Disclaimer: I do not own any RWBY or Nicholas Cage, Star Wars, Yetis, Microsoft, lightsabers, The Divine Comedy, for that matter.
Chapter 5: The Caged Song Bird's Cage Gets Colder
Or
Devils and Avalanches
General James Ironwood stands with utmost discipline as he looks at what remains of what was once one of Atlas' prized research facilities. From a distance it looked almost like an abstract piece of art, a Picargo or the guy who cut his ear off or something. The snow on the mountain was the canvas, the mountains themselves were the background, and the fires, debris and lifeless bodies of men- his men - were the artistic strokes of the brush. The military hardware was shattered to pieces making an unbelievable sense of texture. The smoke coming from almost anywhere gave it a flowing look, and the blood of his men pooling gave color to the plain white snow.
Yes, at a distance, it does look like abstract art. Ironwood wouldn't know that though, for he wasn't at a distance, he was standing right in front of it, and to him; it wasn't artistic, it was barbaric. Millions worth of damage, hundreds of men dead, decades of valuable research gone…
"Who the hell did this?"
A few hours ago
"I don't understand anything!" Ruby screams in frustration, admitting her defeat at the hands of her most hated enemy; homework, a homework assignment given by their oh-so-informative Professor Port.
"How am I supposed to write an essay on a Grimm that doesn't even exist?" the lesson that day was on cryptids, though not entirely Grimm, many still believe that the creatures of obscurity were simply Grimm of extreme rarity, though several key Grimm behaviour and patterns absent in them, beg to differ.
"Yang, help me!" Ruby begs, having no idea on the topic, all she really needed to know about Grimm are where to hit them to make them die.
That and she fell asleep half-way through the lecture, her last lucid memory of the entire class was "And then I…" which was simply the majority of the class.
"Sorry sis, I'm as lost as you." Yang admitted as both a confession and an excuse not to help, though she took it easier than her little sister. To be fair, hardly anyone still believed in something like the Yeti. Said to be known as the abominable snowman and lived cold mountains. As the word 'cold' came to mind, Yang asked a would-be-expert in all things icy.
"Say Weiss, how about you and me-"
"Don't even." Weiss blows off the blonde bombshell, choosing to continuously and efficiently word vomit in her writing, blocking of all distractions, even the most adorable pair of silver eyes ever.
"And no Ruby, not even your puppy dog eyes will work this time." She quickly says, still writing not even giving Ruby a sideways glance.
Blake ignored all this, as she already finished her schoolwork ahead of time. Currently she was occupying herself with an old favorite. She was at a part she always liked re-reading, but then her mind drifts to when she first read it.
PAGE 78
His journey continues, he is faced with the entrance of a cave, thorns seem to come from it as overgrown branches of thorns line the walls and ground, only a thin path of earth was free of theses accursed plants.
A path that led right into the cave…
"Virgil…" a raspy voice calls out from the deep darkness of the cave. Virgil himself steps in to the cave, to find the voice's source, for it was all he could tell was in the cave
"No, No, No that's a terrible reason to go in a cave."
"Virgil…" a raspy voice calls out from deep in the cave. Virgil himself steps in to the cave, to find the voice's source, for he believed that the answers he sought
"Is it sought or seek?"
,for he believed that the answers he seek, would be answered by the voice of whom ever it might be.
"Virgil…"
As he enters the cave, he looks behind him, hoping not to see anyone there, but all he could see was his own shadow. He moves forward, unbeknownst to him, a twisted sense of false security happened;
His shadow stays.
It morphs into a mangled form then laughs mischievously as it runs towards Virgil
"Virgil…" It repeats as it madly sprints, coming far too close.
Virgil quickly turns but sees nothing there…
"Now that's scary"
Becoming increasingly paranoid, Virgil keeps looking, not wanting to be caught off guard again, he surveys what little he could see with the limited light.
A demented chuckle and a shifting of rocks happen behind him, Virgil turns, but again not fast enough to spot the source.
As he hears nothing and sees nothing, Virgil continues towards the cave exit. The cave gives him more room as the thorn path widens as he moves forward, more holes in the wall give him more light, and the thorns keep getting bigger.
"…'and the thorns keep getting bigger'? Nah…I'll edit that later."
"Virgil…"
"Show yourself." Virgil commands and the most unexpected occurs; it obeys
Virgil looks behind him as what can only be described as the sound moving whispers is heard. Then he sees it; eyes as orange as the burning fires of hell, a body of smoke as black as burnt coal, and a trail of energy that can be compared to aura decomposing.
