Well... the Battle for Beacon has truly begun and everything's going in full-swing badass...
I'm celebrating OVER 100 REVIEWS! Thanks for all your comments and support to everyone out there and I have to say this story is going to finish pretty soon... but that doesn't mean I won't make a second...
As a word of warning, this chapter is going to have some pretty gory scenes... and I'm really, honestly sorry about how it ends, it's just the only way I could do it... plus I'm going away for holidays so you will be left without an answer for more than a week... so please don't send a hit-squad just to kill me because of it...
Naughtbeast
Chapter 39:
As the proud structure of Beacon academy was assailed by the forces of Grimm, Demon was furiously typing as fast as he could into his laptops command program, trying desperately to boot up everything as fast as possible. The four Titans were already in their full combat boot-up sequence and their cores were charging to maximum capacity.
Nicolai was loading rocket after rocket into his firing chambers and attaching spare rocket loaders for his duel rapid-fire cluster quad-rocket launchers, every spare inch of his mechanical frame armoured and loaded for combat. Vanessa was ensuring that all her armour plating was back in place after what happened at the last fight with Grimm, her Plasma Railgun locked into place on her back and her colossal scythe sitting to the side with sharpened blade. She finished loading up after giving a small test to her cloaking systems, turning invisible for a second and re-appearing after being happy with the results.
Jeeves was spinning up the plasma coils of his Arc Cannon, lightning sparking between the Titan's frame and the weapon. Military hard-cases covered his armour, all filled to the brim with ammunition and spare explosives that he had managed to hide from Nicolai. Once he was finished with testing the Arc Cannon, he locked it onto his back and got to work securing the spare gun crates to ensure they didn't fall off during combat. Last of all, Demon had uploaded Sid back into his main Titan's body and the demonic Atlas was in the process of checking every single system it had. The Vortex shield spun up for a second and the body flared red for a second as the Damage core was tested. The AI finished up with the tests by taking the mag-locked chaingun off its back and loading in a fresh clip.
Once Demon was happy with his Titans, he grabbed the rest of his equipment, which was mostly just his extra belt magazines and gravity shurikens. He stood up to leave before remembering something which made him smile. Closing his laptop, he brought up the command module on his HUD and marked his location while opening the massive Titan door on the side of the pod. As he made his way outside, the thunderous steps of the Titans boomed around the area and he felt the glee of approaching battle, the Pilot briefly noting the dissolving corpse of the Nevermore crumpled nearby.
You ready for this Kalazar?
"Is that really a question? Now hurry up so we can finally go kill some things!"
With a smile, Demon watched as an old friend came swooping in from the skies. The dropship he and the others had first been transported here on was fully powered up and set to autopilot, the minigun on the front revving into action and the rocket-pods warming up. As soon as it set down, Demon jumped in and began his own flight calibrations, setting it to lifter mode rather than having the dogfight capabilities.
"Jeeves, you're with me… Sid and Vanessa I want you guys going and giving the assault teams a helping hand, Nicolai you're on the defensive so meet up with Jaune and see what he needs"
"Affirmative, Lethal force authorised, neutralisation of targets in progress…" Sid chimed, the Titan lifting up the chaingun and dashing off into the academy in search of a target, Vanessa hefting her scythe and sprinting off after the Atlas. Demon lifted up into the air and connected Jeeves to the dropship with support wires then began heading off to a marked HUD location. In a matter of less than a minute he had flown over to where Tempest and the other members of the assault team were fighting a massive horde of Beowolves and Ursai, the loud discharges of weapons even managing to drown out the noise of the dropship's engines.
As he flew in, he spun up the minigun and did a small strafing run of the approaching enemy, smiling as he saw hundreds be shredded into nothingness. Demon manoeuvred the dropship skilfully past a small flock of Gryphons as they tried to take him down, then flew low to the ground and let Jeeves disengage from the dropship. He pulled up a comms channel with Tempest and had to wait a few seconds before it was answered, the familiar sound of his duel shotguns interrupting the feed every few moments.
"YO? WHAT DO YOU NEED!" Tempest shouted, trying to make sure his voice was heard over the noise of battle.
"Just dropping in some heavy ordinance for you and wondering how you're holding up"
He heard a roar on the other end and looked out the window and saw Tempest facing off a Deathstalker, using his shotguns to blast aside the claws as they tried to grab him, then nimbly jumped to the side to not get crushed by the stinger. Demon manoeuvred the dropship and pulled the trigger on his joystick for a full second, watching as a hail of lead shredded the upper armour of the Deathstalker and made it recoil in pain, Tempest taking the opportunity and jumping up onto the carapace and unloading four shots right into its brain.
"TASTE THE DELICIOUS LEAD OF THE HELLRAISERS YOU STUPID INSECT!" shouted Tempest as he shot, jumping off the carcase after he was sure it was dead. "Thanks for the assist, we're doing pretty good down here and we've only got a couple of people running at half-aura so we should be fine for a while, just set the Titan to auto and I'll make sure to look after it"
"Hellraisers? Is that what you're calling your shotguns? Well anyway, Jeeves needs a pilot, I removed the targeting hardware to make room for storage"
"Great… well I'll pilot him since Josh is away healing the wounded and Jaeger, well he's sitting on the top of the massive Clocktower doing who knows what… and yes, these babies are now dubbed as the beautiful Hellraisers!"
