MARZ Rising

by FandomPariah

It's been thirty years since Ruby Rose saved Remnant from Salem and almost a decade since it was saved again. Salem is gone yet the Creatures of Grimm remain and now a new generation of Hunters are ready to begin their story... By enrolling at the Breaktide Academy of Menagerie where they'll be trained by legends including Team CFVY and Ruby Rose herself. Part 5 of the Spiral-Verse

90. Ride At Dawn

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 90: Ride At Dawn

The day that the Second Year students currently housed at Halo Academy of New Vale would depart for their next missions had finally come, though officially these departures would not begin for some time yet as the sky above the sprawling, three-dimensional metropolis hive was still coloured a pre-dawn gloomy blue-black with the faintest hints of gold and pink at the edge of the horizon all whilst the pale form of the stars and broken moon hung overhead.

At present however Team MARZ could see none of this.

"On the bright side, at least we didn't have to pack too much. It's not like this is gonna be a long mission" Astra yawned, their voice echoing through the darkness as they and their team-mates trudged through the surprisingly full parking lot situated between Halo Academies' campus and the workings of the anti-gravity aerial platform it was rested upon; currently only dimly lit though what few lights were in operation gleamed from the surfaces of vehicles belonging not only to students but also several members of staff who either resided on the campus or had arrived early to ensure that the students' departure went without incident and presumably at least a few vehicles belonging to Hunters who did not wish to take their own cars into the midst of whatever awaited them; a luxury that Astra was not being granted.

Not that the Deer Faunus minded, the idea of arriving in style was something they could appreciate even despite the risks to their pickup trucks' gleaming red paint.

"Yeah, but why did it have to be by road….We could have been in bed for at least another hour if we flew there" Athena-Jade finally managed to form coherent words, rough as her voice might have been after several slurred and growling attempts to do so thus far. Astra's response to that was a wordless non-committal sound as their own tiredness forced them to concede that the hour was in fact painfully early despite their understanding of the need for secrecy and the seriousness of the situation; having been sworn to secrecy by Professor Branwen Team MARZ had not only made no mention of the fact that they already knew what their mission would be or even that it would require them to leave ahead of schedule to their classmates during the interceding days despite the ever-increasing chatter and anticipation, but had also collectively decided against partaking in the small party which many of the Second Year students had decided would be a suitable way to overcome any mounting nerves.

In reward for their valiant attempt to rest and prepare themselves Team MARZ had been jolted awake and disturbed by the sound of their classmates returning to nearby dorms in various states of intoxication at an insulting frequency until what felt like only moments before the four of them were due to wake up anyway; all four of the students were currently suffering though it was only Astra and Athena-Jade who allowed themselves to show it whilst Zirconia remained taciturn and focused in a way which allowed her to disguise the weariness which left her eyes bloodshot and itching whilst her head pounded as a sense of unshakeable purpose and determination, made easier by the fact her lower face was covered and the way she strode forward; regalia by contrast had simply fallen back on lessons learned during a childhood with Clan Aiktishaf to not only sleep more soundly than her friends but also recover and bring herself to full alertness more quickly and was currently walking with an easy gait and sense of liveliness which each of her friends were privately beginning to grow a little annoyed with; even if Astra found themselves beginning to join in her humming until finally they reached the waiting form of the Deer Faunus's pickup truck.

"Okay, put your bags in the bed on either side of Clunker" they yawned, massaging their temples as they did so "Regalia, your bike's fuelled and ready right?"

"Heh, been ready to go for days" the Racoon Faunus beamed, rubbing her hands eagerly after depositing the small amount of luggage she had brought with her and quietly debating if she should produce the impressive collection of breakfast bars she had stowed in her various pockets and offer them to her friends yet or wait until they were on the move. Around her Zirconia and Athena began fastening their own bags in place beside Regalia's jetbike, likely filled with extra ammunition, spare clothes and a collection of utilitarian items including repair kits and a small amount of medical supplies, with the Bear Faunus helping her girlfriend in the way that had become customary which freed Zirconia to make a quiet observation.

"So then we're only waiting for Professor Nora"

"Yeah, a little annoying since meeting here is her idea" Astra muttered, expression darkening as they added "As long as she doesn't do some dumb shit like throw a grenade at my car just to make sure we're all awake.

As if summoned the cheery voice of the diminutive Hunter cascaded through the gloomy garage.

"GOOD MORNING TEAM MARZ! OUR FORECAST FOR TODAY IS BRIGHT AND BREEZY WITH A PROBABILITY OF ASS-KICKING! I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE ALL READY AND RARING TO GO, BECAUSE THIS IS HAPPENING!"

"You really should be the announcer for the Vytal Tournament!" Regalia exclaimed, far too enthusiastically for the hour and to which Nora smiled brightly in response before the expression turned into something of a smirk.

"Nah, I already know who Qrow has got to replace Doctor Oobleck….And I'm not telling" the smugness of her expression only intensified until she produced a collection of thermoses and a small heap of packages, which judging by their scent contained breakfast "But I did get you these, be careful with the coffee; speaking of Oobleck I think that it's some of his brew; Qrow gave it to me"

"Thank you….Holy shit, what the hell!" Astra's manners were reduced to sputtering and curses as they took their first swig of what was indeed Bartholomew Oobleck's variety of coffee and became intimately aware of why it was rarely recommended without warnings attached.

"Okay" Nora's tone became more serious "We all know what our mission is today, we're using the student missions as cover and whilst those student missions contain a very real chance of danger to those involved this is another matter entirely. The five of us are following up on a lead that will potentially, hopefully bring us face to face with a heavily armed and highly dangerous criminal with a proven willingness to kill Hunters, someone who may or may not be expecting us and have traps prepared. Any questions?"

"I was wondering why we don't approach from the air?" Athena-Jade asked, seemingly unwilling to let that particular matter lie.

"An academy Bull-head could be recognised and fired on, if there's a chance that this is a set up then there's no reason to make it easy for them" Nora answered, grimacing at the thought before adding "On top of that, none of the settlements immediately surrounding the target actually have dedicated flights heading to and from them on any regular basis; they have a landing pad or two for emergency evacuations if anything….Any aircraft approaching low enough for us to use landing strategies would draw attention-"

"And if they're not expecting us then why tip 'em off" Astra surmised.

"Exactly" Nora nodded.

"So instead we're using Astra's bright red pickup truck with black flame decals, raised suspension, giant off-road tires, tinted windows and a custom jetbike sitting in the back" Zirconia rasped out, every syllable dripping with a sarcasm turned bitter by her lack of sleep "No one will suspect a thing"

"You're free to walk instead" Astra answered sweetly.

"Okay kids" Nora interjected, deciding that time was of the essence and that it could not afford to be wasted on bickering "We're gonna load this truck up into an early flight into the city and then head out from there; the plan is to take an indirect route….if this is a set up then we don't want to approach from anywhere they expect. The downside is that it's going to be a long drive, Astra the academy will reimburse you for the fuel"

"Okay, you heard her team; let's roll!" with that Astra, still carrying the coffee and a package contained what smelled like something which included bacon courtesy of their professor made their way to the drivers' side door of the truck they had still not settled on a name for and began fishing out their keys from their pocket only to come to a halt as Nora made a clear move to take the passengers' seat.

"Uh Professor" the Deer Faunus was polite, hesitant and yet brooked no argument "That's Regalia's seat"

"I-" Nora sputtered and cocked her head, completely caught off-guard by the comment whilst beside her Regalia herself fidgeted awkwardly "I'm the Hunter accompanying your team on this mission-"

"And you can accompany us from the back seat, between AJ and Zirconia so they don't spend the whole ride making out….That's my partners' seat" the repetition seemed to drive home that the matter was not up for discussion and Nora promptly switched places with the Racoon Faunus who slipped into her customary seat in the next instant, reaching across to bump fists with Astra as the leader of Team MARZ brought the trucks' engine roaring into life.

"It's fine, I can let this go" Nora pouted dramatically as she made herself comfortable in the backseat of the trucks' sizeable cab; smirking again as she added "But you better at least have a good playlist for road-trips!"

Astra was all too happy to provide assurances and a demonstration in that regard.

---

The Chamber was quiet and still during the early hours of the morning, scarcely occupied and yet neither entirely vacant or silent.

