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Chapter 152: Saviour
Within her office aboard her flagship General Winter Schnee sat without any pretence of her usual composure or the sense of authority her presence alone should have conveyed. Instead she had spent several hours growing steadily more fearful and agitated, the fact that she was seated within the heart of one of the finest vessels ever commissioned by the Atlesian fleet and separated from any threats by countless layers of armour, a hand-picked crew of the finest her Kingdom had to offer and enough weaponry to level an entire settlement, much less any monsters that might reside within it completely within a matter of minutes all completely irrelevant to her by fears that such protections and countermeasures were unable to address.
Because none of those things had been where they were needed most and now she was suffering the consequences of her failures.
Now, in the wake of the battle against Pantheon and the Grimm's living fortress Winter found herself tapping her cybernetic foot against the metallic floor in an almost entirely arrhythmic clanging which echoed faintly as she hunched over her desk staring at reams of incoming data, with every new point of information conspiring to worsen her mood until her expression was thunderous; brow deeply lined, lips pursed and thinned to the point of disappearance whilst her eyes seemed to shine with almost unnatural fury which was yet to be given a form of release.
Every part of her wanted to act, if she were entirely honest with herself, in a way not unlike the behaviour that she had reprimanded and discharged her niece Corvid for; she wanted to forget for a moment that she was a General and discard strategy and discipline in favour of simply taking her flagship and a further dozen Atlas warships out and hunting down every source of her current woes. If she were able to do so without risk of further consequences she would scour the skies for Damascus Nero and the monstrous, damnable flying abomination he had made and then obliterate it entirely before visiting the site of Pantheon's fortress in person so that she could find a way to draw the monster back out into the open and slay it herself; plans be damned.
However she was forced to remain in place and wait for word from her counterparts in the other Kingdoms, her fellow members of the shadowy cabal of Remnant's protectors so that they could organise a more coordinated response. After only a little more waiting Winter was granted a respite from the constant streams of bad news in the form of reports from the various damaged ships that had limped and listed their way from the last battle by the sight of video feeds opening on her screen to announce that the awaited call was beginning.
"Fuck me Schnee you look like shit" Coco Adel informed her without preamble. Winter glowered darkly at the Headmistress of Breaktide Academy who had once been a member of a strike-team she commanded; though her attention was quickly redirected to the sight of Ruby Rose standing at Coco's side wearing an expression even more furious than Winter's own, her remaining silver eye narrowed and her fists clenched as she vibrated with a barely contained anger.
"Are you reading the reports you're getting? That's the correct response" a gruff and familiar voice interjected, Qrow Branwen interrupting to speak on Winter's behalf though the General noticed that Ruby did not seem as relaxed by the presence of her favourite uncle as expected; which boded poorly.
"Indeed" Ren agreed as he joined the call, having evidently caught enough of Qrow's comment to make sense of it "Although there is information in missing in the those reports-"
"Like what the heck happened out there? How did this go so wrong?" Ruby demanded sharply, her tone drawing all eyes to her which in turn seemed to break some final seal on her temper and cause her to continue "In fact no. Don't bother telling me; Penny and I are going to handle this, we can deploy-"
"Rose, you're needed elsewhere-"
"I NEED TO GO AND RESCUE OUR NIECE WINTER! BECAUSE I JUST HEARD FROM TEAM FADE AND SOMEHOW YOU MANAGED TO LOSE AJ! YOU LOST WEISS'S DAUGHTER! AGAIN!"
The final word of the tirade was enough to snatch the air from Winter's lungs and halt, any answer or rebuke she might have offered being silenced by the simple and undeniable fact that Ruby was right. Qrow however managed to speak on her behalf once again.
"Ruby….Kiddo, you need to take a breath" Ruby looked ready to turn her ire on her uncle in response to that "No, look at me. You're right to be angry but this wasn't Winter's fault and this isn't helping. We need you to focus and be where you need to be….Team FADE have this in hand, trust them"
"Fine" Ruby ground the word out after a few seconds of composing herself, stepping back to allow a muted and ashed-faced Coco to take control of her screen again whilst Ren, ever the voice of reason used the opportunity to speak up.
"Qrow, you were there in person. Winter, you have the most information….What exactly happened out there?"
