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

128. Clutcher

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 128: Clutcher

Team Mars had been reunited by roughly mid-morning the day after their arrival to the edge of Tiejiang-Gu, the small-to-middling sized settlement based around a steelworks and other factories that the four of them had hoped might provide some answers or direction in their search for Damascus Nero, Zirconia Shadowmoon and Gestalt-Prime.

Astra and Regalia's return had been announced by the familiar snarling engine of the Deer Faunus's pickup truck before its' cherry red from, replete with black coloured fire decals had come into view; the noise waking Athena and Stygian who had slept in different tents after their campfire had burned to embers the night before and revealing to them that their friends had spent the night elsewhere.

Something that Stygian decided made the two returnees fair targets for some good natured teasing.

"Hey man, y'know AJ have gotta sit on that backseat for the whole ride right? The Mouse Faunus noted in a tone that was too loud to be anything other than deliberately making a spectacle as he perched on the edge of the trucks' bed "Please tell me you've at least cleaned it and aired it out a little bit and that's why you're late?….And whatever fluffy dice or pine tree you've got hanging from the rear-view doesn't count-"

"You've been in the truck enough times to know that my air freshener is shaped like neither of those things" Astra countered in a nonchalant tone, perfectly balancing boredom with a disappointment with the level of wit Stygian was bringing to the table as a way to show the blue-haired and tattooed young man that patience was already beginning to wear thin as they loaded the last of the collapsed tents and other supplies into place, carefully avoiding Clunker as they did so. Under normal circumstances the Deer Faunus would be more than willing to partake in their friends' antics however the choice of subject matter had brought Stygian dangerously close to crossing a line; Astra had not been a virgin before the previous evening however it had been Regalia's first time, with several subsequent times in quick succession and it was a memory that the two of them were intent of cherishing as well as recreating.

As such Astra found themselves growing steadily closer to simply leaving a randomly selected bag of Stygian's belongings out in the wasteland if the Mouse Faunus continued to be obnoxious.

Fortunately Athena-Jade chose that moment to intervene.

"Stitch stop being cranky" she ordered bluntly, shooting her partner a glare that was made far more imposing and commanding from her position above them all; the Bear Faunus having put her Semblance to use in multiple ways already and currently standing on a glyph several feet higher than the roof of Astra' truck, allowing her to both help load their heavier bags with small glyphs more quickly and from a position to see the overall layout of the bed and the things within it more fully and also to take a vantage point and ensure that the four of them were not inadvertently leaving themselves exposed to the attentions of the Creatures of Grimm or any other foes who might wish to attack whilst they were distracted.

"Alright, alright" Stygian laughed, hopping down from where he had been perched lazily and relenting in his tormenting of their friends; instead looking up meeting Athena-Jade's eyes so that he could give the Bear Faunus a warm smile which left the two of them momentarily silent and unsure of exactly what to say until his partner cleared her throat and shifted her weight as she prepared to leave her glyph.

"Hey Astra?" she punctuated the words with the thud of her impact as she leapt to the ground and rose to her full, somewhat lacklustre height "What's the plan. Did you find anything last night?"

"Pretty much a bust" the Deer Faunus shook their head, allowing a moment for sighs of disappointment as expectations were lowered accordingly before pressing on "What we did find out makes it honestly pretty clear that this was never a spot that Nero's people used….But I think that says something in of itself, we can draw some conclusions, maybe"

"Heh, sounds like you've got some ideas already" Regalia chimed in, adding a final part of the recently dismantled base-camps' defences to their collective luggage and equipment and using that as her opportunity to drape herself over the back of Astra's shoulders and kiss their cheek in a way that was an equal mixture of pure adoration, playfulness and sleepiness that was at the same time unlike the Regalia that her friends were familiar with in its' vague air of sensuality which left no doubt about the way her night had progressed.

"Kinda" Astra repeated, their voice somewhat breathy as the contact forced them to make concentrated efforts to keep their composure for a moment before turning to face the Racoon Faunus they loved so much "Can you try your Semblance again, see if you can pick up whatever it was that disappeared yesterday it might be worth a shot?"

"What the heck, why not" Regalia shrugged, immediately being given space and an opportunity to focus; light being emitted by her eyes which were for once not covered by her goggles as she used Look-See only for it to fade away a moment later as she shook her head "Aww nuts, I can't find it at all"

"Okay, not a total bust yet" Astra murmured, massaging the point where their antlers met their skull "If we backtracked to where we were before we went to Pikesreach do you think you'd be able to find the direction that your Semblance was pointing you in again?"

"We don't even need to do that" Regalia assured them with a smile, raising the collective spirits of all of Team MARS as she did so "Let me look at a map for a minute and I'm pretty sure I can triangulate at least the rough direction….The general area was too wide for anything more than that anyway, especially without any real idea of distance"

"But it's something" Astra halted their partner before she could begin to doubt the brilliance they saw in her "So what' I'm thinking is that we've still got some stuff to trade for answers, we know roughly what kind of things Nero needs to build Cyber-Grimm right? We also found out that there's a Grimm out there that's developed a taste for attacking convoys….I think we should follow the direction of whatever that signal Regalia found was and start visiting settlements on the way-"

"And talking to truckers who've run into Grimm" Stygian surmised, only for Astra to shake their head.

"We look for the ones that haven't. Those are the drivers who had something to defend themselves with; I don't think Nero is gonna let his trucks get hit by a random Grimm"

"That's….Actually pretty smart" Athena noted, openly impressed but still managing to roll her eyes at the surly pout Astra answered her with.

"Don't sound so surprised" they gave the snowy-haired Bear Faunus a rude hand gesture which was casually returned before they added "So that's the plan, unless anyone has got anything they'd like to add or suggest?"

It seemed nobody did and in short order Team MARS were finalising their preparations before moving out and beginning their self-appointed quest once again; which allowed Athena-Jade to more easily sequester Regalia and talk to the Racoon Faunus one one one, the Bear Faunus rummaging through her purse and pockets as an idea occurred to her and immediately demanded that it be acted upon.

"Hey Regalia" she murmured quietly, certain that her team-mates could hear her but also hoping that they would be polite enough to pretend they could not "Sorry if Stitch was getting to be a bit annoying there….Yesterday was a lot for him, he's just blowing off steam-"

"Heh it's fine, nothing can bother me at all today" the former nomad almost hummed the words out in a sing-song voice and as she did so she worked out a crick in her neck and stretched, in the process causing the hooded cloak hanging about her shoulders to move a little and briefly display what Athena realised, with blushing cheeks were faint bite-marks and other similar bruises that Regalia had not used her Aura to heal.

"So you and Astra…." Athena trailed off before chiding herself for her sudden awkwardness and forcing herself to simply get to the point "Here, take this. I don't know if you used anything but just in case"

"Huh, what….Oh!" Regalia's hand flew to her mouth and her purple eyes widened in shock and mild horror as she realised first what the contraceptives she were being given were and secondly that at no point had she or Astra considered them.

"Th-thanks" she sputtered out, realising the potential catastrophe that had been averted "But why do you have these?"

"Always prepared for every emergency" Athena answered, waving the specifics of that particular question and instead gently nudging Regalia's shoulder and giving her a knowing smirk as she realised how few talks of this nature the two of them had shared over the years "So….How was it?"

The sound that escaped Regalia was almost a squeal and conveyed nothing but utter joy, to such an extent that Athena found herself thinking back to her own moments of intimacy only for her fists to clench at the memories of Zirconia's hands and mouth on her pale skin.

Athena missed being touched but that was no excuse to ruin what was clearly something special between two of her best friends.

---

Pantheon's scouting parties, particularly a flock of winged beasts had spied something that had piqued their interest and which they themselves were not capable of overcoming without additional Creatures of Grimm being drawn to their prey. This information had reached the Grimm General and even from their seabed lair, removed from the situation to an impossible degree and yet still experiencing it as though through their own senses Pantheon had scented subterfuge and malfeasance in the air.

Something was afoot and a chase was soon to follow.

