A Message For The World.
Inside the Monstra, Lucina remained in her cell. She was worried about her team, her friends... and her lover. Ever since she learned she was Salem's granddaughter, she hoped she would never have to meet her... But as her life would have it, she would end up becoming her prisoner. She wanted to escape, but without her sword she would be lucky to make it even halfway out of this place. Suddenly the doors opened up and Salem entered, and Lucina was less than happy to see her.
"Hello, Lucina. I figured you'd like to stretch your legs. Please, come with me" Salem said as she motioned to the door.
Lucina wanted to say no but had a feeling it would be more trouble than it's worth, so she just sighed and followed Salem out of the room. They walked through the dark and scary hallways, the silence was unsettling and Lucina looked around like a deer that was trying to spot danger. Salem noticed this and had a feeling it wasn't the grimm that Lucina was nervous about.
"If you're worried about Cinder, then she isn't here. That girl decided to disobey me and went after the Winter Maiden" Salem said.
"Penny..." Lucina said in concern for her friend.
"So that's her name. Well if Cinder does manage to claim her power, then I will forgive her disobedience. After all, I know she I quite fond of you" Salem said.
Lucina paled and looked at her "Y-You're not going to give me to her, right? She...".
"Whether or not you want to be with her is your choice. She may believe she can just take whatever she wants, but she can not take my granddaughter" Salem assured, and her tone made it clear that if Cinder tried anything she would regret it.
Lucina was slightly relieved that she wouldn't need to worry about Cinder to much... But her worry for her Grandmother was still there.
They arrived in the main room, and Salem made the front of the Monstra reveal the outside.
"Atlas is quite beautiful. A symbol of what humanity can achieve. Makes it fitting that it should be next to fall" Salem said.
"What is the point of all this? I saw your past, I know what happened. But this... This is wrong, you must see that" Lucina said, and Salem remained silent "I understand your anger-".
"You do NOT understand my anger!" Salem snapped for a moment before regaining her composure "If you did, you would've joined me long ago. Those gods cursed me with eternal life, forced me to walk this world for eternity... They ripped away my peace, after denying me the life I desperately wanted... I asked for so little, and they took everything from me... Even Ozma turned on me, the one person I opened my heart to... All because those gods didn't want us to be happy".
"I understand. Really I do. If I had lost the love of my life, I would want nothing more than to have her back. But death is a part of life... You just couldn't accept it. If you had, you and Ozma could've been together again in the after life" Lucina said.
Salem sighed "You sound just like him. Your mother was much the same. But just like them, you hold on to false hope. This world will never be united, humanity will always fight among themselves for no other reason than to satisfy their own greed. There is no hope for this world, it needs to be destroyed".
Lucina remembered the God Of Light's words: If brought together, these four Relics will summon my brother and I back to your world, and Humanity will be judged. If your kind has learned to live in harmony with one another and set aside their differences, then we shall once again live among you, and Humanity will be made whole again. But if your kind is unchanged, if you demand our blessings while still fighting amongst yourselves, then man will be found irredeemable and your world will be wiped from existence.
"That's why you're gathering the relics... you want to summon the gods back, so you can finally die" Lucina realized in horror.
"This world has done nothing to cause me pain. If the gods wont give me happiness, then I will make them grant me peace" Salem said.
"But the world is more divided than ever. If they return now, everyone will be erased. Including me and Mother" Lucina said, hoping to talk her grandmother out of this madness.
"I know... And I will welcome the end..." Salem said.
"No! No you can't do that! Billions of innocent would be wiped form existence! They don't deserve such a horrible fate! Please, you must understand this is wrong!" Lucina pleaded.
Salem said nothing, but her goals were clear and she would not stop now.
Back at Amity tower, Penny, her father and Maria had all barely managed to fend of an attack from Cinder, Neo and Emerald... But the tower was damaged during the battle.
Penny flies back up to the platform, carrying Maria. She sets Maria down.
"Dad! Are you okay?" She runs over to Pietro and kneels in front of him. The computer screen says "Broadcast Signal Lost".
"The stabilizer was damaged. We've missed our window" He said as Penny gets up and runs over to the computer, typing on the keyboard "At this rate, we're likely to drift until touching down just north of-".
The colosseum rumbles again.
"I can fix this" Penny said.
"What?" Maria asked.
