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

127. Roaming (Vol08)

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 127: Roaming

Several days had now passed since the events that were still being referred to as the 'Doom of Pikesreach' by a media that had somehow managed to learn of it, through means Coco Adel was uncertain of but at this point in her career simply accepted as inevitable and spread the story of a settlement, one that was on the island of Menagerie and yet outside of its' borders to the whole of Remnant.

And somehow this was amongst the least of Coco's concerns.

Given that she was no longer the Councilwoman for the city of Port Alistair and was only a member of Menagerie's ruling Council through her position as the head of Breaktide Academy she had less official reason to dabble in politics and care about matters such as optics beyond how a Kingdom wide panic might draw the Creatures of Grimm; unofficially however Coco, along with her allies had been carefully managing the way that the story was portrayed in the media, deciding to use Nero's prior tactic of subtly controlling the narrative without ever explicitly or provably lying against him whilst also using more direct and blunt methods to ensure that certain information was kept contained by a level of security clearance that was fitting. The end result of this had been that any mention of exactly what Aefen Cruor had been working on had been buried to such an extent that it could not be used to drum up panic and hysteria and nor could be used to give inspiration to others with similarly twisted views and goals, what had been stressed to the public however was that Pikesreach's status as an independent settlement and lack of contact with the outside world had been exploited and that the place had been taken hostage, only to then be destroyed by the works of an exiled and censured scientist in the employ of Damascus Nero, a woman who had in fact been at the heart of the former chairman's Cyber-Grimm initiative; it had also been stressed that despite the settlements' isolation help had come in the form of Coco herself and a team of students who had been conducting a training mission in the area and that many lives had been saved, thus going some way to combat the lingering hostility that had been almost palpable in the air ever since Nero's broadcast some months ago.

It was a small sense of victory that was swallowed almost entirely by the vastness of what still needed to be done and Coco found herself nearly crumpling under the weight of her responsibilities as she sat, once again at the desk in her office, perking up only slightly at the sound of the door opening to reveal Ruby Rose, who made her way across the office without preamble.

"Good to see you're up and about again" Coco greeted her.

"If I was up and about sooner then maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess" Ruby answered as she strode to the seat beside Coco's, her customary spot in meetings between the shadowy cabal of Remnant's secret protectors; mitigating her unintentionally biting comment by reaching under the iconic, if somewhat tattered cape to produce freshly baked cookies and a fresh supply of coffee "Made these at home….And Velvet said you were probably running low in your office"

"Thank you" Coco nodded tiredly, gratefully accepting the gift whilst struggling against the same weariness that had haunted her since Pikesreach; her injuries had healed and left little more than a faint scar around her eyebrow which would be largely hidden by the new pair of sunglasses that Velvet was already working on for her, in the meantime the headmistress had a more mundane pair of tinted accessories and a new beret to replace what had been lost. Beyond the physical however Coco had simply been exhausted by trying to process the sheer scale of what her enemies seemed willing to do, to say nothing of the toll it had exacted on them; Team MARS's disappearance had been detected before the end of the Saturday but in the intervening days the four students had not resurfaced anywhere on the island Kingdom and whilst Ruby was not openly blaming Coco for their actions it was clear the caped Huntress was clearly distressed by the actions of her niece and her team-mates.

Coco however was perfectly capable of placing the weight of Remnant on her shoulders and blaming herself enough for the both of them.

Before she could continue to wallow however the reason for Ruby's arrival and choice of seat beside Coco rather than opposite her became clear, a conference call beginning as the office was surreptitiously locked down to prevent any students from hearing things that they should not. In the next moment the computer screen had been taken up by multiple video feeds which showed the faces of Lie Ren in his own office at Halo Academy, Winter Schnee who was clearly aboard her flagship rather than Atlas Academy and the blonde, but greying and familiar features of Antonia Arc.

"I presume that we're all working on limited time due to our schedules?" Winter began, eyes darting from one video feed to another to receive silent confirmation before she pressed on with an effort at her usual detached coolness "Good, then does anybody else have anything to report?"

"Our efforts to mitigate the fall of Pikesreach's effect in terms of overall morale is ongoing, but seemingly effective" Coco began, seeing Ren shake his head to clarify that there were no noteworthy developments in Neo Vale and with Ruby silently offering her support beside her she pressed on "We've been speaking with those who survived Aefen's work and whilst we don't yet know where Nero's forces took the people they planned to train as fighters we do know that it is the same place Nero himself is operating from and also that everything Aefen Cruor did to their home was outside of what Nero promised them….We can use that, once we've found him we can have his forces turn on him by telling them how he destroyed their home and left their families to die"

"We've also begun work on rehousing the people from Pikesreach and helping those who want it reconnect with their old lives, whilst at the same time getting the kids into schools with the help of Cornflower Blue….And a lot of the Kingdoms' resources" Ruby chimed in, her own eye narrowing whilst her cybernetic implant whirred as it matched the gesture; her discomfort and distaste at the idea that the people of Pikesreach who had lost so much being simply as useful rather than as people who had lost everything and needed to be helped simply because of borders and legislation and pointless details such as who paid tax to whom being fully understood and appreciated by her peers.

"That's something at least" Winter managed a faint ghost of a smile before the sound of her cybernetic leg, replaced from the knee down after she had needed to be cut free from the wreckage of a downed airship by her then first mate filled the calls' audio and prompted Antonia Arc to speak; the heir to Professor Polendina's work, eldest Arc sibling and woman whom Penny considered a sister of sorts cleared her throat and spoke up

"We've continued work on examining the Cyber-Grimm, there was wreckage of at least one variant we haven't encountered before and signs of several new methods of repair and modification, which shows that a lot of the work being done on these things in the field is slapdash and that we might actually be able to reach a point where we have soldiers and Hunters better trained and equipped to deal with Cyber-Grimm than their operators are to deal with them" Antonia's confident smile wavered for a moment before she continued

"The problem is finding anything pertaining to the….Abomination, you called it? At the moment I can only create extremely basic models and predictions based on very limited information given that I don't have any specimens to hand over to Winter's scientists to examine the Grimm or biological components and any computers that were salvaged from Pikesreach were heavily damaged and it's clear that vast amounts of data and equipment is completely absent-"

"Specialist Xiao Long noted that Grimm attacked the settlement in a second wave following the initial battle and that more damage was done" Winter murmured "In addition to visual reports of Gestalt-Prime actively taking equipment from Aefen's labs when retreating this isn't surprising….Although it does point to something, maybe a lack or resources or repeatability on Nero's end-"

"But it does still feel like we're fighting a losing battle doesn't it?" Coco asked, the question hanging in the air for several seconds and receiving no answer at all, somehow more damning than an agreement. Breaking the silence Ruby spoke up, forgoing the usual distance Winter kept even with close friends and confidants when handling such sensitive matters to address the topic of their shared nieces.

"Did Corey….Specialist Xiao Long find any sign of Team MARS; of AJ and her team?"

"Not yet" Winter's expression hardened and became unreadable as the General tried to parse her own conflicting feelings towards the actions of the team who had been trained for a more active role in the safety of Remnant and had clearly decided to take matters into their own hands "But if they're doing what we think they are then they will be apprehended"

"You make it sound like they're criminals" Ren noted.

"They're insubordinate" Winter countered fairly, earning herself a snort from every other member of the video call as each of them remembered their own actions throughout the course of the war against Salem.

"Either way" Ruby allowed sadness and a deep worry to soak into her words which even Winter's hardness could not endure, especially not when at her core she was similarly troubled "Tell Corey to keep an ear out while she's on the island….AJ looks up to her older cousins, Corvid is Felix's big sister so Astra might reach out. They think they're doing the right thing, just stop 'em from getting themselves killed"

"Of course. I'll leave the matter of discipling her students to Coco" Winter nodded, Coco's response to that was simply to work out a crick in her neck and allow herself a savage expression; partway between a grimace at the memory of her last conversation with both Weiss and Gangrel Slate and a feral smile at the thought of finding her absentee students who had made such a conversation necessary.

"And if your Specialists find Team MARS" Coco breathed out, knuckles popping "Tell 'em from me that they're fucked"

---

Team MARS, despite their original intentions had not made their way directly to the ruins of Pikesreach to search and investigate the destroyed settlement.

