"To the Watchdogs! To the Vanguard! To the best job in the entire world!" Watchdog 1, Pearl, cheers as he raises his glass of beer followed by his squad and Vanguard Squad 1 members. He chugs it down and reaches for a barrel of beer to refill, "Been saving this since my days in Vacuo for an occasion like this. Drink like there's no tomorrow! Cause it's only gonna get harder from here!"
The pilots gathering around the campfire, Vanguard pilots in their military overalls and the Watchdogs in their mismatched gear all cheered as they joined together in singing, drinking, and exchanging war stories. The SDC Sentinels had declined their invitation, instead in their own tent doing whatever it was they did.
"I say they're eating five-star meals with wine in there." one of the Watchdogs says in a drunken haze, "I hear a top Sentinel makes three times what I do per year. Buncha snobs."
"Hear, hear." one of the Vanguard pilots agreed, "Fucking SDC man…"
As they all agreed on their opinion on the SDC, Adam glanced to the empty spot in their circle where Winter had neglected to join them. Making an excuse for himself, he leaves the campfire to wander their camp looking for where she might be.
All around him, gunfire rang constantly from the wall-mounted turrets and artillery. By now the Construction MTs have expanded their fortifications, creating an additional three layers of concrete, armaments and minefields that surround them.
It didn't take long for him to find his old partner, arm buried into FROSTBITE's head with a wrench in hand.
"Now isn't this nostalgic?" Adam walks up to her with a drink in hand, surprising her, "I'm afraid this time there's only a drink for me. But we can share if you want?"
Winter turns to him and smiles warmly, withdrawing her arm from FROSTBITE's head and taking off her oil-covered gloves,
"Adam Taurus…" she says, wrapping him into a hug, "Been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Definitely." he hugs back while keeping his drink steady before eyeing her toolbox where she placed her chronograph he gave her long ago, "Surprise you still keep it around."
"Can say the same for this." she breaks from the hug and gestures to his sunglasses, "So how's life been treating Ravager, the mercenary pilot?"
"Eh, same old story. Grimm or bandits threaten NEST assets, and I come in to stop them." Adam shrugs as he takes a sip, "The odd mercenary job in-between but nothing interesting. What about you? I haven't seen you since graduation. How's life been treating Blizzard, Vanguard Specialist? What did your family have to say?"
Winter's smile suddenly falls from her face as she sighs heavily.
"That bad?" Adam asks before holding out his drink to share only for Winter to wave it off,
"Remember the dinner I told you I had with my family?" Winter asks as she sits down, leaning against FROSTBITE's head, "Well it turned out even worse than my worst predictions."
She then told him everything that happened. Her mother is now an alcoholic, her brother practically a clone of his father, and her beloved younger sister planning to join the Sentinels with all that it entails.
"...Shit." Adam mutters after a pause, listening to every word in silence, "Even his own daughter? I wish I was more surprised…What are you going to do about it?"
"What can I do?" Winter scoffs, "He's not forcing Weiss to do this. She wants it on her own free will. Her idea is to redeem the Schnee family name."
"Has she seen the things the SDC does?" Adam scoffs while taking a drink, "Your gramps may have had good intentions, but Jacques Schnee certainly doesn't. There's only one thing to do with rotten fruit, and it's to toss it out. Or use it as compost."
"That's what I said." Winter groans frustrated, "But she wouldn't listen. She's dead set on her dream, and who am I to stop someone from living how they please. Even then I couldn't set foot in our manor, he wouldn't let me. Not only that he's doubled down on making sure we have as little contact as possible, even through Scroll. She's all alone and I can't help her."
She yells frustrated slamming a fist against FROSTBITE resulting in a loud clang,
"...All my training and I'm still weak. I can't do anything to help my sister." she mutters bitterly, "Why did she have to choose that path?"
Adam was silent for a moment, sitting down next to Winter before he responded, "Whatever path she chose, it's her choice to walk down it. Like we all do…But if she's anything like a certain stubborn and ambitious Ice Queen, I don't think you have to worry."
Winter sighs as she leans her head on Adam's shoulders, "I said that countless times to my mirror, that she's strong. That she'll be fine. It's weird how I feel I believe you more than myself."
"Well, I do have a way with words," Adam smirks and she rolls her eyes,
"Yes, what a poet you are," she says sarcastically as he laughs.
