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Chapter 21: Call To Action
"We're gonna lose 'em" Ursinia's tense whisper still held the same rural drawl as her regular speaking voice.
"No we're not" Regalia assured her, still pulling Clunker alongside with its' idling engine allowing it to do no more than hover rather than risk riding it and making too much noise as she led the way, Ursinia and Laser close behind and trusting in the Racoon Faunus's senses, instincts and Semblance. It was the latter of the three which Regalia herself was putting her faith in and the sweat currently prickling at her skin and trickling down her temples was nothing to do with the afternoon heat that she was well accustomed to and instead a product of her nerves and focus as her eyes glowed faintly with the effects of 'Look-See' her Semblance which, whilst often unpredictable and unreliable as it provided answers that did not align precisely with what she had intended had this time served admirably; the lack of interpretation involved in a command as simple as 'Follow' allowing a degree of certainty. With some assurance that she and her friends would be able to find the supposed dockworkers again Regalia had slowed her pace and allowed her quarry to move ahead, putting enough distance between them to ensure that they would not turn around and see a trio of armed teens following them through the intricate maze of shipping containers that they had disappeared into which made up the majority of the space around the freight docks.
After tracking the oscillating purple and golden glow that served as a marker that only Regalia's eyes could see and could be found no matter how many walls separated it from her, though her Semblance provided no directions the Racoon Faunus realised that she and her friends were close and the nervous, yet energetic tension between them was amplified as she broke the silence with a whisper.
"This is is, you sure you wanna do it?"
"This was your idea" Laser noted with a mildly disgruntled huff which he followed with a shrug "Whatever, if you're wrong then there's nothing to worry about; we can just talk our way out of it"
"And if you're right and these folks are who you think they are then we can't sit here and ignore it now can we?" Ursinia drawled, hat pulled low over her face to mask the sudden excitement in her eyes that had given her entire body an electric sense of tension. Regalia nodded slowly and parked Clunker, not wanting to risk the jetbike being damaged if the situation spiralled out of control and taking the collapsed form of Apex Scavenger from its' holster on the vehicles side, regarding it for a moment before holstering it again at her back and tucking the weapon beneath her jacket where it would be kept until she knew that any opponents they might face had unlocked Auras; an example that Laser and Ursinia both understood and followed. With nothing more to be done Regalia searched her mind for any suitable words to lead the charge with from the mass of pop culture she had consumed over her years of infatuation with Hunters and the Kingdoms that produced them.
"Cowabunga" she finally murmured before marching into whatever awaited her, her friends and fellow student Hunters at her back.
Only to find a plethora of weapons levelled at her an instant later.
"Told you the little shits were following us" the speaker, whose voice was calm but clearly irked was the apparent ringleader of the group that had caught Regalia's attention; now standing in a sizeable clearing which was surrounded by shipping containers on all sides, some of which had been opened. Flanking her and bristling with nervous energy that could spill into violent action at a moments' notice were not only the rest of the men, women and decommissioned Atlas Knights that had been with her previously, but also several more; amounting to a group that outnumbered the trio of teens handily and including several members who, like their ringleader wore armour under their overalls.
"Well now, guess that answers our questions" Ursinia managed a small smirk despite the severity of the situation as she inclined her head towards the criminals they had stumbled on "Howdy"
"We know you were involved in the Desert Claw fight club" Regalia began brazenly, puffing up her chest and hoping that she looked imposing to at least some degree "Tell me who you're working for"
"Yeah sure, I'll give you my bank account number while I'm at it….Fucking wasteland clan-rat" the leader of the group, the woman of indeterminate age with black overalls and red hair sneered scornfully before nodding to Regalia with a gesture towards one of her subordinates whose meaning was easy to decipher.
"You sure?" the criminal faltered even as they reached for a weapon "They're just kids?"
"You think we get less time for getting caught by kids, like five years off for pity?" the redhead woman spat, a sentiment which steeled the nerves of the goons posing as dockworkers around her; all of whom began readying both themselves and whatever weapons they happened to have on them.
At which point Regalia, Laser and Ursinia realised that diplomacy was over and that combat would be their only option.
"Dibs on the robots!" Laser yelled as he hurtled into the fray with reckless abandon, rushing passed and between several men and women, human and Faunus alike who tried to stab, shoot or club him and delivering several fast punches to their kidneys as he went until finally he reached the metallic surface of one the shipping containers and leapt towards it, vibrant yellow hair flying out, manic smile upon his face and greenish-yellow eyes shining with chaotic mirth beneath the opaque and acid green visor he wore.
It wasn't often he got the chance to use all of his tricks, Professor Altan deemed them unsporting but that didn't matter here.
Automated and mechanical climbing spikes deployed from the soles of his boots as he struck the shipping container, tearing the metallic surface but allowing him to run across it almost entirely unimpeded by gravity and he used that advantage to sprint towards the nearest Atlas Knight, leaping from the container to deliver a spinning heel kick to the torso of the machine, which was torn and grasped as the claws of his boots took hold; from there Laser used a cartwheeling move that resembled something that Athena-Jade might have used albeit with the Vaccuan scavengers' own brand of frenetic unpredictability in place of the Bear Faunus's fluid grace to lift the Atlas Knight off of the ground and smash it down, head first with destructive results. From there more of the robotic automatons turned their attention towards the lithe and slender teen however Laser was more than ready for them, even before their shoulder mounted weapons had taken aim the young man had reached into one of his many pockets and produced a handful of small devices that were in truth nothing more than relatively small Dust crystals connected to a trigger which would cause them to become active, however with the Dust in question being a mixture of Magnetic and Lightning varieties the results were catastrophic for the machines. A moment later Laser was between them with Permadeath in his hands, its' transformation into its' katana form not even complete before he slashed through one of the Atlas Knights with his usual dramatic flourishes.
Ursinia had foregone her weapon completely, realising that there was simply no safe way to fire a grenade launcher in these circumstances and that until she was certain that her opponents did indeed have unlocked Auras she could not risk swinging her great-sword about freely. A decision that was proven to be correct as the first thug that charged at her, sledgehammer in hand was left on the ground, gasping in agony and clutching at clearly broken ribs when the towering Scorpion Faunus kicked him in the chest with a stomping front kick, as one might kick a door from its' hinges. Thus vindicated and well trained in fighting without Aura or weapons by years of rough-housing with children from neighbouring farms and her cousins all through her youth Ursinia sidestepped a pair of incoming assailants, raising her fists up to cover her face and left both of them unconscious with well-measured but lightning fast punches to the head before seeing a young woman ready a shotgun that she seemed uncomfortable handling at all and, before the weapon could be fired surging forwards and tackling her to the ground, shoulder ploughing into the would-be shooters' gut and smashing the air from her lungs.
Before Ursinia could return to her feet however she was beset by a more cunning and opportunistic attacker, a Gecko Faunus who had hung back and lurked on the periphery of what had become and outright brawl; using adhesive pads on their fingertips to scurry along the shipping containers and leap onto Ursinia's back, wrapping one arm around her neck and brandishing a small knife in their free hand.