"Acknowledged… best of luck with everything and remember to meet up back in the courtyard when everything's done"
"Aye aye captain!" Tempest replied before linking with Jeeves and getting back into combat, massive arcs of lightning tearing through the invading Grimm like butter. Demon left them and turned the ship around and headed back to where the defensive blockade was set up. He had to dodge and roll the dropship quite a bit to avoid some of the Grimm that got a bit too close for comfort, noticing that the Atlesian military had finally sprang into action and had begun helping him take down Grimm.
He arrived at the blockade, just as Nicolai had finished crushing an Ursa underfoot and blew a couple of Beowolves to flying red pieces with a well-placed rocket. He couldn't see any civilians but judging by what he saw; they were most likely held in the training hall. The defenders were lined up outside the building and all of them shooting anything that came close, Demon even seeing Jaune manage to rack up a couple of Beowolf kills with his G2A4. As he began circling slowly in the dropship, he keyed in the radio and heard the light and chirpy voice of Natalia reply.
"HEY! You're back!"
"Yep, are you watching over the civilians?"
"Jaune wanted me to stay down here with a couple of others as a second line of defence while he stayed up there to stop anything getting close"
"Make sure that none of them get hurt but don't go throwing your lives away for it… expect to hold out for maybe an hour more? I can't really gauge how long this will go for but try and comfort the civilians"
"I'll do my best!"
Just as Demon was about to continue, he was interrupted by an incoming voice call from Jaeger, setting the ship to hover and authorising the connection.
"Demon, we have a rather large problem… I don't think this battle will be over in a couple of hours"
"And what makes you say that?"
"Well for one, I can spot at least fifteen Goliaths coming from the East and we have approaching Bullheads with White Fang markings headed for the landing docks…"
"Shit! Can't the Atlas military do anything about that?"
His question was answered without a word as he heard a colossal boom and saw a visible shockwave go through the air, turning just in time to see two of the Atlesian cruisers collide with each other and make a sickening dive to their inevitable doom.
"DAMMIT! Get everyone to the courtyard NOW! We need to hold the academy and make sure no-one gets injured" Demon commanded, eyeing off the massive cruiser that had obviously shot at its brethren and seeing what looked to be a rocket fly over the ship and hit the side without causing an explosion. He switched the link to Tempest and didn't even wait for acknowledgement after the call connected.
"Tempest, get your teams back to the courtyard now, there are Goliaths and White Fang on the way and we need everyone there…"
Cutting the feed before receiving a response, he flicked the dropship to full manoeuvrability mode and flying off to the cruiser… or would have if a rocket hadn't slammed into his port engine and set the fuel lines alight. It wasn't completely destroyed but the power was coming in bursts and it was barely flying straight. He fought for control of the craft, the joystick being retched from his grip and twitched sporadically as the steering fins were broken and ripped free.
Demon shut down the fuel lines to stop it from exploding on him and quickly used a spare piece of rope to tie the joystick down to stop it from plunging the dropship into the ground for a few seconds. He jumped up from the seat and hit the manual release on the side doors, kicking them open and jumping out a few seconds before a second rocket hit the same engine and completely destroyed it, sending the dropship spiralling out of control, the ship crashing into the side of a block of dorms and sticking there with half of it hanging out.
Demon landed on the ground in a kneeling position and growled angrily as he stood up and saw the flaming wreckage of the crashed ship. Without standing up, he unsheathed his odachi and left it at half-length in his off-hand and un-holstered his Wingman, cocking back the trigger in preparation. He mentally activated the combat modules of his armour and heard the pleasant sound of his parkour-kit humming in anticipation, seeing the aura gauge and shield bars come online.
With an almost annoyed flare, he stood up and faced the White Fang members that had shot at him, seeing them smiling and laughing at him. He smiled himself and cocked his head slightly, getting into a low combat stance, seeing the White Fang grunts raise their rifles to shoot him down, thinking he was nearly beaten… oh how wrong they were.
As soon as the first grunt even though of pulling the trigger, Demon activated his Pilot stim and broke out in a full-on sprint at them. They barely had a second to recover from the shock before he was upon them like a hungry wolf to a herd of rabbits.
He sliced the first grunts gun in half with his odachi before bringing it back around and skewering him in the neck, the blood red blade coming out the back of his neck not looking changed in the slightest despite the crimson liquid dripping from it. His Wingman was set upon another one as he shot out their kneecap, putting them in a kneeling position in pain, then fired two more shots into his head to finish the job.
Ripping the odachi free from the grunt, he swept his leg around and tripped another grunt that tried to flank him, running the blade across his chest as he fell and spilling his guts, aiming his Wingman at the same time and blowing the brains out of the grunt that was hefting the rocket launcher.
