a/n: And we're back! Fair warning, this chapter is really gonna push the T-rating.
Chapter 2: Power Play
"Sir, we're approaching the power plant!" Clover announced.
The Charon Power Plant was one of the larger buildings in Mantle, built near the Crater so as to easily receive and process Dust. Ordinarily, smoke would billow out of the smokestacks and paint Mantle's sky a muddy gray.
Now, as the General's personal dropship approached the courtyard (the landing pad was in part of the building that collapsed) the smokestacks were the only part of the building that weren't releasing fumes into the sky.
Ironwood's nose was immediately assaulted by the stench of burning and rotted flesh when he disembarked from his airship.
"Let's go," Ironwood ordered, letting his soldiers tend to still-bleeding chunks the guards posted at the gate had been reduced to.
Clover followed closely behind the General as they walked past the carnage and into the smoldering ruins.
Squealch!
The General's Semblance was immensely helpful in letting him ignore what exactly he was walking on and through on his way to the office. The red paste would be easy enough to hose off his boots later, and if not, they would be easy to replace.
Special Operative Clover Ebi, meanwhile, stepped around the blobs of red, his Semblance keeping the bits stuck to the ceiling from dipping on him, even as Ironwood ignored the red stains the drips left on his own white uniform.
Regardless, the two eventually reached the office. The computer was still intact, even if the corpse sitting at the desk had been sliced in half and decapitated, but it would be easy enough to discern what had happened from here.
"Alright," Ironwood remarked as he plugged his Tome into the computer, "Let's see what the security footage captured."
"Beautiful weather lately, isn't it?" Brans asked as he sipped his coffee.
"Focus on the task at hand," Charlie shot back from his spot.
"Oh c'mon, this is the safest station in all of Mantle," Brans remarked as the sound of a roaring engine grew louder, "All we gotta worry about is dealing with any stray Grimm, which has probably already been riddled with bullets, that come out of the mines down in the Crater. This is the easiest paycheck in all of Remn-"
"Hang on," Charlie cut off with a raised hand, "What is that?"
A blue and red eighteen-wheeler barreled down the street.
"Hold it!" Brans shouted as he and Charlie pointed their guns at the truck, "This is a restricted-"
The truck fired two missiles.
Brans and Charlie jumped.
BOOM!
For a fraction of a second, Brans' entire world was burning and tearing. He couldn't breathe. He could see some red chunks as the whole world spun around him. Everything below his neck was pain.
Then, everything went numb and dark as the bits and pieces of his corpse hit the pavement.
Saff dashed for cover as the east wall exploded into fire and rubble, trying and failing to ignore the screaming and burning bodies that hit the floor around her. She ducked behind some machinery as the blue and red big rig truck pulling a white trailer with a red face symbol painted on the side barreled through. It was followed shortly after by four cars. One was white with blue and red markings, another red and white, the third blue and white, and the last primarily red.
She heard the sound of shifting metal, and risked a peak out from her hiding spot.
The truck had unfolded into a bipedal robot, and the other four appeared to be partway through their transformations.
The blue and red robot glanced around the room and spotted Livi.
Five seconds later, the single mother was reduced to a red paste by the robot's weapon.
Saff ducked behind her hiding spot as the other workers erupted into screaming.
One by one they were silenced by the gunfire.
Saff wrapped her tail around her waist, struggling to keep herself from screaming.
Her parents weren't around anymore, she had taken this job to keep her brother off the streets and out of the mines.
CLANG!
CRASH!
Her hiding spot had been swept across the room, leaving the teenager exposed to the blood-red machine staring her down.
"No…" she choked out, tears stinging her eyes, "Plea-"
BANG!
She didn't have time to scream.
I'm not leaving this building alive.
Vance eyed the camera feed as he made sure to record the footage and stream it to his contact.
This is for you, Sunny, he thought as he noticed the white robot approaching the office and kneeling down, Take care of Mell and Tanner. You're all they have left now.
A burning, metal blade cut through the office, his monitor, and his chest. With a tilt, his head and shoulders slid off the blade and onto the floor.
