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Chapter 137: Jailbreak

Zirconia Shadowmoon's escape from the prison that her personal quarters had become was a display in ingenuity and skill that would have toed the line between violence and comedy were it happening anywhere else, yet in that moment the Grasshopper Faunus could focus on nothing other than the task at hand in a single-minded effort to keep her nerve and do what needed to be done with absolutely no margin for error.

Initially she had considered the reliable, if almost cliché approach of simply removing a panel from part of the ceiling and clambering up into the ventilation shafts of the Megalodon so that she could simply reappear where she needed to be only to be forced to dismiss the notion as she realised that given the changes that had been wrought upon Nero's airship she could no longer be certain that it was safe or that the layout would allow her to succeed, to say nothing of the chances of being caught as she crept through a metallic tunnel directly above her two jailers. Untenable as her initial idea had been the rogue did however find ways to implement parts of it by first removing one of the panels and then, whilst perching herself precariously on a chair and being careful to make no sounds which might draw the attention of the guards outside and at the same time uncomfortably aware of how much more difficult the task was whilst her Aura was constrained she took the removed panel and threw it just far enough along the length of the shaft that it landed with a dull and reverberating clang.

The response was immediate.

Her two guards, unwilling to simply shoot into the space for fear of both the effects it might have on the Megalodon and what Nero's reaction might be if they harmed Nero more than they needed to instead began trying to prise panels open in an effort to see what had made the noise, one of them working whilst the other covered their partner with their weapon pointed upwards; though in their distractedness and uncertainty neither of them immediately called for backup, which allowed Zirconia to make her next move. Despite her being imprisoned the door to Zirconia's quarters could still be opened from the inside simply because there had been no opportunity to reconfigure it and this allowed her to act, seizing her bedsheets and opening the door with a faint hiss of air which, in conjunction with the movement managed to gain the attention of her two jailers only for their cry of alarm to be silenced pre-emptively.

Zirconia threw her sheets over the two of them and pounced.

"I am sorry about this" her words were pained and wavering faintly with their genuine emotion and yet they were still all but impossible to reconcile with her actions as the sheet she had thrown over her victims blinded them and reduced their movements to uncoordinated flailing, allowing the Grasshopper Faunus to attack ferociously; her constrained Aura mattering far less than it might otherwise have as she drove a cybernetic limb into the gut of a guard and sent the pair stumbling to the ground where she continued raining blows down on the two of them until their movements ceased and the pristine sheets were soaked with blood that had seeped into them.

"I'm sorry" she repeated before breaking into a full sprint. Zirconia knew the way from her own quarters to Nero's and crossed the short distance in mere moment though each passing second felt like an age, her entire body trembling and breathing ragged as her heart hammered in her chest and a cold, clammy sweat began to soak her; it would only take a single wandering figure or one pair of eyes to glance at security feeds unexpectedly and Cyber-Grimm would be deployed to her location or worse still her entire plan could be reduced to ruins if Damascus had done something unexpected, such as simply delegate work to his underlings and return to his quarters. Each possibility made her nauseous yet eventually Zirconia reached the door to Nero's quarters, the living space which doubled as his office and with only a single moment of hesitation, a moment which could scarcely be afforded she opened the door and slunk inside.

Finding the office empty.

There was no sigh of relief however, instead Zirconia made her way towards Damascus Nero's personal computer, somehow eager and hesitant at the same time. It had been left activated simply to save time and the Grasshopper Faunus quickly began searching through various disguised menus and messily organised folders which would have been confusing to anyone unfamiliar with the former chairman though which Nero himself would have insisted were sensibly organised rather than deliberately misleading and in no time at all she had found the program which controlled the Aura dampening collars she and Team MARS wore, upon attempting to disable the collars Zirconia was prompted to enter a password as she expected and quickly entered the series of digits she was certain would work.

Only to be confronted with an 'incorrect password' message.

"Damn it" she muttered, pausing for another moment she could hardly afford to waste as she considered her options. Damascus Nero was, despite his insistence on avoiding the public eye and spectacle still a fan of dramatic irony in much the same was as she herself was and there were several dates which Zirconia knew that he used as passwords for all things pertaining to his plans for Remnant. The first had been the date that Salem had attempted to sink New Vale into the abyss, the day Zirconia had lost her legs and her parents and Nero had lost his arm and partner; trying again Zirconia entered the date that her father figure and his partner had planned to marry only for that to be revealed to be incorrect, as was Zirconia's next guess and the one after that until finally she paused and swallowed thickly whilst wiping away tears that had begun to fill her eyes as she realised what the answer must be.

Her own birthday.

She entered the series of digits and was rewarded with a metallic pink and heavy clunking sound, followed by the tingling and electric sensation of an Aura that had been artificially suppressed bubbling outwards and setting her every nerve alight as it rejuvenated her, washing away lingering aches and pains whilst giving the young woman a fresh burst of energy which all reason told her she should use to flee immediately and continue onwards with the plan.

But she couldn't, there was one more thing to do.

Initially she had planned to leave a note but had simply been unable to find the words whilst her mind was preoccupied, or more accurately wilfully distracted by the task of finding a way to escape her quarters. Now however there was nothing else to be done and so the Grasshopper Faunus opened another program on Nero's computer, staring directly into the devices' camera and beginning to record a message.

"I'm sorry….Or no, I'm not-I just" Zirconia halted, taking a deep wavering breath which became a watery chuckle as she wiped her eyes and forced herself onwards even as every word felt like a knife in her heart "I'm not sorry for what I have to do, I'm sorry that I have to do it, I'm sorry things have to be like this because I couldn't make you listen….Why do the people I love never want to listen to me?"

Another bitter, choked sob escaped her at that point but Zirconia clamped down on and forced herself to say what she needed to before she could utterly lose her composure and be reduced to weeping.

"I want you to know that I still believe in a better Remnant, a fairer one where people are free from the Grimm and that freedom means that the worst of the Hunters and the corruption can be weeded out….But what you're doing is wrong and it should never have gotten this far. What you're doing now isn't right, it isn't what any of us wanted and it won't bring about a bright new tomorrow; Gestalt-Prime is playing you and just because you know doesn't mean you can stop them….If they win then we're all doomed, everyone you've tried to save will be gone. I hope you can see that, I hope you can see that the choices you've made aren't for the greater good….I hope we can see each other again one day. Maybe when it's all over they'll put is both in the same prison and we can look at a better world from behind the bars and tell each other that it all worked out in the end and the sacrifices we made were all worth it; that's still better than the alternatives. I wish I could have said this in person but I love you, you're my Dad and you always were, you always will be. Goodbye"

With that Zirconia stopped recording and fled from the office, tears blurring her vision as she raced towards her next destination.

Roux and her fellow natives of Pikesreach had been summoned along with the rest of Nero's faction for the battle against the Spawning Pit and its' denizens; even though Carmesi Hueso had insisted that those who had abandoned him in battle once before would not fight alongside him again there were still important tasks to be carried out both during and after the battle, with the latter including the taking and processing of the spoils of war.

Which is where the tattooed young woman and her allies had found themselves.

The Megalodon was still feeding, drawing massive amounts of liquid, protean Grimm tissue into its' maw to be consumed and reworked into fresh Cyber-Grimm however the process was not as fully automated as it might seem from outside and instead the areas both within and immediately behind the monstrous and gaping mouth of the airship-Grimm, leading back to the portion of its' underbelly where the roiling pit of shifting darkness which had once been the Forge was contained there existed a sorting, processing and production facility where raw materials could be broken down into usable components with which to build new chassis and the liquid darkness which would fill them and grant them life; or as close to it as the Cyber-Grimm could be said to possess.

