The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 50: Construction is Fun
A/N: Heya guys! What's up?
I hope you're all well right now. I'm doing good myself. Went back and reread the story, or parts of it, and I'm questioning my bits of work here, LIKE the FaunusRuby! stuff. Then I realized I'm a tad dumb and remembered that it hasn't come full circle yet! It will soon, for those confused at all that, as well as some lovey dovey stuff with Ruby and Weiss soon too!
Action will be back soon, but for now, more plot, randomness, minor jokes cause I'm not funny at all, and some other goodies. Always good to take a break from it for a little.
Quick question: Prequel, or sequel next? Please answer so I know you all aren't figments of my imagination.
Huntre101: Thanks! Hope you enjoy!
Who-needs-names: Eh, Wulf is so much more cute! (bad grammer I know) Also sounds cool that way. Wulf! Sort of how I do Bulkhead instead of Bullhead for the airships. Cause they seem Bulky to me. Thanks!
Faunus jedi girl: That was one of them! Good job! Thanks for the review!
Thanks guys! See you all later and enjoy!
"Yang..." Ruby sighed as she looked towards her sister with absolute confusion and concern. "I don't think Zwei should be doing that..."
"Oh don't worry sis!" The brawler chirped happily. "You're spending too much time with Weiss!"
"A-as if! I haven't had a regular conversation with her in like... forever!" Ruby pouted as she crossed her arms, grumbling about how unfair stuff was.
Yang chuckled at her sisters' silliness. "It will be totally fine! Zwei loves concrete! Don't ya boy?"
"Arf arf!" Zwei barked in agreement as he ran headfirst into a wall of pure concrete. The structure groaned as it began to fracture like glass before falling down in a pile of dust and dirt.
"Gah!" Yang coughed as the dust began to settle. "Good boy!"
"Arf!" Zwei barked proudly as he ran off to find a place to do his business without a crowd.
"He's gonna get hurt..." Ruby pouted as Yang threw a firm yet loving arm around the Goddess.
"Oh don't worry your pretty little self! You're a Goddess you derp! You can totally fix Zwei if he gets hurt!" Yang made light as she continued to set up her "room."
"Where is Weiss anyways...? She's been gone for a long time..." Ruby said in a low, paranoid tone.
"Speaking of time!" Yang spontaneously let out as she disregarded Rubys question completely before running towards her.
The brawler held Ruby in a headlock as the Goddess in question flailed around in confusion and concern at the sudden movement.
"Quit wiggling, I need to check the time!" Yang shouted as Ruby continued to struggle while Yang forced one of Rubys eyes open.
At that exact moment, Weiss strolled into the room the pair of sisters were camped out in.
"..." Weiss just blinked as she witnessed Yang hold her sister in a choke hold as she firmly held the latter's eye open wide while she screeched in pain and confusion.
"Perfect! Still on track with the construction schedule!" Yang called out as she dropped Ruby on the floor with little care, grinning at her work as she went back to setting up the rooms for everyone.
"Gah!" Ruby enveloped herself into a massive coughing fit, wheezing as Yang certainly had quite the grip.
"In the face of utter destruction by a Death God and you two still find time to be compete dolts..." Weiss proclaimed as she let out a built up sigh in defeat.
"Weiss-y!" Ruby chirped out as she snapped out of her dazed state, seemingly teleporting before the heiress.
"Ack!" Weiss growled as she had been surprised by the girls' appearance. "Don't scare me you... you..."
Weiss faltered.
Ruby had an utterly adorable puppy face, complete with her old physical wolf ears and a whimper to boot. Weiss couldn't do anything besides stand there in a state of panic and adorableness.
"...~" Weiss let out a muffled squee from her throat before bolting off down the hall to her own room to avoid freaking out in front of the walking pun known as Yang.
"Well." Yang chucked as Ruby began cutting the walls apart with her scythe. "That was a thing."
"It's not good enough." Kell sighed as Aphrodite smacked him upside the head.
"Arrêtez!" The Love Goddess growled as she glared at her brother. "It's a fantastic plan!"
"Flooding the city with poisoned rose petals wouldn't do any good, sister." Kell sighed once more as he rubbed his aching head. "We don't even have the power to do that regardless."
"Then why don't we shift our focus to the craft above Vale. That satellite Blake radioed in." Orion proposed as he projected an image of the device taken by Blake on her way back to base. "This... thing has been emitting a low-frequency wave of space-time distortions, which may be linked to our power loss recently."
"I recall Weiss telling me about her suspicions earlier on in the week." Aphrodite imputed as she examined the device, pointing to a pair of three black dots forming a triangle on the side of the satellite.
