Dominic POV
Ok if there was any time to panic, this is it. Free from Ruler's Domain the couple moves, I'm close enough for Adam to feel comfortable taking a swing while Blake starts to skirt around my left flank. Instead of dodging I do the unexpected and close the distance by ducking the swing and charging into his abdomen. I notice her getting distracted by May firing a few bolts her way before flipping the crossbow into spear form as we tumble.
I end up on top, before I can start pummeling him he gets a leg free and manages to shove me off which I turn into a flip. Landing in a crouch I slide back a few feet. I look up in time to see that the Geist has entered the fight, bringing a boulder the size of three of me crashing down where Adam was standing a moment ago. Fuck why did I drop my swords.
Oh yeah blind rage.
Heh.
May's more than holding her own against Blake, trying to lead her away from us and the Geist. I realize I've never seen her fight. There was never any good action scenes in the show that displayed her or the Huntresses true talents. All were top of their classes except May who was in constant competition with Winter, and now I see why. Twisting and turning in time with the movements of the spear, easily out maneuvering the younger woman.
Planting the spearhead into the ground she spins around it throwing a few kicks making Blake back up before she lunges foreword aiming for where May should have been. But by using the momentum she wraps a leg around the pole and lets herself fall into an upside down position. It exposes her stomach but allowed her to dodge the swing and land a hard right to Blakes gut. Aura reinforced from the look of pain that spread across her face as she flies back ten feet. May flips off the pole using the opening to activate her semblance and vanish from sight, that move makes me wanna see what else she can do.
NOW IS NOT THE TIME! My inner voice; which sounds allot like my oldest brother; screams at me and I force my attention back to the Geist which has kept Adam preoccupied.
The one thing I actually hate about fighting, is how much I can think in the few seconds everything occurs. It's something dad used to always compliment me on, my "Warrior State," he called it and we spent years perfecting it. Most people get fooled into thinking fights take a half hour or longer. In reality the brain enters a hyper aware state fueled by adrenaline and cortisone and starts to process everything just a bit faster. This fights only been going on for about a minute and a half. The average confrontation should last anywhere from five to ten minutes, any longer and things start to go really bad.
I dart my eyes around looking for Twi and La, only spotting the smaller lighting blade. I'll take it, "Pull," I whisper. Not believing it took me so long to figure out such a simple command. My eyes go back to the man and the monster as the hilt lands in my hand. "Respect where it's due Taurus," I yell standing and walking foreword, "You're not crushed into a bloody mess yet. Good that's my job."
He risks a side eye at me and it costs him, the golem catching him in the ribs and flinging him about a hundred feet away. "That mouth should be registered," May sarcastically yells now visible again and still confidently serving Blake a hot cop of whop ass.
"I hate to agree with you on that, but talking shit ain't the only thing it can do," I respond jumping back as the Geist takes a swing at me. It didn't have much material to work with, standing at only 10 feet tall and built roughly like a professional body builder. But this one is old, and smart. Using dust filled ore to construct its body, one wrong move and just like Clover said in season 7. The whole mine will detonate.
Adam to his credit recovered quick, his mask gone and his scar showing to the world as he runs back into the fray. Stamina's not the only thing he recovered though as I see a bright purple blade in his left hand. Shit…. I let my brain kick into hyper-drive all control being surrendered to my instincts. I hope they don't judge me; when did I start caring about that?
Robyn POV
"Shit. Shit. Shit." I whisper to myself my breath catching in my throat with every step. Did Dom know about the Geist? Why is there one even here? Is this why the mine was shut down to begin with? All these questions and more race through my mind as we keep running.
I hear Fi's labored breathing behind me as Jo stayed with the people outside, finally calling the military as well. No hiding a factory explosion even this far out anyway. Not from Atlas.
"Oh my gods I'm gonna die," the little sheep pants out as she struggles to keep up with her smaller build.
"Almost there," I pant back hearing the crash of rock and clash of steel just up ahead. I skid to a halt in the entrance to the cave. Fi bumps into me from behind a second later.
"Robyn what the hellllllLLLLL!" Her voice ramps up quickly as we watch the scene unfold. Clover had told me about the station incident, I believed him somewhat. But couldn't bring myself to think a veteran Operative would be stunned into being an observer from just a sword fight.
I was wrong.
Dominic is fighting both Adam and the Geist while May keeps the cat woman busy with no issue being much more experienced, somewhere along the line Dom had lost his long sword to Taurus. His only weapon is a short dagger like blade, and his body. A quick look at my scroll tells me hes at 48 percent, it drops by two percent in front of my eyes as Dom back flips onto the arm of the giant.
Having dodged his own sword, the golem swings its other arm at him only to miss as the man jumps twenty feet into the sky straight up. The force crushes the arm Dominic was standing on. Twisting mid jump he seems to kick the air, defying physics he rockets downward flipping back up right I get to see how he lands when he jumps from Atlas first hand.
