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Chapter 74: Cosmo-Guild
The ground roiled and shifted before the sucking mud was reduced to a flaking, pale ash that crumbled under the trembling footfalls of the Degradation as the monstrous Grimm unleashed another pulse of its' horrific, radiating miasma whilst at the same time galloping forward on the seven of its' original eight legs which remained.
"HOW'S YOUR SEARCH FOR A PLAN GOING!" Stygian's voice shifted jarringly from one direction to another as the Mouse Faunus used his Semblance to first bring himself into the path of danger, directly at the edge of the Grimm's area of effect and then turn and bolt away from the lumbering monster in a way which convinced it to give chase, freeing the rest of Team TRQS for long enough to reload their weapons. Beneath her protective veil Tiger's expression was a grimace as she studied the situation, she would not have asked her partner to throw himself at the enemy in the way he had no matter how heartlessly determined and single-minded she be accused of being, yet she could not deny the benefits that it had brought as she now saw that whilst the Degradation was durable in the extreme and that its' wounds seemed to sizzle and bubble before closing as if seared and cauterized from within it did not truly regenerate, a missing leg worsening an already ungainly thing to render it unable to keep its' prey with the area of effect of its' pulsing radiation or even attack them effectively through other means; further to this Tiger sensed that the Degradation was far from intelligent if the ease with which it could be redirected were any indication.
"Forcing it chase us through the forest would be a short term solution!" Tiger called back to Stygian, readying her weapon in its' oversized and overwrought pistol form before shooting out another of the Grimm's eyes with a sickening pop which stunned it enough for Stygian to slip free of its' notice to leap up into the trees where Tiger was perched, Amaya and Rye following his lead and converging on nearby branches; with Amaya being the first to offer a counter argument.
"That thing's passed through here more than once, these trees have all been messed up by that blast it uses….It'll charge through the trees while we've gotta navigate. It'll be able to catch up with us-"
"And that's providing we don't run into any other Grimm and get bogged down again" Rye added softly, clearly being unhappy with having to add more negativity to the situation or additional pressure to Tiger's role; a kindness which Tiger privately appreciated.
"We're thinking in the wrong direction; I don't think it's gonna chase us anyway….We need to something permanent, dramatic" Stygian warned, pushing royal blue dreadlocks that were not part of the styled work of braids atop his head back from where they had fallen in front of his face; the conviction in his words replacing his usual attitude being enough for Tiger to take the suggestion more seriously and glare down at the Grimm, letting out a muttered curse as she did so. The Degradation had given up trying to find Team TRQS even though doing so would require it to turn only one of its' many eyes in their direction and slam into the trees they hid in with crushing force, instead the monstrous lump of spongy flesh had pressed its' tendril-filled and flaring trunk of a face to the ground was snuffling at the ruined mud with a series of dredging, congested sounds which managed to grate at Tiger's nerves as she struggled to think.
Though eventually her mind managed to produce something which would likely appeal to her friends' sensibilities and love of theatrics.
"Rye, I want you to get ready to make the biggest wall that you safely can without risking the bunkers below; something that completely encases the Grimm" Tiger watched as Rye nodded in silence, mentally calculating how much power he could use "Amaya, a reverse of that move you two always try….get me as high up as you can, use Gravity Dust if you have to"
"If you're sure?" Amaya murmured, seeming to sense that whatever came next would be risky.
"I am….I've got Magnetic Dust and an idea" Tiger nodded before turning to her partner "Stygian….Stitch, I'm gonna need you to get me out of this"
"I get it" the young man's mouse-tail twitched behind him, his usually playful expression tight as he took in the deeper meaning of the request; specifically that Tiger was intending to throw herself into something so dangerous that not only would she need to be rescued but that his Semblance was the most viable way to do so.
After a few moments of preparation in tense silence the four of them were ready to make their move.
Seeing that the hulking beast was still distracted by the churned mud it had warped Rye leapt down from the trees as quietly as a boy of his size, clad in heavy armour could hope to with Chivalry in its' sword form and held ready as he dropped into a crouch and thrust a palm into the cracked, ashy mud which caused it to erupt upwards at his command and begin forming a wall more dense and solid than expected which encircled the Creature of Grimm even as it continued to rise higher into the air.
"Now!" Tiger hissed as she took one half of Amaya's weapon, the conjoined revolvers having already been imbued with Gravity Dust and with total trust in a team-mate who had proven herself time and time again she leapt, allowing Amaya to use the Dust and her own Aura-enhanced strength to turn Tiger's descent into something which simply built momentum for a returning upswing and sent the leader of TRQS soaring high into the air where she released her grip and hurtled upwards and directly over the opening at the summit of Rye's Semblance-forged walls; spotting the Degradation trapped within and thrashing against its' confines which were already beginning to be corroded by its' influence.
With cold and steely determination being compounded by the rush of adrenaline and excitement at the brazen daring of her own idea Tiger readied Fearful Symmetry in its' ranged form and fired the rounds of Magnetic Dust she had loaded directly downwards, the points in the Grimm's disgusting hide they pierced glowing faintly purple for a brief moment to confirm that they had been engaged. From there Tiger, even as she continued to fall transformed her weapon into its' trident form and reoriented herself in the air whilst at the same time loading more Dust into the weapon which began to make its' blades glow a mixture of red and purple as Fire and Gravity Dust took hold.
Turning Tiger into a living homing missile, a burning contrail following in her wake as one magnet was drawn towards the other at a terrifying velocity.
Tiger had let out a primal yell in the instant before the blow landed, if only to steel and bolster her own nerves despite the fact it was too late to do anything more than prepare for the inevitable and this sound was lost entirely beneath that tortured braying of the Degradation as Tiger struck its' back with the glowing blades of her trident and burst an instant later from its' underside in an explosion of jet black sludge and viscera which faded and evaporated.
"Come on let's go!" Stygian had rippled into place at Tiger's side without hesitation; using the trees as a vantage point and was now dragging a dizzy and unsteady Tiger to her feet, sheathing his sword so that he could pull her along more effectively only for the two of them to be brought to their knees, Auras rippling about them and bodies wracked with seizures and blinding pain as a poisonous shade of green consumed their vision; the Degradation had in a desperation borne of the fact it had been utterly rent apart and fully two thirds of its' mass lay separate from its' head and forequarters, used its' radiating sickness to such a degree that the ground bubbled and Rye's containment wall began to crumble as though it were a mere sandcastle.
Then, through blurred, burning and watery eyes Tiger saw a lone figure perch atop the wall and aim a sniper rifle.
The Degradation did not simply fade away as it died, an armour piercing round bursting through its' head and delivering the final blow needed to defeat it; instead the thing exploded with a blast of concussive force and acrid flames which spewed rancid black smog which flung Tiger and Stygian into the remains of Rye's wall even as the two of them tried to crawl through the mud and drag one another to safety. It took several moments for the two of them to share a look and silently convince themselves of the fact that they had indeed survived, the sight of each others' Auras flickering and wavering but ultimately intact finally being enough to convince them that they had weathered the storm and begin picking themselves out of the filthy mire that the clearing had been reduced to only to be helped by both their team-mates and the source of their rescue.
"I know" Artemis chuckled as she helped Tiger to her feet "You had that"
"No….I didn't" the leader of Team TRQS bowed her head in what her team-mates, who were steadily coming to consider her a friend instead of simply a leader after their most recent interactions realised, with some galled disbelief was disappointment and shame.
"Hey it's fine, we did it right?" Stygian declared, weary but elated "People rescued, Grimm whacked, we can go home right….We're done?"