Preparations involving the two remaining Cyber-Grimm had been completed the previous afternoon and the monstrous things had since been loaded into a nondescript but heavily armoured truck belonging to one of the many subsidiaries and shell companies contained within the Clara Die Novum Conglomerate, the vehicle being driven by a robot which, whilst likely to draw some unwelcome comments about the conglomerate undercutting living, breathing workers by relying on automation could easily be explained away as a necessity brought about by a destination which would involve travelling through risky terrain and a lack of available Hunters. More importantly the cargo being carried both from and returning to the city of Neo Vale was far too important to risk compromise and detection and as such to ensure secrecy the driver would have to be silenced and removed which could be done with far less guilt in the case of a simple machine, with Carmesi likely having no shortage of places to hide a destroyed robot in no man's land before driving the truck himself after completing his mission.

With the Cyber-Grimm no longer in their customary darkened corner of the Chamber, one which still remained almost entirely pristine and minimal without any of the feared smell or nest-like qualities that had been considered a possibility, Carmesi Hueso absent and no video call underway for Aefen Cruor to spout her madness the Chamber was occupied only by Gestalt-Prime who continued to linger within their containment tube; the bloated and wretched form of the hybrid Alpha dormant in something akin to sleep, glowing eye and surrounding sensors dimmed as the monster conserved and gathered their strength in preparation for what was to come, the creation of additional waves of Cyber-Grimm in new and exciting varieties and iterations following Carmesi's successful return and also by Albion Herringbone. Chairman Nero's oldest living friend, trusted right hand and the man responsible for bringing much of Nero's master plan into fruition was, despite the unsociable hour not asleep and was instead already hard at work; though he was yet to don his customary combination of sharply cut cream-coloured suit and lab-coat and instead clad in comfortable pyjamas with a warm robe worn over them, his elegant gold-rimmed glasses at odds with an appearance which was only underscored by the wild and unpresentable state that his white hair was currently in.

It was not widely known, even amongst the Chairman's fellow conspirators that Albion Nero actually within the chamber, or more accurately directly above it within a small and comfortable apartment which had admittedly resembled a bunker before it had been furnished and was situated between the Chamber itself and the abandoned building on an equally disused industrial estate above it, accessible only via the hidden elevator shaft leading down to the Chamber.

In truth Albion had never intended to make the base of operations his full time home and was legally his residence elsewhere in the city, an apartment in a mundane district which he almost never visited; it had simply become an inevitability as the mission consumed more and more of a life he found himself with little impetus to rebuild in the wake of losing so much, the Chamber had become something of a shelter from a Remnant which had been stained and held little promise for him until it could be remade into something new which the grieving scientist had justified to himself with the rationale that it was important for him to be on hand in case of an emergency which could not be delayed.

A shallow justification but one which was nonetheless given some credence as they sound of the Chamber's automated defences training themselves on the elevator shaft preceded the emergence of a visibly distraught Damascus Nero.

"What's happened?" Albion demanded urgently, the task monitoring various streams of information whilst poring of the latest writings from Aefen being set aside without hesitation or preamble. Damascus himself was as well dressed as ever yet lacked the usual polish, his clothes wrinkled and having the appearance of having been worn the previous day whilst the man's hair was unkempt and eyes which were, as ever surrounded by dark rings caused by a lack of sleep or self care darted wildly and held an almost panic look of desperate fear, searching for some answer to whatever troubled them.

"We need to recall Carmesi and the Cyber-Grimm, right now!" Nero's words were as frantic as his expression and Albion, who had known him since far before he styled himself into the eccentric but respectable figure he was now was mildly surprised that his old friend had managed to make the demand without stammering hopelessly.

"I'm afraid that's likely impossible" he murmured gently "Carmesi is radio silent and in position to receive the Cyber-Grimm, he does not wish to make himself easily spotted or traced by the Hunters he expects to arrive imminently and the Cyber-Grimm are already far outside of-"

"DAMN IT AL FIND A WAY!"

"YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" Albion raised his own voice to match that of his friend before lowering it once more "And you need to tell me what is going on?"

"It's Zirconia" Nero breathed the words out with a sense of finality and Albion supposed that he should not be surprised, there was nothing else which could elicit such a dramatic response from the Chairman after all.

"She messaged me to tell me that Qrow Branwen is finally acting on the information he received from Petrol's friends" he continued "He's sending a Hunter to the warehouse that mech-suits and Aefen's untested design are stored in-"

"I see" Albion nodded, understanding the severity of the situation if not the specifics of what was at play given that Nero had kept him at arms' length regarding this particular example of Aefen Cruor's twisted brilliance.

"No, you don't" Nero lamented "The bastard is disguising it as a training mission….Zirconia is being sent there!"

"Oh" Albion uttered the word almost reflexively, too stunned by the revelation for anything more complex.

"What do we do" Nero whispered, quartz eyes still wide and wild.

"That depends entirely on what this secret project of Aefen's is?" Albion answered with a sincere effort to keep himself from sounding condescending, it was not the time and he had no desire to see harm come to Zirconia Shadowmoon; he had been a close friend of the Grasshopper Faunus's parents just as Nero had and he had great adoration for the young woman his friend had raised.

"Something I had developed following Petrol going rogue when serving as a decoy….It's a weapon" Nero's answer gave little away and Albion fought with the urge to throttle his old friend until he saw sense upon realising that no further elaboration would be forthcoming, instead he simply adjusted his glasses and allowed his brow to furrow as he began considering what possibilities might exist based on what information he had at his disposal.

"I can try and formulate something. In the meantime, go about your business as normal and give no indication that anything is amiss. Answer any questions by simply saying Zirconia is on a mission and you worry as a parent and then return here as soon as you can" Albion suggested, words leaving him at a steadily more hurried pace before he paused, peering thoughtfully into space with his icy blue eyes intense and then adding.

"Have Zirconia try and find a way to delay or sabotage her teams' mission….If the situation is this dire then perhaps they should simply not reach it at all"

---

Team TRQS had found and accompanied the Hunter who would be leading them on their next mission without incident, meeting with him in the atrium of Halo Academy which had, as was standard procedure been filled with various holographic screens from which relevant information could be obtained. Privately Tiger took a measure of quiet pride that her insistence on organisation and preparedness in recent days had paid off and that the only surprises to be found were the absence of Team MARZ who had allegedly departed early and also the extent of her team-mates hangovers after a party to calm their nerves the previous evening had gotten too enthusiastic, a situation which had been noted and found faintly amusing by the professional Hunter Team TRQS would be working with, much to Tiger's annoyance.

The Hunter himself wore attire that blended practicality with flair in interesting ways, his outfit being a mixture of black and browns in colour and largely utilitarian in design with various pouches and harnesses contrasted for the occasional flourish and decoration, the most prominent of which was a series of gold patterns running at odd angles across the clothing to give the impression of extremely heavy duty stitching, wider than a finger in most places. A more open display of flamboyant design came in the golden armour worn over the man's shoulders, curved ridges were angled upwards to form bulky and stylised pauldrons which were connected to the Hunters' otherwise bare hands and forearms though a series of shifting exoskeletal components which made it clear that the armour contained the collapsed form of his weapons; those bare arms being in keeping with the rest of his physique, the Hunter possessed a build that was muscular in a lean and athletic way like a sprinter and was notably tall, a height of over six feet being bolstered by a pair of rabbit ears which protruded from chestnut brown curls of hair which were beginning to show the first hints of grey whilst frown lines had set into a face which otherwise retained its' youthfulness. The Hunter also sported old battle wounds with pride in the form of fingers on his left hand that been bitten partially off and left mangled and a crescent shaped scar which traced his cheekbone from below his nose to above his eyebrow, almost challenged the students to ask him about the wounds with a knowing smirk and a devilish look in his brown eyes.

He had introduced himself to his charges as Flax Scarlatina.

Whatever charisma and sense of adventure the Rabbit Faunus whose surname had immediately drawn sharp gasps and looks of recognition from Team TRQS had initially managed to convey had quickly worn thin however and at present Team TRQS were collectively seated in the cargo and stripped down passenger segment in the rear of an aircraft belonging to the academy, the sound of Flax Scarlatina grumbling indistinctly having continued on for some time and been punctuated by the creaking and thudding of the craft as it jostled in the air, resulting in several winces on Tiger's part as the harness she had elected to keep secured around her torso tugged uncomfortably.

Despite the situation her team-mates managed to seek out positive aspects, something which would once have bothered her yet she now drew comfort from.

