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Chapter 138: Bunker Down
Team MARS and Zirconia Shadowmoon, or alternatively Team MARZ and Stygian Blue if Zirconia herself were to offer an opinion had escaped the Megalodon and were now trying to ensure that their efforts were not wasted, a task which would require them to have somewhere to escape to or else they would surely freeze to death in the punishing cold of the inhospitable tundra even they were miraculously spared from the attentions of any Creatures of Grimm that might be lurking in the vast white expanse. The sobering reality of the situation had made the journey a sombre one, any illusions they might still have harboured about the price of failure having been shattered by the death of Roux and her fellows at the hands of the Cyber-Grimm.
It had reduced the five of them to a stunned and haunted silence after the initial rush of adrenaline which had seen them fleeing through the snow had subsided as they contemplated what had happened and what would follow.
"Still no signal" Astra informed them, breaking the silence whilst coming to a halt and peering around whilst trying to keep from looking defeated "I can't reach anyone, I can't send out an SOS and I can't connect to any maps to find where we are"
"Heh, you'll think of something, you always do" Regalia mumbled through numb limbs, hands rubbing together for warmth more than nervousness whilst her entire body trembled violently from the cold, the shivering of her bushy tail casting off the light dusting of snow that had settled over it. Taking a few steps closer to her partner both for moral support and simply to share what little body-heat was available Regalia blinked ice and snow from her eyes, her goggles having been rendered unusable before looking around and following Astra's gaze to see what her partner saw.
There was nothing.
The sky was a dull iron grey from which snow fell in a steady and heavy curtain which, whilst quickly beginning to cover their tracks also had the unwelcome effect of reducing visibility to the point of uselessness; Regalia could see nothing but a vague looming shape in the distance whose slightly darker outline might have been a mountain, one shoe gargantuan size dwarfed anything on Menagerie. Blowing on her hands for warmth and shuffling for a moment in both another futile effort to warm herself and a way to prepare herself mentally the former nomad squinted and activated her Semblance; fuelling Look-See with a desire to find people only to be disappointed when the entire outline of the mountain in the distance seemed to light up with the oscillating gold and purple of her Semblance but in doing so also give her a better idea of its' distance.
It would take days to reach the mountain on foot, they would freeze or starve before then.
"Anything?" Astra asked, hopeful but gentle enough to avoid putting pressure on their partner as they looped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.
"Nothing" she mumbled, numb and tired as the cold and the sting of defeat sapped her strength; the pain of the biting winds being the only thing keeping her fully alert "Nothing we can use….There's people in that mountain but we won't get there"
"AJ! What're you doing?" a panicked yell from Zirconia caught both Astra and Regalia's attention, the two of them turning to see that Stygian and Zirconia had put their differences aside for the time being and had both been continuing to support Athena-Jade, who was looking more pallid and drained than before; Stygian's coat being draped over clearly only limiting the strain on her Aura as it tried to fend off the elements and steadily heal her injuries all whilst having been taxed by their escape, more immediately concerning however was the fact that the Bear Faunus had slipped free of her former and current partners and was currently limping and stumbling towards Regalia and Astra on legs that were unsteady and shaking to an extent which nearly saw her tumble face first into the snow until Zirconia caught her.
"Are you okay?" the Grasshopper demanded, only to be soundly ignored as Athena-Jade trudged forwards with eyes that were wild and unfocused but somehow still determined.
"That mountain has people in it?" she demanded, voice weak and cracking; another sign that she needed to be evacuated from the tundra as urgently as possible.
"On it yeah, but-"
"No….In it….And under it as well" the Bear Faunus cut Regalia off, speaking hurriedly "It's one of the Hive-Cities….But if there's nothing else nearby then….Okay, Atlas isn't like Menagerie; we've never had a Hammerfall Outpost because most of our people are underground so that's where our CCT signal boosters are….For there to only be one city and nothing else….We're-we're-"
"You know this, come on you've got this" Astra encouraged, trying to mask their worry
"We're in the space between the Mantle Freehold and the edge of Atlas; that must be Eisenstadt Sechste….We won't get a CCT signal unless we're near it"
"Then we're screwed" Stygian hissed bitterly, finding it much harder to cope with the cold now that he had removed his jacket and found himself fully exposed to it "Regalia said we won't-"
"Unless" Athena silenced him with a weak interruption through laboured breathing "Unless….The Freeholds have only been independent for ten years or so, I remember when they were still a part of Atlas"
"You think there's a checkpoint or something up ahead?" Astra's sea-green eyes filled with sudden hope.
"Maybe not a checkpoint" Athena shook her head, forcing herself to focus despite how much she wanted to simply lay down and rest "But uh, land-trains and convoys used to cross the Kingdom all the time before there import taxes on the Freehold and stuff….So all we've got to do is find a road, if we find a road and follow it then we'll find a building with a CCT uplink eventually"
"That's….AJ that's brilliant!" Zirconia gasped, she, Astra and Stygian all turning to Regalia at the same time whilst the Racoon Faunus simply nodded in silence and once again turned her Semblance to the task at hand; this time with the simple and easy to understand instruction to find a road.
A long, stretching marker quickly appeared in her vision, the snow being unable to obscure it whilst the terrain of the tundra allowed Regalia to see clearly where the new objective lay.
It was much closer than the mountain.
"Come on, this way! She urged, forcing sluggish and heavy limbs to cooperate as she began marching through the snow once again "I've found us a road!"
"How far?" Astra asked "Should I use my Semblance to carry you guys there?"
"No" Athena answered, quiet words slurring "There's Grimm in the tundra, don't drain your Aura too fast….Besides, you'll make yourself a big glowing target; what if Nero sent someone after us?"
"Or something" Zirconia whispered, shuddering at the idea of a Man-Eater variant or perhaps several being despatched to deal with the escapees.
"Yeah" Astra murmured, nodding surreptitiously to both Zirconia and Stygian to indicate that the two of them should keep close watch over Athena before they tried to keep the mood light and maintain a sense of optimism "Of all the times for me to not have a ride though right?….I wonder what happened to my truck?"
It was with bloodshot and tear-filled eyes that Damascus Nero looked up to glare harshly at the intrusion upon his private grieving.
"Mister Nero….are you okay?" Carmesi's low and rumbling voice seemed decidedly unsuited to offering concern and sympathy, whilst the hulking and burly man who had been offered so little kindness or understanding in his own life shuffled and fidgeted as the quartz-coloured gaze fell upon him, clearly unsure of how best to react and made visibly uncomfortable by that fact. Moreover Carmesi's physical appearance showed lingering signs of the pitched battles that had raged within the confines of the Megalodon; the Komodo Dragon had washed away the blood and gore he had undoubtedly soaked himself with and changed into fresh clothes during the intervening hours however a cursory glance at the weapons sheathed at his back revealed that the two blades were yet to be cleaned whilst Carmesi himself still sported various bruises and burns, consisting of angry reddened flesh and charred, blackened scales as well as small but noticeable patches of singed hair within his beard.
