Chapter 65
(A/N: after thinking it over for a very, very long time, I decided to go back to this part of the story to change some things. My reasoning? I felt like the story was going in a direction I didn't want it to, so I wanted to go back. I hope you all enjoy the new changes I come up with)
Liam
In the back of a transport, Robyn, Qrow and Liam had their wrists bound. Qrow held onto Clover's pin, some of his blood still on it.
Seeing the look of pain on Qrow's face, Robyn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder while Liam sat across from them, his gaze down.
None of them said anything as they were taken up towards Atlas.
Chrome
Inside the kitchen of a restaurant, the members of teams JNPR, RWBY, and Marek, alongside Penny, Pietro and one of Robyn's happy huntresses, Joanna, were talking with one another. As for Chrome, he was distracted by something else entirely.
"But that's how Salem got this far - by dividing us. We have to stick together." Ruby's said.
"No." Came Oscar's reply. "What Salem wants is to turn us against each other. Just like this. Jaune has a point. We can work separately and still be united."
"Or… let me take theRelic to Salem… and maybe she will call off her attack on theKingdom." Penny suggested.
"I don't think we can trust Salem to actually do that. And the moment she uses the Staff to create anything else, Atlas falls onto Mantle." Oscar told her.
"Nobody's turning you over to anybody. I think that's theonething we could all agree on." Yang said.
Ruby let out a sigh. "Okay. Then I guess we're going to Atlas."
However, all of this was ignored by Chrome. His thoughts not even on the current situation at hand.
"I don't think... I'm walking away from this one..." Nicci's words echoed in Chrome's head.
"I'm going to get you to someone who can help." Chrome's voice said next.
"I think we both know what's going to happen. I better not... see you again... for quite some... time..."
Digging his nails into his arms at the thought of his dying friend, Chrome looked as though he wanted to kill someone. His face had a dark shadow fall over it as he glared at the floor.
"Chrome?!"
Ruby's voice broke through his thoughts.
Looking to the young Huntress, Chrome's facial expression didn't change.
"What?"
As Ruby and Chrome stared at each other, everyone else, including Marek, was beginning to leave the building.
"You haven't said who you'd be helping."
Hours later
Leaning against the ventilation unit of a building, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Penny and Nora decided to go up to Atlas to try and get Amity tower launched through Ironwood's terminal. If they could do that, they could send out a global communication calling for help.
As they decided on what to do, Penny's scroll began to ring. Pulling it out, she saw it was a call from Ironwood.
Hesitantly accepting the call, Ironwood's voice immediately came through.
"Penny, thank goodness you're all right." Ironwood said. "Where are you? We can have an Atlas ship pick you up right away. With Salem approaching, we-"
He stopped talking as Ruby spoke.
"She's not going anywhere until you change your mind about Mantle."
"Mantle?! You're still worried about Mantle?!" Ironwood shouted. "You-"
The call was cut short as Chrome walked over and grabbed the scroll, ending the call with a tap of his thumb.
Everyone looked to Chrome as he tossed the scroll back to Penny.
"Don't waste our time with pointless arguments." Chrome growled, his voice laced with anger. "Now let's get moving, or would you prefer to wait around longer while that fuckin' thing gets closer?" Chrome pointed to the Whale Grimm that was off in the distance.
Everyone remained silent.
"He's right." Ruby said. "We don't have much time. Let's move."
With the group on the move once more, Chrome let out a breath before following.
Liam
Laying on the bench, hands behind his head, Liam stared up at the ceiling. He wasn't really worried about his current ppsition, his thoughts being with Weiss and the rest of his friends.
"I hope you guys are doing all right." He said to himself softly.
"This is your fault. You realize that, don't you?"
Sitting up slightly, Liam saw Robyn was talking to Jacques.
"Me?" Jacques said, insulted. "I am a victim!"
Liam scoffed upon hearing this.
"Please."
Rolling onto his side, Liam was now facing his father's cell. The way the cells were lined had Jacques, Robyn, Liam and Qrow in a square formation with Watts being next to Liam.