The silence was deafening.
"What's going on?" Amaya asked, sensing that something was amiss and being the first to voice the concern.
"Are the evacuation flights not coming?" Rye asked, visibly haunted at the idea of having to trek through the forest with a group of wounded, desperate and frightened people.
"They're coming….Every available aircraft is coming, but they're dropping people at the nearest village instead of Cosmo-Guild where we supposed to be based" Tiger's mismatched eyes were hard, yet unsettled as she added "There's been an attack"
"On the factory?" Tiger demanded incredulously.
"Yes. All available Hunters are converging to provide reinforcements….You kids have seen enough; especially after that blast, you should join the evacuees and-"
"No" Tiger shook her head forcefully before pausing to consider her team, looking around Team TRQS and being rewarded with matching looks of unshakeable determination "All available Hunters includes us"
"You don't have to do this. I will not think less of you, your team will not think less of you….nor will anyone at the academy" Artemis's words were soft and quiet, solely for Tiger's benefit "You don't have to prove anything here"
Tiger made a show of checking her weapon for damage and meticulously adjusting a few components before brushing scorched earth and ash from the blades of her trident whilst Stygian, Rye and Amaya fell into place around her.
"Yes, she really does" the Mouse Faunus sighed "And we're gonna be right there with her….'cos what're partners are for right?"
As absurd as the notion objectively was, Astra was still left considering the idea that Petrol had in fact been toying with them and going easy during their previous bout which had led to the Avian Faunus's imprisonment, such was the skill and ferocity he fought with now.
"Is this all they teach you Hunters? I thought you'd have learned more in the year that I spent in a cell!" Petrol's voice lost the veneer of sneering, aloof taunting that the older Faunus had clearly been hoping to maintain and instead the words left him in a mucus-drenched scream of rage as he and Astra exchanged blows once more. Astra, already battered and flagging as the ordeal wore on leading with a familiar flurry of blows as their left arm lashed out at the elbow and Petrol was forced to weave below an incoming blow that would have seen the broad and lightly curved shield portion of Buckshot Ares slam into his skull, from there the deer Faunus pivoted at the waist and expertly feinted a roundhouse kick before sweeping at their opponents' legs and carrying their momentum into a spin as they dropped low and brought their arms out once again, this time with the blades of Buckshot Ares extending. Petrol however retaliated with a display of casually masterful and efficient violence, leaping over the attack aimed at his legs and tucking his knees to his chest before landing on the surface of a shield to throw Astra off-balance, kicking out with a booted foot to connect with his enemies' cheek and sending the younger Faunus reeling and staggering frantically back to their feet which Petrol answered by following after them with a lunging, wild left jab which disguised a grab for Astra's antler; from there Petrol dragged the teen forward and prepared to stab at a sea-green eye with the bowie knife in his right hand. Astra blocked, hand to ear and shield covering a wide area which prompted another brief scuffle which terminated with Petrol slamming a fist into Astra's gut and elbow into the base of their neck with devastating force to leave the Deer Faunus on the ground, dazed and retching as they fought the need to vomit.
Were they not currently struggling to breathe and keep full control of their bodily functions Astra might have wondered, disheartened and frantically searching for an answer that would help them, how exactly Petrol had managed to outclass them so thoroughly, only to realise that the answer was simply a constant, relentless exposure to the worst kinds of violence within the prison system; the usual dangers and pressure of the older Faunus's lifestyle magnified and applied without release for the entirety of their imprisonment with the thought of revenge likely being one very few things giving the young man the drive to continue. Where Astra had been training in the largely controlled environment of Breaktide Academy with intermittent missions Petrol had been forged in a crucible, surrounded by older, more experienced and capable criminals from whom he had been forced to learn.
Astra's thoughts would have stopped however, replaced by the Deer Faunus's current struggle to stand once more as Regalia rejoined the fray.
"Mother-" Petrol's venomous insult was cut short by a strangled sound as Regalia's Harpoon struck him, Aura keeping form skewering flesh and bone yet still it caught on the cheaply made tactical armour he had donned and dragged the Avian Faunus backwards and several paces away from Astra; Petrol's attempts to rip the harpoon free only aiding Regalia as it allowed her to retract the projectile and shift Apex Scavenger into its' melee mode. The Racoon Faunus had been choked, winded and discarded in a previous exchange of blows wherein Petrol had managed to use the shaft of her own weapon as leverage against her for long enough to land a decisive hit however now it seemed that Regalia was ready for him and thoroughly enraged; pickaxe head held aloft in a two-handed grip clearly intended to bring the weapon down on Petrol's skull.
"Regalia look out!" Astra yelled with as much force as they could muster in their current state, receiving a kick to the gut for their troubles but still providing enough warning to ensure their partner evaded when Petrol used that kick to spring himself forward and spit a glob of glowing Semblance-made sludge in the direction of her face. Regalia sidestepped and hastily the angle of her attack into a crescent shaped arc to slam the shaft of the weapon into Petrol's midsection, the blow staggered the man and his feet slid on the concrete floor and were lifted from it for a fraction of a second before he grit his teeth and wrapped an arm firmly around the weapon and used it to pull Regalia close, delivering a headbutt which saw the goggles she wore cut into the bridge of her nose.
Throwing Apex Scavenger aside the Racoon Faunus simply let out a wordless yell and continued the fight with the style developed by years of rough-housing with the children of clan Aiktishaf, arms seizing Petrol by the waist and at one knee in an attempt to drag him to the ground only for Petrol to shift his weight and remains standing by throwing himself into a wide, sprawling stance which left him leaning over the Racoon Faunus's back and raining blows on her flanks, her Aura rippling precariously with each pass of his knife in a ravaging assault which would see her left bleeding on the cold ground in short order.
Regalia punched him squarely in the groin and leapt up, driving her still masked and armoured face into his nose and mouth with enough force to break a stained and crooked tooth.
Seeing their opponent slash and swipe blindly at their partner until there was enough room between the two of them to gather his wits Astra saw their moment and seized it eagerly and wholeheartedly, watching as Petrol panted and gasped, sagged over himself in a way which looked simply savage and dangerous rather than defeated owing primarily to the knife he still clutched but also the wild look in his rancid rot-coloured eyes and the thin trickle of blood staining his chin being spread into a dirty stain as his free hand massaged his jaw; the Deer Faunus rushed close and threw himself into an attack, Petrol turned and made to respond only to first see Astra leap into a flying spinning kick far too soon to be a real threat only for the sloppiness to be revealed as a ruse as Astra unleashed their Semblance in an expanding flash of fiery red light which solidified into a glowing construct which expanded their limbs and brought the kick of the titanic yet brief and transitory construct into range, landing with devastating force and sending Petrol skidding across the ground.
Only for a shrieking sound to fill the air.
"Astra, that sounds like Grimm!" Regalia yelled, Astra's lingering Semblance dissipating into a wave of glowing embers which were rapidly reabsorbed into their form, the Deer Faunus hissing out a curse as they turned their eyes skyward and straining their ears until they could hear the initial screech answered by gunshots issuing from the opposite side of Cosmo-Guild's expansive production facility. Their focus broken momentarily by a bemused and surprisingly genuine bout of laughter from Petrol as the downed Faunus pulled himself into a sitting position.
"Regalia, shoot him for me" Astra growled and the Racoon Faunus, masked face inscrutable retrieved her weapon from the floor and made it ready until Petrol raised a single hand, seeking a pause whilst not offering surrender.