"Honestly the view is pretty great" Stygian beamed happily as he wandered away from his own seat to peer out a small window beside one of the hatches that they would likely be leaping from at some point in the near future "Seriously, being on top of a city all the time is one thing but this is crazy"

"There's nothing there for most of it though" Amaya perked up from where she leaned against Rye, her harness ignored whilst his was simply too small for his massive frame "It's just fields, forests full of Grimm and a few little settlements….And maybe hills"

"There's other cities besides the Capital" Rye mumbled, some joking indignation seeping into his usual soft-spoken tones.

"And that's not nothing" Stygian countered, lightning blue eyes still fixed on the view below "The wastelands are nothing"

"What's Menagerie like from the air?" Rye asked.

"I honestly don't know" the Mouse Faunus answered with a distracted look and a faint shrug "I crossed the island by land, first airship I flew on was the one across the ocean and I didn't wanna look down too much….Seriously though this is crazy, Tee come and look at this-"

"I wish you'd sit down" Tiger huffed "This transport feels like it's about to fall apart"

"Yeah it's one of the academies' older ones….Talking to the pilot gave me a headache" the agreement announced Flax Scarlatina's rejoining the students, shaking his head as he added "I've got my own Bull-Head, the Jackrabbit….custom everything, absolute work of art and I went and let my wife take it out for a job with one of his sisters, typical"

"Is that why you've been in a mood all morning" Amaya Quasar stunned her team-mates with the casual way she asked the question, promptly following up with "Or did you just want to say hi to Honey before you left-"

"Nah, honestly….And don't take this wrong way kids, I didn't want to take Halo students out today" Flax raised his hands defensively as Team TRQS collectively bristled "Easy, like I said it's not like that. I just was hoping to get a team from Breaktide 'cos it's always fun to see how my big sisters' students are turning out"

"I think it would be for the best if you explained our mission to us in more detail" Tiger replied stiffly, returning to the cold directness that had served her adequately for much of her life since losing her parents; she did not consider herself an overly emotional personal but Halo Academy had been more of a home to her than any of the places she and Ravi had enjoyed brief stints as they moved from place to place and hearing it and its' students dismissed out of hand rankled.

"No problem" Flax managed a warm grin which managed to dissipate some of the tension in the air

"This is something that's deemed suitable risk for Second Year students, there're arguments that it should be bumped up to Third Year but I honestly don't buy that….There's a Spawning Pit in the no man's land between Vale and Vaccuo and long story short we're gonna drop in close, get closer and plant demolition charges. From there we're gonna have to either fight whatever the Pit spits out at us, it'll probably something big and nasty; if we can't take it out then we call in air support. Any questions?"

"Why are we targeting the pit?" Amaya asked, seeing the incredulous looks she received and quickly adding "Why isn't Vaccuo sending someone?"

"Because it's outside of their borders" Flax answered simply before adding an explanation of his own "The Vaccuan Council always has a hell of a lot on their plate and since anything in no man's land is basically in the jurisdiction of whoever wants it New Vale has elected to take care of this; Professor Ren was one of those who voted in favour, he said that since Spawning Pits are something that students need to know how to tackle and Halo Academy currently has students from all the academies it makes sense"

"I get that" Stygian nodded, returning to his seat and lounging as comfortably as its' hardness would allow "Are there any settlements in the no man's land? People living outside of the Kingdoms….I'm just wondering why New Vale wants to take the risk on a Spawning Pit outside of its' own territory?"

Team TRQS who knew the Mouse Faunus's history shared concerned looks that went unacknowledged for the time being by Flax though the Hunter had indeed seen them.

"Firstly because we're allied with Vaccuo and have been for generations, it's not right on there doorstep but it could become a problem later" he answered "On top of that, self interest on two fronts. One, teaching students how to handle Spawning Pits is gonna be beneficial for the Kingdom wherever you learn and two, with the Vytal Tournament coming up things are gonna get emotional all across Remnant….Better we keep the Grimm in check now so they don't get too active when the matches start"

"What about the anti-Spawning Pit weapons?" Tiger asked almost absently "I've heard of them but never seen one up close-"

"Fracture compound, horrible stuff….And I used to work with the Atlas Freelancers, I've seen and used horrible" Flax's answer dripped with the distaste he regarded the weapon with "You wouldn't want to be anywhere near that when it goes off, it would cut your life expectancy in half even if you weren't caught in the blast. Like I said, it's not right on Vaccuo's doorstep but the pit is close enough that if we used Fracture they would be up in arms about….Besides, there's a limited supply of those warheads now and the Council wouldn't sign off on using one for this"

"Understandable" Tiger nodded, her displeasure with Flax Scarlatina already fading away as the Hunter proved himself to be knowledge and plain-speaking.

"Any other questions?" Flax asked eyes roving across the team of students "Or shall I start asking questions now, I got some files on each of you but that never feels like enough to know how to lead and teach a team-"

"Just one" Stygian spoke up, leaning forward with an expression that was unusually serious "I've heard of missions to take Spawning Pits out where lots of people died….How much danger are we in?"

"Enough danger to be seriously concerned, but our odds are good enough that you should take those feelings and worries and use them to focus yourself. This isn't hopeless, plenty of students your age have done this" Flax paused for a moment, gauging Team TRQS likely response to a moment of levity before following up "And look at this way, my sister and her team already dealt with one of the biggest pits in no man's land about thirty years ago….Just be glad we're flying south instead of North"

"What's to the North?" Stygian asked.

"The Jagged Mountains" Flax's grin widened "Full of Grimm, it's where I took Team FADE on their first ever mission; you've heard of them right?"

The knowledge that Flax had known and taught some of the most famous Hunters of recent decades when they were younger and more inexperienced than Team TRQS themselves proved to be the key to releasing the last of the lingering tension and allowing the rest of the flight to pass by with a series of anecdotes and tall-tales which Flax awed his students by being able to support with evidence.

---

Zirconia had received Nero's instructions to find a way to slow down her teams' approach on their target, presumably so that any final lingering pieces of evidence could be removed from whatever storage and testing facility she assumed Petrol had been left to hide and recuperate in after his previous altercation with Team MARZ and Nora Ren who had dealt the devastating final blow and immediately the Grasshopper Faunus had set about the task of putting those instructions to action despite the limited opportunities offered to her in the back of Astra's pickup truck as it moved through New Vale's vast open roads with Nora wedged between her and Athena.

The five of them had been on the road for some time and between Professor Nora's attempts to lighten the obvious tension permeating the cab of the pickup with failed attempts at starting a game of 'I Spy' and offering up her own particular brand of humour at the expense of the students around her, combined with the obnoxiously loud music which Astra seemed to have no shortage of and no interest in turning down Zirconia's apparent efforts to distract herself by turning her attention towards her scroll had raised no questions. Searching for possible opportunities she could use to her advantage Zirconia had opened a map of the local area, highlighting several small settlements in the distance, none of which were close to their destination and none of which amounted to more than an average sized farming village of a few hundred people with limited access to the wider Kingdom and all of which were surrounded by open fields which were in turn ringed by woodlands and forests of varying density; it was these forests which gave the roguish insect Faunus her first idea as they were highlighted on her map by several warnings, akin to dangerous weather reports or traffic updates which noted the high probability of Grimm attack, based on an increase in sightings in recent weeks.

The second part of Zirconia's plan came in the form of a broken down car and stranded family at the side of an open stretch of road.

"You made a good call" Nora's voice at Zirconia's side startled her out of her own thoughts though she managed to mask her reaction enough for it to go without comment and instead simply nodded in response, managing a thankful expression whilst her shawl was currently lowered before answering.

"I was worried that either you or Astra would say that we didn't have time, that the mission is more important" Zirconia allowed herself a small frown at that, those concerns were indeed genuine and encompassed reasons beyond simple practicality and a need to carry out Nero's plan.

"The plan is always to help people who need us; everything else that we do is a product of that" Nora shook her head before regarding the situation around them for a moment "Besides, the plan isn't affected by this. If it isn't a trap then nobody should know that we're coming and if it is a trap then changing what time we get there will throw them off as much as approaching from an unexpected direction….I think Astra might have been a little annoyed at first, but they're taking this mission very personally which is understandable but it looks as though they're focusing now".

"I can see that" Zirconia murmured, noting just how insightful Nora was and how well she seemed to read people and finding herself wondering if that might cause problems before casting her own mismatched eyes around her to take stock of the situation.

