'"It's getting so dark..."'
'"KURT!"'
…
...
*Swoosh*
…
It's all dark now.
Light. Where's the light coming from?
"What the? What're you doing here kid? Oh…"
…
"Damnit! We better get moving or he's not gonna last. Forget the charges! Load them all in and get on."
"Corpsman! What about her?"
"She's already gone. The other one should be up and around in a few weeks."
"And the Praetorians?"
"We need every second. Don't stop for them. I'll take the fall if need be."
"You're the doctor."
…
"Woah, don't faint on me kid. Didn't expect to see you back here so soon."
…
"You alright? Huh, nonresponsive. Never seen this before."
…
"Wait."
…
"HAH! You glorious stubborn bastard!"
…
"Sir!"
"Yes doctor?"
"Your son…"