Ben: Previously, on The Defenders of Remnant…
"General, you wouldn't sic someone of his… reputation on me, would you? I mean, you do need me alive to tell you anything you might want to know, right?"
"Yes, I need you alive. That doesn't mean in one piece. And I trust Specialist Castle to know how to keep you that way, no matter what," Ironwood spoke with an icy tone.
"You… you can't be serious," Torchwick stammered, his smirk starting to fade away.
"I will do anything to protect not just my kingdom, but my world." Ironwood leaned forward and looked Torchwick right into his eyes, showing how serious he really was. "Anything."
Ironwood stepped all the way out and let Castle step into the cell. "He's all yours, Specialist."
"You need to slow down, Pete. You're only hurting yourself."
"And what if nothing changes?" Peter wheeled around on them and stood up. "What if this pattern just continues over and over, where I can't save anyone? How many people are gonna die because I keep failing as a hero?!"
"Then who are you supposed to be, Peter?" Ben asked.
"I don't know anymore, Ben. I really don't…" Peter sighed.
"Coco?" Cardin said as he and Ben both approached as well. "What happened to Coco?"
"Yeah. She swore she saw Yatsu in the forest during their fight with Emerald and Mercury, but he never even made it out of the geyser fields. Stress induced hallucinations apparently."
"Yeah…" Ruby muttered. Something was up. Both she and Ben looked down to consider it when a camera flash stunned all three of them. Velvet had her camera back out, and quickly realized the mistake.
"Oop! Sorry," She chuckled.
"Mercury?" Ruby questioned.
"They're behind it.." Ben said. Ruby glanced at him.
"What?"
"Mercury… Emerald… Taskmaster… Cinder…"
"Ruby, go! Stop the match! Hurry!" Ruby nodded, and in a storm of rose petals, sped away.
"Stop!" Frank exclaimed. Pyrrha stopped short, and Penny quickly pulled her swords back so as not to harm her friends. "Stop the match!"
"Your kingdom has become so reliant on the deeds of so-called 'superheroes' to fight your battles for you, to protect your people and defend your borders. If they were so great, what would be the point of Huntsmen? Except they aren't great. The symbols you have looked up to for the past few months are nothing but charlatans pretending to enforce the 'greater good'."
The screen changed again, and ran footage of Peter's bloody battle with Kingpin. Peter's unmasked face was blurred, his identity safe, but that wasn't the point. She wasn't aiming to expose the heroes' other lives, but ruin their reputations. "Do heroes brutalize and attempt to murder innocent bystanders?" Far from the truth, but Remnant didn't know that. Remnant didn't know who Fisk was. All they saw was their favorite hero beating a man to a bloody pulp.
"Ruby, what is happening?" Penny asked. Before Ruby could answer, sirens began to wail all across the city below and in the arena itself.
"Warning: Incoming Grimm attack. Threat Level: Nine."
"Get to the city!" Ozpin commanded.
"But-" Qrow started.
"Now!" Ozpin snapped.
The Defenders of Remnant
Chapter 44: The Battle of Beacon Part I - Heroes, Huntsmen and Monsters
Neo dropped the corpse of the last remaining Atlesian officer aboard the bridge of the massive airship, wiped the dust off her disguised uniform, then with her parasol spinning over her shoulder, skipped along through the ship's interior. She did so with a wide smile and a pep in her step until she came to the holding cells, stopping in front of one cell in particular. She swiped a stolen keycard through the reader, and the door slid open. In her off hand, she held Torchwick's cane with his hat hanging from the end. As the light shined in on the cell, though, her smile faded and her eyes rounded.
Torchwick was beaten and bruised mercilessly, one eye really swollen shut and blackened, and several cuts covered his face. Dried blood ran down the side of his head, and his normally pristine suit jacket, which Neo herself had once gifted him, was torn up. She gasped and rushed over to him, dropping her parasol and Torchwick's gear. She dropped down in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders, shaking him awake. He seemed dizzy and delirious. He had been beaten badly. She kept shaking him until he stirred awake.
"Rrrgh…" He groaned painfully as his eyes flitted open, and he took in the sight of his partner in crime. "Neo… about time…" He chuckled with a grin. Neo's worried expression didn't change, and she brought one hand up to gently caress the side of his face, careful not to apply too much pressure in case he still hurt. "Oh, this? It's nothing… just took a few slugs from that Punisher guy, nothing I couldn't handle…" Neo narrowed her eyes, and he sighed. "Alright, fine, it's as bad as it looks. Did you clear the bridge?" Neo nodded. "Then let's take those other airships out of the sky and get outta here. I'm in no shape for a fight."
