Chapter 32 – ticK tocK

"Foinally! Oi've been waitin' for a feckin' hour! 'Bout toime youse kids showed up. Oi was startin' tah wondah if everythin' was o…K."

Time's Up Tock winked as she said it. Blake didn't need to search her eyes for deeper meaning; she obviously knew something. She was strapped into the front car of the All-Aboard Little Gourds train ride, her arms spread out on the back of the seats as though she were relaxing at home rather than menacing the group of children. Blake noticed that the ruined crocodile head she'd cut off the animatronic was in her lap. Impossible! I went over the entire building with a fine tooth comb! There's no way she could have been in there!

"Children. Get behind us." Oobleck moved to the front of the group. "Professor Port will get you out of here while I hold these ruffians off."

"We can help!" said Ruby. "We've got experience against these two, and we know their semblances and powers! Let us help you fight – that's what we came on this mission to do!"

"Out of the question. Peter, get them out of here."

"They have the bullhead," said Weiss. "If we surrender it in retreat, we don't go back to Vale."

"And, with all due respect, sir, you wouldn't buy us that much time, even if it was just either one of them," pointed out Blake. "They're after Ruby, and they won't stop. Our only option is to fight our way through them and escape."

Oobleck looked to Port, and the two shared what Blake assumed was a meaningful look. It was always difficult to tell with Port, as he was perpetually in a state of mid-blink.

"We do need an airship. Not to rain on your heroic sacrifice, Bart, but our best chance of getting these younglings out alive is to utilize every advantage, including the very charges we have sworn to protect."

"Fine." From his vest, Oobleck pulled out the ceramic coffee cup that Blake had accidentally shot to pieces the night before. Now, it was fragilely glue back together, with thin cracked lines running across the surface. The doctor poured the last of his coffee out of his thermos into the cup, downed it in a single gulp, and mech-shifted his thermos in a long torch-like weapon. The green paint on the cup stretched out, revealing a shiny metal interior that was approximately four feet long. "Ifthatistobethecaseletusfight."

"Now hold your horses." Hazel stepped off the bullhead and held his hands in the air. "Our only goal is the silver eyed one. The rest may pass if you surrender her."

"Pass roight through my small intestine, eheheheh!"

"Lady Tock, I have my orders, and they come from higher than even you." Hazel reached into his pockets and drew out several Dust crystals. Then, he let them fall out of his hands on the floor. "I do not wish to harm any of you."

"Except Ruby." Blake stepped in front of her leader. "Do you really think we're going to just let you take her?"

Blake felt a light tug on her pants pocket.

"Blake," Ruby whispered. "The crocodile woman's semblance is–"

"Doesn't matter. We're not surrendering you."

"We can't stop her."

"I'd rather the entire team go down fighting than barter you and our very souls away in exchange for guaranteed survival."

Ruby looked at her uneasily. "Last time–"

"We're not trying to kill her. We just need to get Hazel away from the airship. Then, we beat it outta here and fly for the hills. I've learned my lesson."

"Are yah all finished talkin'? Oi'm getting a wee bit peckish, and the food in this place is too proicey. Damn theme park grub." Tock held up a severed arm with a black glove covering the hand. Several bites had been taken out of the limb. "Ol' Romey really was as useless as they come, eh?" She tossed the arm out in front of her, and it was quickly caught beneath the wheels of the train and ripped apart.

"Please," said Hazel. "Do not make me kill ten when there need only be one death."

"Children. Doctor Oobleck shall lead Team Sword against this large fellow, while I–"

Port never had a chance to finish, as Hazel charged at them. Apparently, he was only willing to discuss terms before his enemies began strategizing right in front of him. Blake left a shadow clone and slipped away, Ruby ran to the side in a burst of flowers, and Ilia shot Lightning Lash to a nearby light fixture and swung away. The rest of them – Team Sword, both professors, and Adam – were caught in the behemoth's assault.

Blake aimed Gambol Shroud at where Tock had been, but then her gun flew out of her hands. She raised her aura just in time to feel a sharp pain in her stomach, as though a pin had tried to pierce her heart, but there wasn't anyone there. Blake looked around for a sharpshooter or ranged enemy, but all she could see was Tock, still giddily circling around on her choo-choo train, and the giant fighting Weiss and the men.

