Escaping the Fall
Hello everyone and welcome to the second ending of Volume 8! We got something of an interesting one this time around with more than a couple changes that you'll hopefully still like. As always I'd like to give a shout out to my fellow readers who've stuck with this story up to this point. Now then, with no guest review questions this week, let's head on in.
Atlas: The Vault
Winter Schnee didn't get nervous or frightened easily. She was an Atlesian Specialist, a well-trained professional who knew how to keep herself under control. Throughout the years of her service to the Atlas military, there were few occasions where she felt herself actually scared or close to losing her composure, encounters with Qrow notwithstanding. But as she flipped through the camera feeds on her scroll now, there was no denying that she felt a sense of trepidation.
Thanks to Doctor Watts, Ironwood was loose and roaming around Atlas Academy. With the newly created doorways popping up all over Atlas and Mantle, there was a high possibility he'd interfere with the evacuation if he was still intent on his original goal. Thankfully, the Ursario brothers had managed to restore communications before dealing their own brand of capital punishment to him. A fact which Winter was about to take advantage of as she put her finger to her earpiece. "WINTER!"
The Elder Schnee sister looked behind her to see Wayne and Aegis exiting from the portal which had been opened at the entrance to the vault. She couldn't see Wayne's face thanks to his helmet, but she imagined it matched the somewhat frantic look on his younger brother's face as they ran towards her and….what was that? She noted a red dot on the floor then which traveled towards her. The Atlesian Specialist's eyes widened as she realized it was a red dot laser sight, the kind used to aim a weapon!
"BEHIND YOU!" They both exclaimed as Winter, taking the hint, drew her saber and produced a defensive glyph in a matter of moments. It was just in time as a powerful, green laser slammed into the glyph, threatening to break through it until Aegis came up next to her and reinforced her glyph with his glass semblance. The glyph still exploded, but the force from the laser was dissipated, leaving a few green flames on the floor.
"I've chased a lot of shadows over the years," said Ironwood as he descended on the lift towards the main walkway of the vault, smoke wafting from the barrel of his new laser cannon, "I was always expecting betrayal around the corner at any time." He stepped off the platform as Winter and the Ursario brothers readied their weapons, noting the new metallic armor adorning the General's person. It covered his shoulders and torso while sporting wired gauntlets which resembled Harriet's. "But of all the people I expected to betray me, never once did I think you'd be one of them, Winter."
The General stopped several feet away from them as he held up the cannon, readying it to fire another laser blast. "I know what's best for Atlas," continued Ironwood, "that's why I'll do whatever's necessary to get that staff. So with that in mind, consider this my final order: help me deal with the Ursario brothers and their friends, or step aside."
"Oh tell me you aren't seriously still going on about that stupid staff," said Aegis with an annoyed growl, "it's probably not even here now and if it was, what are you gonna do? The only occupants left, not including us, are you and Salem."
"But it doesn't have to go down this way," said Wayne, "you've lost this battle, General, but the war isn't over yet. You can come with us and continue the fight. If you just try thinking without fear clouding your judgement for even a few minutes you'll realize there's a better way."
"I haven't lost this battle yet," said Ironwood, "I'm still breathing and that's reason enough for me to keep fighting. Perhaps in another life, one where you chose the right path, both of you could've led others and actually grasped some understanding of the burden I carry. But you know about that burden, Winter, that burden that a leader carries, that I've carried for years in pursuit of doing what's best for Atlas. So what's it gonna be?"
"As you said," replied Winter after a moment's hesitation, "I know about the burdens that a leader carries. That's why I know the difference between that and what you're doing now." She separated her saber into it's dual form as she took a fighting stance. "I've never wavered in fighting the enemies of Atlas, and I'm not about to start now."
"Then all I can say is, I'm sorry Winter," replied Ironwood as he hit a switch on one of his armored gauntlets, a tear sliding down his face as he did so. The room shook slightly then as the geometric patterns adorning the walls and floors all lit up with a blue light. The two brothers and the Atlesian Specialist were separated then while trying to keep their balance as the stone pathway separated into numerous, floating stone platforms. "This security protocol was designed for splitting up large invasion parties who made it down to the vault. But it'll prove useful enough now for evening the odds."
The battle began in earnest then as Ironwood opened fire with the laser cannon, directing the first blast at Winter who leapt out of the way and to the nearest platform. Wayne wasted no time in firing back as he and Aegis began closing the distance with Winter not far behind. Ironwood leapt from one platform to the other to dodge the worst of Wayne's gunfire while his armor deflected the remaining bullets. He returned fire then with another blast from his cannon, forcing Wayne to leap away, breaking off from his initial charge.
Fortunately, Ironwood's focus on Winter and then Wayne allowed Aegis to close the gap as he leapt over with a stone glass mace that he brought down towards the General's head. Ironwood was able to raise his cannon in time to block the attack as he and Aegis exchanged powerful blows for a few moments. It turned out the cannon's durability was rather astonishing as the Half Bear Faunus soon found his weapon starting to crack from the repeated hits. This emboldened Ironwood to attempt a powerful over head strike with the cannon, only for it to stall in the air as a black gravity glyph appeared right behind it.