"I really don't like doin' this to folk y'know" Ursinia lamented as she reached up to grasp the back of her attackers' neck and pull them down "But….goodnight"
"Wha-" the Gecko Faunus fell silent, shock setting in as the Scorpion Faunus's stinger stabbed downwards and pierced their shoulder, Ursinia feeling the glands and muscles of her tail pump the venom she disliked using on even the worst of people into her opponents' body in a carefully measured amount before pulling the tip of her stinger free before shrugging off her opponents' limp, unconscious and trembling from; the reptilian assailant would live, though when they awoke in a few hours time they would be in for a world of misery.
Regalia, whilst not using her weapon was still a product of the wastelands where to fight at all was to fight as if ones' life depended on it and so showed perhaps less restraint than Ursinia who had been raised peacefully on a farm; as was proved as she grabbed a criminal from behind, taking them by the midriff and lifting them overhead as she bent her own knees and arched her back to slam her adversary down, head first onto the hard ground with a sickening crack. The person she had taken to the ground did not rise, yet nor did Regalia as before she could do so she was sent rolling across the floor by a kick that struck her painfully in the spine yet the nomad refused to be so easily beaten, especially not by those who had showed such open and despicable prejudice and dared to refer to her people as 'clan-rats' and so pulled herself up onto her hands and knees to see that her attacker was a huge slab of a man, with a leathery grey hide and a yawning mouth that identified him as a Hippopotamus Faunus. The Hippo Faunus came barrelling towards her from the right hand side with the obvious intent of driving a booted foot into her ribs or midsection and Regalia responded with practised ease by waiting until the last possible moment to fling herself in a clockwise rolling motion which saw her back lay flat across her attackers' leg, her right arm ensnaring the limb he had intended to kick her with whilst she drove her her left elbow into his groin with results that were predictable in their finality; though the Racoon Faunus delivered a swift punch to her opponents' jaw to ensure that he stayed down all the same.
"Regalia!" Laser's frantic voice cut through the noise of the skirmish, being punctuated a moment later by the sound of an engine roaring into life and Regalia's quickly sought out the source of the noise, a curse spilling out of her as she saw the redhead woman leading this band of criminals mounted on a motorbike that appeared to have been brand new and of an exceptionally high quality which had likely been stolen from within one of the shipping containers, more importantly she was taking great care to secure a single unmarked metal container, perhaps a little larger than the average shoebox before speeding off and Regalia did not need her Semblance to know that whatever would make the ringleader of the group abandon her allies so hastily was something of great importance.
"We've gotta go after her!" she yelled.
"Then go!" Laser shot back "Take your bike!"
"We'll handle these varmint" Ursinia added with a grunt of exertion as she wrestled with a particularly large opponent who had at least some degree of Aura on the ground "Someone's probably already called police, we can handle it until they get here" hearing this Regalia remained still and silent for only a few moments longer, rubbing her hands in a nervous gesture reminiscent of the animal her Faunus trait came from whilst her striped and bushy tail twitched nervously before finally she made a decision and sprinted towards where Clunker had been hidden, mounting and starting the jetbike in a matter of second and speeding after her quarry with her eyes once again glowing as her Semblance came into effect.
The chase was on.
Each of the herd of Grimm currently stampeding towards the destroyed sky-bus, its' wounded and terrified passengers and the trio of Hunter now preparing to defend them with their lives was a monstrous slab of saurian muscle. Each of the monsters would have stood comfortably at ten feet or more were it not for the forward tilt of their cumbersome, oddly pear-shaped torsos and their lumbering gait; their bulbous bodies were the expected shade of purest black and littered with the usual skeletal amour and spattering of spikes jutting through their thick and scaly hides almost at random. Their Grimm each had five limbs, a pair of undersized and almost atrophied arms held feebly out in front of their bodies where they provided little in terms of strength, protection or dexterity; a much more powerful pair of hindlimbs which were each wider around than even Wolfram's entire broad-shouldered body to drive them forward which ended in wide-splayed and three-clawed feet and finally a tail, the limb was long and oddly triangular in its' overall shape with layers of additional bone armour that rendered it almost totally inflexible and gave the appearance of being intended almost as a counterbalance of some sort. The head of the Grimm was attacked to a slightly overextended neck which was comprised almost entirely of bones that looped around its' circumference like ribs with no flesh between them to give it an oddly hollow appearance whilst the skull of the monsters themselves were bulbous, with a broad and flat bill that gave them an almost duck-like appearance save for the oddly glowing crests which adorned each of them; sprouting a pulsating mass of flesh and bone which arced back and curved over the Grimm's skulls towards the base of their spines whilst emitting a faint but brilliant white light.
"Boomers, of course it's fucking Boomers" the qualified and certainly more experienced, but currently seriously injured Hunter who had been overseeing the aircraft when it crashed snarled out, a sound that would have been more menacing were it not for the strained edge to it as he regarded the Parasaurolophus Grimm with distaste and a healthy amount of apprehension.
"I feel like there's a joke here somewhere" Astra noted as they readied themselves "But not the time"
"So how're we doing this?" Wolfram asked, shifting his weight as his every muscle coiled with such tension and incredible power that the ground began to crack beneath his feet as the air itself took on a charged, coppery taste around him.
"Well there's a few dozen of them by the looks of it….if they start letting off those ranged attacks of there's then we're gonna be in trouble" the older Hunter whose name the students had never learned noted, pausing a moment to allow the pair to imagine the disaster that would spell for those they were protecting "So I'm thinking the best way to deal with 'em is get up close and give 'em something else to focus on"
"That makes sense" Astra nodded "They look pretty big and heavy, but not too fast and not too smart"
"Then let's do this" Wolfram snarled hefting his axe and shield before turning to the injured man beside "Stay here and guard the passengers, me and Astra have got this!" before either of his allies could offer objections or input the leader of Team WULF was in motion and it was all Astra could do to offer a brief, apologetic glance to the Hunter before sprinting after him, adrenaline and sheer willpower allowing the teen to push through the pain of being in aboard an aircraft that had been shot out of the sky only minutes earlier.
Wolfram made no effort to look behind him and see if his hastily given order was being followed and instead simply trusted that it would be as he closed the distance between himself and the nearest of the herd of charging Grimm; a wordless roar of unleashed fury echoing out across the barren wasteland as he leapt into the air and drove his shield into to skull of the first monster with bone-shattering force and a booming impact which split the air before being followed up by the furious young Hunter driving his axe into the splintered remains of the monsters' skull and reducing its' entire body to shattered and fading fragments. From there Wolfram landed in a crouch and sprung forwards into motion again in the same instant, privately relishing the fact that the plan was working on the concerted direction of the herd had been reduced to a jumbled mass of massive forms crashing into one another as each Grimm attempted to wheel around and face its' challengers; his next blow was a savage, low swing of his axe which hacked cleanly through the leg of one of the Boomer's a little above its' ankle and Wolfram carried the motion through to slide his axe into his own shield which detached from his arm, the two components of Berserker combining and transforming to become the massively oversized hand-cannon that they doubled as. Wolfram gritted his teeth and lamented not wearing his usual compression bandages around his left arm, and that he had not modified his weapon in the way he had planned to as he pulled the trigger; the expected wave of jarring, bone-deep pain came with the recoil yet his aim was true and the downed, mauled Grimm was blasted apart by a single shot of Wolfram's weapon which he followed with several more, in defiance of the pain it caused him until finally he ceased and instead widened his stance; fixing the monsters gathering around him with the savage, leering grin of a madman as he extended his right arm.