"This isn't the plan….We didn't account for Grimm" the Avian worked his battered, possibly cracked jaw before adding "We didn't expect it to take this long, didn't expect this much resistance….Don't have to account for the fucking Grimm in the city-"
"That's too bad" Astra snarled, keeping the blades of Buckshot Ares ready in case Petrol tried anything unexpected whilst Regalia visibly braced herself with a similar intent; Petrol himself merely laughed again.
"The tough guy act didn't work before, doesn't work now. All you do is get one lucky hit and call it a win kid" his expression became more serious "Sounds like a lot of Grimm, a lot of the defences here are already damaged….You're a Hunter, you've got a job to do and I've got people here too, they won't take orders from you though"
"So what're you getting at?" Astra demanded coldly, sharing a look with Regalia whose feelings they could sense even whilst her face was hidden from view and understanding that the two of them both knew what was to follow, both knowing that accepting the offer Petrol was about to make was simply a sensible decision yet that it would repulse them both on a fundamental level. Petrol didn't disappoint as he pulled himself to his feet and made a show of sheathing his knife at his back.
"I can wait to kill you another day you little prick" he sneered at Astra "As for right now….Truce?"
Athena-Jade's attackers had managed to seize the initiative early on, using the element of surprise and the Bear Faunus's distraction with her partners' well-being to great effect however the tables had steadily begun to turn and presently the gang, heavily armed as they had been were being thoroughly educated on the various mistakes they had made in their strategy.
"You picked the wrong bear to boogie with!" her words came as a ragged, feral scream of exertion which was accompanied by a wild look in sapphire coloured eyes which caught every flash of light from glyphs and firing weapons to grant the young woman a positively unhinged and dangerous look as she closed the distance between herself and her nearest opponent. She had been accosted in the dark by a trio of what she could only assume to be gang members playing at mercenaries or something more serious and credible judging by the lacklustre quality of the armour relative to her own protective vest and the clothing they wore beneath it, though despite this the trio had managed to catch Athena and Zirconia unawares and use a well placed hit on a control panel to separate the two of them, no doubt leaving the Grasshopper Faunus to fight assailants of her own however the attackers had made a fundamental flaw in that the heavy weapons they carried, whilst well-suited to damaging the plants' defences or cutting through any bindings and shackles that might hold a dormant mech-suit in place were a woefully poor choice when it came to dealing with a lone, mobile adversary.
Athena-Jade's first target carried a heavy duty laser cannon, larger by far than Mould Breakers' ranged form and requiring an external power pack which the gunman carried on his back with an extensive harness, the combined weight of the total rig visibly straining him and leaving him unable to evade as Athena zigzagged through the air at odd angles, heading inexorably towards him with her oversized hammer trailing threateningly behind her as she weaved around lances of thrumming, searing light which left a metallic tang of ozone permeating the air and destroyed the production lines and workbenches filling the area as the gunman frantically tried to hit her; in moments the first of the trio fell as Athena reached him, managing to lock eyes for a brief moment in which she saw the fight leave him; entire body gripped with fear as the Bear Faunus flipped over his numb, shocked form to activate the Dust-powered thruster built into her hammer and slam the head of the weapon into the power source for opponents' laser and in the process send the man hurling through the air with enough force to leave him strewn limp and unconscious in the debris now littering the factory floor.
Athena was forced to use a wall of glyphs to defend herself before she could even properly reorient herself.
Skidding back along the ground with her ears ringing and chest tight from the force of her concussive blast that she had managed to shield herself against the worst of, as evidenced by the fact that she was in one piece and in only limited pain she scanned her gloomy surroundings and quickly sought out the remaining two members of the attacking trio, finding them despite the effect that the rapidly changing light, reverberating explosions and smoke beginning to fill the cold air were having on her enhanced senses and seeing that one of the masked pair; whom she quickly assigned the most importance to was carrying a weapon which appeared to be a prototype of some sort, a light exoskeleton around the arms and chest allowing a man to hold a rocket launcher with a rotating ammunition feed as though it were a rifle and unleash a steady torrent of projectiles roughly the length of a forearm fitted with explosive or incendiary payloads.
It had almost certainly been intended as a way to defend against the Creatures of Grimm but it would serve just as well here.
"Bastard!" Athena spat the word with a force and venom that she had no doubt her father would been faintly proud of before lunging and once again using breakneck speed and sharp turns in conjunction with sudden changes in height and angle to close the distance, aware the entire time of her Aura rippling around her as she was forced to simply weather a hail of small arms' fire in her efforts to evade each of the rockets which streaked through the darkness separating the snowy haired girl from her adversaries and left her bones rattling with each colossal impact which destroyed even more of what had previously been a pristine workspace; though thus far the assault had mercifully not started any fires that risked spreading.
It took Athena a few attempts to position herself as she intended to but eventually she found her moment and opportunity, the enemy with the rocket launcher in front of her and barely more than a dozen feet away as she dropped into a crouch and prepared to close the gap; aware of both the prototype weapon being aimed at her once again and the third member of the trio who carried a pistol, a larger but likely spent weapon slung across his back moving to a relatively safe position behind his more heavily armed comrade.
Athena acted, Ice Dust in hand and a glyph already forming and beginning to rotate at a dangerous speed as she lunged upward and forward; the rocket launcher fired and the saw-bladed glyph rushed out to meet it in a move that the Bear Faunus had been practising in her efforts to expand her repertoire and make the family Semblance she had been gifted with truly her own. The saw blade glyph cleaved the rocket in two and halted its' explosion by freezing the shrapnel and the very flames themselves into a solid mass of geometric ice which would have been considered artful were it not shattered by Athena's advance in the next instant. She swung her hammer and the man with the heavy weapon and exoskeleton used the body of his gun to block the strike, the two of them meeting with a force which struck the floor only for the Bear Faunus, even as she struggled to control her own storm of emotions in the midst of a fight which ripped at raw memories and left her breathing shallow, gave a feral smile that was all sharp teeth and gleaming eyes as she created another glyph, small but well placed at the man's gut and pulled back from their entanglement of weapons to deliver a spinning kick to her shimmering construct which launched the man backwards towards the nearest wall which he struck with a sickening crack; Athena in the same moment shifted Mould Breaker into its' laser cannon form and levelled the weapon at the last of the trio.
"What are you looking for here?"
"Take a guess" the would-be sell-sword managed a condescending laugh as they gestured around the wreckage of the factory to suggest that it should be obvious; Athena felt her finger tighten on the trigger of her weapon and the claws at her fingertips slowly extend despite her best efforts to remain calm.
"You were waiting in the dark in here! Why?"
"Heard you coming" the man, whom Athena guessed to be only a few years older than herself chuckled with the confidence of someone who had no reason to lie or hide "Didn't want you going through there"
"Well you messed up" Athena couldn't help but allow a gloating edge into her words, pride in her partner managing to win out against fear for Zirconia's well-being.
"We didn't want 'you' going through there" the man repeated with an emphasis which made her stomach lurch "Someone wants to talk to your friend, looks like-"
The man was unconscious before he could finish his sentence, Athena slamming the shaft of her weapon into his throat before levelling the laser cannon at the blast door that now kept her from rushing to Zirconia's aid.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" the urgency in her words returned a hundredfold and each screamed curse came louder than the last, leaving her voice ragged and cracking as she became louder than the warping bass note of her firing weapon as she unleashed a destructive salvo of light into the blast door and the walls around it only to be rewarded with nothing at all; the metal glowed slightly and briefly and it was readily apparent that it would not give under a sustained assault.
It was Zirconia had said, with the shutters down she would have to simply find another route and with that in mind Athena launched herself onward with a stream of glyphs; searching for signs as she went.