Esmerelda hit the brakes and her car skidded to a halt outside the Charon Power Plant.
"Alright boss, we're here!" she called over her shoulder.
"There's only the four of us in here," Opal chided from the passenger seat.
"Details!" Esmerelda waved off.
"Typical," Zephyr groaned as her antenna twitched.
"Enough squabbling ladies!" Rosalyn piped up, "Team ROZE is on the case!"
Rosalyn wore a black coat over a red shirt and combat skirt. Two belts crossed in an x-shape over her skirt. Her black combat boots splashed in the blood as she stepped out of the car. Her weapon, Heart Opener, was slung over her back. A silver necklace with a heart-shaped charm hung off her neck. A mess of brown hair framed her blue-eyed face. The light-skinned woman slammed the car door shut to glance over her teammates.
Opal followed shortly after her. She wore a white vest with a yellow trim over a blue dress with a green trim. She wore a golden circlet atop her head, with blue hair that was cut into a bob with green roots. Her boots were high-heeled, she wore blue shoulder-guards linked by a golden chain. Her bow, Heavenly Blight, wrapped around her torso, though she did not have a quiver. The dark-skinned woman quickly pulled on fingerless gloves.
Zephyr followed shortly after. She was clad from head-to-toe in pink and white-striped clothing. The dark-skinned Faunus wore a pair of green goggles on her forehead. Her weapon, Fae Snare, was wrapped around her body.
Esmerelda was the last, locking up her car. She wore a green jacket over a black shirt. Her blue jeans were tucked into muddy-green boots. A mass of black hair framed her pale face, purple eyes staring back out.
"So boss, what's the plan?" she asked as she put on her armored gauntlets, Angelic Chaos.
"We need you to climb the outside and find a side entrance," Rosalyn explained, "There's a lot of smoke obscuring the hole in the wall the assailants made, and we need to make sure that we're not a. about to walk into an ambush, or b. approaching a building that's about to explode!" She shuddered. "Dust can be pretty volatile."
"Don't worry," Esmerelda waved off, "I'll see if the fire's anywhere near the Dust, and send a warning to Headmaster Dunder if there is. If not, I'll create a distraction so you guys can get through."
"Just be careful!" Zephyr stressed, "We only graduated last week! It won't be a good look for us if we crash and burn on our first mission as Licensed Huntresses."
"You worry too much!" Esmerelda declared as she turned to the Power Plant and walked over to the wall, "See ya in a bit!"
Esmerelda took a deep breath and expanded Angelic Chaos into gauntlet mode, the bladed spikes jutting out of the knuckles.
"Here goes nothing," she declared, before jabbing her right gauntlet's spikes into the wall.
She pulled herself up and jammed the left gauntlet's spikes a bit higher in the wall than the right's.
She then repeated this process for several minutes until she reached the window. She pried the window open with the tips of one of her bladed spikes.
"Easy!" Esmerelda declared before slipping inside, landing feet-first on a catwalk.
Squealch!
She looked down, and immediately felt bile rise up her throat when she saw the pink mass that had wrapped around the warped metal beneath her feet.
Brothers above! What the hell happened here? Esmerelda wondered as she stepped off of the mess and glanced down, noticing similar messes lining the entire floor.
Bits of machinery were strewn around the place, some torn apart, a pile of glowing, pink cubes stood next to a trailer, and five giant robots could be seen filling up even more.
Esmerelda did a double take at the giant robots, but nonetheless sent a quick text to Rosalyn.
Found the attackers. Just gotta take out their robots first!
Esmerelda took aim at the back of the red robot's head and jumped. She activated her semblance, Ride the Wind, and glided forwards and downwards, slowly picking up speed as she activated the Wind Jets in her boots.
With a swing of her left fist, the spikes on her gauntlet punctured the back of the robot's head.
It let out an ear-splitting scream and jerked back.