Unleashing his Semblance with devastating effects.
Astra reached the herd of Grimm just in time to watch as Wolfram solidified the air itself and turned it into a guillotine blade which sheared through everything in its' path without resistance, felling a sizeable portion of the that which threatened them in a single, devastating blow. As impressive as his dates' display was however the Deer Faunus was not content to simply stand by and watch, instead he readied the blades and guns of Buckshot Ares; unleashing twin firestorms from each of his forearm mounted weapons as he weaved and tore through the chaotic mass of bulky, saurian bodies until finally he reached a Boomer that was rearing its' head back, crackling and pulsing light draining from the crest upon its' skull into the hollow space of its' neck as it readied one of its' ranged attacks to unleash at Wolfram; only to fall still and silent before fading away as Astra leapt into the air and stabbed through its' spine and pierced its' skull.
The victory was brief however.
Instead the sky was illuminated by a flash of the same brilliant white that seen the sky-bus torn from the air, accompanied by a trumpeting, echoing wail of a sound from the Grimm responsible.
"THE PASSENGERS!" Astra yelled in panic is he watched one of the Grimm at the edge of the herd, less distracted than its' peers unleash a ranged attack directly at the remains of the sky-bus, resulting in blossoming fireball and earthshaking explosion that was exacerbated by igniting Dust reserves which sent debris soaring high into the air.
"Damn it!" Wolfram snapped, physically dragging a ten foot tall monster to the ground with his bare hands "Where's the old guy?"
"He's…." Astra paused, weaving around an incoming Grimm whilst scanning the flames and smoke until he found the prone form of an armoured man, still clutching at his broken weapon "He's down, there's nobody covering the passengers!"
"Then fall back, I've got this!" Wolfram ordered without hesitation
"On your own?" Astra hesitated "Are you-"
"ASTRA! FALL BACK, NOW!" Wolfram roared, breaking the hollow neck of a Boomer with a violent jerking motion almost for emphasis before readying his axe and shield again.
Astra simply nodded in silence and did as instructed, too stunned by the sudden rage of his date to do otherwise.
Clunker's Dust engine, which had recovered from the remains of an Atlesian fighter craft and repurposed for the much smaller vehicle let a sustained and throaty roar as it tore through the streets of Port Alistair, Regalia clinging onto its' long, curved and swept back, chopper-style handlebars for dear life, with gritted teeth and lowered goggles as she chased after the escaping ringleader of the criminal gang she had found.
In doing so she soon learned that high speed chases were an aspect of her beloved vintage action movies whose sheer thrill and tension had not been exaggerated.
"Let's hope there's no melon stands" Regalia murmured to herself irreverently, images of several such incidents in cinema coming unbidden to her mind as she continued her pursuit. The two of them had long since left the docks and had first raced through several massive industrial estates in a busy and crowded section of Menagerie's capital filled with factories and warehouses that the Racoon Faunus did not know the layout of but had still half expected her quarry to vanish into a secluded corner of, only to be surprised when the unknown redhead had taken several sharp and reckless turns at death-defying speeds but ultimately continued onwards, eventually speeding out into residential areas which had naturally served to draw the sounds of blaring sirens towards them from somewhere in the distance as the police were forced to respond to the mayhem that Regalia had no doubt that the two of them were causing; despite the severity of the situation however the nomad would not allow herself to be bested and to that end she had maintained her Semblance during the entirety of the chase.
Which was why it came as such a shock to her when the objective marker of sorts that Look-See provided her with suddenly moved to somewhere else entirely now that she was so close to her target.
"What the heck?" she demanded to the air that rushed passed her and even as she continued to chase after the escaping criminal she tried to apply what she knew of the cities' layout in order to discern what her Semblance was trying to tell her, teeth gritting tighter still as she realised that given their direction of travel that redhead was likely leading Regalia towards the very edge of Port Alistair to the perimeter wall itself where she would likely either escape or pass on her precious cargo, whatever that may be to an accomplice.
Deciding that she could not allow that to happen Regalia sped off in the direction that her Semblance was now directing her.
Finding her new goal in a few short moments the Racoon Faunus was confronted with the sight of a makeshift ramp, presumably made by children to be used by their pushbikes and skateboards and constructed from what appeared to be leftover building materials and situated at the corner of a junction where two roads met at a right angle; the sound of a motorbikes' engine howling as it drew closer from Regalia's right hand side made it clear that her Semblance had brought her away from following the redhead directly so that she could instead head her off and in an instant those key facts distilled and refined themselves in her mind to form the kind of brazen and dangerous plan that she hoped Astra would be proud of.
Without waiting another moment Regalia surged forwards, sending Clunker speeding towards the ramp as she grasped the control that adjusted her jetbikes' antigravity control in one hand and drawing Apex Scavenger in its' shotgun form in the other, finger resting against the trigger of the weapons' harpoon component. Cresting the ramp the Racoon Faunus and her vehicle were launched high into the air, sailing almost level with the upper windows of the houses on the street which was situated an area that seemed to be lower middle class overall, comfortable but still compact and homely just as the motorbike came tearing into view and raced directly below her; with expert timing and precision and with reality feeling as though it had slowed to a crawl Regalia aimed her harpoon downwards and fired, directly into the back of the motorbike.
With immediate results.
As skilled as a getaway driver as the redhead woman clearly was she was limited by the fact that her bike was not intended to defy gravity the way Clunker was and as Regalia's jetbike sped through the air before returning to the ground in a wide arc, harpoon cable being pulled taut, the rear wheel was first lifted in to the air and then the entire bike was robbed of its' momentum which flung the diver over the handlebars and sent her smashing into and skidding across the hard ground, armour and flickering Aura protecting her whilst her black overalls were torn and tattered by the painful crash.
"So….what's in the box?" Regalia demanding, hoping to seem imposing more than genuinely curious as she hopped off of her own bike and used the barrel of her shotgun to gesture at the container which held whatever the redhead had deemed important enough to abandon her allies for. Her opponent offered no answer beyond pained groans and a hateful glare before reaching into the remains of her overalls and quickly drawing a handgun which she aimed and fired whilst Regalia's own weapon was directed elsewhere; the Ice Dust round sent an uncomfortable, biting cold and numbness through the Racoon Faunus's hand and arm despite her Aura as the limb was encased up to the elbow in a heavy block of ice which prevented her from pulling the trigger of Apex Scavenger.
