"Enemy contact confirmed at Merlot HQ." one of the many Handlers in NEST Control Centre informs, "Priority Alpha Target has changed course towards ally positions. Raven Squad you are good to go."
Raven grunts in response as he activates Standard Mode as his AC is wheeled across the flight deck of the carrier by two vehicles. They disconnect when they reach the right spot, and VOBs are strapped to his back. Behind and lining up for take-off were three more ACs with VOBs strapped on.
"Raven 1 you are cleared for takeoff." the Handler informs but Raven was already engaging thrusters before he could complete the sentence, before being boosted across the deck at breakneck speeds, soaring through the night sky.
He lets the G-force wash over his body, supported by his augmentations. Normal pilots prefer using their Aura to resist the force, but he finds the feeling empty with his Aura up. Somehow the crushing feeling was more familiar and comforting in its own way. After a while, he taps into his comms,
"Raven 1…take off confirmed. All units report it," he calls out to his squad's private channel.
"Raven 2, standing by," Ayre confirms.
"Raven 3…ghk… standing by." Winter grunts as her AC is launched at full speed and after a few seconds, their last member takes off and joins them in formation.
"Raven 4, standing…by…" Adam says with strain before his body adjusts to the force, allowing his breathing to return to normal. Even now he still never got used to the sensation of being launched with VOBs.
"Estimated arrival time is T-minus 2 minutes." Ayre informs unbothered by the strain, "Blizzard, Ravager. I hope you are all prepared."
"As prepared as we can be, ma'am." Winter grunts, remembering the few minutes they had to test their ACs before launch. The weapons were definitely different than she was used to, but what choice did they have but to push on?
"Speak for yourself." Adam grunts in response, "I'm ready to take that bastard down…How's everyone at Merlot HQ?"
NEST Control Centre responds back, "Our latest reports have them holding their ground Raven 4. No casualties reported as of yet."
Adam bites his tongue, hoping that they won't hear any for the rest of the sortie. At the very least no more of the Watchdogs.
"Alert." Ayre suddenly speaks, "Aerial enemies spotted ahead in large quantities. Disengage VOBs and engage Combat Mode."
"Copy." the two pilots acknowledge as all of them disengage VOBs, the devices falling apart as they were designed to, letting gravity take over and pull them down while slowing their descent with boosters.
Except for Raven, who if anything increases his speeds by adding his AC's own boosters to the mix.
"Raven 1, is there an error with your VOBs?" Winter asks in concern only to receive no response, "Raven?"
"Raven…" Ayre groans in annoyance with a roll of her eyes, "There's no helping it now Winter, he's in the zone. Best to leave him as it is."
"Zone?" Adam asks as he watches his mentor fly full speed ahead towards the flock of Nevermores blocking the path between them and Ancient Wyvern.
The giant Elder Nevermores snap their beaks and stretch their talons to greet him but with expert precision, he flew between the gaps in the flock faster than they could react. Smaller Nevermores in between were turned into paste from the sheer speed and mass as Raven ignored them and continued flying straight at the Wyvern.
It roars in greeting and opens its maw ready to swallow Raven whole. At the last moment, he disengages the VOBs and thrusts his boosters to launch himself downwards"
Just before the second it takes for the VOB to safely turn off, eject remaining fuel, and dismantle itself for safety, the giant rocket smashes into the Wyvern's face taking it by surprise and engulfing it in an explosion.
The Wyvern roars, blinded by the burning liquid Combustion Dust smothering its head as Raven quickly recovers and readjusts, launching his Assault Boosters straight towards the left side of its face and raising his left armament–a Pile Driver-variant called the Pile Launcher.
He stabs the tip into the gap in its skull allowing a red eye to peek out. It screeches in agony, shattering glass windows in the abandoned houses beneath it as it thrashes midair in flight. The mechanism pushes the spike deep inside before Raven quickly ejects it and flies off, the Fire Dust-tipped spike detonating after a few seconds and taking its eye with it.
"Holy shit…" Adam mutters. They've seen their mentor in action before but never like this, "That's the best pilot in Remnant for you."
"Raven 3 and 4, push on past the Nevermores and support Raven. I'll take care of the rest." Ayre orders.
"Are you sure, ma'am? There's hundreds of them." Winter points out unsure.