Due to Ironwood's strength, such a trick would only halt him for a few moments, but that was all Aegis needed to slam his mace into the Headmaster's chest and send him flying a short distance into the air. Wayne came swinging in from below then, using one of his wired Crescent Fangs like a grappling hook to angle himself beneath Ironwood and slam a double kick into his back, sending him flying back up and onto another platform. The Elder Ursario brother tried to capitalize on this opening by landing on the platform and charging at the General, but he rolled too quickly and swung his cannon wildly, knocking Wayne in the side as he fell and rolled up to a half-kneeling position. The General reaimed his cannon and was about to fire a point blank shot when a glyph made of both energy and glass appeared.
The Headmaster fired despite this obstacle and was rewarded with a bright flash of light as the blast seemed to be canceled out by the glass glyph. When he could see again, Wayne Ursario was gone. Not that he had time to worry about that as Winter came flying in with both of her blades bared. Ironwood parried her first couple of strikes before dodging one aimed at his head. He then proceeded to block the next blow which was a dual downward swing before kicking Winter away.
The Eldest Schnee sibling managed to roll away and leap to another platform before pointing her sword at Ironwood. In the next instant, a summoned Manticore she'd made earlier came flying in from behind the General with Aegis riding it. Ironwood moved to turn his cannon towards the summoned Grimm and huntsman but was stopped by a sudden resistance as he noted Wayne had snagged the weapon with both of his wired Crescent Fangs. Winter was also helping him keep his footing with a gravity glyph which kept Ironwood from yanking him forward.
This left an opening as the manticore rammed into the Headmaster and knocked him over to the next platform. Aegis leapt off as the General was still in midflight, forming his weapon into a glass spear with lightning dust coursing through it. The Half Bear Faunus then slammed the sharpened end on his weapon into Ironwood's armored midsection, causing some of the paneling on the armor to fall off as he impacted the ground, cratering it. The General groaned in both pain and anger as he suddenly lifted both of his revolvers up and shot Aegis in the torso.
The huntsman cringed in pain as the dual impact sent him flying to the next platform. The Headmaster had managed to free his first revolver while in midflight and then pulled out his second after hitting the ground. Though this meant Wayne was free to yank the laser cannon away and down to the remainder of the stone walkway below. "None of you should be blaming me for this!" Exclaimed Ironwood as he fired his revolvers at the approaching Winter and Wayne, "I've sacrificed everything for this kingdom!"
"As if anyone would believe that bullshit at this point!" Exclaimed Wayne as he returned fire with his own weapons in SMG form.
"All you've done is sacrifice everyone else!" Exclaimed Winter as she formed a few small glyphs in midair which fired out sharpened icicles at the General. Ironwood rolled out of the way to avoid them before raising his weapons to block a few swipes from Wayne. "It was your decision to close the border," continued Winter as she landed on the platform and managed to slash Ironwood across the back with an electrified slash, "your decision to squeeze Mantle until there was nothing left!"
Ironwood responded to this by howling in anger while blocking Winter's two slashes before headbutting her then kicking her away. But this left him open to a couple of slashes in the back from Wayne followed up by a semblance powered punch that sent him to another platform. "I have only ever done what's best for Remnant," growled Ironwood as he got to his feet, losing another couple pieces of his armor, "And no one is grateful!" He whirled around then, blocking a blow from a flaming glass sword as Aegis glared at him with the eyes of the rage mode.
"You want grateful," growled Aegis, "try taking actions that actually benefit the people instead of doing things to satisfy your own paranoia!" Ironwood roared as he forced Aegis back before the two began exchanging blows. The Younger Ursario Brother did his best to keep the General from lining up either one of his revolvers with his body or head, but at one point this left an opening for the General to hit him with a powerful front kick which sent him back. But to his surprise, a gravity glyph appeared in the air which caught Aegis and allowed him to shoot back towards Ironwood with renewed force.
The huntsman rammed the body of Ursus Cleaver into Ironwood's gut, sending him flying off the platform. The General attempted to right himself in midair to land on one of the lower platforms but was yanked away at the last second by one of Wayne's wires wrapping around his waist and pulling him downward. The force of his fall was increased even more by a gravity glyph on the stone pathway as he impacted against it, letting out a pained yell from the impact which made a small crater. It didn't keep him down long, however, as he got back to his feet shakily as his armor sparked in a few places and lost another panel.
As he looked towards the floating platforms above, he noted his opponents were nowhere to be seen. That is until snow started appearing and swirling around him. White Beowulf summons emerged then, their fangs and claws bared as they rushed towards the General. The Headmaster grit his teeth in frustration as he shot down the first few that came towards him before batting and kicking away another two. He fired at a few more before turning to beat down another one, but it dispersed before he could hit it, revealing Aegis who rushed in and managed a cut on the General's leg.
Ironwood turned and pointed his revolver, only to readjust his aim and fire at another Beowulf summon. As it dispersed, he turned and knocked away another one before feeling a slash on his back from Winter who seemed to appear and disappear into the snow flurry. Wayne followed up after that with a low cut to his side which damaged more of his circuitry. This further enraged the General as he fired and swung his weapons around in much greater intensity until all the Beowulves were destroyed.