"Our message is only a few minutes long" Penny turns to them and continues talking with a smile "I can try and hold Amity in place until-".
"Absolutely not!" Her father interrupted and Penny frowns in disappointment "You're in no condition to do something like this. Even just the temperature out there could-".
"It is our only option" Penny said.
Maria had to agree "She is right, Pietro. We have to remember the big picture-".
Pietro becomes frustrated, interrupting Maria "I don't care about the big picture! I care about my daughter!" He slams his fist down onto the arm of his chair. He lowers his head and takes off his hat as he speaks "I lost you before. Are you asking me to go through that again? No. No. I want the chance to watch you live your life".
Penny walks over and gently lifts his head so he will look at her "But dad… I am trying to".
He takes her hand into both of his and then takes a moment to emotionally gather himself, nodding "Right".
She gently kisses the top of his head. He takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes, while Maria walks over to stand beside him, smiling at Penny. Maria puts her hand on his arm while he puts his glasses back on, and Penny flies outside through an opening in the roof. Penny takes a few moments to look down at Atlas, then up at a borealis in the sky, smiling to herself.
Penny flies down to the damaged stabilizer and begins pushing on it, using the jets in her feet. Pietro watches the computer screen as the image of Amity slowly rises up through the red dotted line representing the broadcast range "Come on, Penny".
Penny activates her Maiden powers, and the jet she is producing increases greatly in size and changes from green to cyan. The computer plays a noise as the tower reaches broadcast range, causing Pietro and Maria to celebrate.
"Yes! Atta girl!" Maria said happily.
A window labeled "User input needed to continue" appears on the screen, asking "Initiate Broadcast Operational Sequence?" with buttons for "Yes" and "Cancel". Pietro brings his fist down onto the keyboard.
All of the screens in the Atlas military base suddenly display a broadcast color pattern with the text "Atlas Emergency Broadcast System" displayed across the top, emitting a long tone. A large screen on a building in Mantle flickers on, displaying the same image for a moment before switching to a pre-recorded video of Ruby, with Blake's voice coming from off-camera. Drunk Mann and Drinking Buddy look at the screen and then at each other.
Blake "Okay, go ahead".
Ruby "Um, uh. Hi. My name is Ruby Rose. I'm a Huntress. And if we've done everything right, then I'm talking to all of Remnant right now. Dr. Polendina can explain more later, but right now you all need to know that the Kingdom of Atlas is under attack".
The video is broadcast to TVs and Scrolls all over Remnant. People in Mistral Central Station begin watching it, as do Saphron and Terra, and Adrian grins and waves his hands at the image of Ruby.
Ruby "Things are dire, and we need help. But please, try not to panic. This isn't some new enemy or invading Kingdom. This is a force we've faced before, for centuries… Salem".
Whitley is watching sadly from Jacques's office, resting his arms on the desk with his chin in his arms. He tenses and lowers his gaze when Ruby states that they need help. In the Mantle crater, refugees and Fiona's uncle are gathered together, watching. In Vacuo, Neptune and Sun are watching on their Scrolls, and they look at each other.
"Dude" Neptune said.
Ruby "The White Fang, Atlesian drones, even the Grimm themselves have all been controlled and manipulated by her, in order to tear down the Huntsman Academies".
In Menagerie, Ilia and Lethe is sitting on a roof, watching on her Scroll, when Ghira Belladonna calls her. Lethe takes her hand, clearly worried about her sister
Joanna watches among citizens in Mantle, standing behind Drunk Mann and Drinking Buddy.
Penny turns and presses her back to the stabilizer, using her hands to produce two more jets and continue pushing on the colosseum.
Ruby "I know the idea of the Maidens and Relics seems… well… crazy, but I promise Professor Goodwitch of Beacon and Headmaster Theodore of Shade can verify all of this".
Shopkeep is standing in From Dust Till Dawn, and he looks over at Glynda, who happens to be in his shop. She looks stunned.
Ruby "They might even be able to help organize a way to fight back. But sadly, General Ironwood can no longer be trusted".
Ironwood and the Ace Operatives are watching from Pietro's Atlas laboratory, and Harriet quickly mutes the TV when Ruby says that Ironwood cannot be trusted. Marrow was smiling until the TV was muted. Ironwood walks over to the desk where Arthur Watts has dismantled part of Penny's sword and is working away at the inside.
"It seems Polendina's proxy trick worked" He said.