The grunts that had finally recovered got beads on Demon and began firing, bullets deflecting off his shields and drawing his attention over to a large group of about ten who were all aiming rifles at him. With practised ease, he fired the last five shots of his Wingman to take out two of them thanks to the range drop-off, then activated his cloak and used his parkour kit to jump high into the air. As he came down, he slammed his boot into the head of one of the grunts, grabbing the arm of another and snapping it before he even knew what was happening.
The others spun their rifles around and began blind-firing although they never hit a single thing as Demon came up behind another one and cut his in half with one swing. The others five tried to run, only for Demon to threw a gravity shuriken and pulled them all in, reloading his Wingman and killing four of them before it ran out, leaving one. The grunt collapsed to the floor and held up his hands feebly in defence, whimpering in fear.
Demon just sighed heavily and reloaded his Wingman, putting it to the grunt's forehead, in the middle of the mask he wore.
"Keys…"
"What?" whimpered the grunt, sounding as though he had thoroughly soiled his pants by now.
"Where are the keys to your Bullheads?"
The grunt pointed over to one of the bodies that was lying face-down in a pool of blood, Demon turning for a second to note where it was. He holstered his Wingman and saw the grunt let out a deep breath he had been holding in… so he swung his odachi around and stopped it a centimetre from the grunt's throat. He let out a strangled cry before his eyes rolled back in his head and he feinted, making Demon almost laugh despite the grim nature of everything around him.
He went over to the corpse and flipped it over with his foot, pulling a chain from around the soldier's neck that had the bullhead keys attached to it. Sheathing his shortened odachi, he took off in a sprint and pumped more stims into his system to give him a boost, making it to the landing pads just as he saw Goliaths cresting the ridge and beginning to charge for the academy.
He took out the keys and scanned them to check which one they belonged to, getting a reference in a little over a second and sprinting over to the one that was highlighted, ripping the door open and climbing into the cockpit. He turned the keys and ignited the engines, waited for them to warm up then began taking off, only to stop when he saw Rosaline running towards the bullhead as fast as she could.
He hovered about a foot off the ground until she heard her climb aboard, then pushed the throttle to max and closed the side-doors, flying straight towards the cruiser.
"Where are you going!" Rosaline nearly shouted as she huffed heavily from running.
"I need to re-take control of that cruiser before It takes down any more of our air support then turn its guns on those Goliaths before they get too close"
"Do you need me to do anything?"
"Well, from the files that I hacked apparently this ship is equipped with quite a lot of automated defences so with your help I can get to the control room much faster"
"Can't you just bust through the glass?"
"It's reinforced, nothing short of a Titan could get through that and I don't have that much fire-power on me right now"
Demon went back to focusing on piloting the bullhead, skilfully avoiding Gryphons as they flew past, climbing in height with every passing second until he saw gunfire on the top of the cruiser. He couldn't quite make it out at this distance but he did see a small pink person fly off the top and a Gryphon fly down.
"Rosaline, I think you might have another job… you're fine with heights right?"
"Yes?"
"Good, because you might need to catch that person falling off the side of the cruiser"
"WHAT!"
Demon pointed out of the cockpit to the tiny speck that was falling and Rosaline hummed when she saw them. He pulled the latch to release the back door and Rosaline walked over to the edge, locking the straps on her holsters so her weapons wouldn't fall out and summoning her angelic spectral wings. She took in a deep breath then jumped out, her wings not letting her fall even an inch as they beat the air around them to lift her towards the falling figure.
Demon closed the bay doors then continued on towards the cruiser, angling to the open bay door at the back of it until he saw a bunch of activated Atlesian Knights marching towards the open doors with burning red eyes.
"Hmmm… Pilot rule number one, if it's red then blow it to kingdom come!" reasoned Demon as he locked it to full-forward and ran out the side of the bullhead before it smashed into the massive clump of Knights and smashed the robots into much more 'manageable' pieces. He took his chaingun off his back and flicked the safety off, beginning to run through the corridors as fast as possible before more Knights found him.
"A single badass versus and entire ships worth of robots made to wage war… pffft, that already happened a couple of months ago and I already know how that went down… let's get this shit done"
Back at the courtyard, the students and Pilots were doing their best to hold off the Grimm, being helped with the support of the Titans and the Atlas military, although that all changed when they saw four Atlas Paladins bust in through a side wall and begin attacking the helpless soldiers of the Atlesian infantry.
"Tempest, watch out, you have two Paladins headed your way!" Jaeger messaged from the tower, staying at the highest point and sniping any Grimm that would prove a problem later.
"Where from?" Tempest answered without a hint of concern, his thoughts more focused on the Ursa he was crushing underneath his foot while he sent thousands of Volts of electricity into a large group of Bewolves.
"Over there"
"Where?"
"Look where I'm pointing"
"Jaeger… you are literally two kilometres away from me and probably cloaked so HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO SEE YOUR FINGER!"
His response was a quick picture that was sent to his HUD that included a rude finger, obviously, and another hand pointing to the right. Tempest had barely enough time to drop Jeeves to his knees and avoid the massive fist of the Paladin as it tried to get a hit on him. He used his dash to knee the Paladin in the face and send it reeling a few feet back, allowing him to get a good view at what was happening.