"The paths and breaches along the Glenn walls have been identified already?" Ayre asks, taking the Scroll tablet full of data from the Huntsman's hands, "I admit I expected this quite later. You've exceeded my expectations, Qrow Branwen."
"Don't mention it. I'm good at what I do." Qrow smirks as he takes a drink from his flask, "Guess there's still things your giant robots can't do but Huntsmen can."
"We never claimed otherwise, Mr Branwen. Contrary to popular belief there are still roles that Huntsmen fill out that AC and MTs can't." Ayre says as she looks through the data, "Hm…more damage than I hoped but less than I feared. Additional resources will have to be allocated to seal the walls…Enough cannons seem to be in operable status, curiously."
Qrow shrugs, "Once the Grimm breached the cannons couldn't fire inside without bombing civies. And once they took down the power there wasn't any need to take down the cannons."
"Yes, Grimms surging in such quantities the defences couldn't keep up." Ayre mumbles, "...Have you ever wondered why the Grimm targeted Mountain Glenn in such a manner? With such determination and ferocity? Both their artillery and the natural defences would have been more than enough to deter them, and yet they stubbornly pushed on as if driven by something more. And yet they stayed there after taking Glenn, showing no interest in Vale. Why?"
"Hell if I know. After the Fall of Mount Glenn, people rather not think about it. The fact is, the Vale Council encouraged it, didn't want their people getting paranoid and gave the Grimm reason to attack. Out of sight, out of mind." Qrow grumbles, "People didn't mind. They didn't want to think about the literal horde of Grimm just dozens of miles behind their walls."
Ayre nods in understanding as she plugs the Scroll into her desktop, downloading the data. Before long it completed the process and began displaying a holographic projection in the middle of the room.
"What's that for?" Qrow asks curious, as Ayre steps away from her desk and approaches the blue wire holographic model of Mountain Glenn where a tide of red washes over it.
"That, Mr Branwen, is an artificially recreated depiction of the Grimm's assault on Mountain Glenn playing at an accelerated speed. Created from an accumulation of witness reports and live footage by the prediction of software crafted by me." Ayre explains as she observes the Grimm coursing through the city before pausing, "There. Did you see it?"
"See what?" Qrow asks, wondering what he was looking for before Ayre replays it at slower speeds. This time he sees what she is talking about, from an overhead view he can see the Grimm all directed towards one location, just for a brief moment, before they reach the spot and return to normal Grimm behavior of wreaking havoc wherever they could reach. But for just a brief moment when they breached the walls, they were all targeting the same thing.
"...They were after something? That's not normal Grimm behavior." Qrow mutters in realization as Ayre nods,
"So it seems." she says tapping where they were directed at before spreading apart, "This location. The only thing of note is a building that was the headquarters of Merlot Industries."
"I've heard of them before." Qrow remembers, "Some old company that went defunct after Mountain Glenn. What was inside that the Grimm wanted so badly? It can't be because there were more negative emotions there or something."
"I have several theories but for now that's all they are. Theories." Ayre says before looking up at Qrow, "I have a request for you Qrow Branwen."
"You want me to check it out?" Qrow guesses, "I scouted the walls as a favor to Oz. And this is smack dab in the middle of Grimm territory. Getting in will be difficult even for me."
"Of course, but it will not remain for long." Ayre explains, "When we make our move in Phase Two they will be drawn away, reducing their numbers considerably. During that time I wish for you to infiltrate Merlot Industries' headquarters to identify just why the Grimm were so attracted to this place. Of course, you will be compensated for this endeavor. Five hundred thousand Lien for attempting this, and double that if you find anything that gives us a concrete explanation."
"...Throwing a lot of money into this, aren't ya?" Qrow asks, trying to remain stoic after being offered that large sum of money for a single job, "What's got you so invested in this?"
"Of course I am. I do not want anything that can remotely threaten Glenn in the future once we've reclaimed it." Ayre says looking determined, "Finding the true cause of the abnormal Grimm attack would go a long way. Can I count on your aid, Qrow Branwen?"
"Well if you're willing to throw this much Lien…" Qrow scratches the back of his head before sighing, "I'll take a look but I can't promise anything. Anything in there must've been wrecked by the Grimm in the past decades."
"That's all I ask." Ayre nods, "Thank you for this."
"Just doing my job." Qrow shrugs before pausing, "I still wanna know, what's got you so invested in Glenn? If you want your own city, it's cheaper and safer to just make your own somewhere. You got the capital for it. So why go through all the trouble for Glenn?"