"I am….Unharmed" Nero breathed the words out shakily, a single choked and strangled sob being forced back as the older man struggled to maintain a sense of control over any aspect of his life and plans "The command bridge was automatically secured when the breakout started, which meant I was unable to try and talk sense into Zirconia when she came into this office and disabled Aura dampening collars….I wish I had been, I wish I'd had time to talk to her more before all of this; damn it I should have made time, made more effort….She left a message for me before she left, saying goodbye-"
Nero appeared ready to break down into a weeping, inconsolable state at that and in an almost involuntary response to keep himself from being part of such a scene Carmesi cleared his throat, crimson eyes narrowing slightly.
"She tried to kill before she left" he gave Nero a pointed look "Used Slate's weapon and then deliberately detonated one of our Dust stores"
"And yet here you stand, alive and well….You're a big boy Carmesi-"
"I'm not your son-"
"No, no you are not" Nero countered angrily "I have one child and she has just run away from us-"
"Then I presume you want me to track her down….There's nowhere for them to go in the tundra, they won't get far" Nero paused and considered Carmesi's offer for long enough to keep himself from blurting out an immediate, overly emotional answer and instead forcing out a more measured response.
"We have other immediate concerns" the words pained the older and more slender of the two men, his cybernetic hand whining under its' own strength as he clenched his fists "Are we certain that there are no saboteurs left aboard?"
"They were all from the same clique, all natives of Pikesreach" Carmesi answered slowly, an oddly apologetic look crossing his features that was as incongruous upon them as his sympathy had been "Gestalt-Prime took care of them, they gave me this and insisted that I show you it….To prove that their leader was dealt with"
Carmesi held up a waterproof sack that he had been keeping out of view and Nero realised, with bile rising in his throat that it would contain the butchered remains of one of his former followers; the size of the bag and lack of any distinct shapes amongst its' contents giving him a clear enough picture of how thoroughly eviscerated and mutilated Roux's body had been. The killing had been had been a joyous affair for the Alpha Cyber-Grimm and now they were presenting their kills to their master, though a voice that was painfully like Zirconia's murmured caution from the back of Nero's mind and suggested that it was an act less like that of a cat dragging dead birds to its' owners doorstep and more likely a gruesome reminder that the monster could kill who it pleased, including Nero's followers as they had already proven with Albion Herringbone.
"They're a disgusting creature and I look forward to the day we no longer have need of them" it was a thought they realised that Zirconia would approve of the spirit behind but still chide them for expressing, seeing it as naive and reckless to not dispose of Gestalt-Prime immediately; though Nero pushed those treacherous thoughts aside "Do we have a preliminary estimate of how much damage was done?"
"To be blunt and given that we don't have anywhere to properly land and resupply yet" Carmesi shook his head, running a hand through his singed beard "They did a fucking number on us"
"How bad?" Nero breathed out tensely "I can't make sensible decisions based on a lack of information"
"We lost several Cyber-Grimm, given the lack of contact with the diversionary team I presume it's safe to assume that they were captured of killed by the Atlesian Military; between the loss of our recruits from Pikesreach and the fact that they chose to kill as many of Aefen's old followers as they could find we also have considerably depleted manpower, which is going to make repairs take longer and have additional knock on effects….Though I'm sure you have people who can give you better estimates" Carmesi paused, glowering again "In addition to detonating a Dust store whilst I was inside there is also minor to moderate damage within several parts of the ships' interior as a result of the fighting-"
"The Megalodon is self repairing" Nero interjected.
"Sabotage has damaged the mechanisms for taking on new Grimm material as well as part of the Cyber-Grimm production facility" Carmesi countered bluntly "Gestalt-Prime is currently working with your scientists, under a close armed guard to keep the Forge operational and try to bring things back online but the reality is that we now have less Grimm material to work with, less Cyber-Grimm at our disposal and much of what we do have is being diverted to repairing damage"
"DAMN IT ALL!" Nero yelled and swept the paperwork cluttering his desk away in a fit of uncontrolled but ultimately futile anger "Damn it! Do you have an estimate on how long until we're not completely sitting ducks? Do you have anything positive to tell me?"
"We can have a scouting party of Cyber-Grimm prepared in matter of hours despite the setbacks" Carmesi answered "As I said….they can't have gotten far.
"Good" Nero nodded swallowing thickly "In the meantime take whoever you can and secure that Spawning Pit, that was a dangerous move they tried and we can't afford anything unexpected happening. Have that search party prepared….And Carmesi, I want them alive"
"Mister Nero-"
"NO!" the former chairman barked, uncommonly furious "We are so close! Do you understand that, do you truly understand how close we are to having everything? All of our work that we have sacrificed for completed and our new Remnant built!….We have the Cyber-Grimm, we have Aefen's work, we have an Alpha Grimm which, according to Gestalt-Prime control a good percentage of their Hive-Mind; we are in the process of drawing that Grimm out into the open and we had the means to effectively make war against it….All we need is to recover our losses and acquire that Aura transfer machine but we cannot do that without leverage. General Slate's niece and her team-mates are leverage Carmesi. I. Need. Them. Alive!"
"I understand" the Komodo Dragon Faunus nodded, taken aback by the older man's ranting and yet at the same time appreciative of it; feeling that Nero could stand to lose his cool and be more direct and forceful in the pursuit of his noble goals.
"I'm glad someone does, now leave me" Nero bit the words out, managing to at least wait until the doors to his personal quarters and office slid shut before letting out a broken and whimpering sound as he prepared to watch Zirconia's parting message once more.
Every word was a knife in his heart and yet he was certain that he could convince her to see reason, to see the necessity of each of the steps his plan required him to take; even as Nero himself was left wondering exactly what his next steps would be and how he could best play the cards his daughters' betrayal had left him holding and came to the realisation that he might have to begin considering backup plans and exit strategies.
Carmesi would find her, of that there was no doubt and Nero consoled himself with the knowledge that any time lost on repairs and production was not giving Zirconia a head start; it was simply giving him more time to weigh his options.
The five Hunters had found a road after trudging through snow until they were soaked and weary, the surface of the wide and impossibly long path through the tundra being only partially uncovered from the snow itself; the compacted layers of snow covering the asphalt surface until only small patches of black could be found giving an indication of just how infrequently the route had been travelled in recent years, the five of them had refused to surrender to the elements or admit defeat however and had instead forced themselves to continue onwards and follow the road in the general direction of the Hive City in the distance until, finally Regalia's Semblance proved itself invaluable once again as the faint outline of a much smaller but much closer structure appeared through the curtain of falling snow; its' presence calling out to the five of them and giving them the strength and motivation they needed until finally they stood at the buildings' entrance.
