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Chapter 130: A Birdie Told Me
Wakefulness came slowly at first to Athena-Jade, though as she rolled over she found her awareness returning more fully and much more swiftly as she realised that the space next to her which she had intended to drape and arm around was empty and that she had in fact woken up alone.
This realisation was simply a catalyst for more thoughts as her eyes drifted open and she began to blearily take account of herself and her surroundings in an effort to piece together what exactly was amiss when sleeping alone had been her norm for several months now. Memories came quickly enough however and as she took in the sight of clothes that were both her own and decidedly not her own strewn across the inside of the tent she was laying in and the fact that she sprawled on top of a sleeping bag rather than nestled inside of Athena-Jade found herself all too sure of why she felt deeply rejuvenated and at the same time sore and tender in several places.
"Oh my gosh" she breathed out, a deep blush creeping across alabaster skin from her face down to a chest that was as bare as the rest of her as piecemeal memories flitted across her minds' eye; first of her on her knees in front of her partner and determinedly maintaining a sultry eye contact with him as two fingers rhythmically pumped into herself and a thumb brushed against sensitive nerves of her core whilst at the same time she bobbed her head vigorously and used her tongue as she took him as deep into her mouth and throat as she could manage all as she moaned and gasped around his girth. Another memory of her, straddling Stygian and pinning his wrists down whilst he kissed, bit and nipped at every inch of her he could reach and she responded by grinding against him roughly, vocally urging him to thrust up into her harder, faster and deeper finally allowed her to remember how the whole affair, or whatever they chose to call it had ended.
Stygian had tried to be tender, her partner had cupped her cheeks and tried to pull her into slow and gentle kiss and something within Athena had shattered; reducing her to a sobbing wreck.
"Oh my fucking gosh" she repeated more emphatically, her voice a cracking and hoarse whisper as she realised the enormity of what she had done with an aghast, sickening lurch in her stomach. She had potentially finally managed to do something that would ruin her friendship with her partner after Stygian had stood by her no matter how unkind or unfair she had been to him at first; she had toyed with his feelings, used him for rebound sex and then promptly ruined the sex as well.
She wanted to be sick.
"Stitch?" she called out, voice wavering with the desperate hope that the Mouse Faunus was only outside the tents' entrance so that she could begin apologising and trying to figure out where the two of them went from here immediately. To that end Athena began frantically searching for her clothes, dressing herself rapidly and fumbling in the process within the confines of a tent that now felt small and airless, with the scent of sex lingering around her only exacerbating the situation as she gathered up Stygian's clothes or more accurately those items of his clothing she could find whilst at the same time straining her ears so that she could listen out for any sign of the Mouse Faunus's presence, hopefully his reply to her calling out to him.
It was that close attention to the world outside of her tent which allowed her to hear an arrival which she realised with a sudden lurching of her stomach and hammering of her heart against her chest was immediately familiar to her. The Omega Wing, the winged battle-suit worn by her older cousin, Atlas Specialist Corvid Xiao Long was capable of flying effectively silently when in its' aerial drone form however the weapon; as impressive as it was could not mask the faint sound of Corvid herself as the older Huntress landed, clearly in the midst of Team MARS's camp site.
At that moment Athena-Jade realised, with her dread reaching a new intensity and seeming to seep into her very bones that Astra and Regalia were unaccounted for and that something had happened to her friends whilst she had allowed herself to be preoccupied; with the result being that Corvid had compelled the two of them to talk. The Bear Faunus heard her breathing become ragged and shallow as her mind raced, trying to decide if it was more likely that her friends had been injured or simply captured and what exactly she should do.
Corvid chose that moment to properly announce her presence.
"Y'know AJ at least Aunt Ruby and Aunt Penny's kids call me when they're gonna be in town, I thought we were cool!" the joviality in Corvid's voice allowed Athena to relax at least a little; she knew that the older woman would not be so upbeat if Astra or Regalia were in any harm or danger.
"I know you're here AJ, I've got thermal imaging….The time for hiding in there is over" there was a brief pause and Athena found herself pre-emptively groaning in dismay as she knew what her cousins' next words would be "It's….past tents; get it?"
"You suck!" Athena called out as she made her way out of the tent, rearing up to her full but unimpressive height as she did so; setting her jaw and squaring her shoulders as she prepared to face off against Corvid Xiao long whose battle-suit was quickly peeling away from her body to collapse and reshape itself in mid-air before coming to a halt at her side in its' drone mode all whilst Corvid herself hefted her oversized mace, a weapon that had belonged to a team-mate who had given her life to stop the Grimm and rested the weapon across the back of her shoulders. The two women regarded one another and Athena tried her best to appear fearless, as though this were a meeting between equals.
A feat that she might have managed more easily were her clothes not skewed and Stygian's shirt in her hand.
"What the hell's going-" the voice of the Mouse Faunus himself came barrelling out of the other tent, revealing to Athena, with a slight pang of guilty sadness that her partner had extricated himself from her and slept elsewhere during the night; the Mouse Faunus skidding to a halt with his sword drawn and tattoos on display.
Prompting Corvid's expression to widen into a bright but vicious smile as her eyes darted from Stygian's shirtless form to the shirt in Athena's hand.
"So here's the deal AJ….And you" she waved dismissively at Stygian "I came here to collect you, not negotiable. The deal was gonna be come quietly or I'm gonna drag you to my ship….Now I think I'll just hold this over your head, shall I call Aunt Weiss and tell her about this guy putting the rat in rattling bed-frame"
"Fuck off Corey" Athena hissed through gritted teeth, her cousins' demeanour allowing the snowy-haired Bear Faunus to forget for a single, fleeting moment just how serious the situation was and respond as though the two of them were simply bickering; a mistake that Stygian did not make and the motion of him lowering his katana just a fraction drew the eyes of Corvid and Athena to him.
"Where are Astra and Regalia?" he demanded, his attempt at commanding intensity failing somewhat as he was forced to catch the shirt Athena threw towards him "They went into the town last night, they should be back right now-"
"Yeah their plans to fish out Nero's people didn't work. Their contact had already been paid off by the sounds of it….They got a little scuffed up but they're okay, they're on my ship"
"Okay" Athena breathed, relieved but still nervous and unwilling to give up the pretence of control and choice even though it was clear she had neither "How much trouble are we in?"
"Officially you're not here. I haven't told Aunt Winter yet, or anybody else….So it's gonna depend on the specifics of a conversation we have" Corvid folded her arms across her chest, her boredom with the delay and stalling plainly written across her scarred features "On the ship"
"Okay, but we need to break down our camp" Stygian interjected, now thankfully more fully clothed "We're not leaving our stuff here"
"Your stuff? Pretty sure most of it's stolen from Breaktide...Pretty sure Professor Adel is gonna beat the shit out of you when she gets hold of you as well" Corvid chuckled before giving a faint shrug "Don't take all day, we've got things to do"
"You could help?" Athena countered gesturing to tents and security measures, knowing that it was a futile effort and that Corvid would, as she always had, use her position of authority as the eldest of the children in her extended family to delegate the work and chores to others. Proving the point Corvid simply reached into one of her uniforms' many pockets and produced a pair of keys which Athena realised whilst watching them jangle belonged to Astra.