"Pulse!" Another percent gone as a pressure wave expands from his body in all directions. It stumbles the golem and knocks Taurus back a few steps. Landing on one foot he doesn't stay still long as his aura continues to drop a percent or two with each movement. He puts his opponent wielding two full length swords on the defensive with quick lunges, constantly switching hands moving almost snake like. Twisting and turning, staying low and going for the legs and stomach.
The Geist forms itself a new arm out of smaller rubble and throws its bigger arm at the two women causing them to finally split apart. The cat bitch takes the chance to fire multiple rounds at Dominic making him back up from Adam after catching one in the shoulder making his aura flash. She uses her semblance creating an afterimage of her self and rejoins with her boyfriend before switching the mag and resuming cover fire.
The constant fire causes Dom and May to close the distance between each other blocking and dodging as many bullets as possible, The Geist decides that working with the people it was used to over the intruders was a better option apparently as the other three form a semi circle. Slowly backing my companions up against a boulder. "Hey pretty eyes," I hear Dom's voice through my pin as the three start to close in.
"Yeah military boy?" she responds her breathing harder than his.
"Wanna dance?" I see his smirk and side eye towards her from here.
She shoots an honest grin back at him, "And here I thought you'd never ask," she offers her right hand which he places his left one over.
With a wink and aura drop he flings May at the couple who turns invisible mid flight, the Geist takes a swing at the remaining human. I see Dom flip onto the arm as May reappears between the two faunai, her weight seems to be reduced as I see her move faster than before, each of her movements makes her seem to float for a second before her next strike. She opts to take the girl out of the fight quickly with a few sharp blows to the head before confronting Adam her movements back to normal, my eyes flick back to Dominic who had ran up the arm of the golem, his focus on keeping her lightweight gone.
He jumps foreword, dodging a blow by the arm made of smaller rocks, his aura drops by a massive five percent as his foot lands just to the side of the mask. His kick off would have been a fatal blow to the monster had it been the mask, I know because the force he put into that kick was enough to shatter the upper body. The Geist flies out of the rubble does a circle and decides to flee back to the edge of the cave.
It's good he dispatched that thing because May is not looking good right now. Though from how he's holding his head and swaying he needs a second. Her skill the only reason she's still standing against Adam, small cuts lace her arms and legs from close calls and bare misses. Their locked, his swords in an X on the pole of the spear. "I could just go ahead and cut it off for you?" the faunus laughs darkly to her.
"No thanks," her voice is strained and growling, "I already have a doctor!" She aims a kick for where his crotch was before he jumped back anticipating a kick. He gets punished for forgetting it was now a two on one fight as the small barrel of Dominic's crashes into his ribs.
A small trail of blood runs from his right eye dipping off his angled jaw as he advances to retrieve his barrel moving slowly all of a sudden. He walks by the unconscious woman. To her credit it was a smart move playing dead, it let Dominic get close enough for another surprise attack. "Hold." Her arm slows to a stop the blade of her sickle inches from his temple. His left arm shoots out and grabs her by the throat while May trains her crossbow on a recovering Taurus.
"It's over, and as much as I want to kill you both. I'll let you go," his eyes flick to the woman. "You could've killed me at the station, but you didn't. I heard you before hand, and I know I seem like a hardcore military guy. But it wasn't by choice. Just like you doing the things he wants aren't your choices. So here's you chance," he drops the masked woman whose hand goes to her throat as she coughs a few times.
"You fool," Adam whispers and for a second I think the same before the woman done coughing puts both of her hands to the ground.
"I….. She looks to her boyfriend on his knees a manic smile crossing his face as he waits for her to kill Dominic and rejoin his side. "I'm sorry," a shadow is left in her place as she dashes past me and Fiona.
The sheer look of betrayal on Adams face reminds me he's just a kid too, the glaring angry scar from his time as a slave possibly in this vary mine twisting what should be a handsome young face at the academy….
"You however Taurus, you understand. You have to die, and hopefully this splinter cell of the Fang dies with you. You can fight, but its two on two at best if the Geist comes back. And I'm done playing," Dom's voice grows dark as he picks up the canister .
"Yeah," tears stream down Adam's face as he laughs bitterly at the two coming towards him. "So am I," with almost inhuman speed, powered by fear and anger he throws Dominic's sword into the smaller barrel still in his hand. Blue dust begins spraying out of the pressurized container causing Dom to drop it on reflex.
"May," everything slows down for me, Adam's rage filled face as his katana glows bright red. Dom throwing himself between her and the barrel, the crimson slash from Adam's sword making contact with the barrel setting off the chain reaction. "Get "Away," he shoves her as another explosion rocks the mountain.