"...Let's say I have a vested interest in the advancement of all of Remnant. Glenn is simply a stepping stone." Ayre says as she returns to her desk, "And what does Professor Ozpin want, to be so invested in the success of Glenn's reclamation? Sending one of his old students, and helping to fund this?"
Qrow turns to leave, "Let's say he has a vested interest in humanity's advancement as well."
"Alright you maggots, I want all of you to listen up, your lives might just depend on this!" Pearl announces as he paces back and forth in front of the Watchdogs on one side and the Shadowsteel squad on the other, "Phase Two will be a joint operation between the AC squadrons Shadowsteel and Watchdogs. It will consist of escorting a small fleet of shuttles carrying Construction MTs to the Glenn walls to repair them and get those wall cannons up and running. Your objective is to make sure to kill every single Grimm that comes after those shuttles. I don't want to see a single scratch on them, am I clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!" the Watchdogs cry out as the Shadows gave less enthusiastic affirmations,
"Try treating them like they're transports full of Lien and Dust." Pearl yells at the Shadows before roaring in laughter, "You won't let any Grimm near them then, right?"
Shadow 1 smirks as the rest of his men look annoyed. He was a tall man with pale skin common among Atlesians with black hair, wearing a white and blue jacket with an SDC emblem on the back that was standard among Sentinels, and his emblem of a black number one with a white outline looking like it was covered in black flames.
His eyes had glowing blue irises, a sign of Sentinel augmentations with surgical scars running down his cheeks from his eyes almost looking like tear stains. In his hand was a lit cigarette that he inhaled, the slits in the knuckles and joints of his fingers indicating it was a cybernetic implant with life-like skin coating over it.
"Please, Commander, we're not here out of profit remember? We're just being charitable." Shadow 1 smirks as he blows out a puff of smoke, "This isn't our first escort mission through Grimm-held territory. If anything, we should be worried for you."
"Worried for us? Hah!" Pearl suddenly grabs Adam from the line and wraps an arm around his shoulders, "See this kid? Watchdog 13 here is the pilot that did the Wasteland Run in less than a month. Three weeks from one end to the other, just himself protecting an entire squadron of Bullheads carrying supplies, delivering them from settlement after settlement with zero damage and he's our latest recruit! Ain't that right, Ravager?!"
"Hell yeah, sir!" Adam grins, "This is just a bunch of extra Grimm. It'll be a cakewalk."
"Damn right, it is!" Pearl yells, slapping him on the back with too much force, almost slamming him to the ground, "Now if we've measured our dicks enough?"
"Yeah, yeah, you made your point." Shadow 1 says casually as he drops his near-spent cigarette and grinds it under his heel, "Let's get along then, Watchdogs. We'll be fighting together all the way in this sortie."
Shadow 1 extends a hand towards Adam who scoffs and slaps it away, "You do your part and we'll do ours."
"Feisty aren't ya? It'll be a pleasure getting to fight alongside NEST's premier AC team and its rising star." Shadow 1 smirks before walking off with his squad, all of them with the same eyes and uniform as his, "We'll see you in the air then, Watchdogs. Happy hunting."
The Shadows fell in line and followed, matching each other's movements perfectly like wind-up toy soldiers towards their hangar containing their ACs.
"Buncha freaks," Phoenix grumbles as she watches them leave. Despite her age being younger than that of Adam, she was still a competent AC pilot sitting at a low Rank B. Her brown hair was cut into a short buzz cut and wearing a customized NEST jacket with flame patterns, the Watchdog emblem on one shoulder and a patch consisting of a flaming bird carrying a number 11 on the other.
"Be polite Phoenix, those are our allies." Nightwatch reprimands as he slaps her lightly in the back of the head. Without his helmet his short dark blue hair was now visible along with his pair of panther ears, looking at the Sentinel pilots irritatedly with green eyes. His jacket was plain black and white stripes, with his personal patch consisting of a simple oil lamp and the number 12 above it.
"Polite my ass, did you see the way they move? Swear to gods they look more robot than people." Watchdog 7, Sledge, a burly man of Vacuo ethnicity crosses his arms glaring at their backs. He wears a NEST jacket unzipped with the sleeves torn off and the emblem on his chest consists of a number 7 in the form of a swinging hammer, "They're up to something, I can tell."