A similar pin prick stabbed into the aura defending her heel. Blake jumped backwards and threw out a shadow clone, hoping to distract whatever unseen assailant was chipping away at her defenses, but the clone was gone in less than second of it separating from her body. Before it dissipated, Blake briefly caught a glimpse of a sharp metal point floating in the air from the sunlight glinting off of the blade.

"Ruby!"

A sniper shot instantly whizzed past her ears, and the world in front of her exploded in a shower of glassy white, pink, and brown. Blake managed to make out a distorted silhouette before identical fragments of the same glass materialized and sealed away the tear in reality's fabric. The girl was gone as soon as she'd appeared.

I can't fight an invisible opponent alone. Adam might be able to hold off Hazel, but there's still Tock. We have them out numbered, but each of them is worth five of us.

"Sic 'er, girlie! Avenge yer bossman! Cut 'er to ribbons in ol' Romey's name!" cackled Tock.

Blake made a judgment call. If Tock had up to two separates minutes (or more – Blake had learned from her mistakes) of her semblance, they needed to start running the clock on one of them as soon as possible. Lining up Gambol Shroud, she ignored the sharp piercing pain in her exposed neck and fired.

Tock simply held out a sword and deflected the shot.

It was difficult enough as it was trying to line up a moving target when she herself was the target of an enemy that didn't seem to be playing fair. Maybe the others would have better luck.

"Ilia! Hit her! Start her timer – daaaah!"

As her aura dipped into the yellow, Blake reset her focus back to her own fight.


Despite his earlier partial success in dueling Rainart at the docks, this fight was not going much better. Hazel was the type of fighter who could hold down one opponent just as easily as the seven he faced now. His Rock Dust jagging enabled him to manipulate the battlefield to his advantage, and combining it with Fire and Lightning Dust gave him supreme area of effect attacks. On top of that, his aura seemed to regenerate just as fast as they could bring it down. In short, he was the perfect tank for ramming into crowds and plowing them down in groups. Russel and Dove were already down, and Adam wasn't expecting either to get up anytime soon.

Cardin threw himself around Hazel's legs in an effort to prevent him from running while Port launched a cannonball at his center of mass. The metal shot would have hit true if not for Hazel smacking it aside with the back of his hand towards Weiss, whose Glyphs were supporting her allies and holding Hazel back. Despite how he felt about the bitch personally, the only reason they were still alive was because of her background aid, so Adam leapt in the way of the redirected bolt. He did manage to block the momentum of the attack with his sword and charge up Moonslice, so maybe having to save Weiss' life wasn't a complete loss.

"Ilia! Hit her! Start her timer – daaaah!"

Adam looked Blake's way and saw her struggling against…thin air? Something was wrong; the crocodile might have been invulnerable, but she wasn't all powerful. If Blake and the others simply put some pressure on her, each firing from a distance, they should have been able to press her to her time limit without any one of them getting too close.

Hazel kicked Cardin off of him, picked up the boy with both hands and hurled him through the doors to the musical show. The armored mace-wielder tore off a large portion of the door frame as he flew back, but his aura held.

"Schnee!" said Adam, blocking a punch with his sword now that Hazel's attention was back on him. Adam flipped over Hazel and wrapped his arms around the lumbering gargantuan in an attempt to buy them some time while he took command of the situation. "Grab your men and retreat to the theater until their auras are back up! Professor Port, go to Blake, she needs help right now! Professor Oobleck–"

"Doctor!"

"Professor Doctor, keep a light stream of flames on the big guy to keep his aura from regenerating! I'm best suited for blocking direct hits because of my semblance! Go!"

Hazel dropped backwards, and Adam just barely managed to kick off before he was crushed by the man's bulk. He wasn't able to block the elbow that swung around into his stomach, though.

They had all night to prepare. We're running on minimal sleep after a full day of clearing Grimm yesterday. This won't work.

Their biggest advantage was their numbers. If they could take down one of their opponents, the rest could overwhelm the other. He needed to disable Hazel, and fast. Every hit Adam took, he sent back with a vicious swipe of his blade, but it wouldn't be enough. Moonslice was meant to store up energy until he could break out a devastating finisher against a winded foe. Here, he was forced to use up the power given to him from each blow just to block the next. Adam wasn't fighting; he was keeping himself alive.