Neo nodded again and placed Torchwick's hat carefully atop his head, with a look only he could read. "Yeah. It's good to see you too."
Ozpin watched from his office as two of the three main Atlesian battle cruisers were destroyed and plummeted from the sky, crashing down to the ground below. A squadron of bullheads flew in from the south and began to land in his city, full of White Fang no doubt. He grimaced and quickly made for the elevator.
Blake and Weiss were caught in the fairgrounds, watching the scene around them as everything began to fall and burn. Countless Grimm were tearing everything down and attacking all the innocent civilians. It made both of them feel sick.
"I don't believe this…" Weiss shuddered. Blake didn't give a response, she just pulled her scroll out to see Yang calling her.
"Yang, are you okay?" The faunus asked.
"I'm fine. Is anyone with you? No one's answering their scrolls," Yang replied.
"No, it's just Weiss and I. Yang, I'm sure they're fine. You know Ruby and Peter, they can take care of themselves."
"Right…"
"This can't be happening…" Weiss thought aloud. Her heart felt heavy. Peter and the other heroes had given so much to keep a world that wasn't theirs safe. Marc had even laid down his life. But despite all they'd done, the kingdom's trust in them must have now been in shambles.
"I'm heading to the docks by the courtyard. The White Fang are releasing Grimm into the school!" Yang said..
"The White Fang is here?!" Blake exclaimed. Suddenly, the other end of the call was filled with booming destructive sounds. "Yang!"
"Gotta go! Be careful," Yang warned before ending the transmission. Blake glumly looked to the ground and let her arm hang limply at her side.
"Blake, what are we going to do?" Weiss asked. Blake took a breath and re-affirmed herself before going back to her scroll.
"We're going to the docks, and we're doing our job." Blake pressed a button on her scroll, and after a few moments, a locker crashed down from the sky and popped open to reveal Gambol Shroud stowed away. Weiss glanced at her partner, and firmly nodded.
Mercury was sent through the wall outside and landed on the debris spine-first. His aura was still holding, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell. He rolled over onto his stomach and looked up to see he was out on one of the landing pads, and parked separately from the larger ships filing people in was a single small bullhead. He quickly got to his feet and ran for one of the remaining bullheads when a long line of webbing shot onto his back and he was yanked back to the opening in the wall. His body turned mid-air and Mercury was able to see as Ben's fist connected with his face. Mercury flew back outside and landed hard face-down.
"Doesn't this bring back memories, Merc? New guy on the block kicking your ass into next week, you getting punched through walls? Except now you don't have Emerald to take hits for you," Ben grimaced.
"No," Mercury groaned, "But I do have her to take shots for me." Suddenly, a dust round shot through Ben's arm. He yelled out and held his arm. He spun around only for Emerald's heel to connect with his jaw and send him onto the floor.
"Thanks," Mercury said painfully while getting onto his feet.
"Shut up and get on the ship!" Emerald hissed before rushing over to the bullhead and hopping into the pilot seat. Mercury hobbled into the ship's cabin and slammed the door shut. The engines roared to life and Ben got back to his feet as the ship took off and flew away from Amity. Ben cursed under his breath and inspected his arm. Without an aura, the Dust went right through, all the way through. It was a clean shot through a non-vital section. He let out a sigh of relief. He dodged the metaphorical bullet of a severed nerve or vein, and he would be sure to thank Peter for passing on his faster healing later.
Ben then ran back inside and sprinted back to the main arena, where he saw a Nevermore still pecking and clawing at the shield above. The warning system chimed: "Warning: Safety Barriers Failing". In the seats with him were Jaune, Ren, Cardin and Nora, looking down into the arena where Ruby, Pyrrha, Frank and Penny still were.
"Guys!" Jaune called out. "That thing's going to break in, you gotta move!" The Nevermore flew up and slammed back down onto the force field. The field had begun flickering now, just on the border of collapsing.
"I think it's about time we got outta here!" Frank exclaimed. He and Penny began to run for the exit, and Ruby started to run when she realized Pyrrha wasn't running.
"Pyrrha, what are you doing?!" Ruby exclaimed.
"I… was going to kill her…?" Pyrrha was muttering to herself
"Pyrrha, c'mon, we have to go!"
"Pyrrha!" Jaune exclaimed before jumping down into the arena from the seats and sprinting to his friends.
The Nevermore flew back up and came rocketing down again, breaking through the shield and slamming down into the coliseum, sending a shockwave that blasted everyone down there away, off their feet. The Nevermore rose up and spread its massive wings wide, letting out an ear-piercing screech. It began to step towards the group in front of it, still recovering from being sent to the ground, when suddenly Cardin/Venom collided with its torso, biting into its chest with their sharp teeth. The Nevermore stumbled back and Cardin leapt off of it, joining as everyone began to get back to their feet.