What the flock of flying Grimm had spied was an armoured convoy of sorts travelling through the wastes much as many others done before, including the land-train which had scarcely avoided a horrific fate the previous evening at the claws of one of Pantheon's countless minions by abandoning its' rear trailers as a lizard might leave its' tail behind in order to flee.

This particular convoy was different in several key ways which had caught Pantheon's eye and suggested that they were more than they seemed however; firstly was that rather than a single massive land-train comprised of a colossal and heavily armoured main vehicle pulling a collection of building-sized trailers it appeared that whoever had sent this particular convoy out in the wastes had chosen to use a collection of roughly a dozen much smaller trucks of the kind and scale more commonly seen on the streets of Remnants' cities in a potential effort to more easily split up and evade the monsters that roamed the island of Menagerie, secondly was the fact that each and every one of the trucks was armed to some extent or another and boasted both armour plating crudely welded and bolted to their exteriors and a gunners' nest and turret featuring a machine gun affixed either above the cab or armoured trailer. Thirdly and most indicative of something strange being at play was the route that the convoy were taking, whilst Pantheon had for years chosen to remain dormant to an extent and keep from actively interfering or tipping the scales in the endless cycle of creation and destruction it was a small and simple feat for the Grimm General to scour the aggregated memories of the Grimm through the vast swathe of the Hive-Mind they had control over in order to learn the routes most travelled by Hunters and travellers across the island so that any discrepancies could be investigated.

This convoy was taking a route so deliberately serpentine that it was hard to tell from whence the trucks had come or where they were headed.

And Pantheon had decided that they would very much like answers to those questions.

"Where?" their voice was not a physical or truly audible thing, instead a psychic echo which reverberated faintly through the minds of multiple Creatures of Grimm and sent a shudder rippling through multiple bodies at once as though they truly were aspects of a single terrible organism as the Grimm General pulled their consciousness and perspective further back, away from the single flock of airborne Grimm which had thus-far managed to avoid the attentions of their quarry's guns and into the pulsing, ravenous labyrinth of intertwining, bestial psyches that comprised Pantheon's legions and represented countless hundred of thousands of Grimm and the Spawning Pits all across Remnant which had vomited them forth.

It was not the entire network that they had made for themselves in their efforts to keep Remnants' natural order in tact where Salem had failed that the sentient monster required however and instead Pantheon only expanded their consciousness out across Menagerie and to the monsters at their disposal there until they found the specific Creature of Grimm they were looking for.

The Clutcher.

Pantheon found their long-fingered and Saurian monster in short order only to be hit by a wave of mild annoyance, which translated into a murderous rage when expressed by a being such as themselves at the sight of the Grimm they had unleashed upon the island Kingdom suffering from damage and injuries they unaware of and upon taking stock of the other, smaller Creatures of Grimm around the Clutcher Pantheon began quickly tearing into minds with a ferocity which saw several amongst the pack of monsters simply explode into inky smoke under the weight of Pantheon's presence as the Grimm General searched for answers.

Eventually Pantheon was satisfied that the multiple gashes and bullet holes in the scaled hide of the Clutcher, nor the harpoon like weapon still embedded in its' flank which trailed a broken chain behind it were the result of Cyber-Grimm or any other weapon in the service of Gestalt-Prime or the usurpers' human allies. Instead it seemed that once freed from Pantheon's direct influence and directives and with the thrill of a fresh kill still coursing through them the saurian Grimm had behaved exactly as any proper Creature of Grimm could be expected to, by seeking to further indulge its' insatiable bloodlust and hunting for fresh prey prey by following the stench of blood and misery and desperation which was omnipresent in the wastes and yet still had currents and eddies that could be measured and mapped as they flowed. This hunger for more violence had been rewarded when the Clutcher and its' attendant monsters had happened upon an encampment of bandits, a small group of merciless killers and thieves with loyalties to nothing beyond their own prosperity who, whilst far inferior to the most experienced of Hunters in every regard had still managed to make a nuisance of themselves with the use of coordinated hit and run attacks that had been launched from the backs of several lightly armoured dune buggies.

The Clutcher had been victorious once again however and now those dune buggies, along with the entire encampment were reduced to a blood-stained and mangled mess which it was likely that the people of Menagerie would never find and equally likely that they simply would not care about even if they did. Brief snippets of the violence plucked from minds that had viewed it at various angles managed to faintly entertain Pantheon for a moment but did nothing to distract the Grimm General from the matter at hand and now that the truth had been ascertained in one regard they were quick to see that the Clutcher was put to use in establishing the truth elsewhere.

"Go. Now" they urged into the mind of sauropod and without hesitation that Clutcher lurched and staggered to its' feet with its' claws scraping ominously whilst its' bladed tail lashed behind it and various bone spikes shifted erratically as it it seemed to brace itself before narrowing each of the numerous eyes littering its' beaked skull and tearing the harpoon embedded within it free, letting out a hissing shriek as it did so which set each of the lesser Grimm around the thing on edge.

Yet none of them were fast enough to stop the attack which came without warning.

The Clutcher's pack, such as it was consisted of dozens of the bipedal, hissing and skulking beasts known simply as 'Creeps' that writhed and slithered around the monster they recognised as their superior whilst at the same time keeping a safe distance from any of its' limbs whilst above them a small number of Teryx wheeled and shrieked after taking to the air from their various roosts, casting large shadows as they swooped and spread their membranous wings. It was one of these which feel to the Clutcher as its' underdeveloped arms shot outwards and its' bladed fingers extended to skewer the thrashing and spitting Teryx in multiple places before a single violent, tearing motion but an end to the futile struggling, The body of the Teryx rapidly began to fade and dissipate yet before it could vanish entirely the Clutcher lunged forwards and dove its' hooked beak into the flesh and began gorging itself in a gory display wherein the serpentine mass of its' winding tongue was visible as it plunged and bored deeper into its' prey.

Far from being a mindless act of cannibalism the Clutcher's actions had immediate and unquestionable effects as its' torn and ravaged flesh and scales began to knit themselves together once again.

"Hunt" Pantheon's imperative thundered and imprinted itself into the mind of the Clutcher which cocked its' head questioningly as if seeking out the source of the voice that was less than real in the traditional sense of the word and then simply acting upon the order; letting out another shrieking hiss to rally the lesser Grimm around it before streaking off in the direction that it had been compelled to move, a fine black mist beginning to jet from the spaces between the armoured plates and ridges on its' spiny back as it prepared to use abilities that it had been imbued with.

There was work to be done and prey to be hunted down.

---

General Winter Schnee was and had always been in the eyes of her Kingdom amongst the best Atlas could produce.

Outwardly she was the first-born child of the icy Kingdoms' most prestigious family and yet had refused to live in the lap of luxury, instead foregoing her birthright and place within the Schnee Dust Company in order to dedicate herself more fully to her duty to her Kingdom and its' people. She was one of Atlas's finest Hunters, a warrior with few equals, a tactician whose cunning had seen her elevated to the Specialist Branch without the use of her families' name or any favours or titles and then to the right hand of her predecessor in due course and she was a leader so respected by her fellow Hunters, Specialists and soldiers that when General James Ironwood had fallen in the battle for Menagerie's opening stages; claimed by a horrifically literal decapitation strike by Salem's forces her immediate efforts to rally and counterattack had been followed without hesitation. General Winter Schnee had sacrificed for her people and the evidence could be seen in the form of a leg that was mechanical from the knee downwards after she had been seriously injured in the battle for Menagerie, to say nothing of the litany of other scars etched into her body and the results of her sacrifice and hard work had seen her presiding over decades of almost entirely consistent peace, even as parts of Atlas's outer territories struck out and claimed their independence as the Mantle Freeholds; a prospect that would once have been just as unthinkable and hopelessly idealistic as the idea of the equal society where humans and Faunus were on much more equal footing and the White Fang's violent quest for liberation was no longer needed that she now presided over.