Instead the four of them had realised, shortly after departing from Port Alistair that despite the resources they had acquired from Breaktide Academy they were not in fact ready for the prolonged endeavour their search for Damascus Nero and his allies might prove to be, especially if their efforts saw them operating in the wastelands of Menagerie beyond its' towns and villages. To counter the problems this reality presented they had first ventured to a small and unremarkable service station located on one of the roads which intersected the barren expanse and particularly a route which, whilst far from a backwater nowhere did not lead immediately to any of Menagerie's largest settlements; once their Athena-Jade had withdrawn a sizeable about of Lien, ensuring that the team had enough physical currency on their purpose to ensure that none of them had to use their bank cards for some time; given that Team MARS was now likely being searched for by Hunters acting on behalf of their academy, to say nothing of what Athena's parents might be doing or any hidden assets that Nero himself might have within financial institutions it had seemed prudent to plan ahead.

From there they had spent several days moving almost aimlessly, largely to ensure that they had not been followed or drawn unwanted attention whilst at the same time patrolling a perimeter throughout the wasteland surrounding Pikesreach's outer territory that had seemed so wide as to be functionally useless; what this had done however was allow Team MARS to fulfil their role as Hunters by tackling any encroaching Creatures of Grimm that might harass nearby travellers and at the same time allowing them to blend in with those same travellers as they searched for any indication that Nero's forces had scouts waiting in the area in the hopes of recovering anything of value from Pikesreach. More importantly however it allowed them to keep abreast of the Atlesian airship which had hung in the air above Pikesreach, serving as a stark deterrent whilst joint forces from Menagerie and the icy Kingdom conducted their own search.

After several days however the airship had retreated, likely falling back to a larger settlement with the facilities to accommodate it and Team MARS had taken the opportunity to draw closer to Pikesreach.

Only to be forced to a halt by a pack of Beowolves that had seemingly similar intentions.

"Well at least we know we're not getting sloppy even if we're not going to class!" Astra noted, the Deer Faunus's voice oddly cheery now that they were free to properly exert themselves and feel that they were achieving something even if it proved to be irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. They fought with only the blades and shields of Buckshot Ares, along with their own skill and strength after deciding to forego their guns and Hard-Light shield generators in an effort to conserve their resources and yet as the next group of monsters came at them, a cluster of four Beowolves all snapping and clawing it was clear that it made little difference at all. The first of the pounced and Astra pivoted whilst throwing themselves to the right, driving their left forearm-mounted blade through the beasts' midsection whilst it was still mid-leap and then following up by targeting another Grimm as it surged towards them in an effort to bite at their legs, a crescent kick seeing the thing driven into the ground with its' skull cracked and Astra's right blade piercing its' neck a moment later. The remaining pair of lupine monsters were immediately forced onto the defensive, with all of their ferocity of a moment ago forgotten as the Deer Faunus pressed the advantage by using the low, crouched position they had dropped into dispatch the last Grimm to launch a spinning leg-sweep and then a back-handed spinning slash to corral the two Grimm together and then a leaping, spinning roundhouse kick to the snout of the nearest Beowolf to drive it bodily into its' pack-mate which allowed Astra to spring forward and drive both of their blades home and skewer both monsters at once.

"I'm sure Professor Altan will be appreciate that if we ever see her again" Athena-Jade was the one to call out an answer to Astra's original joking remark; finding something understandably sad about such a sense of finality now that their time as student Hunters was, one way or another behind them. The Grimm allowed little time for self pity however and they came hurtling at the smallest member of Team MARS from all sides only to be violently disabused of any notions of an easy kill as the Bear Faunus readied Heartbreaker in its' recently unveiled hammer mode; first stepping up onto a Glyph she conjured before and raising the weapon for an attack and at the same time using the collapsed blade of its' sword-mode to open the belly of a Beowolf that had pounced from behind then using her raised position to somersault to the ground and shatter the already cracked and scorched earth with her hammer. The result was that Beowolves were flung into the air and left defenceless as Athena swung Heartbreaker mercilessly through each of them until only a single Grimm remained, at that point she shifted the weapon into its' sword mode and rushed forwards to meet its' berserk and savage charge, countering by performing one of the acrobatic and cartwheeling kicks her fighting style was based around and in turn staggering the Grimm enough for her sword to bisect it cleanly at the bottom rib with a single slash.

"Not to rush anybody, but can we pick up the pace a little bit guys?" Stygian's request was delivered with a faintly watery, oddly rippling tone to his words as he used his Semblance several times within the short sentence with results which gave both Astra and Athena-Jade pause as they watched the Mouse Faunus visit death and obliteration on the Beowolves with a ridiculous speed and efficiency; disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye to sever limbs, piece skulls and carve through chests without bothering to imbue the blade of Sharp Cheese with any blade at all and instead relying on simple timing and skill to cut through the Grimm until the area in which he had been fighting was enveloped in a fine, ebony fog. Astra, planning to oblige his team-mate had intended to turn and call out to their own partner for assistance only to be pre-empted as Regalia disposed of the remainder of the Beowolf pack in her own way.

Her assault being announced by the screaming and yet throaty roar of Clunker being used as a weapon.

Astra could watch, torn between the urge to laugh madly and simply admire their partners' brilliance as the Racoon Faunus came tearing through the last of the pack of Grimm and fired the harpoon of Apex Scavenger into one of their number, following up by using Lightning Dust to electrify the lupine and beast and then promptly drag her jetbike into a sharp and spiralling turn which saw her swinging the howling and charged monster directly into its' pack-mates with incredibly effective results. When only the Beowolf she had originally impaled remained the Racoon Faunus leapt from the seat of Clunker, hooded poncho flying dramatically out around her as though it were a cape as she withdrew her harpoon and shifted Apex Scavenger into its' melee form to delivery a brilliantly placed strike which saw the shaft of the weapon slap the Grimm's claws aside right before the pickaxe-head was driven through a glowing eye socket.

"Heh, use your karate chop action!" Regalia chuckled, quoting a children's movie as she holstered her weapon and killed Clunker's engine for a moment before making her way over to where Team MARS were regrouping with an exaggerated swagger so reminiscent of Astra's own that for a moment the Deer Faunus wondered if she were deliberately teasing them, all whilst being slightly distracted by the movement until they focused.

"Regalia, can you use your Semblance before we head any closer to Pikesreach?" they asked "I wanna see if you can find a lead for us and maybe make things easier?"

"Heh, no problem" without further ado she lowered her goggles and silently gestured to Astra that she needed a vantage point which was provided by the Deer Faunus lifting their girlfriend and partner up so that she could balance on their shoulders; something which Athena and Stygian shared a glance at the sight of, both of them debating the merits of commenting that one of Athena's Glyphs might serve better. For a few moments Astra turned slowly, giving Regalia a wider angle to search until, without warning the Racoon Faunus hopped down to the ground, raising her goggles so that she could rub at her eyes and blink rapidly with obvious discomfort.

"Awww nuts….That's never happened before, it itches, kinda stings and burns"

"Shit what happened, are you okay?" Astra demanded, already opening their water bottle to flush out whatever had caused the problem if needs be until Regalia gestured for her friends to give her space whilst she regained her equilibrium.

"Heh, that was weird" she finally breathed out, her stiff and twitching tail and wringing hands betraying the airiness and calm she tried to speak with "I had something for a second, a signal way, way over that way….But then it just vanished, like completely vanished and it caused a weird backlash; like I said that's never happened before"

"You okay?" Astra asked, whilst Athena and Stygian considered the information they had been given with Stygian being the first to speak.

"That's not where Pikesreach is….It's completely the wrong direction" there was clear concern in the Mouse Faunus's voice.

"Do you have an idea of how far, roughly?"

"Not without a better reference point" Regalia admitted "But with how faint Look-Sees' beacon was, I'd say probably half a day's drive at least, probably further"

There were several seconds of tense silence as each of them considered what the oddity could mean and how best to respond to it before Astra spoke.