The misty figure climbs the wall's thorns, its claws digging into the wall. It laughs devilishly as it gets closer to Virgil.
Virgil stands perfectly still, yet keeps his focus on the threat in front of him. The ghostly figure stands in front of Virgil, his exact height.
"Who are you?" asked Virgil
"What you deny." It answers back
"Wow that's good." Blake compliments from behind him
"Thanks." Adam says as he readies his next sentence to type.
"…."
Erie silence engulfs the two of them.
"…."
Exactly 11 seconds of silence has passed, now the moment is legally awkward
"….A…a…you…uh…"
And there go's Adam's vocabulary skills
"Hmm?" Blake innocently hums as she wonders why Adam doesn't continue the story.
"…W-HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BEHIND ME?!" Adam finally screams as he regains his voice.
"Since Virgil punched the mirror thinking someone behind it was strangling him, then when the mirror shatter he finds out that he was the one strangling him" Blake answers truthfully.
"Th-That…That was 30 pages ago! You've been behind me reading for 30 pages!"
Blake nods.
"I really liked it."
"You did?"
"Sure, Virgil seems really cool and I want to know how it ends."
"You do?"
"Uh Huh. You're a really good writer Adam."
"So what's it all about?"
"It's about a man…with two souls."
The sound of an airship flying overhead wakes Adam from his daydream. He and Ask are resting on a ledge on the cliff-edge side of a mountain as the airships engines cause the snow and rocks to fall.
"Break's over Taurus." Ask says from the other side of the mountain ledge, he turns off the touchscreen he's been using for the majority of their break and secures it back into one of his thick winter coat's many pockets.
Adam slowly steps out of the ledge, ready to start climbing the mountain again. He also has a thick winter coat on, it covers him and his usual black and red tail coat underneath, and it barely keeps out the biting cold air. Wilt and Blush strapped securely behind him, due to its black and red color being easily spotted in the snow it had to be wrapped in a white and grey winter-cameo cloth in order to avoid detection. So instead on his Rifflejato in his hands like usual, his hands were now holding two ice picks, not for combat but for climbing the icy mountain. Now Adam and Ask both equipped with ice picks are moving across the ridge sideways.
"Stop here." Ask orders as he plunges his axe in to the ice then starts climbing. "Ice is good." He informs, for some reason having more experience about climbing the mountain ranges of Atlas than Adam.
"Do you know where you're going?" that question was long overdue. Even without answer, Adam still followed and started climbing.
'Pick then cleats. Pick then cleats. Pick then cleats. Pick then cleats. Pick then cleats. Pick then cleats…' That was both the method of climbing the mountain and the inner mantra Adam kept repeating in his mind.
"I've been climbing these mountain ranges since I was four." Ask informed calmly before he plunges and steps up the ice. "Broke my wrist the first time" he finishes on a dark note.
"A little intense for a 4 year-old, don't you think?" Adam comments as he tries to catch up with the much more experienced climber, for a newbie Adam was doing better than most.
"It was."
As he said that, Ask drove the pick a little too forcefully in to the ice, the sound of it digging in almost making an echo.
'Touchy subject I guess?' Adam concludes, not really feeling like a tragic backstory was necessary at this… altitude.
"Let's not dwell on trivial, shall we?" Ask calmly suggests, his pace slowing to give Adam time to catch up.
"I pulled some of strings, ancient strings I'll have you know."
"Intel said she's being held in an Atlesean research facility." Ask explained.
"I narrowed it down with your intel. High-security research base with mountainous scenery, only match I know of was here."
"Where is here?"
"The Cage." Ask simply states.
"The Cage?"
"Atlas' scientific black sheep. Illegal experimentation, human and faunus testing, kidnapping, Grimm breeding, human and faunus rights violations by the dozens-Oh! And did I mention Atlas funds this."
"Of course they do."
"They're the drop-out drug addict/dealer everyone knows about but hates in family reunions. But gives good gifts on Christmas"
"All that, on our way here?"
"I do have Wi-Fi."
"Let's just get there before-"
Another airship flies by, this one lower than the last. The turbulence from the ships causes the earth and ice to shake. Adam gets dislodged from his position and nearly falls to his death, he looses an ice pick. Ask grabs him at the very last second before he falls.
Seeing that he was still dangling vicariously on a mountain "What are you waiting for? Pull me up." Adam commands,
Instead of doing the logical thing and pull Adam up, Ask just casually answers "Just thinking"
"Thinking of what?" Adam rhetorically asks.
