A.N. (2/27/23) - Here's the promised Monday release chapter.
Atlas (7) - Night Raid
It was late at night.
Someone flipped through the channels on a nearby television screen. He was a guard, a large man sitting by himself in a small guard house a small distance away from a private building. His job was an easy one, despite the rather large pay he received for doing such a simple job. The reason for that was because his boss was a very powerful man by the name of Amoncio Glass. Under the mask of a successful businessman, he was a ruthless mob boss in charge of the majority of the criminal underground in Atlas. And despite the dangerous nature, the benefits of working for him made the risk worth it.
A noise echoed nearby, causing him to look up in suspicion.
Stepping outside, he flashed ahead of him and swerved the beam of light so that he had a view of the entire area. Nothing stood out, but his senses were on alert for trouble.
"Guaaahhh!"
He felt something slam at his neck and lift him in the air for several seconds before he crashed to the ground unconscious. A figure revealed itself as the woman who attacked him removed her grip after confirming that he was out. Rummaging through his clothes, she pulled out a small key card. Smiling, she pressed a button on the comm attached to her ear.
"Robyn, I have it."
"Good job, May. Meet up with the rest of us on the roof."
Nodding, May Marigold picked up her pace until she had a running start. As she neared the building, her legs pumped strength so that she launched herself into the air. Stabbing her weapon into the wall, she maneuvered herself by jumping from ledge to ledge until she made her way to the top where the rest of her team awaited.
"Glad to see that everything went well." Robyn greeted her with a smile. "Now, let's see if we can get in and search through this place without getting caught."
"Are we going to stick together once we're inside?"
"No, there's a limit to how long we can be here. We're going to have to split up if we want to find what we're looking for. The rest of us will just have to make sure to be sneaky without your Semblance around to help."
"If you say so."
"I'll stay up here and help everyone coordinate," Fiona said. "I've already assigned different parts of the facility where you all will search. Johanna will search the west side while you head to the east. Our leader will look around the north side."
"Then let's get this over with."
May moved to the nearest door and used the card to unlock it. Opening, the group split up and headed in separate directions.
Robyn kept her guard as she sprinted down the clean corridors of the building. Her mission tonight was to find concrete evidence that he was part of the Argus disaster and worked with Merlot in the past. If she could present it to the proper authorities and set things in motion for his arrest, then it would allow Mantle the opportunity to free itself from his reign long enough that things could improve in the city.
She passed a door and paused when she read the placard saying that it was the manager's office. Hoping that this would be what she needed, she rattled the doorknob to confirm that it was unlocked before quickly going inside and shutting the door behind her.
"Now, where would I keep important documents that would incriminate my boss?"
Probably not the file cabinet, although she wouldn't discount the possibility until she confirmed it for sure. Robyn decided to check the desk first since it would be the most accessible place to whoever used this room. Opening all of the drawers, all she found was a single book inside the lowest one. Turning it up, she saw that there was something between the pages and pulled out a metal key that was being used as a bookmark.
"Huh, most of the facility uses electronic locks. If I were trying to hide something off the books, maybe I would use something that couldn't be noticed digitally." But glancing around the room, she did not see anything that looked like it had a keyhole. Again, her eyes went back to the filing cabinet until they lowered to the floor. "Scuff marks on the carpet? Why would you need to move something heavy around that much?"
One thought crossed her mind, and she scoffed at how cliché it was. Still, she made to move the cabinet aside along the scuff marks until a square door revealed itself. Seeing a hole, she used the key in her hand and twisted until the door opened with a small click.
"Looks like this is it." She lowered herself. "But damn, you have to crawl on all fours to get past this. Wouldn't it have been better to install a safe instead?"
Grumbling to herself, she entered the dark opening and slowly moved until she exited into another room. Standing up, she fumbled along the walls until her fingers felt a light switch.
"Woah!" Blinding lights caused her to blink spots for a moment. "Alright, this definitely looks like something important is here."
There were several papers attached to a wall with thumb pins and yarn stretching all over the place like some conspiracy theorist's board. Glancing over them, she summarized that most were about the recent Greem outbreaks that have been hitting the news lately. Nothing stood out, although she saw that there was a folder lying on a desk across the room.
Taking a step, Robyn felt her foot sink and realized that she made a mistake.
"Shit!" An alarm began blaring as she triggered the trap. "Pressure plate! Guess Amoncio feels that this is pretty important then if he has security like this."
Swiping the folder, she quickly crawled back to the other room and left through the doors. Entering the hallway, the sound of footsteps greeted her as several guards turned around the corner.