"I'm helping, I'm gonna drive" Corvid grinned before trudging over to Astra's bright red and undoubtedly ostentatious pickup truck, her drone drifting lazily into the bed where it nestled itself away securely.
"Look at this piece of shit" she sighed under her breath "They're just like Fluffy, in all of the dumb ways"
Something in the fondness Corvid muttered those words with reassured Athena, just enough for her to look over to Stygian in an effort to convey that sense of relief; only for her to look determinedly elsewhere after meeting her eyes for even a moment forcefully reminded her again of just what she had done the night before.
Zirconia could have taken a place on the makeshift stage, in fact it might well have been expected of her to stand at Nero's right hand side even if the man who had raised her had given no indication that was the case or that she was currently upsetting or disappointing him by being elsewhere.
She had not been asked and would have declined as politely as possible if she had, the idea of being a party to what was about to transpire being physically repulsive to her.
Instead the Grasshopper Faunus had once again taken a brooding, skulking position perched on a rooftop that could at least reasonably be passed off as providing a sensible level of security and protection in this instance, something which may well have been part of why her choices had gone unquestioned.
A stillness that was not calm had fallen over Jidhir town, a collective bated breath being shared by gathered crowds as what was likely every member of their faction present in the reclaimed settlement took places as close to the temporary stage which had once again been erected in the town square as they could manage. From the ground, or from the stage itself Zirconia noted that it must have been somewhat impressive to see an eager tide of bodies all surging closer to hear the words of motivation that their charismatic leader had chosen to deliver; yet from her position above it all Zirconia could see the Cyber-Grimm clustered around the edges of the crowds and other guards in similar positions as her own, each with a weapon at the ready aiming down into the throng and found the resulting scene to be an ugly one. Nero's followers had come here willingly but from her vantage point Zirconia could see plainly that they were no longer free to retract their support of her father figures' goals and that each of them were no more free than the men and women who had supported Aefen Cruor and now wore chains as they were forced to work.
From her chosen vantage point the rogue Huntress could see the scene below her as a reflection of how far they had all fallen from their ideals.
Her musings were not halted, but rather given new context and dimensions as a trio of figures stepped onto the makeshift stage and were greeted with a buzzing wave of excited murmurs which rippled through the crowds until finally breaking out into cheers and applause from a few scattered points. Standing in the centre of the trio and a pace or two ahead of the others, clad as ever in a finely tailored black suit replete with a silk glove to cover his prosthetic and various silver adornments was Damascus Nero himself and Zirconia could not help but smile faintly as she peered down and noticed how uncomfortable the tall and slender man looked with such attention being directed at him; seeing it as a sign that there was still something of the man who had raised her present.
At Nero's right hand side, a place that Zirconia might once have wanted to stand herself and have felt no small amount of jealousy at having snatched from her was Carmesi Hueso; the Komodo Dragon Faunus did not look pleased however and was instead entirely focused on duties that were their own reward in his mind, providing a towering an intimidating presence to loom threateningly behind Nero whilst at the same time keeping a hellish red eye focused firmly on the creature standing adjacent to them.
In a rare moment of agreement Zirconia and Carmesi wore matching scowls and expressions of mistrustful anger as they glared at Gestalt-Prime; the Alpha-Cyber Grimm themselves unbothered by any of the attention they received even when the various other mechanical monstrosities and rooftop snipers trained their weapons on them and prepared to attack if Gestalt-Prime made any sudden movements.
Seeing them standing so close to Nero and in the man's blind spot made Zirconia's chest constrict and she unconsciously shifted her weight, cybernetic limbs coiling for a leap that would send her hurtling down towards the stage in an instant and her fingers already brushing against her holstered weapon.
"Focus" she rasped out to herself, mismatched eyes narrowing as she watched Damascus stroll leisurely forward a few more paces and collect a waiting microphone with an ease that was practised and as entirely false as the voice he used, one that was the product of years of speech therapy.
"I am still not a fan of giving speeches like this" he began, gently and with a self deprecating edge that suggested he was letting each of the crowd in on a private secret individually before his voice became slightly more commanding with his next words "But I feel it must be done….Especially now, with the next stage of our plans completed and the next step in the path to our Bright New Tomorrow ready to be taken. I am proud of all of you"
The cheers and whooping and hollering from the crowd below her struck up again with a renewed intensity and Zirconia allowed focusing on that to keep her distracted so that she could pretend she had not seen Nero's quartz-coloured eyes dart upwards to seek her out as though he were talking to her especially.
"Our numbers have grown, our forces have been trained and many settlements across Menagerie have, even despite the intimidation of the Kingdom and their Hunters proven willing to harbour our allies; allies who will soon be making their way to us! Our Cyber-Grimm are ready and they have been proven in battle, as have many of you who have worked alongside Carmesi!" Nero halted, his discomfort at the noise and palpable energy around him plainly visible to Zirconia who knew him so well and yet he pressed on, assuming the role of charismatic leader despite how ill-fitting it was for him "And now we have victories on two fronts, a key piece to achieving victory and peace has been found and with it Gestalt-Prime and I will work to end the war between Grimm and human once and for all and then, without the threat of the Grimm to hold over our heads the Hunters will be removed, making way for a better, fairer Remnant!"
The cheering was deafening and Zirconia could only wrinkle her nose in faint disgust as she noted that some of the operators controlling the Cyber-Grimm below were directing the monsters to shriek and thrash as though they too were cheering.
"Our prize is in Atlas….And work is not yet complete, but Gestalt-Prime and my hard-working, gifted scientists and engineers right here in Jidhir Town have granted us our second victory; the means to take our prize!" The crowd fell silent, a giddy excitement radiating outwards from them which Zirconia provided a perfect counterpoint to with her nauseous revulsion "Project Megalodon! My ship, the Forge itself and our defences combined….To create the largest Cyber-Grimm yet, one which can spawn others and serve as our flying fortress from which we will take the fight to both the monsters and corrupt who have held us in their grasp for so long!"
The response from the loyal followers beneath her was almost painfully loud to Zirconia whilst the Grasshopper Faunus could only let out a derisive snort and mutter scathingly under her breath.