Despite all of these accolades and the reverence she was treated with by the people who placed their faith in her and the forces under her command Winter herself very rarely allowed herself to give into temptation and believe her own hype. She knew the truth of each of her victories and in almost every instance the reality was far more complex and far less glamorous than the people of Atlas had been led to believe; in Winter's own opinion the pedestal she was placed upon was best used as a standard against which to measure herself and judge her conduct and her results.

She was deeply aggravated by the fact that she was falling short of those standards; in her mind Damascus Nero should have been captured by now.

The former Chairman had been at the head of the conglomerate whose arms manufacturing capabilities should have seen him investigated thoroughly as a matter of principal but Winter had allowed herself to grow complacent with the knowledge that he was a denizen of another Kingdom who rarely, if ever ventured into her own territory and to be blinded; she had been fooled as much as any of her confidants and friends by the persona he had taken on and been willing to allow him a seat at their table and a place in their midst and in return Nero had showed them all his true colours by attempting to unmake the foundations that Remnant's safety and prosperity was built on; allying himself with monsters and creating things were too repulsive to even think about in order to do so.

Winter reminded herself of these facts often, not just the cold and impersonal data but the deep, righteous fury and white-hot rage that they filled her with as a way to keep herself properly motivated in her endeavours and she did so once again as she strode through the pristine and utilitarian white and chrome hallways of her flagship as it hung in the steely grey Atlesian sky, cloaked and hidden above the tundra at the edges of the Kingdoms' territory.

"Captain on the bridge!" the words were bellowed out by her First Mate before the doors of the command bridge had even closed behind her; the officer in question was competent and reliable, an exemplary soldier all round but still struggled to measure up to Matte Skye who had once occupied the position before being named Admiral of the Fleet; though Winter supposed that it was unfair comparison given the feelings and history between herself and Matte.

Winter strode purposefully towards her seat with her hands clasped behind her back, all poise and imposing presence with the only sign of her cybernetic leg being the faint sound of its' mechanisms as she surveyed the various officers and crew-members going about the role and the response, or lack thereof that the announcement of her presence had caused.

Announcing her arrival was custom, Winter herself however had long ago drilled it into her subordinates that she did not expect them to stand and salute every time she walked into a room. Many of the people around her had served alongside her for decades now and understood that Winter found such gestures to be the kind of posturing that her father would have demanded, something to be avoided for that reason alone; there were also no fresh recruits aboard her ship, those who had not earned their rank at Winter's side had done so elsewhere before being hand-picked by the demanding General and merely being allowed to serve on her bridge was proof enough that no deference to her was required.

More importantly to Winter in that moment however was that fact that the few seconds it would take them to stand and salute would be better spent working.

"Status reports!" she demanded, what followed was a slew of confirmations things were in order and working as they should be, from the ships various areas and the operational readiness of the fighter crafts, drop-ships and personnel aboard it, to the progress of several smaller ongoing missions such as covert security details for representatives and delegates from Atlas to the Mantle Freeholds and the support her Hunters were offering to local authorities in tackling a cartel of well trained and equipped smugglers using her Kingdom as a staging ground. Eventually however she heard a series of words which made her brow furrow and her sapphire blue eyes, the colour shared with each of her relatives narrow and harden.

"Priority two communique form Specialist Commander Chiffon, secure channels!" hearing those words Winter raised a hand to silence whoever intended to speak next.

"Forward to my station" she instructed without preamble as she finally sat in her assigned seat, almost perfectly at the centre of the bridge but somewhat further to the rear; a priority two communique was urgent and demanded her attention at the earliest opportunity but unlike a priority one, or any emergencies such as code red or black events did not justify interrupting her other duties. Now that she was aware of the incoming message however Winter prepared to treat it with all of the diligence and focus that it was worth. Specialist Commander Chiffon was the hand-picked successor and former First Mate of her own brother-in-law Gangrel Slate and had continued to prove that the faith the grizzled old bear Faunus placed in him was justified since taking on the mantle.

"Aye Captain" a moment later Winter had the report and quickly took in its' contents, committing every detail to memory with an ease and rapidity others might simply have scanned it and upon doing so her eyes seemed to gleam with with a harsh and predatory light that would have been unnerving to any who saw it and were unaccustomed to the General's peculiarities and idiosyncrasies. Detailed in the report were instances of various cyber-attacks that had almost certainly been perpetrated by Damascus Nero or those in his employ, coupled with details of various arrests of suspected recruits to his faction of Atlesian decent who had been apprehended as they attempted to leave the Kingdom for Menagerie; each of them having no signs of any history of treason prior to the former chairman's broadcast to Mantle and each of them having either a skill-set or an employment history or placement which would be useful to Nero in the pursuit of a very specific goal.

One which the Specialist Commander had hypothesised in his message.

"And now I've got you, you wretched little bastard" the words left Winter in a rare lapse of self control brought about by something that could almost be described as a malevolent giddiness at the thought of righting the wrongs that Damascus Nero had committed against Remnant and against decency by creating something as foul as the Cyber-Grimm.

"Captain?" a voice enquired, showing an impressive level of resolve by not being concerned or intimidated by the positively feral smile Winter treated them to and instead seeming more anxious, as though they shared her eagerness to act against the enemies of Atlas even if they did not yet know what was required of them.

"I have reason to believe that we now know what Damascus Nero's next move is, or if we're lucky the move after his next move….With the latter option giving us more time to prepare" a deathly silence fell over the bridge as they took in the revelation; Winter herself had no reservations about confiding in the people around her as each of them had proven themselves in a dozen ways or more and so she continued after allowing her words to sink in

"Naturally every word you hear aboard this bridge is classified above top secret and the uttering of any information you become party to elsewhere is grounds for summary execution, which I will perform personally….Specialist Commander Chiffon has deduced that Nero is searching for Atlas's military and scientific secrets, likely in an effort to weaponise them further and incorporate them into his own creations. It seems that he is interested specifically in an experimental Aura Transfer machine designed roughly thirty years ago at the behest of Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy"

"How do we stop him Captain?" one eager voice enquired whilst another was more pondering and inquisitive.

"Stop what….What would he need an Aura Transfer Machine for? Is he sick, dying?"

"I don't know that yet" Winter admitted readily, though a scowl crossed her features in a way which made it plain that such expressions were commonplace for her. She had not yet properly examined the possible motives Nero might have for seeking such a device and yet even with the most cursory of examining she found that the notion filled her with inexplicable dread; the previous question however was one for which an answer came more easily"

"But I do have some idea on how we're going to counter his efforts" Winter's predatory smile returned wider than ever "Now we know what he's looking for we get to be the ones to dictate the pace of this conflict, we get to outplay him and make him come chasing after us….Make for the Capital, maintain cloak until we're within the cities' airspace. I will be in the war room, I am not to be disturbed"

Winter rose to her feet and left the command bridge with a chorus of 'Atlas prevails!' following behind her.

---

Team MARS had followed the plan that Astra had set out for them and had been making their way across the wastes at a good pace, made far easier and smoother by the presence of actual roads during this part of their journey no matter how questionable their quality and maintenance might be; though before they had reached the first of the settlements on the path towards whatever unknown and vanishing presence Regalia had spied the day before the four teens had found their attention drawn to something that they had not expected to see, despite it being an all to common occurrence across Menagerie.

Specifically they had encountered a convoy in the midst of being ravaged by the Creatures of Grimm.

"LET'S GO, LET'S GO! EVERYONE READY?" Astra demanded urgently as they transferred control of their steering wheel solely to their right hand so that the left could be used for other things whilst beside and behind them the rest of their team were hurriedly preparing to launch themselves into action; with none of them wearing seatbelts in a display which somehow managed to be the least dangerous part of the situation.

The convoy consisted of several trucks, smaller and more ordinary vehicles than the massive land-trains which often travelled across the island and their arrangement, along with several other factors allowed Astra to make several deductions in little more than a split second; there were more sets of tire tracks than there were vehicles and the swerving, veering nature of those tracks, which were accompanied by countless claw marks and small cracks where Grimm had struck the road which littered the ground told a tale of the monsters ferocious efforts to run the vehicles off of the road. The excess of tracks was somewhat explained by the fact that the trucks that were present had pulled off of the road and arranged themselves defensively, using guns and Lightning Dust-fuelled rods to keep monsters at bay whilst at the same time likely distracting them whilst their comrades fled and looked for assistance from the nearest settlement.