Taking no moment of pause, Ask offhandedly answers. "How many lives I could save by dropping you."
The sentence sinks in fairly quickly, Adam in mortal terror, sees that Ask is not joking whatsoever
"Ask I swear, if you-" that threat gets cut short by a real threat.
"What? Sorry I can't here you over my GRIP SLIPPING!" And for emphasis he slightly loosens his grip causing the almost acrophobic faunus to tighten his.
On the other side of Remnant, another pair of kinda friends devises their own version of male bonding.
"Jaune, this isn't going to work" Ren, one of the two boys among six girls warns his team leader and kinda best friend Jaune.
"No way, I've read from a magazine that this works." Jaune reassures his brother in arms.
"A magazine?" doubts Ren on the nature of the information.
"Well kinda, Pyrhha told me about it, she said this is the best way to ask a girl out on a date without it being too awkward."
"Pyrhha? Gave you instructions. To ask a girl out." Ren in an attempt to clear things up, asks the knight in dented armor.
"Yeah, she's always helping me out with that sort of thing." Jaune states with an oblivious manner.
'Never in my life have I met such a dense person' was Ren's main train of thought at the moment.
Adam POV
'You know that thing idiots do when one idiot trusts another idiot that they won't totally get hurt as they fall?'
'Yeah, dating sucks…'
This insipid world continues to bombard me with justifications to destroy it. One justification is currently keeping me from a 1300ft fall to my subsequent death. His name is Ask, never heard the rest of it, never want to. I refuse to learn the complete name of a filthy human I left within an inch of his life. But the story doesn't end there, he not only survived, I even saved him from whatever horrendous torture he deserved. I don't regret it. Too many regrets have long past, it'd be an insult to start now.'
'He led us here; half-frozen half-remote mountain ranges near Atlas, my second reason, mostly because I hate snow and anything associated with that damn symbol. And as irony would have it; I'm freezing my ass off IN WHERE? Oh! That's right. ATLAS! I'm climbing a mountain in ATLAS! All because of our D between mine and Ask's A's.'
'Ask and mine's mutual friend if you could call her that. I can't even begin to ask how both of us know her.'
'But on the other hand, this could be an advantage.'
'And insurance…'
"Pull me up, Ask" I order, this joke was never funny, and Ask is terrible with jokes.
"Forgive me." He says with no desire for forgiveness of any kind "But my mind goes rampant with reasons not to pull you up" God, does he ever shut up.
"Is this revenge for before?" I play things his way, hoping this would at least keep him talking long enough for me to think of another way to get to the top.
"How dull, keeping your state of mind in the past. While I attempt to see the bigger picture" there he goes again with his trademark overly complicated and intellectual dialogue.
"So it's not how I kicked the crap out of you." I press on, this time hoping for at least an emotional response and not one of his bored comebacks he's in high supply of. Amazingly there's a pause, I expect I either get a philosophical rant of denial of I finally get pulled up. Instead I get a…
"Nope." Was he's single syllabic reply.
"I saved you." I remind, and if by chance bring out his consciousness-oh who am I kidding? He doesn't have one. It's not hard to tell when you don't have one either.
"Hardly, I could've escaped ages ago." Okay now I'm really getting pissed.
"Then why didn't you?" Oh hear myself childishly shot back. What am I, twelve?
"I had nothing better to do. I only thanked you for the gesture." He says as if it was nothing, and for some reason I believe it.
Time for a change of plan, to beat a manipulator you need to think like one.
"You can't do it without me. You and I both now this base is too tough for either of us" a pragmatist like Ask would never question sound logic, though I could probably do it alone, but that's just my opinion.
"Hmm…" he hums in thought, this is good, I found a point-of attack. I need to solidify this.
"You'll need me for this." That sure did break his thought.
"I don't. Believe me I can care less on the outcome of this event." God this is getting me nowhere.
"If you just wanted to kill me then why go with the trouble in getting us here?" Reverse psychology, idiots are susceptible to reverse psychology.
"Who knows" he answers with a question. "You could say that it was my plan from the beginning, follow you and make my move when you are at your most vulnerable." Okay, I'm starting to have second thoughts in choosing my teammates just my their initials, maybe he should have stayed at the loony bin
"Which is now if you haven't guessed." He states the obvious, in retrospect I really should have taken this more thought.
"Or I'm just going with the moment. An opportunity like this won't come again." Yup, he is officially insane. That just leaves me with one option, out crazy a crazy. I grab his arm we both mine, locking it, even if he does let go I'll drag him with me. Guess they were right, insanity is contagious.