"I have excused so many things, but letting Carmesi write your speeches?" tears welled in the corners of the young woman's eyes as she realised that such a comment might well have earned a laugh and some return teasing from Damascus himself if the two of them were currently speaking with any degree of regularity. Wiping her mismatched eyes Zirconia swallowed her sadness along with the lump it had left in her throat and forced herself to focus on what needed to do, allowing a cold ruthlessness to take hold of her, something she imagined to be at the core of Astra's ability to plan so rapidly even if they accentuated it with layers of flamboyant showmanship and turned her attention to Gestalt-Prime.
She hated the Alpha Cyber-Grimm, she hated what the monster had done to the people she loved and she hated the way their presence and involvement had corrupted a plan that was supposed to improve lives all across Remnant. Nero had sworn to her that the monster would be disposed of, but Zirconia's dread clutched and seized at her heart every time she thought of the full extent of what the former chairman was planning and what he intended to use the Aura Transfer Machine for, or worse still what might happen if Gestalt-Prime themselves managed to outplay Nero and turn everything that had been built so far to their own ends as Aefen had tried to.
In Zirconia's mind the solution was obvious; Gestalt-Prime had to be destroyed and there was a very limited window of opportunity available to her.
After being assured that their respective partners were alive and well, but being kept in separate quarters within Corvid's warship where they were unable to communicate with or even see one another Astra Mars and Regalia Russet reacted to having a small degree of freedom returned to them in ways that were predictable and expected.
Namely frantically, needily seeking out one another and them promptly rounding on the source of their separation.
The two had been escorted, with their weapons taken from them to a corridor within the pristine and utilitarian interior of the vessel which seemed to house several rooms that were not currently in use and at least one office. Astra and Regalia had spotted one another and slipped free of the soldiers escorting them to rush towards one another, though with a small prompt from Specialist Xiao Long many of those soldiers simply looked away and allowed the two partners a brief moment.
"Are you okay?" Astra croaked out, their wavering voice speaking volumes and showing some of the terror that had gripped the Deer Faunus all night as Regalia rested their forehead against theirs and they cupped her cheeks until her hands found theirs and the two of them took several seconds to check each other for injuries between gentle, loving embraces.
"Heh bar-fights aren't as cool as the movies make 'em look….Didn't even have music" Regalia murmured softly, to which Astra could only answer by burying themselves into the crook of her neck as much as their antlers would allow.
"I love you….So don't scare me like that again"
"You too" Regalia's voice dropped to a whisper as the reality of how close the two of them had come to being killed and disposed of remorselessly the night before truly dawned on her and left her bushy tail twitching nervously. After a moment of silently comforting one another the two broke apart again and Astra's attention was swiftly turned to Corvid Xiao Long herself, the Atlas Specialist now stood in the open door of the office that the two prisoners had clearly been brought to; with a sudden anger the Deer Faunus strode towards her entirely heedless of the sound of weapons being raised and trained on them from all sides whilst Corvid herself kept her subordinates from firing with a single hand gesture and instead stepped directly into Astra's space, meeting their advance and answering it with something the younger team leader could not ignore so easily.
A single well placed palm-strike to the chest which halted them and left them gasping for air
"Do you wanna have a serious conversation and figure out what we're gonna do next….Or do you wanna take a shot at something you're gonna regret in five minutes?"
"Fuck….You" the Deer Faunus wheezed out, vaguely aware of commotion both behind them and also for some reason within the office Corvid had wanted to take them into "You kept us apart, after everything-"
"Yeah, I get that sucks" Corvid sighed "But you were both told that your partner is fine and my operational security trumps you two needing a make out session….You can't tell me that you wouldn't have tried sneaking off the ship and running the second you were together. Especially not with her Semblance?"
Corvid nodded towards Regalia who shuffled and fidgeted sheepishly.
"I used Look-See there weren't any ways off-"
"Damn right there weren't" Corvid snorted before turning back to Astra "Now come on, make a smart choice. Your team-mates are in there and you'll get your weapons and keys for your rides back when we're done"
The news that Team MARS had been gathered here in their entirety was enough to quell Astra's temper more succinctly than simply winding them had been and without another word they, with Regalia close behind all but shoved Corvid aside so that they could rush into the office and find that Athena-Jade and Stygian were indeed waiting for them; with the Bear Faunus and Mouse Faunus leaping from their seats, of which Astra noted there not enough for everybody, making their way across the small office in barely more than a single stride to close the distance.
"Shit, Astra I'm sorry….We should have known that something was wrong when you didn't come back last night; we were-" Athena trailed off, mouth working silently for a moment as it seemed that whatever she had wanted to say died out on her tongue; something Astra decided was an issue that could wait.
"We'll talk about it later" they shrugged "You two okay?"
"Better than you two by the looks of things" Stygian noted pointedly "What happened?"
"I don't think the truckers deliberately set us up, but the contact knew who we are already….Nero's people have left town and paid her to deal with anyone who comes looking for them" Regalia answered, leaning against the wall of the office with a rare scowl of genuine anger "She got away-"
"She didn't get away, I let her go" Corvid chose that moment to close the door of the office as she finally entered it herself; immediately finding the gazes of Team MARS on her which ranged disbelieving to furious with Astra leaning towards the latter.
"Have you lost your-"
"Kid do I have to knock the wind out of you again? 'cos Fluffy will get on my case about it and then it's a headache for everyone"
"Fine" Astra ground out, certain that Corvid would make good on that threat whilst beside them Athena-Jade looked ready to take issue with her cousins' attitude "What the hell is going on?"
"I could ask you that, given that you all skipped out on an academy education….Clearly thinking you were gonna chase down your old team-mate and her people" Corvid's eyes, both stormy grey and cybernetic roamed over them as she added "You managed to piss plenty of people off with that by the way, Aunt Winter and Coco agree that if you manage to interfere in the official attempts to find Nero, which last night definitely was; then you're in a world of shit. AJ your parents are worried sick….You managed to upset Aunt Ruby, so there's that"
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry" Athena-Jade mouthed the words out, utterly aghast at the news and also more than a little fearful as she remembered just how close Corvid had been to Aunt Ruby and Aunt Penny and how happy she often was to make her anger a problem for whoever had caused it.
"But I haven't snitched on you, nobody officially knows your here yet" Corvid folded across her chest "I would have you let do your thing, but I got new orders yesterday….So now if you wanna be super important heroes so bad you're gonna have to put some work in-"
"Great" Astra interrupted, growing tired of Corvid's attitude "So back to the previous question, what the fuck is going on?"
"Oh I like you, ballsy but dumb" the older Hunter grinned before beginning to explain
"Atlas higher ups don't know exactly where Nero is right now but they know where he's going to be. See he's been looking for something in Atlas and since they know what he wants they can bait a trap, yesterday he officially took the bait and we have every reason to suspect that he's either going to come in person or send the bulk of his forces to collect it; which means we can set a trap….A trap that will work better if we can cut his people off on all sides"
"So you let Noir, not her real name but good enough, go so you can see who she talks to and where she runs?" Astra spoke slowly, eyes widening as they realised the full shape of the plan.