The snow flurry faded then to reveal Winter, Aegis and Wayne all standing in a formation with their weapons at the ready. "And now we're about back where we started," said Wayne, "all you're accomplishing now is wasting time, time we don't have. So from this point on we won't hold anything back. Now what'll it be, surrender and help us, or get beat down?"
"Do you really think I'd waver now?" Ironwood questioned back, "when I'm so close? No, I've fought too long and hard to surrender now. You're the ones who need to-AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The Headmaster was suddenly interrupted by the sound of high-pitched wailing, a sound that at least two of them new well.
"Oh no," said Winter as her eyes widened while looking up at the entrance to the vault, "now we're completely out of time." Everyone else looked to see what she saw, and felt nothing but absolute dread as a black cloud entered from where the elevator platform started. It drifted down towards them quickly, bending and twisting more like a snake than an actual cloud. It settled at the current start of the stone walkway where it solidified and took the shape of a familiar, and terrifying figure.
In fact, when the cloud was finished forming, the one who stood before them was the most terrifying being on all of Remnant. Salem had finally pulled herself together. "Now isn't this a pleasant sight," said the Witch as she took stock of the situation in front of her while slowly gliding forward, "the once brave General fighting against those he used to call comrades. What sort of disagreement did they have that could've led to this, I wonder? Who among you was willing to sacrifice more?"
"I told you all this would happen," said Ironwood as he glanced down and quickly inserted his guns into his laser cannon before turning and pointing it at Salem, "and now that she's here, we're all doomed."
"You give yourself too much credit, James," said Salem with an evil smile, "you've been doomed for a long time now, you just haven't reali-SHANK!" The Witch was interrupted by a number of glass shards impaling her, one of which managed to hit and sink into her left eye. She turned her head to the obvious culprit of such an attack, Aegis Ursario.
"Whoops, did I do that," said the half Faunus huntsman, "sorry I was aiming for a bug on your face until I realized that nasty thing was your face."
"It seems despite a setback or two, fortune has smiled on me," said Salem as she hit the side of her head with her hand, knocking the glass shard out while the rest fell out of her quickly healing body, "I'll get to torture you two annoying brothers. I think the first thing I'll do is force you both to watch as I enter the portal and drag your friend's mangled corpses out one by one. I can already sense Cinder in there and I imagine she's creating quite a bit of chaos right now."
"You underestimate our friends like always," said Wayne, trying to hide his tightening grip his weapons. It's true he had plenty of faith in them, but Cinder wouldn't hesitate to harm civilians and that meant team RWBY and the others would have difficulty fighting her. Moreover, if Neo was also there then she could strike when they least expected it.
"General," said Winter as she pointed her main blade at Salem, "I believe it's obvious the situation has changed. We cannot allow Salem to get her hands on any of the relics and none of us stand a chance against her working alone. I'm imploring you now, Sir, please fight with us for the sake of Atlas, and Remnant." It was a tense moment as Ironwood pondered his options. In truth, he really could head right for the portal with full confidence that none of them would follow him in fear of letting Salem through.
Yet if he did that and got the staff back to Atlas, Salem would be waiting for him. "Winter," said Ironwood as he charged his cannon and aimed it at the witch, "it seems I was mistaken about one thing. Your true final order is this: help me fight Salem to our dying breaths if need be."
"Yes sir," said Winter with a smile as she summoned several small Nevermores while Ironwood fired his laser cannon. Wayne summoned up the Aura Shadow while Aegis formed an energized glass shield with his weapon while his eyes remained in the rage mode state. Salem produced a large red eye glyph that blocked Ironwood's laser while ignoring the Nevermores which came circling and pecking at her person before waving her hand and releasing a burst of wind which disintegrated them. But it worked well enough as a distraction for Wayne to slam his energized weapon into the glass shield, unleashing a powerful light which scorched Salem's skin while also blinding her temporarily.
"Aegis," said Wayne, "I know you're gonna hate me asking you to do this, but we're low on options. Get going through the portal and leave Salem to the rest of us."
"As if I'd just leave you to fight this immortal bitch alone," growled Aegis.
"The evacuation plus getting Penny and the relic out of here is priority one," Wayne reminded him as they both noted Salem quickly regenerating, "if we do that we still win here. But if Cinder gets them then this battle is as good as over and your abilities will work better at keeping the people safe."
"I'll," Aegis knew his brother was right but still didn't want to leave his elder sibling behind, "I'll kick her ass and Neo's too if she shows up and then I'll be right back. So in the meantime, you'd best promise to stay alive."
"I promise," said Wayne as he activated the lightning and fire dust in his weapons while Ironwood fired his laser cannon again and Winter summoned up a Griffon to attack Salem, "now goooo!" Aegis nodded as he turned and broke into a run, moving as fast as he could before diving through the portal. While in midair, he managed to get one last look at his brother who went charging in with Winter and Ironwood to face their immortal foe.