Oobleck's flamethrower expelled a scorching wave of heat on Hazel's back, but a wall of rock shot out of the ground, courtesy of Hazel's jagged Rock Dust crystals. Adam managed to separate himself from the giant by a few steps while Oobleck put the heat on him, literally, before the telltale crunch of a thermos being snapped in half told him he was out of time. Now or never.

Adam flew forward and drove Wilt straight into Hazel's turned back. The man's aura took the hit, naturally, but Adam wasn't done just yet. Rainart had been pulling Dust crystals out of his pocket, and he seemed to have a steady supply to replace each one as he used up the previous. Blush pressed into the seam of Hazel's trousers where he expected the man's Dust load to be and fired at point blank range.

Hazel's aura regenerated fast, but that didn't mean he was invincible. It was simply a matter of doing a massive burst of damaging in an extremely short period of time, and then finding some way to ensure it wouldn't come back up again. The explosion of multifaceted crystals around Hazel's waist was enough to rupture his aura, if only for a single second. Wilt was still held against the base of Hazel's spine, and it sank in the very second his aura was down. The blade didn't pierce the other side, but it probably went at least three inches past the skin, easily enough to keep the wound open and healing, thus sucking away the man's precious aura.

Without aura, Rainart's semblance faded, and he suddenly felt the Dust crystals riddled across his body. A pained grumble slipped past his lips before he blasted Adam back with a curved sickle of fire. Hazel tried to reach around and retrieve the blade, but Cardin, who'd returned to the fight at the opportune moment courtesy of some speed Glyphs, hit his mace into Wilt's handle, driving it straight through and out his stomach. Hazel's eyes widened, and his panting intensified.

"We've got this!" screamed Cardin, doubling back and delivering a blow that must've fractured at least one of Hazel's ribs. "Help your team!"


Blake hadn't been able to warn Port about her invisible opponent in time, and he'd fallen. She didn't think he was dead, but there was definitely blood seeping out from beneath his unconscious body as it lay facedown on the pavement.

The brutal irony of it was that his rushing in to save her had likely killed her. Her strategy of not dying had relied heavily upon using her semblance to take the hits for her while she tried to flee from whoever was fighting her. Now, with a downed huntsman who couldn't defend himself, she was no longer able to freely run. Her opponent knew it too, whoever they were. If Blake fled, she didn't doubt that Port's head would be split open before she could regroup with Ilia and Ruby.

The two of them had managed to escape Hazel's initial bullrush, but apart from Ruby's first sniper shot that shattered the invisible enemy's crystal illusions, Blake hadn't seen or heard a peep from her partner. Ilia had probably melted away into the shadows and was waiting for the prime moment to strike, but Blake wasn't able to count on her help; after all, it was just as likely she was going to aid Adam, not Blake. Ruby's disappearance, though, was alarming. At least Tock was still in clear view, sitting peacefully on her train, without a care (or a yellow glow) in the world.

She's saving it up. Hazel and the invisible hunter are wearing us down, and she'll wipe out whoever's left when…if we even beat those two.

Blake switched Gambol Shroud's chamber to utilize Ice Dust and tried a new strategy. Her next shadow clone was instantly destroyed, just like the last, but it froze solid around the invisible hunter's weapon. It was still invisible, but Blake could make out the rough shape of the weapon based on the empty space in the ice around it. There was the sharpened steel tip that was doing the bayonetting, as well as a cylindrical barrel that widened conically just before the ice ceased. The barrel implied a firearm, which made Blake's heart sink. Not only was she now avoiding an unseeable enemy, but one with range. Even if Blake could get the drop on her, this fighter could just back off and open fire from afar.

But I'm not trying to get the drop on her. I just need to get out of here and rev up the bullhead.

Based on the silhouette, the opponent was physically small. If Blake could just get her hands on them…

So far, every piercing stab had come from the front. The enemy couldn't be seen, so they were attacking head-on, almost as though to rub it in the fact that Blake couldn't see their obvious attacks. Blake prayed to the Brother Gods that that arrogant trend would continue just once more and dropped another shadow clone. This time, though, instead of rushing backwards, she launched forward.

The point hit her aura, driving it down to dangerous levels, but Blake grabbed the weapon with both hands. It tugged backwards as the enemy tried to pull it free, clearly not having expected the gutsy move. Blake yanked back, then raised her leg for a kick.

The opponent turned out to be a young girl with mismatched eyes and hair. She was indeed diminutive, smaller than even Ruby, and the force of the kick sent her flying. Blake hurled the weapon, an umbrella of all things, at a one hundred and eighty degree angle from the direction the petite huntress had gone. A shadow clone took her place, and she grabbed Port's body and ran.