"Honey….I'm home" Regalia wheezed out, breath misting in front of numb lips as she let out a chuckle whilst gesturing vaguely at the building she had led her friends to.
"It's a truck stop….An old, abandoned truck stop" Astra noted as they surveyed the sight before them, not wanting to dampen their partners' mood at all but at the same time having been holding out a vague hope that they might find somewhere occupied and with working power. The building itself was low slung and wide, a single-floor sprawling complex set within the centre of a vast and empty parking lot which might once have been filled with colossal land-trains; the perimeter had once been protected by a high fence with several pylons which suggested that it had been a Dust-powered affair to keep Grimm at bay though that fence now hung limp and broken in several places whilst the building itself was comprised on heavy stone walls and presumably armoured glass which had also been cracked and broken worryingly in several places including the main double doors of the truck-stop. Whilst the broken doors had allowed snow and small amounts of detritus to blow inside it also allowed the five stranded Hunters to peer inside and take their first glimpse of the place; each of them coming to the conclusion that it had likely once been a lively and welcoming establishment, of the kind seen across the Kingdoms with the typically plain décor of Atlas made more lively by endless posters and neon signs advertising the various stores and amenities available.
That the place had once been so lively served only to make its' abandoned state more unnerving by contrast.
"It's somewhere we can set up and get AJ out of the cold" Zirconia rasped out, casting a nervous look at the Bear Faunus she and Stygian were currently supporting; with the Mouse Faunus choosing to engage his partner in conversation if only to ensure that she was still awake and coherent.
"Think this place is gonna be any good? Think it's got a CCT uplink or signal booster?"
"Mhmm, probably" the Bear Faunus mumbled, words running into one another as she sagged in the grasp of her two partners and let out a yawn; though it was evident that her condition was a product of more than simple tiredness, with Stygian and Zirconia sharing a single look before the Grasshopper Faunus spoke out again.
"Astra we need to get her inside….I'm worried about her"
"Then let's go" the Deer Faunus nodded before letting out a sigh as they were forced to address an obvious problem "Even with the broken windows we can find somewhere for AJ to bunker down for a while….But this place has got no power, so it's still gonna be cold and the CCT-"
"Heh that's fine I can fix that" Regalia chirped happily as she took Astra's hand and led the team inside.
"You can….Clan Aiktishaf don't have CCT-"
"I don't need to fix the CCT" the Racoon Faunus almost skipped with happiness now that she was making progress "I just need to get a backup generator working enough to run power through heaters and the uplink….It's not broken it's just switched off"
"You think they left enough Dust just lying around to get a generator up and running?" Stygian asked with disbelief.
"This isn't Menagerie" Zirconia answered "No bandit crews live the tundra so there's no chance of them stealing it or using the place as a base….I think leaving Dust here for situations is a law, but I don't know Atlas law"
"Not a law, just a custom" Athena-Jade answered weakly but with a smile dimpling her cheeks "Never leave the place completely empty, you never know when you'll get stranded; it's practical….Besides, we're Atlas we've always got Dust"
Her friends couldn't help but chuckle at that comment, each of them fighting the urge to quip that if Athena was using her connection to Remnant's largest Dust provider, the SDC itself as a means to brag then she must truly be out of sorts; it might have amused Athena herself to hear it but none of them could stomach the idea of her being so unwell that she became truly delirious.
"Okay" Astra finally murmured "We stay close to each other as much as we can but we've got a few jobs to do. Stitch, Zirconia try and find somewhere to keep AJ warm and safe while Regalia and I look for the backup generator and some Dust to power it, we hope it's not damaged but we might have to do some work on it to get it up and running….Hopefully this place has got tools and parts for trucks that weren't completely picked clean"
"Understood" it was Zirconia who spoke up, mismatched eyes filled with something earnest as she met Astra's gaze; trying to make her friend understand through sheer force of will that she would not let them down or betray their trust again, her expression only faltering when Astra looked away without comment and the moment was broken by Athena
"I'm fine, promise….I'll be okay" the Bear Faunus highlighted the point by loosening her grip on both Zirconia and Stygian and managing to walk forwards several steps on shaking legs until the Mouse Faunus wrapped an arm around her and lifted her off of the ground slightly to wrap the coat he had given to his partner around her more tightly.
"I know, you're gonna be fine, no harm in making sure though" he assured her, the words were gentle and kind and uttered with a softness that made Zirconia's stomach twist and lip quiver faintly upon hearing them; though she refused to allow herself to consider the matter, she had made her choices and would take the losses and the consequences that they had gotten her.
Part of loving Athena meant wanting her to be happy, regardless of who that happiness involved.
"Good" Astra nodded, voice echoing now that the five of them were inside the abandoned building which caused them to lower it significantly "Once you two have found somewhere I want you to split up….One of you look for supplies, we might have to wait a while or we might have to head somewhere else for an evac; better to see if there's any canned food, medical supplies and things like that-"
"And the other one stays with AJ?" Stygian presumed, clearly intending to put himself in that particular position; with the look in his electric blue eyes as he regarded Zirconia making it clear that a distrust for her played no small part in that decision.
"One of you needs to be on watch" Astra answered.
"You think there's Grimm close by?" Regalia asked, rubbing her hands together so that her trigger finger might not be so stiff if she needed to use her weapon. Astra gave a faint shrug and turned to gesture vaguely at the doors and broken windows behind them before fixing the team with a dark and serious expression.
"I think something broke those windows and smashed the door of its' hinges" it was an admission that chilled the five of them as their made their way deeper into the gloomy and silent building.
In the hours that had followed the most recent in a string of unacceptable defeats, namely the consumption of one of their Spawning Pits and through that destruction the inescapable realisation that the true enemy was not their fellow Grimm but instead the humans who were leading Gestalt-Prime about by the snout like an obedient pet not matter what the would be usurper thought of the matter, Pantheon had raged and they had unleashed countless Grimm into the seas and oceans of Remnant to ensure that every Spawning Pit lost to their mounting horde of enemies was replaced even if the replacements were in less advantageous positions.
Moreover Pantheon had planned.
Now that they had seen the true scope and power of the Megalodon the Grimm General understood that they would have to retake the initiative in this war in the shadows soon if they wished to win it, the living airship their foes had spawned had granted them an advantage that was impossible to overstate as whilst Pantheon could send forth monsters of incredible size and might from a swathe of Spawning Pits scattered all across Remnant Gestalt-Prime and their unseen masters could now appear at any objective they chose in person, bringing with them the means to destroy and consume all which stood against them.