Sun fell as the gangway he had been perched on was partly shredded by a blizzard of bladed Nevermore quills sinking into rusted and rickety metal.
"GRAB ON!" the muscular blonde bellowed out, Semblance flaring into life in a flash of gold as he fell; the need to save and protect lives taking priority over all else and seeing him seek to save the same gang of thieves and bandits he had been engaged with only moments before. Sun watched with senses that were heightened by the conjunction of well trained and disciplined instinct and base, inevitable panic that rose up from his gut to his throat as the frightened and inexperienced young criminal he had been holding against the railings bolted, ignoring Sun's offer of aid entirely and managing to sprint across the falling segments of sheet metal before they could give and, in a show of nothing more than simply luck managing to seize the pallet truck carrying the equipment he and his allies had stolen thus far before retreating back the way he had come and out of view of both the Hunter and the swiftly approaching Creatures of Grimm. Sun's attempt at rescue was not entirely in vain however as his various golden clone, translucent with their lack of true mass reached out, grasping one another by hands, ankles and tails to form a chain of bodies which grasped the falling and prone form of another of the attackers whom the Hunter had already bested; passing his form along in a series of motions that took no more than a fraction of a second and allowed Sun to use his own body to cradle the young man and protect him from the worst of the fall.
Pulling himself upright from the awkward and nerve-rattling crouch he had been forced to land in, staggering a single step to the left in the process Sun set the man he had caught down and gazed quickly around himself to see that he was surrounded by criminals who were, by and large beaten and uncertain on their feet in a way which cast doubts as to how useful the weapons they carried would be in the coming moments; something which Sun noted could be considered a twisted form of karma for the amount of force he had used in his attempts to bring these same foes to justice in their previous exchange. Compounding all of this was the inexorable approach of the monsters which Sun realised his new temporary and dubious allies were in little shape to fight; the sounds of gunfire could be heard even without the enhanced senses of a Faunus and the setting sun darkening the sky allowed the flashes of weapons discharging to stand out all the more clearly and leave the forms of the airborne Grimm standing in sharp relief, it was clear that ground based Grimm had reached the walls but were being held back and contained whilst the winged horrors above had managed to slip through the primary defences and were being kept from harrying the defenders by the sporadic deployment of Cosmo-Guilds' robotic weapons, which Sun realised was likely evidence of more successes by the villains he had hoped to stop.
Most concerning of all however was the single Nevermore which had destroyed the gangway, a giant of a thing capable of firing its' feathers fully halfway across the entire length of the plant before following after them; its' wingbeats creating howling down-drafts which were soon joined by a piercing shriek which Sun had to fight against a natural instinct to grasp and cover his ears in response to.
"How the fuck do we fight that thing?" one of the attackers screamed, Sun now doubting that the shakiness of the young man's legs was the product of being beaten and thrown from the gangway. Turning his eyes skyward once again the Monkey Faunus ignored the frightened yelling and bickering and instead held his weapon ready in its' staff form his mind raced; rushing forward on instinct alone and preparing to leap in a way that served largely to separate himself from the small cluster of bodies and draw the attention of the incoming Grimm away from the others.
Sun moved, thoughts lagging a moment behind action and a plan still struggling to form itself as the Nevermore swooped lower, beak splaying wide a shriek of insensate hatred before closing into a jagged and cruel point which aimed to spear through his chest.
Then things became entirely unpredictable.
"MISTER WUKONG! MOVE!" he had only the briefest opportunity to brace himself as the point of a harpoon wrapped itself around his weapon and pulled taut, Sun instinctually allowing himself to be dragged backwards and out of the path of the swooping monster even as the motion sent him tumbling back head over heels. As he righted himself he saw that it was one of the students he had been forced by circumstances to abandon briefly, Regalia Russet and at her side was a knife-wielding avian Faunus who could only be a member of the attacking group, carrying himself with a wary readiness which spoke of experience and a level of comfort with violence which his peers did not fully share.
Sun noted that Astra Mars had already streaked by him and was on a collision course with the giant Nevermore; each stride longer than it should have been and increasing in size and pace with each passing moment as he once again tapped into the Semblance that Sun had seen them use in the forest to aid Regalia earlier in the day. The Nevermore tried to bring itself to an aerial halt, wings flapping frantically with a force that flung debris and wreckage out across the ground in all directions yet it was too late as Astra managed to take the Grimm by the wings and position themselves behind it in something vaguely resembling a wrestler might attempt, using their giant Aura-constructs' size and leverage to force the skull of the Nevermore towards the ground.
"Now!" Regalia brandished her weapon at the bird Faunus with feathers like an oil-slick in place of hair; the young man sneering in response.
"Don't give me orders" he spat before acting regardless, rushing close enough to use his own Semblance and skidding to a halt close to the Grimm; the sound of something moist and uncomfortable being dredged from deep within echoing unsettlingly through the immediate area before Petrol vomited forth a glowing stream of something corrosive and steaming which reduced the Nevermore to shrieks of agony before reducing it to nothing at all, the arm of Astra's construct being eaten away by the acidic Semblance in the same moment as the Grimm's skull and forcing the Deer Semblance to abandon their enlarged form.
"We need to regroup" Astra managed to pant out, sagging and resting their hands on their knees "We need to find AJ and Zirconia"
"Try and make contact but have them move towards us if possible" Sun acknowledged "There's fighting up ahead, other Grimm have made it over the perimeter wall"
"Sounds like battle-suits" Petrol noted, his conversational tone making it apparent that he already had some knowledge of the situation, which he soon confirmed with a touch of gloating "Couple of my people have kept me in touch….We'll get enough of what we came here for; right now we're testing some of it out helping fight the Grimm"
"How long can your goons hold the line for" Sun forced the words through clenched teeth, the urge to utter some heroic tripe about the criminals getting none of what they came for being firmly kept at bay.
"Long enough for us to get there and do what we need to do" Petrol flashed a smile of broken teeth, nodding to his accomplices whom Sun quickly realised were no longer as shaken or flat-footed as they had been now that they were in the presence of what was obviously their leader, a flash of movement from one of their number mad it abundantly clear that the 'we' that had been referred to did not include the Hunters and that the impromptu alliance between them was over.
The treachery came in an instant.
"DON'T-" Sun's yell died on his lips and the movement he had seen was translated into the throw of an Ice Dust filled grenade which caught the Hunter so off balance that he could not evade it entirely and was forced to deploy his Semblance once more to begin chiselling and hammering away at a jagged, misshapen block of freezing ice which had managed to encase his weapon, right hand, leg and tail. The rest of the group had begun a frantic departure which involved them firing weapons blindly over their shoulders and forcing Regalia to throw herself flat against the ground, taking cover behind a twisted piece of the shattered gantry as her Aura rippled at the first contact from a bullet.
Astra's pained scream cut through all else.
Sun watched, time slowing to a crawl as the Deer Faunus in his care collapsed eyes screwed shut as their hands flew to their right thigh where blood spilled readily through their fingers as Petrol ripped free the knife that he had plunged through the exhausted teens' defences in an instant, taking care to land a well placed kick to their cheekbone and missing their antlers as they tried to thrash in a futile effort to fight back and then Petrol was gone, his vendetta so much closer to being settled as the cause of his prior imprisonment lay bleeding on the ground behind him.
"HUNTER DOWN! HUNTER DOWN WE NEED A MEDIC!" Sun roared to anyone who might be close enough to help as he finally ripped himself free of the ice, staggering on numbed limbs as he bounded towards his student with Regalia following suit and slamming into his shoulder as she forced her way passed him to her partners' side; painfully aware that the nearest beings capable of reacting to his fear-laden plea were more Creatures of Grimm.