"You always think they're up to something." Nova rolls his eyes and takes a swig from his own cigarette. The old soldier wore a trench coat based on the design of his old Vale National Guard uniform and his patch reflects this with a Vale crown emblem behind the number 10.
"They're SDC! Of course, they're up to something!" Sledge insists, "I tell you all, whatever they're scheming isn't good. I don't know what the bosses were thinking, getting them on board. We're doing just fine by ourselves."
"Bosses won't say no to free bodies to throw at Glenn. Better them than asking us to stretch ourselves thin." Nova rationalizes before putting out his cigarette, "You ask me, as long as they don't jeopardize the mission they're free to scheme whatever they want."
"Whatever you say, you old coot." Sledge mutters before Pearl cuts in.
"People, people, we can all agree that the SDC can go fuck itself hard with a malfunctioning rusty, spiky piledriver." he says as the Watchdogs laugh at the image, "But we can also agree that for the time being they are our allies. Don't get in their way, and they won't get in ours. That's our order. Am I clear?"
"Sir, yes sir." the Watchdogs affirmed.
"Good. Now get in your ACs! I want us in the air in an hour, so get your ass in gear, pick the guns you need, not the guns you want and make sure you remember your extra ammo, Watchdog 4!" Pearl returns to shouting out orders, ignoring the annoyed Foghorn who muttered about being the one always called out, "Look at the skies, the sun is shining, clouds are parting, Nevermores are crying, it's a wonderful day to be killing Grimm and you're all making me miss every second of this beautiful day! Move, move, move maggots!"
"Initiating Combat Mode. Get to work, Watchdogs! And try not to embarrass yourselves in front of the boss!" Pearl chuckles before returning to seriousness, "Escort pattern: Arrow, nothing complicated. Keep your scanners running for Grimm in case we get spotted."
"Yeah, I doubt they'll notice an entire armored column with shuttles carrying entire squads of MTs," Adam says sarcastically over the comms.
"The Vanguard are running interference…" Raven chimes in from above, flying with external flight packs strapped to the back of his AC, six extra thrusters spread like wings and increased engine capacity giving him the ability of sustained flight, "Attention should be drawn by them…targeting all the large Grimm…Should take heat off us…"
"Don't tell me the little puppy is nervous?" Shadow 1 jokes as he flies next to Raven with his squad in position behind him. Thanks to their compact Plasma Dust-powered engines, allowed them to achieve sustained flight without the aid of external packs like NEST Inc. ACs.
"You're lucky you're way up there right now." Adam grumbles, "You're not worth the fuel."
"Stow it…two of you…" Raven scolds before his scanners pick something up, "Huh…faster than expected…"
"Already? Not even five minutes in." Pearl mutters, "Attention all Watchdog elements, looks like our Vanguard pals are slacking off. Show them how it's done in NEST!"
"Shadow 1 to Shadowsteel squad, intercept all hostile flyers." Shadow 1 orders as his Sentinels and drones fly into position in synch, firing rapid shots of ultraviolet laser beams, burning every aerial Grimm they could see into ashes.
"Shit, it's like that one time I was at a rave." Phoenix mutters as she glances up to see the overlapping lasers, "Only less drugs, alcohol and dancing. Almost the same level of violence though."
"...What kind of raves do you go to?" Nightwatch mutters confused.
"Eyes up." Nova says from the centre of the position, flying the closest to the MT shuttles, his AC's singular eye filled to the brim with sensor equipment scanning the area, "A pack of Creeps approaching from North West, tunnelling underground."
"Guess they're a bit too shy to show their faces! Sledge!" Pearl calls out to the heavily armored Bipedal AC with a near-oversized jackhammer for a left arm, "Show them there's no need to be shy. Everyone else, get ready to give them a warm welcome."
"Hehe, with pleasure, Commander," Sledge says gleefully, boosting to the front to intercept the underground Grimm, raising his oversized arm covered in Gravity Dust circuits so that his AC doesn't tip over from the weight, and slamming it down hard before engaging it at full power.
Tremors erupt from his location, wrecked buildings collapsing completely and the roads cracking and rippling from the force. And Grimm tunnelling underground were forced to surface less they get crushed, exposing them too early and getting pumped full of bullets by Adam at the head of the formation.
"Nice work Sledge, back into formation." Pearl praises, "How's it looking from up there boss?"