The lighting within the bleak factory and workshop was harsh and glaring, the bloody red tinge which had coloured the interior of the Megalodon more pronounced here whilst every surface seemed to have stained black on a deeper, immutable level that would never be removed. The retracting segments' of the airships' mouth assembly doubled as monumental cranes and armatures which loaded materials either into smaller mixing vats and silos or onto production lines which were in turn worked upon by the most uniquely qualified and capable of Nero's followers whilst those whose skills and knowledge saw them relegated to less dignified or noteworthy, but equally necessary tasks found themselves fetching tools and equipment, cataloguing various details and updating important logs and records, or else simply cleaning away any filth that could become a hazard and helping secure the Cyber-Grimm which had been damaged in battle so that they could be inspected before they were repaired or simply broken down for parts.

Roux and her people had formed part of the latter group and as she worked, taking care to appear focused and diligent so that no observer would be given a warning before she acted the tattooed young woman could sense the tension building in the air; a crackling static which was entirely unconnected to the twisted works of pipework and living machinery overhead and all around them, a tension which threatened to reach its' crescendo prematurely as one of Roux's co-conspirators slunk close to her under the guise of working in the same general vicinity and used the proximity to whisper in her ear.

"I don't know what you're waiting for but the others aren't gonna keep waiting….Look around, we're not getting a better shot than this; so either you make the call or somebody else will"

Roux fought the urge to visibly bristle, reacting too harshly would attract attention especially if she reacted the way she wanted to in that moment and throttle her more belligerent and gung-ho comrades. A surreptitious glance around did nothing to calm her nerves and instead made maintaining her position all the more difficult, though it did give some context and justification for the overeagerness she was being warned about; another group of Nero's minions and underlings were involved in a similar series of tasks close by, a group of black-clad figures manning a production line and assembling small components which would make up part of a new batch of Cyber-Grimm though the task itself was simple and dull work.

Their clothing and the wide berth others gave them easily identifying them as cultists who had followed Aefen Cruor.

"We're going to hit them" Roux promised her comrade, taking care to continue working as she spoke "Just trust me….We need to make a distraction, hitting them will be it. We just need to wait for the perfect time"

"Time's running out Roux" her fellow native of Pikesreach answered bluntly "We're gonna have to-"

The two were silenced as the sound of metal being dragged across a floor which was both metallic and scaly rang out, producing a noise which was almost painful to hear and was soon followed by a deep, rumbling chuckle.

"THIS ONE COULDN'T FLY BACK UNDER ITS' OWN POWER….MAY AS WELL SCRAP IT!" Carmesi Hueso declared, the Komodo Faunus looking the very picture of self-satisfied victory as he strode into view; the sounds of his booted feet growing louder whilst at the same time being drowned out by the sounds of the Cyber-Grimm in his grasp being dragged along the ground. Carmesi held the thing by the ankle of a leg that had been partially dislocated and was currently dripping sludgy black ichor onto the ground which was quickly soaked up by the living portions of the floor, with shimmering black scales moving imperceptibly to drain and reclaim the ruined Grimm tissue; the fact that such a fluid could still be spilled was proof that the Cyber-Grimm was still functional though it had clearly been utterly ruined and even from where she stood Roux could see that a combination of falling from a considerable height and the claws of Grimm had done considerable damage to both internal and external components, though more importantly she could see various exposed sections of inner working that could be used to her advantage.

So long as the Cyber-Grimm was too damaged to properly defend itself.

"Now" Roux breathed almost directly into the ear of her co-conspirator "Tell the others we're doing this now. They give the opening and then follow my lead….I'm gonna make this work better than we thought"

"Got it" her fellow native of Pikesreach nodded, knowing that there was no time to be wasted on trivial matters such as questioning exactly what Roux was planning and instead making their way over to the rest of their small clique of malcontents whilst Roux herself hurriedly looked around for a pallet truck and a suitably size pallet before hurrying over to where Carmesi was still dragging the damaged Cyber-Grimm along behind him as though it were a spoil of war that he had felled himself and not one of his own sides' tools; taking care to unfasten the holster for her collapsed stun baton as she went.

"Put it on here!" she called out, managing to morph the breathy nervousness of her voice into something which instead suggested that that she was exhausted by such displays of bravado "You're gonna wreck the floor….can't properly drain run-off if that things' claws rip up the scales and I don't want fluids pooling up"

"Of course" Carmesi snorted, flexing a single arm to haul the wrecked Cyber-Grimm up onto the pallet with contemptuous ease "It's good to see that you've found a job you can handle with some degree of con-"

"YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" the ferocious yell was the opening gambit of the diversion which would allow Team MARS and Zirconia to play their own roles, upon seeing that former members of the Path of the Apex Being were present it had been a foregone conclusion that violence against them would serve as part of the ploy and as Carmesi whipped around, hellish red eyes narrowing Roux followed the burly reptilians' gaze for just long enough to watch as some of her allies closed the distance and mercilessly set about them cultists who occupied and destroyed their home, smashing and stabbing them with whatever tools were available, the screaming and spattering blood where power tools met flesh and bone serving as prelude for the true act of carnage. Roux had insisted that the diversion be something that would truly set Nero's efforts back and damage the Megalodon and she was both proud of her long-time friends and mildly sickened in equal measure as she watched a number of them simply holding members of Aefen's cult down and pinning them in place directly under pipes and ducts through which liquid Grimm tissue flowed.

Whilst more of her allies began ripping those same pipes open.

"YOU WANNA BE FUCKING GRIMM SO BAD? HERE YOU GO! HOW DOES IT TASTE YOU FUCKERS!" whatever foul science Aefen had used to create the freakish hybrids of Grimm and human flesh that had caused the fall of Pikesreach had apparently not been implemented aboard the Megalodon and instead screams filled the air as roiling, formless darkness which had been intended to form the innards of Cyber-Grimm began spilling down onto the helpless victims pinned in place below and begin to rapidly congeal and grow into twisted, unspeakable shapes with too many limbs and teeth and claws in wrong places which began eating and tearing at the cultists whilst Roux watched, transfixed as her allies ran for their lives.

The sound of alarms beginning to blare through out the Megalodon, following by warnings of a containment breach and imminent lock down of the area spurred her into motion.

Without a word Roux drew her stun baton and charged it, the Lightning Dust powered tip crackling as she thrust the weapon into the sparking inner working of the damaged Cyber-Grimm which began to spark and convulse dangerously, allowing its' thrashing to ensnare Carmesi's limbs as she shoved the pallet truck it had been placed on into the rogue Hunter.

From there Roux simply ran.

An explosion ripped through the air behind her and with her dark eyes wild with fright she looked over her shoulder for just long enough to see that the damaged Cyber-Grimm had been ripped apart from the inside out and the resulting detonation had flung Carmesi into nearby machinery, though he was quickly recovering. Having seen enough Roux simply powered forward with all of the speed and strength her recently unlocked Aura afforded her bolstered by the urgency of sheer terror. Her breath seemed to fail her and her heart felt as though it might give out at any moment as she sprinted towards the nearest exit, painfully aware that reinforced shutters and blast doors could fall into place at any moment and leave her locked in the factory with both the people she had betrayed and the twisted masses of failed-Grimm which were now shrieking and stalking their way through the Cyber-Grimm production facility as Cyber-Grimm came online to fight them. Vaulting and weaving her way through small gaps in machinery and slamming anybody who might try to halt her into the ground however she was eventually rewarded, reaching a shutter door that was being held open by a concerted effort from some of her allies.