"Exactly" Corvid beamed, happy that the her fellow leader was as capable as the brother they shared always insisted they were whilst gushing about the Deer Faunus's growth and progress "Not all of Nero's people have left town, we don't think so anyway, we just don't have verifiable names or proof. With the bait taken we're expecting Nero to call of his people across the settlements he's made inroads with back to his main base, the one we can't find….Nero's already trusted Noir with weapons and intel, she got hit in the shoulder last night so I think when the word comes she's gonna move out as well. The plan is for us to track and follow Nero's people when they leave, we have people in position all across the island and when we find his main base we're gonna hit it from all sides, force the enemy to leave Menagerie with their tail between their legs and with their forces already damaged before they even make it to Atlas airspace where there's gonna be a welcome waiting for them"
"That sounds pretty awesome" Regalia admitted, though her hands still wrung nervously at the thought of the scale of the violence; there would certainly be even more Cyber-Grimm than there had been at Pikesreach, to say nothing of Gestalt-Prime, mech-suits and whatever other horrors had been concocted.
"What do you need us to do?" Stygian asked, electric blue eyes hard and focused as the idea of finally writing the wrongs committed against his former home and its' people took shape in his mind once again.
"We're doing this, right?" Athena-Jade asked, her own eyes filled with a sudden uncertainty as she first studied her partners' expression and then turned to her team leader.
"Of course we are" Astra nodded before turning back to Corvid "Where do you need us?"
"Right out in front" the Specialist answered, throwing the keys to both Clunker and Astra's truck to their respective owners "When Noir and Nero's people head out you're gonna the first one to follow her into wastes, we'll follow you. She's gonna know that someone's tailing her….But since she tried to kill you last night and you got grabbed by the law when she ran off-"
"It looks personal, like we wanted payback" Astra surmised, nodding slowly before turning to their team "We're all okay with doing this right?"
Athena-Jade and Stygian nodded whilst Regalia chuckled darkly before answering.
"They catch up to her half a mile down the road and slit her throat" the Racoon Faunus paused for a beat and looked around, seeing mouths agape at the sheer brutality of what she had just said; only for her to burst out laughing.
"You guys it's from Dumb and Dumber!" she exclaimed "You should watch more movies!"
The loss of the Clutcher had not been a catastrophic defeat in its' own right, another one could bred from any of the Spawning Pits Pantheon controlled on Menagerie or anywhere else on Remnant with dry land if the situation called for it; it had however been the latest in a string of small, needling defeats and hindrances that threatened to culminate in a death by a thousand cuts if something could not be done. Worse still was the knowledge that the elimination of the Creature of Grimm made specially to seek out answers regarding the movements of Gestalt-Prime's human followers and patsies had seemingly been killed by Hunters with no trace of any Cyber-Grimm to be found, much less Gestalt-Prime themselves; providing further credence to the galling idea that the would-be usurper Grimm's efforts to force their various enemies to squabble amongst themselves before falling upon those who remained with limitless ferocity and an advantageous position was in fact working.
It was a situation which the Grimm General could no longer allow.
Pantheon had grown tired of scouting parties and defensive posturing, tactical manoeuvrers and other such behaviours that were anathema to the fundamental core of their being as a Creature of Grimm; deciding instead that it was time to simply wage war in the way that came naturally to them and sated the hunger of the countless monstrous, ravenous psyches which made up their swathe of the Grimm Hive-Mind, the endless screaming for carnage which pressed against their own mind every time they allowed their senses to expand and encompass things beyond their physical form.
If the people of Menagerie wished to interfere with Pantheon's war against Gestalt-Prime then they would find themselves forced to participate in the most gruesome of terms and me crushed and ground beneath the relentless advancing of their forces.
Pantheon would see Menagerie ravaged and when whatever bolthole Gestalt-Prime had hidden themselves away within was the only place left where things still lived the usurper would be easier to find.
With this dreadful goal in mind Pantheon had first reached out into their vast network of Spawning Pools and numberless monsters, both on the island and across Remnant as a whole, ripping every iota of information available to them from its' various sources with a violent urgency which had caused dozens of Creatures of Grimm to explode, implode or simply shatter and fade away seemingly spontaneously under the sheer psychic might of the Grimm General and yet these deaths were meaningless, each of them being fodder that could be replaced in a heartbeat and assuredly would be.
After gathering information Pantheon had began moving their existing forces, providing further defences to their Spawning Pits across the island which promised to become a blood-soaked war zone in the near future whilst directing their aquatic horrors to plague the deep, assaulting shipping lines and ocean-based Dust mining rigs in an effort to cause more Spawning Pits to form so that the influence of the Grimm could spread further.
Once their existing forces had been marshalled and brought to heel, forming what would be the first wave of countless battering tidal waves of claws and teeth that would fall upon Menagerie's settlements soon enough the Grimm General had turned their mind to preparing and creating fresh means of tearing everything that stood against them asunder; a prospect which had seen Pantheon return their consciousness fully to their own body and disconnect themselves from their Synapse Grimm and the vines and capillaries of burrowing tissue which grew over their throne and interfaced with their living cape, rearing up to their full height of three times the size of a man and leaving their throne room.
Departing for the deep, chasm like structure housed within a separated and well defended part of the seafloor fortress where the a unique Spawning Pit existed.
The protean, roiling liquid of this vast and shifting void was more lively and fluid than that of its' counterparts upon the surface of Remnant and Pantheon stood at the lip of the abyss which contained it; illuminated by the faint bloody glow of countless spider-legged horrors which existed for no other purpose than to provide light by which the monster could work as they sculpted the highly reactive substance into templates which could be merged into the barely-aware minds of other, more natural Spawning Pits.
"That will do" the Grimm General snarled to themselves as they observed the latest instance of diabolical mutation, nothing truly invented or inspired in a meaningful way; simply ideas refined, coalesced and interacting to allow for a sort of accelerated and expanded evolution which might make the Grimm species more capable of playing its' role in the ongoing cycle of creation and destruction which Gestalt-Prime was so eager to undo. Pantheon's newly completed project had been a form of living fortification, not unlike the coral reef Grimm which had encircled the entire coastline of Menagerie during Salem's reign over the island; an asset that would likely be deployed to a greater extent in the coming stages of Pantheon's war and one which showed the potential to be versatile, a seashell like shape capable of being further mutated into a living weapon or even a Spawning Pit in its' own right.
With that project completed however Pantheon quickly moved onto the next, creations whose nakedly violent potential appealed to their more base instincts.
Tides of lesser Grimm would form the bulk of the attacking forces and there were plenty of larger Grimm which could be produced in bulk, but the Grimm General wanted to ensure their victory through the use of more specially made monstrosities and the protean substance of their Master Spawning Pit reacted to their whims.