"Hm…" Raven grumbles, "...Converging Grimm forces ahead…may face more resistance than expected… Shadowsteel squad… move in and eliminate aerial Grimm elements…We'll take care of the ground units…"
"Not joining us?" Shadow 1 teases,
"...Not enough of a concern…move in and engage…unless you're scared," Raven says and Shadow 1 chuckles,
"Well since you asked so nicely. Shadowsteel squad, on me. Let's clear the way." Shadow 1 orders as they cease firing while encircling the shuttles, moving into position and following him towards the Grimm.
"Can't deny. For an SDC goon, he's got guts." Pearl mutters as he sees them dive towards a large black cloud of densely packed Grimm, "All Watchdogs elements switch to Shield formation."
"Copy that." Adam acknowledges as he allows Pearl to overtake him, falling behind him along with the other heavy weapon units of the squad.
"All power to shields…Maximum output." Pearl taps his controls as his twin arm-mounted Heavy Pulse Cannons switch modules to become Pulse Shield Projectors instead, pouring everything except for his thrusters to the shield and creating a large one-way pulse barrier.
The horde of land-based Grimm smashed headfirst into the shield, getting repulsed by the barrier and crushed to death by the sheer weight of their comrades trying to get to them. They were literally killing themselves to get to the ACs and their shuttles of MTs.
The heavy weapon ACs behind Pearl began unloading their arsenal into the growing mound of Grimm. Raven even joins in with his own firepower, shooting twin miniguns into the horde and whittling them down along with rockets, missiles and grenades which were able to pass through the pulse shield. Even with all their combined firepower, it was getting difficult.
"Uh, guys? We're being flanked." Nightwatch reports as he looks behind to find packs of Beowolves struggling to keep up, firing a few shots behind. But soon they were being joined by more Grimm, slowly growing in size, "Should we worry about that?"
"Negative…Within predictions…" Raven says before powering down his thrusters, "Focus ahead…I'll be the rear guard."
He slows down and falls behind the escorts, letting the Grimm catch up before re-engaging his thrusters when in range. He spins around and loads his minigun with high-grade explosive Fire Dust ammunition. Expensive but he was a millionaire thanks to his shared ownership of NEST Inc. What else was he supposed to spend his money on? Penthouses and yachts?
The bullets tear the flanking horde to shreds, Ice Dust heatsinks struggling to keep up as he fires without pause before changing targets to a few skyscrapers beside him. He fires into the weakened supports, toppling them on top of the growing wave of Grimm, slowing them down for a while as they are forced to climb over or go around them.
He continues doing that, toppling over any remaining towering buildings over the Grimm to kill and slow them down. They were going to be demolished for reparations anyway, so it would be a waste to not put them to good use before that. Besides, there was a bit of irony in using the buildings of a city destroyed by Grimm to kill Grimm.
He was then surprised when plasma fire joined him in destroying the Grimm, sparing a glance to find two SDC drones firing plasma rifles into the fray, bursts of purple energy burning them to ashes.
"Hope you don't mind the assist, Raven." Shadow 1 says through their comms, "We're just about done here. The shuttles are almost at the wall."
"Good…keep it up…" he nods before speaking to the Watchdogs, "You all heard him…push forward…"
"You got it, boss!" Pearl nods, "You heard him! C-MTs deploy now!"
He orders as all three of the five shuttles drop five C-MTs each, each carrying Concrete Dust cannons,
"C-MT Squad Alpha deploying." the lead Construction MT yells, "Get moving, seal the walls! Go, go, go!"
The ACs and Sentinels all cleared the way, creating a perimeter surrounding the MTs as they got to work, spraying the holes in the wall with Concrete Dust and repairing them.
"Phase Two is underway! Phase Two is underway!" Pearl announces with glee over the comms, "Squad Delta and Gamma, up on the walls now! I want those cannons up and running!"
"This is Vanguard 1, Judge." a new voice joins the conversation, "All priority threats have been eliminated. I repeat all priority threats have been eliminated. Requesting permission to join the wall repair defence?"
"Hah, done already, Ironwood?" Pearl asks, "Glad to hear you aren't slacking off. Permission granted! Get on over here! You can help mop up the rest when we're done."
"Gods, I can't believe I'm seeing this." Nova mutters as he spares a second to glance back at the holes in the wall being sealed up, and the MTs deployed on top of the walls repairing the cannons, "All these fucking years…"
"Get your head in the game, old man!" Nightwatch reprimands as he fires into the horde in front of them with twin assault rifles, "We're not done yet, you can reminisce when we're out here."