"Okay, we don't know enough about what Regalia saw or why it vanished to chase after it….We're this close to Pikesreach, there's no point in leaving now" they looked around and saw their friends' agreement before adding

"So what we should do is stop by where we deployed with Professor Adel and clear out the base camp we made for the mission because nobody actually picked that up. Then we head to Pikesreach and see if we can find anything that whoever was in charge of searching the place missed, because we actually have the advantage of having a local with us….If you're up to this?"

"Yeah" Stygian nodded, seeing the eyes of his friends upon him and answering Athena's worried expression with a faint smile "It's gonna be rough but not as bad as the last time we were here right….Gonna say my goodbyes to the place"

"Cool" Astra nodded solemnly, unsure of how to react to a situation that Stygian himself was clearly uncertain how to feel about.

"Can you take shotgun while we drive in?" the Deer Faunus added quickly "You know the places' defences and I don't wanna drive over a landmine or something"

That Stygian didn't laugh at the attempt at a joke made Astra realise that such a thing was in fact highly likely.

---

Jidhir Town was, as ever filled with a ceaseless bustle of activity wherein each of the various members of Nero's faction, be the former criminals, defected members of a Kingdoms' defence forces, enamoured conspiracy theorists or simply people who had been disillusioned with the reality of the Kingdoms and the state of Remnant and found themselves drifting towards an alternative and ensnared by the possibility of being a part of something greater than themselves took part in the various tasks required of them. One small change that Zirconia found easy enough to spot from her current vantage point however was that those members of the Path of the Apex Being who had not been present in Pikesreach to join Aefen in her activities had been ostracised and effectively cut away from the other sub-factions within the still-growing group and left somewhat rudderless in the absence of their High Speaker, the knowledge that it had been her own work that had caused her demise having been a clear blow to their morale and sense of direction which was only exacerbated by the sight of those who had sided with Aefen and taken part in her treachery by led around in chains and watched over by armed guards.

Another difference from recent days was a sense of tension which seemed to permeate the air, though Zirconia supposed that this was only a temporary predicament, one caused by the current situation.

"Perhaps I do spend too much time aboard the ship" Nero mused, causing Zirconia to give him a quizzical look from her position at his right hand and though he didn't turn to see the expression he seemed to sense it nonetheless, quickly adding "I will never be like our enemies, not like those that follow Branwen or Ozpin and Goodwitch before him to manipulate from the shadows, or the Hunters at Pikesreach who lived like Kings….But here, looking out at my domain as it were; I think I can almost understand what goes through their minds"

"What goes through your mind will be a bullet from a sniper if we stay out in the open whilst our defences are down" Zirconia rasped arms folding across her chest in a display that she had hoped would appear stern and commanding, only to come across as something closer to petulance. In response Nero turned to face her, whatever retort he had planned to offer being decided against as he took in the sight of her. The pair had taken up a position atop one of the tallest buildings in Jidhir Town, a dubious honour at best given how much of the settlement had gone unfinished though it was still a position from which much of the base of operations, which had become almost entirely self-sustaining could be seen; particularly Nero's ship which at present gleamed in the sunlight with the various sheets that usually kept it hidden from view being removed, that same harsh and glaring sun however also gleamed against the armour Zirconia wore and make every small scratch and dent in the insect-headed shoulder pauldrons and her ridged, stylised body armour look more prominent whilst also highlighting the scars Athena-Jade had left her with.

Taking in the sight of his adopted daughter and truly taking in how weary she looked in the wake of everything she had endured left a sudden lump in the man's throat as he reached out to cup her scarred and bony cheek.

"I really have asked to much of you haven't I?….I can see the toll it's taken" he managed a smile, faintly lopsided owing to his own facial scars as he attempted to lighten the mood with a joke "You almost sounded like Carmesi"

Zirconia couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at that despite herself, yet before she could answer and, some small desperately optimistic part of herself hoped, begin a conversation with Damascus that might make him see just how dangerous his plans were the two of them were interrupted; none other than Carmesi Hueso himself leading the way as a small gaggle of rugged, weather-beaten engineers, armed soldiers whose movements and body language spoke of hard-earned experience and nervous, fidgeting scientists who appeared uniformly frail and unwell when contrasted to the people around them and some of whom were clearly little more than students, as was evidenced by their acne-ridden teenage skin.

"Ah Carmesi, we were just talking about you!" Nero exclaimed, clearly far less bothered by the interruption than Zirconia and allowing himself a small smirk at the vague confusion that flashed across the Komodo Dragon Faunus's blunt features and crimson eyes before pushing onwards "You have an update on our status for me?"

"I do" the burly, shirtless Faunus looked to one of the scientists only to realise that the person in question was far too intimidated to speak and so, shaking his head in annoyance Carmesi spoke on his behalf

"By all accounts it seems that the Megalodon Project will work….Even without Aefen, probably more efficiently and more safely without her backstabbing; but it will likely take a few days at least"

"Of course, do explain to Gestalt-Prime that should they injure themselves or waste any Cyber-Grimm during the interim they might not find aid so easy to come by" Nero's tone hardened and that and Zirconia found her mismatched eyes darting from him to Carmesi, who she saw gave an approving nod at coldness and harsh demeanour being afforded to the Alpha Cyber-Grimm. Scanning the rooftops Zirconia quickly found Gestalt-Prime skulking in the distance, closer to the perimeter defences which were being given extra protection whilst Jidhir Town was temporarily vulnerable, clear discolourations in the monsters' armoured form marking where new pieces had been added to replace what had been torn from them in retribution for their actions.

"Of course" Carmesi rumbled out, showing jagged teeth as he smiled and bringing Zirconia's focus back to the conversation.

"And our cloaking field?"

"Is already operational at a limited capacity, out protections will be back in full effect within two hours" the reptilian Faunus answered readily, having clearly expected the question. The Megalodon Project, whatever it might be had for reasons that Zirconia was yet to be made privy to involved briefly disabling some of the most important parts of Jidhir Town's defences; amongst them were the Forge from which Cyber-Grimm were mass produced and also the stealth capabilities afforded by Nero's own airship and the parts taken from other vessels which members of their group had arrived to Menagerie aboard in their initial exodus, such capabilities allowed Jidhir Town to be masked from everything but direct and naked eyesight to such a degree that even if the Kingdom of Menagerie managed to reactivate Hammerfall Outpost in the near future they would likely still be safe, to say nothing of the fields' ability to mask the settlement from the attention of the Creatures of Grimm, along with any number of Semblances that might be used to find the place.

Unbeknownst to all of them they had been only moments away from a disaster and elsewhere on the island Regalia Russet might have been able to better pinpoint their location if they had not reactivated their defences when they did.

"Excellent news, I'm sure that the guards will enjoy being told that they don't have to perform extra duties for the foreseeable future" Nero answered, hands clasping behind his back as he nodded to Carmesi in what the Komodo Dragon Faunus understood to be a dismissal and a request to go and relay that message, taking the various people who had accompanied him away as well. It took only a matter of moments, though Zirconia waited a while longer to be sure that she and Nero were free to talk without being overheard before cocking her head slightly

"You never did explain, not fully why we needed to turn of the stealth capabilities of your ship….Having stealth capabilities was one of its' main selling points from what I recall?"

"Very true, but the engineering teams needed to work on several key components of the airship and work with the scientists to ensure that one of the next stages of our plans is truly viable….Unfortunately Aefen performed much less actual research and development than I would have liked. We're ahead in certain areas and behind in others, though it seems we can recover easily enough and that there were no complications"

"The Megalodon Project?" Zirconia asked, the vague and yet all too obvious question causing Nero to pause and consider his words carefully for a moment, in turn allowing Zirconia to take a deep breath and simply allow a moment of rare peacefulness and enjoy the feeling of warm sunlight on her face after spending so long wearing a mask.

"We will be headed to Atlas in the near future, that much is obvious" Nero began "We need the Aura Transfer Machine that the Atlesians have and whilst I don't know exactly where they've hidden it yet, there are only so many options available to them and there is only so long they can deny my efforts. We will need to be ready to move as soon as we have a location, before they have chance to bolster the defences or relocate it"

"But the Atlesian fleet!" Zirconia exclaimed, even at the height of his political and social power with the entirety of his conglomerate and the various companies within it; the idea that Nero could have waged a meaningful campaign against the Atlesian military in a head on conflict was laughable, almost as absurd as the idea that the Atlesians would simply stand aside and allow Nero to take what he needed from them.