"Right, let's do this!"
Charging at the first one, Robyn lunged with her arms outstretched and grabbed his waist before twisting her body to scissor his neck with her legs. Swinging around, she threw his body at the others until they all toppled before landing and taking off once more.
"She's over here!"
"Get her!"
"There are two more intruders!"
"Don't let them escape!"
Sorry girls. Robyn apologized mentally. Guess they were better prepared than we thought.
Turning around a corner, Robyn was forced to stop when she was confronted by several guards in front of her. The sound of footsteps echoed behind her, and soon, Robyn realized that she was completely surrounded.
One, two, three… sixteen people she counted.
Half of them were blocking the path where she would meet the others. If she broke past those eight guards, then she could probably escape before the others could catch up. However, she did not like her chances of taking out this many people at once.
She dropped the folder on the ground and used her foot to slide it forward.
As their gazes were distracted, Robyn whirled around and fired several bolts that exploded into a wall of ice, blocking the middle of the corridor and separating the guards in half. Still, there was a limit to how much Dust she could contain in her bolts, so the wall was fragile enough that it wouldn't hold up for long.
Dashing forward, her crossbow shifted into a shield as she blocked the first attack with her arm and used her other one to punch the guard in the gut. Dropping his weapon, she used her foot to slide it away before bringing up her knee in between his legs.
Pushing him aside, she deflected the blade of another guard and used that opportunity to fire several bolts at the others while he was distracted. The bolts detonated, causing a burst of elemental energy to erupt and knocking two of them unconscious. Pulling her arm back, she slammed her elbow into the face of the guard attempting to sneak up on her.
"AAAGGGHHH!"
Letting out a cry, one of the guards jumped onto her and forced them both to fall to the ground. Struggling, Robyn saw the guard raising his sword and getting ready to stab her. At the last second, she shifted his aim so that it barely grazed her face before pulling him down to the ground and punching him in the face.
Something began pulling her leg, and she realized that one of the guards had managed to grab her while she was down. Dragging her along the floor, he called out to one of his companions to attack.
"Damn it!"
Kicking him multiple times in the face, he finally released her and allowed her body to whirl around to slam her heel into the side of his head. The last two guards tried to grab at her once again, but she jumped between them until her body slid across the floor. Grabbing the folder on the way, she took off with a sprint as she escaped the rest of the guards.
"Robyn!" Her comm crackled as Fiona spoke. "Are you alright? The others are already here waiting for you."
"Tell everyone to disperse," she replied. "I think I got something, but we can't stick around until we get caught. I'll be fine on my own, so head back to our meeting place for now."
"Alright, we'll trust you."
Ending communications, Robyn couldn't help but glance down at the title of the folder. She didn't have the chance to read it before, but the words spelled a theory that told her that this would incriminate Amoncio if given to the proper authorities.
A.M.B./COLOSSUS - PRIMARY CONTROL LIST
"How much should I bet that A.M.B. stands for Argus Military Base?"
Supposedly, the reason why the base fell was due to the Allies wanting to take control of the Atlesian mech under the military's control. If Amoncio was involved in the attack, or if he sold the knowledge of how to pilot the mech to the Allies, then he was definitely someone she wanted to get off the streets.
Someone landed in front of her.
He was massive. Broad and muscular standing over six feet tall, he was easily one of the largest men she had ever seen. His outfit consisted of a brown hooded cloak that helped hide his face and a green chest plate covering a black tunic. In his hand was a large chained mace that appeared rusted.
"Well, well. What have we here?" He spat a toothpick out of his mouth. "Someone has something that doesn't belong to her. Hand it over and maybe I won't break all of your bones."
"In your dreams!"
Bringing her crossbow up, she fired a single bolt aimed directly at his face. To her shock, he didn't even bother to dodge as he allowed the bolt to detonate. The resulting explosion was supposed to at least knock him off his feet, but he somehow managed to endure the attack without being fazed.
"Suit yourself," he growled. "Now it's my turn. Don't say I didn't warn you."
He charged forward and swung his mace onto the ground, causing it to crack and send chunks of concrete flying everywhere. Switching her weapon to block the attack, she was forced back when the other man swung at her while her vision was obscured.
Landing on her feet, she finally realized something.
"You're a huntsman!"
"What's so shocking about that? Even a guy like me needs to pay the bills, and my boss makes sure I get paid well."
"So you're working for Amoncio Glass."
He sneered. "For the moment, but my real boss is only working with him to gain access to his resources. That means that we have to protect his secrets that might incriminate us as well."
