A/N: Hello! ARE you ready for this?! Things are about to get wild! Woo!
RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum
Scars
Chapter 4
As the near-dark of Twilight descended on the bay area, the Salemities at the dockyards began turning on various flood lights and other means of illuminating the immediate area around the docks like they always did. Elsewhere in the capital city search lights were turned on and set to watch for incoming airships, even as the defending wall's automatic defenses and search lights had never been properly shut down.
While the whole city was not illuminated, there were dead areas where the Salemites left to the Grimm, enough of it was that the Salemities felt comfortable enough to lower their guard, somewhat.
The Wall and wharf areas were guarded. Patrols still went out. And the Grimm never slept.
They were safe. Nothing was going to happen.
Nothing ever did.
A cruise liner coasted in quietly, off the coast of Vale, its lights dark. The V.S.S. New Horizons was a Valean ship. Its captain, a white-haired, bearded veteran of the Faunus Wars, remained cool and calm even as his first mate swallowed nervously, quietly, as she focused on the sonar panel, pinging for active threats. Whether those were submerged mines, subs, or Grimm.
Everything that they scanned was recorded and immediately sent to the incoming fleet behind them.
As they neared the inner bay area, the captain ordered the shutdown of the vessel's engines, letting them drift in quietly. Once they were close enough, the captain then took over for the gunner and manned the Main Gun, shifting the heavy turret to the first of their two, primary targets.
He then ordered the dropping of the anchor.
Then, they waited, silently, in position.
/ /
All throughout the city dozens of Neo White Fang operatives began their operations. Individual Salemities or small groups of Grimm were taken out as quietly as possible while other groups of the irregular forces began their mission to plant bombs in and around various specified targets. Buildings, large-scale weapon systems and vehicles were disabled or set to be destroyed at a specific time, and that time was soon.
Then the squads of Faunus militants faded away, with the majority of the city's remaining populace never having seen them.
/ /
At Junior's Bar and Club, the Mafia Boss and the surviving members of his Red Axe gang prepped their weapons: various machine guns, pistols and their signature red hatchets and machetes.
He had gathered together every available member of his gang left in the city for the coming fight. There were still citizens in the city, effectively being used as hostages by their mere presence.
In addition, there were the members of the Spider with their leader Little Miss Malachite and her two daughters prepping their own weapons for the coming fight as well as a further group Neo White Fang members doing the same, all in the club.
The same thing was happening at the closed Lady Browning's Preparatory School Academy for girls across the city, up in the outskirts of the more wealthy neighborhoods.
The large, bearded man glanced at the clock on the wall then at his own watch, waiting. He checked his weapon, repaired after his first confrontation with a certain blond Huntress, the custom-made bazooka-bat hybrid had made by the legendary Huntsman Forgemaster Gunmetal himself.
He turned to look at the club's entrance as a coded knocking was heard. He motioned to one of the two men on watch and they nodded. They opened the hidden panel on the door and looked outside then, after a moment, they opened the door to let in more White Fang members, their own mission outside finished, as well as the last of his own scouts.
Junior gave them a look over for any discrepancies before nodding and going back to look at the time. It wouldn't be long now.
/ /
As time clicked down, Ghira and Kali Belladonna led dozens of low to mid tier Huntsmen and Huntresses alongside the four hundred Faunus Militia members and six hundred Remnant Alliance soldiers through the Emerald Forest towards the Northern edge of the City of Vale. With them were a further forty Atlesian Paladin-290 Advance units and a hundred older Valean Victory 220 Main Battle Tanks.
Coming from the Forever Fall forest was the other half of the Ground Assault Force, composed almost entirely of Faunus Militia members and Alliance soldiers as well as a dozen more tanks and mechs. They held back, going at a slower pace than the Emerald Forest division due to the lack of Huntsmen with them.
As the clocks in every tank and mech struck zero on their countdown timers the two divisions coalesced together and thundered towards the Wall at a steady, if still silent pace.
/ /
As the timer by his face went off the captain pressed the firing button on the Main Gun. With a thunderous Boom! the ship's Main Gun fired.
