A blissful calm settled over the mountains east of Vale; no Grimm were seen, no gunshots heard, only the distant sound of a train making its way through the wilderness. Such calm was a rarity here due to the constant struggle against the Grimm, a war that felt so far away from within the city's great walls.
Birds flew through the air, animals walked freely, and bombs were planted on train tracks.
Peace couldn't last forever, after all.
A peace that was soon to be disturbed by more than one atrocity: one of fire and death, the other, a perversion of reality.
A distance away, deep within a mountain crag, reality shuddered, as it was pierced by a pale blue light.
There, sitting among the dust covered rocks, was a hole in the world.
For a while, it simply shimmered, disturbing little more than dust as the world calmed around it.
But as before, the calm couldn't last; as a great bronze armored boot slammed into the ground.
It was as though reality itself had screamed in horror. A perversion so great that its claws tore deep into the land.
The birds stopped flying.
The animals hid in their burrows.
A conductor shouted a warning.
For a brief second, the world forgot itself.
Reality stretched and distorted, time rending into an eternity, yet a bare second passed by.
As the world froze, the figure appeared in full.
It was dawned in a titanic set of bronze armor, a dark green greatcoat shrouding its being. Chains wrapped around the being's body, ornaments and sigils hanging off the links. Within its hands was a hammer of unknowable design, the otherworldly crystal at its center sparking with power.
The figure gazed across the crags that surrounded it as they basked in the world's perversion, looking over every minute detail of the rocks and trees. In that first second, they saw everything; the blue sky, the vibrant green woods, even the smallest cracks in the mountainside.
This world was familiar.
This world was alien.
This world... had been loved by its creator.
It couldn't help but feel angered by that fact.
A word came from the beings hidden mouth, the syllables lost in the miasma of otherworldly energy, as they beckoned to the portal.
As before, the world screamed as more figures came from the pale light.
The first wore a white mask on their head, three red claw marks going over one glass covered eye socket. There was a calm to the beings' movements as their leather jacket flapped behind them, it seemed almost...relaxed. Uncaring. At total ease as it swung its weapon onto its shoulder, as though there was no great atrocity being committed by their hands.
The second dashed from the breach, red great coat wrapped tightly around its body. A hood shrouded its head as it began watching the trees, as though daring them to step out of line.
The third and final figure was the strangest of them all; Odd, otherworldly runes covered their clothing as pendants and jewelry seemed to glow with an unnatural light. They were the only one to show their skin, to admit their humanity, winding roots and branches born of ink stretching across the tanned flesh.
The soft blue light dimmed as the final form broke through the breach, the doorway closing behind them
"God. Fucking. Damnit, I hate that shit!" Otto shouted, gripping his gas masked head. "Why the hell does it have to feel so weird?!"
The bandits previous air of bravado and calm had completely broken the second the portal closed; whatever power that fueled his theatrics having left him in the dust. The man kneeled over as he groaned out obscenities, cursing the mother of some putrid beast.
The giant chuckled as he stowed his hammer, crossing his arms over his chest. "Hey, it beats taking Rahul's 'Cleansing Tonic'. I'm fairly sure it's purely thanks to the All-Fathers favor that we survived that little 'event'. 'All-in-one-cure' my ass." he said, grimacing at the memory from beneath his helmet. It had taken weeks before his armor to stop smelling of bile and refuse.
A look of mock horror covered the cultists face as he turned to the armored warrior, a hand going to his heart, "Why I never!" He breathed out, "My tonics and medicines are the best in all the worlds, no competition! It's not my fault that your weak, human , bodies couldn't handle them, Thatcher!"
The red clad soldier rolled his eyes as the three began to squabble, his sight resting on something in the distance.
"Numbskulls! Eyes up, we have actual shit to worry about!" He shouted over the childish banter, the three figures turning towards him.
"Oh, believe me," the Bandit remarked, "There was some real shit after we took those tonics."
A tired sigh left the soldiers lips, the bags sitting under his eyes growing ever larger.
"The less I know about your dumbasses working as Rahul's Guinea pigs the better. Regardless! We have an actual, tangible, immediate, right-in-the-fucking-moment, type shit to be considering!"
"Ya, and what would that be?" Otto shouted back. "Ocelot, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty damn sure the breaches usually make everything fuck off... at least, that's what they did back on Corsus.. ."