"328 specifically." Ayre nods, "I shall rendezvous with you in two minutes then."
"Copy that." Adam nods and accelerates his AC, followed by Winter. There was still the flock in their way that they had to punch through so they did just that.
Adam hoists the new twin-linked Light Wave Cannons on CHAINBREAKER's arms, firing a rapid volley of glowing teal projectiles that were slow at first before locking on to targets and speeding towards them before detonating into large spheres of pulse and light energy.
Winter blitzes pass him with new experimental pulse engines, carrying twin Light Wave scimitars in FROSTBITE's hands. Solid blades consisting of Light Wave generators built into the hilt, coating them in energy as she becomes a trail of blue light, leaving only falling and dead Nevermores as proof of her presence.
Back with the Wyvern it finally shakes off the flaming Dust on its head, only for the first and last thing it sees to be a black AC with blazing red exhaust as it slams another pike into its remaining eye, the detonation depriving it completely of sight.
Not finished yet, energy crackles all around Raven's AC as pulse energy is overloaded and unleashed, catching the blinded Wyvern by surprise and scrambling whatever it has for a brain for a brief few seconds.
"It's stunned!" Winter shouts, her shoulder mounts opening up and charging with Light Wave energy, "Hit it with everything you got!"
"You don't need to tell me twice!" Adam shouts as he charges both cannons before firing four beams of high-powered Light Wave beams from the two twin-linked cannons, followed by Winter unleashing a volley of dozens upon dozens of Light Wave missiles, all of them striking and focusing their power on its chest.
Explosions of pulse and light dot all over its torso as the four beams drill through its ribs, and missiles shatter the bone off its hide as high-frequency sound waves shred its near impenetrable flesh and the high-intensity light boils it.
"...Don't let up." Raven orders as he circles its head, navigating through its thrashing body and wings with the grace of an ace pilot, weaving between as he continues firing a Light Wave handgun at its damaged skull, rattling it.
"Attention all units." NEST Control Centre calls in through an open channel, "Mining Laser has begun charging. Estimated time to 100% to be T-minus five minutes."
"Five minutes?" Adam scoffs as he flies upwards and above it as the cannons eject their heatsinks and reload before firing another four charged shots right on top of its skull, "If it'll even last that long!"
The Wyvern stumbles dazed from the constant strike to its head and is forced to the ground. But before they could even celebrate, it suddenly stretched its wings and unleashed an ear-splitting roar that those fighting in Merlot HQ could hear just barely over the gunfire.
"What the hell?" Adam mutters as red veins begin glowing all over its body and even Raven's eyes widen as from the gaping and empty eyeholes, red eyes begin growing back.
"All Raven elements…pull back…!" He orders immediately, breaking his silence and both Adam and Winter instinctively obey, flying away just as the monster's jaws open up with red crackling energy beginning to form inside, building up before releasing it.
Back in Vale, Ozpin who had taken his leave back to his office in Beacon from the NEST Inc. carrier suddenly felt his body shudder from a familiar presence, dropping his cup that shatters and spills its contents the moment it touches the floor.
"Sir?" Glynda rushes to him in panic and worries to support him as his hands reach for his temple, "What's going on? Are you alright?"
"...I'm fine." he insists after a breath and a pause, his head turning towards the direction of Mountain Glenn as he mutters under his breath, "...Equilibrium."
"This is Lisa Lavender reporting live from Mountain Glenn! And once again it has been turned to a battle of survival!" the newswoman shouts over the background gunfire, "Below me, you see the assembled mechanized force fighting against one of the largest hordes of Grimm ever seen. Latest estimates put it at an Indigo-category horde at bare minimum."
She looks down as well as her cameraman, both of them inside a military-grade Bullhead broadcasting the battle below. Across the city lay deep scars caused by the detonation of high-grade explosives that made it look like a large beast scratched with giant claws.
Grimm tramples over themselves as they charge towards the defenders, a constant hail of bullets, lasers, and missiles tearing into them and barely keeping a tidal wave of black at bay, even with the carrier flying overhead adding its own point defense cannon fire to the mix. Tracer rounds, flares, and lasers lit up the area giving them just enough visibility to film.
