Chp. 11: Little Davids and the Great Megoliath

February 20, 2020

The next day, Keaton, Cassandra, Alex, Bulldog, Missionary, Ice Pick, and Steel were all having breakfast while the other men that came along with them were all out at Crossed to clear out some Grimm. Just then, They all hear something flying towards them. They all turned their heads to see Penny flying towards them with two objects in her hands. She soon lands and walks up to the marines and soldiers as they had stopped eating.

"Hey, Penny," Keaton greeted.

"Salutations, Captain! I have brought you items that my father wanted to bring to you," Penny said as she handed the first item to Keaton, a piece of armor meant to protect Russet's rear.

"Russet's gonna be happy to see this," Alex said as Keaton hands the piece of armor to him.

"And the other item I have brought to you is something my father wanted to talk to you about," Penny saId as she presented Keaton the second item, the broken orb, is now fix.

"So what is it?" Missionary asked.

"According to my father, he believes it to be some sort of container," Penny answered.

"Container? So it's not something of value?" Steel asked.

"There doesn't seem to be anything there's a market for that we know of," Penny answered.

"So it's a container? But what's it supposed to contain exactly?" Cassandra asked.

"He doesn't know. But the core of the device looks like it could harness some sort of energy according to my father," Penny answered. "Maybe someone out there can tell you more about it."

"Tell your father we said thanks," Keaton said.

"I will!" Penny said before taking off and flying away.

The three marines and four soldiers looked at the orb in Keaton's hand, wondering what kind of energy it would harness. Alex then focused his attention on Russet's armor.

"We should probably give this to Russet," he said.

"Yeah, he'll need it," Ice Pick said.

"Speaking of which, here he comes now," Bulldog said as he looked off behind him.

The other all turned around to see Russet walking up to them.

"Good morning you guys!" Russet greeted as he then noticed the armor in Alex's hands "Is that... shiny new armor?"

"Here you go," Alex said as he handed the armor over to Russet.

"Indeed it is! And it's a perfect fit! You guys are a force to be reckoned with!" Russet said. "Not only did you retrieve the necessary ore to create this armor, but you were able to wipe out the Grimm in Essen Cave."

"Just doing our jobs, Russet," Steel said.

"All right. You guys just might be capable enough to solve our... distressing development," Russet said.

"Distressing development?" Bulldog asked.

"It's about those Grimm that have seemed to come out of nowhere lately. A gigantic one has appeared over at the outpost! The threat it poses to our people is not to be taken lightly. In fact, we may be left with no choice but to evacuate our settlement here. I'd go take care of it myself, but you know... I'm still getting back on my feet and all," Russet explained.

"Don't worry. We'll be able to take care of the Grimm," Keaton said.

"Great! The Grimm had been sighted at the town's outpost. The one with the windmill," Russet said.

"Right," Keaton said.

Keaton, Alex, Cassandra, Bulldog, Ice Pick, Missionary, and Steel all started to walk back to their tents.

"All our forces are still out at Crossed clearing out Grimm so we won't be expecting help from them for a while," Cassandra said.

"We'll have to go with what we have and be careful about it since Russet said that this Grimm is big," Keaton said.

"I've brought a rocket launcher with us, but I only have up to three rockets," Steel said.

"We'll make those shots count," Bulldog said.

"Let's get our gear ready and kick this Grimm's ass straight back to hell," Keaton said.


Essen Outpost

Later at the outpost, the three marines and four soldiers were all in position, waiting for the large Grimm to show up. Steel and Bulldog were hiding behind a large wooden cart with Steel armed with a rocket launcher, Keaton and Alex were hiding behind a large wooden crate, and Cassandra, Ice Pick, and Missionary were all hiding behind a small wall of barriels.

"Keep a look out. It could show up at any time," Keaaton said.

They soon heard the sound of thumping coming from behind the windmill. They all looked towards the windmill and coming out from behind the building was a Megoliath. It walked out in front of the windmill and out in the open. The Americans all aimed their guns at the large Grimm.

"Open fire!" Keaton shouted.

Keaton, Alex, Cassandra, Bulldog, Missionary, and Ice Pick began shooting at the Megoliath as it trumpets out in anger. Steel aims the rocket launcher at the large Grimm and fires a rocket at it. It struck the Grimm's side as it growled in pain. The Megoliath turns its attention to Bulldog and Steel as it then charges towards them.

"Look out!" Bulldog shouted.

He and Steel jumped away from the cart as the Megoliath crashed its way through it. Steel and Bulldog ran in different directions. Bulldog ran up to Keaton and Alex and started shooting at the Grimm alongside them. Steel dives behind a wagon as he then begins to reload his rocket launcher. The others continued to shoot at the Megoliath.

"This thing's like a tank!" Ice Pick shouted.

"Then it's going down like one!" Missionary shouted.

Steel finally loads another rocket into his rocket launcher and aims it at the Megoliath. He fires the rocket as it then strikes the Megoliath from its behind. The large Grimm turns around and notices Steel behind the wagon as it then charges towards him. Steel jumps to the side as the Megoliath crashes through the wagon. The Megoliath tries to stomp at Steel who rolled himself to the side to avoid the attack. The large Grimm felt some bullets strike its side of the face. It turns to see Keaton shooting at it.

The Megoliath charges at Keaton as he rolls to the side to avoid the charging Grimm. The large Grimm turned around to rush at the captain again. Before it could reach him, Steel had already reloaded his rocket launcher and fired a rocket at the creature's face. The Megoliath trumpets out in pain before collapsing to the ground. The Americans slowly approached the Grimm with their weapons pointed at it.