"Yes" Pantheon breathed the word out with a heady, intoxicated voice as they watched thick strands of living darkness rise up from the depths to being taking shape under the hellish glow of the lights around them, each shape further morphing in response to Pantheon's thoughts regarding them; in short order to new nightmarish creations had been solidified, firstly a muscular, hulking mass whose brutal design disguised both its' litheness and the other tools that had been gifted to it whilst the other was was a walking battlement capable of withstanding incredible amounts of damage and dealing equally terrible blows in return.
Now all that remained was for Pantheon to decide where they should be let loose and who should face their wrath first.
Astra and Regalia had both been eager to ensure that their vehicles were in the pristine condition that they expected after being driven or otherwise handled by strangers, something that coincided with Corvid's plans to an extent as there was work to be done before her plans could be put into effect, which the former students could expedite through simple maintenance and preparations.
To that end Astra had found themselves in a secluded part of a largely empty hangar aboard the warship where the lack of expected fighter craft or transports for deploying troops and equipment that could be found in the other, identical hangars lining the flanks of the vessel suggested that this particular space had been reserved for some manner of specialised weapon which the Atlas Military had elected not to deploy to Menagerie; possibly due to concerns that whatever it was might cause an incident if it were seen a public who had already had their faith in the Kingdoms and Hunters shaken. Instead the empty hangar had been used as an impromptu storeroom for Team MARS's vehicles and equipment, with a workbench sourced from somewhere to give them a surface on which to work whilst at the same time coming with the obvious implication that the students were not to venture into the undoubtedly more well supplied stores and workshops used by the ships' elite crew.
Something which Astra supposed that they only had themselves to blame for since their team now had a reputation for thievery after taking what they needed from Breaktide.
Currently they were studying their truck closely, Corvid Xiao Long had not only driving the vehicle herself despite the fact that, according to their shared brother Felix at least, the older Huntress was an utterly terrible driver whose skills were not to be trusted but she had also used the bed of the vehicle to stow her own weapon and then, as if to add insult to injury had the truck secured and Clunker removed from it by the autonomous robots that handled the more monotonous or simple tasks aboard the ship and as such the Deer Faunus was intent on checking every square inch of the vehicles' chassis for scuffs, scratched paint of dents which they would be sure to get to the bottom of question Corvid about no matter how minor.
It was also a much needed way for them to calm their frayed and smarting nerves.
"Nothing that won't look fine after a good clean" Astra finally sighed, stepping back and regarding the overall dusty and dirty condition of their beloved truck with a faint shake of the head before turning their attention towards Regalia who was in the midst of performing similar checks and examinations of the custom-made jetbike she had built herself from parts she had salvaged and traded for.
What caught Astra's attention the most however was the fact that their partner and girlfriend was clearly upset about something.
"What's up?" the Deer Faunus asked nonchalantly as they strolled over to where Regalia was working, knowing her system for organising her tools well enough to be able to crouch beside her and begin making themselves useful whilst the Racoon Faunus, who had shed the poncho she often wore to reveal more of her toned and defined muscles merely shrugged wordlessly as she masked the motion of wringing her hands by cleaning them with a rag.
"Nothing" she mumbled with a visible agitation that was uncommon for her, purple eyes downcast as she added "I don't wanna cause arguments and start problems with the team; we're supposed to stick together"
"Talk to me Regalia….Please?" Astra murmured gently as they drew closer, ensuring that their own hands were clean before running their fingers through the course fur of Regalia's tail in a way they knew Racoon Faunus liked, with the almost immediate result a quiet, shuddering breath leaving her and taking some of her obvious tension away with it; her eyes becoming unfocused for a moment before she leaned into her partner.
"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten" it took Astra a moment to understand, parsing Regalia's peculiarities and idiosyncrasies by remembering the movie quote in question and its' context and then extrapolating what was meant with a nod of understanding.
"AJ and Stitch" the Deer Faunus couldn't help but glower a little, they had made their way into the hangar as much to ensure that they had some space away from their team-mates so they could ensure that they were calm when the four of them next had to work together as to check on their truck.
"They were supposed to help us" Regalia's voice was somewhere between a growl and a whine "We would never have left them behind like that! Never!"
"We didn't give them a signal, we didn't get chance" Astra noted.
"But they didn't look for us, they were asleep when Corvid found them" Regalia's expression darkened "Am I wrong for being upset by that? Is this a nomad thing that nobody else gets, actually making sure your people are safe?"
"Not at all" Astra assured her, redoubling their efforts on her tail whilst at the same time switching hands in order to wrap an arm around their partner's shoulders "And they know they messed up, but I'm still gonna make sure they know when I talk to them later….But they were weird when we saw 'em, did you pick up on that?"
"Heh, funny how? Are they here to amuse you?" Astra couldn't help but laugh at that particular quip, especially not with the attempt at mimicking the original actors' distinct voice and accent before they returned to the matter at hand.
"Something happened last night, they're not hurt but they were both weird….I don't know if I should ask about it or not, I feel like them dropping the ball like that makes whatever it is our business"
"We nearly died Astra. Noir was gonna kill us both" those words left Astra numb and cold, the Deer Faunus's hands falling still as the air seemed to leave the room only for them to tremble with enough force to draw Regalia's attention and have the former nomad turn to face them.
"Yeah" Astra managed to breathe out gently "Yeah we did….And thinking about losing you like that scared the shit out of me"
The two of them locked eyes for only a fraction of a second before pulling one another into a crushingly tight embrace again, now with all of the love and tenderness they had been prevented from showing earlier by the presence of Atlesian soldiers, foreheads resting against one another with Astra's hands coming up to gently caress Regalia's cheeks whilst her hands found the point where Astra's antlers connected to their head and gently massaged.
"I love you so much" they murmured as they kissed her gently
"I love you too" Regalia answered without hesitation, pressing herself into them "To infinity and beyond"
Astra was unsure why it was those words of all things that had such a profound effect on them but they made no effort to fight it, in the next moment they were kissing her and Regalia kissed them back fully and intensely until the two were intertwined and frantically trying to satiate their need for one another's presence; halting only briefly to move from the floor towards Astra's truck and climb into the backseat and continue in earnest and without inhibitions, mouths and hands finding every inch of each other.
They needed one another in that moment and everything else could wait.
Athena-Jade knew that a genuine, uninterrupted conversation about what had happened between herself and Stygian the night before was inevitable and she did not think herself enough of a coward to try and run from it; though in her mind the mess hall of an Atlesian Warship, one currently being captained by her own cousin no less was hardly a suitable venue.