"Guess we'll both die. You can't keep holding on forever and that ice won't last with our combine weight" I
"Then we die putting us out of the world's misery" to be fair our deaths could stop an impending catastrophe.
I use my last trick
"Then you'll never know." I say right into his deranged eyes.
"I'll humour you. Know what?" his falling for it.
"The rest of my plan." Okay that wasn't the best lines to use but at least it's something.
"Umm…free another two dangerous individuals with above average skills, make a team of four, and then execute your assault against our- correction your target. That barely stretches the imagination." He ends with a disappointed tone, bored and unemotional, just like him.
Hoping to interest him more I counter "What if I told you there was more to it than that"
"All I can hear is a dead man making bargains" That…was the best description of what I was doing.
"Then as to the guy who dedicated his life solving mysteries, don't you want to see what comes next?" I challenge the only thing he seems to care about; Knowing.
"A SPLAT?"
"Hehehe…" even I had to laugh at that, no matter how bad of a situation this might be laughing was like praying; "What's the worst that could happen", I admit falling is one but to out-crazy a crazy was still on the table. "If I die you'll never find out. You'll never know of the impossible I'll do." Then what happens next is less than I'd expect.
Ask throws me up the ledge, I land perfectly on my feet, turning just in time to see Ask climbing out. For a guy who held and threw a guy my size, he doesn't look all that worn-out. I admit I'm not that heavy but I was carrying a full bag at the time. Wonder how strong this guy really is? He puts his ice axes back in to his bag and as predicted he acts as if nothing happened
"Impossible? I wonder what impossible is by this world's standards." He mutters opening his bag and throwing something at my direction, I catch it, it was a radio, smaller than the ones we used at the Asylum.
"First we need her." I remind him.
"Obviously." His tone always had some sort of insufferable tone to it. The snow makes a crunching noise from under his boot as he taps his foot impatiently.
"And one more thing." He turns as I say that, his naturally curious nature taking control of his actions once again. As he turns I punch him right between the eyes, he falls on the snow, his turn put him of balance enough for me to achieve that.. I could have used Wilt or jammed Blush in his face, heck he at least deserved one of pick axe in the balls for that stunt, but no, not yet, can't have him wounded now, no matter how much enjoyment it would bring it'd cause more of a liability. "Never do that again." I warn, he needs to learn his place.
"The worst thing you can do to someone in power; is taking their false perception of it and show them what true power is. And their helplessness will consume them." he quotes a book I'm very familiar with. Though quote would be an understatement. He said it exactly the way the character would be portrayed.
"Chapter-"
"Chapter 9, page 143. Ferb to Virgil." I finish for him.
"You read my book." I feel kind of flattered actually.
"Honestly, I think it needs a sequel."
"I'm working on it." I really am. Writer's block is a bitch, especially when your muse turns into one and leaves you on a train in the middle of nowhere.
The Cage; an insulting name to say the least. Located in one of the most treacherous mountain sides surrounding Atlas where only airships can be used to enter the facility. The facility itself was made between two mountain peaks, not only preserving the mountains' formation but also adding to its defences. The Cage both houses a number of research programs of Atlas and is used as a military base, meaning its security was the Atlesian military itself. The Cage is innovative, adaptive, persistent, and flamboyantly powerful.
It's Atlas in a nutshell.
With all this it's obvious that every specimen held had no hope for escape. Not even her, not even there most prized specimen; Codename: Alpha LI.
Alpha LI, forcefully taken from her life and christened with a mere 7 letters, imprisoned at the Cage's most secure holding cell, a glass cell which is ironically a cage suspended from the main floor, suspended on virtually indestructible tungsten-titanium cable-wire. Pressurized to way below normal atmosphere, her only source of oxygen was a tube attached to her suit from the very cable keeping her up. This had three functions; firstly it kept her abilities at bay, secondly if ever anyone tried to release her by cutting of the of the cable also meant cutting of her air supply, killing her before the glass in her cell can even be scratched. Thirdly it gave her captors the luxury of eliminating her by the means of shutting of her oxygen if she shows any attempts of escape, and if suffocating her wasn't enough her captors recently installed a failsafe which at a push of a button they can dislodged her cell entirely and drop her. Yes, this was truly an inhumane way to hold someone but as fate would have it she wasn't human, Alpha LI was a faunus, creating a loophole with the laws against holding her, a loophole her captors seem to exploit to its limits freely.
Until now…
"Ask are you in position?"