Carmesi and Zirconia fought one another with a vigour and ferocity that went far beyond the needs of the ruse that they were concocting.
"ARE YOU INSANE!" Zirconia's mismatched eyes flashed, the combination of panic and fury which was rebalanced with each passing moment visible in the narrow space left uncovered by the shawl which trailed dramatically behind her, though not as far as the scarf that had preceded it and the strands of glossy black hair which fell across the bandanna which had previously belonged to her partner. The tenacity with which she fought could be attributed almost entirely to a righteous, burning anger which had welled up within her at Carmesi's casual disregard for Athena's safety or indeed her life despite the insistence her guardian, the only person left whom the rogue Hunter would listen to and reign in his single-minded crusade against those he saw as the source of Remnants' ills for placed on limiting the amount of lives lost in the pursuit of their great work whilst Carmesi himself simply fought with a violent brutality which seemingly a fundamental part of his being; Zirconia's yell coming as he unleashed his Semblance in a half-sphere of expanding destruction, his arterial crimson Aura solidifying into jagged blades and spears which ripped out in all directions and forced the insectoid Faunus to throw herself aside as it destroyed all in its' path, ripping machinery which had masked Carmesi's presence from the ground entirely in a cacophony of tortured metal which saw sparks spraying as several tons of steel was lifted, dragged and shunted whilst various fluids poured from where the Reptilian Faunus had struck them and those fluids caused fleeting gouts of flame to jet out at odd intervals as they were ignited.
The shifting interplay of light caused by the ambient glow of emergency lighting and the flames revealing that Zirconia had used her own Semblance.
"Hiding away and cowering….I thought this had been trained out of you" Carmesi taunted in a low, rumbling chuckle as he strode close to the edge of the veil of darkness created by Phantasmagoria through which no senses or trickery could penetrate; despite his words however the older Faunus knew well that his opponents' Semblance was intended to trap an adversary within it and that it could be breached from without by a reasonable amount of brute force, something which he was more than capable of producing. Rather than pit Semblance against Semblance and re-enact a battle of wills which had already been decided to his satisfaction Carmesi simply readied his weapons, shifting Vindication into its' triple-bladed and rotating form as he hurled it with all his might into the edge of the darkness which began to ripple and implode from the instant it was torn asunder by the assault and from there he shifted Retribution into its' shotgun form and began firing into the centre of the space taken up by Zirconia's veil.
Hitting nothing but air.
"What are you doing?" Zirconia demanded as she came lunging from the side and catching Carmesi by surprise; leaving him begrudgingly impressed at the way she had used her Semblance to disguise her presence and location and even more so by the fact that the graceful, fluid swing of Sunriser Cain served as little more than a distraction to cause a misstep which almost saw Carmesi's face torn open by the return of his own weapon.
"You're learning" Carmesi noted conversationally, words still permeated with a casual menace belied by the effort he was forced to exert in catching the whirling blur of serrated edges and wheeling aside to avoid a jabbing, opportunistic stabbing attack from Zirconia in the brief moment his back was turned.
"What are you doing here?" Zirconia repeated, more demanding this time as she brandished her weapon like a fencers' foil, her cybernetic limbs making minute adjustment to ensure that her following attack would be delivered with devastating force.
"I do only what Damascus asks of me….Are you aware that the plan is moving forward?"
"I'm aware that there have been developments….I haven't had a chance to return home and speak with him in person" Zirconia was caught off-balance, a fleeting sadness at the lack of contact with the closest thing to a family or parent she had mingling with the sour taste hearing Carmesi use his name so readily and informally left in her mouth; she understood well that Carmesi was amongst the Chairman's most trusted allies and was immensely useful in his plans yet the idea of the bloodthirsty and fanatical man being close enough to be an influence on her guardian was uncomfortable on several levels.
The thoughts were forced aside as Zirconia leaned back to avoid a ripping, back-handed swing of Carmesi's curved machete; followed by a low chop of his larger blade in its' flat, broad and obsidian-toothed blade form.
"My work on Menagerie has bore fruits" the probing attacks served as a lead for the boasts "The thinking Grimm I captured has been awoken and the plan….with its' changes is now well underway. Damascus spoke with the Grimm Zirconia, reasoned with it; he is a great man and you should be proud"
"He is and I am" she answered, the violence between the two of them now reduced to a manageable simmer as she shifted Sunriser Cain into its' pistol form and unleashed a plethora of Dust rounds, their results further obliterating the contents of the space in which they fought.
"The Grimm" she continued, concerned for Damascus and indeed Albion "How intelligent is it really….I know it was capable of planning attacks but beyond that?"
"Intelligent enough to recognise me and have a concept of revenge….Expect a similar reunion" Carmesi grinned savagely as he forced Zirconia to vault over his swinging blades and blocked her counter-attack with his elbow "It thinks, make no mistake of that. It has plans of its' own that Nero tells me are compatible with our own"
Using his surname again, Zirconia sensed that there were doubts but knew Carmesi well enough to understand that pressing him would gain little.
"I see" she murmured through pursed lips, disdain permeating every fibre of her being "And this?….I know what it is you're here to do; but like this, whilst there are Hunters based here to search for missing people? I thought you had a code-"
"Do not test my patience little girl, being Nero's favourite will only buy you so much of it" Carmesi threatened, weapons flashing out but deftly avoided "Every action we take is weighed and calculated….The search and rescue operation was an unexpected change in the plan, your appearance here being another change that was not expected. We adapted, we overcame; I detest the filth I'm forced to work with but I can control them….forge those who survive this into the beginnings of what will be needed"
"Until more people come" Zirconia noted, scarred eyebrow arching.
"Exactly" Carmesi nodded, the two of them now merely circling one another in the faintest pretence of continuing their skirmish "And more will come….This is the beginning of the bright new tomorrow we've struggled for; the means to make sure the mistakes of the past will never be repeated"
"And you left taking what was needed to gangsters with patchwork mechs?" Zirconia rasped out the barb.
"Don't be ridiculous" Carmesi snarled, patting at a hidden pocket somewhere in his jacket "I took what was needed and destroyed all evidence….the others are a distraction"
"Then why are you still here?" Zirconia spat icily "Take what you need and go!"
"Of course" Carmesi nodded, flashing her a smile filled with jagged fangs which set her senses and instincts on edge in a way that was only amplified as he spoke again "Of course, we do need to create a plausible cover for why this room is so thoroughly destroyed and yet you have no beaten opponents to show for it….I do believe some of the scum have a penchant for Ice Dust grenades"
Zirconia managed to take in a single gulp of air and hold it before the device Carmesi had slipped from one of his pockets rolled to her feet and detonated in a flash of light and a concussive blast of freezing, mind-blanking cold; the last thing she saw before her consciousness slipped away being Carmesi disappearing deeper into the shadowy bowels of the plant and leaving her to her own devices, either confident in her abilities or simply uncaring.
She was unsure of how long she had been frozen, only that her vision was blurry, her chest impossibly tight and her Aura flickering around her after sustaining her for so long as she was thawed out; limp and numb form collapsing but being kept from an undignified and painful meeting with the ground by a pair of strong, familiar and comforting arms catching her.
"Hops! Hops can you hear me….Come on talk to me!" Athena was beside herself, close to tears with worry and that fact alone brought Zirconia's world sharply into focus; leaving her forcing herself onto legs who mechanisms shifted and shuddered uncertainly as she forced herself to breathe deeply and evenly.