"Agh! Grimm is disgusting!" They hacked up. Ben landed down next to Ruby and put a hand out to her. She smiled and gladly took it. Ben helped her up, then did the same for Penny. Once she was up, Ben held her by the sides of her arms.
"Penny, I was so worried! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Ben frantically asked.
"I'm alright. What about you? You're bleeding!" Penny exclaimed, seeing the still-bleeding bullet wound in his arm.
"Just a flesh wound. I'll be fine," Ben assured her. The Nevermore's caw drew everyone's attention. It had recovered from the attack and primed to attack again. It flew up and began to circle the ring, before dive bombing back down for the group. Suddenly, several rocket lockers collided with its feathers and body, impaling it one by one. The Nevermore crashed and skidded to a stop in front of the group. It let out one last caw before going limp. The lockers opened one by one, revealing the weapons and equipment of every Huntsman that remained in the arena. Team JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, and the other teams that had recently fought in the tournament. Everyone was there, quickly grabbing a hold of their weapons atop the dead Grimm.
"Well, that was easier than I thought," Ben said.
Then the Nevermore moved again, with all the Huntsmen still atop it. "You had to say something!" Ren exclaimed before leaping off and slashing the Nevermore's eye. Nora slid down the curve of its back and off its beak before slamming Magnhild down, smashing the Grimm's head flat back onto the ground. Cardin grabbed Yatsu by the arm and leapt high above the stunned Grimm. At the peak of their jump, Cardin let go of Yatsu. Yatsu pulled his sword back, ready to slash downwards as Cardin's symbiotic fingertips sharpened into long razor claws. The two bulky Huntsmen plummeted back down, and with both of their downward swipes, decapitated the Nevermore. It's head rolled off just before it's entire body dissipated
"Not bad," Yatsu complimented Cardin.
"Not so bad yourself," The venomized Cardin replied.
"We may have had our problems, but with what's going on? We're gonna have to work together." Yatsu put his hand out to Cardin. "You got my back?"
Cardin reached out and shook his hand. "Count on it."
Pyrrha still looked down dejectedly, and Ruby looked down at her. "Pyrrha… are you okay?"
"They… they were going to have me kill her… take an innocent life.. What would I have done if you hadn't stopped me in time?" Pyrrha questioned. It was true. Had Ruby been a second longer, Emerald's illusions would have led Pyrrha to do the unthinkable.
"It isn't your fault," Ruby assured her.
"She's right," Jaune agreed while holding Milo in one hand and Akouo in his off hand. He stood before his close friend and teammate firmly. "The person on the microphone, they're the ones behind all this." Pyrrha stood up to meet Jaune's eyes, and her leader held both pieces of equipment out to her. "We have to make sure they don't try to take anyone else." Pyrrha took a breath, and took her tools in her hands. She steeled her expression and found her strength. The two then turned to Ruby, who wore a confident, brave smile. Ruby turned to the rest of them all grouped up in front of her. Her fellow classmates, competitors, friends. Ben, Cardin, Sun, Velvet, Neptune, Coco, Nora, Ren, everyone. Heroes, Huntsmen and Huntresses of every kingdom, united as one.
Ruby looked up to see Griffon Grimm start lining the circular top of the arena.
"Griffons…" Ren noted.
"Anyone got a plan of attack?" Neptune asked.
"Sun, I need your scroll," Ruby said. Sun tossed her his device and she quickly called in her own locker, which crashed just a few meters behind her. It popped open, and she rushed to it, only for a Griffon to perch itself atop. Suddenly, a dust round connected with its armored beak, and with howl, it flew back up to join its turned to see port and Oobleck with their own weapons in hand, Port's being a massive blunderbuss with an axe blade under the handle, and Port's being a long metal staff.
"Students," Port said, "I think it would be best for you to leave."
"But we can-" Ruby started.
"Miss Rose," Oobleck interrupted, "This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."
Ruby nodded with a smile, and recovered Crescent Rose from its locker. "Let's go!" She ordered. Everyone except the teachers ran for the exits, for the landing pads. Velvet paused to take one picture of Ruby with her scythe out, before joining the rest of Team CFVY. Ruby rushed out last, leaving Oobleck and Port to battle the Griffons. They all reached outside just as General Ironwood, standing alone amongst torn apart Atlesian Knights, bent a Beowulf by its arm, pressed the barrel of his ornate pistol against its armored dome, and executed it. He dropped the corpse and let it dissipate before turning to all the students (and Frank).