"GO!" she bellowed, only for one of their number to simply reach out and take her outstretched hand; roughly dragging the unofficial leader of their group out into the waiting corridor so that they could finally allow the barrier whose mechanisms were audibly groaning in protest to slam into place and seal them off from the Cyber-Grimm and Carmesi Hueso; at least for the moment. Without hesitation, even as her senses were still jangling with adrenaline Roux quickly sought out the nearest control panel which would open the blast door from the outside and promptly slammed her stun baton into it until the small console was a sparking ruin.

"I can't believe we just did that!" one of her allies declared, their voice shaking with an exhilaration which it clear that reality had yet to fully sink in for them "Do you think they're gonna get Carmesi while he's stuck in there?"

"Do you want to stand here and find out?" Roux barked, waiting only a fraction of a second before following up with a desperate scream "THEN START FUCKING RUNNING!"

The resounding ping and clunking sounds of Aura dampening collars being disabled echoed through the cell and its surrounding darkness with a sense of finality.

Athena-Jade felt the difference immediately, a strength and vitality that had been forcibly and unnaturally constrained a moment before beginning to course through her and push the wooziness and fuzziness that the various medicines still in her bloodstream had left her with back into the recesses of her awareness whilst her entire body seemed to come alive in a way it had not been since the battle at Jidhir Town; an electric current coursing through her entirety. The brawny Bear Faunus was not naive enough to believe that she was at her full capacity however and new better than to allow the sudden rush to give her a false sense of confidence or security, she was still recovering from a serious injury and whilst her Aura would now be able to heal her much more effectively every movement she made still tugged at the places Stygian's sword had pierced her back and midsection whilst at the same time she also made uncomfortably aware of the sickly, nauseous feeling her medication produced and the fact that she was still connected to a metal stand full of fluid bags via several tubes.

Though as she reached up to grasp at the unfastened collar and prise it away from her neck, discarding it on the scale-covered floor with a thud Athena-Jade decided that she would simply have to be good enough and that there was no other option but to press onwards now; a belief clearly shared by the rest of Team MARS as they removed their own collars with similar eagerness.

"Let's do this" Stygian breathed out, shifting into a ready stance as though eager to teleport if only to see where his Semblance would take him in the darkness now that he was free to use it again; an eagerness which faltered as he caught sight of Athena and was reminded painfully of his last thoughtless use of his ability.

"Heh, that feels better" Regalia blinked rapidly, as though the deprivation of her own Semblance had left them sore and itchy however she quickly overcame this setback and looked to her partner "Escape now, hug later?….Punch it Chewy!"

"Not quite a punch" Astra laughed before rushing forward and instead of punching they threw themselves into a spinning heel kick which was angled low and saw their foot shatter several of the bone bars of their cage in a single pass at a height that could easily be stepped over, following up by delivering a series of high roundhouse kicks to the upper reaches of those same bones to break them in two places, leaving fragments falling to the ground and creating a doorway for the team to escape through.

And escape they did.

"Come on, let's go!" Athena-Jade urged as she sprung into motion, taking the thin and frail metal stand and the attached bags of medication she was not sure if she still needed in her hands before perching it over one shoulder and simply springing through the gap Astra had created the moment the Deer Faunus had helped Regalia through; Athena-Jade's words being directed at her own partner whilst Stygian seemed content to wait and ensure that she was as mobile and steady on her feet as she seemed to be, a gesture which was certainly appreciated but one which they likely did not have time for. Nodding and flashing the Bear Faunus a grin Stygian adjusted their oversized coat and leapt through the now broken cage that had held them with the garment trailing dramatically behind him; a gesture Athena noted was not entirely unlike Zirconia's preferred form of showboating.

Before she could consider that fact too deeply however the Megalodon proved that it would not be so easily escaped, the living vessel responding to their breaking of its' bones almost the instant that Team MARS regrouped.

"HEADS UP!" Astra yell was urgent, but not yet panicked as the broken bones of the escaped cell, bowed outwards and yawned like an opening jaw before the flesh in which they were rooted began to ripple in shift, providing the team with the first sign that something far more severe was about to happen. A moment later the unbroken sections of the cell began to shatter and separate as they were pulled into the obsidian surfaces of the floor and ceiling with a series of wet, sucking sounds that were uniquely disturbing to hear which served as a prelude to the scaly ground underfoot to begin rippling and bulging as though the flesh of the Megalodon's interior were having a violently allergic reaction to something.

Though Astra guessed that the truth would be something far more unpleasant.

"GET OFF THE GROUND!" the Deer Faunus yelled, tone more frantic as they rushed towards the nearest row of shelves and racking that had been put in place by Roux and her fellows; a powerful and Aura-fuelled leap carrying them to the top of of it a split second before the first of a rolling tide of bone spears erupted up through the ground at Team MARS's feet. Panicked yells and curses escaped each of them yet the Hunters took action without hesitation, Regalia following Astra and climbing up and through the various levels of racking using even smallest and most precarious of handholds whilst Stygian took a more dynamic, if risky approach of finding his way to safety by running directly through danger and vaulting from bone spears as they erupted and gaining height until he came rolling to a stop on the top of a series of shelves and promptly launched himself back to his feet.

Athena, taking a single deep breath to ready herself focused her Semblance and took note of how strained and unsteady such a small and simple task felt; her Aura already being taxed in other ways as she created a small stairway of glyphs and used them to follow after her partner, narrowly avoiding freshly erupting bone spikes even as those which had already emerged began to develop further and grow spiralling rows of jagged teeth of their own which reached out in an effort to snare the escapees.

"AJ Come on!" Stygian yelled, reaching out to take the stand the Bear Faunus was carrying in one arm and loop the other around her waist so that he could get his partner to safety more swiftly; a gesture which Athena herself once again appreciated but instead answered by all-but tackling the Mouse Faunus and pushing him ahead so that the two of them could catch up with Astra and Regalia who were already making for the exit.

"I'm fine, just go!" she insisted, sweat already prickling her ghostly pale skin with exertion and a forcibly contained panic as she urged the taller Faunus onwards. Stygian complied without any further complaint and led the way with Athena only a step behind until the Megalodon added more aspects to its' assault against the fleeing Team MARS in the form of more bone spears, this time shooting down from the ceiling and giving the Hunters only the smallest chance to react and escape being skewered; in response Stygian reached back and clasped Athena's hand in his own in a desperate attempt to pull her to safety despite her protestations that he should worry about himself. At the same time the shelves and racking that they were making their way across began to shudder and quake as they sank back into the same surface that they had initially been raised from, whatever goods had been stowed on them being claimed by the innards of the Megalodon as it ripped away Team MARS's refuge.

"AJ!" Stygian called out, uncertainty filling lightning blue eyes as he realised that using his Semblance to attempt to avoid the thrusting spears would involve leaving her behind "Can you get us to the exit?"

"I-I think so" the snowy-haired young woman faltered in her answer, though she managed to pass her uncertainty of as simple distraction as they shifting height and angle of the surface on which she ran threatened to topple her "I'll try!"

