The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 55: Deception
A/N: Hey! Posting now! More to come soon, most likely this time next week. Work is calming down I'm freer now!
I'll post the addressing the reviews next chapter in a big update, but for now, enjoy this chapter! Sorry if it isn't too grand! Coming up to the meat of the story now!
Love, Cynthia! :3
"What happened back there?" Saturn asked as the Bulkhead flew silently across the skies of Vale's wilderness.
"We were attacked." Weiss groaned as she laid back in her chair, glancing at a passed out Melody in the opposing seat.
"I figured." Saturn replied, shifting the controls a tad to the right as the airship turned towards Glenn. "Who was that man?"
"Ruby's uncle. Named Qrow. I didn't remember his name at first, but I knew what he looked like from old photos Ruby and Yang showed me back at Beacon." Weiss explained as she rubbed her aching arm, hissing as parts still burned.
"And he attacked you because...?" Saturn furthered.
"Dagonus has him working for him. They are family, after all." Weiss answered as she looked at the passing scenery outside. "Loosely at least."
"Dagonus is Orion's brother, eh?" Saturn asked as Weiss nodded.
"Yeah." Weiss said with a strained voice. "He was the first one born. Orion was the second."
Saturn smirked. "That's one hell of a family tree."
Weiss gagged as she was having trouble breathing, groaning as air failed to properly flow into her lungs. Saturn acknowledged this and tossed a blanket back to her from the first-aid kit.
"Rest. We can't have you dying while we are on the mission." Saturn joked as he lowered the shields and sent all power to the engines, blasting the craft off into the distance.
Mountain Glenn
Broken City Streets
Vale
Kell walked alone throughout the broken and ruined city of the failed Mountain Glenn expansion of Vale, taking in the sights of the ruins as this was his first expedition to the planet. Kell took much after his Father, very ignorant to the Mortal-kind as they were but ants to his boot, not worthy of his attention.
"He has gone soft." Kell grumbled to himself as he thought about Orion's attachment to the Mortals. "Nothing like what he used to be."
Kell paused in his step as he heard the distant crunch of stone behind him, turning to the source as he scanned for anything out of place...
"Hmp." Kell grunted as he failed to spot anything out of the ordinary, turning back around as a massive furred-fist greeted his face. The God of Storms flew across the abandoned streets and into a telephone pole, groaning as the now exposed wiring sparked with electricity.
"Ugh..." Kell felt disoriented, barely able to make out the form of the large Ursa Major standing before him just a few feet away.
The Grimm growled as the God had unintentionally entered into its territory, flashing its large white-bone claws as it expanded its bone spikes outward to scare Kell away.
Kell stood up slowly, growling as he generated a large disk of pure lightning in his palm before throwing it across the street and into the beast. The monster caught the disk of energy before crushing it in it's paws, roaring loud as it charged forward to the God.
Kell was sent tumbling across the road, standing up slowly as the beast ran up and slammed its paws down on the God. Kell made an X with his arms and caught the attack, breaking the stone ground below him as he stood defiant.
The Ursa Major let out a deafening roar which suddenly turned into a whimper as a massive black claw spouted out from its chest, tearing out its stomach as it fell backwards dead, allowing Kell to catch his breath.
"..." Hayden stood where the Ursa Major had been, blood dripping from his Beowulf-like right arm as he flicked his wrist, changing it back to normal.
"... Thank you." Kell sighed as he had used most of his limited strength. He was definitely not used to having such limited power.
"You complain much." Hayden said in broken English, watching Kell as he stepped out from the hole he had been defending.
"Do I?" Kell asked as Hayden simply nodded.
"Yes. Much scolding, little power." Hayden explained as Kell narrowed his eyes on the boy.
"Watch your tongue." Kell hissed as Hayden showed no sign of backing down.
"Mortal save you." Hayden continued, staring at the God's eyes defiantly. "Mortals useful after all."
"..." Kell shook his head to the side in defeat, simply walking off as Hayden went back to the building he was exploring nearby, salvaging anything he could as the God thought on the boy's words, still ignorant of how things really were.
The Bulkhead landed with little noise as it arrived in Mountain Glenn, lowering itself down to the makeshift hanger in the side of the ruined building the team was now occupying. A black tarp was thrown over the opening by Feng and Felix as they arrived topside to greet the trio on their return.
Orion stood at the hangers platform alone with arms tucked behind his back, pacing back and forth whilst muttering to himself as the airships engines powered down. A long platform with a railing ejected from the door of the craft as the grey doors opened upwards, allowing Saturn to carry the duo out of the machine with ease.
