RWBY & All associated trademarks are property of Rooster Teeth (RIP Monty Oum)
I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.
I am making no money from this.
Chapter 86: Recovery
The sun had passed its' zenith and was currently beginning a laboriously slow process of setting over an expanse of forested hills stretching out further than the eye could see, intersected by winding roads between a smattering of towns and villages and cleaved through entirely by the well defended tracks along which freight and passenger trains between the Kingdoms of New Vale and Vaccuo travelled several times each day; the forest and the towns around it being situated within the southern reaches of Neo Vale's territory, though thankfully for its' inhabitants still some distance from the diminished yet perilous no man's land which existed between the borders of the two Kingdoms. In recent weeks the weather had continued to improve as the days drew out, though this had perhaps caused as much discomfort and problems for those travelling through the forests as it had solved as, whilst the air was fresh and the chill passing through it was a bracing one rather than the bone-deep, numbing ache that had preceded it the snow and frost had been replaced by rains which fluctuated from misty drizzle which obscured view to torrential downpours which had allegedly caused several minor mudslides in the hills; the rains reducing the ground to a sucking mire almost the instant one left the roads.
At present a particular part of the forested hills, nearing the peak of of one of the larger hills was currently filled with the sound of carrying voices; specifically those belonging to a group of students in the midst of complaining about their current predicament.
"All I'm saying is that at least in the wastes even when it does rain for days at a time, the ground just soaks it all up….Anywhere that has so much rain that the mud gives up should just stop" Regalia's earnest delivery and thoughtful nodding as she spoke made the observation all the more hilarious to her friends and reduced Team MARZ collectively to the kind of hysterics that at went at least some way to making up for the rest of the situation as a whole.
"Never change Regalia" Astra managed to wheeze out as they composed themselves, taking a few steps further forward and up the muddy slope before adjusting the pack they carried and reaching out to their partner, taking Regalia's hand and helping her clamber through terrain that was treacherous in a different way to the colossal mass of roving steel she had learned to climb upon; the moment being interrupted before their lingering physical closeness could be noted on by Athena-Jade's voice from behind them.
"I wasn't expecting just getting to where we're supposed to be setting up a base camp to take all day….How come you couldn't drive here?" Astra turned to face the Bear Faunus and couldn't help but smirk, suppressing a snigger at the sight of her; Athena, concerned that the mud and questionable footing might cause issues for Zirconia's prosthetics despite her girlfriends' assurances had taken to carrying both of their packs at once, made even more difficult by the fact she was securing them with only one hand whilst holding her taller girls' hand with the other; a sight which combined with Athena's short stature left her looking somewhat cartoonish.
"One of the mudslides took out the main road, it's still being cleared and if we took the long way it would have taken just as long" the Deer Faunus shrugged before turning and setting off up the hill and leading the way once again.
The answer was accurate to a degree, the road between the Capital City and the town that they had initially arrived at before venturing out into the forest had been closed however given that Team MARZ's entire reason for being here was because Professor Qrow Branwen had offered to give Astra some time away from the city and all the stresses it currently held, in order to clear their head and concentrate on the more simple task of facing the Creatures of Grimm the leader of Team MARZ had decided to take a more scenic route to reach their destination, opting not to request an aerial deployment from one of the academies' transports which might have been declined in any case and instead having the four of them board a train and then spend several hours hiking towards the coordinates Qrow had given them; the climbing hindered by more than mud and rain as the forests were revealed to play host to several packs of determined, albeit thankfully meagre Creatures of Grimm which Team MARZ had taken the liberty of thinning out considerably as they marched onwards.
Before the grumbling could return in full Astra led their team out of their trees and then further upwards to a clearing at the very peak of the hill which the canopy of the trees the team had just exited could not reach high enough to encompass, its' conspicuous location suggesting that it had been man-made; the vast, beautiful view of the forest and everything it contained stretching out for dozens of miles in every direction marking the clearing out as a deliberately chosen vantage point, possibly used by other Hunters.
"We're here!" Astra declared happily, turning to their friends to see that they were less openly enthused by that fact.
"What a shame nothing else is here" Zirconia noted flatly, which Athena naturally laughed at and Astra was forced to admit to themselves was a snappy retort; shrugging and muttering vaguely under their breath they turned to Regalia and the Racoon Faunus eagerly joined them in shedding her heavy backpack and rifling through its' contents for the tools needed to begin setting up a camp, tents, and luxuries such as food coming only after motion sensors rigged to small Dust-based explosives and traps intended to deal with any intruding Grimm had been set up to form a perimeter. Athena and Zirconia quickly began to help and it was the snowy haired Bear Faunus, whose usually spotless attire was currently as mud-streaked as everyone else's who spoke up.
"We should call Professor Branwen" she suggested "Find out what the actual objective is here"
"On it" Astra nodded, pulling out their scroll and being thankful that it was of a better than average quality owing to it being provided by Breaktide Academy and also that the Kingdom of New Vale and its' outer territories had better CCT coverage than Menagerie, meaning that the device actually had a signal. After a few rings the call was answered and Qrow's voice, slightly crackling and distorted by the reception in the forest was put on loudspeaker as he addressed the group.
"Team MARZ, I take it you made it to the clearing?"
"We did" Astra answered "Had to fight through a few packs of Grimm to get here though"
"I expected that" the Professor's gruff voice assured them "That's the mission partly underway then….Everyone is okay, no injuries?"
"AJ had to use a Glyph to stop herself rolling down the hill-"
"Asshole" Athena interrupted, Qrow's quiet chuckle making it clear that the Bear Faunus would likely be tormented about the matter from her relatives with whom the Professor was acquainted.
"Don't you live at the top of a snow-covered mountain Slate?" Qrow asked before thinking better of antagonising Winter Schnee's niece "I suppose I should give you all the details for the mission?"
"Please" Astra answered simply.
"It sounds simple on its' face, but given the amount of ground to cover this could take several days; I've gotten you excused from class until Wednesday, it's Saturday afternoon now and that should be enough time….If you're not done by then you should head back to the academy, do it before the end of the weekend and I'll make sure you get extra credit in a few subjects and have this counted as practical work" Qrow paused, clearly for effect which gave each of Team MARZ chance to regard one another with suddenly determined grins before he continued
"It's a recovery job….An old, retired friend of mine lives in one of the villages nearby and he told me that a supply of new weapons and ammunition for the local watches and militias went missing a few months back, right before everything froze over" Qrow let out an annoyed sigh "What happened is a delivery driver tried to take a shortcut, got lost and crashed the truck. Got away before the Grimm could find 'em luckily but they couldn't identify where they left it….It's been sitting frozen for a while now and with everything thawing out-"
"You want us to go and find it, but the mudslides might have moved it" Astra surmised.
"Exactly" Qrow said simply.
"Have those villages been undefended this whole time?" Zirconia demanded, quiet and rasping enunciation aghast aghast at the idea.
"No" Qrow assured her "The weapons and ammo were replaced pretty quickly, I think it was Chairman Nero who offered the Council a good deal on a new shipment actually…It's just that in the current climate, with things like what happened at Cosmo-Guilds' factory; well it's probably not a good idea to leave a truck full of weapons lying around in the woods"
"But nobody else came to recover them?" Athena demanded, earning herself an extremely pleased smile from Zirconia as she saw the inherent discrepancy in the risk posed and the lack of response offered.