Victory would depend, Pantheon realised, on the ability to control the pace and direction of future battles and turn the enemies' speed and manoeuvrability against them by having them move only where and when the Grimm General wished.
A task that was far easier said than done, especially given that they were unsure of exactly where their enemies were or what they intended.
Pantheon had ideas, the vague outlines of something the monster assured themselves would become a far greater plan, one destined to succeed where their others had failed now that they had the measure of their foe.
It was with this in mind that they had once again taken to their living throne and with the assistance of Synapse Grimm delved into the howling maelstrom of pure, murderous and destructive fury that was the Grimm Hive-Mind. There was no reason to believe that the Megalodon would linger in the open tundra once it was finished with the meal that it had made of the Spawning Pit unless it intended to seek out every other similar location in the snow-blasted expanse and consume them as well as part of an effort to blind Pantheon entirely on the freezing continent; it was an idea that gave Pantheon pause and might have sent a shudder down their spine had they been within their physical form whilst they considered it but ultimately the Grimm General decided that it was unlikely, simply because it was an endeavour that could have just as easily been started on Menagerie following the Megalodon being unleashed for the first time at Jidhir Town.
That they had travelled to the tundra between Atlas and the Mantle Freeholds meant that the enemy wanted something here specifically.
In order to investigate the notion and explore its' possibilities Pantheon had first reached forth through the Hive-Mind which they had been observing at a distance and allowed their psychic presence to loom in the minds of countless packs and herds of lesser Grimm scattered about the tundra, particularly the edges and borders of the territories controlled by the prey to search for any sign of Gestalt-Prime and their wretched Cyber-Grimm abominations, attacking only from their air and land whilst foregoing the use of any tunnelling and subterranean beasts which might burrow into the bellies of the Hive-Cities simply because there was no reason to believe that their quarry might be underground. This ploy had been met with abject failure as the Kingdom of Atlas and the Mantle Freeholds had violently defended their territory from the encroaching Grimm and whilst this had forced Pantheon to be more subtle in their approach it had all but confirmed that wherever the Megalodon was it had not yet reached the Kingdoms or else it would have been locked in battle with them already.
Realising the lack of information at their disposal despite the myriad eyes they could view Remnant through Pantheon lamented, for a single moment that they had no agents or allies within the ranks of the humans before forcefully pushing such notions from their mind; sickened by the moment of weakness.
Gestalt-Prime and Salem alike served as examples of the consequences of the folly of entertaining alliances which would by their very nature interfere with the proper cycle of creation and destruction.
Instead Pantheon had redoubled their efforts and committed themselves to finding Gestalt-Prime and the Megalodon through their own means and those of the Creatures of Grimm they commanded. Knowing that the Grimm-vessel that the humans had made, their bastardised flying Spawning Pit and living weapon was capable of cloaking itself and appearing without warning had forced the Grimm General to search indirectly; using small groups of Grimm, many of which had been birthed from the very same pit that the Megalodon had destroyed to scour the snowy expanse and the skies above it in search of signs of the enemies' passing rather than the Megalodon itself.
Seeking to track their foe by the ripples they sent outwards with everything they disturbed with their presence, a far harder thing to mask than their own form.
Only for their prey to wander directly into their clutches.
Amidst the bleak nothingness of the Solitas tundra there were often long periods of what passed for famine for the Creatures of Grimm, periods where those monsters who made their lairs far from the Kingdoms and settlements of their prey received so little sustenance in the form of a dwindling supply of travellers to harry and ravage or the ambient emotional turmoil from the poorest and most destitute reaches of the icy Kingdom; it was not uncommon for those Creatures of Grimm to, after some time seek out shelter in caves or ruins and simply wait, entering a fugue state or hibernation of sorts until something triggered their dormant senses and brought them into full, furious action once again.
As a cluster of freshly awakened and hungering minds flashed into being within Pantheon's senses and understanding within the Hive-Mind the Grimm General allowed themselves a smile as they came to a simple realisation, that there was only one reason for five fresh bodies to be wandering through an abandoned building in the tundra with no means of transport readily apparent.
The enemy was scouting the area and had wandered blindly towards their doom.
"Regalia got the heating up and running….the girl's got her priorities in order, the CCT can wait right?" Stygian's voice was tight and nervous, leaving the unease he was trying hide beneath the glib and playful comment entirely on display; though Athena-Jade, who seemed mercifully less disoriented and somewhat more lively and alert was kind enough to offer a faint, wheezing chuckle in response. Its' effect being somewhat undercut by the derisive sound that escaped Zirconia, who was only a short distance away; nominally keeping watch and yet hampering her own efforts with the frequency with which she cast furtive, worried and at the same time longing glances towards where the Bear Faunus currently sat, leaning at an angle that placed minimal strain or pressure on her injuries.
Finding a safe and comfortable location in which to place their mutual partner had been the first task for Zirconia and Stygian to undertake together and it had fortunately been an easy enough objective for them to achieve and thankfully, in Zirconia's opinion one that had not required the two of them to interact to any meaningful extent but had also allowed for them to solve other problems that they faced. Upon entering the facility they had seen that the abandoned truck-stop was arranged primarily in a misshaped T formation, with it's short base housing the main foyer and the most general and ubiquitous of the stores; including a food court, supermarket and a small amount of Dust. It was here that Zirconia and Stygian had made their temporary base of operations, finding blankets, bottled water that had thankfully not shared the same fate as that within many of the burst pipes and canned food which was likely just as well refrigerated even without the buildings' power owing to the climate. One arm of the T-shaped building had been largely ignored by the group as, according to the map they had found its was dedicated more to luxury than practicality and included features such as a cinema, bar and casino whilst the other side of the truck-stop seemingly included not only the areas which Astra and Regalia would need to access in order to bring the power and CCT back online, but also the more specialised stores catering to the realities and practicalities of the nomadic lifestyle many of the places' patrons lived which, theoretically meant that they might be able to find more Dust and potentially a camp-stove on which to cook the food they had found.
As soon as either Zirconia or Stygian ventured out to look for it.
"Aren't you supposed to be keeping watch?" Stygian noted with a glower, understanding enough of the meaning behind the Grasshopper Faunus's wordless snort to know that he did not care for it.
"I am keeping watch" she answered bluntly, perched atop a barrier between two sections of the food court whilst Stygian sat beside Athena-Jade a short distance away.
"Besides" she continued, her rasping voice taking on a pointed, vaguely accusatory edge "Wouldn't it be more suited to your skills? Teleporting into danger seems like it would be a useful way of-"
"You think I trust you enough to leave you around people I care about?" Stygian demanded harshly "Absolutely not, I-"
"It wasn't me who stabbed-" Zirconia trailed off, regretting the thoughtless retort the moment it began leaving her lips; not only because Stygian rose to his feet as though he intended to close the distance between them.
