Qrow cut the link and gave a long-suffering sigh.
"This nav-data better be worth all this shit."
Weiss nodded numbly at Qrow's complaint, not really paying attention. They were sitting down on floor, up against the wall, covered in insides and blood. They're progressing slowly, agonizingly so for Weiss's liking. Same was equally true for the other two. And now Violet was down one good arm. Glancing at the bodies in front of them, the trader rose up from the floor and readied her rifle once more. Qrow followed the suit and stood next to her. They were currently near the exit tube out of living quarters to the bridge. The path has been harsh but not without reward.
Qrow glanced at the small Scroll screen and checked the tracking data. It was one small blessing: they found a working Scroll of one of the onboard medics, it allowed them to track the shipmates' health remotely. And right now, it indicated a life signature was locked on the bridge. The doors were shut tight and without working reactor it will take a lot of time and effort to cut through all of them. So, incremental approach was still the most viable one, to time it with Violet starting the reactor again. That way they'll be less likely to get caught off guard should there be more than just that one life signature on the bridge.
Weiss glanced up to the torn ceiling vent. Her shoulder was starting to ache. Maybe setting off so soon after recovery wasn't such a good idea. Then again, she wasn't really full of those lately. Her steps were slow and measured as she followed Qrow.
Violet stumbled and leaned against the wall, clutching her arm once more. Raven checked the wound. The bleeding, albeit slow, has not stopped. Blood was seeping from under the patch. Raven shook her head. Violet was starting to sweat. Definitely an infection.
"Violet?"
The engineer was zoning out, barely registering Raven snapping her fingers near her face. The woman cursed.
"Kid, I need you to focus," Raven nudged the girl and checked the map. "Look, the reactor room is just one more corridor ahead. Once we get the energy running, you can rest."
Violet blinked at the map and nodded, slowly pushing off the wall. Raven stayed close and kept on the look-out as the teen stumbled down the hallway. Raven told her half-truth – they will have to race to the bridge and link up with the other squad, after that they'll have to think of next course of action. If lucky, they'll get the hell out of dodge and scuttle the ship, seeing how they were in silent-run for the duration of the mission, so they couldn't contact Ironwood lest they run the risk of the communication being intercepted. And not like they could: the ship was dead so no comms center.
Violet's steps were getting wobbly and Raven had to prop the girl up with her shoulder as she glanced around before freezing and stopping Violet. At the girl's drowsy surprised look Raven put a finger to her lips and pointed up. Following the index finger, the engineer nearly screamed as she saw a black-coated corpse hanging off the ceiling, eyelids nearly transparent and bloodied fangs dotting both split jaws.
"Is it...?" Violet whispered. Raven nodded. The thing was asleep, judging by occasional twitching of fingers but otherwise no movement.
"Let's go quickly and quietly…"
They synced their steps and crouched, slowly crouch-walking further down the corridor. Violet was putting her hand in her waist-pouch and gently slapping the walls with what looked like… Raven rose an eyebrow at the girl who looked back, almost indignant. The Huntress shook her head in almost amused disbelief before focusing back on the path and noticing doors sealed shut and with the power supply cut, the sensor above the door and the touchpad near it were useless.
"… Shiiiit…" Violent gently uttered and checked her pouch once more, taking out a small laser-cutter. Raven doubted they'll be able to cut the door open without disturbing their hanging neighbor and anything near them. Violet nodded at her, questioning. She considered options and sighed, drawing her blade once more and crouch-walking to the monster. Violet's eyes bulged out and she opened her mouth but Raven shushed her. The Huntress made her way to seemingly half-dead monster and readied her weapon, drawing it behind her head, prepared to swing.
With one last jerk of her head to the girl, Raven swung with all her might at the creature's neck, beheading it in the process. Violet took the hint and started cutting the doors. The head of the Grimmified man came clean off and tumbled down the hallway. The body remained rooted into the ceiling. Blood, or whatever it was, rushed out of the bisected neck in a dark bloody waterfall. Sparks flew off the door as the engineer kept cutting and the surroundings rumbled and creaked. Noises of footsteps could be heard from where they came before. The floor started to vibrate. Raven tensed and noticed something.
The headless thing was still twitching. It was not dead. Raven jumped back, snatching Violet's handgun and drew it along with her own firearm at the hallway, unloading them into the monster which fell down to the ground. Cracking of bones reached her ears as the ghoul-like entity started jolting and jerking, slowly getting onto all-fours.
