We stopped briefly to drink and eat, but I didn't want to waste any time. While walking to the edge of the Green Zone I'd received the information I needed from Goodwitch. I'm looking for a Claude Redman, and I'd need a full hand print. She'd also sent a street map of Vale with the area highlighted.
The barricades were interesting to me. There wasn't just one, instead there were multiple set up between various buildings. All of them were ramshackle and looked like they could be deconstructed in moments to place back up at other points further on. The ragtag mix of older generation huntresses and huntsmen, civilian militia members and even the occasional Atlesian solider was an odd sight, though not unwelcome. Winter and I came to a stop in front of the barricade, and I largely ignored the whispers from the people around me.
"So, you coming with?" I asked, glancing at my companion from my peripheral. She seemed to preen at the question with her posture straightening.
"Of course. Perish the thought that I'd fail my mission because you disappeared on a suicide run." She said, moving her hair from her face. I snorted then motioned to the guards to open the gates.
"Nice priorities. Do what you want, I guess." I shot back, stepping through the gates when they opened, and peering above the wall at the watchman as the gates slammed shut behind us. He gave us a thumbs up, which made me smirk.
"I will." She affirmed, drawing her ornate saber from her side. "Any guidelines? This is your operation, after all."
I glanced at her, drawing Crocea Mors and equipping my repaired shield.
"Just don't slow down."
I smiled in amusement when she gaped at the audacity of my words, and took off in a sprint. Grimm weren't far, and the first to be slain was a Creep that was unfortunate enough to be closest. The tip of my sword impaled him, and without stopping I picked the Grimm up and slung him off my blade into the snout of a nearby Beowolf. It cowered back a few steps from the hit, and that was enough for me to take advantage. Its front legs were quickly severed and another step left its head bashed in from my shield. Several more Grimm met similar fates when we cleared the first street. As we made to cross a particular building, an Ursa rounded the corner and stopped right in the path of my charge. Without much thought I broke into a sprint, and as it reared on its hind legs and roared at spotting me, I leapt towards it. The tip of my blade pierced into the roof of its open mouth and rammed straight through the top of its skull. It fell backwards when I crashed into it, and I rolled off its smoking corpse to check on my companion.
A completely bisected Ursa lay on either side of her on the pavement, and I noticed how not a hair was out of place. She looked to be completely in her element. She smirked at me, and I frowned.
"… this power difference is disheartening." I stated candidly, blinking at the devastated trail of Grimm behind her.
"It comes with time, Arc." She said supportively, trailing the edge of her blade with a finger. "You're off to a good start already, believe it or not."
"Hm." I grunted, already turning to continue on. "I'll take your word for it."
We kept up pace through roads, sidewalks, and alleys. The further we went the more fluid the fights felt. Winter dealt with more advanced Grimm, while anything smaller was on my personal menu. Any shortcuts we took ironically took longer, due to the odd concentration of small fry lurking in the dark. They were cut down easily enough, but the time lost to them made the shortcuts unreasonable.
After jumping from the head of a Taijitu, I landed on top of a Beowolf and laughed as its legs were knocked out from under it. I thrusted down and Crocea Mors pierced it from the top, then I sliced forwards. From the center of mass, the Beowolf was now vertically bisected. I leapt from my crouched position on its back and instead faced the hissing approaching from behind.
One of the fangs smacked broadly against my shield and cracked from the force, and I had to fight to keep from skidding back. After regaining balance I threw my shielded arm forward and hit the same tooth, breaking it off in the mouth. I jabbed my blade into the exposed root of the fang and liquids squirted across the edge. The snake writhed and contorted making me retract Crocea Mors, but with the other head frozen to the pavement it couldn't go far. I sprinted forward and split towards the blinded side of the head. I planted my sword deeply into the already burst eye, piercing the bone of the socket and barely managing to hold the head of the writhing snake in place. I breathed deep before catapulting myself over the neck of the snake, all while dragging the handle of Crocea Mors behind me like a lever. A horrible meaty sound followed my path, and the Grimm stopped moving.