"What's going on?" Ruby asked.
"Grimm are crawling all over the city," Ironwood answered. "The White Fang has invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, some… vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm-" He quickly aimed behind the teens, but Frank had already spun around and with a single rifle bullet fired right through an Ursa's eye, blowing right through its head and making it drop, "Going to take it back."
"I'm coming with, General," Frank said, approaching the ramp of the ship parked in font of them with Ironwood.
"What should we do?" Jaune asked.
"You have two choices:" Ironwood said, "Defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave."
"I think I speak for everybody here, General," Cardin said, the symbiote pulling away from his face to speak clearly, "No one here is walking away from this fight. For most of us, this is our home. And we're heroes. If we left when people needed us, then what are we?" The entire group seemed to share his sentiment, standing tall and firmly. At this, Ironwood couldn't help but smile.
"Then your kingdom is awaiting its saviors, soldier." He then turned to Frank and the rest of the Atlas officers in the ship. "Let's move out!" Ironwood marched into the bullhead. Frank gave Penny one last look. She met his eyes, and he gave her a nod, before following his CO inside. The hatch closed shut and the bullhead lifted into the air.
"I mean, come on…" Sun said aloud.
"We can take a ship to Beacon," Jaune said. The group ran for the next landing pad, where ships would be waiting for them.
Torchwick limped over to the main terminal in the bridge of the airship, then stopped for a few moments to catch his breath. It hurt to move anything. The Punisher's "interrogation" tactics left him pretty much defenseless, and worse for wear. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach. He needed to do what needed to be done, then get out. He couldn't defend himself like this. Neo was very skilled on her own, but if Huntsmen came in force, even she couldn't protect them both.
Apparently he paused long enough for Neo to become concerned, as her hand gently fell on his. He looked over at her, and her usual smirk of confidence was nowhere to be found. Neo knew she was better than most, so she always carried herself confidently and swiftly. That was absent here, her focus on his well being. He always could count on her for that. They'd been partners in crime for years now. More than partners. He was the first real friend she had, and she was the first person other than himself he could really count on. He was grateful for her.
"I'll live, Neo. I promise," He wheezed, holding his side. "Doesn't mean it won't suck for a few weeks, but hey, still alive. You have the program?" Neo nodded and handed him a scroll. He took it and slid it into a slot. The scroll's screen flickered to life with a black chess piece and a red background. "Mission accomplished. Now, let's get out of here."
Weiss and Blake were approaching Beacon's main campus along the main path. Blocking the path was a line of Atlesian Knights, their backs facing two huntresses. Suddenly, they wheeled around and aimed at the two of them. Blake noticed first. "Look out!" Blake took herself and her teammate to the ground just before the laser blasts came down. The Knights quickly surrounded both of them. The two got to their feet and drew their weapons, ready for a battle.
Then one of the knights was decapitated, and two sets of metal claws tore through the rest in seconds. "You kids alright?" Logan asked.
"Uh… yeah. We're fine," Weiss said, clearly staring at the metal claws protruding from Logan's hands.
"What're ya staring at?" Logan growled.
"Oh, nothing! Nothing…" Weiss quickly looked away.
Logan looked out at the city. "The huntsmen are spread thin, and those robots turning on you means someone just hacked into the Atlas security network. Every single one of those mechanical defenders just turned around to fire at anything that moves, including innocent people."
"Why haven't you gone out there?" Blake asked.
"I could ask the same thing of you," Logan countered.
"We're here to protect our school," Weiss said.
"Well, I'm doing the same. Everyone else is out there, heroes and huntsmen. I'm here to make sure the kids on campus like you don't die."
"We can handle ourselves," Blake said.
"I get being warriors, but you've never fought a war, and now you're in the middle of one. You need all the help you can get up here, and with most of your side down there, you're gonna need all the help you can get up here."
"Well, if you're gonna help, let's go," Blake said.
"I think we might have a problem," Weiss said, pointing towards the school. More Atlesian Knights were marching down the path, and a small army of White Fang were coming in from a left path as well.
"Looks like we have our work cut out for us," Logan growled.
Ironwood was piloting the ship while Frank stood behind him, rifle at the ready. "You didn't seem too bothered leaving Penny behind with the others, especially considering what just happened," Ironwood said.
"Neither did you," Frank replied gruffly.
"You're the one that volunteered to be her guardian. You made the choice to leave her with the rest of the students."