Sighing, the soldier stood up, looking into the distance "I'm referring to the train."
A look of confusion took over the group.
"What train-"
An explosion was heard far off on the horizon, accompanied by the sound of screeching metal.
"..."
"Oh. That train."
Silence fell over the group as they stared at the distant flame, the sun beginning to set behind the mountains at their back.
"We're...ganna have to deal with that, aren't we?" Otto asked, giving his gun one last check.
He received no response as the rest followed suit, preparing to march off towards the crash.
Weiss woke to pain, her eyes struggling to open as she desperately grasped to consciousness, spitting out what she could only hope was just bile, though the iron taste told her otherwise. There wasn't a single part of her body that wasn't screeching in distress as a wave of nausea hit her, almost breaking what little grip she had on the waking world as she struggled to collect herself.
The girl almost shrieked as she looked at the state of her body; Her snow-white dress was now stained a deep crimson at multiple points, metal shards littered her body, and she was certain arms weren't supposed to bend that way.
Leaning back, Weiss let out a pained sigh as she stared at the trains wall, which now sat as its ceiling.
She was lucky, she knew that. Had the conductor not called out in warning, had she not been able to raise her aura in time...
She wouldn't have lived long enough to feel this pain.
Weiss cried in pain as she desperately tried to stand, tried to escape this death trap. She made it barely two steps before the metal shards in her left leg forced her to the ground once more.
As she lay there, bleeding out on the ground, she realized something...
She couldn't move, her aura was broken, and there were no Atlas soldiers coming to her rescue.
She was going to die.
After five attempts, the red maw was finally going to succeed.
Gunfire rang out above her, yells following the brutal blasts.
Though...what were they using? The sounds were all wrong. They weren't the soft blasts of dust rounds, they were... big , meaty, and they did a lot more than just wound if the screaming was anything to go by.
The firefight lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to make her sink even deeper into despair; whatever survivors that had tried to save her were dead. The Schnee's only used Dust weapons, so whoever was using those strange guns...
She could hear the sounds of boots stomping overhead before they stopped at the door that now sat on the ceiling.
...Was with the Red Maw.
For a few blissful seconds, there was silence. Weiss was able to pretend, if only briefly, that she was safe. That the pain wasn't there. That she was on her way to the next chapter of her life...
And then, with a great slam, the door on the now horizontal wall crumpled.
'That thing is nearly three inches thick...' she thought in fear, desperately dragging herself away from the entrance, desperately clawing for Myrtenaster.
With another great clash, the door fell to the floor.
The light that shined down blinded her, forcing her to cover her eyes as a great weight fell from above, slamming down nearby.
Weiss uncovered her eyes, gazing upon the armored giant before her, preparing herself for was to be her final moments, except...
They were not a white fang renegade, that was for sure.
There was no white mask or uniform, no symbol of a bloodied wolfs head. The man that stood over her was covered in odd symbols that reminded her of an old Altesian religion. Chains wrapped around the forest green greatcoat, binding the numerous plates of armor to the Goliaths body. In his hands was a massive hammer that seemed to spark with electricity, an odd crystal core sitting at its center, its color and markings not conforming with any dust type she knew. A Great tree was painted on the being's chest plate, its roots reaching around the many chains.
Weiss began to crawl faster before the giant stowed their hammer and raised their hands.
"Calm yourself, we're not here to hurt you, only to help." He said, the deep timber of his voice ringing out through the broken train car. "Rahul, Ocelot, get down here, we have a survivor, and she's critical!"
Two more people jumped down through the hole, dust billowing up from the spot of impact.
The first appeared to be some kind of cultist, the runes that covered his coat giving her a bad feeling, not helped by the root like tattoos which covered his face. As she stared at him, he opened a satchel at his side pulling out a myriad of what she could only assume to be medical equipment. Small vials filled with red liquid, a number of bandages, and a large bottle of what she hoped was cleaning alcohol.
The second figure brought her relief, as she recognized the uniform of a soldier, even if she didn't know who they belonged to, at least they werent White Fang.
She relaxed slightly as the two crouched down next to her, looking over her body. After a few seconds and some mumbling, the cultist put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, his face turning into a caring smile.