"Never before has a horde of Grimm like this been seen this close to Vale, even at the peak of Mountain Glenn's fall." Lisa says, trying to keep fear out of her voice, "And never has this few men and women stand against them. But it appears that they seem to be protecting what looks to be a large cannon of sorts. I can only guess their plan is to eliminate the giant Grimm leading this horde, which sources report to be an Ancient Wyvern-?!"
As she finishes, the black sky was lit up red as their eyes and camera turned towards said Ancient Wyvern in the distance at the source of the red light, a beam of crackling red electricity firing straight into the air before it thrashes its head wildly, turning the beam of red lightning into a wild blade being swung desperately.
Their jaws dropped as the beam of lightning slashed, carving a deep gash into the carrier's hull, leaving a deep burning scar of molten metal and cutting off the top of Merlot HQ tower, causing it to fall over.
"Fuck! What the fuck was that?!" a technician cries out from one of the many rooms in the carrier, with a Scroll tablet in hand surrounded by large blocks of supercomputer hard drives and equipment.
"We've been hit!" another technician cries out, "What the hell hit us?!"
"Focus!" a third, the chief technician, orders them and slams a table with his fist, "Get back to your stations! The moment the cannon charges, it's up to us to make sure the program runs correctly and fires its shot."
"Really?" a fourth voice they've never heard before interrupts them, "Glad to hear I'm in the right place then."
"What the?" the chief technician turns with eyes widened as he sees a strange man in a brown trenchcoat enter through the doors, "What are you doing here? Get out! This area's restricted! Any damage to these computers and the targeting laser would fail!"
The man grins wickedly as he raises a scorpion tail from behind, "Good to know."
"Damn…it…" Adam grunts as CHAINBREAKER pushes itself out, its circuits rebooting from being caught near the blast as repair packs work furiously to patch up the damage. He ejects the twin-linked cannons as they were fried up from the blast and short-circuited, rendering them useless.
"Ravager." Winter forces FROSTBITE onto its feet, supporting itself with the Light Wave Blades relatively intact as she brought up a Pulse Armor in time to take the brunt of the blow, "What in all the gods' names just happened?!"
"Fucker started spewing lightning!" he curses and looks up to face the Wyvern roaring at Raven who had somehow remained mobile through avoiding the lightning and was now engaging it head-on, "We gotta get back up there."
"Incoming!" Winter points out at the Wyvern's wings brushing against the ground, looking to smash them to bits.
Adam realizes they can't get clear in time and reaches for the blade strapped across CHAINBREAKER's back, the gigantic metal broadsword unfolds and extends with gears whirling, reaching to nearly twice CHAINBREAKER's height. The blade required circuits of Gravity Dust running through it, and cables connecting it to additional external generators to allow CHAINBREAKER to wield it effectively.
CHAINBREAKER's arms shift as mechanical straps from the blade's hilt are wrapped around its arm to assist in wielding it. Once it is linked, the blade immediately glows teal as Adam charges it.
"Warning: Output at 50%." his computers warn as safety regulations are overridden and his cockpit blares red, which he ignores.
Winter charges both her blades as well before the two of them swing at the same time, unleashing blades of energy that slice through the membrane of the wings and cut a hole out that allows the wing to pass over them leaving them unharmed.
Relatively at least as the wind generated sends their ACs flying. But both of them were ready for this, and they quickly used their thrusters to correct themselves midair before returning to flight, flying upwards to keep up with the Ancient Wyvern that was ascending back into the sky.
"That was close, are you alright?" Winter asks as she glances back at Adam, fighting against the wind pressure generated by each flap of the Wyvern's wings.
"Yeah, I'm-!" Adam pants out sounding winded but was cut off when a pipe bursts inside his cockpit and his engine sputters, "Shit!"
"Adam?!" Winter cries out in concern upon hearing the burst as Adam quickly shuts off the gas running through it before grabbing an emergency sealant gun and patching it up with a quick-drying paste, "What's going on?"
"I'm fine. Just turbulence!" he lies as he coughs, glancing to his console that cried out about EN overloads, "Forget about me! Keep flying!"
Winter flinches, her time with her partner taught her to know the tells in his voice when he lied, but she had to push on. While the Wyvern had its attention on Raven, Winter unleashed another payload targeting below its jaws.