"It's where she belongs," Frank said. "She's a girl, man, flesh and blood or not. If you really are so hell bent on making her a defender of Atlas? Give her something to fight for. Give her friends, give her a life. If you want her to look and seem human, you gotta let her feel human. Be real. "
"A nice sentiment," Ironwood said.
"She wants to stay here, y'know. In Vale. At Beacon."
"If we don't act fast enough, there won't be a Beacon."
"She's not there for the curriculum, James. She's there for the people. She's made friends, she's living. Even if the Grimm doesn't take that away from her tonight, it's important we don't either," Frank said. Ironwood began to think of what Frank was saying for a few moments. "Shit!" Ironwood looked over his shoulder to see the Knights in the cabin turn and aim their weapons into the cockpit, their facial screens changed from their usual neutral black to a red hue. Frank quickly dispatched those in front before shooting the panel that managed the door between the cabin and cockpit. The door automatically slammed shut, locking in place. "The hell was that?!"
"Someone's hacked into the security network. Just means we have to get to that cruiser quickly." Suddenly, the energy blasts from the Knights' weapons blew apart the door. Frank turned back to retaliate, but a blast connected with his shoulder and sent him sprawling.
"No-!" Ironwood exclaimed.
The young huntsmen had all loaded onto a leftover bullhead barge and quickly got it up in the air. Most of them had taken a seat, taking one last chance to rest before they were thrust into the battlefield the kingdom of Vale had turned into. They were in the air not far from Ironwood's ship when it suddenly burst into flames and quickly began to lose altitude. The four most captivated by its sudden fate were Ruby, Sun, Ben and Penny. Penny covered her mouth in shock.
"S-Specialist Castle was on that ship…" Penny whimpered. The tone of her voice tightened Ben's stomach, and he quickly ran to the back of the ship to exit, only to cross into Ruby's path.
"Ruby? What are you doing?" Ben questioned.
"Someone needs to stop that ship!" Ruby replied.
"Yeah, and I'm doing it!"
"I'll go too!"
"No, Ruby, you need to stay here," Ben insisted.
"I said I'm going!"
"Ruby!" Ben pushed her back from the exit. "You're the one they're looking up to right now. You're leading them into a battle none of you might come back from. You are the leader that could win or lose all of this. They need you."
"We need you too! We need everyone, even Peter," Ruby said.
"Well Peter isn't here!" Ben exclaimed. "It's up to us to see this through. You lead them, and you win this. I'll shut down that ship and meet back with you as soon as I can. Okay?" Ruby clearly didn't like it, but further protest would waste more time. Time was something not on their side.
"Okay. Just be careful," Ruby said.
"Right back at you," Ben replied with a smile. He looked across the cabin to see Penny looking at the two of them. "I'll see you soon." Penny reluctantly nodded, and Ben nodded back before opening the back door of the ship, opening it to the skies outside. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Time to be a hero, Ben… He then rushed forward and leapt out, free falling through the sky. He looked towards the Atlesian battleship in the distance, with hundreds of Griffon flying around between him and the ship. That would be how he got there. He webbed himself onto one of the flying Grimm, climbed atop it, then began to leap and web swing between each and every one, slowly making his way to the ship, flipping and leaping acrobatically and powerfully through the sky. After a few minutes of the dangerous parkour work across man-eating monsters, Ben landed safely onto the deck of the airship. "That… was the most terrifying thing of my life," He sighed in relief. "Now let's shut this thing down."
Weiss flipped sped between each Atlesian Knight with the aid of her glyphs, dispatching one after another with single, elegant strikes, kicking up sparks and sending shrapnel flying in each and every direction. Upon reaching the final Knight before her, she leapt up, created a glyph on the knight's torso, and kicked off, shooting high up and back down towards where Blake and Logan were still battling White Fang. Logan was clearing them away effortlessly on his side, clawing through them ferociously like a rabid animal. Blake, although holding her own, was starting to become overwhelmed. A large group of White Fang started to bear down on her. Weiss used a glyph to get herself down to ground level almost instantly. Upon landing, she rotated the barrel in Myrtenaster's pummel and fired a round of gravity Dust that blasted the entire group away.
With them taken care of, Blake swiped the final two on the other side of her away and flipped backwards, coming back to back with Weiss. Both of their attentions were drawn to a hijacked Atlesian Paladin that was smashing its way through the lines of Atlas soldiers guarding one of the main pathways to the rest of campus. "Come on!" Weiss exclaimed. The two started for that direction when a loud boom stopped them. They looked up in the sky to see a bullhead with a flaming engine dropping from the air. On it's way down, an Alpha Beowulf, a larger, more armored version of your typical Beowulf, leapt out of it's cabin and landed on the path opposite of the Paladin. Both large threats began encroaching on the school, tearing through Atlas defenses easily. The two huntresses traded glances, and hooded. "Be safe."