"Oh what the fu-!"
Raven's question was cut short by the creature lunging at her and trying to swipe at her from any and all directions while she dodged weaved under, over and away from attacks. Not risking firings shots that would draw more attention to them, Raven ducked and tripped the attacker which was rather easy all things considered, stomping the monster's limbs as well as body, hoping the hits would be strong enough to break the thing's spine and paralyze it. The bloodied floor was resonating with Raven's hits and gave off reflections of sparking Grimm husk did not give up easily and managed to grab onto the woman's ankle, yanking her and she slipped up on the blood, falling to her side. Not wasting time, the creature started crawling up to her to try and pin her to the ground. Out of options, Raven took out her katana and stabbed the husk which was reaching for her neck and started pushing it up and away from herself. The monster's body hit the floor with a thud and Raven started to hack at its limbs once more, severing its arms at the shoulder length. That pacified the husk somewhat despite its fervent jerking. For a good measure the Huntress sliced its legs off. Raven glanced back at Violet.
"How's that door doing?"
"Almost done!" Violet was working with one hand which complicated things slightly. Raven looked back to the attacker now barely moving, then down the hall and noticed silhouettes moving towards them with howls only humans in extreme pain would make.
"About those little welcome presents you left on the wall," the woman inquired. "What would happen if we use them right now?"
"Most of the walls would be torn to shreds," Violet answered. "I think."
"You think?"
"I didn't test them okay!"
"Well now here's your chance," Raven retreated back to the door and gently shoved Violet aside. Aiming downwards, she sliced the remaining two inches of the door and forced it open. "Go! Get in!"
Violet put the cutter away and slipped into barely opened door and Raven followed. Once inside the dark room, the two tried to close the door back and as Raven peeked outside, a spike flew into the room, nearly taking the bridge of her nose with it.
"Whoa!"
Raven saw about five to seven creatures like the one from earlier and a small infant like the one that attacked Violet. Not letting the girl see the oncoming attack, Raven nudged Violet who prepped her cutter and piece of gel, placing it onto each part of the door and letting Raven close it, starting to melt and weld the door shut again. The thuds of the footsteps were approaching and Raven put herself between the door and Violet.
One second.
Two seconds.
Raven glanced at Violet in question.
Three seconds.
The rumbling became louder, getting closer.
Four seconds.
Raven stepped back, pushing Violet back as well.
*BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM*
Multiple explosions rocked the room and almost deafened the two. The door nearly gave way to the blast with tongues of flames and smoke jet-firing out of the crevices. Violet yelped and fell to the ground as Raven stumbled backwards and braced against nearby wall. The room filled with smoke, eating at their eyes and assaulting their noses. Coughing fits erupted from the two and Raven glanced at the door: it was bent in all places but the doorstep.
"What," Raven coughed. "What did you put in those mines?"
"Uh…" Violet cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "Little bit of *E-D, *W-D and copious amounts of *B-D..."
"I see," Raven strained her ears and listened. Nothing could be heard from the other side of the door aside from crackling of charred flesh. Soon the stench of burnt corpses seeped into the room. Violet gagged and retched, Raven's face scrunched up. She walked up to Violet sprawled on the floor.
"How are you feeling?"
"Aside from my arm?"
Raven kneeled to her side and checked the aforementioned limb.
"Besides that, yes."
"I think I've given myself a concussion," Violet replied jokingly. Raven gently slapped her on the shoulder.
"Come on, up we go," Raven grabbed the girl's hand and hoisted her upright, giving the girl her gun back. Violet nearly tripped but kept her balance and nodded to the woman. "Now, the reactor."
"Right," Violet took out her Scroll and turned on the flashlight. She looked around for a bit. There were two smaller closed off passages: one to the cooling station, the other was the reactor controls and the core chamber itself. "I think it's this way."
Violet walked up to the left door, Raven followed. Violet checked the panel: it was mostly intact save for one corner of the touchpad. She took out the charger and plugged it in, cranking it few times. The touchpad lit up and displayed words: "Authorized personnel only." Raven inwardly swore, some of the Grimm from the other side of the door were possibly reactor engineers, whatever IDs and tech they had on them was more than likely destroyed. Violet put another cable into the panel and connected it to her Scroll, initiating a bypass. The hallway was quiet which was good, meaning most of the Grimm attacking them were killed in that explosion so Raven let herself relax, handgun still resting in her hand. Velvet typed some more commands and heard the clicking of the locking mechanism. Giving Raven a side-glance and nodding to the door, she stepped away, putting her tech in her pouch. Raven waited up and braced against the wall, putting her hands on the door. Violet mirrored the action but pulled instead of pushing, and moved the door open. Few quick flashes of light and Raven stepped inside, Violet tailing. The entrance did not relay how big the reactor chamber was on the inside. There was a catwalk leading to a huge glass wall, turning to the side, to the operator room.