Even here, in stark contrast to everything she had heard from relatives more close to her than her cousin the Atlesian insistence on order and minimalism had continued and the mess hall was quiet, with the dull buzz of conversation barely audible even to her own keen senses though she supposed that it was likely due to the hour and the fact that there were very few people present. The snowy-haired and pale Bear Faunus could recall various times that she had heard that whenever her Aunt Winter chose to dine with the troops it was considered something of a celebration and that Winter dispensed with rank and formality entirely whilst her father had always told her that the mess hall of his own ship, despite the obvious differences reminded the older Bear Faunus of his time as a student of Beacon Academy.
The latter comparison stung somewhat, forcing Athena to think of everything that she had sacrificed with her choice to seek out Nero and Zirconia in the wake of Pikesreach; of how she could have been at Breaktide Academy with her classmates right now, still with Zirconia and with nothing more worrying than assignments and upcoming training missions of the attention of the press to trouble her if things had simply continued on the way the were supposed to.
Before her thoughts could darken and become too morose Athena's internal turmoil was cut short and interrupted by a sudden movement at her side as Stygian appeared seemingly from nowhere, though it was likely that Athena had simply not been paying enough attention and as the Mouse Faunus sat down beside her Athena glanced briefly in his direction but steadfastly refused to meet his gaze before hurriedly taking a bite of the chicken she had been idly toying with only a moment before; she needed to eat but more importantly the act of chewing would buy her a few more seconds to figure out exactly what she was supposed to say.
"So, are we gonna talk about it?" Stygian asked cautiously, predictably willing to tackle the subject head on "Or is your mouth full of meat….Again?"
It indeed had been and Athena was promptly reduced to a coughing fit that she managed to keep from progressing into choking, managing to swallow her food whilst painfully aware of the eyes on her and the fact that her eyes were now watering and her cheeks were surely flushed scarlet; Stygian made to reach for water to offer her some but before he could reach out he was forced to defend himself from a barrage of incoming blows.
"You! Suck! So! Bad! You! Utter! And! Total! Fucking! Pest!" every single word was accompanied by a slap, swat or jab to whatever part of the Mouse Faunus she could reach though each successive blow became more and more playful until she and Stygian were both reduced to peals of laughter at which point Athena did take a long gulp of the proffered water and set about trying to compose herself.
"Yeah, but now you're in a better mood" Stygian flashed her a cocky smile only for it to waver as he added "So?"
"Yeah….Yeah we've gotta talk about it" she finally managed to admit, taking care to keep her voice lowered to ensure that their conversation remained private and at the same time scanning the mess hall for any Faunus who might overhear them "I guess we should start by making sure we're on the same page, what do you think happened last night Stitch?"
"I think we f-" the Mouse Faunus halted, realising from a single look at Athena's face that he should choose his words more carefully and gently toying with one the two braids which framed his face as he did so before speaking again "It was a lot AJ, I mean one minute we were arguing, then you kissed me and then we were in the tent….And I'm gonna be honest it was great, really great; but then we stopped-"
"I broke down crying and you left me there!" Athena countered, words hissed through clenched teeth in an effort to keep her voice from raising in sudden indignation.
"I mean, I waited until you were asleep first-"
"That does not make it better you ass!"
"I don't know what I did wrong, I didn't know if you still wanted me to be there when you woke up" Athena would have retorted with something scathing were it not for the suddenly sad and utterly lost sound in Stygian's voice as her partner looked at her with an expression that seemed to plead for answers. Athena drove the heels of palms into her eyes and massaged until her vision swam with colours before running her hands through hair that she was now beginning to grow annoyed by the length of
"You didn't do anything wrong Stitch, you were….oh my gosh you were great" Athena couldn't help but smile as she watched her partners' reaction to the praise, visibly swelling with pride in a way that made the Bear Faunus feel impossibly guilty that she would have to snatch the moment away from him
"But I can't….I mean-I'm sorry Stitch but it shouldn't have happened; at least not like that….I wasn't ready"
"Because of….Her" Stygian visibly deflated, elbow resting on either side of the food he had forgotten almost the moment he had joined Athena at the table and head resting in his hands as he was once again forced to confront the reality of his partners' feelings for his predecessor and the constant roadblock that they were proving to be.
"Yeah, Hops. Zirconia" Athena nodded, fighting the urge to reach over and squeeze Stygian's hand for no other reason than the young man deserved some consistency along with her honesty.
"You deserve so much better" Stygian murmured after taking a moment to process what he had been told "And I promise I'm not just saying that because I'm angling for something"
"I know that, I promise I know" Athena found herself swallowing a lump in her throat as she realised that was a simple request she needed to make but that doing so would take every ounce of resolve she had "And I'm sorry….I feel like I took advantage of you and I have no right to ask you for anything….But please don't hate me"
"Hate you?" Stygian's neck audibly clicked with the speed at which he whipped around to face Athena, wearing an expression mixed indignation and confusion "I don't….I could never-"
Athena found herself reaching out and grasping one of his hands in hers, her previous commitment to consistency falling by the wayside as a weak but relieved smile crossed her rounded features.
"I wish things could be simple Stitch, I really wish they could. But I'm just not ready and what happened last night can't happen again"
"I get that" Stygian nodded, managing to contain his obvious disappointment "It was….I mean, is there a way of saying that you were incredible without it sounding bad now?"
It was Athena's turn to puff up with pride a little, her only previous partner had been Zirconia and there were certain obvious differences between the Grasshopper Faunus and Stygian himself and Athena couldn't help but allow her ego to inflate a little at the appraisal of certain skills.
"You're good" she grinned, nudging Stygian playfully in what she hoped could signal a return to how things had been; the previous night would not be forgotten by any means and it was perhaps something she would consider revisiting in the future but for now she needed Stygian in a different role "But Zirconia and I….There's still feelings there and, we were talking about it before, well, everything last night but I don't think I can think about anything else until there's some closure there….Part of me still loves her"
"I wish that part of you didn't, but I'm here" Stygian nodded in understanding, though Athena-Jade couldn't help but be momentarily taken aback by the bluntness of an answer which the dark-skinned and tattooed young man chose to soften with his next words "I'm here however you need me to be….So, friends?"
"Yeah" Athena nodded happily, finally allowing herself to breathe a sigh of relief as she saw that a potential catastrophe had been averted; from there she studied Stygian's features, fully willing to accept that he was incredibly handsome and attractive to her and as their eyes locked again she chewed nervously on her lip for a moment before making a decision "Hey Stitch, I really, really don't want to give you mixed signals after everything we just said….But you deserve nice things"
With that she leaned over and kissed his cheek.
"Thanks AJ" the Mouse Faunus breathed out, pausing to consider his response before gesturing towards the food that the two of them had been neglecting "So are you gonna put this meat in your mouth or what?"
The return to such crude, flagrantly shameless innuendo was enough to clear the air in an instant and return the two of them to their previous bickering, teasing friendship; curses and all.