"Indeed" the former chairman beamed, quartz coloured eyes gleaming "Our two main issues are that we are vastly outclassed in terms of raw power and also that, whilst we can instal the facilities to create Cyber-Grimm wherever we need to relocating away from Jidhir Town would still mean abandoning a considerable amount of resources….The Megalodon project aids us on both fronts"

"How?" Zirconia asked, intrigued if somewhat annoyed by the answer which had failed to explain anything; only for her chest to seize up with shock and a cold, creeping panic as Nero gestured towards the ship which was already being covered over to ensure that it was not seen by the naked eye once again and gave the Grasshopper Faunus a wide smile.

"Some very extensive modifications"

---

The sun had slipped passed its' zenith though nightfall and the freezing. Shrieking winds that came with it were still several hours away as Team MARS trudged through the ruins of Pikesreach.

As planned the team had first made their way to the location of their abandoned base camp and found that it had, fortunately and somewhat surprisingly remained untouched, though wind had done some small amount of damage and coated everything with a layer of dust and grit so severe that there had been some discussion as to whether certain items were worth taking before the four of them had ultimately agreed upon what was useful enough to take, either directly or for the fact that it could be sold or traded; a process which the rest of Team MARS had expected Regalia to be a tremendous help with and yet were still caught somewhat off-guard upon experiencing first-hand after knowing the Racoon Faunus almost exclusively through her time within the Kingdoms.

With their detour made and more resources for their ongoing, self-appointed mission acquired Team MARS had then ventured towards Pikesreach itself, with a hush falling over them and an unmistakable tension beginning to fill Astra's pickup truck as they drew closer and each of the four Faunus found their thoughts drifting uncomfortably but inexorably towards the violent chaos that had been waiting for them during their last visit to the destroyed settlement, specifically the emotional upheaval of facing off against their former comrade once again and the sheer horror of the Abomination and everything it had wrought, from the death of Aefen Cruor before their eyes to the infection and mutation of those caught in its' path.

Stygian had, understandably been the most visibly affected by their return, the Mouse Faunus pulling his hood over his head and falling into a heavy silence with his electric blue eyes hard and expression unreadable. Whilst he had taken Regalia's usual spot in the passengers' seat and promised to Astra that he would steer on them on a safe course through the hidden layers of defence around his former home it had become quickly apparent that his efforts were not needed and he found himself explaining to his team-mates as they drew close to the main entrance, a part of Pikesreach that Team MARS had foregone during their recon mission that many of the traps had been removed, either through usage or after being disarmed by whatever Hunters and other forces had been keeping watch over the ruins.

Once the four of them were inside and certain that their vehicles would be safe if left unattended Team MARS had split up with the intention of searching the settlement for any clues that might have been left behind and gone undetected thus far, anything that might point to where Gestalt-Prime had led the Cyber-Grimm and cultists that followed them when they fled or any scrap of paperwork that might indicate what Damascus Nero intended to do with the dreadful new weapon in his possession. Stygian however had taken a less active part in the searching than his friends and had instead used the opportunity to wander through the gutted and burned remains of his childhood home town and pay his respects to those who had fallen in the closest approximation to what had become their custom that he could manage given the circumstances; with Pikesreach's cultural beliefs being a unique melding of those taken from each of the Kingdoms its' inhabitants had originally hailed from, though merged and integrated in a more unified way than settlements that were part of Menagerie as a whole simply through the crucible of isolation.

It was towards the end of this practice that Athena-Jade found him.

"Hey" she whispered gently, placing a hand on her partners' shoulder as he knelt before the remains of a building that had clearly taken the brunt of several laser weapons.

"Hey" Stygian croaked out, voice shaky and cracking in the wake of emotions that the Mouse Faunus had finally allowed himself to feel more fully once he had the privacy to do so.

"Am I interrupting?" Athena asked, her tone giving Stygian the impression that if he were to ask her to do so then she would leave him be without another word, though she would certainly be deeply worried about him until he chose to open up. Not wanting to worry her the dark-skinned and tattooed young man reached up and took the hand she had placed on his shoulder, ostensibly using it to pull himself into a standing position but choosing to maintain the contact after he rose to his feet in a display which left the two partners looking determinedly away from one another and instead at the heavily damaged building.

"I said my goodbyes and gave the best attempt at last rites I could….But it's hard y'know" Stygian tipped his head back and allowed his eyes to drift closed for a moment before he found the words to explain himself "They're people that I've known since I was a baby, I had plenty of good memories here but there's a lot of bad as well; everyone here was complicit in the way the Hunters who used to control Pikesreach treated my Mum….I don't know who died fighting against Nero's people, who got caught in the crossfire and who was willingly working with them….Shit, I can't even say goodbyes individually because I don't even know who actually made it out and who didn't"

"Oh my gosh" Athena gasped, that particularly realisation from her partner hitting her in a visceral way that left her staring at him with fresh worry and squeezing his hand more tightly "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah" he nodded, sniffling and blinking away tears that had begun to fill his eyes before nodding at the destroyed home Athena had found him in front of "This was home"

"Oh…." Athena trailed off, taking in the destruction and feeling her stomach drop and her heart ache for her partner; the Bear Faunus knew that Schnee Manor had been attacked once in the first war against Salem however that had been long before her birth and every trace of the violation of her families' home had been stripped away completely and as such she had no real frame of reference beyond a gut-wrenching sorrow.

"I'd ask you if you wanted to come inside and have a look around" Stygian managed a watery chuckle before letting go of Athena's hand to give a defeated gesture in the general direction of his childhood home "But I'm not sure if the roof will stay up if I try to open the door"

"Stitch" the moment the had the nickname left her mouth Athena had acted on instinct, conjuring a Glyph which lay horizontally so that she could stand on its' surface and give Stygian an impossibly tight hug from a more workable height which the Mouse Faunus returned and all but melted into. After the two of them had remained like that for an amount of time that likely felt far longer than it truthfully was and at the same time felt entirely too brief Stygian pulled back and adjusted his hair and jacket slightly in an effort to seem nonchalant.

"Did you find anything?" he asked, hopeful but already bracing himself.

"No" Athena shook her head "Sorry….But I think we all knew it was gonna be a bust when Regalia's Semblance couldn't pick up anything here right? Wanna check in with her and Astra?"

"Sure" he nodded and soon the two of them were crossing Pikesreach, with Stygian pointing certain buildings and giving a bittersweet commentary on what they had been up until only a few short days ago and sharing memories he associated with them; the two partners walking close enough that they brushed against one another though neither of them made any effort to clasp their partners' hand again until eventually they found where Astra and Regalia had been conducting their own search, clearly having alternated between manually scouring the wreckage and ruins and using Regalia's Semblance whilst Astra provided cover, balance and an extra pair of hands.

"Find anything?" Stygian asked without preamble, calling out to them to announce his presence.

"Nothing man, sorry" Astra shook their head and traipsed over towards the Mouse Faunus with Regalia close behind, effectively signalling the end of the search.

"It was a long shot anyway" Stygian shrugged, forcing himself to make some semblance of peace with the situation "Let's hope that those Hunters found something and manage to put it to good use, you said their ship was Atlesian right?"

"Definitely Atlesian….So whatever Hunters were on the ship know my Aunt Winter, I don't want to get caught by them" Athena noted from beside Stygian, clearly deeply uneasy at the thought of being caught and questioned by Atlesian Hunters who would almost certainly see Team MARS's actions as interference and report back to both General Schnee and Coco Adel.

"So what's the plan now?" Regalia asked with as much tact as she could muster, purple eyes darting around "We've got a few hours until nightfall but we should figure out where we're going or where we're staying with enough time to get there….We're not staying here right?"

"No" Stygian answered before Astra could, vetoing any possible suggestions that Pikesreach's defences were in tact enough to be useful and that the ruins would make passable shelter for the night now that it was obvious that there were no lingering traces of the Grimm spores that the Abomination had spread. Astra, clearly understanding Stygian's position nodded silently as they considered the question of the teams' next move for a moment before speaking.