"Both of you, just stop!" Athena demanded, the disappointment in her voice more effective than the croaking, sluggish sound of her words.
"Sorry" Stygian murmured as she sat once more "But I lost a good friend because of-"
"Shut up" Zirconia hissed, the sight of both Stygian and Athena turning to give her disbelieving stares; with the Mouse Faunus clearly giving serious consideration to rising to his feet and attacking again being halted when Zirconia brought a finger to her lips and gestured towards the junction where the food-court met with the main entrance and the two arms of the wide-based building, her demeanour suddenly shifting as she readied Sunriser Cain in its' pistol mode. After a moment of silence the same sounds which had caught her attention came again, with both Stygian and Athena-Jade hearing them this time.
Growls and the sound of padded feet against the floor, drawing steadily closer.
"Athena, stay back. You're hurt" Zirconia whispered before slinking forwards silently on cybernetic limbs; hugging the wall closest to the direction the sounds were emanating from so that she might be able to catch the Grimm unawares and in doing so realising that they were approaching from the side of the building that had remained uninvestigated.
It now seemed like a terrible oversight but it also meant that Astra and Regalia were likely safe.
It took only a matter of moments for the first of the Creatures of Grimm to come into view, revealing the threat to be a pack of Sabyrs; a dozen or more of the powerfully-built and sabre-toothed monsters prowling towards the source of whatever movement, sound, scent or emotional distress had alerted them and as she caught sight of her first target Zirconia raised her weapon, knowing that she would have only a single moment to fire before the sound of Sunrise Cain announcing its' current load-out drew the attention of the Grimm.
'Double-'
Stygian Blue appeared from thin air and decapitated the Grimm she had been aiming at the moment he had a clear enough view of the Sabyr for his Semblance to see it as a threat.
'Gravity' the shot missed its' mark and an armour piercing round punched a hole through a nearby wall.
"Y'know that's a really stupid feature on your weapon right?" the dark-skinned young man asked, clearly rhetorically as he thrust his katana out and impaled another Sabyr mid leap and then ducked beneath the swiping claws of another whilst slipping sideways to open its' belly before being forced to roll and weave away as the press of roaring, raging bodies pushed at him.
"WARN ME BEFORE YOU USE YOUR SEMBLANCE! I COULD HAVE SHOT YOU!" Zirconia yelled, uncharacteristically angry at the Mouse Faunus and channelling that anger into righteous fury as she shifted Sunriser Cain into its' melee mode whilst at the same time kicking out and catching one of the Sabyr in the underbelly as it reared up before bringing her weapon down on its' skull.
'Double Lightning' the electricity surging through the feline terror left it thrashing so fiercely that its' fangs tore trenches into the floor before it finally perished but a moment later another Sabyr took its' place and swiped at Zirconia; forcing the rogue to leap backwards and come to an uncomfortable realisation.
There were too many of them and she and Stygian were being pushed back, the Grimm were getting too close to Athena-Jade.
"Don't let them flank us" Zirconia rasped out, mismatched eyes darting around and taking in the fact that her initial count must have been too low given that there were still more than ten of the Grimm remaining; the pack already fanning out to surround their foes in exactly the way the Grasshopper Faunus had hoped to prevent.
"Any ideas?" Stygian asked, falling back further and keeping his back to Athena so that he could effectively protect her from any Grimm that tried to approach her "Can you use your Semblance to lock them in….Do that thing where you control the shadows?"
In another setting Zirconia might have appreciated just how impressive that made her sound.
"There's too many and they're too spread out" she lamented "I wouldn't catch them all and I don't want the ones I miss to go after Astra and Regalia. Can you jump between them and take them out?"
"Maybe" Stygian mused "But with the speed they move I won't be able to teleport around to each of them without us getting in each others'-"
Their opportunity to plan was snatched away when the lead Sabyr bounded forwards and leapt into the air, fangs and claws at the ready.
Only to collide with a glyph that appeared in mid-air with a thudding impact and a cracking of bone which failed to mask the familiar, thrumming sound of Heartbreaker priming behind the two Hunters.
"I've got it!" Zirconia and Stygian had only a moment to leap aside as Athena-Jade strode forwards with her laser cannon and unleashed a destructive beam which first obliterated the stunned Sabyr that had leapt and was then dragged across the width of the food-court, shearing through another trio of monsters as it destroyed furniture and scorched walls until finally the beams' path became erratic and winding before finally sinking lower as Athena herself staggered and took a knee, with Heartbreaker guttering out as the Bear Faunus toppled over, breathing heavily.
At which point the remaining Sabyrs pounced, leaving Zirconia and Stygian scrabbling desperately to do anything that might make a difference until a familiar voice yelled out to them.
"COVER HER AND GET DOWN!" sharing a single look Athena's two partners leapt and covered her prone form with their own bodies as Astra aimed and fired Buckshot Ares, filling the food-court with a deafening cacophony, the smoke of dying Grimm along with broken glass and wooden splinters as more of their surroundings were devastated. It took only moments for the sound of gunfire to slow to a halt and be followed by the sound of approaching footsteps, at which point Zirconia and Stygian pulled themselves away from Athena.
"Which one of you was supposed to be on watch?" Astra demanded, clearly and understandably angry that such a simple task had been so poorly handled. Zirconia felt her stomach plummet as she realised that her first opportunity to earn back the trust of the friend and team-leader she had always respected and come to admire had been utterly squandered; her mismatched eyes flitting briefly to Stygian, expecting to find the tattooed young man preparing to gloat or take advantage of her misfortune only for her to be caught completely by surprise when he answered on her behalf.
"We caught them before they got to you, what the fuck do you want from us?" it was an answer which seemed to catch Astra off-guard as well, though given the interactions between the Mouse Faunus and Tiger, his former team-leader Astra realised that it should not have surprised them so much. After a moment with their jaw working silently the Deer Faunus finally answered.
"Alright, sorry man….We're all stressed here. Is AJ okay?" Zirconia took the opportunity to shuffle closer to the Bear Faunus and examine her as best she could, checking her pulse and breathing and hesitantly, carefully lifting the sweatshirt that had been found for to check for any sign that her stab wound had reopened and mercifully finding none.
"I think she's okay" she rasped out "But she tried to fight, we told her not to but-"
"But AJ is AJ" Stygian added with a warmth and fondness that Zirconia understood well "I think she passed out from exhaustion….Her Aura is working twice as hard as everyone else's right now and she doesn't have any more Aura stimulants"
"I'll see if I can find any in the pharmacy" Astra muttered "They're a controlled substance so it's a long shot, but if there's Dust and food lying around"
"Where's Regalia?" Zirconia asked, cautious but hopeful.