"Too many Hunters are busy elsewhere" Qrow lamented "A lot of people are congregating on the Capital right now, especially with what happened at the dance and with the Vytal Festival and Faunus Pride coming up….The outer settlements are defended but there's not enough spare people to send out expeditions"
"But you think we'll be able to do it in a few days at most?" Astra couldn't help but question
"You have Regalia's Semblance" Qrow pointed out and the Racoon Faunus puffed up with pride "Besides, I've been looking at shipping routes, the shortcuts they usually take and the mudslides we know about in the area...I've managed to come up with a narrowed down search area which your base-camp is inside of. It's a chance for you to work unsupervised, practice your non-combat skills and probably deal with a few Grimm as well.
"We'll handle it Professor" Astra's voice filled with determination and pride as the Deer Faunus took a deep breath of fresh, cold air and found some of their tension and worries leaving them; relishing in the opportunity to take on the kind of work that they had envisioned for themselves as a Hunter. Something that would see them dispose of monsters, helping people and thwarting the plans of any villains who might use the lost weapons for less noble purposes, all whilst being free of the need to do harm to other people.
"Report in tonight and give me a status update" Professor Branwen answered, the gruff words a clear dismissal followed by the sound of the call ending with a click. Astra stood in silence for a moment before turning to their team-mates and offering them a wide, confidant smile.
"Extra credit and a chance to stretch our muscles on some Grimm….Honestly sounds like a good weekend right?"
"Sure" Athena rolled her eyes "If you don't mind living on field rations and being stuck in this rain….Good luck getting a campfire going"
"We've got Dust, I'll find a way to set something on fire" Astra snorted, shaking their head before turning to Regalia whom the Deer Faunus knew they could rely on "Regalia, you're with me on this right?"
"Heh, could be worse" she beamed "It could be Camp Crystal Lake"
Far away from the territory her own gang of disaffected youths controlled; an area only valuable owing to the fat it was her home and included a community college full of ready customers, a place which had been the subject of much ridicule from members of gangs who would always be considered rivals to some extent, owing to the various failed attempts to gentrify the area giving it the appearance of a peaceful and pleasant district of the city, an image which balked in the face of reality of life in the lower reaches of the Hive-City where ground level was within reach Roxy had found a location removed enough from the internecine conflicts of the various factions supposedly united under Petrol and his benefactor to serve as neutral ground for a meeting.
Roxy looked around her once again, eyes scanning the dingy storeroom at the rear of a business which, whilst not being a front or money laundering operation for one of the other participants in the meeting or even a victim of extortion by the gangs was still able to be used, likely owing to it being owned by someone related to a gang member of some standard. The place was small and cramped, an entrance into the business itself to one end and another entrance at the other end of the storeroom leading out to a parking lot and loading bay both covered in sheets of opaque plastic hiding the actions within from view; it was illuminated by a few paltry bulbs which flickered and left portions of the storeroom in shadow whilst at the same time managing to highlight every more of dust which had been left floating in the stale air by the arrival and movement of the members of various groups Roxy had been able to reach out to. The gang members themselves had congregated in a loose cluster towards the centre of the storeroom, upending crates and boxes and making room on shelves so that they could sit with some degree of comfort, each of them eyeing the others with open suspicion.
Present and accounted were Roxy herself, flanked by a small group of her own most trusted lieutenants, a small group clad exclusively in black hoodies and tactical gear which left their faces covered to some degree whose attire marked them out as members of Petrol's own crew and smaller groups from other gangs, those who had been among the more amenable to the avian Faunus's idea of unity in the name of profit and power; amongst those were representatives of several gangs whose mech-suits had been destroyed and their pilots captured in the failed attack on the student Hunters, in an inversion of this however Roxy saw Hierro; the upstart mech pilot who had challenged Petrol's order and had brought Hunters crashing down on the entire operation only to be released from custody by the lawyers on the Benefactor's payroll. Without his suit the boy was unremarkable, brown-skinned with close cropped hair, a skulking and jittery demeanour made more prominent by his scrawny and a malnourished look which left the tank top he wore hanging off of his frame. Hierro's presence was something of a relief, he was even younger than Roxy had expected but as something of a prodigy his reputation earned any venture he was a part of some legitimacy and the fact that even a vocal detractor of Petrol's plans was willing to come to the table, even if it was due to a lack of other options, was a good sign.
Though Roxy wondered if Hierro would be so willing to help if he knew how Petrol had considered killing him for the trouble he caused.
"So let's get this shit cracking then" one of Petrol's underlings drawled, lowering the scarf covering half of their face to place a cigar which smelled of something other than nicotine into his mouth and light it, coughing only briefly as he obscured the room further with smoke. Roxy considered for a moment, weighing and measuring exactly how assertive and firm she could be before her confidence would beg to be challenged by any of the strong personalities present before finally lowering the hood obscuring her face and rising from the crate she had perched on.
"I called the sit-down" she declared, reminding everyone present of that fact and drawing all eyes to herself before nodding to the black-clad man who had spoken "But since you wanna speak for Petrol's people….Where the fuck is he? Nobody has seen or heard from him in weeks"
"Have you looked in the motels he usually fucks you in?" another member of the acid-spewing Faunus's gang snorted, the jab answered with a round of laughter and jeering which Roxy quickly overcame, forcing herself not to rise to the obvious implication that her concerns were personal rather than professional and instead putting her detractors on the defensive.
"It was Team MARZ that Petrol was fighting when he got hit, same people that were fighting us at Cosmo-Guild….One of my people could have taken one of 'em out about a week or so ago-"
"Yeah we heard about that, why did you stop 'em?" a member of a gang from the south-side of the city sneered.
"Because if we kill them and find out that either Petrol or his supplier doesn't want them dead, that they're supposed to get brought in alive it's gonna be a problem….Besides, it was two of us against at least a dozen Hunters in the bar; we're not dumb" Roxy saw no reason not to admit that final detail, there was nothing to be gained from senseless bravado here "So I'll ask again and I'm not a fan of having to repeat myself….Where's Petrol?"
All eyes were now on the crew of black-clad thieves and arsonists, the group shuffling and muttering amongst themselves until finally being forced to give an admission which might be seen as weakness
"We don't know"
"How the fuck don't you know?" it was Hierro that spat the question out, puffing out his emaciated chest even as Petrol's thugs turned their gaze on him; though respecting the rules of a meeting enough to refrain from attacking.
"Watch your mouth kid, your own people might let you get away with shit but I'll take you outside" one of them snarled before being silenced by a gesture from the apparent leader of the group, someone whom Roxy noted she might have seen driving Petrol from place to place though his covered face made it hard to be sure.
"It wasn't one of our crew that got his mech out of there" there was a level of shame in those words, the anger at being indebted to another gang and at failing a leader who was seen as a friend or older brother far too apparent "We all ran, got away from the Hunters and the police….You were there, you know how crazy it got"
"Yeah and we dropped our mechs and injured people off at the places Petrol told us to, he said he'd arranged something with his new boss….I'm not buying this shit about it just being a customer either, he was taking orders-"
"Focus" Roxy cut through the tangent before it could devolve into bickering "So everybody else who needed a medic has come back….Did anybody see Petrol while they were being fixed up?"
Only silence and a few shakes of the head answered that.
"So what then?" Hierro asked with a shrug and a dismissive snort "Are we looking at an empty spot at the top? You wanna be the one to step up and lead shit Roxy?"