Astra noted that it suggested a level of organisation and professionalism which was curious, though there other matters that demanded their attention in that moment.

Namely the dozens of Creeps which were slithering and swarming over one another in a frenzied attempt to overwhelm their preys' defences, yet mercifully lacked the skill or intellect to effectively coordinate themselves and also the flock of Teryx which had chosen to rip and dive at the easier, stationary prey rather than give chase to whoever had fled.

"AJ I need a glyph" Regalia called out as she clambered into a perching position in the window, being provided with a platform in the next instant so that she could more easily climb out of the truck and onto its' bed where she began hastily unfastening and preparing Clunker, mounting her jetbike and preparing to launch and assault that would likely be devastating enough to destroy countless Creatures of Grimm in a single pass.

"How're we doing this?" Stygian asked, the Mouse Faunus already unsheathing Sharp Cheese and holding the katana steady as he prepared to leap out of a moving vehicle, or more likely to use his Semblance and bypass the need for a door altogether. Astra considered but before they could speak Athena answered on their behalf.

"Astra and Regalia go low, we go high" the Bear Faunus declared, already positioning glyphs to launch her own assault on the monsters. Astra gave a wordless nod of agreement, focusing on the skirmish that they were rapidly nearing and with no more to be said Team MARS collectively took the nod as their cue to act.

In the next moment Creatures of Grimm began to die.

Stygian was the first to appear amidst the monsters, his Semblance bringing him rippling into existence in mid-air and falling directly into the path of a Teryx with an open, shrieking maw which Stygian met by imbuing the blade of his sword with Fire Dust and slashing, the superheated and glowing blade cleaving the monsters upper jaw away from the lower and taking enough of its' skull that the thing began to vanish immediately after. Before the could fall further Stygian used his Semblance again and once again found himself in the path of a Teryx, this time cleaving away its' right wing and opening its' belly before teleporting again and again, each time with violent results and a stomach-churning plummeting fall until the Mouse Faunus found himself landing in a crouch atop one of Athena-Jade's glyphs as his partner entered the fray herself.

Athena-Jade's assistance to her partner was only the first of the bear Faunus's glyphs as she threw herself into the midst of the winged nightmares made flesh; keeping Heartbreaker sheathed and instead relying solely on her Semblance as she summoned the wings of a Nevermore at her back and swooped upwards before allowing the partial conjuration to disappear so that she could launch an impossibly artistic upside-down spinning kick to a Teryx with enough force to collapse its' ribcage entirely. From there Athena summoned again, this time creating four glowing and ephemeral Beowolf claws, each of which created a glyph of their own which in turn allowed the snowy-haired Faunus to leap and bound and weave through the air as though it were solid ground and claw and rend the Teryx as she passed them.

Astra and Regalia's answer to the Creeps was far more direct in its' violence.

"DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!" Regalia whooped as she pulled her jetbike into what would be considered a wheelie if it were a more traditional cycle with actual wheels and then leapt from the bed of Astra's truck, securing the harpoon of Apex Scavenger in place and locking the body of the weapon into her jetbike as she did so; the result being that as Astra threw their truck into a tire-screeching turn at breakneck speed the Racoon Faunus was flung around in a wide arc which saw the cable of her weapon slice through the bodies of numerous Creeps in the blink of an eye. An added advantage of this was that when Regalia retracted the harpoon and took a more direct control of her direction she managed to bring Clunker skidding to a halt directly between the trucks and the remaining Creeps, hopping off of the jetbike and planting herself between in the path of the monsters with Apex Scavenger at the ready.

Making herself the perfect distraction.

Tires continued to screech and the engine of Astra's truck continued to roar as the Deer Faunus brought the vehicle spinning into position and aimed out of the window with their left hand, deploying and firing the mini-gun of one half of Buckshot Ares; reducing several more of the Creeps to mist in an instant and then leaping out of their truck to deploy the other half of their weapon, marching purposefully into the tattered and ravaged remains of the swarming horrors whilst unleashing a maelstrom of firepower which left nothing but fading smoke and fragments in its' wake.

Astra caught sight of various truckers and presumably drivers' mates who had been serving as gunners as they perched on the roofs of the various trucks and upon seeing them yelling and waving, the Deer Faunus, caught up in the thrill of victory and still naive in some ways despite the experience they now boasted thought for a moment that they were simply being cheered on by the people whose lives their team had saved. Then they heard the frantic, terrified note in the voices; even if they couldn't quite make out what was being said and time seemed to slow to a crawl as Astra's mind worked overtime to make sense of the situation; they saw the worried look on Regalia's face and the fact that she, along with Athena-Jade and Stygian were already preparing to rush towards their leader and then, with sinking dread Astra's sea-green gaze took note of the various gouges and tears left in the road by the claws of the Grimm and they realised that many of them were far too large to have come from the Teryx or the Creeps. A final warning that something was terribly wrong came from their right in the form of an ominous hissing and scraping of bone against bone followed by the faint wisps of obsidian darkness.

It was enough warning for Astra to raise their shields.

They did not however have enough time to deploy their hard-light generators and were instead flung forcefully backwards and head over heels by an impact which left sparks spraying from the surface of Buckshot Ares and when they came rolling to a stop and forced themselves into a crouch Astra was stunned by both the size of the Grimm that had managed to go unseen and also that such a thing could have crept up on them all so easily; bipedal, avian and saurian with a long neck leading to a skull with too many eyes whilst at the opposite end it sported a bladed tail, though its' most prominent feature was the clawed digits with which it had attacked Astra.

The Clutcher.

The dinosaur Grimm cocked its' head and regarded the Deer Faunus for a lingering moment before turning its' many eyes towards the truck Team MARS had arrived in and taking a single bounding and utterly silent step towards it only to be a halted as a beam of searing, jade green light lanced through the space directly ahead of the Clutcher. From there Astra saw that the rest of Team MARS were already rushing to their side however the brief moment where its' quarry was distracted at least somewhat provided the Grimm with all the opening it needed.

Smoke issued from the various gaps in the armour plates and spines adorning the Clutcher's back, being wafted into the air around the thing only to dissipate in a matter of seconds as some unseen force whipped through it.

Revealing that the Grimm was gone.

It took MARS only a second to realise that the Clutcher had some form of chameleon-like ability and that it had likely been the monster itself to disperse the smog as it had slunk back and began preparing its' next ambush attack.

---

Zirconia Shadowmoon had been roaming the streets of Jidhir Town in a way which made her progress seem far more purposeful and deliberate than it truly was.

After playing roles and subtly changing the way people perceived and reacted to her for so long it was nothing at all for the Grasshopper Faunus to do so once again and carry herself in a way which would lead any of Nero's various followers to assume that she was in the midst of some important task even without the added advantage of having her face largely hidden from view now that she no longer wore her modified gas mask. That such deception came so easily to her left Zirconia briefly grappling with a bitter sadness that she forcibly pushed aside and searched for distractions from, instead taking in the sight of what Jidhir Town had become and how vastly different it was from what might have been if the settlement were more successful; at present the town was largely self sufficient in its' day to day running and yet Zirconia found that lacked any of the charm or personality of a place that had grown organically, indeed the best way she had found to describe it was as though the entire settlement were in fact a single large production facility and each and every inhabitant of Jidhir Town was an employee whose entire time within its' walls was dedicated to advancing Nero's vision for the future of Remnant.

It was that vision that had seen Zirconia step outside and away from the ship where she would likely otherwise have been lurking.