The Created Space
Aegis was greeted by the sound of screaming, panic, and chaos as he entered into the mystical waystation created by Ambrosius. He managed to spot the reason a little ways away as he spied Penny and Blake engaged in a fight with Cinder. Weiss appeared to have taken a bad hit and was currently down while Ruby was engaged against Neo. And just as Wayne had anticipated, Cinder was paying no mind to the many fleeing civilians as she fired off fireballs and glass blades in all directions.
Aegis was quick to take some of the burden off his friend's shoulders as he charged forward while summoning multiple glass walls around the largest pockets of civilians. It wasn't perfect but it at least kept the collateral damage to a minimum. As he ran, Aegis was frantically searching for Yang but couldn't find any sign of her. 'Please Yang, tell me you're safe,' he thought as he neared the fighting.
It was something of a split decision as he had to decide whether to help Penny and Blake against Cinder or help Ruby against Neo. 'If I can help Ruby, then she can use her silver eyes to drive off Cinder,' the huntsman reasoned. With that in mind, he headed straight for where the scythe and parasol wielders were currently engaged in combat. But things took a turn when Ruby was knocked off the platform she was on and sent falling down to land on one of the walkways below.
Aegis leapt himself and managed to land on the same bridge while continuing towards Ruby, noting that the red-hooded girl had just lost her weapon which went plummeting into the darkness below. Worse, Neo landed right behind her, extending the hidden blade from the tip of her umbrella. Strangely, Ruby seemed to hold her arms out in surrender while saying something along the lines of 'I hope it was worth it.' This seemed to anger her monochromed opponent as she lunged forward, only for Ruby to use her semblance to glide underneath the bridge and reform herself right behind Neo.
For a brief moment, Aegis felt hope as he lowered his hand which had been about to form a glass wall to protect Ruby. This turned out to be a mistake on both his and Ruby's part as Neo quickly spun to the side, drawing her short blade in midmotion while slashing Ruby across the back the moment she reformed. It was enough to deplete the scythe-wielder's aura while also pushing her back over the edge and sending her plummeting into the darkness below. "Ruby!" exclaimed both Aegis and Penny at the same time as the android girl came over with Blake in tow.
Aegis quickly formed a glass wall to stop Ruby's fall, allowing Blake another moment to drop from Penny's grasp and use Gambol Shroud to swing towards her leader, grabbing her. This unfortunately left Penny open for an attack from Cinder who blasted her with a fireball before turning and firing a flaming lance at Blake's ribbon. It struck at the apex of Blake's swing, burning the ribbon to pieces as both Ruby and Blake were now plummeting towards the black void below. Aegis attempted to form a glass platform to catch the two of them but was prevented from doing so as Neo slashed at him with her pointed parasol blade.
"No!" Exclaimed Aegis while avoiding and then blocking Neo's blows before shoving her back and attempting to use his semblance again. But by then it was too late. Blake and Ruby had disappeared into the void. The Half-Bear Faunus roared as he turned his anger on the parasol girl who was moving in to attack him again.
He swung with a wide but powerful blow that Neo was able to block but couldn't stop the force from sending her backwards as she flipped a couple of times to stay upright. Aegis went on the offensive then, attacking with a flaming glass spear as he assaulted his opponent with numerous jabs. Neo nimbly evaded each strike with quick, precise movements, feeling the heat from the spear point as it passed hardly an inch from her body. She then leapt back to avoid a sudden swing from Aegis, only to back into a glass wall which halted her retreat as Aegis charged with a roar.
As the sharpened end hit Neo's body, however, it shattered along with the glass wall and his spear point. The angered Half-Faunus growled at the trick as the real Neo came leaping in behind him with a jab of her bladed parasol. But Aegis moved his head out of the way and activated the other end of Ursus Cleaver, blasting Neo back with a shot of gravity dust before turning to engage her. The petite girl managed to roll up and leap back in order to avoid the energized glass sword blade that Aegis had formed and was now using as his weapon.
The monochromed girl backed up while dodging another couple of swings until they reached one of the larger platforms. Now with enough room to maneuver, Neo leapt up and off the sword blade, managing to get a cut on Aegis's shoulder with her handle blade before resheathing it while landing behind her opponent. She ducked the retaliatory back swing before hitting Aegis with a few jabs of her umbrella's blade. This served to more irritate the huntsman as opposed to hurting him before he grabbed the umbrella and yanked with all of his might.
Neo, not expecting such a quick counter, was yanked off her feet and slammed onto the floor then yanked up and slammed down again on the other side of the floor. As Aegis was about to attempt a third, she unfurled her umbrella in midair, causing the half-Faunus to release her weapon while she used the momentum to land a few feet away with her weapon bared. The Huntsman began to advance then when a fireball came flying out of nowhere and hit him in the chest, causing him to stumble back a bit as Cinder came landing in front of him. "And here I thought I'd see both of you show up," said Cinder with her signature wicked smile, "what seems to have happened to your brother?"
"He's beating down your boss again!" Exclaimed Aegis as he charged forward with his glass blade held at chest height. Cinder simply shot another fireball at him, but her eyes widened as it impacted against quickly forming glass armor which shattered without hardly breaking the Huntsman's stride. She had no time to do anything else other than summon her two familiar molten glass swords and raise them to block the swing of the energized sword. The three blades shattered upon impact with each other, again failing to slow Aegis down as he charged forward and seized Cinder by the neck.