"The Grimm were ready" Qrow grunted "Of course they were, a face to face fight with Nero's pet monster was Pantheon's goal all along….Pantheon is a lot stronger than they were back when we had them in containment all those years ago as well; it got nasty real quickly and our ships were pushed back. People are retreating to every available dock and port for repairs….The Nemesis Kharybdis will be in Neo Vale in a matter of hours"
"Nero betrayed us. On top of everything else that was a contributing factor….We all knew that it was a likelihood, more than simply a possibility and yet we weren't fully prepared" Winter admitted, every word paining her "Carmesi Hueso targeted Team FADE and MARSZ in an effort to retrieve the Aura Transfer Machine, leading to an explosion within Pantheon's fortress which alerted the Grimm to our plans and caused them to lower the fortress out of our range. The bad news is that we lost several Hunters and that Nero managed to ensure that the Megalodon was the only ship available for Team MARSZ to evacuate….The Good news is that we seem to have inflicted sizeable damage on Pantheon's base of operations which will take time to recover and also that the Aura Transfer Machine was destroyed in the explosions, with Carmesi Hueso presumed dead"
"Good news?" Coco scoffed "Our plan relied on that machine"
"True" Winter admitted "But it's a plan which can be implemented at a later date. Keeping that technology out of Nero's hands is a more immediate priority"
"But as long as he has Team MARSZ he has leverage" Ruby growled the words out, leaning against Coco's desk and gripping it with a force which whitened her knuckles "Has he made any demands yet?"
"Not yet" Winter shook her head "We've received no word….Frankly I was expecting him to attend this meeting so that he could grandstand and flaunt his victory in front of all of us. Rest assured Team FADE will have reinforcements joining them as soon as I am able to spare them; hopefully we can deal with the matter once and for all"
"Hopefully isn't good enough" Ruby muttered, a sentiment which Winter would be happy to admit she shared however the conversation simply moved on.
"With Pantheon's fortress no longer visible and now that they've had their face to face with Gestalt-Prime…." Ren trailed off and it was Qrow who followed his train of thought.
"They could feasibly appear anywhere for their next attack" he let out a slow sigh "The Nemesis Kharybdis needs repairs but it can serve as a floating gun platform and none of the Hunters aboard are injured….Ren, if you start preparing New Vale's Hunters and putting people on standby we'll help shore up your defences"
"The Atlas fleet is prepared, despite our losses" Winter answered firmly.
"Breaktide's defences will take some time to organise and mobilise, just given the nature of the island" Coco answered before turning to Ruby "Can you-"
"Nothing will get into Port Alistair. You can count on me" Ruby turned and stomped away, the emphasis on the latter part of her statement making it very clear that it was intended as a parting shot at Winter her chose to simply bear it without complaint. A few moments of silence lingered before Ren spoke up once again.
"There is of course the matter of what we tell the people….They need to know something" he stroked the scar along his cheek, below his glasses where a Nevermore's talon had raked his face "Pantheon's fortress appearing caused an outrage, the idea of losing so many ships and that Pantheon could come back at any time-"
"You tell 'em that a lot of Hunters sacrificed today" Qrow drawled thoughtfully Tell 'em that Damascus Nero is still a wanted criminal and kidnapping charges have been added to everything else….But you also tell 'em that we bombed that Grimm fortress from the inside out and that's why it sank; let the people know that it might not be over but that the monsters can be pushed back and we can make 'em bleed and that we'll do that over and over again as many times as we have to"
"I mean….It's not even a lie really is it" Coco noted, peering over her glasses to regard Qrow and appearing mildly awestruck at his audacity as she did so. Ren hummed as he considered the option, always the least willing to deceive the people of Remnant and the one possessed of a principled and honest goodness which Winter, with her decades of tough decisions and compromises and lesser evils weighing on her soul found herself more than a little envious of.
"So you're suggesting that we tell them the truth, but that we paint it as a victory to keep people from panicking?"
"The truth? Calling today a win?" Winter laughed, an honest belly laugh which left her doubled over and wheezing as it stretched out for almost a minute before she finally leaned back in her seat and regarded Qrow, Ren and Coco who were now regarding her questioningly; Winter finally huffed and fought the urge to sneer as she answered them with a question of her own.
"Does is really feel like we're winning?"