Out of reflex I turn and shield Fi from the cloud of dust and pressure wave ten times stronger than the one Dom put off a minute ago. I'm pushed a few feet into the tunnel, only for my head to whip around as a sickening crack echos. "No," I whisper my arms still shielding Fiona as May begins falling from the 50 foot ceiling, rubble trailing behind her. A ten foot crater having formed from the force of impact, her aura definitely broken. I feel a tear start to trace down my cheek as my scroll beeps, I pull it out having missed calls and texts from Clover. More important Dom's aura meter is at 17 percent and dropping.
I look up to see Dominic sliding to a stop under May and the literal mountain, "HOLD!" His yell echos just as much as May hitting the stone, unlike the cat woman May and the stones continue to float down. With his aura draining incredibly fast he pulls the floating woman into his arms, "I gotcha pretty eyes, I gotcha. Up," he whispers the com link still intact. I notice the rocks rise a little before he grunts, they resume slowly falling. I'm terrified to move and break his concentration by this point.
"Nghh… Dom?"
"Hey, hey it's okay," he shushes her wiping some hair out of her eyes.
"We lost them huh?" She giggles lightly before coughing. She sits up suddenly and a sharp his comes through peaking the mic, I guess she noticed the rubble slowly touching down around them.
"If I move it all falls," he confirms my fear and her unanswered question.
"Its.. Its not high enough to kill us, let it go and make an air pocket," she nods her breathing picking up as panic set in. Three scrolls beep in unison as the rocks droop lower, the effort weighing on Dominic quite literally as he leans foreword his palms on the ground for support.
"Not enough gas in the tank for that fine of control," he laughs, their position looking slightly compromising. "Hey, pretty eyes….. I'm sorry I didn't ask you to dance at the party."
"Well you can make up for it next time," she bargains getting the same hint as me.
"Yeah, here's the thing," he grunts as the rubble drifts ever closer. Drops of blood fall from both his eyes onto May's lapel.
"No, no thing," she argues trying to sit up only for one of his hands to stop her, resting lightly on her chest.
"Trust me when I say, I never dreamed I'd say this to someone I'm this attracted to, but you have to go "Away," now."
Her eyes go wide as she starts to slowly slide from under him, "Dominic, we can do this. Don't…."
With her legs clear and a final heave of effort, "AWAY!" He throws his right arm to the side, a tunnel forming and collapsing as May clears the rubble. The rest falling and settling, slowly obstructing a smiling face.
May to her credit spins as she slides and manages to get her legs under her, standing and still sliding back she starts to try to get back to the rubble. Finally getting traction and high on adrenaline she reaches the piles of misshapen stones and begins heaving them off.
I finally notice Fi struggling against me and let her go," WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED! YOU'RE LUCKY I CAN HOLD MY BREATH SO LONG!"
"Why does that not surprise me?" Dominic's voice sounds through my pin, a quick cough. "Fuck. That hurt."
"Dom can?" SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE. I wince and let go of the com button. May's must have fallen off and gotten stuck in open channel mode by a rock. I check my scroll and run over to start helping May. His aura's at 7 percent and still falling, this is bad.
"I shouldn't have let him come…." I tell myself as Fi also joining in hauling off as much rock as possible.
"Man how'd it end up like this Dom?" He asks himself not able to hear us unless we scream. Our energy has a better use right now though in getting him out. "Yeah that sounds about right," he answers himself after a moment of thought.
"Regrets? Yeah a few…." Whose he talking with? Is he that low on Oxygen? "My biggest.."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP WASTING YOUR AIR!" May screams as loud as she can into the rock.
"Easily," my scroll starts beeping uncontrollably. I pull it out to smash it to pieces in a rushed adrenaline rage but stop myself seeing the number. "Not killing you…. No.. No that's second now, killing you was a pipe dream. Now its something a bit more realistic." I watch as the 1 changes to a 0, "Now I just wish I asked her to dance a little sooner." I cringe as the rubble collapses inward just a little more.
My arm suddenly feeling numb falls to my side limply. "May," I hear Fi stop and gently move towards May. "Babe, you're injured and he's..."
I hear a slap, hoping it was hand on hand I turn and see Fi cradling her left one. "May's eyes are wide and wild, anger and sadness twisting her face. "He's…. He's not aloud to die…." Tears start streaming down as she begins moving the rubble again, though less aggressively.
The sound of boots draws my attention to the main entrance, I sigh as Clover and the other Aces slide to a halt with Jo in their ranks. "He's not aloud to keep doing this," I turn back to my friend as her energy leaves her and she falls to her knees. "You! You're not aloud to keep calling my eyes pretty, and staring at my ass and chest. You're not aloud to be in the military and give most of your money away to pickpockets and bums." Each statement is punctuated by a punch to the stones. "You're not aloud to make me feel like this if you're going to date my best friend! YOU. FUCKING. ASSHOLE!" Blood trickles down from her last impact as she lets herself finally be pulled into Fiona's arms.