The resulting explosion takes it by surprise and stuns it, allowing Raven another shot at its regrown left eye,
"Took them already…be a good boy and stay blind…" Raven mutters under his breath as he fires a charged burst from his handgun it roars again, the energy once more building up and aiming at Raven in rage.
But then it was interrupted when Adam smashes the Overed-category blade right across the right side of its face with another 50% strike, the resulting explosion of power knocks its head aside and throws off its aim, firing the beam of red lightning that misses.
Before it could realign its head to aim at Adam, a trio of blue beams struck it and froze it over with a thick sheet of ice.
"Miss Ayre-! I mean, Raven 2!" Winter looks surprised at the presence of the white AC zipping through the air, drones trailing behind her as they fired bolts of Ice Dust blasts all over its body to pin it down.
"Its escorts are down." she reports, "But I bring bad news…the targeting laser has been sabotaged."
"What?! How?!" Winter asks in shock before grimacing, "Damn it…so the mission is a failure then?"
"No. Not yet." Ayre disagreed, "In the event of an unexpected failure, I will use my AC to calculate and process the targeting information before broadcasting it back to the cannon. But I will need it to remain still, the tracking of the cannon is inefficient compared to military models, so if it attempts to flee through the air the shot may miss."
"Calculating the shot mid-flight in these conditions?" Winter mutters as she sees the Wyvern break out of the ice and fires off another beam of red lightning, "That sounds impossible."
"Blizzard, I run a worldwide corporation that regularly competes with the SDC, while managing more than a dozen top-secret research projects and a bit of cybersecurity." Ayre says with an audible smirk, "Calculating a shot with a mining laser two miles away while fighting an Ancient Wyvern is child's play compared."
"Relax Winter, ever heard of the 'Pale Ghost of Mistral'? That's who you're talking to." Adam grunts as he boosts away from a horizontal slash of a red lightning beam, "She's got this, so let's help her make the shot by crippling this fuck!"
Raven nods, "All Raven elements…target the wings…burn it away so it can't fly away… 2 and I keep it distracted... 3 you got left, 4's got the right…"
"Copy." they all divert towards their targets. Ayre joined Raven as they danced around its head, blasting it with all the weapons they had, an assortment of Dust lasers impacting its skull and Light Wave beams disorienting its already crippled senses.
Winter grits her teeth and manifests a powerful Lightning Dust glyph in front of her and a basic white glyph that propels in front of it. FROSTBITE dived through and immediately the AC had all its movements multiplied by nearly four times, pushing it faster to the point the entire structure was shuddering.
Her monomolecular sharpened sabers are coated with a maximum charge of LightWave energy coating as her AC tears through its left wing, spinning its blades and cutting the wings into ribbons, leaving a trail of blue and yellow exhaust.
On the other wing, Adam charged and stabbed the wing with the Overed Blade, with a roar he charged it once more despite his AC's warnings and slashed with all the might CHAINBREAKER could bring, discharging a slash of energy that tore off the wing membrane nearly in half. As he performs the strike he feels his body almost give way from exhaustion, barely persevering with a cocktail of emergency combat stims in his cockpit.
With large gaping holes that were only worsened with its attempts to fly, the Ancient Wyvern collapsed back into the ground.
"How does that feel, you bastard?!" Adam roars and charges the blade for another strike when the worst happens, "Wha-?"
One of his thrusters explodes from EN overload and practically every circuit breaker built into CHAINBREAKER bursts, power shutting down everywhere as the lights flicker off, and only backup power allows him to see through CHAINBREAKER's camera feed as the Wyvern charges another blast aimed at him.
"Adam!" Ayre shouts and sends her drones after the falling AC but they wouldn't reach him in time. Raven feels his heart almost stop at the sight as he engages the Wyvern, thinking he is about to lose another pilot when a streak of blue and yellow cuts across his view, speeding towards Adam.
"NO!" Winter cries out as she uses more glyphs to boost her AC faster than ever, slamming into CHAINBREAKER with a white glyph on FROSTBITE's shoulder that launches the powered-down AC away just in time for the Wyvern to fire.
"WINTER!" Adam cries out as he watches the lightning cut her AC diagonally, melting the lower half of FROSTBITE and its left arm. Dread began to grow inside his heart before it was flooded with relief once her voice was heard over the comms,
"I'm fine…" she coughs out, "Ejected just before it struck…I'm sorry, I can't fight anymore."