"Really should've stayed out of the city and out of peoples' business clan-rat" the redhead sneered as she dragged herself back to her feet, gingerly checking herself for any serious injuries before ejecting the ammunition from her weapon and replacing it with a fresh magazine which Regalia's eyes widened upon recognising, her opponent aimed and fired with our hesitation and the Racoon Faunus quickly flung her frozen arm in front of her so that it would be freed by the shattering ice however the force of the high-impact and armour piercing round still knocked her from her feet and back several paces to land in a crumpled heap with her Aura flickering briefly around her.
"So long kid" the still unidentified woman gave a chuckle that was menacing simply for its' utter disinterest and disregard as she aimed the pistol squarely between Regalia's eyes faster than she could hope to ready her own weapon with her still numb hand and fired again.
Only for the bullet to be redirected.
An instantly familiar glyph, brilliant white and shimmering appeared between the Faunus and her attacker and as the bullet struck its' surface it was redirected and sent ripping through the dashboard and steering mechanism of the shooters' own motorcycle where her presumably valuable cargo remained secured in place; before the redhead could do more than let out a yell of frustration however the attack continued as Athena-Jade Slate herself came rushing into the fray, with help close behind.
"And stay down!" she yelled, skidding into view with a spinning motion as she swung Mould-Breaker in its' hammer form into the heels of the redhead woman, sending her crashing to the ground with a painful thud; back on her feet an instant later the mysterious enemy aimed and fired her pistol again only for the shot to once again be blocked by a glyph; which served as a landing platform for Zirconia who had leap down from a nearby street light with Sunriser Cain in hand in preparation for a decisive blow.
The final attack came from another source entirely however.
"MINE!" the low, guttural and broadly accented bellow of Diabla Fuego preceded the Mantle-born Huntress herself who stormed into battle without Peace and Quiet as there had been nobody to retrieve her weapons and instead relying solely on her Semblance, 'Overachiever' leaving her fists glowing like twin suns with a blazing, molten orange light that travelled along her forearms and spilled from her eyes as she landed a single, ground-shattering haymaker which lifted the redhead woman from the ground and sent her sailing through the air passed the rest of the assembled students with a landing that must have been agonising.
"We had that!" Athena snapped irritably before turning to Regalia "Are you okay?"
"Do you know what's in that container she was carrying?" Zirconia asked almost hopefully.
"Not important!" Diabla barked, rounding on the Racoon Faunus "Where're Laser and Ursinia? What the fuck have you roped my team into and who was that….And more importantly, WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GO?" Diabla gestured at the empty space that their opponent had occupied only seconds early, leaving three quarters of Team MARZ stunned at that fact that the redhead had vanished entirely, choosing to save herself above salvaging her mission and cargo.
"Semblance, maybe?" Regalia offered in confusion, debating using her Semblance again whilst Diabla simply let out a wordless and clearly aggravated huff.
"We've got other problems, listen" Athena interrupted, her tone both annoyed and at the same time inexplicably nervous at something it took Regalia a few moment to identify, namely the sound of police sirens drawing steadily closer with an intensity that suggested that several cars had been converging on the bike chase Regalia had initiated. As the first flashing blue lights came into view Athena lowered her weapon onto the ground took several steps back away from it and sank to her knees, placing her hands behind her head.
"The fuck are you doing?" Diabla demanded incredulously "You're a Hunter and richer than-"
"Every Faunus in Atlas knows the routine; it doesn't matter how privileged you think we are" Athena countered acidly, something truly furious bubbling to the surface for a moment before she forced her face into a neutral expression. Regalia herself was at a loss and had no frame of reference that she could trust, so instead she turned to her fellow students only to see Diabla puff out her chest as if spoiling for another fight whilst Zirconia simply looked as baffled as Regalia, nothing in the Grasshopper Faunus's life preparing her for such a possibility. Tension mounted with each tortuously slowly passing second until several patrol cars filled the street which was presumably normally far less eventful and whilst several armed officers exited their vehicles, taking cover behind car doors and making ready a lone figure stepped out into view; clad in brown tones adorned with gold, a heavy and embellished camera around her neck and sporting a pair of rabbit ears which added to her height, though one of them had been cut shorter in a battle decades ago.
"At ease, all of you!" Professor Velvet Scarlatina issued the command with a withering glare towards the police whose behaviour instantly began to change whilst her next words were delivered far more soothingly "On your feet Slate….that's not how we do things, not here"
"Professor, we, I was-" the Bear Faunus started only to be waved off by Velvet again.
"Miss Ursinia Red had the common sense to call the academy and inform me of what was going on and that Regalia had turned on the tracking function of her scroll so that you could find her location; I decided that I was within my jurisdiction to join the police in their response to an incident that sounded like it matched with what I had been told"
"Heh" Regalia rubbed the back of her neck nervously "I'm sorry for causing any trouble Professor, but I thought that-"
"You saw signs of organised crime and moved to intervene, plenty of Hunters would have done the same" Velvet's deep, chestnut brown eyes remained soft even as her expression hardened somewhat "But rest assured that all of you will have to explain the situation in detail when we return to Breaktide Academy"
Upon falling back to where the passengers of the downed aircraft were cowering as Wolfram had all-but ordered them to Astra had found the older Hunter whose name they had never learned to still be alive despite the obvious severity of their injuries, which included burns along with obvious trauma and a worrying amount of blood being lost despite the best efforts of the pilot and co-pilot to treat him. Astra still considered the fact that the man was alive to be one of only two positive aspects of the current situation, the other being that none of the passengers, as frightened and desperate as they clearly were had yet tried to do anything foolish such as breaking ranks and running from the Grimm.
Such optimism was hard to maintain as Astra was blasted back over the heads of several cowering civilians by a crackling beam of light discharged from the gaping maw of one of the Boomers, the attack connecting with the hard-light shields of Buckshot Ares and leaving the Deer Faunus sprawled face down on the dusty ground, certain that if their ribs hadn't been cracked before then they were now. This was what Astra's defence had been reduced to and they quickly, albeit painfully forced themselves back onto their feet, swaying slightly and with shoulders sagging in preparation to defend against another attack that would surely come in mere moments. It appeared that the Boomers were not quite as lumbering and simple as they had first appeared and the early attempts to distract the saurian beasts with a full frontal assault had begun to stall as first the Grimm towards the furthest edges of the herd and then greater numbers, increasing in a slow trickle kept in check only by their steady depletion began to regain their focus and turn their malevolent attentions back towards their original intent, however the monsters were forced to content themselves with their barrages or ranged attacks as any attempts to resume their earlier stampeding charged being halted with violent and tremendous force in the form of Wolfram Ironside.
Who currently moved like an unchained force of nature with a level of ferocity that Astra had not believed possible before.