"Yipe!" Esmerelda tried to hang on, but the red-robot's large metal hand swept across the back of its head, dislodging her, and causing some pink liquid to leak out of the puncture holes. She stumbled across the ground, but activated her Semblance and gave way to a steady glide as the five robots turned their attention to her.
The blue one charged ahead and swatted her out of the air, slamming her to the ground hard enough to make her Aura flash.
The Huntress glanced towards the hole in the East Wall as the robots readied their weapons.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Esmerelda jumped over and rolled under the blasts, keeping herself out of the viscera by firing blasts of gust out of Angelic Chaos' spikes. Her feet hit dry ground as she fired four more gusts at the robots and dashed to the west.
BANG!
She jumped to the left.
BANG!
She jumped to the right.
BANG!
"GAH!"
Esmerelda was struck dead on, sending her flying as her Aura flashed dangerously low.
"Huh?" the robot's pilot muttered, as the Huntress activated her Semblance and glided behind some machinery.
"C'mon, c'mon…" Esmerelda muttered as she heard the sound of shifting machinery and dug out her Tome, She flipped open the blocky device and typed out a quick message on the keyboard.
All eyes on me!
Low on Aura!
Send back-up n
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOM!
Esmerelda screamed as the blast sent her flying, her Tome clattering to the ground before she could send her third message.
Thud!
Esmerelda's already strained Aura shattered on impact with the ground. She groaned and pushed herself to her feet as all five robots trained their guns on her.
"No… Not like- "
CRACK!
An electric bolt struck the lead one.
BANG!
Ka-click!
BANG!
Esmerelda grinned, and dashed forwards, ducking between the legs of the blue and red robot as she surged forwards.
"We've got ya Es!" Rosalyn declared as Opal strung up her bow and fired off another lightning bolt and Zephyr used Fae Snare's ribbons to pull herself up into the ceiling.
Esmerelda broke into a smile.
"I knew I could count on y-"
A great weight shoved her to the ground and pushed the air out of her lungs.
CRUNCH!
Rosalyn froze in shock as what was left of Esmerelda splashed onto her face, blood oozing out from under the metal foot that her teammate had disappeared under.
Everything went quiet, even as Opal's next bolt of lightning missed its mark entirely and went flying into the ceiling.
The giant metal foot shifted forwards and kicked Rosalyn, sending the Huntress tumbling across the floor until she slammed the head of Heart Opener into the floor, letting it drag and slow her down.
"KILL THEM ALL!" Rosalyn shrieked as she pulled her ax-shotgun out of the floor and pointed it at the blue and red robot that had crushed Esmerelda.
BANG!
Something pink spurted out of the resulting bullet holes as Rosalyn charged forwards and fumbled to pull something out of her jacket, a mirror the size of a pocket watch at the end of a chain.
Rosalyn held the charm to her chest, the Aura surrounding her hand glowing as a red ring materialized above her.
A glass-like figure jumped from inside the ring and rolled into a sprint next to Rosalyn, forming the Silhouette of Bianca Prisma.
"Opal! Reflect!" Rosalyn ordered as she pocketed the charm and took out a second charm, "Zephyr, keep 'em busy!"
Fae Snare coiled around the arm of the red one and forced it to aim at the ceiling as Opal tossed her hand mirror towards Bianca's Silhouette. The Silhouette caught it and attached the mirror to a socket on her gauntlet as she opened it.
Rosalyn's face materialized inside the mirror as the real Rosalyn tossed another keepsake to the false Bianca. The Silhouette caught the charm and held it to its chest.
Opal fired off a bolt of lightning at the robots as Rosalyn opened fire, and a ring opened behind Bianca's Silhouette and deposited the fiery silhouette of Roane.
Bianca's Silhouette wrapped the charm's chain around its wrist so it could brandish it's duplicates of Cause and Effect, while Roane's silhouette dashed over to some overturned Dust crates and jabbed Burn and Combustion Dust Crystals into its volcanic duplicate of Drop and Roll.
Rosalyn charged ahead towards the blue and red robot as Opal and the false Roane opened fire on the robots from the edges of the room, fire and lightning bombarding the white and black robots as Rosalyn and the false Bianca ducked and weaved through the gunfire.