"Just some snow in my boots, making my way to them right now." the person on the other side of the radio answered.
"You worry about the building…" a guard appears in Adam's line of sight, smoking a cheap cigarette; a very unprofessional conduct. Adam kills him as he finishes his smoke "…I'll worry about the snow."
In a boardroom on the top floor, the head scientist and directors of the cage begin planning their next revolutionary idea. They were bothers, three to be exact. Each as powerful as the other, controlling all scientific operations, sanctioned by Atlas to do any means necessary to complete their research, they heartlessly follow that order to the letter. Using innocent faunus as their mere lab rats, because to them animal testing still qualifies when you use a faunus.
"Things are proceeding as planned, brother." The first brother says to his extremely identical brother.
"Perhaps now we can finally commence human trials, brother."
"Oh, most definitely, brother."
"I also agree, brother."
Out of nowhere someone says "Well I don't."
"True, your opinion matters but- wait…your-OH MY GOD! You're-"
BOOM
"T-the labs! You blew up the labs!" the first brother screams in horror. It soon turns to fury.
One of them presses a panic button. Several dozen guards make their way into the room. Each one pointing the business of their energy riffles at the intruder, oddly enough he doesn't look fazed against the overwhelming odds.
"Guards kill him."
One soldier, the leader of the dozens of guards had a bad feeling about this, he knew full-well his men outnumbered, outgunned, and in his opinion outmatched, but knowing this, why was the target in front of him not even pretending to be alarmed.
"Ugh...sir, a thought occurred." the leader finally spoke up. "This guy knew he was going to face an entire base full of soldiers but he still just went here by himself. He even snuck in all the way to this floor undetected but he still showed himself to blow the place up." the leader reasoned logically.
"Are you sure this isn't a trap?" he stares the intruder in the eye, no sign of fear, no sign of anything for that manner, just a passive look of impatience.
"So what? He's just a radical with mental health problems! He isn't even armed and there's thirty of you." the bother reminded. the intruder nods as he listens to the brother's explanation.
"Now shoot this delinquent!"
But before their fingers even squeeze the trigger, the intruder in a uncaring and lethargic fashion ask.
"You know the problem with ear-coms like that?" Ask finally addressed the soldiers.
"What" thirty or so guards asked simultaneously, almost forgetting their initial orders.
"This" he presses a button on his phone then all the guards go…
"AAAAGGGGHHHH!"
"MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT STOP!"
"Ear-coms are very easy to hack, get the right frequency and just the right song…well you know the rest." Ask explains, a smile peeking at his lips.
"Quickly you fools, take them off!" the second maybe third brother ordered. The soldiers followed that command, dropping their weapons, ripping of helmets and pulling of their coms, doing whatever it took to stop the pain coming from their ears.
"…and that's just 12% power." The dangerously casual Ask said.
The guards who had all successfully removed heir ear-coms by now, held them triumphantly in their hands.
'All according to plan'
"Here's 100%" from casual to sadistic in a mere syllable.
A series of small simultaneous explosions happened, right in the closed hands of the guards.
Marveling at his work, Ask sadistically watches the soldiers in extreme pain.
"The destruction one can do, when one plays Gold by Casey Williams in such a frequency and 715 times the regular speed."
All the guards were currently on the floor, in the middle of adjusting to forcefully becoming left-handed as their previous right hands have been more or less unusable.
"AGH!...my hand."
"My hand…my hoh-my hand…hand…." Then he goes into shock from the blood loss.
"Oh crap! Crap! Where's my thumb?"
Were just a few of the audible sounds the soldier's reactions to having their hands blown-off, an entire squadron of soldiers down with just a press of a button, Ask literally didn't even break a sweat.
Without even turning to face the scarred-shitless head scientists, Ask says two words that will fuel fear in any sane man's heart:
"You're next…"
Waiting on the base of the mountain parallel to the base, Adam finally sees his cue; an explosion on the east side. He draws out Wilt, the movement creating a very visible burst of air blowing the snow in all directions.
"No matter how much the wind howls, the mountain will never bow to it." He quotes as gets into a stance.
"Cut anything down, and then it might as well bow."
A series of powerful and well-aimed slashes occur within a few seconds, each one as flawless as the last, it finally ends after the thirteenth slash, as Adam sheathes his blade, the mountain starts to shake.
In the face of utter annihilation; is what truly shows a man's character, and to the brother's in charge of The Cage Research Facility, Utter Annihilation was right in front of them, fearing the worst, one brother would not let their life's work be destroyed.