Looking all the more fierce for the blood already staining his face as it spilled from the gash in his cheek and caused his steel grey eyes to stand out all the more vibrantly Wolfram tore through the Grimm with reckless abandon, rushing in close and taking the advantage of their ranged attacks away from them. Astra watched as one Boomer was felled when Wolfram charged with all his might into to the legs of a charging Grimm and not only crushed the hulking and muscular limbs with a pair of reverberating cracks but also flipped its' entire body end over end before seizing it by the glowing crest of its' skull and flinging it into its' kin with a booming impact. From there Wolfram's attack continued and Berserker was brought to bear once again, its' shield component glowing a molten red as it absorbed the onslaught of one of the Grimm's attacks as they opened fire with a yawning, trumpeting report; matching the cacophony with a roar of primal and feral rage of his own the young man charged forwards and leapt into the air despite the blazing beam of light the spanned the closing distance between himself and the Grimm until finally he was close enough to leap into the air and bury his axe in the underside of its' skull with a vicious upward swipe. As he landed Wolfram released the axe component of Berserker, which fell to the ground as the monster it was embedded in faded away and instead channelled his Semblance again, causing the very air to solidify with a freezing and howling wind as it solidified and weaponised against the monsters. By this point of the battle the herd of several dozen had been slowly thinned to a motley and disorganised mob of roughly ten of the cumbersome beasts and it seemed that Wolfram's victory was all but assured.
Until a thick tail, covered in rigid skeletal struck him squarely across the shoulder-blades.
"WOLFIE LOOK OUT!" the yell left Astra's lip a fraction of a second too late and Wolfram had only half-turned, perhaps to tell them not to use his mothers' nickname for him before the blow staggered him and was followed by the same Boomer driving its' thick and flat-billed skull directly into his back; as strong and resilient as Wolfram might have been the blow was a crushing one and he, like Astra had already suffered during their crash and as such his Aura rippled, the deep, dark grey of a gathering storm as he was flung from his feet; the lack of his customary armour making itself felt as he rolled from his chest onto his back and struggled to even breathe normally. From there the Grimm turned almost as one, lurching forwards in perfect unison with their jaws opening wide in a series of bellowing war-cries as they prepared to attack, with the single exception of the Boomer that had attacked Wolfram which advanced slowly towards him as he continued to struggle to stand. Astra watched the situation rapidly plummet out of their control and risked a glance over their shoulder, taking in the frightened faces of the people they were trying to protect as they struggled to devise a plan, some single instruction they could give that would salvage the situation; only for their thoughts to be intruded upon as they locked eyes with the heavily injured older Hunter who, by simple grit and stubborn willpower had managed to regain consciousness and some degree of coherence.
"Your mouthy partner could use a hand kid" he managed to groan out through bloodstained teeth and, despite the incorrect inferences that had been made his words managed to coalesce Astra's thoughts and increase the rate at which they raced through his mind, with an effect like a generator whirring up to its' full capacity until enlightenment came.
They were not going to stand back and allow themselves to be forced onto the defensive, they were Astra Mars; they were the teenager trained by Yang Xiao Long who had carried on the tradition of Ruby Rose by preventing a robbery simply because it was right and they were the version of themselves that they had tried to convince themselves and everyone around them that they could be, with such incredible success that even Wolfram had believed in the veneer of confidence and charisma that they had tried to project.
They were a bad-ass.
Astra moved without conscious thought, limbs acting faster than their mind could comprehend and transforming the Deer Faunus into a blur of motion as they aimed and fired their arm-mounted mini-guns with devastating barrages which ripped through the Grimm, cutting down their numbers to just a handful and halting their advance only to be halted in advance as the first Boomer unleashed its' energy attack.
"Damn it!" Astra snarled through clenched teeth as they took a single, strained and laborious step forwards in a battle of wills against the efforts of the Grimm as more and more beams of burning light struck the hard-light shields of Buckshot Ares, sending visible fractures across the rose-tinted and interconnected hexagonal panels; Astra's entire body ached and burned and their fiery red Aura flickered around them with strain as it became a battle of wills between Hunter and monster which Astra understood would end in a painful demise if they failed and both their own fighting spirit and weapon grew perilously close to their limits yet still they pushed onwards, one painful step after the next until finally their knees buckled beneath them and it seemed that they could give no more and the Grimm would be victorious.
Only for the nearest Creature of Grimm to be cleaved in half by a lancing beam of light, a laser weapon being fired downwards and from behind.
"Really, now they get here?" Astra demanded weakly as they collapsed to the ground, a weak and yet almost hysterical laugh escaping them at the sight of several armed and armoured aircraft descending from the clear blue sky unleashing payloads from not only their various weapon systems but also their cargo holds and it was at this point that Astra realised that this was the security detail from the festival that they and Wolfram had intended to visit all along, professional Hunters who had come to test their mettle before a paying audience leaping into the fray and doing so in a way that they had truthfully been hoping to avoid.
"Hey….you okay?" Astra's attention was caught by Wolfram, their fellow team leader having limped, staggered and ultimately collapsed again and crawled over to the Deer Faunus's position and laying beside them with his body facing in the other direction.
"Yeah….I think so" they managed to wheeze out despite the pain coursing through them in waves that alternated between deep aching and sharp, shooting demands for aid all whilst being aware of the fact that more experiences Hunters were continuing the battle where the two of them had been unable to and as they spoke Astra reached out toward Wolfram with a soft smile and Wolfram mirrored the gesture, resulting in something that was so utterly awkward it encapsulated the pair perfectly as the two tried to both hold hands and high-five one another in the same instant.
"So….did we ever call this a date, officially?" Wolfram asked with a gentle exhalation as he finally allowed himself to relax and offer a small smirk "'Cos if we did then damn, I really did just give you the worst first date ever"
The only response to that Astra could manage was to devolve into laughter that made those around them question their sanity.
"So in short" Qrow Branwen drawled "It's been one hell of a day?"
"Exactly and I'm gonna be honest, more than a little pissed at it….I was supposed to be doing something with my son today; the kid does not need all three of his parents constantly cancelling on him, no matter how important it is" Coco glowered, though much of the concern in her eyes was hidden behind her iconic and heavily tinted sunglasses.
"Personal problems aside, here's the long and short of it" she continued, removing her glasses and beret so that she could rub her eyes and run her hands through immaculately styled hair with an exhausted sigh "Team MARZ and their friends were involved in two incidents today-"
"Yeah, that sounds about right all things considered" Qrow's usual gruff tones being lightened by an amused snort.
"Not that we want to be encouraging that" Velvet announced her presence with a mild huff, stepping into the view of the camera built into Coco's office computer so that she could be seen on the video call rather than remaining just out of view where she had previously been leaning against a bookshelf; the slightly ominous feel of her sudden interjection and the apparent exhaustion that offset it both being at total odds with the Rabbit Faunus's usual warm and approachable persona only for Qrow's own weary and deep crimson eyes to dismiss those details for the moment and instead focus on the unmarked metal container that she placed on Coco's desk with a heavy thud, though he made no effort to directly question its' contents and instead turned his line of questioning in another direction.
