The Start of A Storm
A/N: Firstly, I'd like to personally thank Thesaiyan21, who has been with this story since the very beginning. Seriously, we all thought that we'd only get our first Favourite or Follower after the 10th chapter, but you just had to beat my expectations and be the first one on board. Along with that, I'd also like to thank him for sending us our first OC submission ever. It really makes me excited and I hope some of you send more OCs in later on. Also, feel free to check out Thesaiyan21's account and stories. He writes a lot of cross-overs and I'm sure he won't mind me writing this Author's Note.
Also, don't forget to review and favourite if you like the story, it's very encouraging for us! And be sure to check in every Monday and Friday, as that is often when a new chapter comes up. Oh, almost forgot about this chapter, let's get to it!
Two Nights After The Iron Column Break-In…
The worst thing you could do when walking into a deal with a group of fanatical extremists was, well…there's a lot that you could do. However, the worst feeling that you could feel walking into the same deal was fear. If you felt scared or threatened by them, then they will notice it and capitalise upon it; making you crack under their pressure and bend to their will. This is why this lifestyle is not for the faint of heart.
Having done this kind of thing before, Tanner felt absolutely no fear walking into these kinds of deals. He gave one-third of the credit for that to his fighting capabilities, another third to how his grandparents had trained him to perform deals like this, and another third to himself for just being a slick badass.
The swordsman handled the controls of the Bullhead with a steady hand as he gently touched down on the grassy patch of ground in the clearing where he was supposed to be meeting up with a representative who would buy his Dust.
Since he signed the contract with Roman, this was how he spent most of his days; stealing as much Dust as he could from the Four Corners' outposts in Mistral before selling it off to Roman for a generous amount of Lien.
This time, however, Roman had given him the heads up that someone would be collecting the Dust in his stead, and that they were a member of the radical White Fang group. All in all, he had warned Tanner to be careful. Not that he was too concerned.
The Atlas-born swordsman had his own fair share of run-ins with the White Fang, as for some reason he often intercepted the same Schnee Dust convoys as the group. Those few encounters often led to very heated, aggressive negotiations over who laid claim to the convoy's treasure; often resulting in weapons having to be drawn.
This time, he at least hoped that they could talk first before they began trying to split each other's throat open.
"Hey, have you been listening to me?" he snapped out of his thoughts as a soft hand gently shook him by the shoulder.
He turned to the co-pilot seat to see the beautiful brunette who had been helping him for the past few days and who he had unwillingly fallen for. Her deep blue eyes shone brightly even though the sky had darkened hours ago and she gave a soft smile as her hand dropped back down to her side.
Letting out a sigh, Tanner shook his head. "Sorry Hannah; I was too busy thinking of how hot you look. Could you repeat yourself?"
Blushing profusely, she gently punched him in the shoulder. "Stop playing mind games with me!"
Laughing lightly, Tanner continued even though he was short of breath. "I can't help it; your reaction is too cute."
"How am I supposed to be mad at you when you say things like that?" she muttered to herself as she squirmed in her seat.
"You're not." Tanner replied as he leaned over to give her a side hug. "Seriously though. What did you say; I wasn't listening."
This time, the brunette girl was the one to sigh as her slightly irritated – slightly flustered – face turned to a frown. "It's stupid. I just…I got a bad feeling about this deal."
Pulling back slightly to look into her eyes, he asked the burning question that he had asked a dozen times prior. "Do you not want to talk in my place? I just thought that it'd go smoother if they talked to a Faunus. But, if you feel uncomfortable about it-"
"No." she cut him off, wriggling out of the hug. "No, it's just…I don't know."
Putting his lips to her cheek for a chaste kiss, he began unbuckling himself from the pilot seat as soon as he pulled away. "If you don't know what's wrong, then let's go along with it until we do. Besides," he paused to flash his companion a smile. "-I'll have your back no matter what."
She smiled in return as she bounded out of her seat to give him a proper hug. "Thanks, babe." She whispered into his ear in that one tone of voice which he had become rather…accustomed to.
"Now get your ass moving. We still need to get paid." He said with a playful slap just below her Faunus beaver tail. In compliance, she began moving to the open hatch of the airship they were in, but not before sending a wink over her shoulder to Tanner.