"What about him?" Blake gestured to Logan, who with the members of the White Fang defeated, began to tear through approaching Grimm.
"I think he's occupied himself," Weiss noted. The two then split up, with Blake heading for the Beowulf and Weiss heading for the Paladin.
Blake chased after the Beowulf, up to the now aflame mess hall. The Beowulf leapt up to the edge of the roof and howled out like a wolf to the moon. Blake was about to leap up for it when she heard a familiar battle cry. She paused and looked into the mess hall where she saw a man skewering an Atlas soldier before dropping the corpse to the floor. Then the man turned, saw her, and formed a devilish smirk on his masked face. A man she hoped she would never see again.
"No…." She shuddered, "A-Adam…?"
"Hello, my darling," Adam replied.
Matt wound the metal wire connecting the two halves of his belly club around the neck of the Ursa he had hopped upon, and tightened it as hard as he could. The Grimm struggled for a moment, then the wire cleaved clean through and decapitated the creature. Its body slumped over and Matt rolled off of it before the rest of the body dissolved. Suddenly a full pile of Grimm landed before him and dissipated one by one. Matt looked up to see both Glynda and Jessica standing amongst the slaughtered dissolving horde.
"How are you two holding up?" Matt asked, panting heavily.
"Why, are you getting sleepy?" Glynda said.
"I never thought I'd hear you make a joke. It really is the end of the world," Matt smirked.
Suddenly, the ground below them shook violently, nearly taking them off their feet. It was calm for a moment, then the tremors began again.
"What the hell was that?" Qrow questioned, joining the others.
"Something worse…" Glynda answered. Suddenly the far off Mount Gleen on the horizon burst open, and launching into the sky was a large winged Grimm like a dragon. The Grimm slowly began to fly towards the kingdom, it's massive form recognizable from even far away.
"And that would be…?" Jessica asked.
"That…. Is a Wyvern."
A Beowulf perched itself atop a building and leapt into the air, aiming for Jessica.
"Jess, look out!" Matt called. Jessica spun around and started to reel her fist back when a rocket shot through the air and connected with the side of the Beowulf's torso, dead center. The explosion ripped the Grimm in half, sending both pieces of the creature in opposite directions. Everyone turned to see Junior flanked by a group of his men, his rocket launcher weapon in hand, smoke billowing from the barrel.
"Glad I didn't miss all the fun," Junior smirked.
"I'll be damned," Jessica said, "You aren't hiding in your club."
"Vale's my city too, Y'know. I'm not gonna sit around and leave it to burn. Besides, I promised I would help, and that's what I'm gonna do."
"Hm. Maybe you aren't so bad after all. For an information broker."
"Finally!" Junior whispered to himself.
The Wyvern soon cast its massive shadow over the kingdom of Vale, globs of black essence dripping off its body and landing on the ground below. Each glob spawned new creatures of Grimm, adding to the already overwhelming force against the people of Vale. Such people were the students who made their way down from Amity, now defending the main tower of Beacon from the onslaught. Pyrrha stood next to Jaune, seeing her once-cowardly and inept leader now stand tall amongst the rest of their fellow student Huntsmen, a changed man. A true warrior. She smiled and stood tall next to him, proud to follow him into battle.
Soon, though, she saw Ozpin waiting in the doorway for the tower, his hands resting in his cane in front of him. And suddenly that warmth and pride of being alongside her friends fell away. The time had come to choose. She began to walk towards Ozpin.
"Where's she going?" Nora questioned.
"I'll go find out. You two stay here and keep fighting,: Jaune ordered both her and Ren before rushing to Pyrrha's side.
Blake fearfully began to step away from the shattered window. This isn't real, he can't be here…
"Running away again?" Adam said. Blake's eyes just rounded wider as she kept stepping away. "Is that what you've become, my love? A coward?"
"Why are you doing this?" Blake questioned.
"You and I were going to change the world, remember?" Adam responded. "We were destined to light the fires of revolution." He then stomped at the citizen flat on the ground at his feet. "Consider this the spark." He drew his shining red blade and pointed its tip downwards towards his next victim. Before he could thrust the sword, Blake suddenly collided with him, pushing him off the civilian and creating sparks off the collision of Adam's blade and Gambol Shroud.
"I'm not running,: Blake furrowed her brow and steeled her resolve. She would end this, tonight.
"You. Will," Adam threatened before towering over her and kicking her flat onto the ground. "But not before you've suffered for your betrayal, my love."