"Team MARZ's leader, the kid that's related to Felix….Was what they're involved in-"
"Completely unrelated" Coco assured the veteran who had once again found family, as distant and tangential as it was in this case far too close to the problems he fought to keep from troubling Remnant for comfort "Some arms are gonna get twisted and some event organisers are going to be looking at some serious fines, a few Hunters might have to go to hearings and tribunals but overall it looks like there was no malicious intent; definitely no connection to our primary problems….they just happened to be on that aircraft when it was shot down by Grimm and held the line until help could get there. It was a situation that they shouldn't have been placed in"
"But these things happen, as much as we try to stop them and the kid did well" Qrow nodded solemnly "It'll make talking to Felix about this a lot easier….he's Yang's kid through and through and if he thought we'd gotten his younger sibling into any kind of trouble he'd raise hell"
"I can't say I'd blame him" Velvet noted with a resigned half shrug "Astra's team-mates however did seek trouble….although all things considered I can't say I blame them, or Regalia Russet specifically for what happened, especially not when it gave us useful information"
"Give me the basics, I'm sure Weiss and Gangrel will call their daughter first but Oum knows that they'll want explanations from all of us by morning….which I'm sure you also can't blame" Qrow made a concerted effort to sound as though her were not grumbling as he slouched within the mechanical chair that carried, only to fail entirely and receive baleful glares from both Coco and Velvet.
"One of our students, a member of the team who were caught in the illegal Grimm fight club saw a group of people that they thought might be part of the same organisation at the docks and moved to investigate, whilst also calling for backup and making the academy aware of their intentions. Well meaning and hardly the most reckless thing that a student has ever done" Coco began, a blunt firmness to her tone that quickly relieved Qrow Branwen of the notion that he could speak about her students, one teacher to another however he pleased.
"By the time I arrived on the scene Weiss and Gangrel's daughter, along with her partner and another student had already moved in to provide backup" Velvet continued, picking up where Coco left off "Out students' intuition was proven correct and several members of a group we suspect to be involved in the Grimm smuggling operation are in custody-"
"Are they talking?" Qrow asked, almost daring to hope"
"Not yet, whoever is paying them pays well apparently; on top of that the Atlesian Knights that they had with them were fried by one of the students, there's no chance of getting any data out of them" the Rabbit Faunus answered with some dismay before continuing "The apparent ringleader of this group escaped, although it seems highly unlikely that she was anything more than another pawn in the grand scheme of things; so overall I'd rather have kept the violence in a residential area to a minimum than have her in custody….We did manage to recover the package that she left her people behind to try and escape with and that gives us some indications"
"Go on" Qrow murmured, voice strained as the tension mounted to a steady crescendo as he sensed that Coco and Velvet were leading up to something, a subdued but unmissable sense of theatrical beginning to creep into their shared explanation.
"Well I think that this proves conclusively that whoever is smuggling Grimm and the people funding the outfit Persian Green was in charge of are in fact one and the same" Coco noted, face morphing into a feral snarl as she added "And that the bastards are running at least part of their operation out of my city"
"They're also well-funded and….whilst not the most technologically advanced they certainly have some ingenuity" Velvet added finally opening the container and removing its' contents, placing a twisted mass of metal, wires and barely identifiable components on the table for Qrow to observe.
"What am I looking at?" he finally asked, peering at the obviously ruined device as best he could but ultimately being able to discern nothing without being able to physically handle it.
"It was heavily damaged in the crash when one of our students pulled the suspect off of a stolen motorbike" Coco answered with no small amount of pride in her voice "But Velv has taken it apart and is pretty sure that it's a series of compact and repurposed hard-light Dust emitters.
"Shield generators" Velvet confirmed "Small scale but networked together….I think whoever made this was trying to design some sort of Grimm containment unit"
"Without ever having access to the classified Atlesian designs" Qrow murmured, mind racing with possibilities whilst also being reassured somewhat by that final detail "But why go to all this trouble?"
"Hard-light shields are the best way to contain a Geist….they can't merge with it" Velvet mused aloud, sending a visible chill rippling through Coco and Qrow which made them shudder as the realisation hit them.
"Their main attraction" Coco whispered, fury and fear mingling "That's what Team MARZ said Persian had called the Alpha Geist….I think whoever is smuggling Grimm is trying to recapture an Alpha Geist"
"Then we have to find them and stop them" Qrow answered simply, expression darkening to something truly morose "An abandoned building in the wastelands was one thing but if that thing ever finds its' way into a city…." he trailed off and Coco and Velvet shared a haunted look as they both understood the severity of the situation.
"It would be the end of Port Alistair"
"Awww, you really came rushing out of the gym with no weapons like that 'cos you worried about little old us? You really do care? Really, really?" the slight whining note of Laser's nasal drawl was exacerbated to comical degrees as he leaned into his partner, almost draping himself her in a display that was almost impressive given that she was standing upright, only to lifted and bodily flung elsewhere by Diabla herself though with less force than the gruff and acerbic young woman might normally have used.
"I did my job, one of the perks of being partnered with an idiot" her low growl was felt almost as much as it was heard yet it lacked any of the venom that her team-mates had come to expect and in response Ursinia merely let out a quiet chortle.
The entirety of Team WULF had found themselves in Team MARZ's dormitory, each of them eager to compare and discuss they days' events.
Diabla had positioned herself in a corner and surveyed her surroundings with a sense of wary tension as though she expected some manner of unpleasant surprise to come at any moment though whether it was due to the fact that she was expecting her actions in her earlier conflict with Athena-Jade to come to light and her team leaders' reaction to be predictably blunt and forceful or simply because the unsociable young woman had not spent any amount of time in another teams' dormitory since joining the academy was unknown. Whilst Laser had picked up on his partners' unease and attempted to handle it in his usual fashion, with the usual results Diabla had positioned herself on Regalia's bunk where Astra and Wolfram were currently sat, the Scorpion Faunus having used her Semblance to dull the pain of the various injuries whilst the rest of Team MARZ were gathered opposite them on Athena's bunk.
"Well damn, I thought we would have had the most exciting day out at least" Wolfram noted, managing to seem cool and detached despite his various cuts and bruises. He and Astra had been returned to Breaktide Academy once the Hunters that had rescued them and the passengers that they had been protecting had identified the pair as students. Once they had been received by a member of staff they had been first rushed to medical and given swift and thorough treatment by Nurse Kintsugi and her team of aides for the collection of cuts and bruises along with more serious fractured bones and tissue damage that they had endured in their ordeal before having been summoned to Counsellor Daichi's office so that the giant of a man could conduct a debriefing that was largely unofficial owing to the fact that the Grimm attack had not been part of a mission but that Yatsuhashi had felt was necessary nonetheless. It had been during this debriefing that the two team leaders had learned of their team-mates' involvement in a separate incident within the city itself and reacted with understandable haste.
Any awkwardness between Astra and Wolfram was momentarily suspended as the pair gave the entirety of their focus to their duties as leaders, though apparently any attraction or potential romance was similarly put on hold for the moment as, despite how close the two sat whilst sharing a bunk Astra and Wolfram were yet to properly look at one another and something went unsaid between the pair that suggested that with the way their first attempt at a date had ended it might be some time before either of them plucked up the courage to attempt such an excursion again.
In the meantime however Astra was focused on other matters.
"What happened?" the Deer Faunus breathed out slowly "How the hell did you end up having a bike chase in the city?"
"Heh, it's a funny story really" Regalia's eyes darted around nervously despite her total conviction in her actions and beliefs "So I was at he docks with Laser and-"
"Damn it Laser!" Wolfram snarled almost instinctively.