With that Athena allowed Stygian to pull her close, into his waiting arms so that she could use the momentum to fling them both of them into a pirouetting leap onto a waiting glyph in mid-air whilst avoiding a bone spike as it hurtled downwards, the exertion taxing her far more than she was used to and leaving her swaying uncertainly atop the shimmering surface of her glyph until Stygian used his own weight to steady her. With nothing but a silent nod passing between the two of them Athena and her partner made for the exit once more, this time using a hastily made and discarded series of glyphs as platforms in a snaking and indirect path through the steadily growing obstructions, avoiding more attacks from the Megalodon itself until finally the exit to their prison became clear.

Or more accurately a glowing and familiar red light in the place of the exit came into view.

Astra was using their Semblance.

"HURRY UP, WE NEED TO GO!" it was Regalia who called out to them and both Athena-Jade and Stygian realised in the same moment that Astra had used their Semblance-construct to provide a wedge to keep the exit from sealing shut, not simply with a metal blast door but instead with a rapidly growing wall of flesh and serrated scales intended to fill the space and simply remove the exit entirely; a process which was still taking place with relentless determination which forced Astra's glowing form to its' knees and left the fiery glow of the construct lined with cracks and gouges as serrated scales grew over and into it. With the horrifying sight prompting her to redouble her efforts Athena-Jade broke into a sprint whilst continuing to conjure more glyphs, reversing the earlier situation and practically dragging Stygian through the air at a breakneck pace as she ran across flickering and shimmering surfaces with the Mouse Faunus being held by the hand and having only fleeting moments to find purchase on each glyph before it vanished.

Until the inevitable happened and a bone spike thrust downwards and struck home.

Athena-Jade felt the sudden lurching tug that painfully halted her momentum, dragging both her and Stygian from the latest glyph and sending them tumbling to the ground whilst at the same time splashing medication across her clothes and face as the bone spike crushed her metallic stand and ruptured the bags it held. The Bear Faunus hit the ground with more pain than shock, heart hammering in her chest and yet before she could fully register the situation she found herself in the air once more, or more accurately as she realised a moment later several feet from the ground as Stygian broke away the tattered remnants of the metal stand and scooped her up into his arms before carrying her almost bridal-style as he ran through the maze of spikes.

Finally making it to where Astra and Regalia were waiting.

"LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Stygian gasped, wild-eyed and frantic as Astra released their Semblance and slipped back through the doorway and allowed the frame to vanish beneath a tide of rolling flesh and scales which left all of Team MARS standing in an empty and red-hued corridor; realising for the first time as they caught their breath that alarms and sirens were blaring throughout the depths of the Megalodon, signalling that whatever ploy Roux had enacted was working.

"AJ, are you okay?" Astra asked, the question prompting Stygian to set the Bear Faunus down so that she could rise to her feet on shaky legs and give herself a once-over, gingerly reaching under the sweatshirt she wore to ensure that her stab wound had not been jostled too harshly.

"I think so" she managed to breathe out, voice shaking faintly until she added "What now?"

"We stick to the plan" Astra answered "Clear a path and rendezvous with the others"

"We should head straight for the Cyber-Grimm hangar" Stygian protested "We secure it and wait, if the others don't make it we go-"

"No!" Athena exclaimed, cutting across the idea with as much force as she could muster "We need to find Zirconia first-"

"AJ, you can't-" Stygian fell silent under the glare his partner gave him, any willingness to allow the Grasshopper Faunus to be the source of more hurt between them being forgotten at the sight of the steely expression she wore.

"We're not leaving people behind. We're not" Athena stated firmly "Besides….Zirconia's got our weapons and scrolls, even if we get off of this ship do you think we're gonna make it through the tundra unarmed?"

"Heh, she's right" Regalia chimed in, throwing her support behind Athena with a simple addition of "About both things"

"Okay" Astra breathed out "We need to move and hope we run into her on the way….Regalia can you lead the way?"

"Not with my Semblance, there's too much in the way for me to have a vantage point or line of sight" the Racoon Faunus admitted "But I did look at the same map Roux showed you and I'm pretty sure I memorised it"

"….I really do love you y'know that right?" Astra sighed with a contented disbelief.

"Great, so can we get moving?" Stygian insisted, already reaching out for Athena's hand again in a subconscious effort to ensure that no further harm came to her.

Only for him to be pulled along by Athena as tried to race ahead to find Zirconia, barely even registering her own unsteady gait and wavering limp.

Roux realised that she had lost control of her people and even through the haze of horror and disgust at the truly heinous acts of violence taking place before her eyes the tattooed young woman found herself deathly afraid, certain that the deviations from the plan and the delay it was causing were a mistake that all of them would be forced to pay dearly for at any moment.

They had been in the midst of the plan, the next step being to make their way to the empty launch area along the flank of the Megalodon where their small group would meet with Zirconia and Team MARS, the people of Pikesreach once again being protected by Hunters as they made their way to safety through the cold even if the circumstances were entirely different. Attacking members of the late Aefen Cruor's cult had awakened a bloodlust in Roux's allies however and when one of their number had suggested that if this was truly to be their grand exit then it would also consequently be their last chance to seek revenge and justice for those they had lost Roux had found herself powerless to keep the group focused and had instead simply been swept up in the wave of fury and hate which saw the people of Pikesreach seek out the area of the airship the black-clad cultists had made their temporary lodgings, catching them in a corner and falling upon them without mercy.

It was utter butchery.

Bodies littered the ground both in the corridor itself and in the rooms it lead to where their victims had tried to flee and hide, screams and pleading still filling the air as the Path of the Apex Being were murdered with whatever was available, Roux realising that her group were using their hands and booted feet, weapons, tools and in some cases chemicals to ensure that every death was a brutal reminder of Pikesreach's legacy.

She watched and listened, standing in the corridor with face ashen and eyes wide as a cold numbness began to take hold in response to the urge to vomit or weep at the depth the people she had known her entire life were willing to sink to; a condition that was only halted when movement and a feral scream, closer to that of a tortured animal than anything human forced her to act. One of the victims of the onslaught had slipped free and whilst it seemed unlikely to matter in the long run, the man's flesh was burned and slashed in various places whilst bruises and ugly, misshapen lumps suggested that several bones had been broken he still came rushing towards Roux who reacted on instinct, drawing her stun baton and swinging. The crack of bone and pained, high-pitched yowling filled the air as her weapon connected with the man's hand and shattered it before the Dust-powered head of the weapon could charge; a blow which Roux followed by kicking her bloodied assailant in the chest at which point he was reduced to frantic struggling one of her allies, possibly the same person or one of the people who had injured him so grievously already came barrelling into view to wrap an arm around the man's neck from behind and plunge a knife into his back and flank several times.

It was horrifying to watch, in a way that none of the training she had received from Carmesi Hueso and the various soldiers within Nero's faction had prepared Roux for; a sickening kind of brutality far more direct in its' cruelty than the punishments favoured by the Hunters who had controlled her home.

"We need to go!" she forced herself to yell the words, mouth watery as bile rose in her throat "We're done here, we need-"

She was cut off by more screams, these being distinctly different in a way which diverted Roux's attention and left her stomach plummeting as she realised that these particular screams were being torn from her own allies before being swiftly and violently silenced by looming shapes at the far end of the corridor which quickly came into view.

Gestalt-Prime, flanked by Cyber whose hulking forms took up the entire width of the corridor.