"You did your best Winter." Ayre assures, "Get yourself to safety, we'll handle the rest. You as well Adam."
"No! I can still fight." Adam argues as he reboots his AC, diverting the power and using up all his remaining repair packs to get CHAINBREAKER back into fighting condition as the Wyvern roars with energy building up for another shot at him before it spots Raven with its remaining eye.
It changes targets and aims at him instead. Instead of one large beam, it fires a scatter shot of lightning bolts in a cone ahead of itself trying to catch Raven with the sheer volume of fire.
Unfettered he weaves between the storm of red lightning bolts before throwing away his spent Pile Launcher and reaching for his back containing a boxy rocket launcher, firing four missile pods down in its throat once the blast runs out of charge.
Inside the throat the pods release their cargo of twenty micro-missiles each, blowing its throat up from the inside and releasing arcs of red energy as it lets out a wet gurgle before falling over.
For a brief moment, he wishes for it to stay down this time, long enough for the mining laser that finish charging, only to sigh in annoyance as it pushes itself back up with some struggle before vomiting out a stream of black goo from the hole in its throat.
All across the Ancient Wyvern, its bone carapace begins cracking and black goop is sprayed out of the gaps and cracks in its armor. Pools of black began forming all over it and he grimaced at the sight of young Grimm rising.
Not only that, but they noticed some of its body mass was shrinking, even the legs that were supporting it melting away into large puddles of goo, and to their horror the hole in the throat was slowly closing. It was tearing itself apart just to keep itself in the fight.
Was this even a Grimm anymore? Could it still be classified as one? It felt like he was watching the embodiment of hatred against all life of Remnant, armageddon personified. Something that felt so strongly against the very concept of life it was willing to rip itself apart just to get rid of them.
"Reinforcements…" Raven grimaces, "Command, report in…status on charge?"
"Energy at 80%. We just need a bit longer!" NEST Command Centre yells back as off in the distance at Merlot HQ they could see the cannon faintly glowing with a purple aura around it.
"I almost got it." Ayre says as her targeting laser locks at its center mass, but then flying Grimm from the pool begins to swarm and block her view, "Damn it!"
She grimaces as she redirects four of her drones, using Hard Light blades on each of them to cut into the stream of black monsters flying towards her like a tendril of darkness lashing out from a wounded beast. Another tendril of aerial Grimm rises to strike at her but Raven intercepts it with a shot from his rocket pod launcher.
The Wyvern roars again, commanding the swarm of Grimm to circle around it almost like it was creating a protective dome while tendrils lash out at the ACs in desperation. Even the two aces were having trouble with the sheer numbers presented against them with weapons ill-suited towards the task of wiping them out in such numbers.
Through the gaps of the dome of Grimm, they could faintly see the glow of red light. Somehow it was trying to fix itself again, and from its silhouette, they could guess its next target to be the cannon in the distance, the purple glow giving away its location.
CHAINBREAKER use the Overed Light Wave Blade to push itself back up as multiple key servos were crippled, staring up at the giant monstrosity with more Grimm than his HUD could keep track of.
And yet he raises his blade, sparks sprouting from the strain of battle, and charges it once more. But that wouldn't be enough, he knows that. So he flicks off every last safety protocol, bypasses and overrides every countermeasure and limiter in place.
"DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! TERMINATE USE IMMEDIATELY!" his computer screams at him only to be ignored as Adam pours every last power into the blade, reeling it back for a large swing but that wasn't all.
He wasn't as good as Winter was, using his Semblance with his AC. Only a handful had the right Semblance that was compatible and synergized well with ACs, and Moonslice was difficult with ACs for he would have to extend his Aura out of his body, through his connection to CHAINBREAKER and only a weapon of choice, then absorb energy and dispensing it. To say it was a strain was an understatement, if piloting an AC was like running a marathon trying to use his Semblance in an AC was adding a heatwave and tonnes of extra weight on his back.
Pain from the EN overload was almost overwhelming, considering the number of safeties he had disregarded but he ignored it all, his training forcing him to focus ahead. He was a mercenary with a job to do, and while that thing still lived the job wasn't over yet.