Damascus Nero's personal quarters and the office attached to them seemed to be entirely without air as the former Chairman took a seat whilst opposite him Zirconia and Athena-Jade shuffled uncomfortably, neither of the two young women having any real idea of what might follow or why Nero had wanted to speak with Zirconia alone, but decided to allow Athena's presence; the two of them sharing furtive and reassuring glances whilst making sure to keep Nero in their line of sight at all times before finally Zirconia took a seat opposite the man who had raised her. Athena remained standing, the Bear Faunus's posture stiff in a way which betrayed her clear discomfort even as she made a concerted effort to keep her hands from twitching towards her weapon reflexively; promising herself that if and when she drew Heartbreaker and pointed it at Damascus Nero it would be entirely justified.
Nero for his part peered from Zirconia to Athena-Jade with a weak, lop-sided smile which only unnerved the Near Faunus even more before finally speaking.
"I suppose, Miss Slate that I should thank you-"
"Excuse me?" Athena demanded, eyes flashing in righteous indignation at the idea that she might have done anything to help the man before her no matter how minor or inadvertently; the venom in her words causing to Zirconia to shoot her a warning glance though Nero seemed to ignore the interaction and simply pressed on.
"Thank you, for the effect you've had on Zirconia. It truly has been remarkable" he beamed, with only the faint curling of a lip to suggest that he was enjoying having caught her off-balance
"You always would have made an interesting asset to my cause, both through your connections and of course your own abilities and character; if you could have been convinced to see reason I would thoroughly have enjoyed working alongside you….But no, I specifically wanted to thank you for the influence you've had on Zirconia; she's grown into herself and become the best version of herself, something I believe you played a part in"
"Dad….Damascus" Zirconia interrupted, faltering and reverting to using Nero's given name upon realising that referring to him by anything else in person felt strange "What are you doing here. I'm not going to be a part of your plans, I made that clear"
"You did" Nero nodded, sadness seeping into his tone for a moment before he swallowed and met Zirconia's mismatched eyes with his own and forced himself to continue with a forced and determined brightness "But I think that with some frank discussion we can understand one another better-"
"Because nothing says understanding like keeping us locked up and having your Cyber-Grimm hold her at gun point" Athena scoffed, unable to keep her distaste contained.
"I can assure that you are as responsible for that as I am" Nero retorted with a harsh glare, something in his quartz-coloured eyes seeming to suggest that the comment had genuinely offended him "Keeping you contained so that you can't start another mutiny amongst the crew is something you made necessary Miss Slate….Those deaths were regrettable, but they will not be on my conscience"
"How dare you!" Zirconia gasped, regarding Nero with utter disgust and a stare of total shock which left her jaw working in silence for several seconds before she found the words she was looking for "This….This lack of a conscience, this willingness to trade and sacrifice lives….This is why I cannot be a part of your plans. You're not the man I used to look up to any more and I don't think you can even see it"
"Come on" Athena reached out to Zirconia, ready to extricate her from the situation if things became more fraught and shooting Nero a withering glare "We'd better off in a cell, we'll see what happens when he tries to use us as leverage with my Aunt Winter"
"Oh?" Nero enquired simply as the two young women prepared to leave, making no effort to keep Zirconia from rising to his feet and simply arching an eyebrow in mock questioning.
"That's your whole plan right?" Athena snarled "You can't make an Aura Transfer Machine and you couldn't steal one, Carmesi died trying. So now there's nothing for you to do but blackmail and extortion"
"I see you have a keen eye for strategy and subterfuge" Nero answered in a tone that made no effort to be anything other cruelly mocking, with Zirconia taking care to place herself between Athena-Jade and Nero as the snowy-haired young woman retorted coldly with a mocking barb of her own
"No, I went to a lot of formal events and a private school in Atlas"
"Indeed, however you're missing a very crucial piece of information I'm afraid" Nero paused, clearly relishing the dramatic tension of the moment as he leaned forwards with his elbows resting on the desk he was yet to rise from "Carmesi Hueso is very much alive"
"No!" Zirconia gasped out, incredulity being subsumed by fear; the wavering in her voice causing Athena to reach out and take the taller woman by the hand and squeeze gently.
"Yes" Nero assured her "And we will be retrieving him and the Aura Transfer Machine in due course Zirconia….Which will leave you free to play your role in the bright new tomorrow we worked so hard to build-"
"Nope" Athena popped the P of the word, deliberately antagonising the man before her "You've still lost. The Aura-"
"AJ, don't tell him!" Zirconia urged.