"Okay, we're heading out….Stitch, I hate asking this but how do you feel about us scavenging here?"

"Take what you need from the perimeter guns and the store houses, I'll show you where they are" the Mouse Faunus swallowed thickly "Not the houses though, it feels like grave-robbing"

"Agreed" Regalia nodded emphatically, having no connection to Pikesreach itself but having been raised by scavenging nomads whose rules and customs dictated strictly when scavenging became looting and desecration "We won't take anything we don't need"

"What do we need?" Athena asked with some confusion, unsure of what exactly the team could be wanting for until she saw a calculating gleam in Astra's sea green eyes "What's the plan?"

"I'm thinking we head towards the nearest settlement….We're a long drive away from anywhere right now but I'm thinking maybe some of the people who ran didn't go back to where Nero is"

Astra paused and searched their friends' expressions to ensure they were still following their logic "When we came here it was a fight between two factions of Nero's people right? So maybe a few people decided that heading back to wherever Nero and Carmesi are is a bad idea….We show up to the nearest settlement with something to sell and trade and maybe people start talking to us about the last new faces to pass through"

"Who're we selling ammo for perimeter guns to?" Athena arched a questioning eyebrow at that.

"No gangs, nobody who's going to hurt people with them" Regalia insisted, giving her partner an intense stare which Astra would have buckled under even if they had not already agreed with her.

"We're not turning into arms dealers" they assured their friends "And we're not selling to the mob or bandits….With Hammerfall Outpost gone everyone travelling through the wastes is in more danger, I'm guessing that a lot of the land-train drivers are gonna want some guns on their rigs"

"It's a plan" Stygian murmured, visibly glad to have a plan that would allow him to move on from the ghost town that Pikesreach had been reduced to "It's not much to go on, but if it's all we've got then we'll take it"

"Exactly" Astra sighed and with that Team MARS collectively lurched into action once again, preparing to take whatever might still be of use to them from Pikesreach before departing.

Each of them wishing that their trip to the settlement had been more fruitful.

---

Pantheon's war against all that was not Grimm and against the would-be usurper Gestalt-Prime had continued whilst the forces of the Grimm-General were yet to land a decisive blow that would serve as a death-knell for their enemies they had turned their hordes of monsters loose to savage the island of Menagerie and all who dwelled on it with reckless abandon.

Even sat upon their throne, once again connected to Synapse Grimm through it and with their consciousness far removed from their physical form so that it could traverse the Hive-Mind of the Grimm, Pantheon contemplated the larger situation as they watched events unfold.

Gestalt-Prime and the humans that had allied themselves with the upstart to create all manner of abominations had fled Pikesreach and had remained hidden, this much was evident from the behaviour of the Hunters as the scoured and patrolled across the island, with Corvid Xiao Long; the Huntress who had been something of a thorn in Pantheon's side and whose inevitable ending the Grimm General would relish being amongst them. It was clear to see that the Hunters were searching for the same foe as Pantheon themselves, as evidenced by the way they greedily and fanatically collected every trace of what Gestalt-Prime and their allies had created; problems arose however when the humans continued to act as though there were no differences between the true, natural Creatures of Grimm and the abhorrent creations of Gestalt-Prime, attacking both factions of the schism with equal fury and continuing to inadvertently play into Gestalt-Prime's hands with every Spawning Pit they destroyed and every pack of Grimm that was gunned down before it could scent out their shared enemy.

The idea of allying themselves with humans as Salem had once done and as the upstart they hunted continued to do was anathema to Pantheon however and the notion of sending an emissary to the Kingdom of Menagerie never occurred to the Grimm General, who instead chose to act with a cunning and ferocity more in keeping with their true nature.

Spawning Pits had been destroyed, however more had been made and many of those abyssal pools of living darkness had been fortified to various extents and made greater than if they had been allowed to grow and develop naturally; this gave Pantheon a sturdy basis from which to work and they had allowed their focus to drift form the rest of Remnant, allowing things to take their natural course as they often had in recent years whilst devoting their time and effort to ensuring that the Grimm spawned upon the island of Menagerie grew larger and stronger, with an innate hateful cunning to make them more dangerous and then the Grimm General had begun moving their forces into various positions. Even without knowing where Gestalt-Prime had hidden themselves away the movement of the various packs, swarms and hordes, along with massive individual monsters proved important for several reasons; firstly it allowed Pantheon to rebuild more quickly if a Spawning Pit was lost, whilst at the same time making such losses less likely in the first place as movement and activity by the Creatures of Grimm could be used to direct the attention of Hunters elsewhere in a ploy similar to Gestalt-Prime's efforts ensure their own survival through distractions. Secondly with vast, mobile hordes of Grimm breaking off into countless of splinters and tendrils which wove their way across the island and stalked its' skies Pantheon was content in the knowledge that whenever Gestalt-Prime was found the upstart would face their wrath immediately as there would be a force in place to use against them.

Finally it allowed Pantheon to search more effectively, not only by hunting down Cyber-Grimm directly but also by targeting major shipping and trade routes on and around the island of Menagerie; forcing Hunters to react to Pantheon's whims and carving into any vehicle that drew suspicion in the hopes that it would contains some answer or clue.

Just as they were doing in that moment.

Pantheon's eyes and ears in this particular instance were a pack of several dozen lesser Creatures of Grimm, surviving members of a larger hunting party that had been gunned down by their prey until those who stood against them, men and women with simple weapons and little training if any had been laid low by the true threat which had lurked behind the smaller beasts until the scale of the resistance could be gauged.

This particular Creature of Grimm was a simply freakish looking thing, tall and lumpen with a body which would easily be forty feet tall if it were stood upright and yet possessing limbs and proportions which gave the thing and oddly spindly and creeping appearance despite its' sheer size and mass. It was bipedal and saurian, with a build that was overall avian in appearance a solid and sloping mass of tar-black scales and muscle for a torso which was, as expected covered in layers of pitted and stained bone-coloured armour which included a sweeping row of curving and serrated scythe-like blades which rose from its' spine and trailed down to the things' long, whipping and segmented tail where they ultimately formed a bladed tip. It stood upon legs that were powerful at their uppermost points but tapered down into narrow, skeletal things which then flared out into three-toed feet with wide-splayed claws. Its' neck was similarly long and thin, a winding and almost fully prehensile length of bone-ringed muscle which supported a proportionally large skull which sported both a crest of sweeping spikes and multiple glowing red-eyes, far more than it should have possessed and which were spaced out in a way which gave the Grimm a near total field of vision; the head was streamlined in an angular, jagged way which culminated in a cruelly hooked beak which seemed made for prising open armour and housed a long, flexing tongue and countless rows of sharp teeth. The most prominent feature of the Grimm however was its' forelimbs, the arms themselves seemed weak and almost atrophied and would have been almost entirely unremarkable were it not for their extremities, each hand ending in a collection of clawed digits wherein each claw was formed of a serrated and hooking scythe-blade easily a dozen feet long, each blade being hinged in several places to allow the claws a full range of movement and producing a series of scraping, clacking noises as the thing moved which were punctuated by the clicking and hissing vocalisations that escaped it.

Pantheon had dubbed the Creature of Grimm their 'Clutcher' and it was made for gutting armoured targets.

The Clutcher's prey in this particular instance had been a land train, one of the massive rolling fortresses used to transport goods by land across Menagerie; each trailer being easily the size of a house and heavily reinforced whilst the cab of the vehicle was more heavily protected still. Such protections had mattered little once the lesser Grimm had forced the colossal vehicle to slow enough for the Clutcher to strike; those aboard the land-train had chosen to abandon a good portion of their wares and flee for safety by uncoupling many of the enormous trailers to the rear once the saurian Grimm had sunk its' claws into them and become entirely impossible to dislodge.

Pantheon allowed their consciousness to shift from the eyes and ears of the lesser Grimm so that they could witness events from the perspective of the Clutcher itself, studying everything the monstrous creature found within the innards of its' prize as it tore through armour with ease and then began driving its' hooked beak into the trailer; first slithering its' flexible tongue inside to scent the air inside and then carving away more steel until it could peer inside with at least some of its' eyes.