"Alright my friend, before we go through introductions, I'm going to need to get this metal out of you, do you understand?" The cultist asked, receiving a nod in return. "Good, now, I don't happen to have any painkillers on me so I'm not going to lie, this will hurt...a lot ."
She got no more warning as he began pulling the metal from her body, using his various tools to pull it out without further harming her. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed, the pain overtaking her senses.
A moment later the pain began to ebb, the cultist being satisfied with how much metal had been removed.
"Ok, good, that's phase one, now for phase two..." He pulled out a small vial filled with a strange red, pulpy, liquid. "I need you to drink this, it'll help stabilize you while my friend here assists in patching up those holes."
She downed the liquid without a word, blanching at its horrid taste.
"Well done, Thatcher over there, the big guy, didn't take it down nearly as well the first time.", He said, trying his best to cheer her up.
Weiss could feel the pain and weakness leaving her body as the concoction slid into her gullet, whatever was in the vial quickly taking effect.
The cultist and Soldier finished up their work fairly soon afterward, her body looking far less corpse-y than it had before. She looked up to the cultist as he started to stow his supplies away, his smile beaming back at her.
"Now that you're a bit more stable, we can finally get around to introductions; I am Rahul, a botanist after God's job, and the democratically elected leader of our little troop-"
"Bullshit, I didn't get a vote!" The yell rang out from above, a fourth person having apparently stayed outside.
"That's because, according to you, figuring out which bottle of whisky you could get to the bottom of first was more important!" Rahul shouted in reply, rolling his eyes.
Weiss let out a giggle despite the pain, drawing Rahul's attention back to her.
"Well, if our friend Otto is done interrupting me, the soldier that was me assisting in your medical treatment is Ocelot, don't try talking to him until we're done here, he acts like an ass while on missions."
That earned a growl from the soldier "What you call being an ass, I call acting professional in a hostile-"
"Ya ya ya, we've heard it a thousand times already, we don't need to hear it again." The giant cut in, lightly slapping Ocelot on the back of the head.
"This Goliath here-" He indicated the giant, "Is Thatcher, our friendly neighborhood berserker."
As the last of the sutures was done, Rahul pulled out another red vial.
"Alright, I only need you to drink one more of these, and then we can get you out of here."
With the second vial in her, she could finally feel the pain receding in full.
"As for the last of our little gaggle of idiots, Otto is the one supposedly standing guard. Honestly, much more likely that Hes already started looting ."
"I can neither confirm, nor deny!" The response came from overhead .
"T-thank you." She managed to cough out.
"No need for thanks; Thatcher, pick her up and come with me, we need to get her to safety. Ocelot, join up with Otto and clear the train, figure out what the hell was happening here."
The soldier gave a salute as the giant walked towards her, lifting her in a bridal carry much to her embarrassment.
"H-hey! Watch how you're carrying me!"
"Would you prefer a Firemans carry? I'm certain it would be far less embarrassing draped around my shoulders like a dead wolf."
"N-never mind."
"Thought so."
Weiss watched as Ocelot jumped back up through the ceiling's door, using an odd sword extended on a chain to pull himself up-
Her train of thought was abruptly cut off as what had once been the cars ceiling burst open, a hulking wooden brute having caved it in with an ungodly sword. The bark that covered its body was an ashen white, and glowing red veins lined its flesh.
"And there's our exit." Rahul said, clasping his hands behind his back as he walked out, the wooden creature standing to the side. "Come now miss, we'll get you out of here while our cohorts handle the rabble."
It was a slaughter, plain and simple.
Bodies lined the downed train and its surrounding wreckage, a disturbing number of them having died to a bullet, rather than the crash.
He shouldn't be surprised, really. The hostiles had taken a 'kill anything that moves' mentally, gunning down everything, from guards to unarmed civilians. Hell, they didn't even hesitate to shoot at his team on sight.
The smell of iron, ash, and fresh blood permeated the air around Ocelot. If he was honest, he would admit that it comforted him. It meant there was a battle to be had, that he would take the field again.
Gunfire could be heard ahead, at the other end of the train, distant yells going silent.
'So, it was a two-pronged attack. One squad sent to the front, the other to the back'
The prime question that sat at the back of his head was simple; what were they after?