"It doesn't matter now" Athena grimaced, determination and a desire to damage Nero's pride, even if she could only do so with words carrying her forwards "The Aura Transfer Machine was modified. You won't be inserting your Aura into any Grimm and taking over Remnant because it doesn't work like that any more. Face it Damascus, you've lost"
Whatever reaction the Bear Faunus might have been hoping for or expecting the sound of Nero laughing heartily and slapping the edge of his desk with his cybernetic hand in unbridled mirth was enough to strip her small sense of victory away.
"Oh that was truly impressive, I was never a natural at giving the impactful speeches but you do seem to have a gift for it" Nero took a breath to calm himself and then regarded Athena and Zirconia with a smile with quickly became sinister "But tell me, did you really think that I didn't consider that General Schnee might double cross me? Whatever might have been done to the Aura Transfer Machine is immaterial I'm afraid, it might delay my plans somewhat but I will simply reverse engineer the thing and construct a new one out of the materials….And then the bright new tomorrow"
"And my part in it" Zirconia hissed, sickened by the idea but painfully aware that allowing Nero to monologue was the most effective way to learn the nature of his larger plans; plans which seemed to stretch even further than she had been away of before abandoning his side in order to relay that information when she and the rest of Team MARSZ escaped or were rescued.
She refused to allow her faith that they would escape by dimmed.
"Indeed, my….Or rather our, specifically your bright new tomorrow Zirconia" Nero breathed out, seeming to sag under some unseen weight as he uttered those words and look at the young woman he had raised with pained weariness which spread out from his eyes to encompass all of him "You have a crucial part to play"
"What is it you want me to do?" Zirconia asked quietly, squeezing Athena's hand and giving her reassuring looks; silently asking the Bear Faunus to trust her.
"You are right about me in some regards….A lot of regards I'm afraid" Nero's words felt heavy, sounding as though each syllable took a toll on him "I have allowed the worst aspects of myself to fester, I am angry at Hunters, at Remnant, at what I've had to become and what I've made myself so that I can make Remnant better…..I am not like you Zirconia, you've been the best of us even since you were a little girl. Do you know how truly rare you are, a person who can endure the losses you did as a child and then think only of helping, or protecting people without ever once allowing it to make you hateful or vengeful? That's why you're so important in the last stages of the plan….Tell me, did you ever wonder how I was going to use the Aura Transfer Machine without an unlocked Aura?"
Silence hung in the air for a single, dreadful moment before comprehension dawned.
And then the sound of Athena-Jade readying Heartbreaker in its' laser cannon form filled the room; the signature thrumming, warping note as the weapon primed and was aimed at Nero's chest.
"AJ NO!" Zirconia flung herself in front of the barrel of the weapon, Athena looking at Zirconia with tears in her eyes and responding with the only words she could form in that moment.
"HE WANTS TO KILL YOU!"
"NEVER!" Nero rose from his desk and slammed its' surface with both palms in answer to the accusation, pointing a stern finger at Athena-Jade "Never! The process would not kill Zirconia….It would change her, it would make her a part of something greater-"
"You want me to become the thing that controls the Grimm" Zirconia choked the words out, the horror on her face intensifying with every word "You want to make me….Like Salem but artificial"
"Every parent wants to give their child the world" Nero's voice cracked "I am giving you Remnant Zirconia. All of it, forever….Because Remnant needs to change and I have the power to change it, but you are the only person I would trust to have that power and use it for the good of everyone, without being corrupted-"
"That's….I can't….No" Zirconia's words came in a frantic rasp, voice hitching and wavering as she began to shake; Athena lowering her weapon just enough to stand beside her and try to comfort her wordlessly whilst Nero let out a single breath before making the issue as plain as possible.
"Zirconia Shadowmoon. You are not part of my plan….You are my plan. I love you and I am proud of you beyond words and I only put this responsibility on you because there is nobody else I trust, not even myself. You have the potential to be the future of Remnant"
"I….No" Zirconia's head shook erratically as she spoke
"I understand that it's a lot to take in and this is not how I would have wanted to have this discussion" Nero tried to soothe her, taking a step away from his desk only to find the barrel of Heartbreaker aimed under his chin and glowing ominously.
"Don't touch her, don't come near her, don't even move" the Bear Faunus growled before turning to Zirconia "Hey, Zirconia, hey….It's okay, we're gonna get out of here"
"Take all the time you need" Nero raised his hands as if in surrender, Zirconia seemed to take those words as permission to leave, as if she ever required it and hurried out of the office without a moment to spare. Athena followed her, taking care to keep her weapon trained on Nero until she was out of the door and then quickly running after Zirconia who, if the retching sounds only a short distance away were any indication had not gotten far.