Bianca's Silhouette kicked off of the blue robot's leg to slash at the red robot's side.
Rosalyn reached to the air and kicked off the floor as Bianca's Silhouette stabbed the blue and red robot's right arm. Zephyr tossed down a strand of Fae Snare to pull Rosalyn up into the air, over her head, and throw her down at the blue and red robot's head.
"DIE!" Rosalyn roared as she brought Heart Opener down atop the blue and red robot's head, burying the head of the ax down on its head.
"GYAAAUGH!" the robot shrieked as a pink liquid oozed out of its forehead.
Rosalyn pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The recoil tore Heart Opener's head free as Bianca's Silhouette leapt up in the air.
Silhouette and Huntress met halfway down the blue and red robot's body, Bianca's copy grabbing Rosalyn and throwing her at the robot's torso.
The Huntress let out a war cry as she slashed her ax across the window on the robot's chest.
The blue and red robot snarled and folded into the flat-nosed cab of an 18-wheeler.
The robotic vehicle's tires screeched as it sped forwards and struck Bianca's Silhouette.
The Silhouette shattered into motes of red light, sending the pocket mirror and charm to be crushed under the machine's tires.
Roane's Silhouette, no longer sustained by Bianca's, dissolved into motes of red light, leaving its remaining Dust to drop to the floor.
Rosalyn snarled and held another trinket to her chest, calling forth the Silhouette of Ivy Thickety. Ivy's Silhouette lashed out with Pins and Needles, wrapping one end around Rosalyn's leg, before throwing the Huntress at the vehicle.
"You're not getting away!" Rosalyn shouted as she buried the head of her ax into the roof of the truck, pink liquid bleeding out of the wound as the vehicle screamed and unfolded.
Meanwhile, the robots that were blue and red respectively pointed their weapons at the silhouette and pulled the triggers.
Ivy's Silhouette merely activated Threshold causing the bullets to fly through the portals and collide, before pulling itself up into the rafts and delivering a kick to the white robot's face.
When the robot tried to snag it, the Silhouette sent Pins and Needles through Threshold, snagged its foot, and pulled its leg out from underneath its own body, only to get shot through the chest by the blue robot.
"Rosalyn!" Opal called.
"I know!" Rosalyn replied as she opened fire on the blue and red robot and rolled out of the way of a bloodstained foot.
She took out another charm, and used it to summon the watery Silhouette of Ruda Tilleroot.
The Silhouette copied Delve and sank through the floor.
The robots could only watch in bafflement, desperately scanning the ground as Opal and Zephyr took the opportunity to lash out with lightning and bladed ribbons respectively, spraying more sparks and pink liquid onto the battlefield.
Finally, the Silhouette burst from the floor and dove into the red robot's left forearm.
SKCHREAGCKH!
The red robot fell to its knees and screamed as it clutched the joint that once connected its forearm to its upper arm, the now useless limb twitching on the floor.
"These things can feel pain?!" Opal remarked.
"Perhaps there are no pilots," Zephyr noted.
The blue and red robot merely snarled and kicked Rosalyn aside, causing her to drop Ruda's charm, before shooting the Silhouette through the red robot's leg.
Zephyr lashed out and entangled the arms of the blue robot.
Opal blasted the black robot with lightning.
Rosalyn held an emerald medallion to her chest, the black chain dangling from her hand.
In a flash, Esmerelda's emerald silhouette was standing next to Rosalyn.
Esmerelda's Silhouette jumped into the air and glided towards the blue and red robot, Rosalyn providing covering fire.
Esmerelda's Silhouette punctured the robot's chassis with a punch, pulled its spiked gauntlets out, and then started to scurry across the blue and red robot's body as Rosalyn stepped out of her cover to continue firing on the blue and red robot, walking closer and closer to Ruda's charm with her back to the others.
"Rosalyn! Behind you!" Opal called.
"Huh?" Rosalyn glanced behind her just in time to see the white, metal hand rapidly approaching her.