"Is that what I believe it is?" Kell spoke low as the others in the room seemed to shutter in realization.
"Vex. It seems he sided with Dagonus and the other Fallen. I had so much hope for him..." Orion paused as he shook aside his concern. "Regardless of its creator, we need to get this thing scrapped before we are able to begin any form of major counter-attack."
"I see..." Kell hummed as he brushed his golden hair back with his hand, humming in thought.
"What if we get Ruby inside? If she can find the source of the distortions inside the ship, can't she tap into it and destroy it?" Cheshire suggested as she was the youngest one in the room, as Ruby had been asked to work with Yang and keep the others "in check" for now.
"Perhaps." Orion considered. "But how do we get in?"
"Have these mortals acquired any form of stealth technology?" Kell asked.
"Somewhat advanced, why?" Orion asked as the others in the room looked at the Storm God in interest.
"Perhaps modifying an airship of sorts to infiltrate the craft?" Kell suggested as one of his brothers enjoyed the idea.
"We can have a few teams." Lord Sev, God of Night, suggested. "Distraction, intel data, perhaps we can find some form of information regarding Dagonus's plans?"
"It could work..." Orion hummed, deep in thought.
"Where will we find such a craft?" Cheshire asked in confusion as Sasha wagged around in a frenzy.
"That is a good question... Perhaps a military base?" Kell suggested, pointing to a section of a giant map. "Wendar Airfield Base. Only a few miles from here it seems, abandoned by the looks of it."
"How recent is this map?" Aphrodite asked in concern.
"Perhaps a year?" Orion shrugged. "Worth a look into anyways. The supplies Weiss brought won't last forever. Any gains will be more than welcome."
"Hmm..." Sev hummed as the shadows seemed to wrap around his legs in excitement. "We send two people. One God, one mortal."
Orion nodded. "Sounds fair. Who do you all have in mind?"
"I vote Weiss." Aphrodite nodded in her own agreement for her own idea. "She is a tough young lady. She can hold her own."
"All opposed?" Orion asked.
No one raised a hand.
"And for the God?"
As soon as the sentence escaped his lips, a short Goddess stepped out from the shadows with a hand raised.
"I'll go." Melody, Goddess of Music, said in a quiet tone, wearing simple human clothing; blue jeans, a navy t-shirt, along with a flowing sliver cloak and various steel armor pieces upon her shoulders. A silver and white microphone hung from a grey chain hooked to her belt.
"Are you sure?" Orion asked with a hint of concern. After all, Melody wasn't exactly the most... powerful of the Gods. Then again, Aphrodite did hold her own with Xalveris for some time, and if she could handle that with some degree of success, then Melody would probably be fine.
"Of course." Melody nodded as Orion gave the idea a green light, ignoring the fact that Aphrodite had lost her arm in that fight.
"Alright then." Orion clapped his hands once, turning to the others. "Everyone else, hold the fort and help the others begin construction efforts. I'll get Weiss briefed."
"As you say." The Gods bowed as they went to work. Melody began heading down to find Weiss as Orion stopped to stand by Saturn.
"What do you want?" Saturn sighed as he pet his snakes with an annoyed look plastered on his face.
"Look, I hate you more than words can describe, but I want you to listen to me. I need you to run recon on Weiss. Shadow her, keep her safe." Orion explained as he patted the ruffles on his trench coat.
"Fine, I'll get ready." Saturn sighed as Orion growled under his breath.
"I don't remember saying you could give me attitude, Laos." Orion grinned as the crime lord turned back without a pause of walking.
"And I don't recall giving you permission to breathe my air." Saturn gave a sarcastic shrug as he walked off to his things, leaving Orion to rub his nose in stupidity.
"Left." Lucas called out to Morris and Felix as the pair lifted a massive crate across a expanding room. "Underneath the table."
The former supermarket that the group had taken over as their own was deep within the renovation stage, but it was working swimmingly. Most of the Grimm had been dispatched, derbies disposed of, and a few locations sectioned off for bedrooms, storage, and even a barracks. All that was left was the final set-up and they would be golden.
"Is that the last of it?" The former Special Forces soldier asked as he slid a glass door shut before them, blocking off the crates of food from the rest of the rather hot environment.
"So it seems." Lucas nodded as he tossed the makeshift manifest to the floor with a sigh.
"Has anyone seen Jacob and Hayden?" Felix questioned his work partners as the duo of Morris and Lucas looked at each other.
"No?" The duo proclaimed at the same time, more or less a question in return.