Nero simply allowed himself to sink back into his seat and let out a long, shuddering breath as he began to contemplate the next few moves of what was undeniably the endgame of his years of struggle.
Things had not gone as planned, but he still had his faith in Zirconia and her inherent goodness.
With every hour that passed Carmesi Hueso was growing steadily more certain that he was dying.
It had taken him some time and no small amount of effort and discomfort but the Komodo Dragon had managed to not only acquire several scrolls and other electronic devices by skulking and crawling through the bowels of Pantheon's lair but also to use skills that he had learned as part of an advanced elective class as a student of Haven Academy and later honed whilst working alongside the later Major Grapeshot to dismantle and repurpose the things he had found into a small, likely temporary signal booster for his own scroll; a feat which had allowed him to send work to Nero and the Megalodon.
Another small victory had been that during his reconnaissance and scavenging runs he had managed to find a respectable amount of water which was, or could be made fit to drink, a small amount of rations, largely in the form of snacks and finally, in an even smaller amount he had found medicine; specifically an Aura stimulant which might have been intended to act something more akin to a combat drug, boosting the users abilities slightly at a crucial juncture even if such practices were largely frowned upon for the simple fact that they were both risky and addictive. For Carmesi the medicine, such as it was had allowed his Aura to replenish itself slightly and perhaps mitigate some of his injuries enough to buy him a little more time.
It was there that the good news ended.
In his searching and scavenging Carmesi had been forced to not only endure the rank, humid and sweltering darkness of tunnels which were now without light as the smaller, glowing Grimm and pulsing crystals which had previously illuminated them were absorbed and recycled; leaving even his own keen Faunus eyesight struggling to compensate but also the filthy, polluted water that now filled vast swathes of the Grimm's lair. Pantheon had flooded parts of their domain in order to flush out and drown the Hunters that had attacked them and it was in this salty water that Carmesi had found several of the dead bodies he had looted, the blood and viscera of dozens of deceased spilling into seawater which was further corrupted by the influence of the Grimm tissue around it; with the latter being the primary source of the rogue Hunter's current miseries.
Carmesi had doubted that any bacteria or similar would have survived in such waters, which meant that he was currently suffering the effects of trace amounts of the Grimm tissue itself entering his body through the mouth and nose every time he was forced to wade or swim in it, through his pores and into his own bloodstream through the countless cuts and abrasions or places where scales had been ripped out entirely and that his problems were not ones which would be solved by a simple course of antibiotics at a later date.
The idea of being corrupted from within, left rotten at his core and turned into a frenzied, inhuman thing like those Aefen Cruor had experimented on at Pikesreach had filled Carmesi with a fear unlike anything he had experienced before, one which saw him turning his remaining weapon over in his hands for several seconds and regarding it thoughtfully before remembering that he had know ammunition left for its' shotgun form; a fact which rendered a difficult question in his mind a purely academic one.
At present the bloodied and beaten reptilian Faunus was half sat, half sprawled beside the container for the Aura Transfer Machine he had risked his life to recover and had dragged through much of the tunnels behind himself out of an unwillingness to leave it behind. He was exhausted, nauseous and his breathing was both shallow and laboured, a cold sweat coating his skin and mixing with the lingering dampness to leave him shivering despite the heat and humidity; pain assaulted him a dozen or more locations and flavours from the stabbing and grinding sensation which threatened to make him scream and vomit every time he moved certain parts of his body where he supposed bones had been cracked or worse, to the incessant burning and itching in his cut and around his open wounds.
The worst of it however was the way his senses had begun to betray him.
The loss of an eye had already limited Carmesi but now that his vision was swimming and he was beginning to feel as though his surroundings were spinning around him his sight was almost useless to him, instead the Faunus had strained his hearing in an effort to ensure that no approaching monsters could catch him unawares even in his current state or perhaps, better still so that he could map out the changes in his surroundings as Pantheon's fortress healed itself and tunnels that had been ripped apart by demolition charges began to regrow themselves in explosions of flesh and bone with no configurations and routes. Even here Carmesi's body conspired against him, as he grew more feverish he realised that he was beginning to hallucinate; that some of the sounds he was straining himself to hear were the product of his own addled mind and that many of them sounded like the voices of his parents.