"Rosalyn!" Opal called as she aimed her bow at the white robot, only for a gunshot from the black robot to force her to dodge.
Rosalyn jumped back, only for the metal hand to clamp down on her legs and hoist her into the air. Rosalyn tried to swing Heart Opener at the hand holding her legs, only for the robot's other hand to clamp down on her arms.
Rosalyn struggled against the metal restraining her limbs, and the white robot pulled.
The Huntress' Aura strained, flashing and flaring to try and keep her body together, but Rosalyn's ears were assaulted by squelching, tearing sound when her Aura finally gave out.
"GYAAAAAUGH!" she shrieked as her vision blurred, everything below her waist giving way to pain as she felt her blood pouring out of the massive wound.
The white robot tossed her aside, and Rosalyn's suffering was mercifully cut short when her skull cracked against the concrete.
"ROSALYN!"
Opal's wail of despair snapped Zephyr out of her stupor, just in time for the blue robot to pull on Fae Snare and slam her into the ground, right next to the upper half of her leader's corpse, her other half having landed somewhere near Opal.
The most Zephyr could do was close her late leader's eyes as the blue robot pulled its arm free of Fae Snare.
Zephyr noticed that Opal still wasn't moving, and lashed out with Fae Snare.
SHKREEAAK!
Sparks flew as the blades at the ends of the ribbons cut through the white and black robots' outer shells, the blue and blue and red robots training their guns on Zephyr's form as she dashed and swung throughout the building.
Zephyr reinforced her ribbons and blades with Aura, leaping into the air to slice through and detonate the projectiles in midair, letting the heated blades cut even deeper into the nearby robots.
She landed next to Opal, wrapped an arm around her, lassoed the rafters with Fae Snare, and swung herself and her teammate out of the line of fire.
"Keep it together Opal!" Zephyr shouted, "We need to take these things down!"
Opal wordlessly strung her bow and fired off several bolts of lightning.
The robots returned fire, barely missing.
"Time to split up!" Zephyr called out, "Stay on the move!"
She tossed Opal behind some machinery and continued to run and swing in the open.
She slashed at the joints of the blue robot, drew a pink liquid from between the eyes of the white robot, and pulled the blue and red robot's feet out from under its body.
All the while, Opal would occasionally dash out of cover, fire a bolt of lightning at one of the bots, then dive back behind new cover and keep on dashing.
The strategy held up for a good minute or two, up until the robot's stopped aiming at her and started aiming at the ceiling.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Their ammunition tore through the rafters and sent debris raining down, while also depriving Zephyr of the anchors she used to swing about.
One piece of debris, a metal pipe of a sort, was grabbed out of the air by the black robot.
Zephyr whirled around to lash out with Fae Snare, and the black robot threw the pipe like a javelin.
SQUEALCH!
Zephyr's Aura flickered out as the pipe punctured her midriff, the metal projectile's momentum yanking her back and piercing a crate full of fire Dust.
"N-no…" Zephyr coughed, blood oozing out of her mouth as smoke rose from the damaged container, "Not like-"
FWOOOM!
Zephyr's dying scream echoed throughout the building as her body was engulfed by the flames, the metal pipe that had pinned her to her funeral pyre melting onto the Faunus' flash-charred corpse.
And then, silence.
The only sound Opal could hear as her vision blurred was the sound of her own beating heart.
Esmerelda was dead.
Rosalyn was dead.
Zephyr was dead.
The Huntress dropped to her knees as the gravity of what had just happened weighed her to the ground, all other noises distant and muted.
"They're all gone…" she muttered, "I… I…"
Tears burned at the edges of her eyes as she thought back to their time in the Academy. The study sessions, the training missions, Rosalyn's stupid game nights, Esmerelda's too loud music she'd never play again, Zephyr's little cultural trinkets she had never understood or bothered to ask about.
She struggled to catch her breath, to keep the choked sobs from escaping her throat, until four clicks reminded her she wasn't alone.
Opal raised Heavenly Blight, pulled back on the bow string, and fired off the lightning bolt.