"That is impressive," Violet noted. "Almost reminds me of the reactor chamber on Alsius. Obviously the crew renovated this part at the expense of others."
"Violet, less talking and more walking."
Violet rolled her eyes and led Raven down the catwalk. Getting through yet another door, rinse and repeat style, they made it into the operator room. The teen immediately fell into a chair with a loud exhale and started massaging her shoulder along with forearm. Raven scanned the room but nothing really stood out: panels, consoles, reinforced wiring and one huge tinted window that looked onto the glass chamber of the main reactor. Raven glanced at Violet who understood the assignment and ducked under the console, her charger at work yet again. Few minutes of twiddling and the lights in the room turned on, the sounds of cooler fans filled the room. The engineer plopped into the chair again and started typing out commands on now alive touchscreen. With one last look at Raven, Violet pressed 'Y' on the command list. Raven opened a channel:
"Qrow? Weiss? The reactor is coming online."
"Understood… What..?" Raven raised an eyebrow at Weiss's tone. "What do you mean 'not the reactor?' Without it we can't get you out quickly enough… Wait, stop!-"
Violet jerked and hit her head on the console, "Ow… what's going on?"
Raven shook her head and called out. No response.
"Oh for fuck's sake."
Violet crawled out from under the console and nodded quizzically at the woman. Raven glanced at the girl.
"How long before the reactor is fully online?"
Violet felt the metal floor covered in rubber to reduce noise but it was never able to fully reduce the vibration of the spinning centrifuges, "Hmm, judging by the rubber shakes… I'd say right about-"
Loud whirring noises filled the control room, so loud that the two flinched.
"… Now…"
Lights came to life and Raven had to blink few times to adjust, "How long can the reactor stay online without an operator?"
"The centrifuge rods need constant cooling," Violet hummed. "About half an hour and it's gonna go boom."
"Good."
"What?"
Raven didn't bother explaining and tried to raise Weiss and Qrow on the comms once more. No answer. She looked to the engineer.
"Can you hardwire more cooling to the reactor? To extend the timeline for until another hour?" Violet didn't question the inquiry.
"Yes."
"We need to link up with Weiss and Qrow," Raven looked at the console's built-in clock. "Should be plenty of time for them to pull out data from the navigation computers."
"I dunno, lady Weiss sounded pretty concerned by whatever it was there."
"Hm. Let's mo-"
*GRROOOOAH*
Raven tensed up and Violet crouched down, covering her ears, the sound forcing most of her focus back.
"What the shit was that?!"
"I don't know… But I doubt it's friendly," Raven nudged the girl. "We need to get a move on. Get to work."
Ten minutes prior:
Weiss felt her legs begin to drag along. The walls began to blur and shift as she walked. Qrow was few meters ahead of her, his insistence. Weiss was not made of glass but understood the man's concern and even agreed with it, not that she'd say it out loud. She'd never live it down.
"No wonder Winter sometimes came back from missions like a dry used sponge and Qrow, Raven look like old sandpaper," Weiss thought with a hint of humor, letting her head drop, eyes glued to the filthy floor. "Not surprised soldiers and police get their retirement earlier than anyone else."
"Kid?"
"Mmh?"
"We're here."
Weiss forced her neck muscles to work again and raised her head. Qrow pointed to the sealed door to the bridge some few meters ahead of them. Weiss was about to walk towards it before Qrow's hand nearly slammed into her nose. The only reply to the trader's annoyed stare was Qrow showing the RT-Layout scan on the newly acquired Scroll. There were at least four new dots, all pressed awfully close… And the one they tracked before was now closing in on their position. Weiss stared at the screen before glancing at Qrow. Immediately after they heard some thudding in the ceiling. Weiss raised her blade and readied herself, Qrow placed his hand on hers and lowered it.
"No need," the Huntsman said. "We're not in danger. For now, at least."
*CRASH!*
The vent lid above them broke and a young woman fell out, thudding onto the ground, erupting into fit of coughs and gasps.