"Well it's not gonna be you" she shot back, not caring for the upstarts' attitude before addressing the group as a whole "Here's the simple fact of the matter; none of us know Petrol's supplier; even when the crews were getting their tools separately none of you could contact him, he came to you. We made more Lien working together and I want you to take a look around and realise which crews aren't here….I reached out to the people that understood and agreed with the plan to build something bigger than a few blocks of turf….And to the people who haven't got anywhere else to go-"
"Fuck you!" Hierro snapped, though Roxy pressed on.
"To me it looks simple, it's only gonna be a matter of time before somebody who wanted to go back to the way things were before, where we were all at war with each other decides to make a move. We've got more heat from Hunters and the law than we've ever had before and if we don't know where Petrol is then we don't have a contact….We don't have our suits or heavy weapons"
That shut Hierro up before he could argue further.
"I'm already hearing from a few of my workers that some of the new kids we scared off the block are trying to come back, they're not looking to join; they want a take over" a gang leader from a cluster of towers in the Northwest of the city nodded sagely, seeing the anecdote as proof positive of the wisdom in Roxy's words.
"One of the people Petrol put in charge of East-Block got caught, old leadership are running the crew from prison through their little cousin" another gang leader grumbled, referring to a gang whose territory was adjacent to their own "It looks like they're getting ready to get brave….Hanging around my peoples' spots and watching"
"So what are we all saying then?" it was one of Petrol's people who asked the question and Roxy who answered it.
"I'm saying that we need to stand by what we were doing under Petrol….Non-aggression pact, alliance if we're comfortable with it-"
"We hunker down, watch each others' backs and wait for Petrol's supplier to get in touch?" Hierro asked "Cos I'm gonna be real right now….I don't have a spare mech sitting around to fight in-"
"We watch each others' backs, but more importantly we look for Petrol….Cos real talk, getting operated on by robots and moved from safehouse to safehouse with blindfolds on is weird. Something isn't adding up" Roxy turned to the acid-spewing Faunus's own crew with a defiantly raised chin "You guys wanna help find Petrol?"
"Of course" the leader of the black-clad figures answered without hesitation, the other gangs falling into assent until finally only those rendered free agents by the loss of their allies such as Hierro remained, all eyes turning to the scrawny youngster who merely scowled and shrugged before spitting out an answer.
"I'm not really a fan of all this get along gang business that Petrol was preaching….But fuck it, if it's gonna be a fight anyway then I may as well go where the Lien is and right now that's with you"
With even the most likely obstacle to her goals falling in line behind her Roxy's precarious alliance was formed and her plan to find and if needs be rescue Petrol were put into motion; doing little to soothe the sinking feeling in her stomach that something was wrong.
The chill in the air had intensified as the sun had completed its' steady descent to such a degree that it had set below the peaks of the forested hills, creating shadow-filled valleys whose murky depths were far from the welcoming and pleasant expanse that they had been in daylight. The threats present seemed far more severe to each of Team MARZ now and the knowledge that the four of them were alone in the Grimm filled wilderness, several hours away from the nearest settlement had weighed upon them whilst they had gathered around a campfire and discussed their plans before finally girding themselves as evening slipped into night and venturing below the treeline, the forest canopy making the darkness complete and hindering even Faunus eyesight and every cracking branch being responded to with raised weapons.
With the prospect of extra credit in various classes as motivation Athena-Jade had been the one to suggest searching for their target in the dark and make up the time they had lost by travelling; only for the Bear Faunus to be caught off guard when Astra had not only agreed but suggested that they split up and work in pairs to cover more ground.
Naturally she had paired up with Zirconia.
"Do you see anything?" the Grasshopper Faunus's voice intruded on Athena's thoughts, which were at that moment at least focused on the task at hand in a display of discipline and self control she had surprised herself by still being able to evoke so easily, given how readily she had allowed herself to become distracted by her girlfriends' company of late.
"Not yet, let's be honest Regalia and Astra are probably gonna find something before us" she answered with a shrug which doubled as a heaving motion to keep the barrel of Mould-Breaker trained directly ahead of the two of them as they pressed onwards. The plan at present was a simple, yet sensible and hopefully effective one which put Regalia's Semblance of 'Look-See' to use in a way which might overcome its' limitations. The Racoon Faunus had identified something which her Semblance, by whatever means it functioned had identified as a goal a considerable distance away from one of the possible locations Qrow had posited as likely though, as always Regalia had been unable to provide a clear route or any additional information about what it was Look-See was pointing her towards, only that it was in some sense a way forward. To that end Astra had instructed Athena-Jade and Zirconia to move onto another of the forest-covered hills by cover of darkness and set up a vantage point, covering a large swathe of terrain with the Bear Faunus's laser cannon and allowing the team to triangulate and search more effectively; though this also meant that the stocky and snowy haired young woman and her partner would be the first to depart whilst Astra and Regalia waited behind and took extra steps to ensure that their base camp was secured in the teams' absence before setting off towards Regalia's marked objective.
Not that Athena would complain about having time alone with Zirconia.
"I know I was the one to say we should start looking for those lost weapons as soon as possible" she sighed, turning back to give her partner a sheepish smile as she hefted her weapon up over one shoulder and held a hand out to be held "But I really wish we'd waited until morning"
"Really?" Zirconia fixed her with a mismatched stare, her own expression partly hidden beneath her shawl as she took Athena's hand and allowed herself to be led further along the path they were taking "You understand of course that it would mean that we don't start until the afternoon since you can never wake up in the morning without convincing"
"I'm sure you could convince me" Athena countered huskily as she gently tugged Zirconia closer, sheepish expression turning sly "Besides I'm less interested in sleeping than I am with sharing a sleeping bag with you and knowing that the others are in a different tent"
"Really now?" Zirconia attempted to match the sultry tone, only to be left gasping and lowering her own weapon which had likewise been trained ahead of them as Athena-Jade forwent lowering the Grasshopper Faunus's shawl entirely and instead reached up on her toes to plant a hungry, needy kiss on Zirconia's neck and collar, setting her weapon down as carefully as she could whilst distracted in order to bring strong, firm hands to the backs of Zirconia's thighs and lift her with the intention of pinning her against the nearest tree.
And intention which Zirconia quickly put a stop to.
"Absolutely not" she breathed out, the firmness in her voice being offset by both her breathless and a faint giggle "I love you AJ, I really do….But I am not going to have sex with you in a forest full of monsters"
"Yeah….You're right, sorry" Athena mumbled, round cheeks flushing as she set her girlfriend down; embarrassed enough at her lapse in concentration to not meet Zirconia's eyes but pushing passed it with a toothy grin and a snorted comment "If Regalia hears about this she's gonna tell us how many times the horror movie rules have been established"
Zirconia chuckled along, leaning down to plant a soft kiss on Athena's cheek and as the two of them readied their weapons and continued onwards the brief sense of awkwardness between them passed; with the dark haired and taller of the two being the one to break the brief silence.
"I don't think we have to worry, surely we'd be subject to action movie rules….It's the people who live in the settlements here who are trapped in a horror movie"
"Oh, how so?" Athena-Jade gave a brief glance in Zirconia's direction as the two trudged up another of the hills to find a vantage point; seeing that her partners' eyes were hard as she swept Sunriser Cain out ahead of her in its' cylindrical-ended melee configuration and being genuinely curious as to why.
"Stuck living in a forest full of Grimm, the main roads cut off by mudslides, a weapon shipment missing…."