"Hey, not my fault….I was the voice of reason"
"He's not wrong, as bad as that is" Ursinia added with a small chuckle.
"So, anyway" Regalia continued, mildly irked at the way she'd been interrupted "We were at the docks and some guys passed us, really suspicious looking because they all had weapons stashed on them and they had Atlas Knights with them….I thought they might be with y'know, the people from before so we followed them to see what they were up to, they started a fight and one of them tried running with something out of a shipping container so I went after her….It was awesome"
"I don't know who those guys were" Diabla noted bluntly "Slate got word from Regalia that she might need back up, I joined her and her partner when they moved to give them back up"
"We were in the gym together" Athena added, answering a currently unasked but inevitable question yet saying no more, much to Diabla's surprise.
"So wait" Wolfram rubbed his temples before turning to Wolfram "These guys that Team MARZ chased down….they're with the people running that fight club you found on your mission?"
"That and other stuff" Astra confirmed with a nod, glancing around conspiratorially before adding "It's not public knowledge, like probably top secret but there's also an investigation into a Grimm smuggling ring between Menagerie and New Vale, I only know about it because my brother is a Hunter and his team are some of the people investigating it-"
"And Team MARZ went looking for the people involved? You're getting in on the action?" Wolfram finally met Astra's sea green eyes, his own stormy grey being filled with impressed surprise followed by mild annoyance "And you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't look for them" Regalia interjected, not realising that she was interrupting a moment not truly intended for her "I just happened to find-"
"But maybe we should look for them" Astra uttered the words quietly and hesitantly, yet also without conscious thought and fought the urge to wince as they silenced any and all chatter in the crowded dormitory; their friends and team-mates each taking a moment to consider the prospect for themselves, the expressions each of them wore speaking to their varied reactions until finally it was Diabla who broke the silence.
"Sounds like a good way to make sure your body washes up on the shore somewhere outside of Port Alistair's walls" the Mantle-born huntress grumbled quietly, rubbing at the part of her buzz-cut hair which featured a dyed orange streak in what might've been contemplation or simple aggravation.
"I agree with Diabla….to an extent" Zirconia murmured, looking away from the betrayed expression on Athena-Jade's face "We have no idea how many people this organisation has, only that they have people in important places and that they're well funded….and that professional, even legendary Hunters haven't been able to stop them. We could get ourselves or others killed and hurt by interfering"
"She makes a good point" Laser noted, happy that the argument had been framed in a way that did not sound entirely self-serving as nobody would believe such an angle from him.
"But people are going to get hurt anyway, we can't sit here and lie to ourselves about it just so we feel better about doing nothing" Athena implored, sadness mingling with anger as she considered what their unknown enemy was capable of "These people have already killed people and now they're working and hiding out here….where we go to school? No, we've gotta do something"
"Now that's something I can get behind" Ursinia donned the hat that she'd removed out of politeness so that she could tip it in the Bear Faunus's direction.
"Heh….I uh, I think I made it pretty clear where I stand" Regalia noted with a wide, nervous grin as she rubbed her hands together.
"With the bike you nearly killed me with, I knew you were lethal on that thing….Good job" Wolfram gave her a feral smile and a nod of approval before turning to Astra with an expression that was both expectant and at the same time hopeful "Make the call….you give the word and I'm in"
"We know that the Professors are already looking into this, we know that other Hunters are already looking into it as well" the Deer Faunus massaged the point where their antlers met their skull before fiddling idly with part of their dyed red Mohawk before continuing "But we've found these ass-holes twice now and I don't wanna get cocky but I kinda feels like the only time the professionals do something is when we hand the evidence over to them-"
"That does sound a little cocky, I'm not gonna lie" Wolfram's eyes gleamed in the light "But I like it….so we're doing this?"
"I don't know what we're doing exactly" Astra shook their head "But we've gotta do something"
And with that Team MARZ and Team WULF committed themselves to action.
The carnage had been swift, bloody and unspeakable.
For weeks now the monstrous creature that had once been an Alpha Geist and had subsequently become far more than that had gathered its' strength, both in terms of its' own raw physical might and prowess as the alterations and additions to its' form including a high-calibre weapon and the entire form and being of another Alpha Grimm became fixed and took root and also in terms of the horde under its' command. The Alpha Beowolf that it had bested, mauled and consumed into itself had been a leader of what those observing its' activities had dubbed a 'Super-Pack', several packs of Beowolves controlled by a single cunning and powerful Alpha that spanned over a greater area and as the monster that was no longer either truly Geist or wolf began to understand and manipulate its' new connections and standing within its' own fiefdom of the shattered and fragmented hive mind that had once connected all Creatures of Grimm those Beowolves had flocked to its' shrieking calls, gathering from across a vast swathe that ran through the centre of the island of Menagerie and extended out into several surrounding territories to kneel and cower before their new master.
There had of course been some amongst the pack that had snarled and snapped in retaliation, animal rage and fury leading them to fight rather than bow in submission before the hybrid monstrosity yet each and every one of them had been torn limb from limb by the Grimm that could only rightly be described as some manner of Hell-Hound, though in truth it was yet to develop the intellect or awareness needed to refer to itself as anything at all; the bodies of the lesser Grimm it had slain being left to fade away as the Hell-Hound saw nothing within them with consuming.
Once matters of leadership and dominance had been thoroughly settled it had been time to hunt.
The pale light of the broken moon shone down on the grisly remains of the packs' latest ambush which, as was proven by the overturned vehicles, broken glass, bloodstains and other gory and haunting sights had been a terrifying success. Unbeknownst to the Grimm themselves their victims had been a group of outriders belonging to one of the nomadic clans that wandered the desolate wastelands in search of resources whose mere locations could be bartered for small fortunes with the Kingdom of Menagerie yer here they had found nothing but horror and death as their voyage had taken them too far from the established roads and the limited safety that they provided; leading them into a dead end where they had been followed and set upon by the Hell-Hound and the largest and most fierce of its' new horde of subordinate monsters. A handful of their prey had survived, their numbers in the single digits and inconsequential to the Grimm as what little animal cunning most of them possessed simply reasoned that those who escaped would either flee as far as they could or return with more prey that their new Alpha would lead them to victory against.
The Hell-Hound itself had other designs.
Whilst the other Grimm, base and unthinking things that they were gorged themselves on and tussled over bloody scraps of meat that had been people only a short while ago; feasting on the lingering emotional output that hung in the air like a spectre after such a display of violence the hybrid Alpha searched for something else entirely, stalking between the wrecked and in many cases burning vehicles that the Beowolves had no use for with its' lupine and skeletal skull protruding from the folds of its' fleshy, black hood; Cyclopean eye roving intently across each vehicle in turn until it found something that intrigued it.