"Working on getting the uplink running….We've got the parts we need but obviously the stuff hasn't exactly been taken care of. It's slow work but we'll get there" Astra answered before crouching down and addressing Athena-Jade's unconscious form "You hear me? Help is coming AJ, just hang in there a little longer….We're gonna get you out of here"
It was a promise that none of them would allow to be broken.
Pantheon had, in all honesty not expected a lone pack of Sabyrs which had only been roused from a dormant state a few short moments before their attack to amount to much, although upon seeing that one of the Hunters was already injured the Grimm General had hoped that they might at least be able to pick off the weakened prey and claim something in return for their own demise.
They were however a Creature of Grimm, a being of rage and hunger and destructive might and as such their minions' failure, no matter how expected and anticipated it might have been was a source of deep and forceful fury; one which required Pantheon to return fully to their own physical form and rise from their living throne in order to pace the length and breadth of their oceanic lair in order to better contemplate their next actions and the options and information available to them rather than act on simple instinct and hurl more and greater forces at the same target over and over again until the enemy was dragged down beneath a tide of teeth and claws.
The time for that would come soon enough.
It was shortly into this pacing and prowling through their seafloor fortress, the way ahead of them illuminated by scuttling and long-limbed less Creatures of Grimm whose sole purpose for being was to use their bioluminescent forms as guides whilst other menial denizens of the lair trailed behind their master as though pulled into some powerful gravity that Pantheon came to a series of realisations which brought them to a halt, an inhuman sound which could only vaguely be said to resemble true laughter escaping the hulking, many-limbed monster as their snarling and skeletal maw twisted into a rictus grin.
They had an answer.
Six glowing red eyes gleamed with silent malevolence as Pantheon realised that the Sabyr pack they had sacrificed had provided more useful information than first thought, enough that their deaths were more easily justified. Pantheon had already been of the understanding that whatever individuals in the service of the same master as Gestalt-Prime had been unfortunate enough to wander into the path of the hibernating monsters would likely be scouts sent from the Megalodon, a means by which Pantheon could measure the passage of the colossal Grimm-weapon capable of cloaking itself and unmaking any true Grimm tissue it came upon but upon further consideration it was clear there was more than that at work; they had been Hunters, their weapons and abilities giving away their identities and moreover one of them had had been familiar, a Faunus with machine legs whose weapon spoke when it was wielded who Pantheon recalled had been present at not only Jidhir Town but also at Pikesreach before that when the Grimm General had sent scouting forces to test the defences and resolve of their enemies bolt-hole.
Pantheon had no knowledge or understanding of the human mind and the various intricacies, interdependencies and minutia which made them so suited to continued creation and progress whilst at the same time rendered individual members of the species so feeble and helpless and in all honesty then had no desire to learn; what the Grimm General did understand however was that whoever this individual was they must be important to the enemy, an Alpha of sorts.
It therefore stood to reason that whatever the Grasshopper Faunus was doing in the tundra must also be of importance.
With only a few logical leaps and deductions based on what they could be certain of and inferences drawn from those few facts Pantheon came to the conclusion that the group of Hunters were not just any random scouting party seeking out any meagre scraps of resistance to be destroyed and consumed; they were an advance party intended to both draw the Creatures of Grimm out into the open, most likely by using their injured compatriot at bait in a display of ruthlessness that was uncommon for Hunters but would easily have been suggested by Gestalt-Prime themselves and also, much more importantly to the Grimm General serve as a precursor for a full scale attack from the Megalodon. Meaning that Pantheon could not only use the presence of the Hunters in the tundra in conjunction with other signs to judge where their foe had been, but they could in fact be more active and use them to triangulate where the Megalodon was at that moment and perhaps even lure the enemy out into the open.
Learning that Gestalt-Prime was not truly their own master had changed the situation and Pantheon believed that they had a simple, effective solution which would stop them, their allies and the madness of of fusing Grimm with the human prey and their machines from spreading any further.
But first Gestalt-Prime needed to be found.
Whirling around and storming back the way they had come through the bowels of their seafloor lair saw several of the Grimm General's mindless followers crushed and extinguished, either trampled beneath clawed, saurian feet or smeared across walls as Pantheon's tail coiled around their massive form.
Heading back towards their living throne and the waiting, floating and visually unsettling forms of their Synapse Grimm Pantheon saw that they had two important tasks ahead of them and likely only a very limited amount of time available to them.
Firstly they needed to use the location of Gestalt-Prime's advance scouts, combined with the location of the Spawning Pit that the Megalodon destroyed compared and cross-referenced against any other information that might present itself in order to discern the Grimm-ships' whereabouts or, at the very least the direction that it would be moving in when Pantheon's forces moved to intercept the usurper Grimm.
Secondly a war-host needed to be assembled, packs and herds of roving monsters from across the region organised into something useful that could meet the Hunters and collide head on with them, thereby forcing the true enemy out into the open so that they could be surrounded as part of Pantheon's larger plan.
If time had been in the Grimm General's favour it would have been a simple matter and one which could have served as a chance to unleash all manner of new and terrible Creatures of Grimm across the tundra, in reality however the situation was a more difficult one which would require some finesse and strategy to deal with effectively; there were Spawning Pits across the frozen continent and many of them were old, monstrous things though not all of them were under Pantheon's sway and many of those that were could not provide monsters to the likely field of battle.
At least not without alerting the Kingdoms and possibly complicating matters further.
Instead Pantheon was forced to muster what Creatures of Grimm were presently stalking the tundra and then reach out to those subterranean beasts which skulked through the abandoned mines and the peripheries of Atlas's under-cities, those Grimm whose movements would be harder to detect from the air before finally, in an almost desperate bid for certainty reaching out to Spawning Pits in the vicinity in the hope that they could provide more fodder or perhaps even something suitably large and dangerous for the task of drawing out Gestalt-Prime; the way the upstart Grimm had taken to the field to attack the Nova Beast and the Shatter Beast proving that they could be goaded and lured into the open.
Pantheon would have preferred to craft something for the task themselves, however they were certain that one of their Spawning Pits in the tundra would be able to unleash something suitable.
For the Slate family the last several weeks had been a living hell, one which only become more unbearable within the last twenty four hours.
Almost every member of the family had served as Hunters for at least some amount of time, with Whitley and Coral as the only exceptions and it was an accepted fact of such a life that there would be times when one lost contact with their loved ones and was forced to confront the possibility that they might return severely wounded, if they returned at all.