She and Nora were positioned beside, but not quite leaning against Astra's pickup truck which had been parked directly in front of the old station wagon with a steaming engine which they had agreed to stop and help, with Zirconia being the one to suggest that leaving a family stranded when Grimm were known to be present was inhumane, cowardly and a dereliction of their duties. With nothing on either side of the road beyond trees and fields as far as the eye could see and any other assistance several hours away it had quickly become apparent to Nora, after speaking with the family and learning that they lived in one of the nearby villages not too far from the route Team MARZ intended to take that the most reasonable course of action would simply be to repair the vehicle themselves as much as possible and then accompany them until they were clear of danger.

Astra was in the midst of handling the repairs, Buckshot Ares and their sleeveless leather jacket shed as the Deer Faunus worked and put knowledge gained over years of working alongside their father to good use. Close by Athena-Jade was talking to the family, especially the two small children and putting their fears at ease in a way which Zirconia tried not to stare too longingly at lest she find herself the victim of further teasing from Nora, Regalia had clambered into the bed of the pickup and was currently perched on the seat of Clunker and using the best vantage point available to her to keep watch of their surroundings, relying on her senses and instinct rather than her Semblance and evidently being rewarded for her diligence as her voice broke through the calm that the group had managed to find despite the understandable fear on the civilians' part.

"I see red eyes in the trees. Beowolves by the size and shape….Small pack"

"Astra. You're a team leader; how do you want to handle this?" Nora's voice was far from jovial now, instead an expectant bark as she demanded the best from her student and waited to see just how much they had learned. The stranded family shared fearful glances between themselves at the mention of the Creatures of Grimm, the children pulling away from Athena to return to their parents and clamber into their station wagon in the futile hope that it would offer some protection whilst one of those parents turned to Nora with an incredulous anger which Zirconia felt was appropriate.

"You're a Hunter! Why is the kid making the call, is this a game to you?" Nora remained silent, offering no answer and instead merely gesturing to Astra who looked up from the engine the families' vehicle and cast their sea-green eyes around once before making one of the speedily formed plans that they were known for.

"Okay I'm nearly done with the car, we don't need to sit here and fight everything. AJ, glyphs up and cover us" Zirconia watched as her partner nodded and left the family in awed silence as she began to work "Okay, we're gonna work on the assumption that there's more Grimm than Regalia saw and that they've fanned out to the sides, typical pack behaviour….no sign of an Alpha but we can't rule it out. Professor, Regalia set up positions on either side to make sure they don't box us in. Zirconia, I want you to run forward and force the Grimm to focus on you-"

"Understood" Zirconia was in motion without another word, thoughts of anything beyond helping the people immediately around her pushed aside as she sprung forwards, using the small metal barrier which separated the road from the field beyond it as something from which to leap and hurtling forwards in a series of graceful, agile bounds with Sunriser Cain finding its' way to her hands and unfurling into its' close combat form as she went.

The Grimm rushed out to meet her.

Beowolves, a small pack of six came charging from the treeline with jaws snapping as they loped forwards on all fours and each prepared to rear back, clawed forelimbs flexing as they singled on the lone target in front of them. With the plan in motion and seemingly working Zirconia allowed herself to think rationally and practically beyond the current moment and tried to form plans and strategies of her own. The Grasshopper's first thought was that she should be careful in her choice of attacks, this was likely a farmers' field and she had no intention of destroying someone's livelihood by recklessly slashing out with a blade that might freeze or ignite their crops whilst her second line of thought was regarding how she could use the situation to further delay, or possibly entirely halt Team MARZ.

That thought was forced to a halt as the Grimm reached her.

'Gravity. Gravity!' the synthetic voice of her weapon announced, each word uttered in a slightly different tone as she selected two matching Dust chambers and swung the flat-ended and cylindrical shaft of her weapon at the first lupine monster to pounce at her, weaving below its' claws and striking it painfully in the stomach at which point the gravity-warping effects of the Dust she had selected took effect and allowed her slam the Grimm down into the field with earth-shaking force to shatter the things' bones and reduce it to fading smoke in an instant. A second Beowolf, more intelligent than the first used the opening to simply leap over Zirconia and rush towards the parked vehicles, spittle trailing from its' fanged maw as it bounded towards a small gap in Athena's glyphs which would likely be closed in moments.

Zirconia gave it no chance to advance further.

'Hard-light, gravity!' her weapon once again announced her intent and she thrust the point of her weapon forwards to perform an attack that had become a staple part of her repertoire early on in her time with Sunriser Cain; a thin lance of semi-solid light being projected forward from the weapons' tip at a frightening speed to spear through the back of the Beowolf and out of its' chest to end the thing entirely.

It was here that Zirconia had a plan.

Turning to the remaining quartet of Grimm she made a show of twirling her weapon artfully but did not attack, gauging carefully how much of a spectacle she would have to create in order for her facade to be deemed believable. She grimaced to herself as she considered that she might once again have to allow one of her prosthetic limbs to be damaged in service of the greater good, noting that her resulting lack of balance would explain how she managed to allow the Grimm to slip passed her and then how she managed to miss her attempt to shoot at the monsters so spectacularly; Astra had boasted that their pickup truck had belonged to a former Hunter and was heavily armour plated but the Grasshopper Faunus doubted that it would still be roadworthy if a stray Dust-enhanced shot destroyed one of its' tires and ricocheted around the brake, suspension and axel behind the wheel.

The Grimm lunged and Zirconia acted, hesitating to throw herself entirely at the mercy of the monsters but still allowing the first to make a brief, glancing contact with her which left her Aura rippling against its' claws as it slashed, retaliating by smashing her weapon against its' elbow and tearing a yelp of pain from the beast which tucked its' ears and tail flat against its' body in response. From there she repositioned herself once again and allowed the Beowolves to regroup, the four monsters bunching up with their jaws snapping and an obvious intention to simply charge rather than flank and surround her.

Zirconia watched in disbelief as her plan fell apart in front of her eyes a moment later.

"HOPS! COME ON LET'S GO!" at the sound of her partners' Zirconia whipped her head around, tearing her mismatched eyes away from where the smoking remains of four Beowolves disappeared into the wind. Athena was stood amidst the family the head rescued and gesturing for Zirconia to return whilst Astra was stood slightly further forward, the hood of the station wagon closed and the vehicles' engine thrumming reliably whilst the Deer Faunus kept their arms outstretched, Buckshot Ares unfurled and the mini-guns slung beneath their arms slowing to a halt after firing. Regalia and Nora were situated at either side of the two car convoy with their weapons drawn and stood in ways which suggested that Grimm had indeed attempted to encircle the group and had since been neatly handled.

Leaving Zirconia with mixed feelings as she trod slowly back towards her team. Lives had certainly been saved however she would need to concoct another plan.

---

Team TRQS had reached the swathe of jungle in which their mission would be occurring and found themselves hard at work soon after.

The flight had been long and uncomfortable, although naturally not to the same extent as travelling by road would have proven and the journey had made more tolerable by the pleasant company which Flax Scarlatina proved himself to be allowed them to ignore the rattling of the aircraft which Flax had made a mental note to complain to Headmaster Ren about, finding it to be poorly maintained and scarcely fit for purpose in contrast to the usual high quality the academy boasted.

Eventually the moment had come where the crafts' pilot, apologising for the flight, had informed the Hunter and the students under his command that they were nearing the clearing that they would be using as a landing zone, one situated far enough from their final target to be deemed relatively safe in comparison to its' surroundings and which had seemingly been made by a lightning strike or something similar starting a fire in the steaming and humid jungle some decades ago and was yet to be fully recovered from.

Team TRQS had leapt and Flax, confidant enough in his own landing strategy to be able to turn his attention elsewhere as he fell through the air witnessed the ways that each of the teens' weapons, Semblances and to an even greater degree their personalities informed the way the tackled the problem of landing safely before the Rabbit Faunus made a suitably dramatic entry to the clearing of his own; the students knew his daughter after all and it simply would not do to embarrass her.

Once on the ground Flax had further explained the mission to his students, showing each of them the demolition charges he had brought for the purpose of destroying the Spawning Pit and explained both that they were a collaborative effort between himself and Ruby Rose herself from their time working together in Atlas, intended to disperse a payload of nanobots across and deep into the target and obliterate it with a cascading chain reaction of explosion rather than a single blast and also how the devices worked, though he insisted that he would be the one to carry the explosives until they reached the Spawning Pit. From there Flax had mapped out the route the five of them would be taken and they had set off, deeper into the unwelcoming trees where they conversely began to find themselves with more and more space as they were confronted with certain proof that they were moving in the right direction in the form of the surrounding foliage tapering away, greenery being steadily replaced by dead and barren trees which no moss or vines clung to and no insects hovered around whilst the mud underfoot became dry and cracking earth which Stygian had noted was far more reminiscent of the wastes of Menagerie.