Then, the entire world went black.


Just as Blake had turned her fight around, she was…eaten.

Adam wasn't sure what to make of it. One moment, she had been carrying Port over her shoulder towards their airship-shaped ticket out of here, the next she was swallowed up whole by a…a…a something. He wasn't sure.

"Percy! Just in the nick o' toime. Well done, laddy." Time's Up Tock's train finally came to a stop, and she exited after lifting the lap bar and minding her step. "And you too, Ava," she shouted. "Keep her out of it, and we moight just win this'un."

"Yes, my lady," said a voice from far off.

Adam stopped to gather his bearings, and he realized what had swallowed Blake.

"They're…"

"…me own team! You lot, think you so clevuh, wot with yah little Faunus foightin' fohce. Well, two can play at that game! K, meet the lads. I call's 'em C! Get it? Cuz they're from the sea?"

It was a Faunus who'd swallowed Blake. The man's grotesque jaw had dislocated itself entirely and fanned out by at least a full meter. Now, the skin around his throat had stretched a disturbing amount and seemed to be holding Blake and Port inside of it. Adam nearly heaved at the thought of how unsanitary it must have been for her. So many germs. So many…ugh…fluids.

"Percy here's a pelican eel Faunus, first 'n' only one of his koind! His gullet's big 'nuff to hold three whole people. Ain't he roight revoltin'? And Ava…" Tock looked over her should. Adam followed her line of sight. "…angluh fish. Quite handy, innit?"

Some distance off, Crescent Rose had fallen to its owner's feet. Ruby, standing still, was transfixed by the second of the Faunus abominations, this one directly in front of her. A small bulb hung in front of the Faunus' forehead, attached to her scalp by a bent, tan stalk that shot out near her hairline but bent down at the end. Ruby, an empty look in her eyes, gazed deeply into the bulb, which seemed to be illuminated quite brightly. The Faunus tilted her head to the side, and Ruby mirrored her exact movements in reverse. She tilted the other way. Ruby matched the tilt, her expression blank and her mouth wide open.

"My lure has got her, my lady. She's out."

"Good, good. Hold 'er toight whoile Oi deal with Adam."

Adam glared at Tock. "How do you know who I am? What K is?"

She shrugged mockingly. "Youse ain't sum big secret, mate. Me buddies 'n' me just followed the trail. Found out all about ya. Blakey Bellerdonner, daughtuh o' Ghirer and Kally. Parents went belly up, then the Whoite Fang disappears seven years latuh, and li'l Blakey shows up in Beacon? Quoite the coinkydink, innit? The breadcrumbs led us to some top secret files in the Atlas datuhbase that I don't think anyone were meant tah foind, giv'n 'ow many layuhs of security they was behoind." Tock leaned on her swords. "Oi know youse. Oi know yah friends. Oi know everything, and Oi've got someone here tah covuh yer every weakness. You ain't got a chance 'gainst me. Now, Mum told me to let Hazel offuh to do it the nice way after Oi went and let go o' Miss Silvuh Eyes twoice, but Oi think we're past that now." She flashed her metal teeth. "That means Oi'm goin' to get a taste of youse all."

Adam growled and fired Blush at the fucked up eel Faunus that had swallowed Blake, hoping to cut open his neck-gullet and free her, but something jumped in the way and took the hit. The bullets ricochet off the brownish shape harmlessly.

"Oh lord, Oi fohgot to introduce yah to Otto, last membuh of C. Otto, Adam. Adam, Otto."

Another Faunus, this one with a sea turtle shell for its trait, smirked at Adam and stood with its back to him. Its arms and legs came out of the holes where the turtle's fins would have been, and its head stuck out the top. Adam fired Blush again, but the exposed extremities pulled into the shell, and the shotgun scatter pelted nothing but hard bony plating.

The turtle turned around and started slowly walking towards Adam. Fed up with how poorly this whole shitshow was turning out, Adam turned his gun on Tock, but the turtle retracted back into its shell, rolled over to her, and blocked the hit.

"Long as Otto's around, Oi don't even need tah use me semblance. Let's me save it up for later, an' avoid the cansuh or whatevah I get from doublin' me toime. Now, 'ave fun, youse two." Tock stretched out her legs, then casually walked in the direction of Ruby. "Oi'm gonna go git meself a boite tah eat."