Sparks rained down from the ceiling instead of hitting any of the four colored blobs standing before her.
Opal pulled back and fired again, and again, and again.
Each shot failed to hit any of the robots.
Four bright flashes of light melded into one, and Opal was reduced to vapors.
Ironwood watched the footage as the Cybertronians packed up the Energon cubes and the red Cybertronian's severed arm into the trailer with the red face emblazoned on the side.
"Ebi, wipe the security system's hard drives as soon as the download is finished," he ordered, "We cannot afford to let this leak to the public."
"Understood, sir," Clover replied as the sound of a roaring engine grew closer, "Uh… Sir?"
"I'll stall for time," Ironwood replied, "I think I know who this is."
"James! What's the meaning of this?!" a large, red-haired, bearded man shouted as four of Ironwood's soldiers barely managed to hold him at the perimeter. He was clad in a brownish-yellow suit. A thick coat of matching colors was draped over his shoulders, a fluffy, white trim along the edges.
"Professor, this is a military matter," General Ironwood replied, "I suggest you go back to your little schoolhouse and let the professionals handle this."
"That 'little schoolhouse' is the Academy our Kingdom is named for!" the man shouted back, "There are proper channels for this!"
"George, I'd rather not involve civilians in this matter."
"That's Professor Dunder to you, Ironwood!" the man snarled, "You may think you're on top of the world now that you're General, but you forget that I have a seat on the Council too!"
"Unfortunately," General Ironwood muttered.
"My four best Huntresses are dead!" Professor Dunder snapped, "I don't have time for your stonewalling! You will let me do my duty and put the terrorists responsible to justice!"
"You're likely to be a little late for that," Ironwood remarked, "Their vehicles were last seen getting swarmed by Grimm on their way out into the tundra."
"But the surveillance footage might help us find out who they're working for!" Professor Dunder replied as he threw the soldiers off of him and stomped right up to Ironwood, "If you have even the tiniest bit of love for this Kingdom and her people in your heart, you will cease this obstruction of justice and let me do my damned job!"
"Unfortunately," Clover Ebi announced as he stepped out of the Charon Power Plant, "It would appear as though the terrorists thought ahead and wiped out the servers. They left nothing behind but corpses."
Dunder steamed.
"If that's true, you won't mind me launching an investigation of my own," Dunder replied as his brown eyes met Ironwood's steely blue, "Unless you know something I don't."
Ironwood snarled.
"Are you accusing me of having a hand in this?" the General growled as a hand fell to Due Process.
"It is mighty suspicious how this happened mere days after your promotion," Professor Dunder replied, "If you wanted to justify a power grab, a false flag operation would be the perfect way to pull that off!"
"Sir…" Clover stepped in, "We can't find anything else, I suggest we take our leave."
General Ironwood sighed as he let his hands fall slack by his side, before folding his hands behind his back.
"I have work to do," General Ironwood stated, "I'm sorry for your loss."
General Ironwood and Clover boarded the airship, leaving Professor Dunder and the soldiers behind.
"I'm sure you are," the headmaster scoffed.
"General, we're approaching the Nemesis' impact site," the pilot announced.
"Send a message to Megatron," Ironwood ordered, "I don't want to show up uninvited."
"On it," the pilot replied, "Sir! I'm detecting gunfire! There's a large number of Grimm near our designated landing site!"
"What?"
"I'm seeing a couple of Pteryxs, a few Manticores, and… Is that a Megoliath?"
"Drop us off," Ironwood ordered, "Clover, you're with me. Zeki, Elderne, on my orders!"
Megatron growled as he fired his fusion cannon at one of the large creatures, its remains dissolving as two more stomped up to take its place.
"Today was going so well…" he growled as he aimed his fusion cannon at the newcomers, Soundwave and Shockwave training their weapons on the others, Laserbeak flying overhead, Dirge laying on the ground in pieces a few hics away.
Before he could fire, however, a thin human in white landed on its back, lashed out with glowing arms that were far longer than Megatron thought was possible for the species, grabbed one of the flying creatures, and impaled it on the giant's tusks.