Realising just how long it had been since he had heard them made Carmesi introspective and left him pondering his life, the choices he had made and the direction things had gone.
He was under no delusions about what his parents would think of his life.
Neither of Carmesi's parents had been Hunters, their lives had been simple and the idea that their son might go on to be part of some grand conspiracy to save Remnant from itself and from the monsters which plagued it was so far removed from their world-view and realm of possibilities that even if he could somehow meet them and explain his actions he doubted that they would understand, much less approve of his actions. A weak, watery chuckle closer to a sniffle escaped the Komodo Dragon Faunus as he thought he heard his father ask him if he'd learned a trade, if he'd settled down and started a family and his mothers' more simple question of whether or not he was happy. Even knowing that they were figments of his imagination it hurt to have to admit to his parents that he was probably going to die alone, unloved and friendless in a pit full of nightmares; likely forgotten entirely aside from a few footnotes about his violent contributions to the course of history.
Confronted with his own mortality and forced to reflect in a way which even the worst battlefield injuries had failed to achieve Carmesi came to realisation that when bandits had halted his family in Mistral, robbed them and left them for the Grimm to butcher a part of him had died along with him; that part of him had likely been the better, more honourable and decent part.
Something in that thought managed to pierce through the haze of delirium and mounting despair.
Carmesi had done terrible things, he accepted fully that he would be remembered as a monster by almost everyone who had met him and was still alive. Everything he had done however had been in pursuit in the most noble of goals, of ensuring that there would never be another child forced to suffer the way he had.
He had spent his life bringing the monsters of Remnant to heel and that task was not yet finished.
"I'm not dying here….I'm not coming home yet" Carmesi managed to breath out, phlegm and blood mingling as they trickled from his mouth and as he slowly pulled himself to his feet and forced his trembling, agonised limbs to obey him he forced himself to stop wondering when he had become so bleak as to think of dying as a reunion with his parents, as going home and instead pushed through the pain and dizziness to focus on more immediate matters.
He needed to ensure that the Aura Transfer Machine was safe and secure, he needed to log and if possible predict the changes that were taking place within the Grimm-fortress so that when the time came and Nero finally arrived he could drag the machine which was the key to everything to the surface and hand it over
Everything else was immaterial.
Carmesi Hueso was prepared to die, his life had not been something worth valuing or savouring for quite some time now; he was not prepared to fail however, the mission was worth far more to him.
Astra and Regalia watched distractedly as Stygian began pacing once again, albeit this time in a room that was at least large enough to accommodate it.
The three of them had, in keeping with Nero's promises been allowed to leave the Cyber-Grimm hangar and launch pad that had served as their jail cell so that they could prepare their own food since it had become painfully obvious that none of Team MARSZ were willing to trust anything that was brought to them by the crew of the Megalodon. To this end the trio had been escorted by Cyber-Grimm through the twisting and forcibly remade corridors of the living vessel until they reached a part of the Megalodon that was notable for how little it seemed to have been corrupted and mutated where; at the heart of the oasis, free of the influence of Grimm-tissue the ships' food stores, kitchens and dining facilities could be found. With the Cyber-Grimm waiting outside lest they be shot and dismantled as several others had been Astra, Regalia and Stygian had examined the facilities, noting that it was somewhat strange that they had been entirely emptied of other people before perusing the impressive supply of food available to them before ultimately deciding to rely only on canned and sealed goods.
The idea that the food might be laced with something to make them more malleable still lingered in their minds and the three of them were unwilling to take unnecessary risks.
Once their food had been made they had made their way into a dining area that had clearly been intended to be grandiose at some point during the ships' history; something equivalent to a private luxury restaurant aboard a private airship whose design was aimed to cater towards the needs and wants of the wealthy, however it had been transformed into something more reminiscent of a mess hall or soup kitchen and the sharp juxtaposition between the two ideas gave the place the idea of being occupied or squatted in. Rows of mismatched table and chairs had been arranged, along with a few threadbare sofas likely carried onto the Megalodon during the evacuation of Pikesreach whilst the bar had long since been emptied of any bottles of wine and liquor it had once held. It was the bar however where Astra and Regalia had seated themselves, as far away from the entrance as possible in order to give themselves a split second to react if they needed to.