If they were out for kills than they would have swept the whole train first, going after passenger cars. Instead, it looked as though this was a precision strike, the force splitting to attack specific targets.
The problem now was to find out if their target was a what, or a who.
Who; if he had to make a guess. If they were after loot than they had hit the complete wrong area of the train, given that the supply cars were left completely untouched-
"Otto! Drop the loot, we're here to clear the area and find survivors, not pick up every shiny thing we see!"
The bandit jumped at Ocelots outburst, a number of multi-colored crystals falling from his hands as he desperately stuffed them into his pockets.
"Watcha talkin about?! I wasn't looting!"
Ocelot raised an eyebrow at that, staring Otto in the eyes.
"I can literally see you hiding them behind your back."
"Well, ya! I wanted to investigate them, not steal them! See!" He said, puffing out his jacket, "No bulges! I aint got any on me!"
'Oh, dear fuck-'
"Otto, don't you pull that jacket shit with me! We all know those things are non-Euclidian! Now, I don't know where the hell you got the shit to make them that way, but its bullshit nonetheless! Drop the loot!"
"Ugh, fine!"
At that, a number of crystals fell out of the bandit's leather jacket, proving the soldiers point as many were simply too big to have fit in the small pockets.
"See! Is that what you want!"
"No, what I WANT is for you to throw that shit away."
"Goddamnit, fine!
Otto chucked the crystals into the forest, angered by his looting being inturrupted...
Just for them to violently explode, sending both of them into guard positions.
After a second of silence, the two stood up, looking at the newly formed crater.
'Some kind of explosives...?'
...
"On second thought, Otto, loot as much as you please."
"We are tired of this human supremacy! Groups like the SDC have put us down for too long!"
Ironwood stood still as a statue as workers scrambled to stop the live feed that had begun to blast over every channel of the CCT.
A White Fang Lieutenant stood on screen, the burning wreckage of a train sitting in the background. Surrounding the man were a dozen bloodied bodies.
The terrorists red uniform marked him as a member of the red maw, a violent offshoot of the greater Fang.
'Why the hell were they broadcasting this?! Surely they knew huntsmen would be down in mere moments!'
The video feed was easily tracked, letting Ironwood, Atlas, Vale, hell, the whole of Remnant know their exact location!
This couldn't have simply been about the dust-!
Ironwood's thoughts were cut off as a call hit his scroll, Jacques Schnee on the other end.
The generals stomach dropped as he heard the man speak.
"Get your soldiers down there! My daughter is on that train!"
"Finally, we have made our move! Today, we have killed a Schnee!"
Glynda looked out the window of Beacon tower in horror, seeing the smoke trail in the distance as the headmasters scroll began to ring.
"Yes Ironwood, I am aware of the situation, yes, I have huntsmen inbound." Ozpin was frantically calling any huntsmen he could get his hands on, sending them to the trains position as fast as he could.
"In mere moments all the world will see the bastard's corpse!"
"No, please-!"
The chained sword slipped easily between the bastard's ribs, turning their desperate plea into a gurgled scream.
"Car 15 clear of hostiles, preparing to breach Car 14-"
"For the love of God Ocelot, they do not need a play by play!" Otto shouted, taking a drum mag out of his surprisingly spacious jacket.
"On the contrary- Ack!" A red headed man stood on the top of Car 14, a bowler hat adorning his head and a white coat wrapped around his chest.
A burst of rounds thundered out of Ottos tommy gun, turning the strangely dressed man into...glass?
"Holy shit, watch your fire!" The man shouted, having appeared within the sealed door of the next car. "Do you guys normally shoot people on sight?!"
"Do you normally expect people to not when surrounded by hostiles? Last I checked, this train is crawling with enemy combatants, how are we supposed to know whether you are or are not?" Ocelot bit back, motioning for Otto to prepare a breaching charge; If this was another hostile, then the bastard wasn't making it out alive.
" Because , shit boot! IM not wearing Fang shit!" The stranger shouted, indicating his coat from behind the glass. "Last I checked, white fang doesn't normally run around in bowler hats and nice suits! Nor do they tend to grace you with their presence before shooting!"
The man...had a point. Up until now not a single combatant had stopped to say anything more than "Kill them!" Or "Please don't kill me, I have a family!".