Pantheon quickly realised that there was nothing here of value to them, the shipment was an entirely mundane delivery of goods to various settlements across the island; a loss that the people of Menagerie would be angered by and that anger would feed the Creatures of Grimm to be sure but there were no signs of weapons, Cyber-Grimm or anything that might point to the influence of Gestalt-Prime amongst the takings and so, with nothing more to be seen the Grimm General allowed their consciousness to recede into their own body.

Though it was good to indulge themselves and partake in the destruction which defined the Grimm and so Pantheon could not held but give a faint, monstrous smile as they returned to the physical realm; the sight and sound of the Clutcher flipping a house-sized vehicle over and standing atop the wreckage whilst letting out a piercing, shrieking and victorious roar being soothing in the wake of recent losses.

---

"Well that was a waste of time" Astra sighed as the doors of their pickup truck closed.

Team MARS had, following their visit to Pikesreach made good on their plans regarding their next stop and crossed the wasteland for several hours until they once again found themselves traversing an actual road, the first sign of civilisation on their journey and one which led to a smaller but growing settlement based around a respectably sized steelworks which in turn had led to several other factories, by both well established corporations from across Remnant and newly founded companies springing up in close proximity and providing work and opportunities.

It was a place which had the promise of one day rivalling cities such as Port Alistair or Blackwater Cove and yet at present the place was largely reliant on shipments delivered by land-train and airships for a great deal of the goods its' people consumed; a reality which meant that the settlement was exactly the kind of place that a fleeing member of Nero's faction with questionable loyalties might flee to in order to lay low or make their way out of the Kingdom entirely, provided that Nero did not have agents stationed here already as the former chairman had in Neo Vale. Moreover it had felt as though it would be exactly the kind of place where there would be someone, likely found in a seedy establishment who had no part in anything explicitly criminal but simply by virtue of their surroundings and company had information that they would be willing to trade for the safety that scavenged weapons might bring.

With that in mind Team MARS had began deciding how they planned to investigate.

Ultimately they had come to the agreement that they would be better served by setting up a base camp for the night outside of the settlement itself, using the equipment they had taken from Breaktide Academy along with what they had recovered earlier that day and braving the harsh climate of the island Kingdom whilst keeping watch for Grimm that might be lurking close to the settlement rather than risking being caught by any of the parties that would be interested in apprehending them if they chose to find a hotel, though given the size and nature of the settlement there was a chance that would have been unable to find anything suitable anyway.

Stygian had, in murmured and somewhat self-conscious, uncomfortable tones asked Astra if he could be left behind to keep watch over the base camp rather than venture into the settlement, a town initially founded by Mistrali settlers they had since learned was named Tiejiang-Gu; not quite looking at his friends as he had explained that he was not quite mentally or emotionally prepared for the possibility of meeting members of Nero's faction who had been at Pikesreach so soon after seeing the ruins of his former home, that he could not promise he would be able to contain his anger. It was a situation that Astra, along with the rest of Team MARS had understood and accepted without issue and Athena-Jade had offered to stay behind with her partner and help set up the camp, which had left Astra and Regalia to drive into Tiejiang-Gu and see what they could find.

Which had turned out to be depressingly little.

"Heh, I wouldn't say it was a complete waste of time" Regalia beamed as she made herself comfortable in the passengers' seat beside her partner "We managed to help some people….It sounded like the extra protection is gonna be useful and who knows, maybe we'll see them somewhere else and they'll more; it's always good to have a friendly face somewhere right?"

"Right….And I guess if there's more Grimm activity on the roads leading to a place like this but Nero hasn't got anybody using Cyber-Grimm and mech-suits to make sales pitch already then we know that he probably doesn't have anyone here at all, which means we know there's no point sticking around" Astra noted, pondering the information that the two of them had managed to glean from land-train drivers, factory workers who associated with them and others who had business beyond the walls of Tiejiang-Gu and trying to draw some meaningful, useful conclusions from it.

What they had been told, a land-train driver who claimed to have worked the roads of Menagerie but there were even paved and finished roads to drive on was that the Doom of Pikesreach had made very little impact, if any on the lives of the nearest settlement to the place and that the independent settlement was in fact so isolated that many people of Tiejiang-Gu were entirely unaware of the place; what the driver had been more concerned about were the usual stories of bandits and the Creatures of Grimm, with the latter being coloured by both the news reports of Cyber-Grimm though the driver admitted to having never seen the mechanical horrors himself and being entirely grateful for it and other, more immediately threatening rumours about a newly emerged Creature of Grimm which had taken to hunting along the roads of Menagerie and had seemingly developed a taste for cargo vehicles. Seeing the clear fear in the man's eyes as he mentioned the chances of encountering the thing which had been described as some sort of murderous, long-fingered demon chicken had prompted Regalia to take action; interjecting in a way that Astra chose not to put a stop to and offering the man heavy weapons and ammunition as thanks for his time and explaining to her partner afterwards that Clan Aiktishaf had come across convoys that been unable to escape the Grimm before and that it was not a pretty sight.

"I just wish we had a better idea of what we should do Astra" let out a slow sigh as they confided in their partner "You've been great y'know, even without the little hint your Semblance gave us; the scavenging and talking to the drivers and traders….I really don't think I'd know where to start if I didn't have you with me"

"Heh, I've been visiting places like this….Or worse than this with Clan Aiktishaf for years" Regalia shrugged, whilst positively glowing at the praise "You get a sense of who's gonna be useful to talk to, or at least safe to talk to"

"See, you just sound cool when you say that" Astra grinned, slumping back in their seat for a while before adding "I'd probably have said something stupid to the wrong person and ended up tied up in the back of a truck or something….I wonder if this is how Qrow Branwen, or Professor Adel and all the other people looking for Nero have felt the whole time; just completely helpless, chasing shadows"

"You did great today Astra, we found out everything we could and we helped people….And you would have fought your way out of the back of a truck, you would have looked cool doing it as well" Regalia answered, taking the opportunity to return the praise and leave her partner smiling from ear to ear as she took their hand in hers and leaned across the space between their seats to rest against their shoulder for a moment.

"Thanks Regalia, I love you"

"I love you too" the words came easily, followed by a brief pause before the Racoon Faunus added "Do you know where we're gonna go next?"

"Maybe" Astra shrugged, eyes downcast as a grimace crossed their features "I haven't planned out specifics yet though….I kinda need a break from thinking"

Regalia remained silent for several seconds, licking lips that had suddenly become dry as she pulled away from her partner and took in the sight of them; eyes roving across features that had come to be so attractive and endearing her all whilst hear heart began to thud in her chest as her own thoughts and ideas became something more solid. After a lingering moment she leaned close to the Deer Faunus again and gently placed a hand at the point where Astra's left antler protruded from their skull, using it to turn her partner to face her so that she could kiss them; slowly, passionately and at the same time nervously as climbed from the passenger's seat and onto Astra's lap, straddling them and with their chests pressed together all without breaking contact.

"Want me to help you stop thinking for a while?" Regalia tried to sound suave and smooth and yet there was something too innocent, too utterly sincere in the words that kept them from having the effect she was aiming for, even as she took the hooded cape-like poncho she wore and shed it.

And Astra loved her all the more for it.

"That would be great" Astra's breath hitched and shuddered as Regalia peppered their face, jaw and neck with kisses whilst their hands first cupped her cheeks and trailed down her chest to the abs left exposed by the shortness of her tank-top; with the encouragement from her partner Regalia paused and pulled the vest over her head, throwing it aside before kissing Astra fiercely once again and allowing her own hands to drift down to their chest and shoulders to pull their jacket open and reveal their own vest and the cincher they paired it with to highlight their figure. The Racoon Faunus ground into Astra's lap the entire time and the encouragement served to drive them further until their girlfriend whined and whimpered into their neck as they allowed one hand to trail from her her abs below the waistband of her pants whilst the other hand fumbled blindly with the belts she wore; the sensation was enough to give Regalia the final push she needed to voice her desires even as they rendered her mind so completely, blissfully blank that she needed a moment before she could do so.

"Hey" she finally breathed out, hesitant despite herself as she gasped and panted into Astra's mouth "We could….Do more?"