When she had last resided in Nero's main base of operations, heartbroken, reeling and disgusted with herself in the wake of everything that had occurred in Neo Vale and the loss of her relationship with Athena Zirconia had scarcely left her quarters aboard her father figures' private airship and had instead sequestered herself away in a dark room to wallow in her misery for several weeks. Now however the rogue Huntress wanted to put as much space between herself and the vessel as possible as every glance she cast in its' directions made her oddly nauseous and forced her to contemplate the steps Nero was taking, particularly those which pertained to the airship that would soon carry them all to Atlas. These thoughts were in turn pushed aside as Zirconia continued through streets that now more closely resembled gangways or construction sites in the instances where they were not crowded with fighters and engineers who attended to recently returned Cyber-Grimm until eventually a commotion reached her ears and sent her looking for the source of the violent, thudding noises.

Her search ended in her finding Carmesi and being utterly appalled at what she saw.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, fighting the urge to raise her voice to a screaming yell and instead keeping a determined and steely composure as Sunriser Cain flew to her hand. The Komodo Dragon Faunus had been overseeing the black-clad cultists and fanatics who had followed Aefen Cruor and sided with both her and Gestalt-Prime, following the Alpha Cyber-Grimm back to Jidhir Town only to be taken prisoner and it seemed that either as a means to compel the newly imprisoned chain-gang to work harder or simply to vent his own self-righteous bloodlust the burly reptilian had taken one of the prisoners by the scruff of the neck and was beating their face into a bloody and unrecognisable pulp that left Carmesi's knuckles stained with red and his victim dangling limply in his grasp as they powerlessly received a barrage of blows which ended only when Zirconia levelled her weapon at his throat.

"Put him down Carmesi" Zirconia's words were icy and yet the wavering rage within them was somehow eclipsed by the sheer scorn and aloof derision in Carmesi's voice.

"Or you'll tell Mister Nero I suppose?" he sighed, the insinuation that she was little more than an extension of Damascus who presented no threat in her own right being enough to make Zirconia's mismatched, pink and orange eyes narrow.

"Or I will give you a fresh scar to be bitter about" she lowered Sunriser Cain as she spoke, pressing the tip of the weapon against the ragged gash that had been cut into the older Faunus's burly and scaled chest by one of Athena-Jade's glyphs; deliberately needling at something she knew would provoke Carmesi in an effort to draw his attention away from his current victim; an effort which was rewarded as he threw the bloodied, battered and barely conscious man to another member of the cult whose spirit had been collectively broken.

"Get that cleaned up" he rumbled out without so much looking at the direction of the frightened prisoners, instead keeping his hellish red glare locked firmly on Zirconia who held her nerve with a display of willpower that others would have lacked.

"I asked you what the hell you were doing" the words were toneless, an almost bored rasp which seemed to aggravate him further.

"I hate these people and you should too" Carmesi snarled, stepping closer to Zirconia "They were never fit to be part of new Remnant that Mister Nero is building….At least the gutter scum tried, some of them have even made themselves better but these….people….Grimm worshippers, we never should have worked with them or Aefen-"

"So you took it upon yourself to correct a mistake" Zirconia stated coldly, bracing herself and keeping a tight grip on her weapon as she noted how on edge and close to a fresh bout of violence Carmesi seemed.

"Nero gave them a chance to be a part of something better, something bigger than they could ever have hoped to imagine" the Komodo Dragon shook his head, dropping his voice to a whisper as he stepped closer, into Zirconia's personal space "And they repaid that by trying to double-cross us, trying to kill you Zirconia….Remember that and ask yourself if Mister Nero would really care if these people died"

Zirconia's blood ran cold as she realised just how likely it was that this new Damascus, the one whom she barely recognised and whose ambitions saw him freely accept casualties and sacrifices that would once have been unconscionable would indeed have allowed Carmesi to murder the prisoners in cold blood for the slightest provocation; yet still she stood her ground, cybernetic limbs shifting subtly as she prepared to strike at a moments' notice.

"But he hasn't asked you to get rid of them has he?" she hissed, leaning forward to invade his personal space in return as she delivered a barb that would hurt Carmesi more than any mere insult "Which means that right now you are the one working against the plan, you are the one stopping workers Damascus needs from doing their job-"

"They were barely doing it anyway" he spat "That's why I beat sense into that one….They know they're beaten, so they're dragging their heels; lazy, poor workmanship. Better to teach them consequences now then let one of them sabotage us-"

"But they didn't threaten you did they? They haven't directly interfered with the mission in any way that you can point to have they?" Carmesi's let out a wordless snarl in lieu of an answer which told Zirconia all she needed to know, allowing her to deliver another cutting comment "Then stop acting like the very people Nero is seeking to put a stop to….A Hunter lording your power over those weaker than yourself. It's unbecoming Carmesi"

The Komodo Dragon Faunus clenched his fists and seemed to swell with barely contained rage to such a degree that Zirconia was certain that a fight to the death between them would occur at any moments; a prospect which would once have terrified her but in the wake of all she had endured at Pikesreach now seemed tame by comparison.

And then Carmesi laughed, a rumbling, hollow and bitter sound as he loomed over her.

"Well look at you….Sometime I really can see why Mister Nero puts so much faith in you, not just because you're his little girl. No, there's some real conviction and belief there; you really do want a better world even for the people who wronged you, no vengeance, you're better that" Carmesi's voice dropped and became a sneering growl "And then I remember that you're weak….I can see those convictions wavering girl, even if Mister Nero refuses to. You have heart, but you don't the stomach to see this through"

With that he turned and stalked away, leaving Zirconia trembling slightly as she allowed herself to finally breathe.

"Bastard" the word, a rare curse from the refined and dignified young woman, something Nero would no doubt ascribe to the influence of her former team-mates escaped her in a wavering whisper as she stood alone amongst the work the remnants of Aefen's broken cult had been attending to, the prisoners themselves having shuffled off to be clear of whatever violence threatened to erupt between Nero's two most trusted lieutenants.

Zirconia pondered to herself and realised that Carmesi was certainly right, though perhaps not in the way he believed himself to be.

The idea of a better, more equal and peaceful Remnant where the threat of Grimm had been wiped away was a dream that Zirconia believed all should strive towards and it was an ideal she still wholeheartedly believed in. Her questions of faith had not come from a lack of belief in the bright new tomorrow itself but rather the steps that had been taken to get there, each more heinous than the last until became apparent that the future she had hoped for would be built on a foundation of terror and conquest. From there further doubts were inevitable and Zirconia's primary concern now was not merely the direction that had been taken, but the person who had chosen it and continued to lead them all into ever more damning territory.

Suppressing a watery sniffle Zirconia realised that Damascus Nero, the father figure she loved so dearly had been corrupted somewhere along the way and was no longer fit to create a better future.

As the Grasshopper struggled to come to grips with that reality she caught sight of Gestalt-Prime, the Alpha Cyber-Grimm preening themselves and adjusting their repaired components in the gleaming sun serving as an ominous and yet poetic symbol of everything that had gone wrong and a sign that something would have to be done.

---

The Clutcher might have been a deadly foe, one capable of cutting down and skewering an entire team of Hunters before they could react to it were it not for the fact that its' current adversaries were Team MARS; who boasted several advantages which greatly evened the odds of the battle.

"There!" Regalia yelled as the came back to full awareness securely hidden behind Astra's shields, her partner covering her whilst she had been using her Semblance in an effort to find the currently invisible Creature of Grimm; though as she pointed at where the monster had been she became painfully aware of the fact that with both its' speed and cunning working against her and the fact that it could see her perfectly the Clutcher might have already moved as soon as she had pointed at it and also that Look-See had not given her an outline of the thing, identifying a single point of its' hulking mass, most likely its' skull or the centre of it which left the Clutcher free to use its' claws and tail mercilessly.

A problem which her team-mates had also recognised and were quickly taking steps to counteract, with Athena-Jade being the one to lead the charge.