"Right." Nova acknowledges as he continues firing with his heavy Linear Rifle. Compared to the lighter variants it had to be planted on the ground with bipods to brace and fire effectively, tearing through dozens of Grimms.
"Heh, lay off him Nightwatch." Phoenix chuckles as she fires a cluster of Fire Dust grenades, "I can't believe it myself. We're doing it!"
As she says this, the ground suddenly starts shaking.
"What the hell? Handlers said nothing about potential earthquakes." Pearl mutters confused as he disengages his Pulse Shields to cool them down, "Command, come in. What's going on? Do we proceed as planned?"
"What the hell is going on out there?" Ayre asks her staff of Handlers overseeing the operation in the carrier's control centre when a holographic map depicting live footage of the events reveals their latest problem.
"Ma'am, we're picking up seismic activity from Mountain Glenn." one of the Handlers responds alarmed, "That's not possible, Glenn's not supposed to experience any activity like this unless…Oh my gods."
As he says this, an enormous Grimm signature materializes on the map, right over Mountain Glenn.
"...How many are we looking at?" Ayre asks, hoping what she is seeing is an error.
"...One, ma'am." another Handler responds as she re-scans the area with a horrified look on her face, "How did we miss this? How did Vale miss this?!"
"The Dust…Mountain Glenn's large supply of Dust nodes must have clouded their sensors. That's why we haven't been able to pick up any trace of this." Ayre realizes this, taking a breath to calm down, "What are we looking at?"
"Reading scanner results…Brother Gods above…Ancient-class Grimm. Titanic-size category, 75 meters tall with a wingspan of 600 meters." a Handler rattles off with a pale look on their face, "It's heading to the walls!"
Ayre looked alarmed as she did some quick mental calculations on the AC teams ammunition supplies, "Contact the ground team! Abort mission! Get everyone back to the FOBs at once! Contact the Vale Council and let them know what's going on!"
"Brother Gods…are you seeing this?" Shadow 1 mutters in awe as he sees the approaching Ancient Grimm. Each flap of its leathery wings turns the wrecked city beneath it into rubble and powder, kicking up a small dust storm in its trails as it approaches high speed.
Despite this, he can't help but crack a smile under his visor, "Finally. Now we're hunting big game."
He moves his Sentinel to readjust and switch targets, only to be confused when it rejects his commands, "What the hell?"
DEACTIVATING COMBAT MODE=
"What the hell?!" Shadow 1 yells as he starts manually flipping switches and pressing buttons before a voice is heard over his comms,
"Shadow 1, I'm getting live footage from the drones." Doctor Arthur Watts says, "We won't get any valuable data from facing certain death. I'm ordering all SDC forces to disengage immediately."
"No…No! No! No!" Shadow 1 screams manically in realization as his Sentinel's controls are torn from him, smashing the consoles with his hands, buttons and glass breaking, "Don't take this from me! You will not take this from me, you bastard! Do you hear me?! Watts? WATTS!!!"
"What the-?! Shadow 1, where the hell do you think you're going?!" Pearl screams down the comms as he sees the Sentinels and their drones begin flying away, "Get back here you hear me?!"
"Commander, orders?" Nova asks doing his best to remain calm.
"Damn it…Status on the cannons?!" Pearl asks.
"S-sir! We won't be finished in time!" One of the Construction MTs screams in fear at the approaching sight, "It's getting closer!"
"All units…open fire!" Raven orders as it approaches, turning and firing at the approaching Ancient Grimm. But it proved futile, bullets bouncing off its hide harmlessly, and explosions detonating without scratching its ribs or skull.
"It's not working!" Pearl says as he realizes where it is flying and his eyes widen in horror, raising his Pulse Shields as quick as he can, "Get around me and brace for impact!"
He screams as the gigantic Wyvern flies straight towards the wall, spinning and allowing its wings to blow apart the AC formation beneath it, scattering and batting them away before smashing into the wall, the cannons falling over with the Construction MTs still on top.
"No, no!" screams of MT pilots were heard as they fell from the walls, some of them crushed by the wall falling on top of them or falling into the hordes of Grimm.
"S-someone help! ARRGH-!"
"Commander, w-where are-?!"
"Where is everyone?!"
Adam groans as he shakes his head to clear the dizziness, feeling he must have gotten a concussion from being thrown around. His AC was struck by gusts of winds that the Wyvern's wings kicked up while trying to get into Pearl's Pulse Shield and smashed through a couple nearby buildings. Inside the cockpit alarms were blaring as red lights flash repeatedly.