Roux's first attempt to give an order faltered and died on her tongue as she watched the Alpha Cyber-Grimm stride forward and begin laying waste to the people of Pikesreach, turning the tables and inflicting horrors more than equal to those they had been in the midst of committing on any of them who could not flee fast enough, or worse still tried to fight the monster; axe-tipped arms were swung in arcs that painted viscera across the walls as bodies were torn in half vertically and horizontally, skulls were torn from bodies and reduced to paste by each callous swing of Gestalt-Prime's tail and more than one person who tripped as they tried to flee was simply crushed underfoot, the hybrid Alpha's taloned foot collapsing chests and spines as they strode forth relentlessly. All of this was accompanied by screams and the flashes of firing lasers as Cyber-Grimm broke formation and slipped into the rooms that Aefen's cult had tried to hide in, their single exits making them effective traps for all within; it was these flashes of light and the sickening stench of burning flesh which pushed Roux to finally act.

"RUN!" she screamed, voice cracking as she turned and fled in the direction they had come; determined to flee back down the length of the corridor so that any of her people who survived could return to the original plan and rendezvous with the hunters. She came skidding to a halt a moment later however, almost sinking to her knees and sobbing as hope was snatched away from her.

"That was an….Understandable, but very stupid choice you made" Carmesi Hueso rumbled as he strode into view, barring the way with Cyber-Grimm at his sides; it seemed that he had used the time wasted on violence to escape and was, impossibly in Roux's mind utterly unharmed by the diversion she and her people had unleashed in the depths of the Megalodon.

"But" he sighed, shaking his head sadly even though he made no effort to draw his weapons "There's only one way this can end now-"

"You're gonna kill me?" Roux spat, shifting her weight and forcing herself onwards with a manic, hysterical energy as she desperately tried to see a way forwards for herself and her people "Let's do this then!"

"I have much more important people to catch, you're surrounded" Carmesi looked over Roux's shoulder and nodded to Gestalt-Prime before turning his attention back to her and snorting "I told you before, you really should have picked a better weapon than a stun baton"

With that Carmesi turned and walked away, leaving Roux to die and in that moment all she could think to do was raise her stun baton and sprint at the Komodo Dragon Faunus as though she planned to chase him down; only to be halted as Cyber-Grimm barred the way and a shadow fell over her as Gestalt-Prime drew close.

At that moment Roux knew that she was going to die with her people.

Zirconia had reached her goal and every panicked, barely coherent thought was telling her that it had been too easy and that she would run afoul of some unseen or unexpected trap at any moment.

Whatever unknown distraction Roux and her comrades had created had clearly worked, indeed to a far greater extent than the Grasshopper Faunus had dared to hope for given that it had seemingly led to parts of the Megalodon being placed into precautionary lockdowns whilst alarms and klaxons rang incessantly throughout the living vessel to warn its' crew of the brewing treachery within. Using the noise and chaos to her advantage Zirconia had slipped through the shadows of the corridors as much as possible, freed somewhat by the knowledge that she was likely no longer the largest or most serious threat for anybody monitoring the Megalodon's security systems to contend with though still taking care to remain unseen by any of the groups of fighters rushing through the corridors with weapons ready and Cyber-Grimm in tow, a feat made much easier by the functions of her cybernetic legs which allowed her run along walls and ceilings with ease whilst Aura-fuelled leaps and bounds brought her to her destination much quicker than simply walking would have.

The weapons and belongings she had sought had not been stowed in the main armoury, doing so would undoubtedly have led to them being either hidden by their foes or else used as bait to draw Team MARS and Zirconia herself into a trap; instead Roux had accounted for this and stowed the weapons, scrolls and other equipment in a Dust store, allegedly explaining herself to whoever she reported to with the logic that the misdirection would cost any escaping Hunters valuable time.

It was a barefaced and brazen lie that Zirconia could only giggle nervously at the sheer gall of.

Roux's information had been accurate and it took Zirconia only a small amount of time to find the goods she sought and unlock the container they had been secured in with a code that her ally with Nero's ranks had given her, finding a single large and durable sack within the container whose material seemed to the same highly resistant kind used by manufactures of camping goods who specialised in catering to Hunters; silently thankful for the thoughtfulness Zirconia realised that she would be able to carry all that she needed to in a single trip without complication though she still took care to open the hefty sack and check its' contents first. Upon doing so she found a collection of scrolls and other small items such as keys and wallets which she pocketed before ensuring that each of the weapons was loaded and accounted for, she quickly looked around and took several handfuls of Dust crystals from nearby shelves and stashed about her person in various pockets and compartments before finally looking back to the sack of weapons and pausing for a moment before drawing Sunriser Cain.

The moment she felt the familiar weight and balance of her weapon in her hands Zirconia let out a small sigh of relief.

Only for any sense of victory to be brutally snatched away in the exact moment she collapsed and holstered the weapon.

"HELP! HELP US!" the terrified screams could not be ignored and Zirconia was already in motion, pulling the sack containing Team MARS's weapons along with her when two figures who she quickly recognised as members of Roux's group by their signature tattoos came hurtling into the storeroom, what little of their skin was visible being a pale, haunted white whilst the rest was obscured by blood that poured wounds and more still that had been spattered across them.

"What happened?" Zirconia demanded, choking the words out only to realise her question was a foolish one whose answer she already knew "Where are the others? Where are my team?"

"I don't know!" the nearest of the two panicked souls answered through tears and mucus "We just ran, Roux and the others-"

Zirconia saw the flash of movement in the distance and yet she was powerless to stop it before carnage unfolded.

Vindication, the smaller of Carmesi Hueso's two weapon hurtled through the air; its' triple bladed and rotating form a blur of motion as it whizzed passed the rearmost of the two bloodied and broken natives of Pikesreach, slashing a shallow wound into their cheek before catching the second and closer to Zirconia of the two in the neck and opening their throat in a spray of gore. The return pass of the blade was no less violent or horrible as the whirling weapon flew back to its' owners' hand, carving a second bloody trench in the remaining figures' leg before being plucked deftly out of the air by Carmesi just as the Komodo Dragon Faunus strode into view; using a single casual and fluid motion to sheathe the machete and draw Retribution in its' broad-bladed and obsidian-toothed cleaver form.

Swinging down at the collapsed and prone form of his victim without mercy.

Zirconia had known for some time that Nero's chosen field commander was an unspeakably violent man when the situation called for it but to see it proven in such a manner, a murderous brutality far beyond anything he had shown in the taking of Pikesreach left her stunned. She wished that she could scrub the image of blood soaking into the ground whilst bone and pulpy viscera hung from the jagged teeth of Carmesi's weapon from tangled messes of hair from her mind but at the same time she was powerless to turn away as the reptilian turned his hateful crimson gaze towards her and gave a crazed smile full of bloodlust and fangs.

"Gestalt-Prime and the Cyber-Grimm got the rest. They're gone….If Nero doesn't let me kill you this time who knows, maybe being the one to clean them off of the walls and floor will teach you" his words were delivered with a heavy, laboured breathing though it seemed only to make him appear more ferocious "Had to leave one or two alive though, let them think they'd gotten through just so we could see where they run to"

Zirconia acted in that moment, barely aware of her own actions as instinct took over whilst the sensation of her blood thundering in her ears and her stomach churned and her entire body trembled made thinking impossible.

Her eyes changed, their pupils seeming to diffuse through glowing pink and orange irises to stain her sclera as her Semblance took hold, creating a swirling and rapidly expanding veil of darkness. Zirconia had the illusion of solitude and safety for only a brief moment before the silent and fathomless void of Phantasmagoria was broken from the outside; a familiar pain searing through her skull as Carmesi tore through the barrier until he loomed over Zirconia with both of his weapons at the ready.

Only to find that she was ready for him, clutching Heartbreaker in its' laser cannon form.