Not half a second later one of the two largest warehouses on the wharf exploded, coating the surrounding buildings with multiple fireballs as secondary explosions went off inside from all the gathered Dust munitions within. The blast knocked any nearby Salemites or Grimm in the immediate area off their feet.
Before any one of them could recover or do anything about the explosion or resulting, spreading fires another Boom! was heard out over the bay, far beyond the range of their light. At least, by those that could still hear.
It was followed by the other major warehouse exploding. Once more, fires and secondary explosions rained down on the wharf as panic began to set in throughout the docks.
Already over a hundred cultists were dead as well as dozens of crab, or other, aquatic, Grimm, and the attack had barely begun.
/ /
With an almost simultaneous ding, a hundred small-sized, localized bombs went off. Building collapsed and search lights fell to the streets below even as men and Grimm died from concussive force, fire and shrapnel.
Various defensive vehicles and AA turrets were disabled or destroyed as further bombs went off.
Officers and soldiers alike began to scream out for orders or directions as the men and women of Salem's forces were caught offguard by the sudden, simultaneous attacks, not knowing where to direct their attention, and forgetting to check the skies.
At the Defending Wall to the city's North-Eastern side individual Salemities looked out in shock and horror as fires burned distantly below. So unfocused were they that they missed the various white and black figures scaling the walls around them.
Their commanders and captains eventually whipped them into shape, trying to restore some semblance of order to their ranks, as they ordered them to man the manual guns and search lights facing outwards, figuring with all the commotion within the city that an attack could be coming at any time, and they were right!
The bombs had been perfectly placed. Power to the city's guns had been cut, if only temporarily. It would take a mere hour to be restored by the power grid as it's A.I. and human engineers rerouted power from the damaged systems to various alternative, or even ancillary ones.
Moreover, the autonomous defenses would have to be manual reset and align, after having been online for so long without repair.
For now, the Salemites on the Wall would have to make do with the manual guns and search lights. The ones that were operational, at least.
Many had been taken offline to save on power.
It was as they were doing this that many of them were killed by the Neo White Fang members who had secretly crept up on them, their decades of terrorism and sabotage against various Dust companies/mines helping them bypass the nominal security of the Salemities forces in their current panic with ease.
/ /
As one squad of Salemites hurried to the Central Control Room high up on the Inner Wall to reactivate the Automatic Defenses there, they were attacked from behind.
The one in the rear screamed in pain suddenly as he was lashed with twinned kusarigamas. He fell, twitching and bleeding, to the concrete ground far, far below.
As his four compatriots turned to see what happened, another was slashed in the face and felled dead before she could scream, her black and white mask split open and spilling blood and gore.
The remaining trio then raised their rifles as they saw the green-hair woman before them. Emerald Sustrai smiled coldly as she switched Thief's Respite back to twin revolvers and took aim at the guards before her.
Before any of them could shoot, however, another of the three stiffened and screamed as he was coated in spider webs before being flung off of the wall.
It was a long way down.
The last two fell then. One to a broken spine by a winged Faunus dropping on him from above as the other was stabbed repeatedly in the back and guts by another Faunus with Horned Lizard features.
Then there was silence, but for the sound of distant explosions and gunfire out at the docks and warehouse areas of the city below.
Even so, the noise they did generate was enough for an additional trio of guards to come running, curious as to what was going on. As they rounded the corner and saw what was going on, they slowed to raise their rifles.
That's when a whip of crackling lightning struck the outermost pair. One of the pair flinched and fell twitching to the ground even as the other one with her aura unlocked took the brunt of it before shaking the paralyzing energy off.
Before she and the last guard could do anything a nearly invisible, pitch black figure appeared from the shadows to stab at them.
The first guard fell with a gurgle even as the one with aura got back to her feet. She turned to face the new aggressor only to seize up as she was struck three times, the blows a mere flash of silver to her eyes.
She coughed, vomiting up blood, as her aura shattered and her red and black uniform was laid open before tumbling to the ground with spiraling showers of blood from her various wounds.
And then it was over.