Shaking his head, he got up to fulfil his end of their partnership by unbuckling the crates of Dust that were carefully harnessed to the ship, both on the inside and on the surface of the hull. After unfastening and pushing the last crate that was kept inside the Bullhead out of the airship, he got to work on the crates that had been both magnetically locked to the airship's hull and strapped on with firm harnesses, as a precaution. All the while, he took in the sight of the White Fang camp that they had landed in.
The poor observer and mathematician as he was, the brunette was only able to roughly estimate how well-armed the men at the camp were. If their equipment perimeter guards carried was anything to go by, then the duo shouldn't have too much trouble if the entire camp decided to turn on them.
Although, he didn't take into account the chances of a possible attack by the Grimm – having to rarely deal with the creatures while operating within the borders of Atlas. However, ever since he started operating in Mistral, he found that the creatures could be more troublesome than he originally thought.
Other than an unusually high number of guards, the White Fang camp comprised of a few wooden tents lit by a few wooden torches and a flagpole that waved the White Fang's insignia in the cold darkness of the night, set right in front of a small bonfire. A pair of Bullheads was also situated behind the camp – opposite to the Bullhead Tanner had flown in on.
Pulling up the end of his scarf over his face, he eyed the figure that stepped forward when Hannah began asking for the person in charge of the camp. A tall, crimson-haired Faunus with a pair of horns on his head stepped forward. He wore a black trench coat with several red and white patterns in the shape of flowers on them, along with a pair of black trousers and black boots. The Grimm masks the White Fang so often used covered most of his face, leaving only the lower half of his face visible. What stood out about the mask was that unlike the generic plain, bone-white masks that the others wore, his was decorated with red patterns – indicating his position as a high-ranking member in the group.
Why does everybody's colour scheme for clothes nowadays have to be a black trench coat and a pair of black trousers…? Tanner mused to himself. It's like they can't come up with anything original lately… He thought as he straightened his jacket out of habit.
He couldn't hear what the man and Hannah were talking about, but from the looks of it, the conversation had seemed to slowly change from actual negotiations about the Dust to the Faunus flirting with his girlfriend.
The sight of the White Fang member running his hand through his companion's shoulder-length brown hair made his blood boil, and he immediately stopped from handling a crate of Dust to march right over to the two.
"Come now, I'm sure that once you see what the White Fang is capable of, you'll change your mind." He heard the White Fang leader say as he approached.
"I'm flattered, really. But I like my job the way it is." He heard Hannah rush the words out of her mouth as she gently pushed the older man's hand away from her face.
"I can assure you; the White Fang can offer so much more." He continued as he took a step forward, causing the beaver Faunus to take an involuntary step backwards.
"Hey, asshole!" Tanner called out from where he stood. "She said 'no'. So back the fuck off!"
The red-haired Faunus turned to regard Tanner with a snarl. "Who do you think you are; telling her who she can and can't be?" he snapped back.
"Who do you think you are to tell me how to treat my partner?" he shouted right back, putting one hand on Crossed Star as he stared down the Faunus with a glare. The White Fang leader seemed intent on drawing his katana as well, but was stopped when Hannah stepped in between them.
"Alright, enough!" the brunette yelled as she looked back and forth between the two. "Tanner, Adam," she turned to the respective individual as she said their names. "-there is no need for violence. We'll just sell you the Dust, forget this ever happened, and be on our way."
There was a brief pause as neither side seemed to want to back down, causing most of the White Fang guards on duty to take notice of the scene playing out and leave their post to support their leader. Still, Tanner was not fazed by the challenge and remained in his combat stance, free hand now on Beofield as well.
After what felt like several hours of the suspenseful stand-off, the Faunus – Adam – eventually lowered his hand, chuckling under his breath. "You're either really foolish or really brave. Probably a mix of both."
Tanner lowered his arms to his side in turn, though the glare never left his features. "Yeah, yeah. Keep talking." The blood still hot under his skin, he could feel his Aura causing the scarf he wore to heat up.