"And that's good news for us" Watts uses tweezers to remove a chip that has Penny's emblem on it "Penny's blades operate on the same principle as Amity in the launch terminal. In order for her to control them all, they need to communicate with one another".
In the throne room inside Monstra, Tyrian is sitting beside the throne, watching the broadcast on his Scroll with a scowl. Salem places her hand on his head with a smile, and he smiles and looks at her. Lucina overheard the broadcast.
"She did it..." Lucina whispered with a smile.
Ruby "We didn't have time to prepare for Salem. But now you do! Just because she can't be destroyed, doesn't mean she can't be beaten. If she really was unstoppable, she wouldn't have acted with such caution until now".
Blake, and Weiss are sitting against the bed in Weiss' bedroom, watching the broadcast on Blake's Scroll while Nora lay unconscious in the bed, covered in bandages.
Ruby was in another room with the barely breathing Severa. Holding her hand as she barely noticed the broadcast.
Ruby "She knows we're a threat. So even if we- even if Atlas falls, you can't give up".
Watts uses tweezers to pick up a chip with his emblem on it and shows it to Ironwood, who nods. He then places the chip into Penny's sword, and the lighting inside the sword changes from green to red.
Penny gasps as her eyes flicker red for a moment. She then cries out and grips her head. Her jets stop working, and she falls for a few seconds, before activating her jets again and flying back up to push on the stabilizer.
"Penny! What's going on out there?" Pietro asked.
"I… (grunts) I do not know!" Penny answered.
Tai is watching the broadcast from his living room in Patch.
Ruby smiles hopefully "I hope Amity Tower will help bring us all together. Because in the end, that's how we'll win-".
The broadcast is suddenly cut off, and the screen reverts to the Atlas Emergency Broadcast System screen. Tai reaches out for a moment.
"No! No, come back!" Tai lowers his head into his hands, and Zwei whimpers, lays down, and rests his head on Tai's leg.
"Global comms just went back down" Harriet said.
Ironwood is looking at his Scroll, with which he attempted to call Penny. The screen says that it could not complete the call "And Penny isn't responding" He turns to Watts "What did you do?".
Watts plays with Penny's sword as he speaks, before turning to Ironwood "Exactly what you asked. It's possible Penny's systems are merely rebooting. As for the tower, well, perhaps Pietro isn't the genius you thought-".
Ironwood angrily throws his Scroll at Watts, who swats it away. The Scroll, now broken, lands on the desk.
"We're not waiting. You're going to find her" Ironwood turns to address Winter who has approached the desk "Winter".
Winter stares at Penny's sword, giving Ironwood a delayed response "Sir?".
"Until Penny either responds or is standing in front of that Vault, we can not assume her status. Take the Ace Ops. I want constant updates" Ironwood ordered.
Winter, Marrow, Elm, Edelgard and Vine salute him and then begin leaving the room. Watts picks up his tool kit and then begins rolling his chair along the desk, turning off the monitors.
Ironwood heads for the exit while addressing Harriet "Get him back to his cell".
"With pleasure" Watts picks up Ironwood's broken Scroll and holds it behind his back as he stands up and faces Harriet.
In the tundra outpost, Yang, Ren, Lyre and Jaune are looking at their Scrolls.
"That was the broadcast. Why did we lose signal?" Yang asked.
They hear a loud noise in the distance and are soon after running through the snow in pursuit of rumbling sounds.
"There's another one. I think it's just up ahead" Jaune said.
They suddenly stop and stare at something with wide eyes.
"What… is this?" Ren asked.
The ground has broken open, and black liquid is flowing inside the crack. The ground rumbles, and Yang takes a step forward. A piece of dirt with a small bush on it breaks off beneath her foot, and Jaune reaches out in case she falls. The dirt and bush fall into the liquid and instantly dissolve. Soon after, a Sabyr head floats to the surface.
"It's Grimm. A river of Grimm…" Yang said
She, Lyre, Jaune and Ren look where the liquid is heading, while Monstra hovers in the distance in the opposite direction. They see that the river is snaking its way across the tundra toward Mantle.
"Heading straight for the Kingdom" Yang said.
"And they have no idea what's happening... They will be caught completely off guard" Lyre said.
The situation had gone from bad to much worse.
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Yeah there was nothing I could've added to the Amity fight, all I could manage was a short filler chapter before the next one.
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Tell me what you think.