Two Paladins stood side-by-side as they sized him up and he spared a glance to see the other students try and take down the other two. He decided to finish it quickly and charged his Arc cannon fully, firing it at the closest knowing it would hit both anyway… the only problem was that the lead one lifted its arm and a Vortex shield formed and absorbed the lightning.
"OH COME ON! DAMMIT DEMON, I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T GIVE THEM ANYTHING!"
Tempest put the Arc cannon on his back and cracked his knuckles, beginning to slowly back away from the two Paladins.
"We can take them right?" he asked the OS, knowing that Jeeves wasn't exactly built for combat.
"I wouldn't exactly say we have a chance of coming out of this alive but we might be able to hold out for a few minutes" replied the AI nervously, not at all liking where this was going.
"Shit…"
Just as he said that, his gut retched from the inside and he felt a sudden pull towards the school cafeteria, not at all knowing why. He keyed in his radio and activated Jeeves' Vortex shield so he wasn't interrupted by the Paladins and got Josh on the line.
"Josh, I need you to take care of these two Paladins for me!"
"I'm kinda tied up here and I don't think I'm good enough to take down two Paladins by myself, we're having enough trouble with the two over here!"
"Just get in a Titan or something! I need to go!"
"Grrrr, fine… just give me a minute"
Tempets cut the feed and knocked over one of the nearest pillars to slow the Paladin's advance as he dashed away to cover and jumped out of Jeeves, setting the Titan to hide until this was over. Then, he sprinted over to the hall just in time to see Blake stabbed by a White Fang guy wearing a trench coat and holding a blood red katana.
He was just about to step in when he saw Yang bust in through the side and scream at the top of her lungs, activated Ember Celica and jumping towards the guy with killing intent. He saw the man tense and turn, Tempest knowing exactly what this mean and activated his Stims and boosting his Parkour kit full thrust straight into the air.
Just as the man seemed to phase forward into the air and was about to slice vertically at Yang, he fired a shotgun shell and hit him in the side, sending him crashing into the wall with a loud crack.
"Yang, get Blake out of here… I got this!" he ordered, loading in a new shotgun shell as the man got up from the blow. Yang was hesitant at first but once she saw Tempest's determined look she re-evaluated and picked up Blake, jogging slowly out of the hall and giving one last glance back to her boyfriend before leaving. Tempest's heart was racing as he eyed down the man that had stabbed Blake with killing intent worse than what one would experience walking in on Weiss while she was changing.
"NO ONE… TOUCHES… MY WIAFU! I mean Yang… BUT STABBING BLAKE IS NOT COOL!" he shouted, the man only laughing in return and flicking the blood off his sword.
"You have no idea who I am right? Well I know who you are Tempest and you should know I also know all of your greatest strengths and weaknesses…"
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard this talk a million times before and it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done because you all bleed the same"
"Hmph…" the man replied, holding his shotgun sheath and aiming it right at him. "Wilt and Blush will ensure that you will re-think that statement"
"Named weapons… well, these puppies are the Hellraisers and that's all the information you need, so let's fight!"
"You will…"
He was cut short when Tempests slung one of his shotguns over his back and threw a frag to his feet, giving him pause and making him jump back to avoid it. Tempest smiled and pulled back out his shotgun, walking towards the man again knowing that he would have to finish this fight if his friends weren't going to get hurt.
Back with Josh, he had tried to find something to help take down the Paladins but he was stuck on finding anything that could actually dent them. He had tried to get into Nicolai but Markus had already began Piloting him for ammo control and Sid wouldn't let Josh get in under Demon's orders. That left only one Titan and he very much didn't like what he would have to do. He was running towards a large waypoint on his HUD until he saw Vanessa swinging her scythe around in full combat mode, taking down Grimm left and right.
He used his parkour kit to jump above the Grimm and landed on her back, glad that he had altered her memory so she instantly didn't try to kill him. He waited until there were no more hostiles until he requested embarkation and she let him inside the cockpit. He booted up the systems and began linking, although there was one problem. It wouldn't let him link properly because, for some reason, the OS wasn't authorising manual controls.
He went into the troubleshooting and when it came back, it tracked the problem back to the memory alteration as that had apparently stopped manual override.
"Ahhh… shit… this is going to hurt in the morning"
He went into the files and reverted the memory wipe, waiting for a few seconds for it to load, then he waited for his judgement.
"Why does my head hurt…" Vanessa asked no one in particular, moving her hand up to her sensors and wiping them as though she had a hangover.
"That might be me" Josh answered, cringing as he thought of what would happen next.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" she screamed, flooding his helmet mikes and nearly deafening him.
"Listen… I know you want to kill me but please listen to what I have to say"
"EXPLAIN OR I WILL KILL YOU!"