"I'm...I'm okay" the words were faltering and unconvincing even to her own ears "Give me a minute-"
"We don't have a minute" Athena shook her head, already helping her into a more upright position "Sun, Regalia and Astra are caught out in the open and the Grimm were drawn here….Astra was stabbed and they can't move. We need to go and help them, right now!"
Zirconia's jumbled and semi-delirious thoughts coalesced into a single sharp and refined point at that, all else being discarded in favour of one, unwavering fact.
She was absolutely going to kill Carmesi Hueso one day.
"Take cover!" Sun's voice rang out over the shrieking of Grimm and Regalia was left fretting and indecisive as she struggled to find a compromise between two incompatible options; instincts abandoned and guard lowered as she crouched, muscles coiled as though she might dart into motion at any moment yet ultimately doing nothing even as the shadow of the latest flock of Nevermore fell over her; panic consuming her entire being as she was forced to choose between following orders and seeking safety amid the debris littering the area or standing her ground and steadfastly refusing to leave her partner.
Astra made the decision easier for her.
"Get down and line up a shot!" the Deer Faunus managed to yell through clenched and gritted teeth as they forced themselves into a sitting position with a tremendous effort as every movement served to aggravate the ragged wound in their thigh. Thoughts were clarified and action became natural to her once again as Regalia watched Astra bring the two halves of Buckshot Ares's shield form together, managing to generate some final sputtering and incomplete shield despite the minor damage and more severe drain on the weapons' Dust reserves that Petrol's Semblance had caused; coiled muscles exploded into motion and Regalia skidded into place behind her partner to take a sitting position whilst huddling low and making herself small, her back supporting theirs whilst keeping the two of them behind Astra's shield as the Nevermore swooped overhead in a screaming, feral and savage mockery of a bombing run.
It was a small mercy that these Creatures of Grimm were lesser than the initial beast to wing its' way into the airspace of Cosmo-Guilds' plant, far smaller and weaker yet compensating for this through their numbers and the threatening mobility afforded by them. A trio of winged horrors swooped overhead and Regalia felt the jarring thud of a bladed quill shattering against Astra's remaining defences and tearing a quickly stifled yelp of pain from them whilst more bone-rattling impacts rained down around the two partners, sending cracks out across the ground in all directions as the projectiles buried themselves but Regalia, in her righteous anger that anything would dare harm her partner returned fire with remarkable skill and creativity. It took only a fraction of a second for her Semblance to inform her that the central of the trio was the key to her victory and as her senses and focus returned to their natural levels the Racoon Faunus held Apex Scavenger in shotgun mode, clutching the weapon in one hand and using the opposite forearm to steady herself as she first fired her harpoon into her target as the three Nevermore wheeled around for a second attack, catching the thing at the point where wing met shoulder and tugging the strained cable of her weapon fiercely to pull the snared Grimm off course and into one of the remaining pair.
Before firing a heavy duty Ice Dust shell.
The two Creatures of Grimm were still clawing at one another in a frenzied tangle of limbs as ice began to expand across their forms and send them both to the ground where their bodies shattered like glass, leaving the lone remaining monster to be gunned down by Sun Wukong who sacrificed a portion of his steadily depleting Aura reserves to bait the thing away from the students in his care, drawing its' attention with a glowing Semblance-made facsimile before shooting it in the skull at almost point blank range as he leapt out of a hiding place.
And yet the avian screeches filling the air were evidence that they were still not done.
"Mister Wukong, we've gotta move Astra! Get them inside!" Regalia forced to keep her voice from cracking even as her heart hammered painfully against her chest and her blood thundered in her ears to such a degree that a low, droning buzz filled her hearing. Scrabbling back to her feet and around her partner she glanced down at Astra and felt something stab at her heart in response to what she saw. Sun's shirt had been used as an impromptu bandage, wrapped tight and held fast with a belt to maintain pressure yet still blood had pooled and stained the ground at the Deer Faunus's side after Petrol had twisted and ripped free the knife until Dust had been applied to the raw and open wound in a crude battlefield treatment that would at best buy precious time but make it almost certain that the injury scarred noticeably; the blood loss now leaving Astra pale and soaked in a sheen of cold sweat as their condition deteriorated despite the best efforts of their partner and the Hunter they had trusted.
"Mars! Don't even think about trying to stand on that leg!" Sun barked as he rushed out of the limited cover available to position himself beside Regalia, the two of them taking a moment to work out the easiest way to carry the Deer Faunus without risking worsening their condition.
"I'm gonna slow you down….Help me up, get me like...I don't know a broken piece of railing or something and I'll use it as a crutch" Astra managed to wheeze out, words a hard fought whisper which took a notable amount of effort to produce until Regalia crouched down beside them, gently planted a hand on the base of their temple, trying to avoid the bruised mess where Petrol had kicked his downed victim in the head for good measure and using the point where Antler met skull to guide Astra's attention toward her.
"Do you trust me?"
"To infinity and beyond" Astra managed a weak, half-dazed smile as they remembered when their positions had been somewhat reversed.
"Then trust me when I say that we're not leaving anyone behind. We're all getting out of this-"
Her words were cut off by an explosion painting the near-night sky with blossoming flames, shaking everything nearby and sending the Grimm both in the air and fighting to breach the plants' defences on the ground into a more desperate rage.
"That was an air to air rocket!" Sun exclaimed "The other Hunters are en route, we've just gotta hold on a little longer!"
"Yeah but that just pushed the Grimm this way….Look!" Astra raised an arm in a way which suggested that the weight of their weapons was becoming difficult to support and both Sun and Regalia were left with their stomachs lurching as they followed the bloodied teens' gaze to find easily dozens of nightmares given form flocking in their direction, their glowing eyes identifying them in the gloom.
"I can handle the Grimm" Sun assured his students as he readied his weapons and braced himself "But I can't cover the two of you at once. Russet, take your partner and run! Get inside and get clear-"
Sun was silenced as the flock drew near enough for its' foremost members to beat its' wings and hurl a salvo of javelin tipped and serrated feathers towards the Faunus gathered below.
Only for them to be halted by a glowing glyph that appeared in the air between them.
"Sorry we're late!" heads turned at Athena-Jade's voice and Astra and Regalia were both relieved to see their missing team-mates, yet worried by the frost clinging to Zirconia and the way that she was being propped up and supported by her partner as her legs seemed unwilling to comply with her wishes; any fears that the insectoid Faunus might be another easy target for the monsters above were soon discarded however as she raised Sunriser Cain and swung in a wide arc.
'Hard-light! Lightning!' the synthetic voice of her weapon announced the coming assault a moment before hexagonal panels of glowing semi-solid light formed a barrier far larger than Athena-Jade's glyph for the Nevermore to collide with, the Lightning Dust taking hold a moment later and sending many of the flock of Grimm flapping away in disgruntled confusion with smoke billowing from their singed forms whilst a small number of those caught in the press of bodies were simply electrocuted to the point of expiring and reduced to fading mist in the darkness.
"Glad you could make it" Astra's faux cheery tone only lent their words a dizzy, half-stunned quality "Now we can all die together"
"Hey! Goonies never say die!" Regalia admonished firmly, the welcome return of friendly, if oddly poignant and heartfelt bickering between the reunited Team MARZ being interrupted by Sun.
"We've got an incoming transport but those Nevermore are regrouping and coming back around! Get ready!"
"Anyone who still can, open fire!" Astra ordered, voice faint but determined and their order was followed without hesitation; the first Nevermore to fall being felled by the searing beam of Athena's Laser, a further two being snatched from the sky by shotgun blasts courtesy of Sun and Regalia respectively yet despite their best efforts the five of them, with their various injuries and near-depleted Auras were simply overcome in the face of the relentless advance and forced onto the defensive.