"I'm saying a grenade or two will finish it off," Cassandra said.

The Megoliath then slowly got back up to its feet with a growl.

"Shit!" Keaton spoke.

The Megoliath swung its trunk at Steel, Alex, and Keaton, knocking them all to the ground. The Megoliath let out a growl as it was preparing to attack again. Suddenly, a blast of fire was shot in front of the Megoliath, making it stumble back. Keaton looks up at the top of the windmill to see who had just saved him. Jumping out from behind the top of the windmill were four women. It was Team BRIR (Briar), consisting of Bianca Prisma, Roane Ashwood, Ivy Thickety, and Ruda Tilleroot.

As the team comes down, Ivy hurls Pins and Needles downward while creating a small lime green portal in its path. As soon as the whip entered inside the portal, two more portals appeared next to each side of the Megoliath, and Ivy's whip shot out from both portals and wrapped around the Grimm's hind legs. With her semblance, Ruda dived straight into the ground and was swimming and worming her way underground, until she was underneath the Megoliath's head. She pops out of the ground and gives the Grimm an uppercut before diving back into the ground.

Roane lands on the ground as her hair and eyes start to glow as she activates her semblance. She then shoots a large blast of fire out from Drop and Roll at the Megoliath's side as it trumpets out in pain. When Bianca finally lands, she twirls Cause and Effect as reflections of Ivy and Ruda appear on her swords. She then dives underground copying Ruda's semblance and moves through the ground approaching the large Grimm. Bianca jumps out of the ground before diving straight into the Megoliath's stomach. She then created four portals around her as Ivy's whip popped out of the portals, and then spun the portals and swung her swords around like a buzzsaw, slicing the Megoliath in half and finally killing it.

Keaton, Alex, Cassandra, Bulldog, Missionary, Ice Pick, and Steel all gathered and looked at Team BRIR in awe.

"That... happened," Cassandra said.

All of Team BRIR turned around to face the Americans.

"Looks like Bianca was right about those unknown militias," Roane said.

"Oh, great. What are they even doing here?" Ruda asked.

"Um... Who are you ladies?" Ice Pick asked.

"Oh, look, they talk," Ivy joked.

"Hey!" a new voice angrily cuts in.

Everyone turned around to see a man stomping towards Team BRIR. That man was Bram Thornmane.

"I told you to never come back here! Go on! Leave us alone! You've terrorized us enough!" he angrily yelled at the four women.

Roane, Ivy, and Ruda all turned their heads to their leader.

"Come on, girls. We're done here," Bianca said.

Ruda dives into the ground with her semblance as Roane rockets herself into the air with her semblance boosted flamethrower by shooting a blast of fire at the ground, launching herself up into the air. Iry wrapped her whip onto Roane's flamethrower and was taken up into the air with her. Bianca copies Roane's semblance and shoots a blast of fire from her swords to the ground, launching her into the air just like Roane. And just like that, the four women were gone. Keaton, Cassandra, Alex, Bulldog, Ice Pick, Missionary, and Steel all watched as Team BRIR had left.

"Okay, I'm gonna ask what we're all thinking; What the fuck just happened?" Alex asked.

Thornmane then approached the seven Americans.

"Your generosity in assisting Essen's indisposed guardian today is greatly appreciated. Taking on a Grimm like that took courage. Though, I must apologize for that dishonorable run in," he said.

"It's no problem, sir. But who were those four women that went in for the kill?" Bulldog asked.

"Rogue Huntresses. Mercenaries you might say. They call themselves Team BRIR," Thornmane answered.

"Team BRIR," Cassandra said.

"The team offers 'protection' to isolated settlements like Essen. For a price that is. Well, there's no need for their services. Essen Already has me and my guardians in place," Thornmane explained.

"So you're a Huntsman yourself?" Keaton asked.

"I am. At least, I used to be. The name's Bram Thornmane, by the way," Thornmane answered. "A long time ago I trained as an Ace Operative under General James Ironwood."

"Wow man! You were an Ace Operative?" Missionary asked.

"Nearly... But it's neither here nor there. I work to protect the people by my own authority now," Thornmane answered.

He then notices the orb slightly sticking out of Keaton's pouch.

"Oh? What a strange thing that you've got there," Thornmane said, pointing at the orb.

"You mean this?" Keaton asked as he pulled out the orb and shows it to Thornmane.

"We found this device at the peak of the summit north of Mantle," Steel said.

"After Dr. Polendina fixed it up, he said that it was a container," Cassandra added.

"Do you know anything about it, Mr. Thornmane?" Keaton asked.

"Goodness, I'm afraid not," Thornmane answered.

"Since we found it next to a Grimm attack, we're gonna turn this in to General Ironwood as a clue," Keaton said.

"I... can't recommend you do that. It could be dangerous," Thornmane said.

"Dangerous? How so?" Bulldog asked.

"It very well might be military tech. Allow me to do you a favor and take it off your hands to dispose of safely," Thornmane said.

"Are you sure about this?" Keaton asked.

"I can handle it," Thornmane answered.

"Okay, then," Keaton said as he handed the orb over to Thornmane.

"I'm afraid I must be on my way. The 'Briar Bunch' could be out making a mess of things as we speak. However, if you're looking for clues about unusual technology like that, there's someone I would suggest you speak to," Thornmane said.

"Who's that?" Ice Pick asked.

"Lieutenant Colonel Olive Harper. She, too, reports to Atlas Academy. You can trust her," Thornmane said.

"Alright. Thank you for the info, Mr. Thornmane," Keaton said.

As Thornmane turned around and walked away, the Americans all turned to face each other.

"Let's go find this Lieutenant Colonel," Keaton said.