The Paladin was proving too much for even the combined might of several teams of Huntsmen. They didn't seem to have a way to overpower the machine. Weiss attempted to slow it by freezing it's legs in place, then launched herself rapier-first to strike the Paladin, but it swatted her away with ease.
"Weiss!" Neptune called out. Yatsuhashi attempted to get close, but it swiped low at him. Yatsu turned his blade flat-side forward and braced himself to block the strike. Cardin/Venom leapt up onto its back and began to claw at it, slowly shredding the metal to the best of his ability. It's power was still too much. It pushed Yatsu away then grabbed Cardin off it's back and slammed him onto the ground before stomping him into the pavement. It then began to make its way over to Ren, who was too preoccupied shooting Grimm to notice. Nora noticed the mechanized mammoth's pathing, though, and immediately moved to save her partner.
"Look out!" She pushed Ren out of the way just before its giant metal fist connected with her instead, sending her flying.
"Nora, no! Oof!" Ren got tagged quickly after, temporarily putting him out of commission as well. It then spun around on its axis to gaze down at Neptune, Ruby and Coco, who were firing at it relentlessly, while Velvet hung behind the three.
"Uh, this is bad!" Neptune exclaimed.
"Well, I guess now's a better time than any." Coco turned to her Faunus teammate and gave her a nod. "Velvet!"
"Really?!" Velvet replied excitedly.
"Yeah, just make them count," Her leader said. Velvet nodded and began to approach the first Paladin confidently as a second Paladin approached from behind it.
"What are you doing?! She's going to get hurt!" Ruby cried.
"Just watch," Coco smirked.
Velvet approached both Paladins and stopped short in front of them. She held her right arm outstretched to her side, and light flickered on on her camera box on the back of her belt. Suddenly, a holographic copy of Crescent Rose formed in her hand. The first paladin attempted to fire at Velvet, but she leapt up into the air, spun around, and in one descending strike, cut down the middle of the machine. Crouched down from the fall, Crescent Rose disappeared and in her other hand formed a copy of Myrtenaster. The Paladin brought a fist down onto her, but with one vertical parry, she sent the mech stumbling back. Taking Weiss's signature stance, holding the hilt of her weapon up at the opposite shoulder, she leapt back up and struck the machine's torso a handful of times, pushing it back even more.
By the time Velvet landed again, Myrtenaster was replaced by Ember Celica, and she fired artificial dust rounds at the mech. It started to take a swing, but Velvet crouched under the punch, traded Yang's weapons for Blake's Gambol Shroud, then leapt up and stabbed onto the robot's arm. The ribbon attached to the fake Gambol Shroud began to wrap around th emech's legs as it kept spinning around, attempting to hit Velvet. Once blinded tightly, Velvet jumped off of the Paladin, landed gracefully, and yanked the ribbon. The mech's legs tightened together and fell over with a clang onto its side. The first mech was dealt with.
The second rushed to attack behind her, and she swiftly spun around and cut its attacking hand free from the rest of the robotic arm. Wires were left hanging from its wrist, sending out sparks. She then threw both her Gambol Shroud copy and its sheathe into the cockpit viewport of the machine before creating a copy of Coco's minimum and unloading a storm of bullets into its hull. It attempted to throw a right swing, but Cardin leapt in and caught the fist with his bare symbiotic hands.
"We have your back if you have ours," He said. Velvet smiled and swapped out for Magnhild, Nora's hammer, before leaping up and bringing it's head down onto the mech's, flattening it out.
"Penny, blow it away!" Ruby ordered.
"Right," Penny nodded before summoning all her swords from her backpack and used them to form a circle in front of her, blades pointed forward, They then began to spin in a circular shape, and an orb of energy began to build in the center of it.
The first mech began to move again, and took aim at Penny, but Ruby caught its movement. "The first one's moving again!" She called out. Quickly, every standing Huntsmen unleashed a storm of bullets onto the damaged mech. In its state, it was torn apart quickly.
The energy in Penny's attack charged up, and with a single push of her hands, the energy fired and burned right through the second paladin, incinerating it fully. Velvet took a picture of the wide battle scene, naturally, cataloging it for use later. For a moment, the students had a chance to relax. Then the very ground below them began to shake violently. They looked down the path to see another, seemingly more advanced Atlesian Paladin stomping towards them.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…." Sun groaned.
Ben reached the control center for the Atlas command ship and immediately felt out of his element. "Y'know, it's times like these I wish I was Peter instead, because I have no idea what I'm doing," He thought aloud. He saw something that did seem a little out of place, a single scroll that didn't match with the blue and white aesthetic of Atlesian technology jutting out from a slot. "Let's hope it's this simple." He plucks the scroll from the insert slot, and waited a few moments….