"Okay yeah when you say it like that it's bad" the Bear Faunus shrugged, rubbing the back of her hair and brushing at her undercut hair.
"And then most of the Hunters went back to the Capital….The ones that are left on guard duty either can't or won't go looking or clear the forest out" Zirconia continued, growing steadily more irate in her rasped words to a degree that surprised her partner "We've done more the people living around this forest than the people who're supposed to be protecting it and we're only here because Professor Branwen sent us as a favour to a friend"
"I'm not sure it's that bad….Is it?" Athena reached out, squeezing Zirconia's hand gently and whilst the insectoid Faunus took it and gave a deep breath to calm herself somewhat she still spoke with just as much assured righteousness.
"It's like what you told me about Stygian's situation" Athena was left silenced by that "Hunters have taken over a settlement and run it with an iron fist but nobody wants to act, all the Hunters who're supposed to be stationed around here and nobody wants to be here helping anyone….All the power that Hunters have and all the praise that society heaps on us and for what? It feels like we're not helping-"
"We're helping" Athena pointed out gently "Here, right now we, personally are helping"
"Maybe" Zirconia turned and gave Athena a soft, adoring look before leaning close to her for warmth and comfort "But is it just me or does it just feel like while individual Hunters can do good the culture of Hunters as a whole is just….sloppy, inefficient"
"Maybe, it does feel like we could be doing more and if we could then we should" Athena admitted with a sigh "But what do you want us to do about beyond just being the best Hunters we can be and help as many people as we can?"
"Right now what can we do?" Zirconia gave a defeated sigh, carefully judging Athena's expression as she added in a tone she forced herself to keep light "But what if we could change it one day, make things better?"
"Anything's possible….Look at my parents; an heir to the SDC and a former White Fang member" Athena mused with a smile that became playful as she added "So what's the plan then Hops, are we going to take control of an academy and make a better generation of Hunters?"
"Why stop there?" Zirconia laughed, matching the playful tone whilst inwardly being elated and hopeful in a terrified way at just how receptive Athena-Jade was to her ideas.
That changed as the two of them crested the hill, stepping out into another clearing intended to be used as a watch point but standing vacant.
"Look at that" Zirconia pointed to something out in the distance which Athena-Jade followed her gaze to identify before letting out an excited gasp.
"We should call Astra" she declared, setting down her cannon to produce her scroll whilst her eyes never left the subject of their attention. From their new vantage point, out of the blackened canopy of the trees and under the light of the broken moon the two girls could see a vast swathe of the forested hills and in the distance, in the vague direction of where Regalia's Semblance had directed her Athena-Jade and Zirconia could see where a vast gouge had been torn out of the trees, as though the mudslides that had ravaged the area had forced something large and heavy through the brittle trunks of several trees as it fell downwards.
It seemed that they were on the right path.
Whilst waiting for their team-mates to move into position and set up a secondary vantage point in order to better coordinate their search Astra and Regalia had taken rechecking their weapons and ensuring that their base camp was further secured in their absence, something which had been deemed more acceptable to the team as a whole than breaking their camp entirely and relocating nearer to whatever it was Regalia's Semblance had detected.
At present the Racoon Faunus in question was once again using the various features of her heavy and sturdy goggles to try and provide details which Look-See alone could not, attempting to peer down through the canopy of the forest from her position atop one of the many hills to no avail. Astra was nearby finishing up the important task of syncing the various triggers and releases of the traps and sensors that had laid in case any Grimm ventured into the clearing to their own scroll before hiding the devices beneath whatever detritus was available; it was a task Regalia had managed to relieve herself of with the assertion that whilst she was more than adept at handling most forms of machinery the digital aspect was something she would rather entrust to her partner, it was after all notably more complex than simply using her scroll as an alarm clock or to make calls and having hands numbed by the cold tended to make using the devices' touch screen difficult.
She suspected that Astra had seen through the lie but had acquiesced nonetheless and as she raised her goggles to perch atop her head once again she found herself studying the Deer Faunus as they worked.
"Heh, wish I could figure out how to use my Semblance more effectively" she mused aloud, getting her partners' attention "I know we worked out a route already but I'd cool if we could be certain that it would be clear, or at least have an idea about the terrain or-"
"But if you knew it all in advance then it wouldn't be an adventure would it" Astra gave her a knowing smile, punctuating the statement by twisting something on one of the final traps in way which gave a satisfyingly crunchy click before hiding the device under a mass of fallen leaves that had been recovered from the treeline.
"Heh, true" Regalia shrugged, rubbing her hands together for warmth rather her usual simple habit as she wandered over to where her partner was making final checks and minute adjustments, squatting down beside them and watching the way Astra focused and slender fingers moving with delicate precision even as they devoted enough attention to her to keep a conversation going.
"Besides, having AJ and Zirconia head out serves a few purposes" they noted, voice a mildly distracted murmur "We can coordinate and triangulate, use your Semblance as a point of reference and then approach from multiple angles; if we do run into Grimm in the forest being able to hit them from a few angles at once is gonna make a difference….And honestly it's nice to have the peace and quiet"
"Oh" Regalia mouthed the word out slowly "If you want I can scout ahead and-"
She felt Astra's hand close around her own and pull her back before she was even halfway out of her crouch.
"I didn't mean anything by it, you're not bothering me at all….You never do" Astra promised her earnestly, giving the brown skinned and grey-brown haired young woman her full attention; the intensity of the eye contact leaving her bushy racoon tail standing stiff and twitching slightly behind her as she gulped before forcing herself to respond with some degree of coherence despite her heart hammering against her chest.
"Heh, I was worried" she shrugged, blinking rapidly and looking away with her breath misting in front of her as she took a moment to steady herself "I hope we're still friends like we were before, I don't want to be the reason things get weird between us and I know we haven't spoken about what happened at the dance since….Well, heh everything else that happened at the dance"
"And I'm sorry about that" Astra sighed, falling back into a sitting position "I didn't want things to be different with us and if they are then it's my fault….It's nothing to do with us or with you; we're still partners and you're still my best friend-"
"So what's been bothering you?" Regalia asked, both bolstered and rendered numbly nervous by the fact neither of them had broken the physical contact, her hand beginning to sweat where it was held "Let me be your partner and tell me what's bothering you….I know you said you were dealing with some stuff but uh, you're also the one dealing with the explosives and tripwires around our camp"
"Well played" Astra laughed looking from the nearest device to their partner and seeing a degree of intent which had not been consciously present, something which left Regalia reeling back and finally separating their hands, purple eyes wide and hands flailing as she made to disavow the claim.
"I didn't-it wasn't, I-"
"It's fine" Astra laughed, shaking their antlered head "I know I'm stubborn and I know I can be a pain in the ass and I'm sorry about it….I just….The fight with Petrol at the dance, how it ended; it bothered me"
"That's why you haven't been sleeping?" Regalia peered at her partner, shuffling closer once again and sitting beside them at the edge of their camp with the task at hand momentarily forgotten.
"Yeah" Astra nodded, still not looking at Regalia "I didn't sign up and become a Hunter because I wanna kill people….Especially not like that; I mean fuck….That's actually kinda why we're out here, I spoke to Professor Branwen and he offered to give us a job away from the city, where I can try and get my groove back fighting Grimm"
"Well let's go fight some Grimm then" Regalia beamed brightly, though neither of them made any effort to move and eventually, throat suddenly dry as she made a move she managed to convince herself was both daring and at the same time not something inappropriate for the situation she leaned close and rested her head on Astra's shoulder.