Night had fallen over Menagerie and the broken moon hung bright in the freezing night air over Jidhir Town, visible as the swirling and lashing dust storms that swept and screamed across the islands' wastelands were kept in check by the reclaimed settlements' perimeter walls. Within the settlement that had become Nero's base of operations such brutal but strangely beautiful realities of the wasteland were juxtaposed against the ongoing man-made horrors as the sound of heavy and industrious rose above the wind, the beeping of forklift trucks and other machinery which had initially seemed out of place in the once abandoned town and the chittering of Cyber-Grimm and orders barked from one worker to another intermingling and being underscored by the sound of metal and other components, some of which were better left unconsidered being worked whilst the whole scene was given proper illumination by an array of floodlights; all of it conspiring to give the sense that Jidhir Town was a place where work was a constant and rest of sleep were simply unknown.
Though Zirconia doubted she would have been able to sleep even if the place had been deathly silent, not with the knowledge of what needed to be done weighing down upon her.
The Grasshopper Faunus's pale pink and orange eyes roamed across the worksite whilst a growing dread and nausea bubbled away within her as she took in what was happening, once again having found herself a vantage point to perch on though this time it was only a raised wall belonging to a building that had never been completed and as such seemed to detract from the gravitas she often held somehow.
The Forge, the means by which more Cyber-Grimm could be created and the masterwork born from the joint efforts of two dead scientists, one of whom Zirconia had viewed as family and Gestalt-Prime themselves had been partially disassembled; all of its' gangways and exterior sections dismantled so that the bulk of the thing could be moved. At the same time Nero's ship, docked or more accurately crudely landed since its' arrival at Jidhir Town had been brought to life once more, albeit briefly and raised into the air only so that support structures could be placed beneath it and so the heart of the Forge itself could be moved into position.
Now the roiling and shifting mass of enslaved darkness that had been taken and given purpose, along with the massive silo which held it was positioned directly beneath the ship which was stealth-capable and had once been lightly armed and armoured, connected to it through a mass of pipes, cables and other less readily identifiable means affixed both to the ships' cargo hold and access points to other key areas along with the various additional scaffolds, weapons mounts and subsections that had been built onto the ship in recent days and weeks; the vat itself serving as the focal point and hub of a new, improvised command centre of sorts wherein the various terminals and controls that had allowed the Forge to operate had been reorganised and likely reprogrammed to some extent.
Gestalt-Prime stood at the heart of it all, looming over figures whose naked fear and deep-seated concern was, at least in Zirconia's mind a marked improvement from the reverence the sentient monster had enjoyed from Aefen Cruor's followers.
"Zirconia darling, you're going to catch a cold up there….Come on down" the rogue Huntress found all of her thoughts condensed down into a single point of vague embarrassment at the sound of Damascus Nero calling out to her; for all of the times that Athena-Jade had told her, much to her enjoyment that she was effortlessly cool Zirconia did in fact take some measure of care to appear suitably impressive when the opportunity arose and enjoyed the results of those efforts however being called down to the ground by her father figure whilst the two of them were in front of scores of working underlings left her with her cheeks warm and fighting the urge to grumble under her breath all whilst wishing that she still had the gas mask she had worn at Pikesreach.
Though she did still comply and make her way to Nero's side.
"Here you go, I appreciate the care you've given to my safety since your return….I really do and I understand why you feel it's necessary, but I promise you that you don't have to hide away up there" as Nero spoke her pressed a steaming cup of what Zirconia saw was hot chocolate into her hands and she took a brief sip as a chance to buy a few more seconds for herself in order to orient herself after Damascus's comments shook her in a way she had not expected. The former chairman had noticed her recent penchant for skulking around on rooftops and keeping Gestalt-Prime in view and had deduced her reasoning to some extent, a feat which she could not help but take some heart from as suggested that Damascus was indeed as capable as he believed himself to be in spotting that actions and intentions of others and working to guide them towards his own ends; Zirconia was after all trying to help him in her own way.
Though she hoped the scope and scale of what she intended to do continued to elude him.
"Where did you get hot chocolate?" she asked, curiosity meeting faint sarcasm "Did Carmesi steal this from newcomers like he did with the coffee?"
"Not at all, I just had some of your favourite brand on my airship and you haven't been here to drink it for far too long" Nero answered, the softness of that sentiment forcing Zirconia to pause again before focusing herself and using the fact that she had been called to Nero's right hand side; a position that both of them had always assumed she would take as an opportunity to work on her task of bringing Nero's work back in line with the vision of a better Remnant that it was supposed to be.
"What is that monster doing….And why are you letting them do it?" her arms folded across her chest and she regarded the tall and slender man beside her with a look of anger and disappointment she could not quite avoid, she loved Nero like a father and had idolised him and his ideas; it pained her to see him fall so short of his ideals and worse to do so willingly, by continuing to work with the creature which had betrayed him, killed Albion and tried to subject her to a fate worse than death.
"I'm allowing them to work because I need Gestalt-Prime's efforts. Even if we had Aefen and Albion's skill-sets….What we're doing here it outside of the normal operations of the Forge and unlike any of the other Cyber-Grimm we've made thus far; Project Megalodon is going to be a masterpiece, something I'll admit I'm tempted to keep for myself out of ego and vanity. It requires Gestalt-Prime to work on the primordial Grimm tissue" Nero paused and saw the concern and betrayal etching its' way into every line of Zirconia's scarred features and reached out to brush her scarred cheek with his gloved cybernetic hand before adding "Every precaution is being taken, the Forge will explode and take the Grimm tissue and Gestalt-Prime with it if they try to tamper, Carmesi is on standby with dozens of fighters and Cyber-Grimm, everything the Gestalt-Prime does is being logged, checked and verified….But if it would make you more comfortable I am happy to go over the schematics and the specifics of the procedure with you"
"Thank you….I would appreciate that, it might help me put my mind at rest" Zirconia nodded, taking another sip of hot chocolate to hide any guilty or suspicious expression she might be wearing as she prepared to listen intently and study every iota of information that was presented to her.
Destroying Gestalt-Prime before they could corrupt or destroy the hope for a better Remnant was a matter of priority and the Grasshopper Faunus knew that she lacked the means to do so.
At least not in a straightforward fight.
Author's Notes:
That's another chapter down and a clear path to the mid-season of Vol.08 lined up.
Which is good because that Mid-season starts up next chapter.
Vol.08 is probably gonna work out a little shorter than some of the volumes before it….But only by a couple of chapters, don't worry you're not getting short-changed.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Look, I'm not gonna apologise for the spiciness of AJ's little flashback there….Just know that in my notes and plans for the chapter the words 'Sloppy throat fuck' were used.
Rebound sex and she broke down when he tried to be sweet….Oof, but also….Well next time don't fuck face to face then? You'd have been fine if you'd just taken backshots.