Ilia Amitola withdrew Lightning Lash as Emerald Sustrai walked up to her. "Well, that went better than expected." She said. She looked over at Yuma and Trifa, she had yet to learn the name of the fourth member of their group. "You guys are good. Nice to be working with professionals for once."
Ilia glanced at her fellow Faunus before turning to say, "Well, we used to be the White Fang's top Operatives on Menagerie before everything went down at the Belladonna Manor, so it's not like we haven't done something like this before."
She shrugged and said, "Just, not as large."
Emerald looked at her for a moment before cracking a smile as she asked, "So, which one of them was it that made you change sides?"
The chameleon Faunus grinned back as she said, "Blake. My best friend."
Emerald nodded before turned to stalk towards the command center, "Well, let's go make sure she and the rest makes it back out again."
"Yeah, " Ilia responded as she motioned the others to follow.
/ /
As the New Horizon laid into the docks with cannon fire, trading shots with the few emplacements still left, a dozen other large sea vessels and dozens of smaller ones drove into the bay at speed
As soon as the ships had line of sight with the coast of Vale they opened up with their own cannons, ripping into the Sea Wall and tearing holes into whatever buildings remained along the wharf.
Once they crossed the inner edge of Patch, the larger ships shot off dozens of short-ranged, surface to air missiles and rockets. The missiles and rockets blew up dozens of smaller warehouses buildings in the area, ripping apart the men and Grimm that had been sheltering within from the suppressing fire.
All, but one cluster of buildings that is.
As the smaller boats began to swarm around the few available docks left, the door to Junior's Club opened up and members of the Red Axe gang poured out, opening up on the few Salemities and Grimm still standing around before going to secure the Dock's entrance. More members of Junior's gang poured out into the city from dozens of other hideouts as well as Neo White Fang and Spider operatives.
Soon, the streets of Vale were further filled the sounds of gunfire, screams and explosions as the war for the city finally began.
And, still, the fires raged, unchecked.
/ /
As the united divisions of the Ground forces cleared the forest's edge they could see the Wall, and the fires beyond.
But, the Gate remained shut.
Ghira paused at that before he glanced around at his men as they looked to him for directions. He merely folded his arms and said, "Wait. They'll open the Gates soon."
He refused to let the soldiers with him know that a snag had occurred. Though, many of the veterans already did.
/ /
Emerald crept up to the window and looked inside.
The control room was quiet, but not empty. A score of Salemites were busy attempting to reestablish control to the defenses while another ten patrolled inside the room with guns.
She glanced back at Yuma and the others. They nodded to her as the bat-winged Faunus took to the skies. She glanced down at the watch she had pilfered from the Mistrali General's tent and grimaced.
They were running out of time.
Then she looked back at the others and nodded while holding up a hand with three fingers raised. They nodded and readied their weapons, mere pistols and knives.
She dropped a finger. Then another. Then one more.
Bang!
The guards flinched and raised their weapons as a trio of their brothers came charging into the room out of nowhere, their faces ones of sheer panic. They hesitated before lowering their weapons as the leader of the trio rushed to the guard captain's side, wheezing.
"What's going on?" He ordered harshly, snapping a hand out emphatically. "I've got bombs going off everywhere, and reports of some kind of attack going on the docks!"
He looked at the three before turning back to the one directly before him as they spread out into the room. "Who are you?" He barked harshly. "Where are the ones I sent out?"
"I-gack!" He grunted as a pair of blades burst from his back and Emerald dropped her illusion to say, "Gah, can you shut up already?"
She jerked the blades out before whirling to attack the closest Salemite, saying, "The only person who gets to give me orders is a cute farm-boy slash mystical wizard."
The rest of the guards, and other Salemites, were swiftly killed by the trio as they stabbed and shot at them under the guise of surprise. Especially, when Yuma once more entered the ring by flying through a window to kill a couple of guards standing with their backs too close to it.
After they finished off the last one of the guards, Emerald sheathed her weapons and went to the main console, looking to see what she needed to do to open the Gates.