"...Alright, let's say you aren't a member of these...Fang. Mind telling us what you're doing here? You don't seem 'equipped' to be doing much." Indeed, from what he could see through the glass, the man didn't have a weapon on him, if you didn't count the cane, that is.
"Well, my slightly murderous friend, it's quite simple; I'm here to..." The man stopped, staring deeply at Otto, eyes narrowed into slits.
"... Dibs."
"GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!" Ottos outburst shocked Ocelot out of his 'Kill all hostiles' state, making the soldier go wide as the bandit began threatening unspeakable harm unto the man, all the while, said man could do not but laugh hysterically.
"... what?" Ocelot was at a complete loss, having no idea what the hell was going on.
"It took me a bit, but Id recognize the look of a fellow thief anywhere. And any thief worth their salt will always accept the rule of dibs ."
Oh, it was dumb Otto shit. That explained it.
"Regardless of my partners..." Otto let out another string of threats " Eccentricities, would you mind identifying yourself? I'm sick of referring to you as 'the strangely dressed man' in my internal monologue."
"I, my mildly insulting friend-" The strangely dressed man opened the door with a bow "-Am Roman Torchwhick; Gentlemen thief, scourge of Vale, master of disguise-"
A parasol hit the newly dubbed Roman over the head at that last title, a ridiculously short girl appearing next to him.
The girl had a strange set of mismatched eyes, and her hair was evenly divided between pink, brown and white. Her outfit was just as tactically inept as her...father? Boyfriend? Accomplice? Whatever the fuck. He strongly doubted that a leotard and crop-top-jacket were good for combat. Or looting. Or-
He raised his rifle and pulled the trigger purely out of instinct, killing the Fang grunt on the spot.
"Weve got hostiles!" He shouted, Otto raising his tommy gun and laying down suppressive fire on the approaching fang soldiers who had begun sneaking up the car behind Roman. Said 'Master thief' and his accomplice had hit the deck faster than he had ever see someone do before, basically throwing themselves face first into the ground as a hail-storm of bullets fired overhead.
"Oh, fuck this!" Roman blurted out, aiming his cane down the car, only to...fire an explosive?!
The blast, and its insueing blaze 'an incendiary round?' tore the remaining soldiers apart, leaving the group alone once again.
"Ok, wow. Fang have got their panties in twist today, huh."
"Indeed, now." Ocelot looked down on the two thieves as they picked themselves up. "I suggest you get moving before you get in our way. We have fang to kill."
Ocelot signaled for Otto to join him, but was stopped as Roman got in his way.
"Better idea!"
Worse idea.
"Why don't we work together?"
Worst idea.
"Let me think about it..." Ocelot paused for a second. " NO."
Ocelot began marching past him again, making his way for the next car.
"I'll let you have a bit of the loot once we're done!"
"I said no! Otto, let's move!"
…
Otto had stopped walking, looking back and forth between Ocelot and Roman.
"... Otto..."
"Ok, listen to me-"
" Otto."
"But Loot!"
"Otto, we do not have time for this shit!"
"But we do have time to grab some good shit before we bounce!"
"But we do not have time to dick around! Our orders are 'Kill all hostiles', not loot the damn train!"
Roman let out a short cough, the two redirecting their attention to him.
"Well, boys, I believe I may have a compromise. If you give me a bit of help with packing some of this loot up after your... cleansing , Ill lend you Neo to help clear up this train. As it happens, I'm not a big fan of the Fang either, so their deaths have no weight on my heart."
"Absolutely no-"
"We want a crate of the explody stuff." Otto cut him off.
"Perfectly fine with me."
"Then deal."
Aaaand there it was. Can't have a single good deployment without something going wrong.
Now they had some short stack tagalong, and had to help some overdressed dumbass load up his loot.
"Fine, just help us kill these fuckers and we'll help."
For, hopefully, the final time Ocelot gave the signal to move out, charging down the train cars.
"Ozpin, I've talked with every available Huntsmen we have, none of them are going to be there for another hour."
"Godsdamnit, how do we not have a single person ready for something like this!"
"These humans have stood above us-"
"And is he still fucking going?! At this point I would prefer if he just shot the kid if it shut him the hell up!"
"Ozpin!"