"A-a-are you okay…?" Qrow asked. The woman's eyes flew open as she looked around like a cornered animal for source of the sound, hands raised in defense. She was dressed in nursing scrubs, blinking tag on her chest was flashing between red and yellow colors, showing signs of injuries, her two-tone (blue at the roots and yellow at the ends) hair matted with dried blood. The distressed woman's gaze found Weiss and Qrow with their weapons holstered, hands raised in pacifying motion.
"Are you okay?" Weiss parroted Qrow.
"W- who are you?!"
The woman demanded in slight eastern Sanusian accent.
"We're here to help," Qrow answered. "And find out what happened."
The woman's hand was firmly glued to her collarbone. Now that she stood up straight, Weiss could see a huge blood stain coming from said collarbone. Distrust was so evident in her eyes she could shoot them to death with just a glance.
"A likely story," the woman grumbled. "Last time people boarded us to provide assistance didn't end quite well for most of us."
Qrow reached into his pocket and fished out his Scroll with ID information, "Qrow Branwen, Huntsman of Beacon Academy, Vale Station."
The woman nodded at Weiss, she nodded back in greetings.
"Weiss, Huntress-In-Training."
The woman gently tapped her withered boot and sighed, "Valerie Shade, main nurse of the Shark-Fin… Welcome aboard, I guess…"
"Yeah, really warm welcome," Qrow grunted. "Sitrep, Ms. Shade."
"Couldn't tell you what transpired in every detail, to be perfectly honest Mr… Branwen, was it?"
"Yeah. How bad is your wound?"
"I'll live, I've managed to stop the bleeding for the most part but those things have very sharp claws," Valerie winced. "And they're deceptively strong."
"To the best of your knowledge, can you describe last 24 hours?"
Valerie bobbed her head few times, thinking.
"We were assigned a big order, one that could settle the whole crew for life," Valerie started recollecting. "We picked up a big container back on planet of Anima-"
"You what?" Weiss blurted out earning a cross look from the nurse. Qrow shared a glance with the trader and knew immediately what was in that container.
"Big container from Anima, yes, and then we were supposed to make few stops along the way to Atlas Station in Solitas System."
"Who gave you that contract?" Qrow pressed.
"I'm not aware, Mr. Branwen," Valerie hissed in return, groaning as she clutched the injured spot. "I'm not exactly high up the chain of superiors."
"Where is the container now?"
"If these bastards survived, they probably took it with them."
"The attackers or creatures?"
"The former, obviously."
Weiss shuffled and nudged Qrow. The man fished out the Scroll they used to find Valerie's vitals. He hands it to the woman. Velerie's eyes widen as she identified the ID of the Scroll.
"It was my friend's… Is he?"
"Dead."
Qrow's answer solidified Valerie's grief as she clutched the Scroll before pocketing it.
"Qrow? Weiss?" Raven's voice came through the comms. "The reactor is coming online."
"Understood,"Weiss spoke for the first time in few minutes and noticed Valerie's eyes bulge out and she started shaking her head. Tears were forming.
"Not the reactor! Please don't!"
"What do you mean 'not the reactor?'" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Without it we can't get you out quickly enough- Wait stop-!"
Valerie lunged at her and tried to swipe her Scroll away from her. Qrow immediately grabbed the frantic woman and dragged her off Weiss.
"Please tell them to stop!" Valerie was hysterical at this point, struggling in Qrow's arms.
"We need nav-data from the bridge…!" Qrow, as gently as he could, squeezed the woman's neck…
"Wait! Let's hear her out!" Weiss ordered.
Unfortunately, the nurse kept struggling, wailing, at that point attempting to claw at the man's face, and after few long seconds, Qrow had to put her to sleep.
"For fucks sake," Huntsman grit out, laying Valerie against the door. "Damn women. Couldn't have spit it out straight from the start instead of going haywire?"
Weiss knelt down, checking the nurse as the lights flickered to life. Both heard scratching against the door and moments later, something was slamming against it before backing off.
"Oh shit…" Qrow muttered and glanced at the trader. "The locks in the doo-"
The door suddenly bent forward and flew apart. Weiss and Qrow hopped back and readied up. Valerie's unconscious body was flung behind them by the force of the blow. That's what made the nurse crawl back from the bridge. That's what she was trying to contain. The two now faced a behemoth of a creature and their blood ran cold. The size alone was fear-inducing but not the most horrifying aspect of the beast. No. It was what the monster was made out of. Now it made sense why there were four additional life signals on the bridge.