"What happened?" Orion nearly shouted as Saturn gestured the God to shush with his finger.
"The kiddos need to sleep." Saturn spoke low as he handed Melody to Orion. "Let them rest."
"You're awfully compassionate for a mercenary." Orion whispered as they walked side-by-side to the makeshift "dorm" rooms, as Ruby started to call them.
"Now now, let's not throw words like compassionate around." Saturn joked as his lens eyes narrowed in on the deity beside him, a faint breeze blowing his ebony hair around gently.
"How's about idiotic?" Orion suggested as Saturn growled in anger.
"Don't tempt me to use your power-down to cut off your head." Saturn retorted angrily, brushing a chunk of dirt off of his void suit, dotted in cuts and muck.
"Might as well." Orion shrugged before smirking. "After all, you'd need me nerfed-down to even put up a fight, hm?"
"Piss off." Saturn rolled his metallic eyes as he opened the door to Ruby's room.
Ruby had done the best she could to replicate the RW side of the team RWBY dorm room, including salvaging through several buildings at mach speed to find the right color blankets. Save for the actual beds, the small space actually looked a bit like home, save for the random personal items that had been lost in the Maelstrom's crash landing.
Saturn deposited the heiress on her small blanketed area as her Aura began to heal her wounds with a muffled humming sound, covering her up as he place her rapier on a nearby table before closing the door shut. The mercenary followed Orion as he placed Melody in a small purple bean bag chair that Lucas had found, allowing her to heal her injuries as she slept.
"We have very bad news." Orion began as he was free to speak as loud as he felt, Saturn raising an eyebrow in response.
"Define bad?" Asked Saturn, who brushed some charred dirt off his suit.
"The A.I detected a Kingdom-wide broadcast to all media systems, which we were lucky to pick up." Orion explained as Aphrodite and Cheshire stood at a nearby room entrance, ushering the two men in.
"What are we dealing with here?" Saturn asked as Sev, God of Night, sat in the room with his head in his hands, stressed out with all of the work he was doing alone.
"This... construct is so full of itself, Orion." Sev complained as Luna rolled her digital eyes at the crimson-robed God. "She refuses to listen to me."
"Well they do take after their creators." Orion sighed as Saturn plopped down in a chair by the large table, chewing on the end of one of his golden pens as his cybernetic-eyes narrowed and contracted every few seconds. "Luna. Can you please play the transmission?"
"There!" Luna stretched her arms out in mock shock as she glared at Sev. "There's someone with some manners!"
"Luna..." Orion sighed as Aphrodite and Cheshire attempted to hold in their laughter off to the side.
"Fine fine. I'll play it." Luna huffed as she snapped her fingers, causing an audio track to begin to play as Sev lifted his head up.
"Citizens of the great Kingdom of Vale. I, Dagonus, your grand King, am pleased to announce to you all the piece of news that you all have been waiting for, I am sure."
"It's Dagonus..." Aphrodite muttered as the room grew tense with a flurry of emotions.
"Thursday afternoon, at approximately 5:45 PM, Headmaster Ozpin and his associates of Beacon Academy will be executed outside Vale's Supreme Court Hall. All may attend to see these criminals put into the hands of justice..."
"Oh, hell..." Saturn sighed as the message trailed off into gargling bursts of static.
"We've only just formed our base of operations here." Sev thought to himself aloud, looking around the room at the other big players. "We also don't have our powers back."
"We can't risk any major mission until we are back to full power." One of Orion's brothers added as the room went quiet.
"I am not leaving them to die." Orion growled as his eyes sparked with power.
"Orion, we-"
"NO." Orion boomed as the room fell silent once more, the God of Fate clenching his fist until golden blood began to draw from his palm. "I have known Ozpin for decades. I will not allow him, nor his friends, to be harmed by our brainwashed brother."
Beacon
High Security Prison Chamber
Vale
"Move it!" One of the demon guard hissed as it pushed Headmaster Ozpin forward down the hallway they traversed, leading the aging Hunter to a cell to be transported for execution.
"Please, sir..." Ozpin gasped out as he struggled to get up from his knees. "I need but a moment. I cannot breathe."
"You have ten seconds." The demon relaxed as the man looked like no threat. Plus, he was getting paid hourly, and any extra time went straight to his wage.
"That's all I need." Ozpin thanked the monster as he activated his Semblance, pausing time for a moment before delivering a weak punch to the yellow dot on the demon's chest.