"As soon as the others are in position….So as soon as they stop making out somewhere" Astra snorted, shifting their weight and positioning themselves so that their antler was kept away from Regalia's head as they leaned against her, voice dropping to a whisper as they added "Have you ever seen anything like that before, out in the wastes"
"No" Regalia admitted "I've known plenty of people in Clan Aiktishaf who've died; Aunties and Uncles….you know how we just call every member of the clan family, well a few of the Outriders have been brought back dead after running into Grimm while I was growing up, a few elders passed on….there was a young cousin who couldn't climb as well as they thought they could who slipped from the hull-"
"Poor kid" Astra breathed out, imagining the consequences of falling from the heights of the gargantuan land-fortress all too easily.
"Yeah, they were always nice to me" Regalia murmured "But nothing like what happened at the dance….My clan don't make war with others, we have fighters but we're not so violent and I don't think it would ever occur to one of my people to use acid as a weapon the way Petrol did"
"Maybe not….But I still wish we could have taken him in, he's a bastard but I wouldn't have let that grenade get near him if I could have stopped it" Astra paused, their arm snaking around Regalia and pulling the nomad closer upon realising that she was cold despite wearing two jackets "Thanks for listening to me….Are you okay? Damn it, I should have checked with you, with all of you-
"Heh, I'm okay….I guess" Regalia shrugged gently, so as not to break the closeness between them and let out a contented sigh "Just promise me that next time something like this bothers you that you'll wake me up and talk to me about it instead of going without sleep until you need to leave the city"
"Will do" Astra assured her "And that goes both ways….I promise I don't want things to be weird between us, if you ever wanna talk about feelings, or want me to help you ask someone else out; just talk"
Regalia couldn't imagine wanting to date anybody other than her partner, though resigned herself to the reality of the situation and, respecting Astra's thoughts and feelings on the matter simply made herself comfortable nuzzling into her best friends' shoulder as they hugged her with one arm; the two of them remaining like that for several minutes with neither of them willing to move away or ruin the moment by reminding the other that they had a job to do.
Until the silence was broken by an incoming call from Athena-Jade, the Bear Faunus informing them that progress had been made.
Qrow Branwen was predictably awake despite the lateness of the hour, the veteran Hunter once again spending a sizeable amount of his weekend committed to the job he had left retirement for, filling a role left vacant by the untimely demise of his predecessor during one of the many attacks on the city and the Kingdom of New Vale as a whole across the years along with overseeing his self-appointed role as overseer of the Kingdoms safety and steward of the legacy left by Headmaster Ozpin.
Specifically Qrow had spent much of his Saturday situated in his office, grading papers, planning suitably challenging exams both written and practical for his students to ensure that those who studied the subject he taught truly understood its' value and the stakes involved whilst also attending to a small amount of discussions with students in order to aid them in any way he could, though none quite so much as Team MARZ who he had sent out of the city for the good of their leaders' mental health. From there, largely unexpectedly but far without complaint the chair-bound former Hunter had assisted in a small matter across the grounds within the orphanage which had involved a group of particularly rowdy teens before he had finally been able to retreat to his apartment within Halo Academy.
Once home, such as it was, the house he had once called his own having been given over to his daughter several years prior Qrow had allowed himself the small luxury of a few hours of relaxation which had been spent keeping in touch with family and his few remaining close friends. His daughters' work had taken her out of the Kingdom once again, Eagle operating alongside her partner and her wife whilst the other half of Team FADE were absent and his two nieces were comfortable on their respective island homes, though Yang had promised that she would visit soon.
From there the greyed and bearded old man turned his weary gaze to the larger and more unfathomable of his tasks.
Trying to find some way to counter the Benefactor's ongoing schemes.
Thus far he was finding himself limited to merely continuing to monitor several potential hotspots for activity and persons of interest, using the Hunters and other personnel at his disposal through various webs of influence in order to have security surreptitiously increased at places such as the docks and thoroughfares into and throughout the city where smuggling might take place or further acts of theft might occur, though this was rendered somewhat futile with the knowledge that the Benefactor had it within their power to reroute traffic as required through a measure of control over the cities' infrastructure. Additional monitoring of large public spaces in the build up to an event as large as Faunus Pride or the even more flamboyant affair that the Vytal Festival promised to be was a necessity and Qrow had used this to ensure that any efforts to create mass panic would be put down with swift efficiency, whilst several other people that Qrow had reached out to had taken on the task of venturing into the areas of the city that his surveillance network was unable to reach due to the routine destruction of any cameras placed there by the gangs, the police and private detectives joined by several of the Hunters present in the city making their presence known to both dissuade the gangs under the Benefactor's influence to cease their activity entirely whilst also gathering what information they could by studying the various interactions of the formerly warring factions; with one particularly interesting fact coming to light.
It was likely that Petrol was indeed dead.
With members of the different gangs beginning to engage in posturing and small confrontations at the edges of one another's territory going unanswered by the Benefactor's chosen representative, the avian Faunus neither appearing in person or sending his underlings to quash the arguments with a display of brutal force, alongside unconfirmed talk of meetings between gang leaders it seemed more and more likely that the Benefactor had been dealt a substantial blow. Even here however Qrow could not bring himself to relax, the scale of the problem was far too large and without proof the matter could not be said to be over; to say nothing of the threats still posed by both Carmesi Hueso and the scientist turned cultist Aefen Cruor whose whereabouts were still unknown.
Though Qrow found his thoughts dragged away from a self-propelling downward spiral of defeated bleakness and back to present moment where a cup of painfully strong coffee had grown cold beside him in a room illuminated only by several computer screens and the light of the broken moon, the distraction coming in the form of his scroll ringing which he answered whilst also blinking strained eyes rapidly and turning the lights on.
"Astra" his voice was a tired, cracking wheeze until he cleared his throat and gathered his wits; sitting up straighter in his robotic chair which responded in kind and adjusted its' stance to something far more alert and prepared as the years seemed to slough away from the Professor in response to the student he had deployed on a mission.
"I think we found something" the Deer Faunus began, voice hushed and cautious whilst their footsteps suggested a tentative and cautious tread "Regalia's Semblance along with Regalia and Zirconia taking up a secondary vantage point meant we found a path where something heavy smashed its' way downhill. We're moving in from multiple angles in investigate….It looks like a truck"
"Good work" Qrow croaked out somewhat gruffly, in all honesty he had not expected the team to complete the assignment so soon despite the faith placed in them by several fellow professors.
"But" Astra's voice carried a hint of tension "I want a second opinion before I have my team start looking for ammo….Some of this damage wasn't done by the fall, I wanna make sure this is the right one"
"Turn your camera on" Qrow instructed, respecting the young team leaders' actions and decision and typing a series of commanding into his own scroll which transferred the feed from what was now a video call over to his computer set up; allowing the older Hunter to study what Team MARZ had found.
The truck, which did indeed seem to be the one responsible for carrying the missing shipment of weapons and ammunition lay upended at the bottom of one the various rolling hills upon which the forest grew, shattered trees marking the path it had taken as they carved a path in the steep incline; Qrow could see the cause for concern however as the vehicle had been damaged by something far beyond the expected denting and blunt force impacts that he would have expected and yet, from what could be seen beneath the dried and caked on mud the tell-tale twisted outward and burned metal that would indicate ammunition or fuel within the truck exploding were entirely absent.