Those signatures were staring right at them. The gorilla-like creature was comprised of people.
The appendages made of human limbs and joints, the shoulders were made into the chest. Black gelatine held it all together. Their eyes bore into theirs, their mouths were hanging open in quiet terror as they moaned, a sound that was nearly drowned out in the creature's lumbering shuffles. Patches of hair and skin dotted the surface. Faunus and human ears alike were stretched all across. Weiss nearly vomited. They were alive. They were aware of what was done to them. And they were powerless. Eyes, the mirrors of the soul, were screaming: "Help me."
The creature charged at them.
"What the fuck!" Qrow unloaded his shotgun, dodging a left hook.
Weiss forced herself out of the confines of her mind and moved to assist. This abhorrent abomination was not allowed to live. These people needed to be put to rest. Igniting her blade and getting the helmet on, she charged and swiped at the monster's legs while it was focused on Qrow. The hit connected and the beast bellowed as it turned to Weiss. The trader hopped and weaved her way to the bridge as it chased her. Qrow resorted to switching to his sword and started slashing at the thing's supposedly weak spot: behind the knees. It worked as it hollered and turned around once more. Weiss carried on Qrow's tactic but targeted elbows instead. The creature seemed to take the damage with relative ease as the two switched their positions and order of attacks. It did not like that. Weiss, now back in the corridor again, used a nearby bent wall as a springboard and aimed at the Grimm's (was it even Grimm?) head. For a second she could swear she saw its eyes looked straight into hers before it sidestepped her blows and swiped her out of the air-
"Hardening engaged."
-giant arm slamming into her side, sending her crashing and banging against the wall. Her vision exploded in colors as Weiss's head connected with the wall. Probably concussion. The heartbeat signatures coming from the Grimm shown on her HUD was an insult to injury. The monster's lizard-like snout stretched in what looked like a grin. Qrow jumped onto its back and started stabbing the Grimm as it tried to move to Weiss to finish her off. It paid him no attention and quickly grabbed him by the arm, flinging him off itself and towards Valerie who was still asleep on the floor.
"Shit…!" Huntsman sprung up to his feet and aimed his shotgun at the creature's face. "Fuck off and die!"
Firing off two shots he ran back in, aiming for its neck. The beast had four eyes, now it was down at least one as buckshot burned its face. Qrow ducked the swipe of the huge arm and dove into the monster's new blind spot sliding his blade into its ribcage on the left, plunging it deep enough that the metal met bone and the man pulled his weapon hard to the side. The new wound inflicted upon the Grimm was large enough to fit an arm up to elbow and bled appropriately. The behemoth swung at the man who hopped over the appendage, landing on it and dropkicked the beast's head, making it stumble before regaining distance, now once again on the bridge. As all this transpired, Weiss finally regained her faculties and looked around, searching for the nurse. The whole place was carnage. Torn walls, bent floor covered in dark blood. Valerie was sprawled not far enough from her, face down, also covered in so much blood that it was impossible to tell the colors in her hair anymore. She glanced back at the Huntsman still tied up in deadly tango with the Grimm. For now he was holding his own. Weiss stood on shaky legs and wobbled towards the nurse, falling to her knees next to the woman. Her vision swam and blurred, she felt vomit coming up. Concussion. She checked Valerie and found new gash on the back of woman's head.
"Shit."
Weiss kept muttering curses as she hoisted the nurse on her shoulders and decided to drag her further down the hallway, towards the living quarters. Her legs giving out under the weight but she carried onward nonetheless. Bellows, gunshots and clangs of metal were reaching her ears as she set the woman near the lift, placed a synth-patch on the injury and immediately rushed back to assist Qrow.
The man was running and jumping around like a damn hare running from a poacher and it showed. The Huntsman was visibly slower but managed to deal very high damage to the creature. It was limping on both legs, not from pain but from damaged ligaments and tendons (if you can even call it that). Qrow was mostly unscathed save for few cuts and scratches, his stamina took the brunt. Weiss jumped in and assaulted the Grimm, unloading the handgun clip into its head, switching to the blade once empty. The mish-mash monster shrugged off the bullets and changed its attention to the trader. Weiss started to go through gymnastics of her own, dodging and feinting, counter-attacking her adversary, slicing its limbs at the joints, hoping to sever them. Qrow caught his breath and synced with Weiss's movements and patterns of attacks. The Grimm was unable to focus on both of them as Weiss and Qrow focused on one limb at the time. By the end of the flurries of blows, the beast was so damaged that it was barely moving, having lost both arms and one leg.