At the exact moment, a section of the wall beside the trio burst open with a gaping round hole. Out from the settling dust came the missing duo of Hayden and Jacob, both of which were dragging some kind of trolley behind them.
"What have you two been doing?" Lucas demanded as Hayden looked to Jacob to explain as they brought the cart into the room.
"If you must know, we have been salvaging parts of a nearby hotel, thank you very much." Jacob answered in a very sarcastic tone.
"And the trolley?" Morris asked as he stepped forward to examine what was on the device.
"Found a bunch of water coolers and 3 active generators. Need to go back to get one more of them, but that will only take a minute." Jacob boasted proudly, grinning like he just won a gold medal.
"Well... excellent work... Jacob..." Lucas grunted as he walked off, having had to force the fabricated approval from his being.
"What a stuck up guy." Jacob sighed as he off-loaded the gear he had found from his trolley, cracking his knuckles and neck as he worked.
"He is a firm and decisive character, that's for sure." Felix noted as he locked away the water coolers within a large container for later use. "You two are such polar opposites."
"Meh." Jacob shrugged. "Regardless, guy needs to chill out. He acts like he is on some redemption-type quest or whatever."
"Perhaps he is. We don't know him very well." Morris hypothesized, looking at the others in the room before him. "Frankly, we know hardly anything about any one of us."
"Yeah, now that you mention it." Jacob realized as Felix nodded in agreement. "We really should sit down and figure this all out someday."
The group nodded as they all walked off to see if Yang needed any help, while Hayden went back outside to go salvage anything else he could find within the dead city.
"And that's the plan." Orion finished as Weiss leaned back on a barrel of machine guns, biting her lip as she thought things over.
"You really think this invisible jet idea will really work?" Weiss asked to reassure herself, the God nodding in response as she sighed in minor relief.
"Indeed. And it is the best bet we have at stopping Dagonus from blocking our powers." Orion explained as Weiss realized something.
"Hang on." Weiss narrowed her eyes as she stood up, poking Orion in the chest with her index finger. "This isn't the first time you've brought bad things up that involve Dagonus."
"And?"
"You owe me some explanation." Weiss demanded as Melody lifted a sheet of metal off the floor and into a pile nearby.
"Well..." Orion sighed as he realized he couldn't just lie to the girls face. She deserved to know. "Remember that prophecy that foretold evil rising on this world and the hero that would stop the darkness forever?"
"Yes?" Weiss crossed her arms. "And I distinctively remember Feng calling me the hero of this tale."
"Well, I believe that the darkness foretold begins with Dagonus and his power-hungry attack on this realm of existence." Orion explained as he adjusted his black glasses. "After his rising, the great evil is said to enter this world and bring upon utter destruction of the universe itself, until a hero rises to stop it. So the sooner we stop Dagonus, the sooner we can stop this evil said to come and possibly, if we are lucky, prevent it from rising at all."
"You mean Xalveris." Weiss spoke as the temperature in the room grew to a frosty chill.
"Indeed." Orion frowned. "If he is to fully enter this world, the fabric of reality would be torn in half. Very ancient laws of the universe prevent him from naturally entering into your world, same for my father. If either were to come here, they'd need the help of someone else..."
"Dagonus...?" Weiss asked as Orion gravely nodded his head.
"I fear he is under Xalveris' influence. Brainwashed in a sense. He tried that trick the first time the two battled, and I had saved him from my uncles' mental imprisonment." Orion paced the room, seemingly in distress for his brother. "No being has the capacity to withstand his dark influence. At least not alone."
"So taking Dagonus out can help prevent Xalveris from rising? How would he even do that?" Weiss questioned as Orion sighed in defeat.
"Even that, I can't answer." Orion frowned as he rubbed his chin. "Access to my Fate powers by disabling that satellite could hold some answers."
"Fine. I'll do it." Weiss agreed as she hopped up from the barrel, adorning Ruby's Christmas gift of a white cloak upon her back, as well as equipping her rapier to her jeans belt bearing her family crest.
"Excellent." Orion nodded in content. "Now, it is quite the trek, so get prepared for a long walk ahead." The God gave the singer a tight hug as he walked off. "Play nice you two."
Melody walked up and extended a open hand, smiling a tad as Weiss shook hers in response.
"Hello Weiss. I'm Melody." The Goddess presented herself as Weiss raised an eyebrow in response.
"Melody? Huh. That's weird." Weiss tilted her head, causing Melody to do the same.
"What do you mean?" Melody frowned.
"That's my middle name: Melody." Weiss noted as she internally sighed as she seemed to connect with every God in at least one way.