Before Megatron could fully process that, a bulkier human landed on the ground, extended root-like tendrils out of its feet, took out a hammer with what appeared to be a built-in missile launcher, slammed it into the underside of another creature, sent it flying into the air, before finishing it off with a salvo of missiles.
Perhaps Motormaster wasn't just trying to save face after all, the Emperor of Destruction mused as another human hooked one of the flying creatures with its weapon and tore the creature's wing off.
Any further musing was cut off by General James Ironwood dropping out of the air, firing his black gun into the back of one of the smaller creatures, slamming into the icy ground, and shooting another of the smaller creatures with his white gun.
"You looked like you could use a hand," the General stated as the thin and bulky humans finished off the giant the thin human had landed on.
"The local wildlife is a bit rowdier than we expected them to be," Megatron remarked as he shot one of the fliers out of the sky, the airship that had taken Ironwood here unleashing a salvo of missiles to take out the rest of the flock.
"Grimm are drawn to negativity," Ironwood replied as he stepped next to his second in command ("Cleaver Abby" or something along those lines), "Given that this must be a stressful situation for your men, I'm surprised it took this long for the Grimm to notice you."
"This isn't exactly an easy to reach place," Megatron replied as he blasted another of the "Grimm" off the cliff and into the chasm below.
"I'm surprised you didn't just send your aircraft to fend them off," Ironwood remarked.
"We're running low on Energon!" Laserbeak piped up as he shot down one of the flying Grimm, "I'm the only one currently cleared to fly!"
"… Did that bird just talk?" Ironwood asked.
"What's a bird?" Laserbeak asked as Soundwave shot down a flying Grimm that was closing in on the flyer.
"Battle now, exchange information later," Soundwave ordered.
"So, what brings you here?" Megatron asked. After the last Grimm fell, the group had relocated to the meeting room where the Atlesian Military's top brass and Megatron's inner circle had held their first meeting.
"There was an attack on one of our power plants," Ironwood answered, "There were no survivors, but I was able to salvage some security footage from the power plant before wiping the hard drives."
"So," the human-sized Decepticon opened as she strolled up to Ironwood, "You got that footage on you?"
Ironwood held out his Tome and Frenzy scanned the device.
After identifying the port, she shifted the necessary components out of her thumb and plugged it into the communication device's port.
Within nanokliks, after all the necessary footage was downloaded, Frenzy disconnected from the device, jumped into the air, folded into cartridge mode, and returned to Soundwave's chest.
Soundwave, in turn, transformed into a computer terminal, and the footage of the Stunticons' attack on the Charon Power Plant played in earnest.
Motormaster definitely wasn't just embellishing, Megatron noted, Those four humans are far more durable than their frames would imply, and the abilities their leader demonstrated…
"The footage is conclusive," Soundwave declared as he returned to robot mode, "That was definitely the Autobot symbol."
"So, they've already made their move," Ironwood noted.
"And next time, they won't be surprised by those strange abilities your warriors exhibited," Megatron remarked.
"Strange abilities?" Ironwood questioned, "How are you not familiar with Aura?"
"This phenomenon is not one I've encountered at all in my journeys," Megatron replied, "I've fought many battles, and have never faced an adversary who's abilities could not be explained by their physiology."
"Your familiarity with these anomalies would be most helpful," Shockwave remarked, "If the Autobots try to recruit any locals, we may very well need proper knowledge to even the playing field."
"Aura is a life force," Ironwood explained, "It's said to be the physical exertion of the soul. Using it allows one to shield their own body, to reinforce their garments and armaments to make them more durable, to accelerate recovery from injury or fatigue, and can even fuel Semblances.
"If Aura is the exertion of the soul, Semblances are the physical manifestation of who we are. Clover brings good fortune wherever he goes, Special Operative Elderne can root herself to the ground, Special Operative Zeki can project extensions of his limbs, and I can reinforce my will as easily as others can reinforce their bodies."