"That's it…!" Weiss yelled.
"You're done!" Qrow finished for her and both lunged at the creature's head. The end of the nightmarish scene at last. The Grimm thought otherwise. It ducked. Pressed itself to the floor. The attacking blades nearly hit each other, and the monster suddenly pushed off the floor, twisting its body around and hitting both, sending them flying across the room.
Air knocked out of them as they struggled to recover, the beast did not like their resilience and crawled closer to them. Weiss and Qrow quickly stumble backwards, past Valerie, until they hit the lift door. Wait…
Weiss's eyes flew open, wide and frozen in horror. The beast was lumbering towards them… with Valerie in its way. The trader sprung up and charged the Grimm. It swatted her away. She hit the wall. Air left her lungs once more. She looked up once more, willing her body to move back in. It was too late.
"No!"
The Grimm's leg landed on unconscious Valerie, cracking and pushing her ribcage in, smashing her insides into mush as she regained consciousness for the last time before screaming and falling limp. Her body remained lodged onto its leg as it crawled towards her and Qrow, each step giving off squelching and splashing noises before it flung her body at Qrow who rolled to the side. The body hit the wall next to Weiss, blood splattering her visor. Voice stuck in her throat, the trader's fingers trembled around the hilt and nearly gone limp.
One life. She couldn't save one fucking life.
With a roar nearing a choke, helmet gone, the girl charged the half-dead beast with Qrow joining in, slashing and hitting, kicking the creature. Weiss slashed its face and plunged the blade into its head, using her bodyweight to slam it in further. The Grimm bellowed and gurgled, choking on its own blood before coming down, its weight almost crushed her had Qrow not yanked her just a moment before. Her mind was still blank, driven by nothing by anger and violence. She was thrashing, reaching to Valerie's maimed corpse.
"Kid!" Qrow gently slapped her. "It's over! Weiss!"
A strangled whine escaped her, she went limp in his grasp, lone tear slid down her cheek. The Huntsman embraced her and sat there for a while. She clung to him, softly beating his chest. Qrow rocked from side to side, remembering that it was still a very young woman in his arms.
"Shh."
Weiss shuddered in his embrace as she battled her tears. They sat like this for few minutes, Weiss finally steadying her breath and nodding once and tapping the man on the shoulder. He released her and they looked at the body once more. Weiss knelt down and snatched Valerie's ID Scroll. Qrow walked onto the bridge and looked it over: big room with massive, reinforced glass windows and several console sets, most of were smashed to pieces. He sighed and found working console, booting it up and accessing the data banks. Weiss was still kneeling next to Valerie's corpse, closing her eyes and removing the Grimm's leg from her chest.
"Forgive me."
"Weiss," Qrow called over. The trader stood up and walked up to the console. "Look here."
Weiss narrowed her eyes, seeing through cracked display, her eyes widened, her mouth morphed, snarling, "They wouldn't dare."
"I think they would, I mean… Mantle Prime."
Weiss twitched and went silent, conceding the point. She began rubbing her forehead and pacing around, unpleasant thoughts and memories washing her mind, concussion also playing a role. She plopped into the nearby chair and downed a painkiller pill. The door of the lift groaned as the elevator was actually working this entire time. Weiss tensed up and whirled around to face the elevator, jumping out of her chair. Qrow glanced back and trained his hand on his sword.
The door slid open and out steps blood-stained Raven propping Violet with one arm as she wobbled. Weiss strutted to them and inspected the barely-together wound on the engineer's shoulder. The trader glanced at the Huntress.
"Anything else happened on the way here?"
"No," Raven hoisted up grunting and hissing Violet some more. "She was just getting worse as we went. We need to scram. Fast."
Violet mumbled, "The reactor will hold for maybe, hour and ten minutes."
"… And let me hazard a guess… it'll explode."
"Yup…"
Weiss groaned and glanced at Qrow, "Heard that?"
"Yeah!"
Raven looked around and saw the carnage, maimed corpse and the enormous monster, dead. She didn't press Weiss and just hobbled with Violet to the bridge, setting Violet down on one of the chairs.
"What have you got?"
"Some messed up shit," Qrow moved away to let his sister read the console screen. Her face scrunched up and she moved away, looking quite disgusted.
"Same thing again."