He proceeded to slam her face down onto the ground and pull her along, the friction tearing off her eyepatch to reveal the disfigurement on her face. The Fall Maiden howled in pain and anger before shooting flames out of her hands and feet, forcing Aegis to let go as she flew back into the air. "You'll pay for that," she seethed before summoning numerous glass blades and raining them down on Aegis who countered with a glass wall. Even reinforced, the wall was only able to stop a majority of the blades before collapsing with a couple managing to scratch Aegis's left leg and right shoulder.
But Cinder wasn't done as she snapped her fingers, causing the scattered fragments of her blades to explode, engulfing the Huntsman in a powerful blast. Cinder hovered there for a moment, waiting to see if she'd finished him off. Her answer was a shower of glass shards with Aegis himself running straight out of the smoke with a charred coat and armor as well as glass from a recently formed armor falling away from his person. He formed a bardiche blade on Ursus Cleaver as he charged while Cinder dove low to avoid the glass shards and then sped right towards Aegis with her blades ready to slice him up.
Aegis answered this by leaping into the air and, at the last second, forming a small glass foot fall that he leapt off of, allowing him to flip over Cinder and slash backwards with his weapon to slice off her Grimm arm. The maiden howled in pain as she went back up to hovering over the platform while Aegis landed and turned towards her. "So you can fight strategically after all," said Cinder with her voice a mixture of impressed and irritated.
"I have my moments," growled Aegis as he took a stance in preparation to charge again. But as he did, he noted Penny traveling towards him rather rapidly.
"AEGIS!" She called as the Huntsman noted her eyes were on something other than him. Realization hit the half Faunus as he turned to see Neo appearing behind him with her blade ready to literally stab him in the back. At the same time, Cinder formed more glass blades in the air and sent them at the Half Faunus. Knowing he didn't have time to, or rather didn't need to, Aegis moved and blocked Neo's attack with his weapon while Penny flew up behind him and blocked Cinder's blades with her own, new green and black created blades.
"Watch it, the blades will probably explo-BOOOOOOM!" No sooner had Aegis said that than the blades did indeed explode with prompting from Cinder. As the smoke started to clear, it was revealed that Penny had spread her blades out to help nullify the explosion while Aegis formed his glass armor in the nick of time. Penny was about to glance back at him with a smile until the Half Faunus leaped in front of her to take the blast of another fireball that destroyed his armor.
"No," said Penny as her friend dropped to one knee, narrowly managing to block another strike from Neo with a newly made sword, "are you alright Aegis?"
"I'll live," said Aegis as he formed another glass wall to block more exploding projectiles from Cinder as another smokescreen settled over them. Penny blocked another couple of hits from Neo before swinging her signature ring of swords around to hit the mute girl in the midsection, which resulted in her shattering like glass. 'Another illusion,' Penny thought as she noted Cinder coming up right behind her shooting more fireballs. Penny moved to block them with her ring of swords while Aegis swatted away another strike from Neo.
Cinder changed tactics then and threw both of her swords into the air before clenching her fist, causing two walls of flame to form between Aegis and Penny. This didn't deter the Half Faunus as he leapt through the fire to land next to Penny, before stumbling slightly. Cinder used that opening stretch her Grimm arm out towards Aegis, intending to impale him with the clawed digits. But Penny wouldn't allow that as she pulled her friend to the side while also using her blades to cut the fingers off of the stretching limb.
Cinder growled in pain as her arm retreated but then, strangely, smiled. Penny wasn't sure why at first until the flaming wall next to her was cut through to reveal, Aegis with an ice ax? "PENNY!" He exclaimed too late as the Winter Maiden felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking down, she noted a familiar, pink and black umbrella handle as the form of Aegis she was holding onto suddenly disappeared in a flash of pink to reveal Neo! Aegis roared as he charged forward, only to be intercepted by Cinder who clashed blades with him.
"Excellent work," she said, "but don't let her die completely, I need to drain her power first." Neo frowned while keeping a hold of Penny, deciding on whether or not she should remove the blade as Aegis continued to batter his weapon against Cinder's own before she retaliated with a blast of flame from her mouth. This only enraged the Half-Faunus as he struck her with a backhand blow to end the attack on him in seconds before kicking away. Despite his ferocity, though, Penny could tell Aegis wouldn't last like this as his aura flared dangerously against another attack from Cinder.
"Cinder wants this power so badly, she'd kill all these people for it," said Penny as she suddenly latched onto Neo with a death grip, "well if she wants it, she can have it. But I'll go out on my terms." Neo fought to get the Winter Maiden to let go as green flames erupted from her feet suddenly.
"Penny, what are you doing," asked Aegis as he was knocked back by another fireball.
"Making the one choice I have left," said Penny as she floated into the air with Neo still in her grip, "I owe your brother a lot, so I want you and him and Ruby and everyone else to have a happy life. So for that to happen, I'll give my own!" She shot forward then, tackling Cinder as her entire body began to glow with green flames.