"We need to take down two Atlas Paladins and you're the only Titan left and I need something that can actually dent them so that's where you come in… please just let me have control over your systems for a few minutes…"
"Glad to hear I was your first choice" she replied sarcastically, mulling the idea over until she eventually decided "You can get control just until they are defeated then you have to promise you won't come near me ever again"
"Deal…" he replied, seeing the linking process authorised and the control buttons lighting up in the green. "Thank you, I'll make sure you don't get destroyed or anything"
"Thanks for the concern…" replied the AI sarcastically once again. Josh ignored her and activated the Dash core, using the dashes to practically glide over the ground to where the two Paladins where just as the pushed the pillar out of the way. He lifted her scythe carefully and spun it in a flared pattern, feeling his heart race in excitement. It was time to fight yet again.
He swung the scythe and caught one of the Paladins under its legs and pulled, upending the robot so he would only have to focus on one. The other's arms shifted and turned into fists, one arm rearing back for a strike. Josh nimbly ducked under it and cut into the main chassis, ripping it out and dashing backwards to avoid another attempt at hitting the Titan. He slung the scythe over his back and took the Plasma Railgun off its mag-lock, taking aim and spinning up the coils. The second Paladin had not righted itself and punched out, only this time Josh caught it and fired a fully charged railgun into the arm socket, blasting the limb off in a shower of sparks.
The other Paladin took the distraction and smashed its fist into Vanessa's open side, sending the Titan sprawling to the floor. Josh was knocked around a bit and accidentally activated the prototype stealth module, smiling when he saw what had happened. He righted Vanessa and charged up another shot, not worrying about rushing as the two Paladins couldn't even see him. He fired the other shot and bled the other arm fully off the robot, pressing the advantage and grabbing it as it flew, swinging it like a bat and smashing it clean into the cockpit and watching as it sparked in frustration until the lights died down.
He dashed again and dodged a fist from the other Paladin. He almost laughed at its stupidity, until the fists retracted and two guns took their place.
"This is going to hurt…" he said as he braced.
The Paladin began firing rockets and energy blasts straights into the cover-less Stryder and both Vanessa and Josh sure felt it.
"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T LET ME GET DESTROYED!"
"I'M WORKING ON IT!"
He put up the Titan's spare hand to block the plasma blasts and ran straight towards the Paladin, kicking straight at its core to stagger it then ducked low to the ground, firing a Railgun blast into its optics while unloading a rocket salvo straight into the hole that the round had burned through. The Paladin stumbled again and fell onto the ground, Josh using his last dash to jump up a few feet and come smashing down onto the Paladin, ripping both arms off and punching right into the main cockpit again, the lights on the robot dying out to show it was out of action.
He stood up and smiled to himself.
"See, it wasn't that bad!"
Just as he said that, one of the armour pieces on Vanessa's leg fell to the floor with a loud clang.
"Wait, SHIT! Didn't they have people in them!" Josh exclaimed, remembering the hologram about the Atlesian Paladins.
"Josh… I swear to God I'm going to kill you the second Demon isn't watching, plus that was just propaganda about the pilots… where is Demon anyway?"
"I'll be damned if I know, we gotta get back to the courtyard and see how everyone else is holding up"
On the Atlesian ship, Demon was sprinting through the corridors of the ship as he heard explosions that rocket the entire structure, probably the engines overheating from the stress. He had his chaingun out and gunned down anything that moved seconds before they even realised he was coming while he wall-ran through the long corridors. He finally made it to the command centre and readied his weapon, busting down the door with a well-placed kick, only to find no-one to challenge him. He slung his weapon over his back and took out his data knife, walking to the main console and tearing out the scroll that sat oddly in the command slot.
He crouched down and tore off one of the panels below the console and grabbed a specific bundle of wires, ripping them out and jamming his data-knife into the free slot and slowly began to re-take control of the ship. He prioritised weapons and piloting systems first and then stood up, leaving the data kife to continue its work, only to see Ruby standing on the outer hull facing off against a Gryphon, no weapon in hand to possibly fight it with.
He swore loudly and sprinted over to the nearest console, bringing up the weapons overlay and powering up a nearby flak gun. He turned it as quick as he could and began firing just as the Gryphon jumped and tried to bite her. The rounds knocked it off course and it fell off the side with a loud caw and Demon sighed in relief, waving to Ruby when she turned around to see what had happened. She smiled and sprinted further down the hull to retrieve Crescent Rose as it stuck out of the damaged plating.
Demon went over to the piloting module and was just about to begin turning the ship towards the academy when he felt a shockwave reverberate the entire ship and an even louder roar following. He went over to the camera station and switched to rear cameras… and then nearly gave up right there and then.
One of the massive mountains in the distance collapsed in on himself revealing a LITERAL DRAGON… well it was a Wyvern but it was still BLOODY MASSIVE! He watched as a million call requests came into his HUD and hesitantly accepted Josh's. He didn't hear anything for a few seconds until Josh's voice came through, sounding quiet and in awe.
"We have enough to kill that thing right?"
"I'm not sure…"
Demon watched as it roared loudly and began making a bee-line straight for the academy.
"Josh… get everyone out of there now, leave the dragon to me"
"WHAT! You can't seriously…"
"NOW! I will not have people die on me! Get EVERYONE out of there now, I don't care if you use the Airships, just get away from there!"