I looked back at the carved open skull cavities of the King Taijitu, watching the small brain meat of the creature evaporate into smoke before yanking my weapon from it. My blade was polished on my jeans before I turned and kept moving.
"Well executed, Jaune." Winter said, waiting for me a half a block up the road. She finally started to look worn from the sheer number of Grimm we've killed on the way with a few hairs out of place and a smear of vehicle grease marring her uniform.
"You helped me. Does it even count?" I deflected, catching up and continuing my pace with her at my side.
"I only took half. Besides, considering you have no ranged or support options to aid against a King Taijitu, I would say it almost counts." I rolled my eyes at her explanation, boiling down the long-winded sentences in my head.
"Gee Winter. Be careful being so generous, you might hurt yourself." I grumbled, inwardly smirking when she politely laughed at the joke. I honestly didn't think she was capable of laughing. Or telling jokes.
The journey continued with slaying any Grimm that showed themselves. I noticed that Winter took less charge the further we got, and it made sense in my brain that she would try to let me get experience where I could. Especially considering this is my mission. The map to Blackburn Street took us directly into the heart of downtown Vale, where both business complexes and a night life scene once thrived. There were pillars of smoke rising from some building where fire had yet to die out, and I eyed them cautiously. Buildings were crumbled from car crashes and fallen posts to the point that the rubble was more frustrating to deal with than the Grimm. We took more than a few detours on our way.
I kept my reactions in check, but I never could get used to the bodies. No matter how many we passed, I still felt sick looking at them.
They ranged from civilians to White Fang and even the odd Atlesian soldier. Many were shredded from small fry, having their limbs gnawed to the bone but not eaten. Some were ripped to bits, and others had less dignified deaths. Dead from crashed vehicles, dead from fallen debris, and one dead from immolation.
The smell was uniquely horrible.
Eventually we made it. I ripped the edge of my shield from the caved-in skull of an Ursa, stepping over its severed legs to look at the building edged with black and flecked with gold. I quickly checked my digital map and confirmed. Turning, I see Winter shatter an ice sculpture of 5 Beowolves.
"What a waste of dust…" She lamented, crushing an ice shard under foot as she walked to me.
"This is the place." I said, thumbing the building behind me. She gazed at the complex for but a second before turning away from me and brandishing her twin swords.
"Search for your target. I'll hold here and keep the street clear for your return."
I didn't bother with a response. Instead I turned and entered the shattered glass turning doors that led to the reception area. My grip remained strong on Crocea Mors as I moved closer to the desk, eyes locked on the stairwell sign to the right of it. I didn't even consider looking for elevators.
"They wouldn't be powered anyway…" I muttered to myself, moving the heavy steel door to the stairwell aside. It had been knocked off the hinges and blocked the bottom half of the doorway. Stepping past the threshold I caught sight of a diagram of the apartment I was in.
"Thirty floors…? What the hell?" I coughed, looking at the diagram of the building in shock. The building seemed to be more than just an apartment complex, and as I read the floor breakdown I slowly started to understand why.
"Top floors are reserved for card holding employees of Iradia Corp. LLC, all other access restricted to Overstate Employees. Floor 26 is a lounge, Floor 24 is a casino, Floor 28 is a restaurant?" I listed off, becoming more aware that these weren't simple apartments like I thought they were. In hindsight, I suppose it makes sense that one of the four best engineers in Vale would live in a cushy place like this. "Ah. Residentials on the first 10 floors. Floor 9 is rooms 98 to 110."
I stepped away from the glass covered diagram to look up the center of the stairwell and stared for a moment at the number of levels I could see above me.
"Great."