"They had more food than I was expecting" Regalia noted conversationally as she swallowed a mouthful of chilli which she had, even in these circumstances managed to season until it toed a fine line between flavourful and actively corrosive "I mean they might have been able to send someone into Atlas's cities or get stuff dropped off somewhere whilst we weren't fighting each other but….I don't know I expected them to be running low on supplies"
"I know what you mean….I was hoping they'd have less. If they're running out of supplies then someone might get desperate enough to do something stupid, give us an angle. I don't like knowing that we're up against people who seem to have every angle already covered before we even start" Astra sighed, setting their own fork down and gently massaging the point where their antlers sprouted from their skull and falling silent until movement at the edge of their vision turned their attention back to Stygian's pacing and from there an unwelcome and decidedly bleak thought occurred to them.
"Or maybe they've just lost so many people that they can make their supplies last a lot longer"
"The people from Pikesreach" Regalia winced, purple eyes downcast for a moment before she followed Astra's gaze and watched as Stygian continued to pace, his features a dark scowl of discontent.
"Stitch?" she called out gently to the Mouse Faunus gently "You okay over there man?"
"Yeah….I-No, not really" his voice cracked and he let out a bitter laugh as he stalked towards the pair, casually vaulting a table in order to take a more direct path and fixing both Astra and Regalia with a piercing electric blue stare as he drew close "Have we got a plan yet?"
"Still working on it" Astra admitted with an apologetic answer "You should eat something while we wait man….We need more information; we got a better look at the interior and layout of this place, better than we had last time but I still need to know more for a plan that's gonna work"
"The fact Nero's letting us keep our weapons is actually kinda worrying" Regalia noted thoughtfully around another mouthful of chilli before offering the bowl to Stygian "Nero isn't the kind of person to rely on a fake-out or bluffing….Which means he's really not bothered about us having them, which means he knows he's got enough firepower here to stop us-"
"And nobody here is going to talk to us, nobody is going to help us" Stygian noted with a sudden vitriol "Not after what happened last time. We've got no friends here"
"We've got AJ and Zirconia" Astra noted, hoping that they could make their words sound reassuring "As soon as they get back then we'll know what Nero's game plan is; as soon as we know that we've got something to work with and Zirconia saw this airship being built….Grown? Whatever. That's a start right?"
"I know" the Mouse Faunus breathed out, finally taking a seat beside his friends and allowing his tail to uncoil from where it had been wrapped around his waist; the tension ensuring that the limb would likely ache for some time "But I'm worried about them"
"Yeah me too" Astra agreed, with Regalia silently nodding her own agreement "But AJ won't crack"
"What about Zirconia?" Stygian noted.
"You think Nero can get in her head?" Regalia asked
"He's her old man….Dad's am I right?" Stygian snorted, the idea of comparing their situations a grimly entertaining one. The dark-skinned took a moment to push his braids away from his face before letting out another sigh on continuing "Like I said I'm worried, about both of 'em….I love AJ and you guts know that but Zirconia's one of too right? I mean you've known her for longer but after everything I mean, she's one of us?
"Of course she is" Astra nodded with certain seriousness and certainty "And that's why I know we can count on her"
As if summoned by the discussion the door to the Megalodon's dining area slid open, revealing Zirconia herself and Athena-Jade beside her whilst the Cyber-Grimm flanking the doorway were barely visible. As the two women stepped inside Astra, Stygian and Regalia could all tell within moments that something had transpired; both of them were pale to a degree which shamed even Athena's usual alabaster complexion and Zirconia seemed utterly numb as though she had been shaken to her core and was acting solely on instinct. Astra studied the pair closer and noted, with deep concern that the Grasshopper Faunus's hands were trembling and beneath her haunted and distant stare her chin and the corner of her mouth were stained in a way which suggested that she vomited recently.
"Holy shit!" Astra exclaimed "Regalia help me sit 'em both down….AJ, Zirconia what's going on? What the hell happened?"
It took only a few second for the Racoon Faunus to leap to her feet and help her partner get Athena and Zirconia seated and somewhat stable, from there it took only a few more moments for the Grasshopper Faunus to compose herself enough to speak.
By the time she had explained herself all of Team MARSZ shared her horror and disgust.
Gestalt-Prime had once again found themselves existing in a state beyond the physical realm, briefly, blissfully detached from a body that had failed them.
With the physical components of their rage and misery removed the Alpha Cyber-Grimm was free to seethe more efficiently.
