RWBY is property of Roosterteeth! I only own my characters.
CHAPTER 5
Agony studied the preliminary scans his ships had taken of the surrounding land. Wherever the Order had arrived, it certainly was no planet they had heard of. The High Lord of the Order let out an exasperated sigh. So far, the scouting parties he had sent out to survey the wilderness had only encountered strange bone-covered creatures. The animals were hardly a significant threat, but they certainly served to delay the search for any sort of-
Agony's thoughts were interrupted as the door of the bridge on his flagship slid open. A pair of men in black armor strode in, bowing slightly once they stood around ten strides away from the High Lord.
"My Lord, we found something."
"Speak." The Bloodline did not turn away from the scans in front of him.
"We have located a large settlement to the East. The residents appear to be Human."
"Human. Really?" Agony pondered out loud. "Interesting."
"We are prepared to make contact. On your command, we will-"
"No." Agony silenced the scout. "Tell your men to stand down. I will be the one to introduce us."
"My Lord, are you certain that is-" the scout trailed off as the High Lord turned to look at him. "-the... wisest... decision..."
Agony may have been the oldest among the Order's Lords, but his age did not make him any less intimidating. The aging Bloodline had an air of both intelligence and strength about him. Wrinkled features and a graying red beard and receding hairline betrayed his years, but his eyes remained a sharp emerald color, seemingly picking the world around him apart with no effort. The scout felt like his superior was staring into his very soul.
"Knight, I know what I am doing. Do not question my methods."
"Yes, sir. Of course."
As Agony sat aboard a dropship headed for the city the scouts had found, he found himself thinking of Earth. Whatever planet they had landed on seemed... pristine. No gray towers of concrete and steel, no swathes of ruins left by the Order's war with the EDC. As he thought of the EDC, Agony's thoughts turned to the Guardians, the fools. Couldn't they see nothing would change? The EDC may have declared them allies... but Auras would not be safe until those that had hunted them for years... so called "normal" Humans... were gone for good.
"My Lord. We have arrived." the pilot of the dropship reported. "It seems the locals have spotted us as well. They've set up some defenses."
Agony snapped out of his own personal thoughts. He stood up as the door of the transport opened, flooding the dark interior with evening light. He took several steps forward, dropping off the edge of the aircraft onto a grassy field that swayed gently in the wind. In the distance, the Lord spotted a walled city with tall buildings.
"My Lord, are you sure you don't want me to drop you closer?" the pilot called out.
"These things must be handled tactfully. I will call for you when my work is done."
"As you wish, sir. Good luck." the Order dropship's hatch shut behind the Lord with a thud. The ship pulled away into the sky, leaving Agony standing alone in the knee-high grass.
"Hmph. 'Luck.'" the Lord chuckled to himself as he began to walk towards the city in the distance.
It took the aging Bloodline a short while to work his way across the gently rippling plain between himself and the city. As he approached the towering wall surrounding the settlement, he slowed his pace. A large gateway stood etched into the stone barrier. Agony could make out humanoid figures in gold and brown armor in position both within and above the archway.
"FREEZE!" Agony stopped calmly as one of the armored guardsmen, likely their Captain judging by the red scarf tied around his neck, called out as he stepped into view. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF!"
Agony raised his hands to show he was unarmed. He had decided the best way to introduce himself would be without his weapons and armor, though perhaps "unarmed" was still not the best term to describe a Bloodline, and in case of an emergency, he had Enigma on standby. Still, here the Lord was, dressed in a simple dark business suit.
"Good evening, gentlemen." Agony greeted friendlily. "I come in peace."
It had been a long couple of days for Marcia. Not that that was anything outside the norm for her, she'd spent more than her fair share of mostly sleepless nights. She and Jerloh had kept swapping between driving and taking short rests when they could. They had quickly found that stopping was a non-option, as the local population of dark creatures would be upon them in minutes.
Jerloh was currently behind the wheel of the LCV, along Marcia to take a break. The General had stretched herself across one of the vehicles seats. She stirred as a slight weight settled in next to her. Marcia cracked her eyes open to find Lex curled up next to her. She placed an arm around the small girl.
"...Auntie Marcia? I've got a question..."
"Go ahead, Lex." the General replied calmly as the six-year-old nuzzled closer to her for warmth.
"...Daddy talks a lot about... the other Uncles and Aunties... the ones you were friends with... can you tell me about them?"
"Hasn't your Dad told you about them?"
"He said that it 'was your story to tell'." Lex yawned. Marcia threw a look towards the back of Jerloh's head as he sat in the driver's seat. If he was listening in, he was doing a good job of keeping it to himself. The General let out a sigh as she thought of her old friends.
"Alright, Lex. I suppose it's time you learned about the greatest friends your Dad and I ever had... including the person you're named after..."
Elsewhere, in a thick expanse of forest, loud howls of Grimm echoed through the air. Beowolves poured towards a pair of figures trying to work their way through a clearing. The two Humans had been walking constantly without rest. Had the Beowolves been wiser, they might have rethought swarming the pair.
One Grimm's head was severed at the jawline as a glowing whip of metal seared through the air. Almost ten feet away, one of the Humans stood with his back to the other. Like his weapon, he glowed and smoked. The air around him was uncomfortably hot, even for the Grimm. Three more creatures fell to a horizontal slash of the whip-like blade.
The other Human thinned the Grimm's numbers with barrages from her two firearms. The twin pistols ripped and burned holes through the masked creatures with ease. Often times, one of her projectiles would slightly splash and break apart, causing multiple Grimm to catch fire from the burning projectiles.
"They certainly don't know when to quit, do they?" Ignis commented, kicking a Beowolf in its mask and cracking it.
"That's an understatement." Alyia replied calmly as she jammed one of her pistols into a creature's mouth and blew off its head. The Beowolves seemed to begin to understand that they were fighting a losing battle, and began to back off from the pair. Suddenly, the creatures parted, allowing their pack leader to approach the battle.
"Well. Looks like their boss decided to come out and play." Ignis huffed. Several dozen more large Beowolves entered the clearing, bigger and better armored than their fellows. "... and it looks like he brought friends."
"Oh. Fun." Alyia replied sarcastically and sighed. "I hope the others are doing better than we are."
Barnes' Log: Bloodlines, Part 2
"Alright, picking up from where I left off yesterday... I guess I'll get the friendly Bloodlines out of the way first."
"First off... let's start with our good friends in the Terror Bloodline. You've already met Charles and know how he is. His son, Jerloh, is fairly similar in the case of temperament and fighting style. He was a bit wilder than his Dad, but that might've just been his age showing. Overall, he's a good kid."
"Then there was Charles' old friend, Aiko, and her son. Aiko's a bit... well, let's just say you'd never want to piss her off. She certainly lives up to the Rage Bloodline name. Last time I saw, she was either holding a polearm or beating an enemy down with her bare hands."
"Now, her son, Rei. He was... cold. Not to say he was especially unfriendly... but you could never really tell what he was thinking. Last I saw, his weapon of choice was a club-like weapon called a kanabo. He put it on a chain as well. Now I can't really describe how his Bloodline ability manifested perfectly... Let's just say it was quite frightening to come face-to-face with him when he had the ability flared out."
"..Okay. That's it for now. Sorry to cut this short, Cinder's calling for me."
A/N: Somewhat shorter chapter today. Sorry bout that. An interesting thing happened... I finally got around to watching the newest episode of RWBY on the RT site and... well, you'll see how I incorporate the information they revealed in later chapters.
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