"Q-Quickly, brother, send the research data. If that survives we can still…"
BEEP
"ALL DATA HAS BEEN DELETED"
"HAVE A NICE DAY"
Their computers said all at once, from the main computer in the wall, to the brother's personal tablets, they all said the same horrifying thing. There life's work was gone.
"But…our firewalls…how did you…" was the second brother's utterly defeated words as he fell to his knees in anguish.
"You really think I was that ignorant? I've been keeping tabs on you from the very beginning of your silly little pet projects. Oh and your so called firewalls was beyond simplistic, I should know, I did make it."
"My third security system, I was eleven." He speaks of with nostalgia.
"Who plagiarizes an eleven-year old? Honestly."
"I could forgive you for using my out-dated system but…" he slowly walks over to the three cowering brothers, his shadow engulfs them, they; the tree so-called creators of the future were starring up on the person who singlehandedly destroyed their life's dream, with a mobile phone.
'He-he's the devil'
That was the closest way to describe Ask at the moment. His dead and focused glare, his blank yet grinning demeanour that was malicious as it was twisted, and his posture told a great deal of intimidation. The devil was busy making and avalanche but Ask seemed to fill in for him.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
CRASH
And there goes the rest of the building, good thing the rest of the employees evacuated after the first one.
"…you old farts make scientists look bad." He continues with a childishly sad tone. It was soon replaced by a darkly, passive-aggressive voice.
"…I'm quite peeved at the moment."
That was the last coherent sentence as the rest were now screams of utter agony.
Adam Taurus has done great things, terrible, yes, but great. Starting at the tender age of 8 he more than mastered at least 3 sword styles with the tutelage of a legendary hunter. In a span of less than five-years, at 13 he mastered every sword style known and developed a few known only to him, making him on par with his mentor. Using these gifts, at age 15 he had a confirmed total kill count of 172 and an unconfirmed of nearly 250. By 17, he was one of the top assassins in the world, rivaling even history's greatest killers in bloodshed. It wasn't later in life at 18 he defied expectations as he found a talent for literacy. Being a prodigy he is able to write 5,000 words overnight on command, surprising all comrades and enemies alike with his genius-level talent with words, almost unheard of in the prejudice circle of writers. He published his first book at age 21 which gained critical acclaim and became a modern day classic with its psychological, political, and thought provoking ideas.
Even with all that, starting an avalanche was a category on its own…Although running away from one isn't that great.
Elsewhere in the area the best of the worst soldiers that got out of Atlas' military training were on a routine patrol around the perimeter. Yes, if you thought all soldiers saw combat, you were wrong, because as bad at being soldiers as they were, they weren't expendable enough to be used as cannon fodder, so guard duty it is. And the saying goes; "The more remote the location, equals to how bad you were at basic" so goodbye trigger fingers and hello report any suspicious activity.
"Hey man, you hear something?" one asked his comrade, visibility in a snow storm was limited to say the least. So much so that a comrade in front of you would appear as a blurred Instagram filter, their foggy goggle's wouldn't help either.
"Negative." The comrade next to him answered, this one sounding like an actual soldier.
"It kinda sounds like…" he goes off, the source sound gets closer by the second.
"Like what?" another soldier ask.
"Like something's coming toward us" If a sound keeps getting louder, it is mostly likely coming closer.
"Were on top of a mountain for Pete's sake!" the no-nonsense member of the patrol screamed. "Only thing that could kill us here would be a Yeti Grimm or a…"
"Yeti Grimm?" and that one question seals their fate.
"The Yeti is not a Grimm. Grimm are black" one of them says as if the most obvious thing in the world.
"What is it then?" that challenge further causes more to the fire.
"It's a guy in a suit." The once strict soldier opines, trying to end the debate but adding more in it himself, now all five of them were gathered in a circle, debating on the so-called Yeti Grimm.
As they all become focused on their discussion on the crypt, a black and red blur runs pass them undetected.
"My cousin said it's an ape that migrated to the mountains." One of them goes with the relative who knows move.
A soldier who's been keeping quite the whole time finally gives his opinion "I think it's an-AVALANCHE!" As he was the only one facing north he sees it, a 3 storey high avalanche headed right towards them. His comrades at his sides see it as well, only the one facing west doesn't see.
"Avalanche?" he's head gets turned by his buddy next to him.
"Oh an avalanche…" it finally sinks in "Holy cra-" before any action was taken, he along with his squad were forcefully pushed to the side by a Yeti running for his life.
"Run for your lives, puny humans!" A 10-feet tall hairy, bipedal ape-like creature said as it runs past them.