Athena-Jade's new weapon carried over enough of its' predecessors' design traits that Zirconia could use it easily and so, with a familiar and reassuring warping bass note the Grasshopper planted her feet, mechanisms within mechanical limbs anchoring her and fired; the searing beam of ethereal green light striking Carmesi square in his burly ans scaly chest to fling him backwards and send him crashing to the ground amidst the bodies and gore he had left in his wake. Without wasting a moment Zirconia collapsed her former partners' weapon and stowed it, hefting the sack of Team MARS's weapons over one shoulder and leaping over Carmesi before he could recover and running out of the store room before instinct took hold once again; this time seeing her skid to a halt and draw Sunriser Cain from its' holster and fire.

Directly into the Dust still being stored in the room.

Flames and lightning erupted in a blossoming inferno behind her as she ran for her life, though a defiant roar of rage made it terrifyingly clear to her that Carmesi Hueso had survived the blast and would likely be giving chase at any moment. With blind terror beyond anything her training as a Hunter could have hoped to prepare her for Zirconia ran for her life through the corridors of the Megalodon, barely aware of her surroundings or anything more than the general direction she was heading until she was halted by a painful collision which left her clutching at her face as something slammed into it and then thrashing frantically as somebody grabbed at her shoulders, yelling voices rising over one another and only adding to her panicked confusion until finally a familiar voice reached her through the din.

"Hops, it's us!" Athena-Jade's words left Zirconia stunned for a moment and as her senses returned to her, slowly and still shaky in their foundations she realised that she had indeed joined Team MARS; it was Astra's hands on her shoulders and upon seeing her former leaders' sheepish expression she realised that she likely run face first into the Deer Faunus's antlers.

"Here, your weapons!" Zirconia gasped out, the exertion of running for her life coupled with everything she had seen leaving her doubled over and dry heaving.

"Are you okay?" Athena asked cautiously.

"Where's Roux, where are-"

"Gone, all of them" Zirconia's voice trembled and she needed to swallow thickly before she could continue "Gestalt-Prime and Carmesi….We need to get off this ship right now or we're all going to die"

Silence fell across the five Hunters in that moment and with a single shaky nod of understanding Astra led the way; making for the empty Cyber-Grimm launch pad so that they could carry out the tattered remains of their plan.

General Winter Schnee sat alone within a briefing room aboard the warship she was currently commanding, it's official captain having been returned to their rightful place and duties whilst Winter pondered her options. The lights within the room were dimmed, casting the pristine whites and silvers of the typical Atlesian minimalism into a gloom which intensified the Generals' brooding and severe appearance as she sat in solitude, elbows resting on the tables' surface whilst her chin sat in her hands; her sapphire blue eyes hard and glaring as she alternated between scanning a series of preliminary reports from the battle previous and other matters that demanded attention she was in no fit state to give them and simply staring into the distance for a few moments at a time whilst the faint, pale light from the tablets' screen gave her face a lightning which made the shadows seem more pronounced and Winter herself more weary and haunted.

Damascus Nero had outmanoeuvred her and her strike forces' victory in a skirmish against a few individual Cyber-Grimm and their operators had been a failure in disguise.

Most damnable of all to Winter was the fact that she still had no idea where her niece and her team-mates were or what their condition was, if they were still alive at all.

The thought was enough to see Winter rise to her feet, the urge to sweep the tablet and paperwork from the table or to simply throw something in a fit of rage almost overwhelming her for a moment until she mastered herself; though she remained standing and let out a slow breath which was far less calming than she might have hoped before beginning to pace the width of the meeting room in a display of emotions she would not have allowed herself if there had been others presence.

"Damn you Corey, you utter…." she trailed off, another sigh escaping at the thought of Blake and Yang's daughter, the woman Winter had considered her eldest niece and whose rise through the ranks of the Atlas Specialists had been a pleasure to watch and achieved entirely without the use of family ties. Winter grimaced and scowled, she would maintain that relieving Corvid Xiao Long of her duties was not only the correct choice in light of her deliberately withholding information and putting students at risk and that it was in fact a far more lenient punishment than what might have been expected though it was a decision that the General wished she had never been forced to make; not only for the issues it would cause in of itself but also because Corvid Xiao Long would have been Winter's first choice of Specialists to handle the problem she currently faced, possibly even at Winter's side; the two of them acting as an unstoppable force to spearhead an attack.

In the idle, rarely entertained parts of her imagination Winter had been able to envision how the battle against an arriving Damascus Nero and whatever Grimm-infused monstrosity he had crafted for himself might have gone before the events of a few hours ago; the stunning light-shows of laser batteries and thundering explosions setting the pre-dawn sky ablaze to cripple Nero's ship whilst fighters and Cyber-Grimm danced and weaved around one another in the sky before Winter, having breached the shields and hull of the enemy vessel used one of her constructs to span the distance and personally leading a boarding action; a heroic charge which would have seen her reunited with her captured family member so that she could deliver Athena back to Weiss and Gangrel safe and sound, though not before scolding her for the several poor decisions that had been made.

Then reality had robbed her of that opportunity.

Cyber-Grimm debris and every single item of equipment taken from the enemies they had captured was being examined by the keenest minds and equipment currently aboard the various ships in her strike force in search of any possible hint or clue of where Nero's forces were or where they were headed now that the former businessman had clearly grown wise to Winter's ruses and changed his strategy, the wreckage would then be sent elsewhere for further examination as swiftly as possible if answers could not be found.

The prisoners themselves were another mater, each of them had been separated from their peers and placed in solitary confinement, monitored by both heavily armed guards and more subtle means of surveillance before being questioned. It was a task that Winter had elected to hand off to trusted officers rather than handle personally, she was self aware enough to understand that her judgement was impaired and that matter had become far too close for her to act impartially or fully rationally; a decision that was borne out by the reaction of the prisoners, all of whom had chosen to either remain defiant in their stony silence or else vocally defiant, sneering and tormenting the officers until the interview had concluding. Hearing that one of the prisoners who had been burned by the redirected laser battery had spat in the face of the officer questioning them had sealed the matter for Winter; she could not say for certain that she would not have reacted violently in that officers' stead and stopped to levels that had promised herself that her military would remain better than.

That her composure and restraint were so close to breaking frightened her and left her desperate to seek out the advice of her fellow protectors of Remnant; Ren in particular might have words that could calm her.

Other matters ensured that such a relief would not come for some time however, chief amongst them was the recovery of the dead. The Cyber-Grimm, including the new variants witnessed in the skirmish and the rockets fired from the ground had managed to down more than one of the transports and fighter craft even if the larger warships had been largely undamaged, many of those aboard had managed to safely evacuate however there had been a few deeply regrettable casualties whose bodies were being plucked from the wreckage of their craft so that they could be returned to their families; with Winter resolving to inform those families in person and begin the paperwork to ensure that every solider who gave their lives to defend Atlas and Remnant against evil and conspiracy that morning would be awarded medals for service and bravery posthumously.

Her strike force would return to base as soon as the recovery operation was complete and the General would start work on that task as soon as she returned to her own vessel; it was an emotionally daunting task to be sure and one which had never become easier in all her years of command.

Though Winter knew it would still be nothing compared to the moment she had to look her sister in the eye and tell Weiss that she had failed to find Athena-Jade.

Five Hunters hurtled through the confines of the Megalodon, fully aware that their lives depended on it and that the enemy was gaining on them.