Until a heavy thud in their midst announced the arrival of Rye Fairfax who promptly slammed his palm into the ground.
"Please keep all arms, legs, tails and antlers inside the ride at all times" the jovial quip, plainly at odds with the situation announced the arrival of Stygian Blue, the Mouse Faunus having appeared unseen by some means Team MARZ were unsure of, his voice issuing from a point several feet in the air where fell towards the rising ring of stone that his team-mate was creating; placing him in the precarious position of being perched on the makeshift barrier against the Grimm but by the same token placing him the exact place he needed to be to cleave a wing from a body with a single swipe of Katana whose blade was wreathed in crackling lightning.
Tiger, Amaya and Artemis joined the fray as their transport soared over head.
"You manage to make this look difficult" the leader of Team TRQS noted stiffly as she leapt, skewered a passing Grimm with her trident and used the lip of Rye's Semblance-made wall to break its' body with her descent; landing in the midst of the huddled and gathered Team MARZ whilst Amaya took up a position on her partners' defences and Artemis landed by Sun, casting an irritable glance at Tiger upon hearing the lack of tact she displayed.
"Yeah well, some of us actually have to do the work….Can't just show up at the end and make a cool entrance" Astra managed to mumble in their fellow team leaders' direction "It was a good entrance though, props"
"Sun" Artemis's voice was harsh and clear, the fact that the two Hunters knew one another catching their collective students' attention "I'm going to need a detailed explanation of what exactly the hell happened here?"
"And you'll get it as soon as my students are taken care of. I need a medical evac right now….And Aura stimulants if you have them"
"I carry them on me….Search and rescue jobs" Artemis nodded, the feline Faunus dismissing Sun for a moment as she turned her focus towards Team MARZ and primarily Astra, crouching down and studying their stab wound and the ability of their eyes to track motion before finally producing a small syringe from somewhere on her person.
"The missing people have been found, you held the line long enough for help to arrive….You did your part, let us take over now" with those words and the feeling of a needle piercing their skin Astra finally allowed themselves to succumb to their injuries and fall into unconsciousness; the last vague sensation before darkness claimed them being that of Regalia keeping their head steady to keep them from toppling backwards and hitting their head or antlers on the ground.
Which was nice.
Carmesi was not a man given to running with his proverbial tail tucked between his legs and as such escaping was something which did not come as naturally to him as it did to his current comrades.
As such curses escaped his lips in a slew of guttural snarls and rumbling as he found his retreat waylaid and hampered time and time again until notions of treachery and a feeling that would inspire dread in another man, one that instead simply pushed the Komodo Dragon Faunus onwards with greater rage and determination began to take root; the unshakeable feeling that the criminals he had been forced to consort with had fallen back on their habit and nature by simply leaving him behind to serve as their scapegoat.
The initial plan had been to simply retreat through the same breaches they had made in the walls of Cosmo-Guild and convene with their getaway drivers, hastened by a plethora of stolen battle-suits which would also be able to provide covering fire until the machines could be loaded into the trucks they had brought for the job and then transferred into other vehicles during their journey back to the Capital; a single warning message from Petrol had ended this plan as the avian Faunus had sent a message to each of the disposable Scrolls being used by the group that they had been unable to entirely take and hold any portion of the wall facing the hills they had approached from and that their points of ingress had been largely cut off behind them. Things had become more complicated still as Carmesi had been forced to take several evasive actions to avoid being spied by the Slate girl as she hurried through the facility, no doubt having defeated those tasked with containing her and seeking out Zirconia; keeping out of sight and avoiding a confrontation that he could ill-afford no matter the satisfaction it would bring had cost more time and forced him to make his way through areas of the factory and its' adjacent warehouses which he had not memorised the layout of due to a simple lack of need until finally he had made his way out into the open.
Finding chaos waiting for him.
Grimm had assaulted the plant and his own assortment of treacherous, conniving underlings had acted exactly as despicably as he had expected them to under Petrol's command; using the pretence of an alliance to regroup with as many of their previously captured or defeated members as possible, pooling their stolen resources and plunder together in an apparent effort to help the defenders keep the monsters from breaching the walls only to use the chaos to push their way passed Grimm and Hunter alike to secure their escape; leaving Carmesi alone and seemingly stranded in the midst of a massive factory now being converged upon by dozens of Hunters.
Hence his need to escape.
"There" he grunted the word out to himself at the sight of an unmanned portion of the all ahead which he hastened towards with burning lungs and protesting muscles before finally unleashing his Semblance in a burst of crimson, the perimeter wall was not destroyed however Carmesi managed to carve furrows and gouges into it that served as impromptu hand and footholds as he threw his burly mass at the wall and began to scale it, leaping over and using his Aura to break his fall as he landed with a painful thud on the opposite side.
He was out of Cosmo-Guild but still far from safety and he realised with a grimace that at present the Grimm-infested forests might be the safest place for him to hide.
"Damn it all" he spat before readying his blades and preparing to sprint at full-tilt across the expansive clearing created in the construction of the plant, knowing that he would likely have to clear several other fences or checkpoints before he could reach the treeline and contend with whatever accosted him; yet before he could take more than a dozen hurried paces the rogue Hunter found himself skidding to a halt at the sound of a roaring engine.
"GET IN YOU PRICK!" surprise at the audacity left Carmesi off-balance for the fraction of a second it took an unmarked van, one of those brought for the getaway to come skidding to a halt and a pair of bloodstained hands, which he quickly realised belonged to none other than petrol to reach out and seize him by the shoulders in order to drag him into the rear of the van.
And then he was being ferried away at breakneck speed, Cosmo-Guild fading away into the distance.
"Where the fuck are my people?" Petrol demanded, slamming a fist into the metallic surface of the vans' interior with enough force to deform it; the action prompting Carmesi to swiftly remember himself and his role, leaping to his feet and staring down the younger man with as much silent menace as he could muster whilst the two of them were cramped in the confines of a van driven by one of Petrol's gang, another holding a stolen laser weapon out of the window whilst its' rear was filled with yet more pilfered weapons and a few small drones and robots.
"Beaten by a child….Recruit better" Carmesi finally snarled out, relishing the clear and visible yet ultimately impotent anger on the face of Petrol who seemed to give serious consideration to taking his knife in bloody hands and lunging but ultimately contented himself with sucking in air through clenched teeth and finally spitting out of the rear of the van before closing its' doors as it continued to speed away.
"The Benefactors' end of the deal?"
"Your captured friends' legal fees will be paid, by proxy of course….And in the very likely event that they serve an extended amount of time in prison Lien will be sent to their commissaries"
"Okay….Okay" Petrol turned away, hands flexing uncertainly as he fought the urge to hit something before finally slumping into his seat with a bitter exclamation "Fuck! We lost people….I nearly had the little prick I've been waiting to get my hands on and I couldn't even enjoy it 'cos we had to run….We didn't even get as much as we wanted-"
"Your people performed-" Carmesi interjected, concerned by the final part of Petrol's ranting only for the younger man to cut him off.
"Look around!" the Avian Faunus spat irritably "We got the drones and robots you wanted, we got guns, there's more in the other trucks but we had to split up. We set fires everywhere we went to get rid of evidence….We just didn't get as many of the big mech suits as we wanted; lost most of what we already had"
"The Benefactor will provide" Carmesi reminded him, privately finding himself with a growing yet begrudging fondness if not true respect for Petrol, the vitriolic young man was driven and loyal to his people in a way that would almost be impressive were the people in question not the sort of scum the Reptilian Faunus so despised. Carmesi realised with an uncomfortable pang that Petrol was likely a product of his own hardships and the sudden blurring of clear, defined black and white distinctions between what was right, wrong and justifiable was uncomfortable in a way that he did not care for at all.