"So, your elite warriors have genetic mutations that allow you to bend the world to your will?" Shockwave questioned.
"No, aura can be used by any living thing with a consciousness," Ironwood replied.
"Then why does your entire race not utilize this power?" Shockwave questioned, "It is highly illogical to limit yourselves so severely."
"It's not a self-imposed limitation," Ironwood explained, "It takes a great deal of discipline to train oneself to the point that they can exert a life force with no physical matter. There's no muscle or nerve ending attached to Aura, which makes figuring out how to even access that power an ordeal in and of itself.
"And while a select few, such as Special Operative Zeki, are able to unlock other people's Aura for them, they are so rare that most of us have to open those floodgates ourselves. This is why protection from the Grimm typically relies on a select few."
"Do you think it would be possible to teach us how to use Aura?" Megatron questioned, "It might be helpful if we are attacked by these 'Grimm' again."
After seeing how easily one of those larger Grimm had torn apart Dirge with just its tusk made it clear that the life forms of this planet were far more dangerous than their organic physiology would imply.
"Special Operative Zeki?"
"I am unsure if it will work," the lithe human with the extendable limbs replied, "While I am not certain that the power is tied to genetics, seeing how some animals can utilize Aura, if it has not manifested on your world before…"
"Speaking of which," Megatron noted, "If animals can utilize Aura, will we have to worry about that from the Grimm?"
"No," Ironwood replied, "Whatever allows humans and Faunus to utilize Aura, the Grimm lack it. Aura is their antithesis. They are not truly alive the way you and I are. It's thanks to that fact that our Kingdoms have been able to endure them, even as negativity and strife draw them towards us."
"Finally, some good news," Megatron remarked, "Is there anything else you wished to tell us?"
Ironwood nodded.
"I believe it would be beneficial if we combined our forces to destroy our common enemy," he stated, "The Autobots will pay for what they've done."
As soon as Ironwood had been sent back, Megatron stepped into a deeper room in the Nemesis, where four of the five Stunticons were waiting.
"Well?" Motormaster, painted blue and red, questioned.
"It would appear as though my initial judgement was hasty," Megatron remarked, "You all did well, considering the anomalous abilities of the local lifeforms. Anomalous abilities we are working on replicating."
"Then I'll be able to get repainted?" Wildrider questioned as she continued to try and peel the black paint off her chassis, "Because I don't wanna look like Windcharger for nanoklik longer!"
"You should also let Breakdown know that I've decided to cancel his dismantling," Megatron remarked, "But make it clear that it is only because you fought this world's elites. Had mere footsoldiers been able to do that to you, I would remove the weakest link, for the sake of us all. Do not forget that!"
Megatron turned and left, leaving Motormaster, Wildrider, Dead End (painted white), and Drag Strip (painted blue) to muse on his words.
a/n: Okay so, the false flag operation (more specifically, the battle with Team ROZE) is a big part of the reason why this chapter took so long, as I kept losing track of which Stunticon was which.
For context, with the exception of Motormaster (who's disguised as Ultra Magnus), each of the Stunticons are disguised as the Autobots who disguised as them in the G1 episode "Masquerade". And yes, Wildrider is a girl now.
The idea here was to provide an important reminder: Regardless of what he may say, Megatron is not a good person.
As for Team ROZE, the idea was to set up a sort of Bad Ending version of Team RWBY who never fully worked out their early series issues. So Rosalyn is Ruby, Opal is Weiss, Zephyr is Blake, and Esmerelda is Yang.
Additionally, all of their allusions are video game characters. Can you guess who?
And now to reply to reviews:
Z-King: Well, was your guess correct?
In other news, FFN is dying. Someone else bought the domain name, and it's only a matter of time before they scoop up the URL as well.
If you want to continue following my stories, I'm also on Spacebattles and Archive of Our Own, and will still be there when this website dies.
Thank you for reading, and I'll see you all next time.
Update 7/21/2023: I've replaced all instances of the word "Scroll" with "Tome" instead.
Next on the schedule is Like Judas Thereupon Kissed.