"Are you sure?" Astra asked, visibly eager but at the same time cautious as they planted a final, more gentle kiss on Regalia's lips before pulling back a fraction and removing their hands from their previous activity to wrap around her waist, with one gently stroking the coarse fur of her tail "We don't-"

"It's with you" Regalia beamed, leaning forward to rest her forehead against theirs and taking the opportunity to catch her breath "If I'm going to do this it's going to be with someone I love and someone I trust and that's you Astra, if it's not something I wanna do again then I tried something and learned something. If it is as fun as people make it out to be then it's something we can share….As long as you want to?"

"You have no idea how much I want to" Astra's voice was low, visceral in its' sheer need and hunger only for the Deer Faunus to pause and gesture to the interior of pickup truck "But here?….I know we agreed on no hotels, but seriously?"

"Heh, our first kiss was here" Regalia melted into them, chests pressing together again "Why not have our first time here as well"

Regalia could physically feel Astra's heart beast faster in response and in the next moment her partner had turned their head to speak directly into her ear, carefully accounting for their antlers as they did so.

"Let's use the back seat"

---

"You know they're probably fucking right? They've left us out here in the cold and completely forgotten about us" Stygian's comment, clearly at least half-joking and delivered loudly enough to rise over the sound of howling winds left Athena-Jade choking on a gulp of water.

"You suck, you suck so bad!" she exclaimed after several moments of sputtering and gagging, giving serious consideration to throwing the bottle at her partner but not wanting to waste more of its' contents.

"But tell me I'm wrong though" Stygian snorted as he moved to sit closer to both Athena and the fire the two of them shared.

"I would rather think about anything but what our friends might be doing with or to one another's anatomies right now" the snowy-haired Bear Faunus countered, any attempt at the nonchalance she might have been aiming for being undercut by the clear embarrassment in her words and the blush suddenly colouring her cheeks.

Whilst Astra and Regalia had made their way into the town of Tiejiang-Gu she and Stygian had set up the teams' temporary base camp and the protections around it and were now enjoying the fruits of their labour, specifically a warm fire and several tents situated far enough away from the settlement itself that they would be easily spotted by any sentries perched upon its' walls if the situation somehow became hostile, nestled against a small hill and several rock formations which went some way towards keeping the cold, the wind and dust and gritty detritus it carried from becoming too much of an issue all of which was protected by a series of alarms, tripwires and other deterrents and early warning systems placed carefully to ensure that any approaching Creatures of Grimm would likely stumble over them but also so that Astra would not accidentally drive over them.

It was a surprisingly cosy affair and both Athena and Stygian found themselves relaxing enough to talk openly and honestly as they waited for their friends to return.

"So a lot of people from off of the island don't like it here when it gets dark-"

"Probably because the wildlife is worse than the Grimm" Athena snorted as she interjected the offhand comment from Stygian "Seriously, the pigeons are bad; what comes out at night? Werewolf owls?"

"No but we do nave killer nose-wigs"

"They're called moustaches" Athena gave a toothy smirk at what she had thought was a funny retort, only to be left pouting playfully as Stygian rolled his eyes and continued.

"Like earwigs, but they go up the nose….All the way up, carnivorous" the mental image that last word evoked was enough to send a shiver down Athena's spine which her partner politely chose not to draw attention to "But I was thinking of the climate, did you hear all the First Years back the academy crying about the dust and how cold it gets….But you're from Atlas, so what's the cold like back home? Does it really snow all the time, because that's crazy; I'd never even seen snow until I was in Neo Vale"

"Well it only snows all the time right at the top of the mountains, which is actually where I live….Yes it's like a little bit like supervillain lair; don't ever tell Astra or Regalia that I admitted that out loud" Athena gave Stygian a pointed glare and the Mouse Faunus made a show of giving her an overdramatic salute which she merely shook her head and chuckled at "But as for the cold….It's not too bad, especially inside even if the heating is turned off. It's the wind, it actually feels worse than Atlas sometimes"

"Are you cold now?" Stygian asked regarding Athena carefully as the two of them both scooted closer to the fire subconsciously.

"A little" the Bear Faunus answered eventually, clearly feeling as though she should be too proud to make such an admission until her partner rose from his sitting position for a moment and before she could react Athena felt her cheeks heating up again as Stygian slipped out of the coat that was oversized on him and promptly wrapped it around her; the garment no doubt looking utterly ridiculous in contrast to her shorter build and with its' hood almost enough for her to loose herself entirely in.

She also noted that whatever aftershave Stygian wore, along with his own natural scent had clung to the coat, though such thoughts were pushed aside as the Mouse Faunus sat beside her, closer than he had been before and seemed to ponder to himself in silence for a moment with his electric blue eyes peering into the fire before he spoke in a tone that was quieter and much more earnest than the joking exchanges of a moment ago.

"Hey AJ….Thanks for this"

"Mhmm?" Athena simply cocked her head slightly, barely visible within the coat she had gradually worked herself into so that she was actually wearing it though Stygian seemed to understand all the same.

"You didn't have to stay here and hang back but I'm glad you did y'know, so thinks" he managed a weak but heartfelt smile "I just….If we found some of Nero's people today, right after we were at Pikesreach I don't know what I would have done; I don't know if I could have kept it together"

"Dude, I totally get that and I hung back 'cos I thought you needed the company….Besides, even if they're not….Y'know….I'd rather let Astra and Regalia have some privacy" Athena answered, deciding that the conversation needed some levity and that she could go without mental images pertaining to her team-mates before reaching over to gently punch Stygian's shoulder as she added "If you went after 'em the same way did those Grimm earlier there'd be nothing left….Seriously, you were on form today, it was awesome"

"Thanks" Stygian seemed to adjust the necklaces he wore in a largely unintentional display of preening, his smile widening with the compliment which made him more daring "I mean I kinda have to be at least a little bit of a bad-ass, I'm competing with a partner with thighs so strong you can kick a hole through a Grimm"

"My thighs are great" Athena countered, an odd mix of pride and defensiveness as she adjusted her position and found herself absently moving the layers side-skirts she had taken to wearing aside so that she could take a moment to inspect the legs whose sheer muscle mass she had become so proud of, along with the various unmissable scars that littered her toned alabaster flesh where Carmesi Hueso's Semblance had impaled her feet and calves.

"Damn right they are" Stygian's jaw clicked shut audibly as he seemed to realise exactly what he had said and that he had done so aloud; Athena, despite her own momentary second-hand embarrassment at the situation decided that she could hardly judge her partner for admiring her looks given the circumstances and also, with a realisation that surprised her more than a little she noted that she was not averse to him doing so at all. With that she decided not allow the moment to linger and spiral into awkward silence and potentially ruin what had been a good thing and so she merely snorted at the compliment.

"You really are bad at flirting" Athena gave a toothy smile as Stygian sputtered wordlessly whilst trying to form a protest against the accusation "Seriously, this is why you were single at Halo….Even when you're really not so bad looking yourself.

"Not so bad, I'll take that as compliment" Stygian laughed and as the two of them simply enjoyed the moment Athena found herself taking the opportunity to study the tattoos that were visible now that the Mouse Faunus was not wearing his coat, first roaming the interlocking and weaving geometric patterns that had identified him as a members of Pikesreach's fighters until he had left the settlement and made some efforts to personalise and differentiate them; in no time at all however Athena-Jade found herself simply taking in her partners' well muscled arms and the way his broad, sculpted chest stood out against his clothing before her eyes trailed up to his strong features, bright smile and electric blue eyes only for her to realise that he had caught her staring.

"You suck, so bad" she breathed out, cutting off whatever teasing remark he had attempted to make. Stygian merely widened his grin before reaching out to pat Athena's leg as though giving his condolences for the misfortune of being caught, his hand brushing against one the highest reaching of her various scars and allowing him to brush against it slowly with his thumb; from there the two locked eyes, vivid, lightning blue meeting pale sapphire questioningly and when Athena made no effort to move or stop him Stygian trailed his hand slowly upwards and relished the feeling of Athena's skin under his fingers as they sunk into her thighs.

She halted him the moment his fingertips brushed against the edge of her shorts.

"No" she breathed out simply, trying to ignore her the fact that her mouth was dry and that her heart thundered in her chest all whilst being certain that her body had betrayed her in other ways such as her pupils being blown out in response to the contact. Stygian halted without a word and Athena reached down and took his hand in both of hers, holding it firmly as she tried to catch her breath and process exactly what had just happened and how she felt about it.