"I've got it!" the Bear Faunus declared proudly, suddenly seeming to be much more like the gung-ho and perpetually ready for anything woman Regalia saw her as now that Team MARS were actively taking steps to bring Zirconia Shadowmoon who had betrayed Athena more than anybody and reduced her to so much less than she truly was for some time. With Regalia giving her a rough area to target Athena first threw a single large glyph into existence between Astra and Regalia and the area in question, protecting her friends before conjuring dozens of smaller barriers in rapid succession which began to interlock and steadily close in to form a cage around the Creature of Grimm.

Prompting the Clutcher to reveal itself.

Acrid smog billowed through the spaces between glyphs with a force and pressure which might have thrown one of the Hunters from their feet if they had fighting it at close range as the saurian horrors' inky-black scales became visible once more; its' chameleon-like abilities being muted with an effect like a void suddenly opening up at the centre of Athena's barriers.

With stealth and trickery having failed it the Grimm relied instead on brute force and attempted to first batter its' way through the restraints, slamming its' bulk into Athena's Semblance and whipping its' flexible neck and many-eyed skull about at improbable angles in a search for weaknesses before deciding instead to stab and slash its' way free. The Clutcher let out a shrieking hiss as it first drove its' bladed tail into the centres of several of the glowing surfaces, sending fissures of light across them but ultimately being unable to break them and then began working its' scythe-clawed digits into the spaces between glyphs; raking its' claws downwards and tearing through the obstructions with much more visible results.

"I've got it! I'm gonna give you guys an opening!" Stygian called out, brandishing Sharp Cheese and hastily loading a crystal whose colour Regalia immediately recognised as being that of Ice Dust into the katana, passing its' effects on to the weapons' blade.

"Stitch, what're you-" Astra's question came too late, the Mouse Faunus having already used their Semblance and vanished before it could be completed and leaving Astra themselves stood in front of Regalia, shields still raised to protect her despite the additional glyph whilst Athena merely offered them a toothy smile.

"He knows what he's doing" she assured them both, vouching for her partner a mere fraction of a second before the dark-skinned and blue-haired young man reappeared; his Semblance taking him, as ever into the most dangerous place in the vicinity.

Into the cage of glyphs, trapped with the Clutcher and stood directly in front of the beast.

The Clutcher screamed and spat before tearing its' claws free of the glyphs it had been steadily carving its' way out of; proving Stygian to be as good as his word and giving Team MARS an opening and respite before rearing back and slashing at Stygian with both of its' clawed hands at once, which he countered with ease leaping back and using his sword to parry and thrust downwards in the same motion with the result being that the monster was left hiss and shrieking in pain and confusion as its' right arm was frozen solid with ice travelling from its' clawed digits to to its' relatively slender and underdeveloped upper arm and down towards the ground to hold it in place at an awkward angle.

"AJ NOW!" the Mouse Faunus called out and without hesitation she gave her partner what he needed, vanishing the cage of glyphs she had created and allowing Stygian to free himself from the ongoing assaults of the Clutcher as it tried to lash at him its' tail and whipping tongue whilst stabbing at him with its' left arm. From there Athena summoned a new glyph directly beneath her own feet and used it propel herself forwards as she drew Heartbreaker in its' hammer form and delivered a mighty swing whose impact echoed out through the wasteland.

The arm of the Clutcher exploded into frozen fragments.

With the monster still thrashing and struggling Athena tried to press her advantage, summoning more glyphs and using her momentum and incredible athleticism and agility to leap, flip and ricochet around the Clutcher as she shifted her weapon into its' sword mode whilst seeking out a clear angle of attack to cleave through its' neck with a single strike. Her efforts were brought to a premature halt however as the Grimm managed to force her onto the defensive, swinging its' bladed tail around to stab at her back and causing her to back-flip over the attack which in turn allowed the Clutcher to freely shatter the glyph she had been hoping to land on and force her back down to the ground, at which point she was forced to retreat once again as the claws of the Clutcher's remaining arm were swung in her direction and through its' pain the monster began to realise that it was no longer immobilised and could in fact give chase.

"That's our cue to move in!" Astra exclaimed, finally readying the mini-guns and forearm blades of Buckshot Ares as they lowered their shields and prepared to charge at the Clutcher with Regalia following closely behind them, the two of them watching with some concern as the Grimm managed to keep a series of hit and run attacks from Stygian and Athena at bay, its' missing arm being compensated for by its' tail and the field of vision its' multiple eyes afforded it. A single look passed between Astra and Regalia however and the two of them knew what needed to be done without a single word passing between them; they waited and found the perfect moment to strike as they drew closer and the Clutcher was distracted by a burst of Athena's laser and trying to swat Stygian aside at the same time.

When they struck there was nothing the Clutcher could do.

Astra aimed and fired Buckshot Ares, arms held outstretched and endless streams of bullets ripping into the torso of Grimm and the area around it to such an extent that it could not immediately dodge or slink away to escape. In response the Clutcher reared its' remaining arm back to swing and slash through Astra, hoping to reduce the Deer Faunus to bloody meat only to be utterly outplayed as Regalia leapt over her partners back and landed in a crouch on their shields before vaulting, with perfect timing onto the incoming claws and driving the pickaxe head of Apex Scavenger deep into the limb. The Clutcher tried to throw her free and Regalia allowed it to do so, hitting the ground back first with a painful thud but also wearing an uncommonly cocky smile as as she shifted her weapon into its' shotgun form and fired its' underslung harpoon; embedding the point of the projectile in the underside of the Grimm's jaw and dragging it downwards with all her might.

Directly onto Astra.

The Deer Faunus braced themselves, foregoing the use of their Semblance and instead slamming the twin halves of Buckshot Ares together and creating their signature wall of rose-tinted Hard-light shielding just as the Clutcher toppled forwards. The entire affair was an inversion of sorts of an attack that had became a staple of the pairs' plans and indeed one used by Team MARS reasonably often and its' results were plain to see.

The Clutcher fell to the ground with its' sheared away from its' body, severed neatly by the edge of the hard-light.

"I COULD DO THIS ALL DAY!" Regalia cheered as she sprung back to her feet, dusting herself off with a victorious shimmy and a bright smile as her team-mates regrouped around her which only widened as Astra picked her off of the ground and twirled her for a moment before setting her down.

"We kick so much ass" they grinned, completely willingly oblivious to the eye-rolls and pointed looks being shared by Athena and Stygian until the Bear Faunus spoke up.

"So what now?….Those drivers are staring"

"Let me talk to 'em" Astra murmured quietly before taking a moment to study the group of truckers who had remained gathered atop their various vehicles throughout the battle against the Grimm; it took them only a moment to identify a likely leader or spokesperson for the group in the form of a stocky, somewhat pudgy middle-aged woman a fox-tail trailing behind her and hair of the same colour worn short and slicked back.

Upon identifying who they needed to speak to Astra began sidling over to the trucks, collapsing Buckshot Ares and trying their best to seem utterly confident in control; a task suddenly more difficult than it ought to be as their uncertainties seemed to exacerbate the pain in their leg from where they had been struck by the Clutcher and produce a slight limp.

"Thanks for the assist young 'un" the driver that Astra had identified called out, voice softer than her appearance would suggest as she hopped down to the ground and gave Team MARS a nod of recognition, seemingly confirming that she was indeed a person with some authority over her peers.

"Any time….We heard something about a Grimm that was picking off land-trains and were on the lookout. I'm guessing, well hoping that was it"

"Yeah, we heard the stories too" the woman who had not offered a name nodded in agreement before gesturing over her shoulders "That's why we're taking scenic routes and dropping off at settlements out of order and why we're using these rigs….Normal shipping company is getting antsy, so the sub-contracted it out to us"

"Is that why your friends left you behind?" Astra asked, arching an eyebrow and gesturing to the road that the convey had been run off of whilst keeping their tone deliberately light and conversational "There's a lot more tracks than there are trucks….I'm guessing your friends went to get help?"

"From where?" the woman snorted derisively, giving a bitter chuckle "We're a long way from anywhere with Hunters permanently stationed"

"Yeah, a long way from Breaktide Academy as well" Astra noted, offering a tight smile and forcing the sense of something conspiratorial into their words, as though they were letting the truckers in on a secret which, so soon after saving them from the Creatures of Grimm went some way to assuage any building suspicions that the Fox Faunus might harbour; causing her to hold her arms across her chest and merely sigh, tapping a booted foot against the ground rather than question exactly what Astra was driving at.