As she pondered that reality Weiss Slate, formerly Schnee recounted comparable scenarios she had endured thus far such as the many times during her childhood that Winter had been beyond anybodies' ability to contact for various reasons or the period of over a month during the opening stages of Salem's first war against Remnant where Team RWBY had been scattered and Gangrel, before he had become her husband had been missing in the ruins of Vale and been presumed dead, Weiss and Gangrel's oldest child had also suffered a similar experience in his own time as a student; with Arctus and another member of his team returning from an alternate Remnant bearing a collection of fantastical and impossible stories and with Jade Rangifer, an alternate version of someone that had been important to Weiss and her husband before her untimely death as a child in tow. All of these were instances where a member of Weiss's family had been unwillingly taken or kept from their loved ones however and what her middle child had done was something quite different; with perhaps the closest comparison Weiss could draw being to the way Ruby Rose, her own partner, whom she considered to be another sister to her had fled her island home of Patch with Jaune Arc, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie in an effort to hunt down Cinder Fall and avenge the deaths of Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos.
In hindsight Weiss supposed that it was inevitable that one of Ruby Rose's nieces or nephews would try to emulate her in a particularly dangerous way eventually.
The sound of faintly agitated gurgling and the sensation of a soft but insistent lump squirming in her arms brought Weiss from her thoughts and turned her attention squarely to the form of her first grandchild who had been asleep in her arms for a little while now.
"You tell 'em Selenite….You can give your Auntie AJ a piece of your mind when we find her as well" Weiss murmured tiredly as she rocked the baby Bear Faunus who frowned as blinked her way blearily back into the waking word whilst waving mitten-covered hands about in a display that Weiss found both adorable and hilarious. She had volunteered to take car of her granddaughter for a while to allow Arctus and Diamond to recover from both the demands of parenthood and the stress and heartache of the current situation; Winter had informed the entire family, breaching protocol and several layers of official secrecy in order to do so that the entirety of Team MARS had, with the aid of Weiss's own niece manage to covertly integrate themselves into a mission to capture Damascus Nero and his close allies; a mission which had seemingly resulted in the capture of all of Team MARS though Winter had promised her sister that every effort was being made to rescue them, with those efforts being led by Winter herself.
Each of the Slate and Schnee family had handled the new differently, throwing herself into her work had been expected from Winter and Weiss was certain that Arctus and Diamond were at that very moment reaching out to the other half of Team FADE and likely offering them a place to stay at the manor; given that Felix Xiao Long and Astra Mars were half-siblings and given Felix's personality it was highly likely that the Lion Faunus would want to reunite his own team join the search for Team MARS. Coral had been inconsolable from the moment she had first learned of her sisters' disappearance and was, as she had been for much of her time at the SDC head office working alongside Whitley; the youngest of the Schnee siblings and the youngest of the Slate siblings having an unshakeable bond. Weiss would have appreciated her husbands' presence and Gangrel had initially offered to take a leave of absence from Atlas Academy until being summoned for duty by Ciel Soleil, the acting Headmistress apologetic but insistent that Gangrel was needed whilst so many of Atlas's most capable Hunters were preoccupied; he was the academies' combat instructor and the future of the Kingdoms' defences rested in his capable hands, though the grizzled old Bear Faunus had found a silver lining to relay to Weiss in that his position at the academy and history with the Specialist Branch gave him several contacts and connections he could reach out to in order to conduct his own, unofficial searches.
Weiss herself had been so distraught that she had done something which many of her peers would never have believed possible, namely stepped away from her duties as the head of research and development at the SDC whilst she waited impatiently for news from Winter.
"She'll be here before the end of the week, just you watch" she continued to murmur, talking for both her own benefit and to soothe the baby in her arms as she rocked her gently to no avail; the tiny Bear Faunus had deemed that she had slept enough and was now ready to return to being the centre of attention in whatever room she occupied in the way that only particularly adorable babies could.
That attention found itself competed for by the sudden vibration and noise of Weiss's personal scroll, her business contact having been disabled for the foreseeable future.
"Hush, come on hush now" she urged managing to calm Selenite, who had been startled by the sharp noise before the baby could truly begin bawling and from there reaching for the still vibrating device; under normal circumstances she might have simply ignored the call and then returned it at her own convenience however at present she could not afford to do so and so she hastily produced it.
Eyes widening and stomach lurching at the sight of an incoming video call from Athena's scroll.
"Hello, Athena? Are you there?" words left her in a frantic jumble before the devices' screen had managed to transition to the video feed, all prim and proper mannerisms being swiftly forgotten.
"She's here Missus Slate, but she can't talk right now" Weiss recognised the voice vaguely, though she had only interacted with her daughters' team-mates briefly and through video calls Astra Mars' voice was familiar to her and when the screen finally complied it displayed an image that was grainy and dimly lit as it glitched and lagged though Weiss could, after a moment discern that the Deer Faunus was positioned beside Athena-Jade who lay unconscious beneath a bundle of blankets. Flanking her were Regalia Russet and the tall, dark-skinned and tattooed Mouse Faunus with blue hair whom Weiss understood to be her daughters' new partner though the two had not been properly introduced yet.
What left Weiss reeling however was that Zirconia Shadowmoon was present, flitting about in the background as though trying to remain unseen out of a sense of shame that the white-haired and middle-aged former Huntress felt was still nowhere close to sorry enough; however closer inspection revealed that the Grasshopper Faunus's face bore a series of horrendous scars which had carved dangerously close to her left eye and Weiss was reminded of the utterly broken state Athena had been left in upon her last return to Atlas in the wake of the fight where she had inflicted those scars.
"What precisely is going on, how did you-" Weiss breathed, fighting the urge to pinch her nose upon realising that she had no free hands available to do so "What happened to my daughter? Is she okay? Are all of you okay-"
"Missus Slate listen" Astra interrupted, face apologetic as they did so "We managed to get the CCT signal booster where we are up and running but it's a patch job with some borrowed parts, no telling how much time we've got….Maybe not long judging by the signal. We called you because we couldn't reach General Schnee-"
"She wouldn't have her personal scroll with her on a sensitive mission" Weiss noted, to which Astra simply nodded.
"AJ was hurt when we were captured, she's had medical treatment but she didn't get all of her Aura stimulants….On account of us escaping-"
"That was-" Weiss faltered, shaking her head "No, you took the chance you had. I'm sorry, go on"
"We escaped, all five of us" Astra continued, the comment suggesting the had seen the brief look Weiss had directed at Zirconia "From what we can tell we're somewhere in the grey area between Freehold territories and open tundra, the nearest city is Eisenstadt Sechste. We found a truck-stop….Uh, truck-stop seventy four, I don't know if it has another name?"
"I will send that information to….No, damn it all I am a Huntress I will come and get you myself!" Weiss rose to her feet, keeping careful hold of the baby in her other arm as she did so.