Turning on the heel of his boot and acting like nothing happened, Adam began sauntering back towards his camp. "Finish unloading your Dust and get out of here. I never want to see your face again." He said over his shoulder with the wave of a hand, but not before muttering a single word under his breath. "Humans."
The swordsman was about to retort, but Hannah quickly put a hand over his mouth and gave him a stern glare that told him that he would suffer dearly if he said what she thought he was going to say.
After physically relaxing, he gestured for the girl to follow him towards the unloaded crates of Dust. "I thought you asked me to speak in your place to avoid something like this from happening." Hannah spoke irritably through gritted teeth as she followed two paces behind the swordsman.
"Sorry." He whispered sarcastically. "I just…didn't like the way he was talking to you."
"I'm pretty sure he was only interested in recruiting me to their 'Cause'." The brunette Faunus said as she tried her hardest to carry a single crate to the camp, which she was only able to do with Tanner's help. "Besides, I can take care of myself, remember?" Hannah said as she patted the serrated knuckles she left dangling by a key ring on her belt.
"I know you can. It doesn't mean that I don't worry about you." Tanner finished with a soft frown as they finished carrying the crate to the front of the camp. "Grab that one over there, it's lighter." He said as he turned and began walking towards another crate, not giving his girlfriend a chance to protest or respond.
He continued to move several more crates of Dust to the front of the White Fang camp, where a pair of White Fang hands would then take the crate further into the camp. It was only when Tanner and Hannah had to face the problem of moving the larger containers that they couldn't keep inside of the Bullhead and had to strap them to the exterior hull did he give pause to catch his breath.
"I really hope…the guys here…have the equipment to help us move these things." Tanner said in between breaths to the Faunus standing next to him. The crates stood at roughly a metre tall in height and had to be at least five metres long, while weighing a ton.
"Maybe…if I go flirt with Adam again he'll help us." Hannah jeered, out of breath.
"Do that and you can find your own way back to the Kingdom borders."
"I'm sure Adam will be more than willing to give me a ride back."
Turning away to stretch his back a little, Tanner replied. "That's deserves a bowchickabowwow for sure." However, as he turned his head, he saw a shadowy figure casually walk along the perimeter of the clearing towards the camp. For some reason, as the brunette stared at the figure – who seemed to have not taken note of him yet, he felt an ominous and cold feeling down the back of his spine.
"Please don't. If you say that word one more time I-"
"Han, did you see that?" Tanner cut her off as he turned the girl in the direction he was facing.
The Faunus girl just barely caught a glimpse of the figure as he disappeared behind a tent, passing right by an oblivious guard. The two shared a look for a moment before Hannah spoke up.
"Who was that?" the brunette asked as she turned her head back to where they had last seen him.
"Don't know. He didn't look like White Fang, though." Tanner mumbled, mostly to himself.
"C'mon," Hannah urged the dark brunette forward by pulling on his hand. "let's go see what he's up to."
Unwillingly letting his feet follow the girl, they slowly crept to where they had last seen the mysterious figure. Honestly, he wasn't that eager to know what the figure was up to. He could be anything ranging from a wanderer who got lost to a spy from one of the other Kingdoms.
However, as they leaned around the edge of the tent and watched the figure from a distance, Tanner could feel the lingering chill in his spine again. More so when one of the White Fang guards approached him, weapon raised to shoot him if necessary, only to drop to the floor like a lifeless corpse when the stranger waved his hand in front of face.
The brunette swordsman continued to stare wide-eyed at the back of the man as he continued to walk along nonchalantly, before he turned to face Hannah, who had a similar expression of disbelief.
"Did you see that?" she shrieked in a whisper. "He didn't even touch the guy!"
"Ok, now I'm curious." Tanner grumbled as he bolted out from behind the tent and after the stranger.
"Tanner, wait!" he heard Hannah whisper for him, he didn't listen as he quickly crouched over to body to check for a pulse. To his surprise, the Faunus was still breathing and very much alive. Looking about, he found that none of the other guards had noticed their fallen friend, and he hoped that it would remain that way in case they decided to put the blame on the only Human in the camp.
Following behind the man at a crouch, he noticed that the mysterious figure wearing an overcoat was making a beeline for the two Bullheads that still laid quiet across the camp.