"NO WAY!" Melody chirped out, contrast to her usual reserved self. "Oh my Me, we are going to be the BEST of friends!" The Goddesses let out with a squee, hugging Weiss in an iron grip.
"O... Kay..." Weiss managed out as the air was sapped out of her being by the girl.
Melody stepped back after breaking the hug, sporting a wide grin which only made Weiss shudder in fear that this Goddess was going to be a handful.
"So, Weiss." Melody smirked as she stood on her toes to meet the heiress face-to-face.
"Yes...?" Weiss beckoned her to continue.
"Are you ready to go? We got a long walk ahead of us, so the sooner we get going the better." Melody asked as she shifted back to her usual self.
"Uh... Y-yes, I am prepared to go." Weiss nodded as the duo began walking down the hall towards one of the various exits.
"Great! I can tell we are going to have so much fun!" Melody chirped as she led the way towards their destination.
Beacon
Dagonus' Throne Room
Former Tower of Headmaster Ozpin
Vale
"Status." Xalveris asked Dagonus as the latter kept firm on the ground with one knee.
"My... Lord." Dagonus seemed to hesitate for a moment before shaking his head. "I have taken the city fully, as I have mentioned before. Little to no resistance from the inhabitants."
"Excellent." The dark lord seemed to smirk as his plan had been going without very much of a hitch. "Vex has informed me that Weiss and her friends have yet to be discovered. This... displeases me."
"I understand, my Lord. The machine Vex developed has nullified their powers, and I have my soldiers and Sir Xenon hunting them down." Dagonus explained, head bowed. "They will arise soon enough."
"Do not forget the punishment for failure, Dagonus." Xalveris growled before collecting himself. "But I have faith in you. You have followed all of my commands exactly as I have specified."
"Thank you, my Lord." Dagonus took a deep breath as his image shuttered once more, causing Xalveris to lightly frown.
"Continue your work. Have Rook and that dragon nephew of mine survey the surrounding land beyond the city." Xalveris demanded as he fed more dark energy into the Death God's mind. "Begin preparations for Operation Overlord."
"Of course, my Lord." Dagonus nodded as the Elder God's image faded to black, allowing Dagonus to stand tall once more and resume his duties, unaware of the evil he was leaking onto this world.
Atlas Research Lab Delta
The Void Sea
Atlas Coast
"Doctor Flint..." A young man with a clipboard and a white lab coat coaxed in a strange grey substance gulped as he arrived at his superiors' desk. "The simulations have come back from Beta."
Flint snatched the clipboard from the man's grasp, causing the assistant to flinch lightly as his superior had a very scary atmosphere around him.
"Hmm..." Doctor Flint mumbled as he flipped a few papers on the clipboard. "And Beta has confirmed the results?"
"Multiple replications of both the experiment and results from both the Gamma and Sigma faculties." The assistant confirmed as he stood awkwardly before his boss, awaiting his word.
"I see..." Flint toyed with the data before tossing the clipboard onto his desk. "Well, until I get told from Atlas Command to do anything with this data-"
"Alpha has expressed their... desire for us to look into the results." The assistant interrupted as he pressed a remote control in his pocket, causing both the rooms' lights to grow dim and a hologram to be projected in front of Flint.
"Doctor Flint." A man in very regal Atlas Command attire announced to the duo before him. "I see you have been informed of the tests in your surrounding facilities."
"Y-yes, General Ironwood. The data seems sound, and from what I can tell... it could be possible to put the device into effect." Flint stuttered as he regained his composure, struggling to look the General in his eyes.
"Doctor Flint." Ironwood seemed to growl the name. "I don't have to remind you how important this device could be to Atlas. The situation in Vale has grown to the point where something must be done to prevent any further... complications... Especially for Atlas itself."
"I understand, sir." Flint gulped as he took the clipboard in hand once more. "I will have a prototype in development and ready for field testing within the week."
"Excellent." Ironwood nodded as an assistant spoke something into his ear. "I must be off now. I want daily progress reports from you, Delta. Project Doomsday must be carried out with swift and careful hands."
And with that, the General cut his feed to the installation.
"Doctor Flint?" The assistant asked.
"Yes, Carson?" Flint shook his head to get out of his shocked state.
"Is it really possible to create a blast that big just by the split of an atom?" Carson asked as Flint paled.
"Theory and reality are two very distinct lines. However... I don't doubt this power at all. What we will built here will change this planet forever, Carson." Flint seemed to rant as he collected himself, standing tall. "Have Matthews prepare the cooling chamber for testing. We start now."