A point that was underlined when Astra felt Regalia's shoulder slam into them, sending them toppling mid-stride at an angle which allowed the beam from a Cyber-Grimm's main weapon to lance through the space between their right antler and the side of their auburn Mohawk, the Deer Faunus wincing slightly as the sheer heat of the laser left their Aura rippling faintly and slightly singed their hair; a moment later their partner another beam tore through the space their left shoulder had occupied and they were saved from potentially losing a limb only by Regalia once again manhandling, this time by taking their hand and dragging them out of the path of the attack without ever breaking stride.

"Astra, we're not gonna make it!" Zirconia's words pierced through the haze and tunnel vision that had begun to take hold over Astra themselves, a desperate and frenzied need to escape that clouded them to any options or larger ideas; though the leader of Team MARS doubted there were any quick-witted plans they could offer in that moment that would overcome the odds stacked against them. They were on the verge of simply offering defiant encouragement, hoping to portray enough false hope to keep the Grasshopper Faunus moving and yet before the words could leave their lips Stygian interjected.

"Yes we are, I've got it!"

"STITCH WAIT-" Athena's yell came too late and she, along with Astra and the rest of their allies turned to watch as the Mouse Faunus engaged his Semblance; vanishing a liquid rippling of air to reappear directly in front of the Cyber-Grimm's weapon and throw himself into a backflip before the laser could fire again. With Sharp Cheese returned to him and the admittedly impressive feat of avoiding the laser-fire giving him a boost in confidence Stygian sprung up from the crouch he had landed in just as the lumbering mechanical horror before him aimed and fired its' secondary weapons only for the Mouse Faunus to block and deflect bullets so expertly that he was transformed into an indistinct blur of motion until the Cyber-Grimm, with its' limited capability for independent thought and problem solving fell back on a more direct approach; the armoured wing casing's of its; hunched and angle back opening to reveal thin and angular wings and a charging propulsion system before the beast rocketed towards its' foe in something more akin to a rocket propelled gallop than true flight, its' curved carapace horn angled and pointed directly at Stygian.

Stygian simply smiled.

Through the sound of their own heart hammering and the chaos reverberating through the walls and air around them Astra could hear themselves yelling at their friend to move, with the tattooed young man chose to do at the last possible moment with a perfectly calculated sidestep as he brought his katana up to reveal mist billowing out from a freezing blade imbued with Ice Dust which he proceeded to stab through the eye of the incoming Cyber-Grimm; turning its' own momentum against it and felling it with a single strike which left it suspended and hanging limp as the sword burst from the back of its' head, frost expanding across the surface as the inside of the things' skull was frozen solid.

It was a single moment which seemed to stretch out for far longer as Stygian shifted his grip on his sword and allowed the beaten machine Grimm to slip free of his sword whilst Astra, Regalia and Zirconia looked on in vague disbelief at the scene; only for the sound of rushing footsteps, both those of booted and armed men and women and the clunking cacophony which announced more Cyber-Grimm began to draw near.

"STITCH, MOVE!" Astra yelled "DOWN!"

Stygian's electric blue eyes widened as Astra unfurled Buckshot Ares, aiming the weapons directly at his chest until his Semblance allowed him to teleport directly in front of the guns' barrels which he deftly weaved out of the way of; giving Astra the opportunity to unleash a salvo which forced the next rapidly approaching wave of attackers to fall back and take cover behind a corner, with a pained yell confirming that at least one bullet had struck home.

And then the five of them were on the move again.

"How much further?" Athena-Jade demanded, her breathing heavy and laboured as her Aura was forced to compensate for her injuries which made the act of engaging in superhuman feats of exertion more taxing than ever.

"The hangar's not far, we're almost there!" Regalia answered as she led the way.

"See, we're gonna make it" Stygian panted out, pushing himself further so that he could take Athena's hand and pull her along "We can do this, we're gonna do this!"

It spurred the Bear Faunus and the sight of Athena powering forwards, sweat sheening on her brow as she forced herself to sprint was enough for the others to find fresh reserves of sheer will and stamina to dig deep into, with Zirconia also helping her former partner along by keeping an arm at her back ready to catch her if she stumbled. They hurtled through cramped and winding spaces whose twisted layout identified them as new additions to the Megalodon as much as their fleshy architecture until finally they reached their target; only to find the entrance to the hangar and launchpad that they sought in the middle of a corridor and sitting equidistant between the five of them and a small cluster of Cyber-Grimm whose operators and handlers seemed to have deduced their enemies' goal and tried to cut them off.

It was once again Athena-Jade who gave her friends heart, her usual gung-ho demeanour returning in full force as she charged to the head of the group; a fierce and wordless roar escaping her as she slipped free of Zirconia and Stygian to aim and fire Heartbreaker's laser cannon directly into the main weapon of one of the waiting Cyber-Grimm; destroying it with a chain reaction of explosions which sent the remainder of the ground staggering.

"GO!" Athena screamed, voice ragged as she threw glyphs up to form a shield wall between the Cyber-Grimm and her friends "GET THAT DOOR OPEN!"

Zirconia slipped by her and began frantically bypassing security requirements until finally the final barrier between herself, Team MARS and freedom was removed; revealing a launching area which more resembled some gruesome drained abscess, a gaping sore in obsidian flesh within which only rudimentary efforts to disguise electrical working and other necessities remained, a thin and translucent layer of reddish and varicose skin was all that separated them from the open air and it was torn open in an instant by a single shot from Regalia's shotgun.

"LET'S GO!" Stygian yelled, an urgent plea which Astra answered by pulling Athena out of the corridor and unleashing another volley of gunfire the moment her glyphs failed in order to keep the Cyber-Grimm at aby for a moment longer.

And then the Deer Faunus sprinted and leap out of the now opened airlock, wind howling around them as they fell.

"I'LL CATCH YOU!" they yelled, an assurance that they assumed had been heard as their friends leapt out into the air behind them; Athena creating several flickering an unstable glyphs to try and direct her descent whilst Regalia used her harpoon to try and create a line between herself and her partner until Astra began to engage their Semblance; the glowing red of their construct-form expanding outwards and allowing them to scoop Regalia, Athena-Jade, Stygian and Zirconia up into glowing and protective arms.

It also allowed them to break the fall somewhat as the construct struck the ground and shattered, sending up a cloud of snow in all directions.

"Everyone okay?" Astra managed to choke out as they staggered to their feet, stumbling several paces through the snow as they tried to regain their equilibrium.

"I….I think so….Cold" Regalia gasped out, visibly trembling as the lenses of her goggles began to mist and ice over in mere seconds; with Astra realising that the tundra was far colder than anything their girlfriend was prepared for and that the hateful, biting elements would effect her most severely.

"Yeah….It's bad, but we're okay. We did it" Stygian gave a burst of faintly hysterical laugher, his coat allowing him some measure of protection from the cold before he looked around wildly "AJ, AJ?"

"I'm here….I'm okay" the Bear Faunus's words were belied by the tone she delivered them in; a barely coherent slurring as she stumbled forwards to her hands and knees, crawling through the snow as much as walking even as her Aura rippled around her. Zirconia rushed to her side with mechanical legs powering through the snow with ease.

"I've got you" she murmured, shooting Stygian only a brief glare as he reached Athena's opposite side before moving so that the two of them could each loop one of Athena's arms over their shoulders and help her.

Then the horrific screech, like a chainsaw on metal filled the air.