"But…"
"Just do it…"
He cut the feed and sent a message to Ruby, telling her to get to the courtyard and evacuate with everyone else, the girl giving him a thumbs up then jumping off the side and using the recoil of Crescent Rose to land safely on the ground. Demon slowly walked over to the command centre and took the controls, pushing the reactor to 110% and gunning the engines to speed straight towards the dragon.
Back with Tempest, he was panting heavily as he once again rolled to the side as he avoided a slash from the flawless blade-wielder. He fired of Hellraisers as fast as he could but ever shot was either avoided or was parried somehow by his katana. His clips ran empty and he dropped the expended shells, jumping onto the nearby wall to avoid a shotgun blast from Blush.
He reloaded as fast as possible, although this time he didn't bother firing the shells just yet, if he was going to win he would need another strategy. He dropped to the floor and watched as the man casually reloaded his shotgun as he did, not at all seeming phased by the fight that was going on.
"So, you say that you know how I fight…" Tempest asked, desperately trying to figure out a way to beat the calm and collected psychopath.
"I have informants who showed me every single battle you have undertaken so I know exactly how you fight… always brash and never taking time to assess the situation and if this fight is any indication, you are just as stupid as I thought you were… as a courtesy I should let you know I am Adam of the White Fang"
Tempest growled in anger and then a thought struck him… if this guy thought he was stupid, then he was going to be infinitely more stupid than he could ever think. Tempest roared and sprinted straight at the guy, aiming both shotguns at him and getting ready to fire. Adam laughed and readied his katana to block any bullets that came his way… although no bullets actually hit him.
As Tempest drew closer, he dropped into a slide and reversed his grip on the shotguns, firing the shells behind him and using the recoil to swing the blades that he had installed on the top of the weapons. Adam was not at all ready for the attack and could only block one before the other hit him in the side. Tempest didn't let up and continued to fire as fast as possible to swing his Hellraisers with ridiculous speed. Adam tried to jump back and re-assess but Tempest wouldn't give him that liberty and continued to press on by jumping after him and swinging even more.
Adam lashed out with his katana to try and get him to let up but Tempest didn't even flinch as it hit his aura and he had a second of free hits on the offending White Fang member. Adam struck out again with the same result, so he himself continued to attack the Pilot in a battle of who could do the most damage.
The battle continued on for little under a minute until both the combatant's aura's broke at the same time, only Adam was the first to take advantage of it. He struck out and speared Tempest straight through the gut, his katana tearing through the Pilot armour and coming out his back. The Pilot stopped in his tracks and dropped his shotguns, collapsing to his knees and coughing violently.
"I told you that you'd die!" Adam said triumphantly through ragged breaths.
Tempest coughed for a few more seconds until he stopped and looked like he was saying something.
"What is it?" Adam asked, growling as he leaned in closer to hear.
"You have… a spider… on you shoulder" Tempest choked out, wincing in pain through the words.
Adam laughed as loud as he could… until he felt a pinch of pain come from the left of his neck. He turned his head slightly to see that there was, in fact, a spider biting him… but that was all that Tempest needed. He kicked out as though he wasn't even hurt and bent Adam's knee backwards, jumping up and holding onto his head with both hands and twisting… and like that, the life drained from Adam Taurus' body as his neck was severed in an instant.
Tempest violently hacked up and collapsed to his knees once again, the limp body of Adam lying in front of him. He reached down and tenderly touched the hilt of the blade that was going through his body, wincing as it sent new pain through his body. He gritted his teeth and grasped it with both hands, pulling it out in one quick swipe and sending a spray of blood onto the floor and onto the body.
He nearly passed out from the pain but pushed through it and covered the wound with one hand while ripping some clothing from Adam and using it as a make-shift bandage. He tore off his helmet and threw it to the ground, but not before hearing the radio crackle to life. He reached inside and pulled out the module, putting it on speaker.
"TEMPEST! ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU!" Yang screamed through the mic, sounding as though she was crying.
"Hey babe, I'm right here" he answered, trying to sound as normal as possible, gritting his teeth and looking down to see the black fabric already turning red. He heard a sigh of relief on the other side, followed by a bit of crying before she replied.
"Demon wants us to head to Vale so get over to the landing docks and we'll get you out"
Tempest smiled in relief that she was ok and looked back down to the wound before replying.
"Yeah… I'll meet you there but don't wait, Josh told me to hold down the fort for a few more minutes to give you an escape window" lied Tempest, hearing Yang' worried voice reply as quickly as possible.
"Just make it back ok alright!" she ordered, "I want to take you back to Juniors for a dance, remember!"
"I'll see you there…" he replied, cutting the feed and throwing it aside. With trembling feet, he stood warily and began slowly walking out, only succeeding in making it to the door before his legs gave way. He looked out at the massive clocktower and saw a massive Grimm dragon crash into the side and roar.
How the hell did I miss that?
He let himself lie limply on the floor and faced towards the sky, seeing the massive Atlesian cruiser flying overhead and seeing Demon's IFF tag faintly thanks to his optical implants.