Weiss crouches to Violet and pulls away the torn edges of her suit, inspecting the flimsy synth-patch on the shoulder. She clicks her tongue and rips it away.
"Ow! Fu-!" Violet bites her armored knuckles.
Weiss takes out a flask of clean water and carefully pours it into the wound, then she fishes out few cloth tissues and wipes the wound before using the medigel she was given and sprays the impale injury. Violet was groaning and yelping but Weiss paid no mind, securing a new synth-patch in place.
"There," Weiss stuck out index finger to Violet's face, looking stern. "Don't move from this spot."
Violet groaned but didn't object. Weiss stood up and returned to Qrow and Raven. They were checking the camera feeds, their faces grim. The footage they were reviewing was that of the recording in the loading bay. It held one of the Monoliths. True carnage, however, started only after the Syndicate boarded and stormed the cargo hold, shooting the crewmen dead before proceeding further into the ship. The pools of blood began darkening and morphing, slowly forming into little critter-like creatures which then attacked unassuming Syndicate troops left to guard the shuttle they came in on. The bodies around the monolith began twitching and jerking before the critters came up to the and began to… slither inside the gunshot wounds of the bodies and slowly twisting and transforming their bodies into abominations they've faced thus far.
Weiss's stomach churned and she was glad her heart didn't skip the beats otherwise she'd be having cardiac arrests by now. Raven and Qrow exchanged thoughtful glances. Violet rolled up to them in the chair and peered into the screen.
"That's… fucked."
"Second that," Qrow muttered.
"Agreed," Raven spoke and rubbed her tired eyes.
Violet quietly rolled back and stared into space as Weiss began pacing again, repeatedly cursing under her breath, kicking pieces of debris and clothing on the floor.
"What now?"
Violet's eyes barely moved despite asking the question no doubt aimed at the twins. Raven and Qrow shared a look.
"We get out of here, we got what we needed… sort of," Raven announced. "We scuttle the ship."
And what of the survivors, Weiss wants to ask… but holds back, looking at the cracked windows and torn walls of the bridge. It was clear if anyone did survive, they wouldn't have held out en masse until the Defiant reached here. Valerie was here and look how quickly her life got snuffed out. The trader let out a shuddering breath and nodded to herself. She snaps back to attention and turns to the trio.
"The reactor will melt down in an hour, yes? We quickly scour the vessel in search of survivors and get the hell out of here."
The twins and Violet nod. The engineer stood up from her chair and started marching to the elevator, Weiss joined her, lock-step, followed by the Branwens.
"Where the fuck is everyone?!" Qrow groaned. Raven scoffed.
They were currently in the medical. No signs of life, only these Grimm. Weiss exhaled and checked the console. Her eyes widening as she hit the scan option. There were about ten signatures, trapped in the lowest cargo hold of the ship. She waved everyone over and showed them the screen.
"Well I'll be damned…" Qrow muttered. "Poor bastards locked themselves in there to survive."
The room shook and Weiss braced against the rails of the bed nearby. Violet's eyes grew in size as she swore silently.
"We gotta go!"
The engineer started pushing the three out of the medical as quickly as she could, "Come on! Comeoncomeon!"
"What is it?" Raven turned around and grabbed the engineer by one shoulder.
"The reactor-! It's-!" Violet was straight up panicking. "It's reached meltdown way faster than I thought! We gotta leave! The ship will be vaporized!"
Weiss's ears perked up and her mind ground to a halt. Her fingers trembled. "… The survivors-"
"No time! We have maybe ten minutes at best!"
The lights began to flicker and blink. The ship's walls and floor began vibrating. The twins grabbed Weiss and Violet, Qrow carried Violet in his arms while Raven carried Weiss in hers. They sped down the hall and flew into the elevator. Elevator ground to a stop a minute later.
"Shit!" Qrow swore and looked around before glancing to the floor. "An idea. Sis?"
Following her brother's gaze, she understood the task and took out two cables out of her pouch, strapping one to herself and the other to Qrow's belt.
"What are you-?"
Weiss's question was abruptly ended as Raven snatched her hilt,igniting the blade and slashed the floor several times, stomping down and breaking the slashed floor, creating an opening. With no words, she strapped the hooks of the cables to the rails of the lift and jumped down with Weiss still in her arms. Qrow followed.