Getting back on his feet, the soldier who first asked about the noise realizes just the gravity of what had just recently transpired. "Hey, guys!" he says in a manner most would use when they want to tell their friends of something stupid "That was a Yet-" with a force equivalent to getting hit by a tidal wave of cement, the avalanche kills them…and the poor Yeti.
Poor Yeti…we would never know if it was a Grimm.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
CRASH
"Right on time."
Adam then jumps to one of the buildings. It was safe to say out running an avalanche can be added to Adam's ever growing list of achievements. Adam always hated snow, it was about time his enemies shared his dislike. He watches as the base gets engulfed in snow and ice, soldiers getting smothered, cars getting swallowed up, several airships getting buried in the snow. In summary the military base section of the cage got destroyed by an avalanche.
But that wasn't the all the avalanche did.
Inside a pressurized glass cell, it's barely conscious prisoner had tilted to the left. For her cell was no longer in the air but on top of a thick pile of ice. If she couldn't go to them, they'd just have to go to her, a simple concept, made possible by the maddest of ideas.
Adam slowly hikes to the top of the three storey pile, marvelling at the brilliantly insanity this tactic had. He soon catches sight of the architect of this weaponized insanity.
"Took the scenic route?"
"My apologies." Ask says while he walks up the avalanche. "Had some garbage to dispose of." As he says the word garbage, he wipes his hand on his trousers, wiping away any evidence of what transpired.
They make their way up the cage within The Cage. The two finally get a good look at the cell, 14 feet in diameter and 7-feet tall, to metal parts with a label on the side: Alpha LI.
"Alpha Li?"
"LI; numeral, it means fifty-one." Unbeknownst to either of the two, the specimen Alpha LI begins to stir in her suit.
Ask begins to formulate a plan to open it and free the one inside. This goes on for a few minutes until Adam, out of extreme boredom tries to touch the glass. A quick hand stops him from doing so.
"Don't" Ask stops him before he could even lay a finger on the glass. "Observe." He takes his free hand, grabs a ball of snow and throws it at the glass; the snow evaporates in a flash on impact.
"How on Remnant did you see that?" Adam asked in relief, a hand was important for a swordsman.
"I was looking for it." The detective replied, he then carefully seeks out a wire on the top and pulls it off, the shields flicker for a bit then finally turn of entirely. Now the glass cell and the occupant were clearer.
"Interesting." Ask mutters as he observes.
Adam doesn't like the sound of that word. "If it's interesting to you, it's probably going to be a problem, isn't it."
"This glass is 4 inches of a new class of transparent armour that incorporates ALON." Not really knowing what any of that meant except '4 inches' and 'glass', Adam was more worried about the fact that this was the first time he's heard Ask genuinely surprised by something.
'Oh, this isn't going to be good.'
"Is it tough?"
"Not only is it is much lighter and performs much better than traditional glass/polymer laminates. ALON 'glass' can stop even a .50 calibre armour-piercing round at just a width of a quarter inch."
'It's official; what makes Ask smile is bad for your health.'
"I'll take that as a yes."
"They spared no expenses on keeping her detained, feel a bit envious actually."
"Now how do we get her out?"
"Sword still sharp?"
"Always." with that an old wound of Ask's starts to hurt.
"I suggest you employ your sword on the metallic part of the cage, just be mindful of her life support, or else using the snow would have been a futile endeavor." They then jump on top of it, the metallic top giving a ping sound as they landed. The pair begin devising away to open the cage, As Adam fired a few rounds into it, Blush barely did any damage to its structural integrity, blowing it up was out of the question, for Ask noted that an explosion could do more damage to the life support than to the cage, thus the last remaining option was to cut their way in. Adam quickly readies his sword. While Ask pulls our several wires ad connects them to his touchscreen.
"What you doing?"
"My attention is better applied to keeping the security system from killing her before we… something's wrong." Ask abruptly stands up to the check the intact portion of the building. Sensing danger as well Adam turns to see what got Ask so riled up.
"Did your psychic powers see a vision of the future?" Adam asks the only guy in the world he knew who's named after a verb.
"No it appears that-Wait? Do you actually believe I'm psychic?"
"Not the point."
"Sorry." Ask's attention goes back to the danger at hand.
"So what's wrong-" suddenly from underneath the snow, a monster burst's out, it's grand entrance propels snow in all directions.
"RAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRR!"