Tanner was almost tempted to alert the rest of the camp to the intruders presence in order to prevent another fiasco from starting.
Almost…
Seriously, what have the White Fang ever done for me? The swordsman thought rhetorically as he crept a few paces behind the stranger, before abruptly stopping as the man stopped in front of one of the Bullheads.
"The hell is he up to?" Tanner mused to himself as he watched the figure in the overcoat seem to extend something out of his gauntleted right hand before placing it on the hull of the Bullhead.
"We should go warn Adam." Hannah whispered to him, but it was already too late as the brunette rose from his cover and began his approach to the man. Groaning to herself quietly, the brunette Faunus followed short. "He never listens."
"Hey!" Tanner called out, causing the stranger to freeze in his place. "What do you think you're doing?" his left hand quickly found its way to his triple-barrel pistol's hilt as the man slowly turned around.
Most of his face was covered by a brown cap with a silver symbol of an eye with a crosshair through the iris, and a dark blue face scarf, tattered and worn from use. One of the first things he picked up on was that one of the stranger's eyes was glowing a vibrant blue, while the other was a dull brown.
The intruder's face went through several different emotions, from surprise to rage, eventually settling back on surprise.
And then, he said something that caused Tanner to freeze.
"Tanner Vermillion." He called out quietly in a gravelly voice. The swordsman froze at the mention of his own name, but it was only temperamental as the surprise wore off.
"How do you know my name?"
"There isn't much time. You have to come with me." The stranger spoke as he took a step forward, causing Tanner to draw Crossed Star and point it directly at the man before him. Hannah had also drawn her weapons and was standing in a boxer's ready stance.
"Take another step and I'll blow a hole right through your chest." Tanner threatened as he put both hands on the hilt of his flintlock pistol.
"Listen to me." The man spoke as he outstretched his right arm. Now that Tanner was closer and the sleeve of his overcoat fell back, he could see that the arm was actually made of metal. "You and your girlfriend are going to die if you don't do as I say."
By this point, Tanner was at a loss for what was going on. However, just as he was about to respond, the sound of someone clearing their throat could be heard over the still night and crackling fires from behind them.
The stranger's gaze became colder as he focussed on the source of the voice. The two brunettes slowly turned around at the same time to see the Adam standing a short distance away from them with several guards aiming their weapons at the three of them.
"I should have known you'd be working with the traitor." Adam growled as he drew his blood-red sword out of its sheath. "Humans really do stick together no matter what." He chuckled with a tinge of malice.
Now Tanner was really at a loss. "Wait, you know him?" he asked as he pointed his pistol at the stranger. "And you think I'm with him?" he asked sceptically.
"Wow, he's smarter than I thought." Adam said over his shoulder to his men, causing them to laugh at his bad joke while Tanner internally swore that he would cause the Faunus infertility.
"Oh come on." Hannah groaned. "That's a load of bull-"
Before she got a chance to finish what she was trying to say, the cyborg in the overcoat extended a metal disc out of his palm and flung it at Adam, right in between the two brunettes.
Seeming to have anticipated the attack, the bull Faunus quickly raised his sword to slice the disc in half, both halves falling harmlessly to the floor. There was a moment when Tanner thought – and hoped – that the disc would explode, but after a second ticked by and Adam started chuckling to himself, Tanner knew that it was probably just an ordinary disc.
"Is that really the best you can do?" mocked the Faunus as the stranger took a step closer to Tanner.
"Do your thing." He whispered as he half-waved one hand in the direction of one of the halves.
"What thing?" the swordsman hissed back.
"You know, your…ugh. Forget it."
"Kill them." He heard Adam order as he sheathed his katana and pointed the shotgun-end of his sheath at Tanner. However, as the White Fang goons started to raise their weapons, they were immediately knocked off their feet by a series of explosions from behind them.
Adam was one of the few that were able to catch themselves before they fell, quickly turning around to find out what had exploded, only to scowl to himself as he found that his command tent was one of the few to have exploded.
"Run!" Tanner heard the stranger yell as he bolted directly towards Adam. The brunette was more than surprised at how the cyborg was able to block a blow from the Faunus' katana with just his robot arm.