If you were to look at it from a top-down view, Robyn would be the top left, Jacques the top right, Qrow bottom left, Liam bottom right, then Watts' cell connecting to Liam's.
"I admit I was duped. Used!" Jacques said. "My hands may not be clean, but at least I'm not a murderer!"
Upon hearing this, Liam stood up.
"Hey!" He shouted, getting Jacques' attention. "Watch what you say, asshole!"
Jacques narrowed his eyes when looking to Liam.
"Qrow didn't kill anybody..." Robyn said, glancing at Qrow who sat in silence, staring at Clover's pin. "And I'm not gonna stand here and be lectured by some snake with a mustache who let that man tear us all apart!" Robyn shouted, pointing at Watts.
"Yes, well... I suppose we're all stuck in it now." Watts said, laying on his bench, hands propped behind his head.
"Speak for yourself." Jacques said. "I'm sure Whitley has contacted my legal team and will have me out of here before you can say--"
"SHUT UP!!" Robyn shouted as she punched the hardlight dust wall, causing Jacques to flinch.
Suddenly, a buzzer sound went off as two Atlas guards walked in, heading over to Watts' cell. They disable the hardlight wall to his cell and enter.
"You do realize you already caught me?"
One of the guards hit Watts in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him out and dragging him off.
Once the door shut, a sigh came from Robyn.
"I hate not being able to do anything."
"We can do something." Qrow said darkly. "We can kill the man who put us here."
Liam and Robyn were both taken back by Qrow's words.
Marek
Making their way through Mantle, Jaune, Ren, Yang and Oscar were heading back to Pietro's shop for some equipment he mentioned was there for them. Once they arrived, Yang took out two Atlesian knights before heading for the back room. Opening the door, Marek hit the switch, seeing multiple hover bikes inside.
"Okay, the others are definitely missing out."
Minutes later
Riding around on the hover bikes, Oscar rode behind Yang on hers, while Ren, Marek and Jaune had their own. Heading for the locations Fiona provided, the young Huntsmen and Huntress go to provide backup to evacuating civilians.
With Fiona providing locations for them to help, their hands were full.
Chrome
Entering a factory, the group looked around.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Ruby asked.
Inside, numerous robots are seen manning devices next to large, slightly transparent tubes. A package goes up one of the tubes with an audible whoosh. The robots do not react as the group walks in.
"Snow Shoe Shipping is an SDC subsidiary, meaning all the drones here report to the company, not the general." Weiss explained. "The pneumatic tubes allow for Dust refined in the crater to be sent straight up to Atlas. We just need to find the one for the military base."
Walking around the factory, Chrome looked at all the devices and crates, impressed by it all.
"I thought your family produced just dust." Chrome said as Weiss began looking around a few feet away from him.
"Our family." Weiss corrected him. "Don't forget, you're a Schnee, too."
Chrome smiled at Weiss' words.
However, Weiss suddenly shifted her gaze to the ground, her eyes softening.
"What's wrong?" Chrome asked her.
"Nothing, it's just..." Weiss sighed. "I'm worried about Liam. We have no idea where he is, and-"
"Weiss, I'm sure Liam is fine." Chrome told her. "
"I found it!" Nora shouted.
Slowly, the group makes their way to Nora.
"I suppose there's no turning back now." Blake said.
May gestured to Penny.
"Between our secret weapon, and my Semblance" May becomes invisible for a second. "you all couldn't be in better hands."
"How exactly does this thing work?" Chrome asked.
Weiss makes her way to the tube and sits where the cargo is loaded.
"It should be simple. If you lie back in the tube and press launch-"
Nora presses a button on the nearby console, sending Weiss up the tube, causing her to scream in surprise. As the others look on with bewildered expressions, Nora expresses joy at the sight.
Marek
While the others cleared streets of Grimm, Marek was going through each building to make sure there weren't any people too scared to leave the safety of their homes. Not only that, but some of the Grimm decided to roam into the buildings as well.
Making his way through the buildings, Marek only checked the rooms that had the doors shut. The ones that were opened were most likely already evacuated.