"Not tonight" she finally answered, to which Stygian simply nodded in silent understanding and though the silence continued for some time it remained mercifully free of any tension or discomfort.

Athena kept hold of Stygian's hand and found herself leaning against his shoulder as the two of them waited by the campfire until it began to die out.

Author's Notes:

So, welcome to the first chapter of volume 08.
And I know that nobody is going to read this until September, but I'm writing it on the first week of July so hear me out…..By some providence I actually finished writing this chapter right before, like ten minutes before I was offered my old job and start date back at the factory I was laid off from in March, they're hiring us all back in batches.

So let's summarise shall we:
Starting a volume with a scene like this almost feels as though it could be a cold open in the style of the scene at Evernight in Vol.04.
Also I called it the 'Doom' simply because calling everything the Fall of X gets a bit samey and the name "Fall" was only used for Beacon in canon because it's a play on Cinder Fall taking the Fall Maidens' powers….Not everything needs to be Fall.
Okay so all of Remnant doesn't know that the people who made Cyber-Grimm also tried to make Grimm-People and almost spread a Zombie-Plague across Menagerie because that would lead to mass hysteria, but they do know that Nero's people pretty much levelled a settlement after they took it hostage and that's gonna hurt recruitment and support.
Ruby is allowed to be pissed, she was out of commission for a day or two and her niece disappeared.
Another meeting scene where I would have liked to have Nora but I just didn't have anything for her to do.
Coco does make a solid point….All those recruits Nero got from Pikesreach are gonna be absolutely furious when they hear the truth instead of whatever lies Nero has sold them.
And Ruby adding a follow up on Cornflower's new job from the end of last volume.
The one variant Antonia hasn't encountered before was the remains of the Man-Eater.
Yeah Winter talking about "Insubordination" is not gonna work, not on that crowd.
….But also Coco is legitimately pissed off.
I had to give Team MARS a couple days worth of off-screen level grinding to do so that they didn't turn up to Pikesreach whilst Corvid Xiao Long was still there….That's a meeting for later.
It felt right and fitting for Team MARS's first scene of the volume to open up with them fighting a normal pack of Beowolves, a callback to simpler times that are over with now.
"Use your karate chop action!" is from Toy Story.
So once again we have to have a reason for why Regalia can't just track down Nero through her Semblance….But this time we made it interesting, she got something and then it vanished.
So, Nero's plans to make his faction better than what it started out as by phasing out a lot of the gang members and cultists as new recruits became available have actually worked.
"What goes through your mind will be a bullet from a sniper if we stay out in the open whilst our defences are down" people forget that Zirconia does have some dry wit and comedic timing about her.
Zirconia and Carmesi are basically step-siblings who are in denial about it at this point.
So Gestalt-Prime is alive and fixed, but they took one hell of a beating.
So I mentioned that Nero's ship was stealthy when he first travelled to Menagerie, then I mentioned again that he was using those stealth capabilities to hide all of Jidhir Town and now we know that's why Regalia can't use her Semblance….Because I feel like anything that can hide human presence from Grimm, who hunt by more than physical senses, should also be able to hide people from Semblances.
On another note the next phase of Nero's plan is to go to Atlas and take an Aura Transfer Machine….To do that he has something called the Megalodon Project and working on that involves working on both his ship and their Cyber-Grimm Forge. I am not being subtle.
Yeah, all talking and jokes definitely stopped when they pulled up to Pikesreach.
AJ and Stitch really were fun to write this chapter.
Yeah, there's another thing Stygian doesn't actually know for certain who died at Pikesreach and who didn't; beyond that the Hunters, including his Dad and Step-Mum are dead….He might find out if/when he speaks with Cornflower again.
Showing his house half destroyed felt like a sense of finality, that there's nothing left to go back to and rebuild and that the only way is forwards….It also felt completely out of pocket.
Y'know what, standing on a glyph to give someone a hug is something I wanna see Weiss do in canon just once.
AJ is rightly terrified of the idea of being caught by Aunt Winter….As much as Whitley is the cool Uncle, she is the opposite.
Regalia's scavenger upbringing being put to some good use and relevance here.
Astra's plan isn't a bad one as such, maybe the result of one too many action movies and spy movies but there's definitely something there.
Y'know writing these scenes where Pantheon lives up to their title of 'Grimm General' and tried to strategise around Gestalt-Prime, Nero and the Kingdoms all whilst misinterpreting some of their moves and intentions to show just how different their thought process is and how removed they are definitely have an appeal….But I can't wait to write a scene where the two sentient Grimm actually talk to one another directly.
Allying with humans "Never occurred" to Pantheon….Which, given the humans they had to work alongside in FADE: Legacy, can't blame 'em.
And right from the onset of this volume we've got Pantheon moving their forces into position as the promised civil war between the Grimm gets nearer (Although it won't be in full swing until Vol.09).
Also, more immediately importantly; meet 'The Clutcher' it's a Therizinosaurus Grimm that's designed to rip through armoured vehicles and loot them in case they're carrying anything Nero needs.
The big land-trains haven't been prominent since Vol.01 when Team WULF were on a mission on one but they're a thing.
So Team MARS obviously travelled in a different direction to Cornflower, though given that she had no map and was wandering blindly through the wastes with no destination and Grimm chasing her that's understandable.
I know I always try to give the settlements some character or sense of purpose and it usually ends up being something like port, factory town, mining town, trading post that got bigger….But a) I'm from a mining/factory town with great transport links so it just comes naturally and b) nobody is building a settlement on Menagerie for no reason, the ones that last are the ones that have an industry.
Tiejiang-Gu is, at least according to Google Translate "Valley of Forges".
Also, Stygian's reason for staying behind was largely to facilitate a scene with just Astra and Regalia but it is also believable.
So they didn't find any of Nero's people or any clues leading to them….But they did get pretty solid confirmation that there aren't any Nero spies lurking around and also, vaguely learn about the Clutcher; because that's a conflict that's obviously gonna happen sooner rather than later.
And once again Regalia's upbringing as a nomad and scavenger comes to the fore in ways that it wasn't able to when the story was being told in cities.
Astra is definitely feeling the weight of the decision to take things into their own hands now.
….Although Regalia's way of taking their mind off it was nice.
Okay I'm not demisexual personally so I hope the way I portrayed Regalia's approach to sex and physical intimacy wasn't inadvertently uncomfortable or offensive to anyone….Personally I think her outlook is honestly sweet.
First kiss and first time in the same truck.
"You know they're probably fucking right?" best smash cut ever.
All of the banter and back and forth between AJ and Stitch in this scene was fun to write 'Killer nose-wigs….They're called moustaches'.
The "Supervillain lair that is Schnee Manor" jokes were definitely more prominent in FADE: Legacy when they were aimed at Arctus, but I will maintain that they are correct.
The lending of jackets is cliché, but also AJ is short as fuck and Stygian wears a big coat.
Stygian was definitely on form in the fight earlier and AJ knows what a good fighter using teleportation looks like, given that's her Dad's Semblance.
Someone spray this two horny devils with a water bottle lol.
I mean AJ is definitely checking him out back, she did say to Zirconia at Halo that "Yeah he's hot but he's not you" so….
Enjoy the sexually tense hand-holding to end a chapter.

Thank you to MajorBrony95 for their review on the last chapter.
Onyx and Corvid are about where they were in the epliogue of FADE; they've been together for over a decade at this point but it's long-distance just due to the nature of their jobs and lifestyles.
Yeah so it's gonna be three way conflict between Hunters, Pantheon and Gestalt-Prime and Nero; made more interesting by the fact Team MARS, for now at least are going solo and Nero and Gestalt-Prime both plan to get rid of one another.
Nope, the Grimm/Human hybridisation was part of a bigger plan that he needs an Aura transfer himself...Nero hinted at it to Zirconia but it sound like you haven't gotten it yet ;-)
Yeah it's their third year and we probably won't see their fourth; by going AWOL they've probably fucked up the position at the academy though by the time this is over it's hardly gonna matter. They'll be beyond schooling.

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