He was suddenly pulled out of his stupor when he felt Hannah pull on his arm as she broke into a sprint. "Let's get out of here!"
Tanner eventually found the feeling and energy in his legs again as he quickly overtook the Faunus as they made mad dash straight through the White Fang camp, dodging fire left and right while dealing their own doses of pain. Hannah was able to weave in between attacks while delivering a flurry of razor-enhanced punches to several of the White Fang guards while Tanner unloaded shot into anyone he could see.
After a quick skirmish, they were clear of the camp and had the Bullhead in sight, though cries from the camp to use Ice Dust to put out the flames caused Tanner to slow down and turn around, taking note of how the White Fang were quickly taking advantage of the Dust he had left on their doorstep.
The sight agitated the swordsman to the point where his face was twitching ever so slightly. If there was one thing he absolutely hated, it was when he saw clients get grabby with his goods before they had paid him.
"Tanner! What's the hold up?" he was distracted from his thoughts by the brunette Faunus calling out to him from the hatch of the Bullhead.
It was a moment of split-second decision making, and the swordsman hoped he made the right call.
"I'm not leaving without the Dust."
T was sent backwards forcefully into one of the tents in the White Fang camp by a high-kick from Adam straight into his chest. This was one of the things he was worried the most about when he started planning his little uprising against Cinder exactly one and a half weeks ago. Alone, the woman was quite dangerous as she was, but wasn't invincible either. He had proved that before when he exploited a hidden weakness in her otherwise impervious defence.
No, what worried T was that Cinder had surrounded herself with powerful allies during the time that he had known her and even more after he had turned his back on her. He knew all of them by name, having catalogued and indexed them for Cinder, but one figure he was particularly worried about was Adam Taurus.
The hacker didn't have enough time to create a complete index on the Faunus, but from what he was able to get, Adam Taurus was not an opponent to be taken lightly. Calculating his chances as they were, T knew that he wouldn't be able to kill the Faunus without calling in Overwatch for aerial support.
Even then, T wasn't willing to risk losing his main means of transportation and aerial superiority over the Faunus.
Climbing through the hole in the tent that he had made, the hacker silently stared down Adam as he readjusted his cap to more effectively cover his face while providing him the visibility he needed.
"Cinder's put a very large bounty on your head," Adam spoke as he flicked his sword to his side. "-and I intend to collect it. A fitting end for a traitor like you." The whole time, T remained silent, only shifting his stance to coil the muscles in his leg for a dash straight at the Faunus while his left hand found his pistol.
In response, Adam held his katana in front of him with both hands in a ready position, waiting for T to strike first.
He only needed to buy Tanner Vermillion enough time to escape, and then he could torch Adam and the rest of the camp.
Dashing forward in a burst of speed, T went for a right hook, but the attack was blocked by Adam's sword. However, T didn't give up his assault, and followed through with the punch by sliding his arm down the length of the sword's blade. He then followed up the attack with a backhand as Adam tried to stab him while he was vulnerable, batting the blade away.
With the twisting motion of the backhand, the hacker drew his pistol and quickly fired off half a dozen shots straight at the Faunus, the sound of the bullets were muffled by a silencer he had attached to the end of the barrel.
All six shots were either deflected or sliced in two by Adam's masterful swordsmanship. It would only be a matter of time before T found a flaw in the Faunus' technique, though it could take some time.
Being able to record and playback anything he saw was more of a gift than he originally thought it to be, having analysed the flaws in most of the opponents he has faced. Everyone's technique lacked in something – he was no exception. All T did that they didn't was recognise it and develop a way to exploit it after a single encounter.
Right now though, he was still in the recording process as Adam knocked the gun out of his hand with the slash of his sword, narrowly saving his fingers with his Aura.
He needed to cover his left flank as fighting the man with one arm left the other side open to attack. That was why he came prepared.
Blocking several upward and diagonal slashes from the Faunus with his right arm, T drew the harpoon he kept strapped to his back with his left hand and used it to riposte another slash from the katana, while transforming his metal hand into an automatic pistol to take a few shots at the two guards that were approaching to help their leader.