"Aint that the truth" she grumbled, vaguely uneasy but not in a way which suggested that Astra's implications had been doubted and so the Deer Faunus pushed onwards more brazenly.

"But I heard something about security being sub-contracted out as well….Unofficially" there were intakes of breath, muttered curses and other signs of discomfort from the gathered truckers behind the Fox Faunus whilst she herself looked around far more nervously, eyes honing in on Team MARS as though she expected them to draw weapons at any moment; after several seconds however it became clear that this was not the case and so she took a gambit of her own.

"I think I know the folks you're talking about….Or know of 'em at least. You want my advice young 'un steer clear, it's a dangerous world they live in"

"It's a dangerous wasteland for everyone….Especially when there's nobody here looking out for people" Astra shrugged, feigning nonchalant whilst at the same time keeping their mind firmly away from the foul taste in their mouth left by parroting the very ideology that allowed Nero to draw recruits to him.

"Aint that the truth" the Fox Faunus repeated "But, they're not here helping either….Word was that they had some people stationed at a place on our route, not too far from here truth be told, but it seems like they closed up shop when the authorities got wind of it"

"Don't suppose any of your drivers who sped off might know where the shop is set up now?" Astra asked, worried that they might have been too direct or obvious until the burly woman before them pursed her lips for a moment before answering.

"I might know someone who knows someone….I can put you in touch with the right people and point you in the right direction but I can't promise anything. As I said, this isn't a business I involve myself in, I'd rather have my own guns than rely on the folk you're talking about….But since you helped us I'll return the favour"

"Thank you, thank you very much" Astra beamed "Lead the way"

With that the Deer Faunus turned on their heel and fought the urge to swagger as they made their way back towards Team MARS; grinning from ear to ear as they prepared to tell their friends that following a hunch had supplied them with a lead that might bring them closer to Nero and his followers.

---

Atlas Specialist Corvid Xiao Long had not initially been deployed to the island Kingdom of Menagerie to stand guard over the ruins of Pikesreach.

She, along with numerous other Atlesian Hunters and detachments of soldiers, mechanised elements such as robotic soldiers and their attendant equipment such as transports, munitions, Dust and a limited supply of mech-suits had been deployed to Menagerie, with several Specialists such as her self scattered amongst their number primarily to bolster local forces that had been struggling and stretched thin for some time, long before the loss of Hammerfall Outpost allowed the Kingdoms' various foes to travel through the vast swathes of open space between its' settlements almost entirely unhindered. The mission, as General Winter Schnee had explained it to her personally was for these reinforcements to bolster Menagerie's own Hunters and defensive forces to such a degree that major routes between settlements could be effectively and regularly patrolled and an official presence could be maintained or established not only in the island Kingdoms' major cities and towns but also its' smaller settlements where populations of people had for years felt that they had been left to fend for themselves and discarded entirely by a Kingdom that had promised to protect them.

The advantages of such an operation were obvious and threefold, with most obvious reason was one which was a reward and a victory in of itself; it simply allowed more lives to be saved from the Creatures of Grimm or any raiders who might be emboldened by the struggles currently facing Hunters across Remnant. Furthermore however General Schnee had explained to Corvid that the presence of Hunters in various smaller settlements had a limiting effect on Damascus Nero's ability to recruit like-minded individuals, not only for the obvious practical reasons but also because the presence of such a defensive force severely undermined his rhetoric in ways that were hard to ignore. The third reason for the operation, a reason which not all of the Hunters had been informed of was that Atlesian forces being deployed to Menagerie allowed Winter to have people she trusted undertake covert operations largely as they saw fit in order to gather information that might lead to the capture or death of Damascus Nero and his allies.

It was with this in mind that once everything that could be gleaned from Pikesreach had been collected and sent for research and the surrounding area scoured relentlessly Corvid had ordered her forces to return to the settlement they had been assigned to.

Gruner-Hugel was a sizeable settlement and one which had been founded by Atlesian settlers to Menagerie, something which had no doubt influenced Winter's decision to station such a considerable force there; it was also a sizeable agricultural hub for Menagerie which made the most of what arable land was available in an efficient and resourceful way that had been influenced by generations of Atlesians who had learned to thrive in inhospitable conditions, though Corvid sensed that the newer settlement of Maiden-Gate would one day overtake the place, given its' size and prominence it was also no surprise that the place was also equipped with essential modernities such as an airship terminal and other things which would make it easier for a military strike force to be stationed and kept ready within its' walls. Gruner-Hugel had also in recent weeks and months drawn the attentions of Damascus Nero, likely for its' strategic value and the sheer volume of people who called the place home, with Cyber-Grimm having been spotted engaging the Creatures of Grimm only a few short miles away.

Upon her arrival Corvid had kept her airship visible and airborne, stationed almost directly above the main entrance to Gruner-Hugel in an obvious and deliberately arrogant challenge.

In her mind if Damascus Nero thought his mass-produced monsters could replace Hunters then he was welcome to send them forth and try.

No such challenge had come however and Corvid was beginning to grow restless in a way which her frequent ventures into the settlement itself and the areas around it had failed to relieve her of, both to make her presence felt and appreciated as she led the efforts to combat the Grimm from the front lines and ensure that she was seen by the people she was protecting, leaving no doubt in their minds that the Hunters could be relied upon and also for more peaceful, simple reasons. Before its' destruction and subsequent resettling Menagerie had been the Faunus homeland and as such had become a place where Faunus from all across Remnant had chosen to make their homes, as the adopted daughter of Blake Belladonna Corvid had taken every opportunity to immerse herself in the unique culture that had begun to arise on the island and share as much of her experiences as possible with her mothers in calls that were as frequent as she could manage.

At present the Specialist was away from both the settlement below her and the bridge of her ship, truthfully most of her operations did not require her to captain a vessel and she had not felt comfortable doing so; instead she had delegated the duty to a First Mate she would be sure to recommend for promotion to her Aunt Winter and based herself in an office away from the majority of the activity aboard the ship that was not truly her own, somewhere she could find the peace and quiet to concentrate and plan her next move.

A peace and quiet that was promptly interrupted by an incoming internal transmission.

"What is it ensign?" Corvid demanded, not angry but blunt enough to make it clear that the interruption was unwelcome as a holographic projection of a younger member of the bridge crew, likely nominated by their peers to be the one to deliver the message flickered into life. The ensign in question, likely no older than their early twenties caught sight of the way Corvid's cybernetic eye shifted and adjusted, narrowing slightly and visibly stiffened, an effect only magnified by the fact that Corvid was clad in full Specialist uniform.

"Specialist Xiao Long" the shimmering hologram snapped off a salute "We just received word from our scouts on the ground, covert ops report that they have visual verification of people of interest following the arrival of couriers warning about Grimm several hours ago"

"Nero's people?" she demanded.

"No Specialist" the ensign looked visibly nauseous "It's….Um, ma'am I think you should see for yourself, we have images"

"Send them" Corvid answered bluntly, annoyance losing out to curiosity for several seconds before the files were transferred to her offices' computer and opened, at which point she was reduced to silent disbelief.

The image showed a convoy of several trucks, sporting varying degrees of damage clearly caused by the Creatures of Grimm; the designs of their vehicles identifying them as members of the same group that had arrived early warning of monsters in the distance however the main subject of the photograph was a garish red pickup truck with a gaudy black flame decal that Corvid fought the urge to wrinkle her nose at, along with an impressive-looking custom-made jetbike stored in its' flatbed.

Team MARS had come to Gruner-Hugel.

"Well shit" Corvid breathed out.