"Nice to know that I got something big in my hands." Her grip tightened on the folder in her hand. "So stranger, you got a name I can call you by? Unless you want to be referred to as Amoncio's goon in my mind."
"Bertilak."
Surprised that he actually introduced himself, she hesitated. "Well, my name is Robyn Hill. I'm not sure if you're aware, but I have a reputation for helping out the little guy in this city."
"I know you. You're one of the huntresses involved in the Argus incident."
"I'm surprised that you know about that."
She wasn't lying either. The news reported about the incident itself, but she doubted that she was mentioned by name in any of the major news outlets.
"Tell me," Bertilak continued. "Do you know a man named Marcus Black? Last I heard, he was last seen causing trouble with the local fighters there."
"I do." She raised a brow. "But the fact that you know who he is tells me that you're not exactly someone who normally lives on the side of the law."
That was an understatement. Marcus Black was a self-proclaimed assassin who worked closely for Merlot. The last time she met him, he was hired to kidnap a woman named Terra to draw out someone else for his boss to meet with. As far as she knew, he disappeared soon afterward when it became clear that his boss met his demise.
"Where is he?"
"Why are you looking for him?"
Bertilak gave a frustrated look. "He has something that I want. If you won't tell me where he is, then I'll force the answer out of your mouth."
"Woah, take it easy there. I have no idea where that guy went."
"Hmm." He stared at her hard. "You don't seem to be lying. Damn it, then that means he probably went into hiding. Guess I should give up on my original plan then."
"What exactly does he have that you want so badly?"
"Heh, you won't believe me. Supposedly, he has a bracelet that Merlot gave to him in exchange for his services. Rumor has it that it can protect the wearer from having their mind from being manipulated by others."
"What?" Robyn blinked. "Wait, hold on. Something like that would make no sense unless you need to defend against…" Her thoughts came to a stop. "Are you serious?"
"Why not? There are a thousand different types of Semblances out there, so the possibility of someone awakening to a powerful one like that isn't impossible. Isn't this something you often read about in stories about huntsmen suddenly gaining a unique and powerful Semblance one day? Not all of those stories are made up sometimes."
But he was implying that someone had the ability to take control of another person's mind.
"That's all I'll say about that subject." Bertilak raised his weapon. "Either way, I can't let you off without a fight unless I want to look bad in front of my boss. And if I get on his bad side, well…"
He shrugged before charging at her once again.
Taken aback by his sudden shift into aggression, Robyn was forced to defend herself while he moved into her range. Now that she was fighting in close quarters, it was obvious that there was something off about her opponent. He seemed to not care about himself as he fought recklessly, using his bare body to block attacks that should normally deplete his Aura reserves greatly.
Didn't Marcus also act like this when he fought? The reason the assassin did so was because he had an unnaturally large amount of Aura though. If Bertilak also shared a similar condition, then defeating him was going to be a lot harder than she thought.
"What's wrong?" Bertilak taunted. "Cat got your tongue? I thought you were supposed to be tougher than this."
No, he was buying time. That was why he talked so much earlier to distract her. He was trying to keep her here until the rest of the guards arrived to subdue her.
Realizing that staying was not an option, there was only one thing to do. Aiming her crossbow at him, she loaded an elemental bolt and shot it straight toward his chest.
"Gah!"
Ice covered his body, blocking his vision and disabling him for a few precious seconds. Using that opportunity, Robyn immediately turned tail and ran while he attempted to free himself.
"Get back here!" But unfortunately for her, he was somehow able to free himself faster than she estimated. Judging by the waves of heat emitting from his body, his Semblance probably had something to do with it. "Don't think another trick like that can stop—hey, where did you go?!"
Before she could respond, a hand clamped over her mouth. Turning to the side, she saw May shushing her to be quiet. With the other woman's Semblance active, the two were currently hidden from sight. That said, the two of them still had to be quiet if they wanted to remain undetected.
Nodding, she followed her away even as Bertilak continued to shout in the background.
Just a reminder that I'm going to post new chapters every Mon/Fri now, so expect a new chapter later this week. The next chapter will switch back to Rin's perspective again, but her involvement will continue to be a minor one until events escalate enough to force her hand. Until then, I'll continue setting things up in the background to prepare for the upcoming conflict.
If you haven't noticed, Marcus Black foreshadowed the villains of this arc a long time ago when he dropped hints of meeting with another organization. Bertilak is another named character that reveals exactly who the antagonists of the Atlas arc are.