Though Qrow found himself focusing on something else.
"It's too dark" he mused, rubbing at his chin "With that many trees broken you should have better visibility"
"You're right" Astra muttered and Qrow caught a brief glimpse of Regalia Russet beside them, confirming that the Racoon Faunus was present before the camera was turned upwards to scan the canopy of the trees above them, the older Hunters' stomach plummeting as he saw no gap in the branches that stretched over the two students leaving no sky visible above them. Instincts screamed at the sudden wrongness of the situation yet before he could issue a warning a chittering, droning buzz filled the call and was followed a splintering rumble.
"ASTRA MOVE!" Regalia's panicked yell coincided with the video feed being thrust aside in response to what Qrow hoped was the Racoon Faunus pushing her partner clear of some threat.
"Put your damn scroll down and get ready!" Qrow barked, an order Astra followed without question and in the next moment Qrow was left alone in his apartment wondering just how long he should wait before waking Ren and Nora to inform them that there might be a situation unfolding.
The last thing he had seen before the call ended had been a segmented limb covered in a carapace resembling lichen-covered bark unfurling to a size that was truly unnerving.
It was a stick insect Grimm.
The thing which had descended from the trees was massive and monstrous, its' own form being what had blocked out the sky as it positioned itself silently within the canopy and lurked it wait for its' prey above the ruined vehicle Team MARZ had sought out; the insectoid horror far more stealthy and agile than anything than its' size had any right to be capable of, though this was offset by a sense of frailty which its' current adversaries hoped to use to their advantage.
The Grimm, when upright stood at easily a dozen feet tall and was twice as long, with its' body segmented in such a way that it was bent back at almost a complete right angle.
Whilst the thing had six legs in total its' stance was quadrupedal, balancing on four low slung and wide set appendages which gave the monster a wider and overall far larger appearance though it was these same limbs which gave away just how truly frail and indeed almost hollow the Grimm truly was; each segment of the many-jointed limbs was formed in such a way that evoked dessicated branches of the canopy it had stalked across, with open spaces and jagged offshoots giving the slender appendages an irregular and twisted appearance made more sinister by its' colouration which, unusually for a Creature of Grimm lacked the usual bone-exterior; the thing had some limited carapace-armour though it was the same inky black as the rest of the things' flesh save for the places were false lichen and moss grew from it to provide camouflage and each jagged piece of carapace sported a texture more akin to hardened bark, rough and splintering with each sudden movement. The limbs of the stick insect Grimm, or Husk-Bug to give it its' true name ended in piercing points capable of delivering killing blows, a fact made more prominent by its' upper limbs which it swept about in erratic and scything motions to reveal their hook-lined undersides.
The back of the thing was similarly disguised, with hardened tissue which should have formed wing casings instead breaking into countless interweaving layers which formed a trailing, armoured mesh bearing a resemblance countless birds' nests, dead branches and blackened, rotting foliage. The head of the Husk-Bug however was more in line with what might be expected of a Creature of Grimm, large in proportion to its' body and bulbous in a way that tapered downwards like an inverted teardrop until it reached wide, yawning and serrated mandibles with shuddering antennae resting above them. Whilst it had remained hidden and stationary the eyes of the Husk-Bug had been dimmed though now it was actively attacking the oddly sleek compound organs glowed a fierce red which rendered the things' camouflage ineffective even in the deepest of shadows.
Despite the size and speed of the monster and despite the fact that Athena-Jade and Zirconia were yet to arrive Astra Mars was pleased to note that they were entirely unafraid, the Deer Faunus leaping and rolling to avoid the swiping hooked forelimbs and stabbing footsteps of the Husk-Bug with gusto before responding with slashes of their own or hails of gunfire whenever they could be risked, all whilst keeping half an eye on their partner and ensuring that Regalia was similarly unharmed and at the same time trying to formulate a workable plan of action.
In short, Astra was in their element.
Confidence was kept from growing into undue certainty or recklessness however as each movement of the Husk-bug served as a reminder of the things' tremendous power, lithe and unpredictable movements cutting through trunks and branches with every touch or else sinking deep into muddy ground only to be torn free as though the sucking mire were no hindrance at all, keeping its' prey on the defensive whilst never allowing them to flee the area it had made its' nest.
"ASTRA HEADS' UP!" Regalia's voice pierced the chaos of the fight and the leader of Team MARZ instinctively raised both halves of Buckshot Ares overhead, bringing the twin shields together to send a concave wall of rose-tinted hard-light outwards for good measure yet still being forced to one knee by the force of sizeable amount of deadwood impacting against them even if it was reduced to splinters a dust which further limited visibility in the darkness. Clearing as much of the dust from their field of vision as possible Astra saw that their partner had taken up a position atop the ruined truck which held the weapons they had come to retrieve, twirling Apex Scavenger in its' melee form to keep the Husk-bug at bay; a task which Astra quickly aided in by levelling their guns at the things' flank and opening fire to rip wounds into its' form which would have left daylight visible through it were the sun not set.
Only for Astra to be smashed through several trees before they could blink in response.
"What the fuck" they coughed and sputtered, words tinged with pain and simple indigence in equal measure as they pieced together what had happened in the space of a moment; the Husk-bug had reacted without giving away its' intention by turning its' head, compound eyes and flexible limbs allowing it to deliver a spearing kick from a hindlimb which had smashed them through the air and would, if not for the protection of a fiery red Aura which continued to ripple and fluctuate even now, have run them through or torn them in half entirely.
More immediately important was the fact that the Husk-bug was already advancing upon them again, moving at speed and using its' sharpened limbs to scuttle vertically upwards into the trees as it prepared to lunge in for a devastating assault.
"Hey Regalia, you got any movie lines about bugs?" Astra called out, dragging themselves into a crouch and scanning the trees in order to keep track of their foes' glowing eyes but finding them only a fraction of a second before the thing launched itself down at the Faunus, given them no time to aim and fire again.
"I'm doing my part!" Regalia yelled out, a shotgun blast ripping away a sizeable chunk of blackened carapace from the side of the Grimm's skull and sending it veering aside, flailing and thrashing in pain enough for Astra to slip beneath it and fall back to their partner, though the beast gave chase a moment later; the sound of wind howling through the gaps in its' gnarled and twisted form announcing its' impending arrival.
Only for it to be flung back once more.
"Sorry we're late!" Athena-Jade exclaimed, triumphant in a way which seemed almost cheery as she and Zirconia leapt down from the trees and launched an assault of their own from the side, cutting across the path of the Husk-bug and leaving the thing tearing chunks of its' surroundings asunder as the Bear Faunus flung a glowing Glyph into the path of the monster which allowed Zirconia to fire Sunriser Cain, the weapon announcing the Gravity Dust based attack it unleashed as it lifted the Grimm from the ground.
Seeing the Grimm reeling and with the rush of the initial attack coursing threw her Athena prepared seize her moment and display the new technique she had been working on for some time now, satisfied that a Grimm of such size would be an adequate opponent and that the scene would be a suitable spectacle. As the Husk-bug scrabbled back to its' feet, chittering and spitting in discontent the Bear Faunus focused herself and perched on a tree branch that was yet to be ripped apart before concentrating on her Semblance, conjuring four palm-sized glyphs which began to glow a brilliant white as they rotated at blinding speed, each of them orbiting around her on a separate axis before coming to rest at her back between her shoulder-blades.