"Make me proud buddy… make sure Yang knows I love her…"
A small coughing came as the last bits of air left his lungs and his arms flopped to his sides, no more commands to tell them to stay… and his life began leaving him.
Demon was piloting the ship as fast as he could, despite the innumerable warning signs and sirens that were blaring right in his ears but he kept the ship true and aimed at the massive dragon. He noticed a bright trail of white glyphs trail up the side of the tower and saw a red blur begin running up from the base.
Dammit Ruby… why do you always get yourself right in the way of danger…
He knew it was too late to veer away thanks to the 300 km/h he was going but he knew he would hit the top of the tower far before she reached there. As he looked back at his prize he swore again when the dragon was not where it was before but was flying straight at the top of the tower. It hit the top and a large shockwave boomed throughout the air and he heard the reverb even from inside his cockpit… but the good thing was that it put the dragon on a path right towards him.
Pushing the reactor to as much as it could go, he re-routed all power to the thrusters, sealing his helmet and activating the life-support as the air was cut in the cockpit. When the dragon finally switched its attention from what was happening at the top of the tower, it was way too late to do anything as the massive re-enforced tip of the cruiser slammed straight into it and engulfed it in flames as the fuel-lines exploded.
Demon smiled as he saw the destruction slowly make its way towards him… until he realised he forgot the 'ditch the ship at the last second' part of the plan. He face-palmed himself and activate his stims, pumping two more spare needles into his system as well to enhance his speed. He had downloaded the maps of the ship when he hacked it so he quickly activated his in-helmet AI and plotted a course to the nearest exit, seeing a faint blue trail highlight the corridors.
Outrunning the destruction of the ship, he made it to an open port in the side of the ship and jumped… just as the Grimm dragon tore through the ship right behind him and obliterated half the ship. He fired a grappling hook and grabbed onto the side of a falling piece of ship and used it as hand-hold that he rode until he was a few hundred feet from the ground, jumping and using his parkour kit to slow his fall and landing on the ground with a loud thud.
Not having a second to think, he took of sprinting straight towards the tower to avoid the massive pieces of falling ship that were crashing to the ground around him. Shards of metal came down onto the already half-destroyed courtyard of Beacon, barely missing him, Demon knowing full well that he was surviving through sheer luck. A particularly large piece embedded itself a few feet in front of him. He groaned loudly and unsheathed his odachi, flicking it to full length and setting it ablaze with fire.
When he came into range, he swung vertically and sliced clean through the sheet of metal and splitting it, allowing him to jump throught the small gap he made. Using his odachi to cut any pieces that otherwise would have killed him, he safely made it to the base of the tower just in time to turn around and see the Grimm dragon and ship crash to the ground in a massive fireball.
"See you in hell!"
His thoughts were interrupted again as he looked to the top of the tower and saw a blinding silver pulse radiate outwards, making him shut of the optics in his helmet just so he wasn't blinded. When he thought it was safe, he turned it back on and looked up to the top of the tower, his heart racing as he realised that Ruby was headed up there.
"DAMMIT!"
Already beginning to formulate a plan to get up there but stopped when he heard heavy footsteps and smiled when he saw Sid.
"Pilot located, awaiting mission objectives" Sid spoke, mag-locking the chaingun onto his back and standing vigilant over the much smaller figure of Demon.
"Sid, mission objectives set to link up with Josh and the others"
"Affirmative, mission approximated to be completed in 5 minutes and 32 seconds" Sid droned before turning and beginning to leave.
"Wait, before you go, I need some help getting to the top of the tower" Demon confessed, Sid stopping and crouching low to the ground and holding out a massive hand. Demon groaned as he realised what would happen so he sheathed his odachi and climbed on, preparing for what he called the 'pray to god this AI doesn't glitch out at the last second' manoeuvre. Sid picked him up and reared back his arm, his other pointing straight towards the top of the tower as he aimed.
"Ready sir?"
"Just do it already Sid, you know I hate it when you do this"
Sid chirped in response and… threw Demon as hard as he could straight towards the top of the tower. Demon gritted his teeth as the G-forces nearly made him pass out but he held through and landing right in the middle of Ozpin's clocktower, or what was left after the Grimm dragon crashed into it. He quickly saw Ruby lying on the floor with tears in her eyes and dived over, cradling her limp body in his arms. He checked her heart-beat and breathed in relief when he heard a stable pulse.
He carefully laid her on the ground and looked around for anyone else, only seeing a woman in red lying on the ground a few feet away with a severe burn over her left eye. He was about to go over and check on her when a bullhead crested the top with Mercury and a girl in it as well as a few White Fang grunts. They raised their rifles before he could do anything and began firing at Ruby, although he had already dived on top of her to protect her from the barrage. A few bullets were reflected off his shields but that eventually broke and they began hitting his aura… until that broke… and then they began firing into his armour.
Despite how strong his armour was, it wasn't invulnerable and a few rounds wormed their way in between the plates and hit him full on, Demon wincing in pain every time they hit. Just as he thought he would die, the firing stopped and he hesitantly turned to see the Bullhead fly off in the distance as well as the fact that the woman was no longer there.