Our two terrorist's eyes bear witness to the grotesque spectacle created by the immoral scientists that dared call themselves human. A monster of monsters, a product of sinful intentions that came from the darkest recesses of the mind's twisted imagination, an unholy combination of Grimm and technology, it is bipedal, almost triple Adam's height, with eyes as red a gushing blood, it's fur is black as most Grimm, but had more white plates than visible fur and tubes going in and out of its body. It was asymmetrical with 2 arms on one side and a hideous whip-like arm on the other, an arm whip that bared striking resemblance to a King Taijitu's tail, and then the arm started staring at Ask, yup definitely a Taijitu. Its legs were organic from the thighs but became robotic from the knees down. The head was if a two Grimm of separate species were stitched together from the jaw and kept together by a robotic sensory interface. Its entire back was robotic, entirely metal but at the end was a Deathstalker's tail. It's chest had tusks that protruded from the sides, possibly a rib or a Titan's tusks attached somehow, and in the left side just above a tusk were the heart should be was glowing red machine that had veins and wires come out of it and spread across the body.
"It looks like an Ursa Major, a plus sized Beowolf, a Deathstalker, a King Taijitu, and a robot had an orgy." Adam describes. "…and used a Titan's tusk as sex toys."
Too dumbfounded to do anything, Ask just nods and agrees "That might be our most accurate of hypotheses."
The hybrid cyborg creature locks its gaze on the two, and from its back a pair of mini-guns comes out. It points it directly at the two.
"Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man." Adam quotes as he stares at the monster in front of him.
"Oh, how dramatic."
"That's why it's better to be a faunus."
"Really? Right now?"
The Grimm Cyborg roars and fires a hail of bullets, Ask steps in front of Adam and the glass cage, creating a black hole to absorb the volley of gunfire. This lasts for a good few seconds, until the cyborg abomination's weapons over heats. Ask finally turns off his semblance, then falls to a knee in exhaustion.
"Won't…be doing…that…anytime soon." Ask concludes between pants, clearly his semblance took far more stamina than he anticipated. Adam takes note of this.
"Just wondering, how'd you know this would happen?" the curious bull-faunus asks the exhausted detective.
"If a plan is working too well, it's not going to end well." Ask answers regretfully. Adam thinks carefully on that, hoping to remember that quote as it would so fit in his next book.
The Grimm Cyborg gets in to what seems to be a fighting stance, eagerly waiting for a bout with its two combatants. Adam accepts the freak of nature and science's challenge and gets into his old Laido stance.
"You up for this one?"
Ask stands back up, then removes his heavy coat, its lack of mobility would be fatal in this scenario, his rather shabby I-stole-this-from-a-passing-hobo clothes would have be enough for this low-level of cold, he pulls out two metal cylinders twenty-four centimeters in length attached to the front of his suspenders, and joins them at the pommel. He checks the power, 79%, it'd have to do. He activates it and a blade of energy projects from both ends, yes, Ask had a double-bladed lightsaber. That was all the answer Adam needed.
The duo get into their fighting stance, the cyborg leaps towards them, claws, guns, and fangs out, Adam and Ask jump towards it. The Grimm roars as it approaches its prey, to bad now it wasn't the only predator. Adam prepares for a mid-air moon slice, glowing slightly redder by the millisecond, going for a quick kill. Ask increases the energy output level of weapon, ready to carve the monster. The three almost clash, finally the chapter ends…
End of Chapter.
AN: Sorry internet's been down for a week, took them this long to get it back up.
To: DataEntity; THAT! is going to be the motto for this fic, here's hoping I finally find where you got that quote.
To: Words and letters; thank you for that compliment. dark was what I was going for. I appreciate the compliment.
No Kenny's died in the making of this fanfiction.
Yes my guest reviewer, it is a South Park reference. I'll be honest it wasn't my intention at the start but it grew on me. So kennys will die occasionally throughout this story.
Yes, I did watch kill bill, and this was inspired by what happened before the wedding massacre.
To: edgeofmyemotions; it's the vagueness that keeps me going...and I just realized you're the only one so far with a profile pic.
Yes, anonymous reviewer, it is Bill and Hannibal, but it won't always be like that, it'll go from Sherlock to Watson, Vergil and Dante, to even Batman and Superman. But I appreciate how you can tell.
Yes, they killed people, but kept it at a small margin. no, not the beanstalk but from the anime Code Geass. I won't tell you which episode, just so you'll watch the entire series. And don't worry,I'll delve deep into every OC character sooner or later.
To: JefftheKiller14;No, I don't fully believe people will forgive me. Mostly because I know I wouldn't.