I sighed before forging my way upwards. The further I got, the more I felt the urge to gag. Once I reached the entrance to the second floor I realized where the stench was coming from. A disemboweled corpse was slumped in the doorway, keeping the swinging door open to show the darkness of the corridor beyond. It smelled rancid, and its gray skin was crawling with maggots and buzzing flies. I skirted around the brown splatters of blood that coated the floor around him and climbed another flight before taking a breath. The body was pushed from my mind as I forced myself to keep climbing the flights. Bright red emergency lights flickered on and off above the entrances I passed, lighting my way until I finally passed through to the ninth floor.
The hall looked expensive. My shield led the way in front of me as I walked down the corridor, with my gaze narrowing in on details. Odd gashes lined the walls and floors, marring carpet, tile and wooden accent walls alike. I counted off the apartment numbers, noting the doors were either busted in or barricaded. I curled my way along the floor, reaching a wall of doors whose entrances faced a wall of windows that looked out into Vale. Room 106 had just been passed, and with another minute I stopped in front of my goal.
"107…" I grunted, noting the splintered door that lay in pieces on the floor. I entered, immediately recognizing the rancid smell. The apartment was full of stuff that caught my attention, from photos hung neatly on the wall to various knickknacks and odd bits of technology. The kitchen was vacant, as was the bathroom and work room that were nearer the entrance. A pale-yellow light down the hall caught my attention, and I rushed to it, nearly tripping on a haphazardly placed bag of tools.
"GRUAAAA-!"
The large Beowolf had its head sliced off by Crocea Mors before it could fully round the corner, and I simply stepped over the smoking body of the Grimm into the room. My eyes soaked in the lavish view of the fireplace-fitted living area, complete with a full-wall library and a personal bar. There was an artificial screen that covered the entire wall across from me showing the city, and slumped against it was a very deceased Claude Redman.
I pull out my scroll to try and match what was left with the picture Glynda had sent, and even though he was shredded from the mouth down he looked close enough. Tight cropped red hair and blue eyes, with remnants of a large beard still clinging to the strips of flesh that hung from his jaw. I grimaced, but moved forward towards him.
The first thing I noticed was the standard combat shotgun next to him. It didn't look like anything special, but even from this distance I could see the strap and the clearly labeled safety on it. I snatched it up quickly, ignoring the crusted brown blood that was splashed on the stock as I pulled the strap over my shoulder.
'Wish I knew how to check it for ammo.'
I moved on to Claude, carefully grabbing one of his arms and lifting it to gaze at his hand. I dropped it unceremoniously upon seeing the skin torn off his palm. I grabbed the other, and did the same inspection. I sighed in relief, seeing the left hand in perfect condition. My knee braced my weight on the ground, and I drew Crocea Mors.
"Sorry buddy, need to borrow this."
A quick swipe separated the hand from Claude, and with that done I quickly grabbed a blanket from the nearby couch to wrap it in. I was vaguely aware of how likely it was that the blanket was more expensive than my armor. Afterwards, I grabbed my scroll and tested out those short-range towers that got set up after the CCT was ruined.
"Hello?" The strict voice asked from the other end.
"I got the material we need." I said blandly, tying the blanket parcel to my belt while shivering as blood started to seep through it.
"Mr. Arc?! Tha- that's incredible! Our manpower is spread so thin, it would have been months before we would be able to afford a search mission like this!" A deep breath sounded over the speaker, crackly but clear enough. "There should be an engineer's guild depot near your location with a genetic sequencer for the defenses. They were built for emergencies like this, so it should still have power. I'll send you the entrance codes and location."
"Right. I'll head out immediately." I stated, already in motion towards the entrance of the apartment.
"Good luck. A lot of people need this." Silence reigned on the other end for a moment. "Thank you Jaune."
The line clicked dead, and I looked at my scroll in thought before putting it away.
"Huh." I grunted to myself. "I would have killed to hear something like that a year ago."
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
A piercing scream rang throughout the floor and stopped me in my tracks. A series of gunshots followed, then went silent before another two burst out. First my blood went cold at the sounds, but before I knew it I was sprinting out of the apartment.