With a snarl of exertion the Hell-Hound reared up onto its' hindlimbs and used its' four arms to grasp an overturned dune buggy by its' roll-cage and a bent axel and forcibly right it, barely waiting for the vehicles destroyed suspension to stop creaking as its' wheels impacted against the ground to begin searching it; prising open the roof of the buggy with its' upper limbs and sending forth its' flattened vestigial tendrils which disguised themselves as ragged fabric, their clawed tips writhing and grasping as they ripped through the dashboard of the vehicle and tore out several components only to cast them aside as the Hell-Hound failed to find what it so desperately sought.
At which point the Grimm let out a shrieking howl that sent its' pack scattering and cowering with tucked tails and frightened whimpers.
The Hell-Hound that had once been an Alpha Geist was changing, more importantly it knew and understood that fact, or did so as much as it could understand anything without truly crossing the Rubicon of true self awareness that few Creatures of Grimm ever lived long enough, or were altered in ways that allowed them to achieve.
The changes that accompanied consuming the Alpha were easy for it to understand as they fell within the framework and guidelines that had governed its' existence since its' spawning, violence, hunger, death and the fractured hive mind yet there had been something else; something during its' battle with the Hunters where it had merged with everything at its' disposal in order to cut down those who sought to harm it where it had felt somehow connected, part of something larger and filled with all manner of terrors and delights that set its' senses ablaze; inadvertently prompting the mutations and apotheosis that it had undergone.
The Hell-Hound needed more.
Author's Notes:
Well, three chapters in and I've managed to get suitably ominous….And fair warning, some of this won't get paid off for a while, but it will be worth it.
Nothing to really add here, so let's summarise shall we?:
It took me a while to think of a title for this chapter, but I feel like this fits because this is where the main characters are starting to take an active role in the things happening on Menagerie, rather than just have things happen to and around them.
Yeah nothing about a jet-chopper is stealthy.
About time Regalia's Semblance got an unequivocal result.
Hunters are really not geared for fighting the average criminal.
Walking straight into loaded guns, my Vol.02 mirrors Yang in actual Vol.02.
I've said that there's a degree of discrimination towards the nomad clans; of course one of the villains decided to call Regalia a slur….Also, I was planning on having the redhead woman be a one-off character but I've realised that she could actually be fleshed out to fill up some roles I need a character for later on.
Honestly it's about time Laser got a chance to shine, he's usually the but of the jokes.
Ursinia is a strong as hell country girl, tangling with her gets you hurt….Also yeah, we've never actually seen her use her stinger to poison anyone before but she can.
Regalia 'Suplex a Grimm' Russet is not the one to play with…..You grow up in the wastelands you learn to fight dirty and nut-shots are perfectly legitimate strategies.
You didn't think I had Regalia bring Clunker out for no reason did you?
Parasaurolophus Grimm, based on both the genetically modified and glowing ones from Camp Cretaceous and also a Power Ranger having a Parasaurolophus Zord that doubled as a laser weapon.
I think I restrained myself on the Boomer jokes quite well.
Wolfram is hyper-masculine man of action and that is eventually gonna come back and cause him some problems.
Astra and Wolfram make a good team but again we a crucial difference in their styles, Astra leads; Wolfram commands.
Baby gets to go on her first high speed chase through a city.
Police didn't mobilise until the chase entered a middle class area, I said what I said.
Using a ramp to send her jetbike over the other persons' bike and firing a harpoon into the back of it, that is exactly the sort of plan Astra would be proud of.
The redhead, who I don't have a name for yet is definitely a little bit of a bad-ass.
And now we have the cavalry.
Diabla being typical Diabla, there's no way she was gonna be able to work fluidly with AJ.
Excuse me for getting a little too real there but yeah, all of Weiss and Gangrel's kids have had the talk about dealing with police.
Velvet Scarlatina in the early chapters of Downward Spiral kicked a police officer through their own car door and she would happily do it again.
Yeah anyone that runs away in a position like that is on there own, Astra doesn't have the cover he needs to watch everyone if people start splitting up.
Sucks to be the person with two shields when they need someone to take hits.
Wolfram is an absolute beast, especially when he starts using fighting Grimm to work through his own issues.
This is Astra choosing to straight up believe his own hype and just be the person he's trying to convince everyone he is….Will that pay off in the long run?
Okay but is it really Dues Ex Machina if it was set up in advance?
Definitely a one-star review on Yelp.
Qrow summed it up perfectly.
Oh if Felix Xiao Long thought that his half sibling had been used as bait he would raise hell in ways you can't imagine.
This scene really is just to recap and tie things together so you can see the strings, also Laser's little Dust bombs….Yeah they specifically picked for plot relevance because that keeps Coco and Velvet from just using the hard-drives from the Atlas Knights to find out where they've been.
So Coco and the others have come to the right conclusion albeit in the wrong way; the Desert Claw crew and the smugglers are the same team but only because Grapeshot and Carmesi took over after the fact.
This was what the Benefactor mentioned a couple chapters ago, he said he was sending them something useful; it was a capture unit for the Alpha Geist….Also the Atlesian designs are a callback to FADE and likely wouldn't work on the Geist even if they had one here.
I promise we will get to the route of Diabla's problems in a few chapter, but not before things get even more tense with her.
Yatsu is absolutely right, give those kids a chance to process and work through the fact that they just had to fight for their lives after a fucking plane crash when they were supposed to be on a date.
Of course the two of them are gonna continue to be awkward dorks around each other.
Damn it Laser, probably words that are heard very frequently.
Of course Wolfram is annoyed that he didn't get invited along for the action.
That does sound cocky but I like it….I love it when she's feisty vibes, anyone?
And now back to the horror show.
The Hell-Hound is a placeholder name, the Grimm will give itself a name of its' own as it evolves.
And naturally the monster had minions now, that's gonna be fun….Although I'm consciously trying not to make another Phobos from FADE.
A handful of survivors means word of the Hell-Hound got out, that's an important detail.
So the Alpha definitely still has the typical Grimm thirst for violence and destruction but it's also looking for something else; let's see if anyone can figure it out before I reveal it.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Funlander and MajorBrony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
I mean I'm sure characters having common sense and being a little genre-savvy breaks some sort of ethics code but at the same time Ruby did it canon by figuring out that she's gonna meet a Grimm-Summer at some point, so I think it's fair…..Besides people that are stupid for plot convenience are no fun to write.
Lawyers in love? You're gonna have to explain that ship name to me.
Also, not really a conundrum on AJ's part as Astra and Wolfram haven't actually contacted their team; the hunter called for back up but that's not gonna come in the form of first year students.
In universe reason is that Astra has always had a least a little Aura left when they've taken a big hit, meta reason is that something as important as breaking off their antlers in a fight is obviously being saved for a big moment.
Rawr; it means I love you in dinosaur.
Oh AJ is a Bi disaster.
You're more on the money than you think about Diabla and we'll get there soon enough.
I've been dropping hints about Zirconia's guardian...but I never said anything outright, they are indeed the ones buying up the formers backers of Persian Green and there absolutely more to it.
I mean Menagerie is basically Salem's old backyard in this story so yeah; it's like Australia...Once you're out of the city limits everything wants to kill you.
The AJ and Diabla conflict will get its resolution in the mid-season finale of Vol.02
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.