Flickering out of existence as the forelimbs of the Husk-bug ripped through the trunk of the tree and sent Athena tumbling.
"AJ!" Zirconia's panicked cry was answered by a dramatic series of leaps which culminated in the Bear Faunus landing at her partner's side and swinging her hammer out in a wide arc to keep the monster at bay in case it chose to press its' advantage.
"I'm okay" she assured assured Zirconia, winning smile faltering a fraction "A little annoyed at that though….It was gonna be so cool-"
"AJ, Zirconia; I think I've got a plan!" Astra's voice intruded upon the moment and the snowy-haired girl, much to her partners' amusement visibly fought the urge to pout or sulk at the thought of her chance to shine being stolen from her.
"Of course they've got a plan" she grumbled good naturedly.
"What's the plan?" Zirconia called out, raising her voice beyond its' usual reserved tones whilst taking what little time was available to give her partner a playful nudge.
"Zirconia, distract it and keep it focused on you; try not to set the forest on fire though. AJ, hold it steady!" it took the two only a brief moment to process the instructions and share a single look before they fell into lockstep with practised ease, seeking out the glowing eyes of the Husk-bug and finding it lurking amidst the ruined forest; seeking out an angle of attack against Team MARZ as a whole. With their target found Zirconia fired a single Ice Dust round at the insectile horror, capturing its' attention and then keeping it by aiming her weapon upwards and firing a volley of what were essentially signal flares; the Husk-bug came rushing at the two young women with its' pointed and hooked limbs flailing only for Athena-Jade to let out a roar of exertion as she braced herself and unleashed her Semblance, the Bear Faunus creating a Glyph around each of the Grimm's six limbs and pouring enough of her own Aura into them to keep the monster from breaking loose in an instant.
Then Astra attacked.
The Deer Faunus's Semblance erupted through the darkness like an exploding star and the Semblance-self thundered through the forest with more force than the Grimm itself, Astra's giant form leaping and driving a knee into the point where the body of the Husk-bug rose upwards from the ground; straddling the hindquarters of the monster and deftly avoiding limbs which were beginning to rip free of Athena's hold in order to place the Grimm in a choke-hold of sorts and violently wrench its' head around to face Regalia and, more importantly the upturned truck she had positioned herself on.
At which point the Racoon Faunus acted.
"The only good bug is a dead bug!" she cheered before embedding the harpoon competent of her weapon into a metal crate which Athena and Zirconia quickly realised contained a sizeable amount of ammunition, using the leverage to swing and hurl the crate directly towards the face of the Husk before aiming and firing her shotgun at the last possible moment.
With predictably impressive results.
Astra allowed the Semblance to dissipate and watched with a satisfied grin as the now headless form of the Grimm slumped over before beginning to fade, Regalia already hopping down and sprinting through the mud towards her friends for a reunion that would be hindered somewhat, at least for the next few moments by the ringing in the ears of all present and the choking stench of smoke in the air.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Athena demanded incredulously, taking several seconds to regain her equilibrium before rounding an Astra and Regalia; her voice heard clearly despite the after-effects of the blast "WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SECURING THE GUNS AND AMMO!"
"We were supposed to be making sure nobody else stole them and used them. The people that they were going to already got a new shipment remember" Astra beamed, clearly feeling that they had done something particularly clever "Well, nobody is gonna be using that crate now….Besides, there's still plenty more left"
Astra held out a palm which Regalia promptly slapped her own palm against, effectively ending the discussion and leaving Athena mildly irked; though this was offset by the comforting feeling of Zirconia pressing against her warmth now that the immediate danger was over.
"Fine" the Bear Faunus huffed "But you can be the one to tell Professor Branwen"
"Sure" Astra offered a laugh and a shrug "But first let's leave a marker here then head back to camp….We can figure out how we're gonna move this truck in the morning"
With that final comment Team MARZ were silenced, each of them realising that the Grimm might have been the least tricky part of the operation and the Professor Branwen might well have been underhanded with his offers of extra credit if they could complete their mission in short order.
Though privately Astra still considered the weekend a success.
It had been days since Petrol had awoken to find himself trapped within the ruins of his own body, in turn grafted into the suit which had once made him feel untouchable yet to the burned, mauled and broken Faunus it might as well have been an eternity as time had ceased to hold any meaning within the depths of his personal hell.
Though this was not to say that he had spent the days entirely consumed within his own misery; despite the abject horror of his situation Petrol had persevered.
Learning the extent, nature and limitations of his prison and the vile, monstrous warden which oversaw it had taken and a great deal of mental fortitude but eventually, after several false starts where his gorge had risen with the thought of what would come and his nerve failed with each stomach-churning revelation he had finally made progress. The first key fact Petrol had been forced to contend with was that he was powerless to move the hulking chassis of his mecha, which he supposed, with bleak and cynical humour could no longer be considered a suit; between the heavy shackles and clamps holding it firmly into its' docking bay and the limited power coursing through its' dormant systems the avian Faunus simply could not raise an arm and tear himself free much less bring the machines' weapons online. With the mechanical body fused to his own through the systems grafted into the ruined stumps of his arms Petrol was left fighting against a heavy, straining sensation at all times, though this was preferable to the blood-curdling terror of the other form of integration that the suit now offered in the form of his warden and dubious co-pilot.
Which was a source of further discovery and contemplation, as much as the circumstances would allow.
Petrol, despite his lack of familiarity with the Creatures of Grimm beyond a single mission alongside Carmesi Hueso and what little he had paid attention to in school or seen on CCT broadcasts, had begun to understand what his now former Benefactor had meant when he had explained that the thing currently dwelling within the machine was mostly dormant.
The realisation had come during one of the many instances where the Grimm, or whatever part of it had integrated itself into the suits' visual interface had begun worming its' prehensile limbs into the ports and connection points grafted into Petrol's skull, remnants of a mask which had been melted onto his flesh; only for the creature to find itself unable to breach an Aura which, despite Petrol's physical state had managed to recover to some degree. The gangster understood that Grimm were creatures which fed on the death, pain, misery and terror of the people of Remnant and from that extrapolated that whilst the Creature of Grimm now residing within his mecha and consisted of far more than than the grotesque segment of it which he had seen thus far was almost certainly capable of tearing its' way through his Aura, flesh and bone and ending him in a matter of moments it was choosing not to and was instead subsisting on the waves of terror which came with each interaction between the two of them whilst the larger body, dwelling outside of the cockpit in repositories intended for the suits' drones remained in a sort of hibernation.
Which filled Petrol with a sense of relief, quickly followed by apprehension as he realised that this pointed to a single undeniable fact.
The Benefactor needed him alive.
At first Petrol had thought this to be an overly optimistic delusion produced by a deranged and slowly shattering mind, finding it more likely that this was simply an inventive form of torture and a prelude to a particularly gory death; as time passed on with no way for the Faunus to keep track of it however he began to wonder and turned the mind which had rendered him above the typical street thug in terms of ambition and ability with the eventual result being a belief that he was being kept sustained and trapped within the repaired shell of his war machine so that he could be used an envoy and figurehead to the various gangs under his control, offering a sense of legitimacy in the eyes of other criminals which neither the Benefactor nor Carmesi possessed whilst at the same time being kept under control by the threat of the Creature of Grimm being unleashed upon him.