"Thank you Missus Slate" Astra breathed, relief seeping into every syllable before they added "Not to be rude but can you make it quick?….This place had Grimm in it, AJ overexerted herself and passed out….I-we think she's okay, we hope but she still needs a doctor and there might be more Grimm-"
"And Damascus will send a search party to look for us" Zirconia Shadowmoon strode more fully into view, entirely unable to look directly at the screen and meet
Weiss's eyes; though as she spoke it was with full conviction and a sense of finality.
"We slowed down his efforts with our escape, but he will send the Cyber-Grimm as soon as he is able" she swallowed thickly before finally looking into the camera "So please, help us"
Weiss regarded the young woman who had broken her daughters' heart, betrayed everything that Hunters stood for and caused untold havoc and destruction by siding her adopted father though upon seeing the sheer desperation on her scarred and frightened face Weiss pushed back everything she had promised herself she would say to the rogue if she ever had the opportunity and simply nodded.
"Rest assured that was always my intention. Stay where you are, help will be with you soon"
Author's Notes:
Okay a slightly shorter chapter that ended up feeling a bit more like filler than I initially planned.
There was actually gonna be a boss-fight Grimm this chapter but I feel like it would have been out of place and detracted from the Vol.08 finale and would honestly have been too much extra writing for something that didn't add anything other than visual sauce and at the same time messed up the flow of the chapter.
….So we get this instead.
But hey, at least we got Weiss; gotta love actually having a member of Team RWBY in my RWBY fic.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Starting off with team name jokes, 'cos whether it's Team MARZ or MARS depends on who you ask.
Yeah that's definitely gonna be a quiet, awkward walk….Zirconia's the quiet one anyway but she's also the only one of them who actually saw some of Roux's people go down.
The tundra is kinda like the wasteland of Menagerie in some ways and arguably worse in others.
Having AJ be the one who knows Atlas, but also be the one who's injured and barely conscious is a fun little touch, adds to the tension….Basically the reason she's so bad is because she lost her Aura stimulant medicine and her Aura is both trying to fix the fact she was skewered yesterday and keep her from freezing to death which, as we saw in canon is a steady drain on Aura reserves.
Oh yeah Nero's pissed….And Carmesi has no idea what to do with that.
And yeah Carmesi did not survive getting blown up twice without at least some burns.
So yeah, Roux's absolutely dead….What's left of her fits in a grocery bag; I was originally gonna have Gestalt-Prime be in this scene just casually holding her severed head but decided against it.
Yeah sending a mangled body was a "Look what I can do….That is a threat" type statement.
So yeah, the team and Roux's little wrecking crew definitely managed to stall the Megalodon for long enough to get a decent head start; killing off a few Cyber-Grimm and then damaging the Cyber-Grimm production facility and the parts of the Megalodon that take in raw materials was a nice combo.
"I want them alive" typical cliché villain shit.
See Nero is an intelligent villain, but he's also only human; he doesn't have the advantage of being able to play the long game forever like Salem does and that, along with y'know being human means he can be rattled and right now this conflict is a lot of very rattled parties trying to plan around each other.
There are definitely random truck stops in the tundra, at least in the Atlas….In canon probably not because Atlas was basically all gathered in one place.
Also if the broken electric fence and windows didn't immediately tell you that something was up then I don't know what to tell you really….I was going for some vaguely Jurassic Park vibes.
Oh Regalia came in clutch today, she might not have been involved in the fighting but she was definitely the MVP.
The leaving Dust behind thing was convenient but it does fit in with what I've written about Atlesians in other parts of this extended universe….In FADE I showed that the Atlas Freelancers have stocked bases hidden all over the place just in case they ever need to hole up somewhere, same principal here.
Hops is trying so hard to earn that trust back….And seeing Stitch and AJ interact is killing her.
Well at least Astra has sense.
What if I told you that Pantheon unleashing Grimm into the sea was the start of something bigger?
Pantheon isn't dumb, they understand that their advantage was numbers and the ability to attack from pretty much everywhere but the Megalodon takes away both of those advantages.
Here's the key difference between Pantheon and Salem, Pantheon has no interest in having human allies or agents and they fundamentally do not grasp humans psychologically; which puts them at a massive strategic disadvantage because they're only ever working with partial information that lacks context.
Tracking a target that you can't see by the effects it has on the things around it makes perfect sense.
And there it is, the obvious Grimm in the truck-stop that the team have wandered into.
Of course the two people from Menagerie want the heat up and running ASAP.
Had to give the building a layout just so I could picture it more easily in my head and get a better idea of where the Grimm were coming from and where everyone was in relation to one another.
Oh those two desperately need to just have a good bitching session at each other and get it out of their system.
Even half dead AJ gave the confused Pikachu face when Zirconia said shut up.
Sabyrs, because they are honestly a good design….Originally I was gonna have them attack from outside and have a bigger, boss-fight Grimm with them but decided against it.
Of course Hops and Stitch immediately get in each others' way when they have to fight together.
….At least they tried to set their differences aside and come up with a plan though, even if it did get undercut by AJ doing the cliché "Downed character gets back up for one last hit".
Astra handled business with ease….But was rightly a little pissed that whoever was supposed to be keeping watch clearly wasn't.
Shout out to Stitch there, I mean part of it was that Astra was sounding a little like Tiger back when she was first introduced for a second there, but also Hops covered AJ with her own body when bullets started flying and that earns her some points.
So AJ's health is once again questionable but she's not actively dying.
I respect that Pantheon was realistic about what one pack of Sabyrs were actually gonna be able to do in a fight.
Pantheon might not 'get' humans but they understand war well enough to understand that if the same Hunter seems to show up every time they loose then that Hunter is important and if that Hunter is acting independently of the main enemy force then what they're doing is important….A solid deduction which once again fails to take in anything outside of the mission.
So long story short, Pantheon is coming up with a counterattack plan and the first part of it is going to be to try and draw Gestalt-Prime out into the open by attacking what he thinks is Nero's scout party….Whilst at the same time Nero is preparing an actual scout party to track down the Hunters.
Yeah being deemed MIA is basically a family tradition at this point.
Team MARS really did do a Team RNJR impression though didn't they?
Possible Team FADE reunion?
Just when you think you've gotten the baby to sleep something will happen.
I think we all knew that the whole point of this scene was to have the call.
Winter's ship will be en route back to Atlas soon enough, Weiss can tell her what's happening.
"I will come and get you myself" oh Mama Bear Weiss is bringing the family with her as well.
Thank you to Neil12 and MajorBrony95 for their review on the last chapter.
I don't celebrate Thanksgiving, due to being one of the dozens of people worldwide who isn't American.
Definitely a respectable choice of themesong.
Well they're reunited...And Coco and Ruby are effectively background characters.
Nero lacks the physical ability to beat anyone down.
Oh Carmesi is absolutely furious...I mean, he got blown up twice in a matter of minutes so I can't blame him?
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.