They both dropped dead by the seventh bullet, but by doing so he had given Adam the time to take up his finishing stance – sheathing his sword only to fire it out with the added propulsion of a shotgun blast – that sent T flying backwards as he barely brought his right arm in front of him to block the attack.
Flipping backwards in mid-air, he stopped his fall by placing his feet and right arm on the ground, tearing up grass and dirt as he was sent skidding.
Looking down at his arm to examine the damage, he found a large gash had formed across the surface of his arm, indenting the battle-worn metal. No, this isn't a fight I can win with hand-to-hand combat. Nor can I shoot my way out of this. No…I need something that hits him from all sides. The hacker contemplated as he panted heavily. However, it wasn't time for that yet, so he had to settle for what he had on hand.
Righting himself, he watched as Adam chuckled to himself while shaking his head. "You know, I honestly expected Cinder's engineering genius to have brought something more than a spear to fight me."
T took it for what it was; a challenge. Calibrating his right arm to take into account the damage that had been dealt, he transformed the end of it into the shape of a harpoon gun and slotted the harpoon into barrel. This caused Adam to right himself and put one hand to the hilt of his katana as the harpoon begun to spin within the barrel.
"It's not a spear." He said, taking aim. "It's a harpoon."
The barbed projectile launched out of the barrel at tremendous speed, all the while spinning to burrow deep into wherever it landed. Unfortunately, Adam was quick on the draw as he unsheathed his sword right in front of him to intercept the projectile.
Fortunately, T had taken the liberty of filling the head of the harpoon with unstable Fire Dust. Satisfaction was the only word to come to T's mind as the harpoon exploded right in Adam's face, sending him backwards and skidding across the ground.
That gave T about twenty seconds to find one Tanner Vermillion and get them both off the ground before he got Overwatch to spray fire all over the camp.
Shortly after recovering his pistol, T found the Dust dealer in no time. Dashing between the flaming tents and dodging bullets that the White Fang fired at him, T soon saw Tanner fighting for his life by several crates of Dust, seeming to be defending them from any White Fang goon dumb enough to get too close to them.
T carefully slipped to the swordsman's side while he opened up the guard of a White Fang goon before blasting him backwards at point blank range with his triple-barrelled flintlock pistol. Apparently, he had sensed the hacker's presence as he immediately spun on the ball of his foot to bring his sword down in an overhead smash.
The hacker saw the attack coming and stepped to the side before grabbing the man's sword arm with his right hand while he put his pistol to Tanner's chin with his left. The brunette swordsman responded by placing the barrel of his pistol to T's chest, locking them both into a stand-off.
Barely two seconds passed before T slowly lowered his pistol, realising that Tanner did not have the intent to kill him, but would if he had to. "Come with me if you want to live." He spoke in a whispered voice.
"If you want to help me get out of here, then we do it on my terms." Tanner replied in the same tone of voice, the flaming tents reflected their bright-orange fire in Tanner's equally orange eyes.
"There's no time for that." T said as he released his hold on Tanner's sword arm. "We need to get out of here before-"
The brunette hacker was cut off by a low-pitch howl from across the clearing. Both of them turned their heads to see an encroaching pack of Beowulves.
Another growl from directly opposite the Beowulves caused them to turn around to see a group of Ursa, with something much bigger tearing through the forests behind them.
"Shit-biscuit." Tanner cursed as he faced the Beowulves while T faced the Ursas. "Alright, if you've got a good extraction plan, I'd like to hear it."
"My airship will take too long to reach here. We'll take yours." T said as he transformed his right arm into its automatic pistol mode."
Firing off two shots at the Beowulves to slow their approach, Tanner spoke over his shoulder. "And what do I get for saving your life?"
Throwing another explosive charge at the Ursas, T spun the man around and held his shoulder tightly. "Listen! The people who hired you are going to kill you, and you won't be able to beat them without my help."
The brunette wasn't sure what kind of response he should have expected from the swordsman, but he definitely did not expect the sucker punch that Tanner threw at him. It was apparently enough to make him lose his grip on Tanner's shoulder and allow him to slip away.