"Don't judge me! Do you know how many times I've heard this kind of monologue?! Enough to drive a man insane!"
"Any second now- Wait, who the hell are-"
A flurry of gunshots could be heard over the speakers as the main speaker turned to his side in shock, only a second later a bullet blasting through his head in a well of gore.
The ensuing fight was quick and brutal, the camera being knocked over as the white fang scrambled to collect themselves to no avail.
Their assailants were utterly uncompromising, the number of bodies on the ground nearly doubling as the fang were slaughtered.
"Otto, Neo, clear up the rest of these bastards, I'm going to get Rahul on comms and catch him up."
A new voice came over the speakers, this one sounding a bit younger than the fang lieutenant.
"Ay, Ocelot, we've got a camera over here!"
"Destroy it."
With that, the feed cut out, leaving Ozpin and his deputy in shocked silence.
"...What the fuck."
For once, Ozpin didn't even think of correcting his deputy's language.
"You what?!"
"Otto made a stupid deal with the thief, and now we've gotta help him load up whatever he looted here."
"Great. At the very least grab a few souvenirs, Thatcher and I have nearly made it to the city limits."
"Understood, Ocelot out."
Ocelot put the short-range-radio back into its slot on his chest, refusing to call it a walkie talkie, even in his internal monologue.
"Hey, soldier boy, help me get this crate in the bullhead!" Roman shouted, indicating a box of blue crystals.
Sighing, Ocelot made his way over, helping to heave the box onto the flying machine that had touched down shortly before.
A few minutes later, Roman let out a contented sigh as the last of the crates was loaded on board, looking back to the two boys.
"Well kiddos, I tip my hat to you. You helped me get away with WAY more loot than I was expecting, and even managed to sate Neos bloodlust...at least for a bit."
The man walked over to one last crate, patting its top.
"As promised, one crate of blast Dust for your work, pleasure doing business with ya."
As he walked up the platform into the machine, he stopped, seeming to think for a second.
"Oh, and if ya ever need work-" He took a card out of his pocket and tossed it to them, "-Go to Juniors and tell him Roman sent ya."
Otto took off his jacket after catching the card, throwing it over the box. It took less than a second for it to disappear within the un-explainable majesty that was the leather.
With that, the machine flew off as the two ran into the forest trying to catch up with their comrades.
"Alright, here we are."
Thatcher gently let the girl down as they arrived within the city's outer wall, having easily slipped past the incompetent guards that had been asking for id.
The bloodwort had done its work, as it always has, having repaired the girl's body enough to stand under her own power, if only just.
"Ok, from here it should be a fairly straight shot towards a police station, think you can make it?" Rahul asked, giving the girl one last look over.
"Y-yes, and, thank you again." She paused for a second, looking confused. "Wait, how do you know there's a station near here? You don't have a scroll and your obviously not Valen."
"That, my dear, is simple; The plants here see everything, and their roots do not lie."
Ah, classic Rahul, being a vague asshole.
"What he means is that he can speak to the plants, and just asked for a general layout." Thatcher explained, understanding taking over the girl's face.
"Oh, don't you go ruining my fun." the cultist chuckled out, lightly slapping the Berserker's pauldron.
"Regardless..." The girl cut in, getting the twos attention again. "I am now in your debt. Should you ever need it, the SDC will be there to help in any way we can."
Thatcher glanced at Rahul from behind his helmet, amusement in his eyes.
"That's quite the claim, dear. I'm sure we will cash in that debt eventually, but for now, you need to get some proper medical attention, and we need to reunite with our friends."
The girl sighed as she began walking away, turning back one last time. "Are you sure you can't come with me? I'm certain you will be handsomely rewarded for your actions."
"Maybe." Thatcher grunted, inspecting his blood-soaked hammer, "But we would prefer not to deal with the situation so soon. Don't worry, well take credit eventually. Just, for now... a bit of a settle down would be nice."
"Okay...I hope to see you again soon!"
With that, the girl ran, or rather limped, off, leaving the two to go and collect their friends.
"What's your bet this will come to bite us in the ass?" Thatcher asked the Cultist.
"Hmm, I give it a 50/50 chance. It depends on how bureaucratic this world is."
Far away in a tall tower, a silver haired immortal was going through the tiring work of appeasing every politician in the world.