That they were heading towards the Spawning Pit was also evidenced by volume of Grimm making their presence felt.

Flax had once again hung back, informing the students that he would be securing the charges from the current scampering swarm of monsters that had come pouring from above and from all sides and though there was an undeniably solid logic to this decision the Hunter had also tasked Team TRQS with putting the Creatures of Grimm down so that he could see how they fought and conducted themselves under stress, along with seeing how thoroughly embellished and exaggerated the war-stories the teens had shared with him during their flight had been.

The Rabbit Faunus had been pleased to learn fairly quickly that very little exaggeration had been needed and that Team TRQS were highly capable, each of them cutting and smashing their way through the leaping, ravaging attacks of the Spider-Monkeys without hesitation despite the challenge the Grimm presented. Each of the monsters being far smaller than the students themselves, roughly the size of a small child from head to the base of their tail and boasting a simian face encased in skull-like armour with a prominent under-bite and jutting teeth left visible by the permanent screams their features were contorted into; the small size that made the things so hard to hit was offset and at the same time bolstered by the many limbs each of the Grimm sported, a long and skeletal prehensile tail being joined by arms and legs arranged in pairs that mimicked the usual and proper configuration and were disproportionately long and spindly for the size of the monster, ending in sharp clawed digits.

Tiger Santara had issued several commands in the opening moments of the battle, taking initiative with a speed and confidence that Flax found impressive before setting about the nearest Grimm without hesitation, evidently having no doubts about her plans or if they would be carried out effectively.

Once engaged with the Spider-Monkeys Tiger had quickly seen that simply cutting them down individually would be insufficient and so had began to form a plan that she was in the midst of putting into practice, Flax studied her motions intently as she twirled Fearful Symmetry in its' trident mode and unleashed one attack after another, wide sweeping arcs that cut through Grimm and dead tree alike whilst each of the weapons' trip of of broad blades glowed blue-white with the effects of Ice Dust coursing through them. Flax continued to watch and his brown eyes widened in surprise as he understood what Tiger intended, finding himself silently impressed as the Ice Dust began to freeze the moisture in the air solid with each pass of her weapon to create a lattice of ice which ensnared the pouncing Spider-Monkeys in some places and created to gleaming blades for them to fall upon and maul themselves in others all whilst forming a barrier around her that the Grimm were forced to navigate. From there the leader of Team TRQS allowed herself a small smile at a job well done as she transformed her weapon into its' pistol mode and switched to Lightning Dust based ammunition and then opened fire, the frozen moisture conducting the electricity and leaving the air crackling as the Spider-Monkey Grimm around Tiger were unmade.

Stygian Blue, or Stitch as his friends had called him fought in a manner that was much more straightforward and yet displayed an incredible amount of skill and raw talent which left Flax cocking his head in faint confusion as the Mouse Faunus displayed an approach and mindset vastly different to anything Flax had been taught as a student, something which left him curious about just where the boy came from and how he had learned to fight and was made all the more difficult to examine by the fact that Stygian was almost impossible to keep track of. Simply put the Mouse Faunus was a blur of blue that appeared and vanished again at a speed that could trick the mind into thinking it had never been seen at all as he used his Semblance to outplay the Grimm at their own game; his Semblance allowing him to teleport directly into range of whichever of the swarming beasts presented the largest threat at any given moment and dispatch it with a single swing of his ludicrously named katana before acrobatically leaping away, often cutting down several more as he did so. In response the shrieking Grimm could only give chase and were left lunging and regrouping in a display that might have been artistic if it were viewed from another angle as their numbers steadily dwindled until finally the Mouse Faunus appeared in front of the final Spider-Monkey and thrust Sharp Cheese out in a single-handed stab which impaled the Grimm and held it suspended at a height and angle which kept its' thrashing claws from Stygian's face as he used his free hand to adjust his blue hair and jacket.

Amaya Quasar and Rye Fairfax fought as a pair in a way that went beyond partnership and Flax could tell after watching them for only a few moments that their relationship was entirely solid and that if he were to check on them in several years time they would still be together; they reminded him intensely of himself and his wife when they were younger. Rye's massive form was a beacon and a bulwark, drawing the screaming horde of monsters towards himself and holding them at bay with expert use of his monstrous Zweihander, though it had been deemed senseless to use the weapons' Dust crystal firing rail-gun form in such tight confines where the path of destruction each report of the weapon caused might attract more Grimm; instead the towering young man simply held the Grimm at bay and his partner used their distraction to being ripping through their midst with her weapons blades and bullets until finally, at some barely perceptible sign between the two of them Amaya flipped away and used her connected pistols to haul herself off of the ground and out of reach as Rye dropped to the ground and slammed a palm downwards.

"Brace yourselves!" he called out and Flax did so upon seeing the rest of Team TRQS take the request seriously, a moment later he saw exactly what the loosely defined Semblance he had read about in the notes he had been given and had seen briefly in action as part of Rye's landing strategy was capable as the ground erupted upwards in a series of concentric circles made of jagged stone pillars, each of them tearing a Spider-Monkey to shreds until nothing remained.

"Nice….Really nice" Flax breathed out, surreptitiously checking that none of the charges he carried had been shaken too severely before giving the teen who emerged from the receding stone a stern expression "Okay that worked here, but don't try that anywhere near the Spawning Pit….Good chance you'll stir it up and we'll end up with problems we can't handle"

"Right, no problem" Rye mumbled apologetically, somewhat crestfallen at the perceived short-sightedness until Flax gave him a jovial slap on the other arm and a silent look of approval, followed by Team TRQS regrouping as a whole and making their own feelings on the matter known, particularly Amaya who kissed him briefly on the cheek which left the boy smiling happily.

"Shall we continue?" Tiger asked bluntly, green eyes hard and weapon still in hand as she brought the atmosphere between them down to something more appropriate.

"We should, come on this way" Flax conceded and a moment later the five of them were on the move again, senses straining for any sign that the violence of their previous encounter with the Creatures of Grimm had stirred more monsters whilst their surrounding grew progressively more desolate until the telltale acrid, festering stench of a Spawning Pit began to assault their nostrils.

"Wait" Flax hissed the words through clenched teeth and in the next moment his weapons had unfurled, shoulder armour shifting to his forearms to deploy armoured gauntlets with underslung high-calibre mini-guns, rabbit ears twitching incessantly as he focused on what lay beyond his immediate surroundings to seek out the source of a noise he was already beginning to believe he had imagined; experience screaming within his mind to not give in to such comforting ideas.

"Grimm?" Tiger asked, matching the hushed tone.

"No" Stygian murmured beside her, sword at the ready as he sniffed at the air and proved that his own Faunus senses were as sharp as those of the Hunter leading them "I can't smell anything but I heard something up ahead as well….Didn't sound right; didn't sound like Grimm"

"It sounded metallic" Flax whispered, gesturing for Team TRQS to follow, stay close and stay alert as he continued to listen "Be ready kids….I don't know what's going on but I don't think we're the only people here"

Something in the pervading sense of dread that had seeped into the air, a quality common to Spawning Pits seemed to suggest to Flax that it was nothing so simple as a case of another Hunter having beaten them to the punch and the Rabbit Faunus had experienced enough in life to not want to take undue risks.

---

Carmesi Hueso was on the move and nearing his target once again, this time certain in the knowledge that he would not be denied.

The Komodo Dragon Faunus had waited in the depths of no-man's land for several days at Nero's command, growing steadily more paranoid and restlessly agitated as he waited for the promised reinforcements to arrive whilst passing the time by honing his skills against every Creature of Grimm he could find, thinning down the numbers which emerged from the nearby Spawning Pit so that his task might be made easier when the time came, all whilst keeping the latest containment unit designed by Albion Herringbone close at hand and keeping a watchful eye out for any sign that the expected Hunters from New Vale had arrived earlier than anticipated.

Eventually the reptilian had made his way through the trees once, retracing the path he had first cut through the foliage and making his way towards the rendezvous point where an unmarked and armoured vehicle had been sent, the two remaining Cyber-Grimm stowed within.

Several hours had been spent attending to the task of destroying evidence, under normal circumstances Carmesi would have been able to simply abandon the vehicle and the machine which had driven it however, given that the Cyber-Grimm were intended to be used against Hunters there was a chance that a search party would be sent to retrieve bodies or gather clues when those sent to destroy the Spawning Pit failed to report it and the renegade Hunter chose to leave nothing to chance. The robot which had driven the truck had been thoroughly dismantled, every component which might have provided some clue or direction to anyone who found it being rendered unsalvageable before the vehicle itself and its' tracks were hidden far from view of either stray Hunters or the Grimm, buried beneath foliage to be retrieved later before Carmesi began to make his way back towards the Spawning Pit, the Cyber-Grimm in tow.