"CYBER-GRIMM!" Regalia yelled, pointing behind her and upwards to where the monsters had followed them out of the Megalodon's airlock; snapping off a few blasts of her shotgun to no effect. Astra realised in an instant that they would never outrun the flying horrors and that they would need to do something drastic in order to escape, an idea came to them in short order however as they took in the full, colossal sight of the Megalodon and particularly the way its' monstrous maw had opened to unveil a vast and disturbing array of tendrils, proboscis and mechanical implements from its' shark-like mouth; all of which were frozen in place after their task of draining a defeated Spawning Pit had been halted.

"I need Dust!" they called out.

"Here!" Zirconia began pulling out handfuls of pilfered capsules of processed minerals and even raw crystals which she clumped together before throwing to Astra who caught them and then hurled them, overhand and with all their might towards the Spawning Pit. They then took aim and fired, their mini-guns ripping into the package of volatile material a moment before it impacted; with a resultant explosion of elemental force which tore into the workings of the Megalodon's mouth and sent shock-waves rippling through the slurry of liquid darkness.

"NOW GO!" Astra bellowed, certain that the Cyber-Grimm would prioritise protecting the airship-Grimm over giving chase and urging their friends to follow them as they fled with no clear idea of where they were headed.

Only that it was certainly better than the alternative.

Author's Notes:

Okay that was, if I'm allowed to brag….One hell of a chapter.
Not too much to say here, except that there's five chapters left of Vol.08 and it's gonna tense for four of them.
Enjoy.

But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
But let's be serious though, if Zirconia's breakout had been done at another part of the story then it would have been a comedy skit when she used the blanket.
There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong on Zirconia's end….But that would have been no fun, not when they were already set to go wrong somewhere else.
Of course Nero's password was Zirconia's birthday, of course it was.
"Why do the people I love never want to listen to me?" I mean when AJ didn't want to listen it was understandable.
Oof, that goodbye message though.
The Megalodon takes some time to drain a spawning pit dry, which means that it's not going anywhere just yet.
That half-living factory really is bleak the way I imagine it.
Of course the Pikesreach crew were going to get there payback on the last of Aefen's old cultists, but it was being set up from the get go that Roux doesn't really have any control, she's a spokesperson more than a leader.
The chance to try and trap Carmesi in place before making a break for it was too good to turn down.
You know it's bad when hitting someone in the face with a hammer is just a warm up….But yeah, pinning the fuckers down and opening up the pipes full of the Grimm-batter that goes into Cyber-Grimm to pour it on them was both horrific and fitting.
So remember the failed attempts to create Cyber-Grimm back in Vol.04/05….Yeah that, except this time they're not connected to anything so they can walk around eating people.
There was no way she was gonna take Carmesi down in a fight so she had to get creative.
Roux's people could have ran and left her but they didn't.
Team MARS are back in the game people.
AJ is definitely not at her best, but seeing as she was literally impaled less than a day ago I think she's doing fine.
Yes Regalia just quoted Han Solo….With a witty one line from Astra, this is why these two dorks love each other.
Oh you didn't think it would be that easy did you? That shit turned into a DnD trap real quick.
Astra using their Semblance to wedge the door was pretty good thinking, but well….Have you ever had the skin of your ear start to heal over the back of an earring? Yeah, that.
Well that's AJ's medicine gone….Which means no Aura stimulants, which means her Aura is being pushed further because she's trying to keep pace with everyone but also using it to heal herself at an accelerated rate.
Stygian wasn't trying to abandon people, his idea of securing their exit was a valid one….But AJ's right, they wouldn't be able to do it unarmed.
Of course Regalia can memorise a map with one look, that's the kind of skill you learn in the wastelands.
Roux was never gonna be a long-term character and not having control of her people was always gonna be what got her….The funny thing is that if she hadn't tried to herd them and had just gone alone she would have survived, but she's as loyal to them as they were to her.
But yeah, the Pikesreach crew went nuts….Like, payback is payback but when you start taking angle grinders and chop-saws to peoples' limbs or pouring acid in their eyes let's not pretend there's anything just and honourable about it.
There's the thing, the Hunters that controlled Pikesreach were totalitarian and fucked up in their own way; but they couldn't afford to be that kind of cruel and violent when they were living in a Grimm filled wasteland.
Oh did you think Gestalt-Prime wasn't gonna be in on this?….So y'know the Darth Vader scene in Rogue One, yeah imagine that but instead of a Lightsaber give him two fire-axes.
Yeah, I didn't show Roux's death but she's definitely dead.
Wow the escape plan worked, the office was empty and the weapons were unguarded….Zirconia really had a stretch of good luck there, shame it can't last.
She's a Hunter, of course she feels better with her weapon on her person.
Okay, I want people to think back to the Vol.01 finale; back to when we thought Carmesi and Grapeshot were just two Hunters….Remember when Carmesi caught up with Persian Green and his goons and just started hacking limbs off; yeah, I wanted to bring that vibe back and remind people who this guy is.
Yeah, he told the Cyber-Grimm to deliberately let two people get away so he could see where they ran and use them to track down anybody else who was in on the plan.
The line about making Zirconia be the one to clean the blood and guts up so she learns was just uncalled for.
Okay admit it, at least one of you cheered at Zirconia using Athena-Jade's weapon.
Oh yeah Carmesi is down, he's been caught in two explosions back to back; that's gotta hurt.
She literally ran straight into them and gave herself a black eye on Astra's antler….But hey, a reunion is a reunion right?
I'll be completely honest the Winter scene is filler to break up the two Team MARS scenes, but it does help build up a mounting sense of tension which I will pay of with the finale.
She is right to be pissed off at Corey to be honest.
I do love the idea that Winter 'Captain Badass' Schnee still has daydreams about being a badass and doing 80s action movie shit.
The people Winter captured probably don't even have any useful intel anyway, they were likely dropped off without being told where the Megalodon would be headed….As for Winter delegating the task, yeah when Ironwood was in charge "Enhanced interrogation" and military black-sites were a thing for Atlas and Winter has personally abducted and tortured people for intel, including Mercury Black.
So Winter has some slight preoccupations at the moment and is not immediately available to come to anyone's aid...Especially given that where the Megalodon actually is isn't considered part of Atlas territory technically.
Regalia was just saving Astra's ass out of habit.
Okay let's be one hundred percent honest with each other….That take down from Stygian was brilliant, also very similar to one of Winter's moves last chapter.
The little details of Hops and Stitch both helping AJ the whole way there.
But AJ isn't down and out yet, gotta love that gusto when she takes out the first Cyber-Grimm and holds the rest back on her own.
The launch pads were just another chance for me show that the Megalodon is a massive exercise in body horror.
Astra used their Semblance to do everything except fight in this chapter.
Regalia thinks Vale is cold, she's from the wasteland….Remember when AJ and Diabla first got to Menagerie and the heat nearly knocked them out, yeah this is the flip-side of that.
Stygian gets by because he's spent another year or so away from the island and also he's wearing a coat with an internal temperature control.
Oh yeah, AJ is gonna pay for using her Aura like that.
That Dust Zirconia pilfered was a Chekhov's gun and a half….Astra's plan was to try and deliberately trigger the Spawning Pit so that the Megalodon and the Cyber-Grimm had to face off against whatever it made; obviously the pit has already been dealt with but the blast still put the Cyber-Grimm on the defensive and gave them a chance to run.

Thank you to Neil12 and Major Brony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
I hope you're okay and that things work out for you in your personal life, your reviews will always be welcome whenever you're able to.
Yeah everyone has plans...But what's that Mike Tyson quote "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"
But you still haven't seen the full extent of what Nero's planning, that's coming soon.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.