With a seriously annoyed groan, he stood up and did a scan on his body, seeing that around four bullets had managed to get through, although that could easily be fixed with some nanobots. He activated them and a second later the four rounds were being pushed out at a painfully slow pace by the miniature robots. He pushed through the pain and picked up Ruby, moving slowly to the edge and jumping off carefully, making sure not to jolt her in any way. He carefully angled his fall so he hit the side of the tower and could slide down without a massive jolt, surfing the edge until the base where he jumped and landed lightly on the ground.
He swore to himself as he realised Sid was gone and he would have to make it to the landing pads that, no doubt, would already be destroyed by the Goliaths approaching. Just as he was about to go, he heard a familiar voice and smiled when he realised who it was.
"Hey kid, need some help with that?" Qrow asked as he leant against the tower, flask in hand and taking a swig.
"That'd be great…"
Qrow put away the alcohol and walked over, taking Ruby from his arms and giving him a rest.
"Is everyone safe?" asked Demon, wanting to know if his evacuation order was actually followed.
"Yeah, the others made it out fine and we're the only people left on the campus" Qrow explained, beginning to slowly walk to a bullhead that was waiting for him a few hundred metres away.
"Other than me" spoke a voice from inside the tower, Demon and Qrow spinning around in shock only to see Ozpin stumbling from the tower bloodied and with cane kept firmly in his grip.
"OZZY!" Qrow shouted, jogging over and grabbing onto his shoulder to stabilize him while still holding Ruby in the other.
"Beacon is lost, we must get out of here as soon as possible" the Headmaster explained, shrugging off Qrow's helping hand and stumbling over to the bullhead. Qrow and Demon joined him, both getting ready to take off… just as a colossal roar reverberated through the air. They were all shocked when, out of the burning rubble of the Atlesian cruiser, the Grimm dragon erupted in a burst of flames and flew over to the clocktower.
"Seriously…" Demon spoke, sounding VERY pissed "you two get Ruby out of here, I'll deal with this thing"
He jumped out of the bullhead and began eyeing down the dragon as it flew around.
"Mr Demon, that is a class S Grimm, there is no others that we know of that are as strong as that! You have no chance of killing it!" Ozpin nearly shouted, still not actually moving to stop him.
"Well, I'm just going to have to do that if we have any chance of getting Beacon back… just tell me when you're at Vale so I can get away and make my own way there"
Both Qrow and Ozpin nodded, the formed getting into the cockpit and flying away with much hesitance. Demon cracked his knuckles and waited for the dragon to fly low enough to the ground that he could fire a grapple onto its chest and was pulled with it.
Kalazar… do you think you can take this thing?
"Pfftt… is that even a question! I've been waiting for when you'd let me have some fun… those White Fang were definitely delicious"
You are disgusting… I'll tell you when you can let loose…
Demon pulled himself up to the chest of the dragon and climbed up onto its back… then waited. A few boring minutes later a notification came up on his HUD that Qrow and the others made it to Vale… so it was time to fight.
Kalazar… let's rip this thing to shreds…
"Wouldn't have it any other way"
At Vale, all the people gathered looked mournfully at the destroyed corpse that was Beacon and the gigantic Grimm dragon that flew around as it took over its new roost. Just as they thought all hope was gone, the dragon shrieked in pain, the gathering being able to hear it all the way in Vale, then veered violently into the clocktower, completely destroying it and blocking Beacon from view in a smokescreen of rubble. They stood in awe at what had happened… but then something stranger happened. They saw the dragon as a vague outline through the smoke… but it looked like there was something else there that was nearly the same size!
The other being looked to be fighting it, brief flashes of fire and lightning giving more defined outlines of their fights… although it was over all too soon. The dragon grabbed the other being in its jaws… but didn't have a chance to do anything as it was suddenly engulfed in burning black flames, releasing the creature and crashing into what was left of Beacon and completely destroying it.
They watched as the dust slowly settled to see what had saved the academy, the only problem was the when it did, all they saw was the destroyed rubble of Beacon. Yang was watching through tears as she still hadn't met up with Tempest or Demon and the others hadn't seen them either. She finally found Josh as he sat in the open cockpit of Vanessa and she screamed at him for an answer.
"WHY DID YOU MAKE TEMPEST STAY BEHIND!"
"What? I haven't talked to him since he left me to take care of the Paladins! I didn't tell him to stay!"
Her heart stopped for a moment and even more tears began flowing, more coming anew as she saw a bullhead coming from the academy with Ruby sitting limp in the loading bay. She sprinted over to where it landed and cradled her as softly as possible, crying into her shoulder with Qrow putting a hand on her own to comfort her.
"Where's Demon…" she whispered, already knowing the answer.
"He stayed behind to try and kill the dragon…" Qrow answered quietly, grieving at the fact as well although not in the same fashion as Yang.
Said girl properly began crying now as the Battle of Beacon drew to a close… for now she had lost two people she cared about to the Grimm and the White Fang. But what could she do? They were dead… weren't they?