He exerts his Aura through the blade, dispensing the kinetic energy he had been slowly storing with every single strike of the blade through the battle, both of which nearly exhausted him. With one last defiant roar, he rears the blade back as its teal coat of Light Wave energy shifts into the red before releasing a slash so wide that it encompasses an entire city block, cutting clean through any building and Grimm in its way as it doesn't stop there, cutting through the barrier of circling aerial Grimm and slicing into its regenerated throat.
The energy feedback and the sheer force cleaved into it, nearly blowing its head off as the built-up lightning was released chaotically and uncontrolled.
"90%! 92%! 95%! 99%! 100%!" NEST Command Centre shouts in an increasingly panicked voice as the energy readings reached critical, "Target locked! FIRE EVERYTHING!"
The air was silent for a brief moment as a beam of pure gravitational energy was launched with enough force to cleave the largest mountain in Remnant in half. The beam strikes through the Ancient Wyvern's torso clean through but it doesn't stop there.
The gravity field created by the beam was pulling the Wyvern apart from the inside, pulling in with the rest of the beam as it travels through and sucking the Ancient Grimm up along with any unfortunate Grimm it was surrounded by. Slowly shrinking until there was nothing left of the Ancient Grimm like it never existed.
The change was immediately noticed by every Grimm in Mountain Glenn. In Merlot HQ where the assembled AC forces were slowly being overwhelmed, flaming wrecks of MTs and even an AC surrounding them as they resorted to bashing them with the barrels of their guns paused at the sudden lack of overwhelming presence backing them.
Their leader, the most powerful Grimm in the area bar none, was defeated and their numbers had slowly begun to thin. Without the Ancient creating pools and thus a steady supply of reinforcements they would be slowly whittled away to non-existence. And if the Ancient couldn't survive what chance would they have?
The humans had proven tougher prey than initially believed. If whatever weapon that killed their Ancient fired again they would all be wiped out, not knowing that the cannon fired its first and last shot, too burnt out to even spark. Believing the odds to be against them, that if they continue charging they will likely die meaningless deaths, the horde of surviving Grimm began to fall back.
Ironwood sees this as he finishes clobbering a Deathstalker with an overheated laser cannon that was melting to slag, watching the horde fall back. Immediately at the sight of them leaving, he raises a broken cannon in the air and shouts a cheer of victory followed by all the survivors.
"Fuck…Jimmy! I'm guessing that we've won?" Qrow pants over the comms as Ironwood responds,
"The Ancient is dead! The horde is retreating! We've won alright!" Ironwood cheers down the comms at the top of his lungs,
"Brothers, settle down alright you're gonna burst my ears." Qrow grumbles, "Shit, that blast had the reactor overload and cause a cave-in. Nobody's hurt and we've all evacuated but still…Gods damned shame I missed the spectacle."
"To put it bluntly, that was single-handedly the most expensive gunshot in the entire world to kill a single Grimm!" Ironwood laughs from a combination of joy and stress, "30 million Lien at least."
"Glad to know they're spending that money well." Qrow snarks as he chuckles, "Where are our aces anyways?"
Ironwood blinks in realization, "You're right…They're likely wounded as we speak."
He then switches channels, hanging up on Qrow in his rush, "Attention all relief teams! Front lines now! Get a medivac squad with an escort to where Raven Squad was spotted! Nobody else dies!"
Winter grunts as she stabs her saber into the throat of an Alpha Beowolf, cutting its head off and spraying black blood over her white armored flight suit. She continues running past them, cutting any in her way and ignoring the rest, the miniature boosters in her armor's hips propelling her through the pack until she reaches her destination, the burnt wreck of CHAINBREAKER with a blown apart Overed Light Wave Blade still in its arms.
But between her and the wreck was a pack of lesser Grimm in her path, survivors too young and dumb to run away as they turned their attention towards her. She nevertheless ejects the dagger in the blade and wields the two of them ready to confront them just as precise teal bolts of pulse and light energy blow them apart while leaving her unscathed, glancing up to find Raven flying overhead before landing on the streets.
"Sir!" Winter shouts before Raven cuts off what she was about to say,
"Get him out…now!" he demands, "Raven 2 clearing the way for medivac…hurry!"