He made a dash for his Bullhead, with T hot on his heels. However, they both stopped as they closed in on one of the opened hatches. Inside the Bullhead, Tanner's companion – who T identified as Hannah Cobalt of Mistral – was locked in a fight with Adam.
Wearing her serrated knuckles she delivered punch after punch straight into Adam, while ducking and dodging the swipes that the bull Faunus sent her way in the enclosed space.
Eventually, after having delivered a low punch to Adam's stomach, she wasn't able to react in time as Adam caught her arm and drove his katana all the way through her mid-section, slicing outwards to sever a large portion of her lower half.
He kicked the injured Faunus out of the airship as it began to take flight, likely because someone else was piloting it. As she dropped to the ground, T only needed one look to know that she would not survive her injuries.
Still, Tanner gave a cry of fury and anguish as he dove for the Faunus, only to be blasted back by a shotgun gauge. The doors shut just as T threw a small tracker on the end of the airship, which sped away into the night as he cursed himself internally for letting Adam slip away. He hadn't expected Adam to be here, but now he would always account for the possibility that Adam was in the camp whenever he raided a White Fang encampment, just in case.
More Grimm were now approaching the clearing, making the area more and more dangerous by the second. Approaching the downed swordsman, T could clearly hear him crying as he buried his face into the ground. T understood that he needed a moment to grieve, but they didn't have time for such a luxury right now.
The hacker quickly sent a message to Overwatch in his head. "Target: Acquired. Danger Level: High. Require immediate extraction. Use lethal force if necessary." He concluded the message just as a Beowulf pounced at him from behind. T ducked under the overhead swipe before delivering an uppercut into the Beowulf's face. A sharp pain ran down T's back as he felt another phantom pain in his arm, but still had enough sense in him to step on the Grimm's neck before pulverizing its head with several solid punches. Once he was sure that the Grimm was dead and its body began to dissipate, he clenched his right shoulder, which was still flesh and bone before approaching Tanner, who was still sobbing on the ground.
In the upper-right corner of his vision, he could see the countdown to when Overwatch would arrive, and decided that they needed to move quickly to be in position for it to land, pick them up and get away in one slick movement.
"There's no time." T spoke loudly and clearly, which clearly registered to Tanner as he immediately stopped crying. Suddenly, he shot to his feet, hands firmly grasping the hilts of his weapons as his expression was that of a crazed murderer.
"You-" he screamed, but was cut off as T waved his left arm in front of his face and his body dropped to the ground – his Semblance, Pacification, working its magic yet again. T would use the Semblance more often to solve all of his problems, but they often took a mental strain on him the longer he kept someone under its effects, something he couldn't afford right now.
The Grimm had now formed a perimeter around the two as T injected a tranquilizer into Tanner's shoulder before slinging the boy over his shoulder, the Grimm eyeing them like crippled prey. Now that he could drop his Semblance, he could see the Grimm around him more clearly. In his sweep of the perimeter, he also realised that the corpse of Hannah Cobalt still lay a few feet away, still out of the Grimm's reach.
T was tempted to bring it along with him, as a symbol of good faith to Tanner, but he didn't have the agility or strength to drag them both on his airship.
He also took a moment to spare a glance at the White Fang camp, which was now being overrun by Grimm. If there were still some survivors trying to hold their ground, the explosives that Overwatch had would make sure they didn't leave.
T looked over them with a nonchalant expression as he began painting targets in his mind for Overwatch to see while shooting at any that got too close with his silenced pistol. The countdown in his vision had finally ticked down to zero as he heard the roar of engines from above.
Missiles and large-calibre bullets rained down on the Grimm, causing them to scatter or die as Overwatch pulled its nose up for a smooth dive that they had already coordinated. T was to take a running start, placing his feet the correct distances apart as the airship flew right in front of him with the doors open for him to jump into. After that, it would drop some seismic charges to tear apart the camp, the forest and the Grimm.
That was how it looked in the Sim that played in T's mind, and that's exactly how it looked in real life as the doors to the Bullhead slowly slid shut.
A/N: Sorry for the inconsistent updates, but life finally caught up to me. I don't think I'll be able to post for a few months, so you shouldn't expect any soon…kidding! Check back this Friday! Until then, have a wonderful day.