The punch was weak in actuality, but the sheer damage to that specific location with Ozpin's Semblance active amplified the pain, knocking the beast out as Ozpin dragged his body into a nearby closet.
"Dagonus is a fool..." Ozpin muttered as he cracked his neck and got to work.
Dagonus, or Xalveris, which ever was in charge at this point, had used his own blood to heal all of Ozpin's wounds, delivering him back to full strength solely for the satisfaction of being able to break him over and over, again and again. Ozpin knew he could take advantage of this renewed strength, criticizing the God for his lack of precautions.
"There we go." Ozpin finished his work as he finished his contraption.
Ozpin had unloaded the demon's machine gun and placed all of the Dust bullets on the floor. Upon breaking each bullet, Ozpin was then able to create a very volatile mixture of Dust. The Headmaster poured the new compound into a spare bullet and loaded it into the chamber, brushing his silver-grey hair to the side as he stood up with the device in hand.
"One extremely volatile bomb... Perfect." Ozpin nodded to himself as he adjusted his tattered green suit, opening the closet door and making his way outside to the drawn out halls of his former school.
Ozpin ducked under a crumbled wall of a former dorm hall as a squad of patrolling soldiers passed by with various weapons, clutching his own device close to his chest.
"Now if I were a mentally unstable deity, where would I be..." Ozpin muttered to himself as he looked around his surrounding, noticing a severe lack of airships and soldiers.
"Hm..." Ozpin thought as he looked off towards Vale in the distance. "Looks like Dagonus has taken a personal vacation."
Ozpin looked upward towards his former tower, narrowing his eyes on the main chamber protected by a dark green sheet of glass. Ozpin knew Dagonus had taken residence in his former office space- a perfect place for a surprise for the God-King.
"One step at a time Ozpin." The Headmaster began to move from his hiding place as the demon squads began to clear the area, careful not to cause any echoing sounds as he darted across the field towards his tower.
Ozpin glanced to the side of the building as he hid behind a demonic tank parked next to the main water fountain of the school, noticing the shattered statues of Team RWBY nearby.
'They must have gotten out safely.' Ozpin tried to convince himself as he scanned the area from the cover of the main cannon. 'If anyone were to survive this, they are more than capable.'
Zuuuuuuuud
Ozpin turned his sights to the side of his main tower toward a massive carrier airship touching down on the property, clearly a rather important vessel given its size compared to other airships patrolling Vale's skies. Ozpin waited a moment before making a break for it, bolting across the concrete below towards the wing of the landing airship.
"Dust is a magnificent element." Ozpin thought aloud as he climbed onboard the right wing of the craft, running alongside the metal appendage towards one of the massive exposed engines firing off spent Dust as they all cycled down.
Ozpin pulled his makeshift bomb out and waited for the engine to cease spinning before tossing the device inside of the engine core. Loud clanging echoes were gifted to the Headmaster as the device fell within the engine, simply waiting for activation.
"The temperature of the engine should be enough to detonate..." Ozpin muttered as he slid off the wing and back down to the grass below. The aging man made his way silently across the concrete below once more towards his former position with the knocked out guard, dashing through the doors as demon soldiers began to exit the large airship, unaware of the danger they were now in.
Two days later...
"Orion." Sev patted bits of dust from his black robe. "This is a terrible idea. We don't even know if the craft functions after the damage it has taken! Let alone if it will make it past their scanners!"
"Weren't you one of the very few whom agreed with the plan in the first place, my old friend?" Orion commented as Sev frowned.
"Well, perhaps I have changed my mind. I'd rather not spend time trapped in the Void waiting to reform, mind you." Sev complained as shadows danced around his being, reflecting his annoyed state.
"You Gods always bicker don't you." Saturn sighed as he walked between the duo, letting a growl from Orion go unnoticed.
"Only when we have to." Orion shrugged as he very much would have liked to crush the mercenary before him.
"I don't like rushing the plan." Sev expressed as Cheshire and Aphrodite walked past towards the airship. "Stuff like this needs to proceed slowly and with precision."
"We don't have a choice. I am not letting Ozpin die while we stand by doing nothing."
"You know that's what he wants, right?" Saturn turned around to face the duo. "He wants you all to rush in guns blazing."
"Then he will get what he wants." Orion stood his ground as he moved off towards the airship.
Ruby and several others exited the building as they were called forth by Orion several minutes earlier, each ready for combat.
"What about the others?" Ruby frowned as she adjusted her cloak over her combat attire.
"They will be safe here. But we need to move now." Orion stood tall as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Now... here's the plan..."