Winter nods as he engages the rest of the Grimm, covering her as she cuts through any survivors before reaching CHAINBREAKER. It looked burnt from the inside out and she feared the worst before her hands moved to the emergency eject located near the canopy, pulling hard only to realize its jammed.
Cursing under her breath she uses her blades to cut into the joints holding the canopy in place before using her armor's servos combined with her Aura to lift with all her might and free it, opening up the cockpit and revealing broken screens, sparking switches, burst pipes and worst of all, Adam Taurus in a scorched black flight suit lying there unconscious.
"No…no, no, no!" Winter pulls him out and reaches for the cable connecting his nerves to the AC, tearing it out of his neck to notice the socket burnt out as well. Fear almost overwhelms her as she pulls off his helmet revealing closed eyes with the SDC brand over his left.
Her helmet scans him and to her relief, there is a pulse, but it is irregular. She acts immediately, pulling him out of the wreck and settling him down, tearing off the chestplate on his flight suit before hovering her palm over his heart with a yellow glyph over it giving him a weak shock as his chest convulses.
"Come on, stay with me Adam." she pleads as she uses her small Lightning Glyph as a makeshift defibrillator. To her relief, he starts breathing heavily and his eyelids open with a gasp.
"...Winter?" he gasps out, sounding out of breath as she choked back a sob before tearing off her helmet to reveal tears streaming down her eyes and a furious face that almost made Adam wish he was back unconscious.
"YOU! ABSOLUTE! IDIOT!" she shouts looking about to choke out what little life remains in him, "What the hell was that?! Why would you do that?! Do you know how worried I was when you didn't respond to your comms?! When your biometrics disappear?! I am going to murder you, you…you…!"
She choked up again before grabbing Adam by the collar of his flight suit, he braced himself thinking he was going to get punched or headbutted, only for his mind to go blank when her lips smashed against his roughly.
"...what?" he asks dumbly in a dazed state as Winter's face turns red, looking away in embarrassment.
"Don't what me…Idiot, making me worry for no reason," she mutters under her breath as Adam's mind reboots.
"...I have so many questions," Adam says bluntly as Winter squeezes him in a hug.
A cough gets their attention as the two turn and flush red at the sight of the medivac Bullhead already landed with the medteam standing there awkwardly with Ayre outside of her AC standing surprised at the sight before her. Raven was still in his AC but they guessed he had similar expressions under his bandages.
"O-oh…" Winter says awkwardly, "When did you get here?"
"Just a second ago." Ayre awkwardly clears her throat before returning to business, turning to the medics, "Get him on a stretcher immediately."
"Yes ma'am." Winter nods and lifts him up, helping him to settle down on a hover stretcher.
"Gods, I can't feel my arm." he mutters dazed before turning to Ayre, "...So with all that, I guess we won?"
"We did. They can rest easy, knowing you finished the job for them." Ayre smiles before turning to the medics again, "Get this pilot some medical attention, stat!"
They nod and hurry him to the Bullhead where it begins to take off, Ayre turning back to an embarrassed Winter.
"...It was just adrenaline, ma'am." Winter quickly excuses and Ayre chuckles,
"I'll take your word for it." she smiles looking up at the empty skies, the sun rising across the horizon, "It's beautiful isn't it? Not a Grimm in sight above the skies."
"...It is, ma'am." Winter agrees with a slight smile before turning serious, "But it's not over yet is it?"
"...No, it isn't." Ayre confesses, "There are still Grimm to clear, the walls to rebuild and I received a lot of troubling news. Concerning Merlot Industries, and so much more. But what matters is what we've achieved."
Her hand stretches out, waving across the ruined city, staring into the dawn sky, "The first step towards seizing our future. No matter what hurdles exist in our way, no matter who tries to stop us, we have made it clear that we have so much more to achieve. That we can go beyond our limits, beyond our cradles to seize tomorrow. A future exists for us beyond the skies of Grimm, and no one will stop us until we grasp it."
"No one, ma'am?" Winter asks finding the choice of words odd as Ayre pauses,
"A discussion for a later time, Winter." she sighs as a second Bullhead approaches for them, "Let us return to base, after today I'm sure you need a break."
"After today, I feel like I need a week off," she confesses as they board the Bullhead.
"You'll get it." Ayre smiles, "We'll need everyone well-rested when we return. We've got a lot of work to do."