He was close now, the air was rancid and dry ground cracked under each footfall of the monstrous amalgamations of steel and nightmarish flesh that stalked behind him, chittering between themselves in a way that highlighted that the Cyber-Grimm were more than simple machines and set Carmesi's nerves on edge.

Tension and anticipatory bloodlust steadily mounted and the Faunus, fanatical in his cause as he was felt his free hand twitch towards his weapons whilst the fingers of his other hand drummed against the strap of the bag in which the collapsed containment unit was stored, his senses heightened to the point where every whir and muffled clank of the Cyber-Grimm's shifting components felt painfully loud behind him; the monstrosities themselves casting their weapon and sensor bearing antennae around wildly whilst their limbs hunched close and tucked under the protection of their carapace, limited as it might have been by the odd shape of their bodies, the single glowing red orb seated amidst the hollowed and gutted craniums shifting and narrowed as though the Cyber-Grimm themselves were ill at ease, though whether the things were aware enough to be truly fearful or could simply sense other Grimm upon which they could feast nearby Carmesi did not know.

Any thoughts about such things were halted by the sound of movement in the distance, jarring as it breached a silence which had previously only been intruded upon by his own advance.

Carmesi let out a low rumbling snarl as he gestured for the Cyber-Grimm to remain where they were and set the stored and collapsed containment unit between them before slipping forwards silently and stealthily through deadened husks of trees, scarcely daring to breath until he could finally see the faintest outline of the Spawning Pit he sought, its' surface tar-black and viscous, bubbling and roiling periodically as something partially formed struggled to breach the surface only to lose coherency and dissolve back into the primordial sludge from which it had attempted to birth itself. It took the renegade Hunter only a short amount of time to discern that the source of the noises he had heard was not here and once again a snarl escaped him, scaled features contorted and fangs bared.

"Hunters" the word was dragged slowly from peeled back lips as he gestured for the Cyber-Grimm to close in, bringing the bag he had deposited with them and moving with a lumbering sense of inevitability entirely removed from Carmesi's own careful approach, he supposed that it no longer mattered and that if he had heard the Hunters then they had likely already him.

Leaving only the dilemma of how to respond.

"When the Hunters shoot at us return fire" Carmesi ordered, the two Cyber-Grimm taking a few moments to respond with silent bow of their heads which felt far longer and left him waiting tortuously; with the acknowledgement given however the Faunus shouldered his bag and drew his weapons and shifted Vindication into its' throwing-blade mode as he began to form a plan of attack.

He knew how the Hunters would tackle a Spawning Pit, they would bomb it at multiple points and if they had heard his approach then they would have all the more reason to fan out, moving to surround him though the size of the Pit itself would hamper them; with that in mind he simply hurled the blade through the air and over the shifting surface of the Spawning Pit to cleave through dessicated trees close to its' opposite bank before catching his weapon on its' return path and flinging himself promptly to the ground and rolling out of the way.

The Hunters gave their predictable answer a moment later.

Heavy gunfire riddled the trees and reduced their lifeless forms to dust and splinters before a solid chunk of Ice Dust ripped through the air, carving a slash through the surrounding area only to leave the collapsing forms of felled and uprooted trees frozen in place. The retaliation was heavier than expected, the Hunters were well armed however Carmesi allowed himself a smile as he realised that all of the attacks had come from the same general area which meant he had been fortunate enough to catch his foes before they could properly position themselves.

With a single nod the Cyber-Grimm went lurching into action, monstrous mechanical screams escaping them as the twin monstrosities unleashing devastating salvos of searing light from the primary weapons mounted on their back, with Carmesi noting that the first made Cyber-Grimm, whose armoured exterior still bore scars from when it had fought a Hunter was markedly more aggressive than its' kin. Yells of panic and barked orders to get down and take cover could be heard and Carmesi allowed himself a moment of satisfaction at a well-executed plan before something caught at his nerves, specifically the voices of the Hunters attempting to weather the barrage.

They sounded young.

"They sent students….Of course they sent students" Carmesi snarled, raising a hand as he returned to his feet in order to bring the attack to a halt; it was a possibility he had overlooked and was now cursing himself for doing so. Slowly his crimson eyes narrowed as he prepared himself for what was to come, for all the ruthless violence he had perpetrated the Faunus had no desire to butcher children and he knew that it was a choice that Nero would balk at as well yet there was no other decision to be made; the mission had to be completed in order for the plan to proceed and his presence was already known to the Hunters who were most likely led by someone more capable than the average Hunter given the risks involved in taking a team of students to a Spawning Pit.

With nothing else to be done Carmesi readied both of his weapons and stepped out into plain view, deciding that he would at least give them proper deaths.

"Carmesi Hueso! Drop that bag and your weapons!….We both know that carrying a fight on here is a bad idea!" a Rabbit Faunus he recognised as Flax Scarlatina, brother to the deputy head of one of the academies and a member of the extended Arc family by marriage declared with confidence as he stepped out into view on the opposite bank of the obsidian filth from which Grimm could spawn at any moment. Behind him the team of students emerged and Carmesi allowed himself a small sigh of relief upon seeing that it was not Team MARZ.

He disliked Zirconia but not enough to kill her and her presence would have complicated matters.

"Letting you leave is a bad idea" Carmesi rumbled, making no effort to comply with the demands "You've seen too much and well….You're in the way"

"Enough with the cliches and monologuing, get on the ground or we will be forced to put you on the ground!" a brown-skinned girl in an outfit which Carmesi recognised as being influenced by Mistrali culture and marital arts, whilst also featuring more modern and practical elements snapped harshly as she readied a trident. The Komodo Dragon scoffed.

"You….You remind me of a younger me. Honestly that makes this part easier, I was weak" with that he glanced over his shoulder and gave a single nod, thankful that none of the Hunters took the opportunity to shoot at him whilst his attention was elsewhere though Flax sneered out another order.

"Whichever crew from the city you've got carrying those stolen Cosmo-Guild weapons won't be enough!" he stated calmly "Tell 'em to drop those weapons now before they do something stupid that puts everyone at risk!"

The Rabbit Faunus fell silent when the Cyber-Grimm stepped out into view, weapons and clawed appendages bristling as they locked their cyclopean gazes on the Hunters.

"What the hell are those things?" Carmesi was unsure which of the students had asked the question though the sudden fear in their voice was clear and became more palpable with each passing moment that Flax failed to provide an answer, the Rabbit Faunus instead simply staring at the monstrosities' before him in abject shock as he tried to make sense of the sight; some new manner of Grimm which clearly responded to the commands of the Renegade Hunter.

"They are the future" Carmesi rumbled out with a sense of finality "A future you have no place in"

---

Despite having left before sunrise it was already passed midday by the time Team MARZ reached their destination.

"Should we be worried by the fact that we haven't seen anyone yet?" Astra asked quietly as they took in the sight of the warehouse which was outwardly disused but far from dilapidated.

"It's on the outskirts of town and there's no other factories or warehouses near here…..It's the middle of the day, everyone is at work and with the roadblocks we put in place anyone here would be showing their hand by trying to stop us" Nora countered reasonably, to which Astra was forced to nod in silent agreement though the frown never left their face as they continued to regard the building before them with trepidation.

After helping the stranded civilians escape from the Beowolves that had been set to pounce on them and seeing that they made it safely to their destination Team MARZ had, as planned made their way towards the settlement which Petrol's alleged bolthole was officially a part of, despite being built further afield form town itself than one might be expected and once there Zirconia had once again spoken up and brought her team and Nora to a halt with a simple, well-reasoned argument; namely that with no knowledge of what lay ahead and the high possibility of a trap they should take precautions to ensure that the locals were not harmed. Nora, agreeing with the assessment and commending Zirconia for her forethought had instructed Astra to drive to the town hall and speak with the highest elected official present who had in turn called the police and the pair of Hunters currently stationed nearby; after some explanation and discussion it had been agreed that the local authorities would set up roadblocks and a defensive perimeter to effectively annex the warehouse from everything around it whilst the Hunters would monitor anything entering or leaving the settlement whilst Nora and her team of students investigated.