And finally, after getting her mind out of last nights' gutter she realises half her team isn't here and her Atlas Specialist cousin is outside.
All puns and jokes aside, knowing Corvid's attitude from FADE there is probably just a little bit of genuine hurt behind the "I thought we were cool".
….With all of it being juxtaposed against the comedy of errors that is Stitch showing up with no shirt on and Corey threatening to tell Weiss about her daughters' dick appointment.
So Team MARS's plan of 'Don't get grabbed by the Atlas Specialist' has failed spectacularly, however the situation is salvageable given that Corey is playing nice.
Astra and Felix are definitely related….Gaudiest two cars in this AU.
Nero 'Found' the Aura Transfer Machine, now it's time to let the troops know that the plan is moving forward and what the next step is.
The image I'm trying to paint with the crowd ringed by Cyber-Grimm would be much easier to convey if this was a visual media, but I think you get the symbolism I'm going for right?
Younger Zirconia would absolutely have been pissed at Carmesi getting the right hand spot.
Nero's speech was an interesting one and I hope I managed to balance the need to get plot critical stuff across, the charisma Nero leads with and also the fact that he genuinely does not like this part of being in charge.
Cyber-Grimm cheering, because the imagery wasn't bad enough before.
There you go, that's what Project Megalodon is; it was obvious but now it's been outright said….He's turning his airship into a Cyber-Grimm that's also a mobile Spawning Pit/Troop carrier that's also armed, has forcefields and also stealth capabilities.
"I have excused so many things, but letting Carmesi write your speeches?" it was funny, but also bittersweet because she wasn't actually saying it to him.
Okay so Hops's thoughts are solidifying into something, she loves Nero like family because that's what he is, she still likes the idea of a free and equal Remnant with no corruption and the Grimm held at bay/gone completely because who wouldn't….But also sees that this isn't gonna be it, so Gestalt-Prime has gotta go.
Astra and Regalia are absolutely allowed to have a moment after the previous night….They've fought Grimm and other shit together plenty of times, but they genuinely thought that they were gonna die in that bar.
Okay, Corvid's palm-strike to the chest might have seemed a bit out of pocket but consider, Astra was absolutely gonna swing at her for splitting them up and it would absolutely have ended with them getting shot in the face.
Of course Regalia tried using Look-See….Also Corvid has clearly been told or briefed about her Semblance.
Corvid let Noir go, but only to see where she runs to.
Corvid Xiao Long, the girl who used to sit On Aunt Ruby's knee and tell her all about the awesome weapons she was gonna make when she grew up will absolutely murder anyone that manages to upset Aunt Ruby….And AJ knows this.
Felix hypes Astra up to Corvid, 100%.
But now the plan is clear, Team MARS have been brought on board and we know what the mid-season finale is gonna be….So Team MARS are heading to Jidhir Town, which means there's gonna be another meeting between AJ and Hops and well, rule of threes.
"They catch up to her half a mile down the road and slit his throat" is from Dumb and Dumber.
Haven't forgotten about Pantheon and they're not gonna be idle in the mid-season either.
Vol.08 is the build up to a proper Grimm on Grimm war and that means there's gotta be some escalation.
Therefore Pantheon is not only building forces, but also getting ready to take some shots….Which will naturally start during the mid-season.
And honestly, anything that gets them out of that damn throne….they need to touch Grass.
Okay so the defensive seashell is a placeholder idea, something I may or may not come back to.
More importantly however is the fact we've got not one but two boss fight Grimm at the ready which are absolutely gonna get dropped in the same place.
Yeah Team MARS definitely got set up in a quiet corner of the ship with their own equipment and told "Don't touch shit" and that was probably deserved.
Seriously how often does Regalia get visibly pissed off at something?
Of course it was the Lilo & Stitch quote, of course.
Followed by a Goodfellas line, she is whiplash personified.
But yeah, she's absolutely within her rights to be utterly fucked off by AJ and Stitch deciding to spend a night re-stuffing a teddy bear (Enjoy the mental image)….although it's Astra that's picked up that there's something weird going on there, because naturally the Deer Faunus is a connoisseur of gossip.
"To infinity and beyond" really has just become the go to Astra and Regalia line now hasn't it?
And to the backseat they go….Fuck it, they earned that one.
Yeah this is definitely not a suitable venue, may as well just got full Jerry Springer at this point.
Okay was Stitch taking the piss with that comment, absolutely but sometimes a joke is what you need….Also fuck it, AJ is a natural throat goat, confirmed.
"What do you think happened?" Well it started with you deep-throating so well that he almost nutted directly in your lungs, but I digress.
"That does not make it better you ass!" she's right it doesn't, little tip people….Don't do that.
And here's the letting him down gently part, but it's a sensible step forwards; it's not exactly like they intended for things to end up where they did and that's not exactly a solid foundation for a relationship.
Look at these two dorks hyping each other up about how good at sex they are even while they're agreeing that last night shouldn't happen again.
So, AJ and Stitch are gonna try and pretend nothing happened at least for now, because AJ still isn't fully over Hops….Who they're gonna see again at Jidhir Town and who is also planning to take a shot at Gestalt-Prime.
Every time there's a scene like this at night I think back to the start of Jurassic Park.
Okay so the Forge has been put into position, the airship has been raised to receive it and things are being put into place….Its literally just finishing touches now.
Yeah nobody can maintain the brooding bad-ass routine when their Dad calls them down for a hot chocolate….Definitely marshmallows in there as well.
Also, y'know who I just realised Zirconia reminds me of now she's doing all this brooding on rooftops and looking cool? Ben Reilly, Scarlet Spider….Specifically the Across the Spider-Verse version "Perfect pose".
Nero stocked up on her favourite hot chocolate before he left Neo Vale, see that alone is the kind of thing that should make you remember that he's not a total bastard.
And now we have another fun little detail….Gestalt-Prime is going to be involved with the whole process of readying the Grimm tissue for Project Megalodon; which means that they're going to be distracted and Zirconia gets an opening.
Thank you to MajorBrony95 and Neil12 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Apparently FF Net had some issues with reviews but that seems to have been resolved.
Arch is an known alt-right fascist, a racist, transphobe and neo-nazi sympathiser who had to remove the word Warhammer from his channel name on Youtube because GW sent a Cease & Desist. Frankly I don't trust anyone who consumes his content.
If you're looking for some good 40k related youtube channels, I'd suggest Kirioth, Occulus Imperia, Leutin09 and Weshammer just off the top of my head.
You're on the right track with Nero's plans, but not quite there...You'll see.
I do enjoy my puns.
I mean Death in Remnant would just be Maria.
Awkward, indeed.
Corvid used to do side-hustles for the Scavenger guild as a student, sneaking into New Vale's Exclusion Zone to salvage parts for them and had a reputation as being scary on Patch; she's always been a little flexible with rules.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.