As she scrolled through the various options a shotgun blast rang out and the horned lizard Faunus jerked forwards, showering her with blood from a hole in his chest as he fell first to his knees then on his face dead.
Trifa turned and attempted to shooter at the unknown attacker, a lean man in blue and black clothes with silver hair. He dodged her shots impossibly quick before slapping her pistol out of her grip with an Axe Kick and preceded to knock her through a window with a Roundhouse kick.
She didn't move after that other than a twitching, swinging leg.
Yuma attempted to fly up into the air as the man then closed with him, only to have the man sudden launch himself upwards above him. He looked up at the figure in shock as he flipped in mid air and landed a stunning strike to his shoulder.
He crashed back to the ground with a slight yelp, smashing through a table as he did so. He struggled to rise, one arm either broken or dislocated, before falling back, unconscious. The twinkling color of periwinkle scattering as his Aura failed.
The silver-haired man then turned and smirked at Emerald as he said, "Yo, Em! Figured you be here. What better job for a thief like you, right?"
Emerald slowly moved into a lowered stance, her twitching hands at her sides near her revolvers as she sneered, "Mercury. I chose this mission because I knew you'd be here."
"Aw, I knew you still cared." Mercury returned mockingly as he began to jump from leg to leg in preparation, his arms raised. "I hope that you're not going to try and get me to side with you and your new friends again, Em."
He suddenly frowned as he said, "Things will ended the same way if you do."
"Things won't end like that this time, Merc." She returned as she drew her revolvers and fired at him.
He dodged and weaved through the gunfire, the rounds too heavy to slow him down.
Then, he was on her, throwing out so many kicks and punches that she was unable to do more than parry his attacks. He was giving her no chance to use her Semblance either, she realized.
Finally, he slammed her backwards with a solid kick to her midsection. She grunted and stood there, panting, a bit of blood trickling down from the corner of her mouth where a one of his kicks had glanced off of her Aura.
She wiped at the blood with the back of her hand and said after looking down at his newly exposed black, mechanical legs, "So, upgrades, huh? Watt's, from the look of things. Thought you said you couldn't trust anybody, but yourself. Was that a lie, too? Mercury?"
He snickered at that as he raised a leg to better show of the swollen black calves with their thrusters and the reinforced, bladed plating on the fronts as he spread out his arms in a "So, what of it" expression.
"Well, you know, about that," he started as, with a sudden motion, he turned and fired Talaria at the console next to Emerald. It sparked and sputtered as it died. "I figured that I needed a leg up to keep up with you guys these days."
"No!" She shouted at she ran up to it before lowering her head in defeat. She banged her fist on the console as she turned and glared at him as she accused him. "Do you know what you've done?"
"I don't know," he smirked at her before motioning to her and asking, "Why don't you tell me, Em?"
"You've ruined any chance," she started as she banged against the console before putting her head in her hands and weeping silently.
"Hey, hey, Em." He mocked her as he continued to smirk. "I thought that you were a big girl. There's no need to cry about anything."
His cold eyes darkened further as he lost the smirk and said, "After all, there's not going to be much a world to cry about soon enough."
"You idiot!" Emerald interjected as she continued to weep in her hands, her shoulders shaking, before dropping her hands and smirking herself as she said. "You don't know what you've done, do you?"
"Wh-what?" He asked in sudden confusion. He raised his arms defensively and got into a stance then looked behind him as another console chimed merrily and a previously invisible Ilia was revealed to be standing there, smiling smugly at him, before drawing her blade.
He turned back around to face Emerald as she continued. "You've ruined any chance you had of retaking control of the Wall."
She then stepped into the middle of the aisle, equal distance between Mercury, and Ilia on the other side of him, and raised Thief's Respite. "Looks like this is it, Merc. Any last words?"
He glanced between the two of them before lowering himself into a Martial Arts stance as he shook his head and smirked at her once more and said, "Please. As if this were my last stand."
/ /
With a loud, groaning shriek of metal, the gates began to open up. Ghira breathed a subtle sigh of relief. He motioned to the tank commanders and mech pilots, ordering them forwards.