… and nothing happened. The screen still blinked red with whatever virus was infecting the security programs. "Of course not…" Ben sighed before tossing the scroll away. "Well, only thing left to do: break stuff and hope it works." Ben raised both fists above his head then brought them down at full strength onto the panel before him. The entire terminal folded instantly, and began sparking wildly in malfunction. He kept smashing it apart until it was nothing but scrap metal.
"Well…. It's not blinking red anymore. I must've done something right." Then alarms began to sound across the entire ship and the vessel lurched.
"Steering controls offline. Positioning programs offline. Losing altitude," The warning system chimed.
"Crashing the ship. That also works," Ben said before rushing out of the control room to get off the ship.
Glynda sent bursts of energy from her riding crop the shot right through an entire line of Ursa. They dropped dead quickly after. At her back was Luke, defeating Grimm one by one with a single strike each. When the Grimm were cleared, an entire squad of Atlesian Knights marched up and began to fire on them. Luke quickly grabbed Glynda and shielded her from the energy blasts with his hulking body. Unbreakable skin or not, each blast still hurt and burned underneath. He gritted his teeth in pain, determined to protect Glynda from the laser fire, when suddenly the entire robotic squad was mowed down by someone else. Luke and Glynda looked up to see Ironwood and Castle coming through a solid wall of smoke, their uniforms torn and in tatters. They both held still-smoking firearms, with Frank having his rifle and Ironwood his or ate pistol in his one flesh and blood hand, as his other arm was revealed to be entirely meta, the cybernetics reaching halfway across his torso. Almost his entire left half from neck to waist was robotic.
"This area is secure," Ironwood reported. Luke and Glynda traded glances, before they both backed away from each other, a slight blush on Glynda's cheeks. "We need to-"
Qrow cut him off, wearing a scowl on his face. His sword quickly transformed into a scythe, the blade curling and the handle extending.
"Qrow, this isn't my doing!" Ironwood exclaimed. Qrow rushed towards Ironwood faster than Frank could take aim with his rifle. Qrow leapt forward once close enough, only to go over Ironwood and cleave a charging Griffon right down the middle, splitting it in half. Qrow landed, and grunted.
"You idiot. I know you didn't do this," Qrow chuckled. "So what now, General?"
"Someone's done the impossible and gained control of my machines, and that enormous Grimm seems to be fixated on the school. Glynda, form up with the local Huntsmen and establish a safe zone here in Vale. We need to evacuate Beacon. Mister Murdock, I'm requesting you and the Defenders return to Beacon and aid in the evacuation if you can. You and I both know what's at stake here."
"Understood, General," Matt nodded.
"Qrow, if you would join them? I still need to get to my ship," Ironwood said. Suddenly, loud booming could be heard. They all looked up to see Ironwood's cruiser rushing down to earth, explosions bursting from its hull in many places. It hit the ground with an earth-shaking impact.
"Well, it won't be much of a walk," Danny said. Suddenly, the remaining pieces of the Atlesian Knights, which had begun to crawl towards the Huntsmen, all lost their red screens and shut down entirely.
"Huh, I guess smashing it up did work." Ben dropped down onto a lamppost, looking down at the Huntsmen and Heroes. "On the bright side, no more evil robots trying to kill us."
"This was your handiwork?" Ironwood questioned.
"Yes it was, sir. That's a good thing, right?" Ben asked.
"Indeed it is, son. What's your name?"
"Ben. Ben Reilly."
"Thank you, Ben. You've done your kingdom a service."
"Where's Peter?" Matt asked. "We haven't been able to get in contact with him."
Ben replied, "No one has. We haven't seen him since after Yang's match this morning. He stormed out of the lab, and has been off the map since."
Matt just sighed. "Where are you, Peter….?"
Peter looked up at the blacksmith, hoping she would still help as she had offered to do before. "So? Will you do it?" He asked.
"I will help, but if you are truly to become your new self, you must do so yourself. And there's only one way to move on to who you will become," The blacksmith.
"And that is?"
"Moving on from who you were."
"What does that mean?" Peter asked. "I-I'm sorry, I just don't understand."
"Hello, Peter," an older voice said. A chill went up his spine and he froze up.
That…. That can't be him…. He's long gone. So why did I just hear him? Peter slowly turned around, and his entire body went rigid. Before him was a man he'd never thought he'd see again outside of family photos at his bedside.
"It's good to see you, son," The elderly man smiled. Before him, right now, was Uncle Ben Parker.