"No, what are you doing?!" Exclaimed Cinder angrily as she too found it difficult to break free of the former android's grip.
"Giving you the maiden powers," replied Penny, "with everything I've got!" Her body seemed to shine then as the green flames concentrated at the center of her form. Aegis knew what was going to happen and desperately pleaded for Penny not to do this, but it was already done. The Winter Maiden self-destructed, bathing both Cinder and Neo in green flames as they were flung to the lowest platform below, their auras depleting completely on impact.
Aegis sank to his knees then, his rage mode dropping for a moment as he tried to think of what to do. The evacuation was practically done but now they'd lost Penny and both relics. Without the Winter Maiden they'd be hard-pressed to fight back against Salem if she entered here or to fight against the Grimm in Vacuo. Whatever the case, he needed to get down there. And with a bit of renewed determination, the Huntsman got back to his feet and rushed down towards the Fall Maiden and Monochrome assassin.
As for them, the two were struggling to their feet as Neo picked up the relic of knowledge while Cinder grabbed the staff of creation. "That damn idealistic brat," fumed Cinder as she examined her now regenerated Grimm hand, "she sent the power away to somewhere else!" The Fall Maiden exhaled a blast of flame in frustration as Neo simply shrugged her shoulders. The maiden powers weren't her problem, Ruby was. And now that she was gone there wasn't really any reason for her to be there any more, especially after helping Cinder get the relics a second time.
So she decided to head towards the nearest portal while eyeing her umbrella which had fallen a short distance away. "And where do you think you're going?" Questioned Cinder, her raised eyebrow obvious even without her face being visible. The mute girl turned around and held up the relic before quickly morphing into Salem and then back again. "Oh, you expect she'll grant you safe passage out of Atlas if you give her that?"
Neo simply nodded her head before taking off Torchwick's hat and placing the relic within it. She still didn't understand how it could shrink like it did, but it made transporting it quite easy. "I'm afraid that's out of the question," said Cinder as she placed the staff of creation on the back of her waist before conjuring two glass swords, "after all, there's still the little matter of you threatening me." Neo tilted her head in slight confusion, or so it seemed, before lunging towards her umbrella.
But a pillar of flame blasted from the floor, preventing her from doing so as Cinder attacked. The Mute girl danced around her blades, knowing she couldn't take a hit while her aura was down. Fortunately for her, neither could Cinder. A point which proved itself as she dodged another slash and kicked Cinder away from her.
She went on the offensive then in an attempt to kick Cinder off the platform which was nearly turned against her as Cinder circled around and slashed at her. Their bout would go on like this for several moments until Neo managed to kick one of the swords from Cinder's hand before grabbing and yanking her around by her other arm. But the Fall Maiden regained her footing and grabbed Neo by the face, her clawed hand digging into the side of the Mute Girl's head as the two pushed against each other. "I really don't see why you're fighting to live now," said Cinder, "you got your revenge so what do you care what happens to you now? But my ambitions aren't nearly-GAAAAAAAAAH!"
The sound of shattering glass and a sudden pain in her chest alerted her to something very wrong. Neo was now pressed up against her with blood coming out of her front. The reason being, a blade was piercing her right shoulder through the back and currently sticking into her own body where her heart was. "You know, queeny, I've never liked chess," said the voice of Aegis as a glass pane that had been erected completely broke down to reveal the Younger Ursario brother.
He'd managed to use the last of his aura to conjure the type of glass used for one way mirrors when neither of them were looking. Then he'd struck, using Neo's umbrella handle blade when they were in the right position. "But there's one aspect I do like about it. Pawn's can take kings and queens." He shoved them both off the platform with a grunt then as they plummeted down into the dark abyss. He added insult to injury by spitting into the darkness as well before throwing Neo's umbrella down there too.
'That's two dangerous bitches finally dead,' thought Aegis, 'although, I might've wanted to grab the relics while I was at it.' He didn't have long to wonder about that, though, as something strange began to happen to the surrounding area, it was starting to disappear. "Ah shit," said Aegis as he noted the way back up was already gone, "guess that means only one way out now!" And he didn't waste a second as he leapt back into the same gateway he'd used to get there in the first place.
A Couple Minutes Earlier: The Vault
Wayne, Winter and Ironwood all let out a battlecry as they unleashed another volley of attacks with Ironwood actually throwing the now damaged laser cannon while Winter empowered Wayne with an energy glyph which he used to bombard both the cannon and Salem with a combination of Scattering Moonlight and his Crescent Blade Barrage. The resulting explosion was enough to blind them if they didn't cover their eyes as the sound of Salem howling in pain could be heard. The shockwave from the blast shook the entire vault for a couple of moments before ceasing. "Alright," said Wayne between ragged breaths, "anyone wanna take bets on how long she'll stay down this time?"
His answer came in the form of three blasts of elemental lasers which slammed into them, knocking the three over onto the ground as Salem's still regenerating form floated out of the smoke. For a little bit, she wasn't much more than a pair of arms attached to black sludge. But that lasted for about another minute before Salem fully pulled herself back together, cracking her neck and other joints as if to test if they had full mobility. "That one was a bit less inventive than the last combo," said Salem as if she were judging something at a food or talent competition, "but it was still quite effective. Though all you've really accomplished is wearing yourselves down even further."