They nodded and saluted back then with a roar of mechanical engines they charged out of the woods. Not a moment later they were met by a hail of incoming fire from the walls themselves as well as further in, through the gates themselves.
He took that in and nodded even as he frowned. As expected of the enemy he thought to himself. He shivered as he recall the battles he had been in during the Revolution.
He felt a hand rest on his arm then and looked down at his wife. Kali gave him an encouraging smile and squeezed his arm gently.
He smiled back quietly in gratitude.
He stiffened as another hand was place on his back and looked over to find Sun Wukong and the rest of Team SSSNN standing there, weapons at the ready. He smiled at him and said, "You got this, dude."
Ghira rolled his eyes as he turned to face the battle before him and shook his head quietly. He really, really didn't like that boy. Then he took a deep breath in and let out a roar of his own as he led his men into the fray.
Over a thousands men and woman, human and Faunus both, yelled and charged with him.
/ /
He heard the sounds of distant explosions off towards the Bay and watched as a few Beowolves and Creeps appeared alongside a squad of cultists from within one of the closest buildings. They rushed over towards the remains of the Landing Pads in time to see a massive fireball go off from down at the docks that was quickly followed by another as well as hundreds of smaller explosions within the city beyond.
He watched as the squad rushed back to the buildings, and knew that they were preparing to repel an attack. Pity then, that it wouldn't be coming from the coast.
No, as per Arc's instructions, Cardin's division of the Ground forces, all eight hundred of them, would attack from the same way as the Grimm had all those years ago.
From the Emerald Forest itself.
Cinder and the cultists had left no real guards at the forest's edge. Just like they thought. No. They had left Grimm.
Dozens of lesser Grimm.
And Grimm like that, the ones they had fought, were nothing but prey to students. Let alone to a seasoned Huntsman like himself.
Cardin swallowed audibly as he looked at the buildings in the distance, and thoroughly wished he was anywhere, but here again. Not for the first time did he wish that his asshole of a family had never changed their livelihood from that of the Church to what it was now.
Cause right now? He could use a miracle.
He looked to his left and then his right at the collections of soldiers and Huntsmen in his division. Then behind at the dozens of vehicles and mechs bringing up the rear.
All of them were waiting for him. For his orders.
Why, and how, did someone think that he would make for a good commander, again? This had Arc written all over it, didn't it? Or, Velvet.
One of the two, for sure.
"You ready, Boss?" Asked Russell as he strolled up to stand by his side. Cardin glanced down at him, noting how pale the smaller man looked.
He glanced behind again to find the likes of Teams FNKI, ABRN, and so, so many others standing there, shoulder to shoulder, with him. All, were once students like him. All were now fully licensed Huntsmen and Huntresses, like him.
Many of them had even fought here, and lost. Like him.
He turned back and looked at the buildings before him. At the ruin that had become Beacon Academy. A place he had to for less than a year. The place where he had learned to be a better man. A better friend and leader.
A better person.
His home.
His eyes narrowed as he swallowed again.
That's where all this had started. That's where they had lost friends and instructors. Where Pyrrha Nikos had made her valiant Last Stand. Where Jaune and the others had been hurt, all those years ago.
It was the place where his friends were going to be fighting at again, in just a little while.
They were counting on him to clear the way. They were counting on him to hold the line. They were counting on him, Cardin fucking Winchester.
He hefted the new and improved Executioner over his shoulders and stalked forth. His men followed after him.
He wouldn't disappoint them. Not this time.
/ /
As the battles processed in the city below a fleet of aircraft began to rise above the trees of the Emerald Forest and fly towards it. Their holds were full to bursting with soldiers and supplies for the battles ahead.
But, as the massive air fleet departed, a single Manta dropship split of the collective and departed, flying off towards the distant structure of Beacon Academy
It was loaded down with some of the strongest Huntsmen and Huntresses currently active. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xaio Long, Team RWBY. Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Team JN(P)R.
A/N: Alright, hope you guys are still there. I told you things were going to get wild. Next chapter will mostly have some individual battles, largely because I think that I do those the best, but also because that's how the stories is going.
Okay, Essiter out! Love ya!