"Alert. Alert. AP at 50%."
"Damn it…" he groans as he flips a switch to initiate Repair Protocols before speaking through the comms, "This is Ravager! I've been hit, sustained major damage."
He gets CHAINBREAKER back on its feet as he looks around, but there was too much dust clouding his vision so he resorted to his scanners. He spots an AC in front of him surrounded by debris, recognising it as Phoenix's BLAZE.
"Phoenix…do you read me?" Adam groans, feeling the concussion messing with his head despite the Aura doing its best to repair most of the critical damage. Pilots don't usually have barriers up in cockpits, instead putting it all into enhancing their perception and reflex so he was taken by surprise.
"A…Adam…I mean, Ravager…" Phoenix groans in a similar state, "Repair Protocols busted…so are BLAZE's legs…"
Adam pilots CHAINBREAKER to crawl towards her, "Hang on, I'm coming to get you…Just hold-"
He was interrupted when suddenly something large fell, crushing BLAZE beneath its talons, his mouth hanging open in shock at the quickness of his friend's death as he slowly raised CHAINBREAKER's head to look at the Wyvern towering over him.
It was more than five times his AC's size, with a wingspan as long as two city blocks. And then his eyes met the Wyvern's, blazing red eyes meeting frightened blue ones as he felt a chill down the back of his neck.
Before it can do anything, it shrieks in annoyance as high-explosive Dust rounds pelt the back of its skull from above and finds Raven's AC now flying without his external flight pack with one arm remaining.
While it was distracted, Pearl then blasts full speed from another angle, slamming into the Wyvern before detonating an Assault Armor right into it, the sudden explosion of high-frequency sound waves stunning it as the two veteran pilots skid to a stop next to Adam,
"Come on, 13! Get a move on!" Pearl yells before they start boosting away from the Wyvern, "Damn, damn, damn it! How did we not see this?"
"Think later…run now…" Raven orders and Adam can see clearly how damaged Raven's AC is. The external flight pack was ejected, and his left arm was torn off.
"Brothers, what happened to you?" Adam asks unused to seeing his mentor in a state like this,
"Took a direct hit…just some scratches…" Raven shrugs off his worries.
"...That thing killed Phoenix." Adam mutters before fully registering the events, "We need to kill it! Why are we running?"
"Are your eyes malfunctioning, 13?! We're scattered, low on ammo and repair packs, those SDC son-of-bitches bailed on us and we're getting outnumbered more and more as we speak!" Pearl yells as they pass by a freshly created spawning pool to emphasize his point, "See that? That thing's creating spawning pools just by being there!"
"We regroup…rearm…then we kill it." Raven promises, "Go ahead…I'll keep it busy…"
Before Adam could argue, Pearl cut in.
"Sir, your AC's hanging on by a thread. Mine's good to go. I can last longer than you in this state." Pearl insists, "You take 13 and regroup with the surviving Watchdogs and MTs. I'll get its attention elsewhere."
Raven was about to argue but Pearl interrupted him, "With all due respect, sir! I do not want to explain to the boss lady you died doing something stupid. We all know you're worth more than I am in the long run. So please, permission to go fight that fucking dragon?"
Despite the seriousness of the request, Adam could somehow feel that Pearl was smirking inside his cockpit as he made hot pitch.
"...Permission granted." Raven reluctantly responds,
"Commander-" Adam was about to say something but Pearl cut him off,
"Don't waste time kid, keep flying." Pearl insists, "It's been an honor, sir. The greatest day of my life was the day you picked my sorry ass from Vacuo and stuffed me in this AC."
Pearl then swerves to a stop as the two flied on, before turning towards the Wyvern, now recovered and roaring with anger.
"...The pleasure was mine…Cedric." Raven says before cutting off his comms leaving him behind as he stares death in the face alone…or so he thought.
"Not taking off, Watchdog 10?" Pearl asks as he spots the veteran perched on a roof with his heavy linear rifle.
"No, sir. I ran once, years ago…never again." Nova says determinedly as Pearl laughs mirthlessly, "Permission to die with you, sir?"
"Well…who am I to interfere with someone's death wish?" he shrugs as he powers up his twin Heavy Pulse Cannons, "Today's a good day to die! So let's make sure to leave a mark!"