In the East part of Mantle, Jaune, Yang, Oscar and Ren where taking out the Grimm outside while Marek went door to door to find anyone that may still be inside. Heading to apartment building to apartment building, Marek's ear piece activated.
"Okay, Fiona. That's one more problem taken care of." Yang's voice came through.
"Good, cause we're getting reports of more Grimm coming in from the west. TheHuntsmen there could really use some backup."
Yang sighed over the comms. "Okay. We're on our way."
Hearing this, Marek activated his ear piece.
"I'm coming out. This building's empty."
"Alright. Let's hurry and-"
Marek stopped listening when he heard a loud crash come from the room on his left. Being as cautious as possible, Marek slowly opened the door, only for a large dog-like Grimm burst through the door, knocking it off the hinges as Marek was tossed to the ground. Hitting his back against the wall across from him, Marek's weapon was knocked from his grip due to the force of the impact.
Looking up at the Grimm, it moved onto its hind legs, preparing to slam down onto Marek.
Quickly rolling out of the way, Marek grabbed his weapon, but the Grimm latched its maw around Marek's left leg, lifting him into the air before slamming him down. The force of the impact made his aura flicker before the Grimm flung Marek into one of the rooms, charging him and tackling Marek out of the window.
With the loud shattering sound echoing, alerting the others, Marek hit the ground with enough force to shatter his aura. The Grimm that attacked Marek quickly followed it up by leaping out of the window, landing directly above Marek but not onto him. Staring at this monster in terror, the Grimm stood up and slammed down onto Marek, a loud crunching sound echoing as Marek lost consciousness.
Watching the Grimm, it moved its face closer to Marek, growling a bit before its back began to contort. Within seconds, a long hand sprouted from its back, picking Marek up before turning to Oscar.
With Marek in its hold, blood slowly dripping out of his mouth, the Grimm pounced onto Oscar while the group was still stunned motionless by what they just witnessed. The Grimm pounced on Oscar with all its weight, causing his aura to shimmer. Much like with Marek, the Grimm quickly broke Oscar's aura, not even giving the others a chance to react.
It all happened in the span of less than a minute.
Finally snapping out if it, Jaune went to slash the Grimm, only to get swiped away. Yang, also snapping out of her stupor, went to attack on her hoverbike, only for the Grimm to move Oscar in the way of her strike.
A look of panic crosses her face before she grabs the handle in order to try to turn away from the grimm. The monster catches her with it's other hand and throws her at a nearby wall, cracking it.
Ren takes a couple of shots at the monster's back, causing it to turn around and be stabbed by the grappling hooks of Ren's guns. Ren reels the hooks in, intending to kick the Grimm. The monster's right hand pulses before it grows longer, allowing it to whip Ren off of his bike and into another wall. Jaune Prepares to charge in as well, before The hound lifts Oscar and Marek in between it and Jaune
"Wait! It's using them as a shield!" Yang shouted.
"But Grimm aren't that smart."
Ren picks up his guns and aims at the Grimm. The monster overhears and places Oscar in between it and Ren.
"Give them back!"
The grimm's neck pulses and shifts.
"No."
Ren, Jaune and Yang look on in shock as the monster starts to walk away from the group.
"Did it just...?"
The monster pauses, it's back pulsing and morphing again. Placing Marek and Oscar on the ground, several cracks could be heard as it twitched and howled. With a final roar, black ooze erupts from it's back to reveal wings. One such drop falls on Oscar's face.
It grabs Oscar with it's mouth, and carries Marek in its arms before taking off to the skies. Yang lifts herself up as Fiona contacts them through her earpiece.
"Kids, what's your status? West side's taking damage."
"What do we do?" Ren asked, looking to the others.
"Kids. What's your status?" Fiona asked again.
Yang, Ren and Jaune scramble in order to follow the monster on their hover bikes.
"We've got an emergency, we're not going to make it." Yang replied.
"What? What kind of emergency?" Fiona asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
With that, the three Huntsmen chased after the monster.
End of chapter 65