With the situation thus defined Petrol had set about the task of turning the situation to his advantage, with the first step being to brave the interfacing with the mech-suit through the flailing, mask-like Grimm which secured itself to his face and created a scarlet-tinged visor at irregular intervals; mastering himself to such an extent that he could power through gut-wrenching fear and disgust in order to begin actively accessing the machines' systems and see what was still functional.
Logic dictated that if her were to serve as a voice or field commander of any sort to the other gang-owned mecha then he would need to be able to communicate with them and, to this end Petrol had begun reaching into various aspects of the mecha which he had no need of in its' original foray until finally he was rewarded with an answer. The mech-suit was unfortunately unable to simply make a direct CCT call, something which had likely been disabled to prevent it being easily tracked however the avian Faunus had grinned so broadly that it had pained his burned and stitched together face, a maniacal glee coming over him as realised that he would in fact be able to transmit a location to the scrolls of his closest allies in the hope that they would investigate after being repeatedly pinged on scrolls which only their fellow criminals had access to.
It was a small hope, a desperate and fragile one which would likely end in nothing more than a chance to revenge himself and leave any true recovery entirely out of his grasp as even if the doctors and specialist treatment centres within Neo Vale could help him at all he would still likely spend the rest of his life in prison for the crimes he had committed thus far.
However this was not the first prison Petrol had used the thought of violent revenge to endure.
Author's Notes:
I wrote this chapter during a week off of work and yet I got no more writing actually done.
This is why I could never be a full time writer, I need to do things other than writing for at least eight to ten hours a day to compress and distil the writing juice.
Ah well, it was a fun chapter nonetheless; we got a monster of the week Grimm, some character stuff and some plot relevant body horror….Always a fun mix.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Yay for scene setting….Honestly in canon we saw so little of Vale's greater territory that there's a lot we can do with it (Granted I haven't read the Team CFVY novels, but as far as I'm concerned they're optionally canon; what's in the show is the top tier of canon).
Mudslides, the bane of anywhere with hills and shit weather….Seriously, I live in the UK and at this time of year I can promise there's gonna be at least one week where the trains between my city and the next one over are fucked….Thankfully I don't commute there for work any more.
Regalia is absolutely right about the rain….In fact I'm pretty sure I wrote this scene after getting drenched when I went out for a jog and she became a vessel for my bitching.
Honestly it's probably a good thing they don't have Clunker or Astra's pickup with them; it would have been a mess.
Astra's a little bit of a dick for that one….Hiking is one thing, unexpected hiking is uncalled for.
I haven't been camping since I was thirteen so we're gonna skip right on over the setting up.
The pretext for the mission took a while for me to figure out but is ultimately largely unimportant, it's a self-contained thing outside of the fact it gets Astra back on form and gives Zirconia more chances to prod at AJ's belief system.
Of course it was Nero who got the good publicity of replacing the weapons, also means he has people indebted to him and using his resources when shit hits the fan.
"It could be Camp Crystal Lake" oh come on the set up was perfect.
Roxy falling into the position left open by Petrol's vanishing.
Petrol's own crew and Hierro being present as well means there's a decent amount of loyal firepower….And also Hierro; who's just hot-headed and dumb as proven by his introduction where he brought Team FADE crashing down on his gang.
Of course Petrol debated killing Hierro, he burned one of Roxy's peoples' houses down just for talking back to him.
That was the scene from last chapter, Roxy is deliberately keeping her people from going after Team MARZ or drawing too much attention to herself.
So, it took some doing but Roxy has managed to get several groups of self-interested and boneheaded criminals working together without having to threaten to kill anybody.
Naturally the fact that they're going searching for Petrol is gonna lead to complications because Nero is not gonna let him go willingly
Forests in Remnant should always be written as scary places.
Hunting in the dark is probably not smart….But extra credit though.
Splitting up, horror film rookie mistakes.
The plan is a good one though, it's nice to see Team MARZ coordinating in a way that actually lets them take advantage of Regalia's Semblance...Which is still a tricky one to write without it either being OP or too nerfed to be useful.
Damn, AJ is making all of the rookie mistakes tonight….You do not fuck in a horror movie setting.
Hops really does know how to make a solid point, she didn't lie once in her reasoning.
Of course AJ is open to the idea of changing the world, her parents already helped do it once.
Those goggles have got their uses, but they don't spot Grimm….Since Grimm don't have heat signatures, owing to not really being alive; although the Husk-bug would probably have had a counter to that anyway.
"It's nice to have peace and quiet" today, in 'Dumb lines that will always get misinterpreted' although if this was most anime Regalia would have run off and it would be a whole mini-arc.
"I know you said you were dealing with some stuff but uh, you're also the one dealing with the explosives and tripwires around our camp" well, that's one way to force a discussion about feelings.
So we're going over what Astra spoke about with Qrow again, but honestly it felt important to have them talk about this with another member of Team MARZ, especially Regalia.
Yeah Regalia's a goof and we love her, but let's not pretend she's naive….In fact she's kinda like Ruby or Nora in canon in that regard; she's definitely seen or been around some shit.
Qrow doing Qrow things because I needed a transition scene….Also, Yang visiting soon; well I'm gonna have to plan some puns.
The search for the Benefactor continues but, despite having more Hunters in the city to direct he's still not getting results.
The fact Qrow assumes Petrol is actually dead is another case of the older Hunters making logical but incorrect deductions from the information available, in this case the fracturing of the alliances between various gangs under Petrol and the Benefactor's control; which is ultimately hampering the ability to react or predict their moves.
So Astra and Regalia have found the truck and, predictably there's more at play than expected….Those holes in it weren't made by exploding ammo or the fall.
Yeah, looking up and seeing that there's no gap at all in the trees even though they don't have leaves is probably a sign that something big is in the trees.
Put your damn scroll down….Kids, always on your scrolls.
I actually wrote the Petrol scene before the Grimm fight but then kept switching the order around before settling on this.
A stick insect Grimm that's basically several dead trees….Because it's a good concept and I went with it.
But, there's no people getting killed; so Astra is good to go.
"I'm doing my part!" and "The only good bug is a dead bug!" because if I don't quote Starship Troopers in a fight against a giant bug then what am I even doing here?
This fight was absolutely full of lucky saves and convenient entrances but, at this point Team MARZ are just that good as a team; fully able to predict each others' ideas.
AJ is desperate to show off that new move she's been working on….But I'm gonna make the big reveal worth it, the Husk-bug wasn't worth it.
Just because they're friends doesn't mean they can't have a little friendly rivalry and competition as a treat; of course AJ sulks when Astra gets all the cool plans.
Zirconia pulling the "Alan Grant distracting the T-Rex" move.
And here we see a rare Astra plan that doesn't boil down to Astra being yeeted at the problem, instead, yeet something explosive at the problem.
Astra is correct, the succeeded by the parameters of the mission….Also the casual high-five, definitely a nod to the Vol.01 "It's a combat skirt" high five.
And now for the horror.
Yeah, Petrol's life is basically unending nastiness at this point.
And here we have an interesting point, the Grimm in the mech-suit isn't symbiotic like Cinder's arm and so it isn't actually bypassing Petrol's Aura….It could breach his Aura if it wanted to put the effort in, but that would involve being fully awoken and in the process removing the person its' currently siphoning fear and rage from; that's something for later.
Petrol might be overstating his own importance there; when Nero needs another leader for the gangs he will raise one up by giving them the clout and the tools for the job; he's being kept alive as punishment.
But now he's managed to send a message to his people, who were already looking for him…..Let's see how badly this can go, because there really is no good ending.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.