"Nah, we just need a sec to stand up," said Wayne as he and the others struggled to their feet, "it's been something of a long day." And it was getting worse by the minute as Wayne noted Winter's aura had broken with that last shot. Ironwood's armor had long been shredded and much of his own cybernetic prosthetics were now showing. As for the Elder Ursario brother himself, his jacket had a number of rips and burns on them now and his helmet was missing its mouthpiece, courtesy of both Salem and his earlier battle with Ironwood.
The Witch simply tsked a few times at Wayne's comment before speaking. "If we're being honest I've actually been quite generous with the three of you. I could've killed you all by now but I was curious to see how long it might take you to realize the futility of your situation. If you'd turned and ran then you'd at least live a little longer or, and this is a much better option, you could swear allegiance to me and live at least a happy life for the remainder of your days."
"Our lives were happy," said Wayne with narrowed eyes, "maybe not perfect but we all had something we could take comfort in. Then you came along and fucked it all up because if you can't have a happy ending, then no one else should, right?"
"An end is all I desire now," said Salem, "if you want to blame someone for it requiring the destruction of an entire world, blame the two deities who gave me this curse in the first pla-." She stopped speaking as she noted something strange occurring. Power was welling up around Winter as she began to float into the air with her fallen swords coming to her hands. A very familiar power.
It was good news for them if not for the bitter realization that came with it: Winter Schnee was now the new Winter Maiden, because Penny had just died. "I already know who to blame for all of this," said Winter as she looked up with her eyes emitting blue flames, denoting her status as a maiden, "and we'll find a way to end you, THAT'S A PROMISE!" She summoned a great amount of freezing magic then as a small blizzard hovered over her head. Salem frowned in annoyance as she summoned a black orb of her own magic and was about to use it when a bullet from Ironwood and a blast from Wayne destroyed the majority of her face.
This gave Winter the moment she needed to unleash the mass of power she'd been building up, blanketing the entire area in ice while also encasing Salem in a large ice crystal. The Elder Schnee sister let out a heavy sigh then as she floated back down to the floor, her breathing labored from the exerted effort. "That won't hold her for long," noted Ironwood, "but now that you have the power I intended to give you-."
"Save it," said Winter with more than a bit of bite in her tone, "this power I have now wasn't granted to me by some grand design of yours. It was a gift from a dear friend, you'd do well to remember that." Ironwood was about to retort to that when another sound drew their attention, and it came from the portal.
"Ah, jeez," coughed Aegis as he landed on his face, "cut that a little closer than I would've liked."
"Aegis!" Said Winter and Wayne as the older brother rushed over to check on him. "What in the world are you doing back here, you should be-."
"Wayne," said Winter, directing his attention to the portal, or rather to the slowly disappearing portal.
"Oh no," said the Huntsman as he turned to his brother, "what happened in there? Why are the portals disappearing?"
"Probably because the Relic of Creation is out of here," said Aegis, "or Cinder tried using it in a last ditch attempt to trap me in there with her. She and Neo are gone now, but so are the relics of Knowledge and Creation." Ironwood was about to demand that he explain what he meant by that but was interrupted by the sound of cracking and breaking ice.
"What did you just say," seethed Salem as her head and part of her upper body was freed from the ice crystal, "what happened to THE RELICS!" She stretched her arm towards Aegis but was stopped as Ironwood moved in front of him, taking the brunt of the blow as it tore into the cybernetic circuitry on his body.
"If what you're saying is true, then Atlas really is doomed," said Ironwood with the sound of defeat in his voice as he held onto Salem's arm with his left hand, "and you're right Winter, I really did sacrifice everyone else." He pushed a button on his mechanical left arm then which caused the chamber to start shaking violently. "I'll rectify that now, so get going!" As he said this, the floating stone platforms began to crash down around them as the outer area of the vault started to crumble. It had been intended as the final defense against letting someone get the relic, complete destruction of the vault itself.
"But sir," Winter started to protest as Salem's arm yanked out of him as the Witch worked to break the remainder of the ice encasing her body.
"That is an order, Winter, GO NOW!" Commanded the General before charging at Salem while firing his remaining weapon at her. Winter watched this scene, conflict clear on her expression before she shook it off and grabbed a hold of Wayne and Aegis.
"Don't let go," she said before using the maiden powers to propel them into the air with blue flames from her feet. Not long after that, the stone walkway collapsed as the two figures fighting on it were buried with the mass of stone platforms. Each of them dared to look back only once as Winter flew them back up the elevator and into Atlas Academy.
Airspace of the Former Kingdom of Atlas
Qrow had seen a lot of unbelievable things in his life, but he doubted any of it would've ever prepared him for the sight he was seeing now. The city of Atlas was crashing into Mantle, flattening it beneath it's massive weight. Had he been down there, he would've felt the ground of Remnant shaking as if it'd been struck with a great quake. The largest dust cloud he'd ever seen rose along with the impact, making it impossible to tell what was going on.