"Orders ma'am?" the ensign asked nervously, a question which Corvid made no effort to answer immediately and instead rested her chin in her hands as she considered her options. Truthfully she knew that General Schnee would expect her to put her own feelings aside and bring the team of absconded students in for questioning to find out exactly what they had been doing and if their activities might have inadvertently tampered with the official efforts to find Nero and his allies; though privately Corvid wondered if Aunt Winter would truly be able to achieve the impartiality she demanded given that Athena-Jade Slate was her niece.

For a brief moment Corvid considered pushing the responsibility onto Winter herself and simply informing the General and Coco Adel of Breaktide Academy of what was happening but then quickly dismissed the idea as cowardly, entertaining the notion of contacting Athena's parents for only a moment before similarly dismissing it. From there Corvid considered reaching out to Team FADE, her younger brothers' team containing older siblings to two of Team MARS's members, though she quickly realised that Team FADE were not currently in any position to directly intervene and would likely be unable to contact the runaway team of teenagers via their scrolls.

"Ma'am?"

"I thinking" Corvid answered, more snappily than she had intended and with her brow furrowing as she realised that this was a matter that she would have to deal with personally, a situation where family and responsibility might become intertwined and conflict with one another. She supposed that she should simply swoop down and reveal herself to Team MARS and inform them that they would be joining her aboard the ship and that they would be given no choice in the matter, yet the thought snagged in her mind and she found herself unable and unwilling to act; instead the Specialist was reminded uncannily of a younger version of herself, or of her brother when Team FADE had been students and from there Corvid found herself recounting what she knew of Team MARS's various missions and other, less official engagements.

She decided to put some faith in the younger Hunters.

"Have them watched, discretely and from a distance. Do not interfere directly unless forced to or I give an order"

"Ma'am?" the ensigns' confusion would likely be spreading throughout the command bridge and out across the ship and her assigned forces; something Corvid sought to cut off with a single, utterly bold-faced and confident declaration.

"I'm curious….I wanna see how the kids play this out. I wanna know if they've got a plan or if they're just trucking around"

All professionalism ceased and Corvid grinned as she heard the groaning her pun had produced rippling through the bridge.

Author's Notes:

Well this was a fun chapter, we killed a dinosaur, reintroduced an OC from FADE and set something up that's gonna move things forward.
Enjoy.

But anyway, let's summarise shall we:
AJ and Stitch did not fall asleep cuddling, confirmed lol.
Seriously, backseat sex is like any other sex….It's great until someone's gotta stay in the wet spot.
'Several subsequent' Oh so Astra and Regalia just fucked all night then lol.
"Follow the general direction of the only vague thing that might be a lead we have, but then also stop by every settlement that Nero's people might have tried to convince to join them that we pass on the way" is not the best plan in the world, but at least it's pro-active.
So the little girl talk moment between AJ and Regalia is something I feel like there should probably have been more of before now….Definitely with a callback to "Paint our nails and talk about cute boys".
Also, use protection.
A convoy, different from the one that the Clutcher attacked, right as Team MARS go on the road again….In the chapter named after the convoy-eating dinosaur Grimm, I see we have our Goober.
Mild annoyance = murderous rage for a thinking Grimm, but they still wouldn't yell at a retail worker.
So the Clutcher decided it wanted a second helping and got messed up in the process, which honestly just pads the chapter out and gives a sense of its' power….Whilst also having the bandits and raiders who are often mentioned but haven't really been seen doing anything since back in Vol.01 when they were working alongside Persian Green some presence and more importantly, setting up the Grimm cannibalism just to show off how nasty this critter is.
Creeps and Teryx were picked because I was honestly getting sick of everything being Beowolves and they honestly fit the aesthetic I'm going for here.
And the smoke was to set up its' camouflage abilities up.
I gave Winter a whole paragraph and change of hype….Just for her internal monologue to be "Every day I haven't caught Nero is a personal failure".
Winter and Matte (The first mate from the ship Blake and Sun were on in Vol.04) is a callback to Downward Spiral.
Seriously, Winter's ship is not somewhere you get to serve if you're fresh out of the academy.
And now Winter knows that Nero is planning on coming to Atlas; which will add an entirely new dimension to the conflict against Nero and also Pantheon's war against Gestalt-Prime.
So these are clearly the same trucks that the Clutcher was heading after and Astra has noted already that they're doing things differently and are pretty well organised.
But more importantly, we get another scene of Team MARS vs Grimm horde; a little prelude to everyone hearing the boss fight music and something to set off the action.
AJ did capoeira with glyphs before….Now she can conjure up extra limbs and wings as well it's just unfair.
Look, after AJ and Regalia's night together it would be weird if they didn't open off the fight with a combo move.
In my head the realisation that the claw marks were the wrong size, followed by the reveal of the Clutcher having the ability to hide itself should have been accompanied by an orchestral/cinematic swell….Like the scene in Jurassic World where the Indominus Rex shows off that ability crossed with some kind of slasher movie reveal.
Of course it when the truck, of course it did.
So we haven't said exactly what Project Megalodon is yet but I'm not being subtle and I'm sure you can all guess….I wouldn't want to sleep on that either.
Carmesi absolutely brutalises prisoners….He's as much of a fanatic in his beliefs as Aefen's cult are/were in theirs and he sincerely believes in the idea that the Grimm aren't the sickness, they're a symptom and that for a new world to prosper the people that attract the Grimm have to go….Hence his hypocritical issues with organised crime, or crime in general.
"Or I will give you a fresh scar to be bitter about" look at her, trying so hard to be bad-ass.
"Remember that and ask yourself if Mister Nero would really care if these people died" that definitely shook Zirconia to her core, because she realised that there was a point, even in First Year where Nero would have cared but that Nero is gone now.
"A Hunter lording your power over those weaker than yourself. It's unbecoming Carmesi" oh he wanted to swing for that one.
So Zirconia's loyalty is paper thin at this point and even then it's more to the idealistic version of what Nero set out to do and the person that he used to be rather than anything in the present….And Carmesi seems to understand where things are headed.
"The Clutcher might have been a deadly foe" kinda sums this fight up; any other team, even main characters like Team RWBY, GRAP or FADE might have struggled against something forty-foot tall/long that can move silently has panoramic vision, incredible reach and is fast as hell; all whilst being invisible and giving off no body heat….But Team MARS have Regalia.
"He knows what he's doing" is a line shippers would be all over if this was animated.
Looks like it's been….Disarmed.
Nothing says "We got laid last night now we're super in sync" like doing a reversal of their signature move, instead of throwing Astra at the Grimm, bring the Grimm down on Astra like timber.
So the truckers were acting smarter, but not because they're working with Nero's people….They're just good at their jobs and know well enough how to deal with an up-tick in Grimm activity; they do however know something about Nero's people because they talk to people in places they visit.
And there it is, the whole fight with the Clutcher was just to put Team MARS on the right track to make contact with someone who Nero's people deal with.
….In the same place that Corvid Xiao Long is stationed.
Gruner-Hugel, Green Hill….As in Green Hill Zone from Sonic; also German name means it was founded by Atlesians.
So Nero's people were definitely here but they've gone to ground and probably skipped town ever since Corey parked a warship right by the front door.
Of course Blake and Yang's human child wants to spend some time on Menagerie, it's fitting.
In the epilogue of FADE Corvid was a Specialist but she didn't have her own ship and crew, Winter has given her one for this job but I like the idea that she doesn't like being a Captain….She was the leader of Team CLIR but they've split up since Pantheon killed Iris.
But more importantly….She knows that Team MARS are here.
Respect to Corey, she recognised that the main characters were doing a thing and having been a side character through an epic story once before has chosen to let the main characters continue to do their thing.
….And yes the pun was absolutely necessary.

Thank you to Neil12 and MajorBrony95 for their review on the last chapter.
The story is gonna have ten volumes and an epilogue, although Vol.10 might end up being shorter and this is gonna be the grand finale of the Spiral-Verse.
Well if you wanna see Nero and Winter face to face, just wait for the end of this volume.
Nah Zirconia isn't gonna try and kill Nero, that's still the closest thing to a Dad she's got...That anger is gonna get directed elsewhere first.

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