Weiss struggled to keep her wits about her as they fell further into the shaft as air whizzed and hit her ears. Violet was screaming bloody murder, clutching Qrow's shoulders with all her might. Once their cables reached max length, they jerked back a bit and Raven began looking around for the door leading back to the corridor to the docking bay where the Defiant stood…hopefully. Finding the door just two meters below them, Raven began rocking, swinging them both back and forth. Reaching maximum momentum, she disconnected the cable and flew to the small ledge under the door, turning mid-air and landing on it. She nudged Weiss who dumbly fumbled with her blade and started cutting the door. Qrow hung there with Violet in his arms who was at this point just dazed. Gritting and turning away from the sparks, Weiss finally created a circle-shaped slice and pushed it in. As it fell into the corridor, Raven jumped in. Qrow repeated the circus maneuvers and jumped after them, rolling on the floor, shielding the young engineer in his arms. Violet coughed from the impact still and got out of his arms, wobbling forward. Qrow cursed and swiped her off the feet and proceeded to run after Raven and Weiss.
Running and jumping over now fallen over pieces of walls and debris, careful not to slip on the drying blood, they made their way to the Defiant. They stopped and looked at the vessel. It had a piece of metal lodged into the wing.
"For fuck's sake…" Qrow muttered and nudged Raven forward. The twins carried younger women as the ramp opened up. Qrow set Violet down and flew to the ladder, climbing to the living quarters, passing them, and ran into the cockpit, fumbling with the control console. Raven set Weiss down and followed. Weiss followed as well.
"Fuck my life!" Qrow growled. "This piece of metal shit pinned us!"
Weiss's ears perked up at the information and she exhaled, taking her hilt from Raven's belt and retreated back through the quarters, jumping down the ladder and speeding out of the Defiant back outside.
Sending the command to the Defiant to lift off, she lit up the blade and plunged it into the side of the debris piece. Sparks hit her face and burned her skin as she pushed with all her strength, cutting the metal slowly. The floor shook with more force. The reactor was close to giving out. She screamed her lungs out as she kept pushing. The Defiant began to lift off slowly. Weiss was half-way through as the vessel shook under her feet, throwing off her balance. Stumbling she couldn't get the blade to stay in place and it fell out of the metal.
"Weiss?!" Qrow's voice rung out in her comms. "Get back inside! We'll manage somehow!"
She looked at the half-cut debris and the way the Defiant struggled to maneuver from under it. Shaking her head, she started cutting again, determined to give the vessel more of a chance.
"Kid?!" Raven's voice reached her ears through the comms.
"Not yet!"
Weiss's words were almost lost in the cacophony of the cargo vessel trembling and groaning as well as her blade's humming mixed with burning metal. Just one more push. Just one more. Just one-
Her frame was suddenly lifted and she glanced backwards, seeing Qrow's fuming face as he dragged her off to the ramp and threw her in before climbing on as well.
"Raven, punch it!"
Air knocked out of her, Weiss groaned and tried to stand up as the Defiant jerked around only to be met with Violet's terrified stare, helping Weiss up. Looking shamefully at the closing ramp, the trader climbed the ladder and ran to the cockpit and jumping into the seat Raven just got out of. Not enough thrust. Will need a shove. Weiss flicked the tumbler of a fuel waste vent to close and build up the pressure in the engines. Raven glanced at the fuel pressure meter on the screen and silently prayed.
"Hope you'll pull it off kid…"
Weiss's brows were contorted in angry focus as she continued building pressure. The Defiant began to creak under the pressure.
97%... 98%... 99%-
Now! Weiss pressed the vent release, pushing the pedal to the medal as the burst of Dust waste exploded out of the vents, propelling the Defiant out of the cargo ship's docking bay, debris still stuck in its wing. The vessel got launched so hard, the twins and Violet got thrown to the floor with the latter yelping out in pain. The console began flashing red, Weiss's head pounded with brain-stabbing pain, her hands gripping the controls as she took them as far away as possible. Energy reading went off the charts… Her mind blanked out and she engaged light-speed and in that moment, most of the ship's systems crashed as the Defiant fell out of the light-speed not even two seconds later. Control panels and fuse boxes exploded in sparks and lights went out. The next moment, they got thrown in the darkness at a huge force hitting the ship. Weiss' hand banged against the console and her consciousness began to swim before slipping away completely. Her body fell limp and out of the chair, hitting the floor.
Helloooo everyone! Been a while, hasn't it? Yes I started again with this and now I've got not nearly enough BS clogging up my schedule for now so expect some more chapters!~