"Ruby, RUBY!" Qrow called frantically on his earpiece as he, Robyn and most of the other Ace Ops watched from the loading bay of the Atlesian ship they were currently in. "Yang, Ruby, anyone can you hear me, please respond, say something!" He received only silence in return as he continued to watch the scene unfold in front of him. Several moments passed as he tried to figure out what he should do. And then he heard a strange bit of static.
"Qrow, that you up there Qrow," said the voice of Wayne over his earpiece.
"Wayne, thank God, are you alright? Where are you?" Questioned Qrow frantically, happy to have any form of good news at this point.
"We're in the air, just look for a grey ship," replied Wayne. The Veteran Huntsman did as instructed, his eyes scanning the wreckage of Atlas as the great barrier broke, releasing a mass of freezing ocean water onto it. And that's when he caught sight of them, a single manta-ray style ship fleeing out of the dust as Atlas was submerged by the frigid waves, soon to become another part of the frozen landscape.
"How many have you got with you?" Questioned Qrow, "and what happened down there?"
"It's me, Wayne and Winter," said Aegis as his voice chimed in over the line, "everyone else either made it through the portal or are gone."
"What about Ruby and Yang?" Questioned Qrow with a mild bit of hope, "did they make it through to Vacuo?"
"I don't know for sure about Yang," said Aegis, "I'd like to think she did. But Qrow, even though she made it into the portal, Cinder and Neo attacked. Ruby, Blake, Penny…..they're gone."
The Ruins of Atlas
'This, isn't how it was supposed to be,' thought Ironwood with a groan. He couldn't move anything save for his right arm. The rest of his body was buried under a couple slabs of rubble that had somehow managed to land in a way that plugged much of the hole that had been blasted in Atlas's bottom section by Oscar. He'd likely only survived thanks to the durability of his mechanical prostetics and enhancements, though even that was only temporary as he felt what was likely internal bleeding occurring at the moment.
'I was just trying to save Atlas,' he thought, 'but was it really my method that made things go so wrong?' "And they say killing me is impossible," said the unwelcome and very chilling voice of Salem as a black mist appeared in front of him before turning back into the form of the witch, "you're proving quite hard to put in the grave yourself, James."
"I always thought," coughed the now former General, "that things would become disastrous if I died. Now I see….I might've been wrong."
"Oh you were most certainly wrong," cooed Salem, "typical Atlesian arrogance, believing the world can't possibly move forward without you. But the world was moving forward long before there was an Atlas and it will continue to move now that it is gone, one way or the other. Or at least it'll move for as long as it can."
"But the relics are gone now," coughed Ironwood, "and we're both to blame for that because of the actions of our subordinates."
"Oh but I believe it was more your little huntsmen and huntresses who are responsible for that," said Salem, "it is an annoying setback, but not one that can't be rectified with time. And as you know, I have nothing but time on my hands." Ironwood didn't say anything as he noted the sound of what appeared to be rushing water from above. "Oh, it appears the great barrier was breached by the city's crash landing. How sad, it seems your fate after everything you've done for Atlas is a giant, unmarked mass grave."
"That….may just be what I deserve," sighed Ironwood, "I fought for years to keep this city and kingdom safe, not caring what others thought of my actions. After Beacon fell, I was driven to keep this from happening to the point of not caring what or who I had to sacrifice even despite their own contributions to Atlas. I realize now that disregard for other's wellbeing is what turned them against me."
"Of course," said Salem with an evil smile, "that military mindset of yours was always only ever concerned with looking at things through the perspective of a soldier. With a nudge in the right direction resources, freedoms, and even people's lives become nothing more than acceptable losses towards a greater goal. Eventually you disregard everything in pursuit of the completion of your little mission even when it no longer makes sense to do so."
"I thought abandoning my current mission was the same as admitting defeat to you," groaned Ironwood, "but after fighting you I realize, I shouldn't have been so afraid. There were other solutions and I was too blind to see them." He raised his revolver then, his mechanical arm shaking from the strain, "Ruby was right, you can still fail." A gunshot rang out then, echoing through the now dead undercity of Atlas.
Unknown Island
'Unbelievable,' thought Cinder as she sat on a beach of all things, her body sweating and her breathing labored. She'd somehow managed to separate from Neo during the fall and, in an act of desperation, had seared her wounds closed with the maiden powers. It had hurt horribly and she had howled in pain at the time, but it seemed to have done the trick right before she passed out. Now here she was with an injured Neo roaming around if the second blood trail was anything to go by.
The problem was she didn't even know where 'here', was supposed to be. And that wasn't the only mystery she had to worry about. Glancing over, she'd also noticed a washed up coffin on the beach. It had the name 'NERO' printed on it. Wherever her life took her next, it was going to be a strange ride.
And there we have it, the second ending to volume 8! And holy shit I did not expect it to turn out this long, but hopefully it was entertaining nonetheless. And now Team WA shall be traveling with Qrow and the others should this ending prove to be closer to canon. And who is Nero, you ask? A possible and major divergence from canon should this be the ending we go with. Now only one ending remains, unless you have another one I might add, my fellow readers. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time for our third ending! 'Til then.