Adam clipped Blush to his belt and ran towards the eel Faunus, hoping he could reach it before Blake and the professor asphyxiated. It seemed to be the most stationary of the three, with its bloated jawline holding two full bodies within. When Blake was free, they could tag team Tock and free Ruby. Ilia was nowhere to be seen, and Adam briefly worried that some shark or seal or…Adam shuddered…dolphin was keeping her busy, but there was no time to worry about her. Blake was closer, and he could only save teammates one at a time.

Otto tucked in his limbs and got there before Adam. He punched the shell, but it simply hurt his hand and cost him a smidgeon of aura. The smarmy smile on the other Faunus' face suggested that it wasn't losing any aura from those interactions. Adam tried to wipe the smug off its face, but it just ducked down its head. A sweep of its legs yielded similar results, though the turtle fell to the ground without its legs to support it. Adam tried to reach past it and grab at the pelican eel Faunus, but the turtle shot just its legs out and kicked off the ground, launching the stony rim of its shell into Adam's stomach. Reacting quickly, Adam tried to knee Otto in his stomach section, but again, it did nothing. Both sides of the turtle shell were apparently equally armored.

Ruby's about to die, and Blake's going to suffocate unless I can get past this amphibian creep…

Wait…suffocate…

And sea turtles are not amphibians. They're reptiles.

Adam shot Blush at Otto, and he retreated to the safety of his shell. This time, though, Adam dove to the back of said shell and wrapped his arms around it, clasping them in the front like the Heimlich Maneuver. Heaving with all his might, he lifted the weighty shell into the air and carried it towards the archway just in front of them.

Otto stuck out his arms and legs briefly, but they just flailed around helplessly. Like a real turtle, he was completely unable to reach his back. The limbs zipped back into the shell, likely thinking he would be safe in there. He wouldn't.

The sign in front of Adam read Flakey Ferret and the Savage Faunus Temple – the boat ride. Adam chucked the turtle Faunus stomach side up into the artificial river, then jumped in after him. Otto's head popped out, as did his legs, but Adam waded into the shallow water and kicked down on the front of his shell. Too late to stop it, Otto's hands extended and tried to pry off the boot that held him down, but it was no use. The difference in their physical strength was too great. Otto may have had the ultimate defense, but Adam was one swole motherfucker.

Adam drew Blush. Percy, the eel Faunus, could clearly see his protector being drowned, but he seemed unable to move with his mouth stretched out as it was. Fear filled his eyes as the barrel of Adam's shotgun lined up with his bloated throat, then just a touch above to account for drop-off.

Adam pulled the trigger.


Blake slid out of the foul-smelling prison she'd been held in and gasped for breath. Blood, mucus, and other secretions were coating her skin, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly what had happened. The torn folds of skin around her and the sputtering near-corpse from which they were extended only reinforced that feeling.

"Blake! Get Ruby!"

She turned to see Adam standing waist deep in that racist water ride. Before she could open her mouth to ask him what was going on, he pointed. "Tock's about to kill her! Go!"

Blake took off running in the direction he pointed. Looking ahead, she saw…Ilia!

Then, something hit her from behind, causing her to stumble to the ground. Blake looked up to see Hazel Rainart, holding a bloodied Wilt in one hand and an unconscious Cardin Winchester by the throat in the other. His shirt and coat was torn in one spot, but his aura was back up and sealing up a stomach wound already.

His foot came down over her face.


Adam breathed a sigh of relief. He was far away, but he could still see that Ilia had appeared out of nowhere, extended her whip to stab the angler fish Faunus, swung it around Ruby's waist, and pulled her out of the way before Tock could deal a killing blow.

Huh. I wonder why Ilia didn't help out until just now. What was keeping h–

An umbrella struck his head, and his aura broke.


Omake

Tock: Oi've trained a team of elite foighters called C. They're the best o' the best, capable of exemplary combat skills, brimmin' with all mannuh of secret talents, raised from birth for the sole purpose of aaaaaaaaaaaand they're already dead. Shite.


Omake 2

Previous Chapter Roman: I died, but at least I wasn't vored.

Current Chapter Roman: *gets his arm vored*

Current Chapter Roman: Fuck.


Omake 2.5

Blake: *equally forlorn* Don't worry. I got vored too.


Author's Notes

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