Though petrol spared in him from any further introspection by speaking.
"Was it worth it?" he demanded with an annoyed, petulant sneer "Did you at least get what you came for or do we have to go back?"
"I got what I came for" Carmesi let out a low rumbling chuckle as he reached into his suit jacket to produce several hard-drives and memory sticks along with a plethora of paper files, each of which had been kept exactly where it should have been in various repositories for discontinued projects.
"It was definitely worth it….Today was a victory for us, one that will change everything in due time"
Author's Notes:
So, that's the penultimate chapter of Vol.04 done; next week's chapter will be the finale/wrap up and contain something of a reveal about the villains' end goal.
There may or may not be a week break between the end of one volume and the start of the next, I'm writing this before a week away from work, although I do have other plans which will likely eat into time I could spend planning out chapters.
Also, if you're a fan of the Worm/Parahumans web novel I posted my second fic in that fandom recently, a one-shot called "The PR Nightmares" which, by virtue of being a rare example of me focusing a story on the actual main character has been doing quite well in terms of feedback.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
I really enjoy selling an opening with something a bit nuts, like the Degradation just irradiating everything around it.
I know a lot of shows have to cut things down for episode length….But how often do you see characters actually run through various plans and why they won't work before settling on something?
Magnets and an idea is a precursor to many stupid things.
So….Team TRQS actually acting like a functional team and coordinating and the first thing Tiger does is literally use it launch herself into the personal space of a nuclear Grimm.
I felt like Artemis getting the final hit felt right….Team TRQS still aren't quite at that point and besides, callbacks leading to something more serious like Tiger's response are always fun.
So….Grimm killed, people saved; now for the hard bit.
Oof, this fight is crunchy...Just casually opening off with Petrol trying to slash out eyes.
Petrol has been training just as much as Astra, except he's been learning a different set of lessons in prison and he was already a pretty solid fighter.
Okay so Regalia can absolutely brawl but she should have gone for the double leg take-down there, giving Petrol a chance to sprawl and start getting shots at the kidneys was always a bad idea….Especially when he's got a knife.
….Punching him in the dick however, that gets results.
Astra using a very similar trick to the one that won the fight against Wolfram.
Honestly, truces with the enemy are usually a bad idea; better to just snuff them take the win and deal with the next situation on your own….But they make it sound so reasonable.
Boogie with the Bear, that is all.
Imagining a Space Marine Lascannon for the first guy, but fired more from the hip….This crew have heavy weapons because Nero has the means to supply people with nice toys, not just the mech-suits.
The Ice-Saw trick on the rocket is similar to one of the moves she tested out when Zirconia saw her training but there's still plenty of other tricks left for AJ to show off in the future.
Gangrel Slate, my first RWBY OC and AJ's Dad has an accent that sounds very like Yorkshire….So imagine AJ calling that guy a bastard with all the force of Sean Bean.
The grunt saying someone wanted to talk to Zirconia will have consequences but not in the way you're thinking.
Like Zirconia said, you can't get through those shutters once they're down; they're made to withstand an explosion.
So Grimm are already across the defensive line, at least one of the people Sun had captured managed to make a break for it and Sun had to do a Semblance monkey chain to stop himself and another guy from being splattered….A good start.
The factories' workers were moved to secure locations, the defensive measures were already deployed so if random Battle-Suits start showing up then it must be the people robbing the place deciding to take a few out for a test drive.
Taking out a giant Nevermore always feels like a callback no matter how you do it….But did anyone really think that Astra and Petrol were gonna be buddies afterwards?
"Long enough for us to get there and do what we need to do"….Oh, it almost sounded like he was doing the whole team-up speech thing, then it pans out and it's an obvious set up; Astra and Regalia literally led him to his goons so he could collect them and go.
Astra's tough, they've taken worse than that….But they're not gonna run after Petrol now.
This is that moment where a sibling fight turns into an actual fight 'cos someone drew blood.
Carmesi was ready to do his whole unstoppable advance like the Terminator routine, only for Zirconia to be clever….Because there's nothing at all saying that she has to be in the centre of her Semblance.
So now Zirconia is being brought up to speed properly, which means there's gonna be some fun conversations between her and Nero.
Zirconia knows what Carmesi is here to do….So she has a good idea of what the plan is and how certain things tie into it.
Carmesi is right of course, Zirconia does need plausible deniability and using one of the same Ice Dust grenades that caught Sun would work….But he enjoyed that way too much.
Yeah the reunion wasn't as heartfelt as it could have been but there's other priorities….Also, look if you basically get cryogenic frozen and the same nonsense is still happening when you wake up; just get back in the fridge.
Oh yeah, one of Team MARZ was injured under Carmesi's watch; Zirconia didn't like him before….Now she really hates him.
Regalia doesn't often panic and freezing up is something you don't do if you want to survive in the wastes, but there was no way she was going to abandon Astra when they can't get into cover.
The tag-team anti-air attack was pretty great as well.
Astra's not gonna bleed out here, they'll be fine….But calling back to the fact Regalia used the Buzz Lightyear quote when Astra asked if she trusted them, oof.
Reinforcements are great, unless they come from the wrong directions because then the enemy is gonna go for the path of least resistance; which is through you.
I will argue that none of the saves here are Dues Ex Machina because all of these characters converging on this point was outright stated to be the plan, so you knew it was coming.
"Now we can all die together" because we reference canon here….Especially when we can follow it up with another reference.
Now that was an entrance and some heroics from Team TRQS, even if Tiger really needs to work on her people skills.
And there we have it, help has arrived, medical attention is coming, enemies are retreating, the day is saved.
...Followed by a little moment between Astra and Regalia which I know a few of my readers will appreciate.
Carmesi really doesn't run away now that I think about it.
I honestly felt like some understanding of how things had gone from the villain perspective was needed, like they had an early win but things definitely went off the rails for them as well.
Carmesi would absolutely have loved to stay and fight AJ but duty calls.
No stairs? Just carve them into the wall.
Petrol Ex Machina….But again, the getaway rides were mentioned beforehand; also aspiring criminals, this is not how you execute a robbery, have your drivers exactly where you need them to be ahead of time.
So that's actually a good move on Nero's part, Petrol has got the weapons that were promised now so he can keep wrangling for better deals in his ongoing arrangement; Nero has bought his loyalty here for the duration of what will be some very long prison sentences whilst at the same time going a long way to keep people from snitching….Because he learned from the fiasco with Rowan Oralie that just having someone killed in prison doesn't always work.
I really like the idea that Petrol actually challenges some of Carmesi's more hardline beliefs….But at the same time Petrol is still an unmitigated bastard.
So, Nero owns Cosmo-Guild as part of his conglomerate….The raid was always staged, it's an escalation of what he was having Petrol and the other gangs do before; creating middle men and plausible deniability that means things which are/resemble projects Nero's various companies had a hand in suddenly turning up in the hands of organised criminals doesn't raise suspicions because the fact that they were stolen is public knowledge….So the question is, what projects was he having concocted that relate to his plans for Gestalt-Prime in a factory belonging to a robotics firm which also deals in conventional weapons?
Come and find out next chapter.
No reviews on the last chapter...Although that's partly my fault for posting earlier this week.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.