"Robyn…." Clo looks at me and I can't meet his eyes. "You let him come on a rouge Op?" His tone becomes stern and bitter, but with sadness lacing his tones.
"I'm sorry… I thought he could handle it, but he was still just a kid," I sigh regret and shame filling me before a sharp sting hits the side of my face.
May's anger and tear stained face meets me, "Grown men with semblances like his couldn't or wouldn't have done what he could or was willing to do. Stop calling him a child!" She calmly says to me before continuing to sniffle and forcing herself to look back at the stone. "I'll tell Winter..." She claims.
"You don't have to.. She's glued to the recon screens, Ironwood forbade her form coming," Marrow drones out his normal hyper demeanor gone as he fights a few tears. Harriet's weeping openly as Elm and vine hold each other touching their foreheads together. Clover's glare hurts….
"I'm sorry…." I mutter one final time before the mountain itself expresses its anger and disappointment. "The Geist?" I question out loud my head darting around looking for the source of the shaking.
May grabs the closest thing she can to a weapon in the form of a rock with some fire dust in it from the bright red vein running through it. "Let it be, please." She growls.
"We may need to evac and get him later," Fiona somehow always the calmest in this insane circumstances points out. "Taurus and his bitch got away, but he might have enough juice to bring the place down."
For one final time the scrolls linked to Dominic's aura meter start beeping rapidly. Almost in unison, May, Fi, Jo and I pull out our scrolls and watch the aura meter. "That's literally impossible…." Jo states as the 0 changes to a negative one. Then a -2, then -3, -4, -12, -30.
We all back up from the now quivering pile of rubble. "Men like him have been known to do impossible things, looks like he still has some things he wants to protect," Fi winks over to her friend. May's hand instinctively goes for her com pin and catches air close to her heart. She smiles gently as the rocks begin to rise, shortly steadying out in a slow orbit around a now standing silhouette.
The stones get pushed away in random directions off his body as he advances, the final stones revile blood tracing down both cheeks, his hair tussled and mostly out of its ponytail. His blank eyes stare past all of us, glowing a soft purple. The rubble falls back into place shocking me and Fi. Jo eyes are locked on his form with a dropped jaw.
"Must get Taurus before he tells.. Her… Get Taurus before..." He mumbles in his half conscious state. "Yin, Yang, need to find the others," he stumbles but continues walking past his stunned teammates. "Light, Beacon. Heh, Minecraft. Do we have enough iron or gold," May had been following him closely waiting on this moment as he trips and falls foreword right into her arms as she steps in front of him. His weight making her grunt as she lowers him to the ground and onto his back.
He blinks a few times before the glow fades from purple to his normal dark brown. "Hey you," she puts the same lock of hair behind her ear again.
"You should ware your hair down more, natural blue is really pretty. When Winter does it you can see her roots," she looks slightly taken aback as his head rolls to the left loosing conscious.
"Winter dyes her hair?" Marrows question rings out his normal self breaking through the situation.
"Marrow?" Fiona crosses her arms glaring at him. He gives hmm in response. "What color are Dominic and mine's eyebrows?"
"White?"
"Good, now what color are Winters eyebrows?"
"Ohhhhhh..."
"Fucking dumbass, not even cute or funny enough to make up for it," the sheep girl rolls her eyes as she walks over to join her friend in checking Dominic's vitals before the Medic's arrive.
Ironwood POV
Don't laugh, don't laugh….. I glance over and see Winter's eye twitch as the control panel ops all glance at her and mutter about Dominic's last comment. This is a serious situation James… What would Ozpin do? That's an easy answer.
Laugh hysterically with you….
"I'm. Going. To. Murder. Him!" She growls in al ow almost inaudible voice.
Uh-oh, a snicker escaped. I feel her Icy Blue eyes piecing my temple. "Something entertaining General?" Her voice is dripping poison.
Tread carefully Jimmy…. "I mean, he has a point. How much longer does it take to do your eyebrows really." A female voice sounds out and the air deflates out of her quickly.
"I pluck to much for them to stay white long," she coughs her face now beat red.
"I get that, Totally relatable, why dye in the first place?" The woman soldiers chorus.
"My boyfriend almost died! AGAIN! Why are we conversing about this!" Her Iron Queen persona kicking back in she starts commanding them for a evac as the medics finally take over on the screens. I turn away and leave the command room. I have a call to make, hopefully he can give me some advice on teenagers and share a laugh.
(A/N) Short chapter sorry, but its pretty much the cap to the last one and I split it like this to avoid a 12000 word upload. Let me know what you guys think. I hope everyone is going good. See you soon!