With defensive measures taken and nothing more to stall them Astra, with a sense of something looming over them the entire time had driven their pickup far closer than they would have guessed that they could reach without incident, all the way into what had once been a sizeable parking lot for a successful company which now stood empty and riddled with weeds sprouting through cracks in its' surface. Once parked, with the Deer Faunus opting to keep their pickup truck a safe distance away from the warehouse as the idea that it had been simply filled with explosives could not be ruled out Team MARZ, with Nora beside them had collectively began to walk slowly, cautiously and yet with a sense of purpose towards the building until Astra raised a hand for them to stop.
"What is it?" Athena-Jade asked, sapphire blue eyes shifting from her team leader to her Professor as she noted Nora giving a similar look of confusion and silently but expectantly demanding an answer.

"Regalia….Use your Semblance and see what you get, if it is a trap then let's not walk right into it"

"Good thinking" Nora murmured

"Right" the Racoon Faunus nodded before focusing her attention and then her Semblance on the building, eyes glowing faintly for a moment whilst within her own vision Regalia saw something large and indistinct become a focal point for Look-See to focus on as the unknown shape, obscured behind the walls of the warehouse glowed with a light that oscillated between purple and gold.

"There's something in there...I think it's Petrol" Regalia breathed out "But the shape's too big-"

"His mech-suit" Astra grimaced.

"We expected that" Zirconia muttered, privately understanding wondering if this was the avian Faunus's own intent or if she had failed to stall her team enough "But Regalia, you can't see if there's anybody else in there with him can you?"

"No" she admitted with apologetic shrug.

"So it could still be a trap" Nora surmised "Looking increasingly likely that it is….He wants a rematch of the dance, on his own terms"

"Should we fall back?" Zirconia suggested, almost hopeful though her expression remained as inscrutable as ever behind her shawl "Why not pull back and wait for reinforcements"

"We might lose our chance….Or there could be other things at play we don't know about" Nora lamented shaking her head as she dismissed the idea "The Benefactor supplying Petrol and his people has already proven that they have reach and resources….Now we're here and we know we're on the right track we have to act"

"Agreed" Astra nodded, bracing themselves and squaring their shoulders "How do you want to do this Professor, surround the place and hit from every angle?"

"How much Dust do we have?" Athena asked thoughtfully "Give me enough time and Dust and I might be able to just seal that building shut completely, we can arrest Petrol at our discretion-"

"His mech-suit will blast through whatever barrier you put in front of it" Regalia pointed out, lowering her goggles and deploying the segmented faceplate stored within them to cover her mouth as she spoke "If I get Clunker we could-"

"No" Nora shook her head again "We hit 'em hard and fast, decisive blow that cripples them….There's no sense in making this a protracted fight if we can help it"

"I agree" Astra nodded, their need to see their vendetta with Petrol through to its' conclusion clashing with the fear they were unashamed to admit they felt at the thought of confronting the acid-spewing Faunus again. After a few deep breaths to steady themselves they popped the collar of their jacket and turned to their team-mates "Athena?"

"You want me to blast the door off the hinges?" she nodded to the nearest shutters which would serve as an obvious entry point.

"No, I want you to put a glyph up and keep it up for a few seconds after the doors get blown off….I can't shield everyone. Professor, can you-"

"On it" Nora chuckled as she drew Magnhild in its' grenade launcher form and adjusted her footing to compensate for the monumental kick of her weapon; Team MARZ gathered around her and a moment later she fired, the redhead first using a single grenade to blast the shutter door apart and reveal that it was not reinforced or armoured as she had feared it might be and then, without hesitation sending a smoke grenade into the building which left a pungent pink fog billowing out of the hole she had created. Astra and Athena-Jade took action immediately, the Deer Faunus using Buckshot Ares in its' combined shield form to send a concave wall of rose-tinted hard-light outwards which reached for enough to protect themselves Nora and Regalia, their partner instinctively huddling closer whilst Athena-Jade and Zirconia retreated further behind their leader as the Bear Faunus conjured a single shimmering glyph large enough to shield them all.

After several seconds of silence, the ringing of the previous explosions leaving their ears it became obvious that no attack was coming.

"Okay move it, weapons ready. Cover each other!" Nora ordered, shifting her weapon to its' hammer mode and leading a charge that was truthfully little more than a light jog. Team MARZ stayed close behind and followed her instructions without question, Astra in particular sweeping their surroundings with the barrels of their weapons' guns extended outwards and their sharp senses strained.

"There's nothing here" Athena growled, muscles bulging with her visible tension as she hefted Mould-Breaker in its' own comically oversized hammer form; the truth of her words was plain to see as her voice echoed through the empty space. The warehouse was dark and empty, with no movement beyond dust that had been kicked up with the force of their intrusion and nothing to suggest that the building had been used to house anything at all beyond a few scraps of metal lying around and the occasional outline on a wall suggesting that something large and cumbersome had been propped against it recently.

"Shall I use my Semblance again?" Regalia asked, fielding the question to both her partner and her professor though it was Astra who answered first.

"No" the Deer Faunus was emphatic "I don't like the idea of you not being able to react in time"

"I could blanket the area" Zirconia rasped, hoping that the offer to envelop the entire building within her Semblance and prevent their quarry from leaving would appeal to Astra's way of thinking whilst also planning to create just enough space at the edges for whoever it was that Regalia's Semblance had detected to slip free unnoticed, even if they had to abandon their war machine; the Grasshopper Faunus was certain she could find a way to dispose of the mecha before it could give away any of Nero's secrets.

"Good thinking" Nora nodded, answering whilst Astra continued to scan their surrounding intently "The rest of you cover-"

"LOOK OUT!" Astra's searching and focus allowing them to be the first to see a large, dark form moving overhead and in response the Deer Faunus shoulder barged Nora, knocking her aside whilst also levelling their weapons at the falling form which came hurtling at them from above, bullets sparking from armour that had been remade with little effort casting enough light to reveal the attackers' identity to all. Even with its' shoulder mounted weapons removed, the blades attached in place of hands seemingly larger and more horrific and its' cockpit splayed open like the jaws of some hulking, brutish monster there was no mistaking the form of Petrol's war-machine and Astra quickly realised that the mecha had managed to climb up on to crossbeams and framework that had been reinforced and strengthened until they served as load-bearing structures for whatever illicit mecha workshop had previously been based here, Petrol then swinging downwards in a gorilla-like fashion to deliver an opening strike which made the entire building tremble and cracked the floor on impact. More frightening than this however was the sight of what lay within the cockpit.

"Holy shit" Astra breathed out "What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"Myself?" Petrol cackled, their voice distorted into a manic scream by the new control system mounted over their face, limbs of his mecha flexing as they gestured the ruined stumps of their own arms towards his own burned and mangled body which had been grafted into the cockpit itself "YOU THINK I DID THIS TO MYSELF?"

"We can help" it was Nora who spoke up, experience giving her a calmness that none of her students could be expected to carry in these circumstances as she placed herself in front of them protectively

"This ends Petrol, right here and now but you can choose to end this in a way you can walk away from-"

"No I can't" the twisted gang leader continued to cackle, laughing until his body convulsed as immense pain wracked him "There's no walking away from any of this!"

"We have doctors, the best doctors" Nora continued, uncertainty creeping into her voice as the true extent of Petrol's physical and mental wounds became more apparent with each passing moment "We can get you out of that machine, we can give you new arms Petrol….If you work with us we will bring down the people that did this to you"

Petrol's answer was more demented cackling.

"You think he didn't think of that?" there could no doubt that he was referring to the benefactor and every Hunter present tensed as they waited to see if he would betray any useful information; neither Nora or any of Zirconia's friends seeing the way the Grasshopper Faunus tightened her grip on her weapon and prepared to find out whether or not she was capable of killing in cold blood if the mission demanded it.

"There's fail-safes built in….Real nasty ones" Petrol continued "Nobody is taking me out of this machine without killing us both!"

"Your friends had hope" it was Astra who spoke now, the Deer Faunus slipping around Nora and standing with their arms splayed wide as if to offer a clear shot.

"YOU-"

"Me" Astra halted the interruption "Your people came to me! At Faunus Pride they came and told me that you were here and that you wanted to settle things….We expected a trap but we came anyway; I think your friends were trying to help you Petrol, I think they know that you need help-"

"THEY CAME HERE AND I KILLED THEM!" Petrol screamed, his control mask turning the sound of his voice into something monstrous "THE SUIT DID AND I COULDN'T FIGHT IT! IT DOESN'T NEED ME TO PILOT IT ANY MORE AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE UP AGAINST!"

"We can-"

"NO!" something in Petrol's tone changed and the war machine shifted its' weight, rearing up to its' full height and bracing itself "I think I know why they came to you….They know it's over for me, they know that there's nothing anybody can do. I bet you gave them all nice new identities and shipped them off to somewhere safe? This is a goodbye present….I COULDN'T STOP IT BEFORE, THIS THING RIPPED MY PEOPLE APART AND THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO! SO THIS TIME I'M NOT EVEN GONNA TRY AND STOP IT, I'M ALL IN AND I WANTED YOU DEAD ANYWAY!"

"Petrol don't do it! Astra's yell fell on deaf ears as Petrol's cackling, twisted form was hidden from view by the closing cockpit canopy; its' black surface a bottomless void deeper than its' physical properties should have allowed and from within that darkness glowing red lights, so similar to the eyes of a Creature of Grimm began to shine whilst the blades affixed the mechas' arms began to glow a blazing orange-red with the heat of Fire Dust which made the air shimmer around them. In that moment Astra's eyes darted from Professor Nora Ren to the faces of each of their own team and they realised that there was only one thing left to be done, orders leaving their lips in a furious bellow.

"HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"

Author's Notes:

And we have started the finale ladies, gentlemen and esteemed others….The next chapter is gonna be hell of a lot of fun for two reasons; firstly it's the big showdown we've been waiting for, secondly it's my fiftieth chapter of the year which is a goal I set for myself.
Chapters 91 and 92 are the last two chapters of Vol.05 and the last two chapters I'll be posting in 2022, I plan on spending the little wiggle room I've made for myself on planning out Vol.06 more fully and maybe working on a one-shot for something if I get chance and any ideas hit me.

But anyway, let's summarise shall we?
Just so you know, I was writing this on a week that I was having to wake up at 4am for work and that absolutely bled into my writing of the departure.
Astra and Felix are exactly the same about their cars' paint-jobs.
AJ continues to not be a morning person.
Seriously though, having to wake up early the next morning is shit, especially when there's people around you throwing parties.
So, the announcer for the tournament is Qrow + mystery guest, any guesses anyone?
I think the reason for not going by air makes perfect sense, air-dropping against Grimm usually works but people can just fire a rocket at you.
I just want you to take a minute to appreciate the sheer nerve of Astra here as well as just how clearly ride or die they are for Regalia….Nora clearly called shotgun there.
We know things like robot drivers exists but honestly little nuggets of information like "That's gonna give your company a really bad reputation, unless you're sending the shipment somewhere dangerous for people" just make the setting feel more lived in.
So the Cyber-Grimm don't nest or really do much of anything when they're not in use, they basically go into power-saving mode.
Albion living in the base makes a fair amount of sense….But also says a lot about his character, he's given up on trying to heal.
All of Nora's planning and detours to keep the enemy from knowing they're coming are of course made useless by the fact that there is a spy in the car literally sat next to her.
Nero was happy to let Mecha-Petrol kill whichever Hunter turned up at the warehouse now everything has been cleared out of it as a test of Aefen's new prototype; he was not expecting them to send Team MARZ though….Honestly writing it reminded of the one scene in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (The book, I haven't watched the show so I don't know if it was adapted) where Lyra turns up at Lord Asriel's door and his immediate reaction is "I didn't send for you!".
So Carmesi and Aefen know exactly what was done to Petrol, Albion and Zirconia didn't….But everyone is gonna see just how nasty Nero is willing to get.
When uncertain stall for time.
I dropped some hints about who would be taking care of the Spawning Pit, it's Flax Scarlatina, Velvet's baby brother who I made in the early chapters of The Downward Spiral back in 2016 and who has been a recurring character because he was so well received.
I had to find an excuse to put him in an academy transport, because his own Bull-Head 'The Jackrabbit' is second only to Penny's 'Pearl' and could easily handle Carmesi, the Cyber-Grimm and the pit from the air.
It hit me as I was writing that Stygian might have never actually seen Menagerie from the air and had likely only experienced a view really great views.
Of course Flax wanted a team of Velvet's students, younger sibling rules he's gotta dish the dirt out.
I had the whole discussion about the whys and hows of hitting the Spawning Pit because I do like comparing the "Watts" and "Doyle" explanations for things that happen in-universe, obviously we know that X has to happen to enable Y, but the characters also have to have their own solid rationale from their own viewpoint.
Flax has absolutely seen and used some horrible stuff before, as Team FADE can attest to.
I feel like I pace Zirconia's treacherous moments and wrap them up enough in good deeds and her own justifications that it always like a fresh backstab from someone you trusted whenever she does something to help Nero.
Look we all love Nora, she's great….But she would be absolutely terrible to share a long drive with, especially if you've got a headache and other shit on your mind as well.
They're outside of Neo Vale but still in the greater territory of New Vale, so things like Grimm sighting alerts being available on scroll apps makes perfect sense and I'm not sure if it something that exists in canon, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn it does or at least did when the CCT was in full operation.
And this is what I mean about Zirconia's backstabbing being wrapped up in good deeds….They were undeniably right to stop and help those people, especially given that there were Grimm closing in.
Hops absolutely melts whenever she sees AJ with kids and it's great.
Okay the civilians are absolutely allowed to be a little bit sceptical about this, Team MARZ have been on TV and are known as students….There is a qualified Hunter who has taken part in multiple world saving events deferring to kids here.
Good plan from Astra honestly, don't stop the repairs and let yourself get bogged down.
It's been so long since we saw Zirconia really do her thing that you could be forgiven for forgetting just how good she is...And also that her weapon announces its' attacks like an anime/tokusatsu special move.
I think Zirconia vastly overestimates how forgiving Astra is willing to be if she thinks they'd let shooting a wheel off of the pickup slide.
….But surely you didn't think that work right?
Welcome to the jungle.
I threw in a callback to The Downward Spiral with the Disemboweller Grimm last chapter, so naturally I decided to double down and add another little beastie from the same part of the story here with the Spider-Monkeys….Horrific little bastards.
There's not really much to say about how the individual fights with the Grimm went other than I had fun writing them and imagining how each of these students would tackle the problem of small, mobile Grimm that swarm.
Flax is also absolutely right though, Rye's Semblance would be a death wish near the Pit itself; it would accidentally cause it to spawn anything from a fresh swarm of Spider-Monkeys up to Grimm Godzilla.
But now….Now the fun begins.
Did I let the build up on Carmesi's end go for too long? I could probably have just done a straight up transition by changing perspective from one side of the Pit to the other but I feel like the scene would have been too short then.
The Cyber-Grimm behaving off-key around natural Grimm, or at least a Spawning Pit is interesting.
Carmesi is good, he basically just tricked Flax and Team TRQS into a sniper's duel there and won it straight away, they gave away their position and got themselves fired on for it.
He doesn't want to kill students….But he'll do it, Carmesi in a nutshell; he will do whatever he needs to.
The assumption that it was more gang members that fired the lasers makes perfect sense.
But now, now we have something fun….Team TRQS are the first heroes to actually see the Cyber-Grimm; which means that if they get away then Qrow and co will finally have confirmation of what the Benefactor/Nero has been doing; this is now a very high stakes fight.
Honestly the fact that its' broad daylight outside of the warehouse almost makes what's coming next worse; horror movie shit like this is only mean to happen at night lol.
There's a little more of the 'lived in world' thing here, 'cos a settlement big enough to have an old shut down warehouse and have its' own outskirts would absolutely have its' own police and a few Hunters stationed there, so having the team make a point of checking in with the local authorities to set up roadblocks and keep anyone from getting involved explains why they're not gonna show up….Whilst also showing that Zirconia continued to try and stall her team without showing her hand.
And in a further display of actually thinking before they act the team put Regalia's Semblance to work.
Reach and resources, Nora didn't say it but she knows that it's a possibility that the local police and government are in the Benefactor's pocket and that they were made they moment they entered town.
Yeah if you storm the building where you know that the enemy is hiding and you can't see them….Look up.
Zirconia's plan would have been a good idea, if it weren't for the fact that she was using it to help the other side.
And now we finally get the moment we've been waiting for; Petrol and Astra face to face again, the reveal of what the Benefactor has done to him and even with all of the obligatory hero talk about getting him help and working together to stop the people responsible we all knew that there was only one way this could end….This is the final showdown for Petrol; we all know he's done for, the question is just how bad it's going to be and what's going to happen when his 'Co-Pilot' goes online.

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