Pantheon had defeated them soundly and here, in the solace and darkness of their own thoughts Gestalt-Prime was both unwilling an unable to deny that fact or delude themselves with lies and excuses. They had known Pantheon was monstrous, that their great enemy within the Grimm Hive-Mind was more ancient, far larger and simply more powerful since the moment the two Alphas had become aware of one another and their brief interactions in ephemeral mental planes such as the one Gestalt-Prime currently enough had been enough to further convince them of that fact; however seeing and experiencing Pantheon in the flesh had been something else entirely.
What Gestalt-Prime had felt during the battle had gone beyond simple fear in its' all-encompassing depth and allowed the Alpha Cyber-Grimm to experience not only terror in its' most base and primal form, something that had not truly troubled them since their ascension to a higher state of being; but also the entirely new sensation of utter hopelessness, a sense that the fight was already over whispering in their back of their mind which had called softly for Gestalt-Prime to simply give up and accept their ending in spite of everything in their nature as a Creature of Grimm screaming out against it.
It was anathema to them.
Without a connection to their physical form they were unable to shudder and yet the writhing sensation in their mind seemed to serve well enough. Replaying the battle, or at least key parts of it in their mind over and over again Gestalt-Prime studied their foe in a desperate search for someone weakness that they had overlooked in the heat of the moment or some tell, some key that would indicate a path to victory when they next fought one another only to be forced to conclude that there was none.
Pantheon was simply a force of nature.
If Gestalt-Prime wished to survive another encounter with their great enemy, indeed if they wished to implement their vision for the Grimm species and supersede the plan Damascus Nero envisioned then the only possible answer was for them to become more than they currently were.
A desire that was granted an answer in short order.
The sensations that ripped through Gestalt-Prime's disembodied psyche were impossible to adequately describe; in one moment a sensation of a key being slotted perfectly into a lock somewhere within the very core of their being and twisted and in the next a feeling of being unravelled, of their physical and mental aspects being separated and categorised much as their living and metallic components were in the same instant. Eventually Gestalt-Prime's mind settled on a feeling of buzzing tingling that was at once numbness and also its' opposite; the phantom sensation of limbs that were not yet their own flickering in and out of existence in a crackling, surging storm of unrealised potential.
If breathing were a concern for themselves in their current state Gestalt-Prime would have been rendered breathless.
In frantic confusion the Alpha Cyber-Grimm tried to access parts of themselves that should still have been available to them even in the restorative fugue state imposed on them by their current condition and location within the Megalodon; Gestalt-Prime should have been able to draw up some of the readings and data of their visor and its' various displays if only to gauge their own recover and yet doing so now only led to more confusion. There were no error readings, yet things were clearly wrong; entire parts of their body were entirely unaccounted for and systems were going dark without any measurable affect on the whole.
For a single dreadful moment the sentient monster worried that they had been betrayed before they could deliver a their own promised betrayal; that Nero had taken their failure to slay Pantheon as a sign that they were no longer worth the effort or the risk of maintaining and was having them destroyed and cannibalised by the very systems intended to heal them, a gesture not unlike assassinating a person in their own bed.
Then a twisting, sliding feeling of something slotting into place lanced through their mind and was followed by a rush of acceleration.
Gestalt-Prime saw and Gestalt-Prime understood.
They were being remade, but not in their own image.
The reason they could not longer sense parts of their body was because those parts no longer existed and were being redesigned and remade, every part of them being rapidly refashioned into something more suitable for the task of destroying Pantheon and seizing control of the Grimm Hive-Mind in Damascus Nero's name. The scientists responsible for this feat were young however, untested and lacking the experience of Albion Herringbone and Aefen Cruor and none of them saw the unintended consequences of their own actions even as they were unfolding in front of them.
Gestalt-Prime had begun their existence as a Geist, reshaping their flesh to incorporate new matter and grant themselves new weapons and abilities had been a core part of their being yet as they had ascended to higher states of being that ability had steadily faded; the price of a more defined sense of self being that their physical self became equally immutable.
By forcibly remaking them the scientists were giving the Alpha-Grimm that ability back.
Smiling within the depths of their psyche Gestalt-Prime allowed themselves to sink into the sensation and embrace it, doing nothing that would give away their awareness or draw unwelcome suspicion and simply pushing themselves outwards and encouraging the growth of new flesh, sculpting themselves into the new form that had been devised all whilst making small adjustments which could be easily overlooked or explained away as unintended consequences of experimenting with something as volatile as protean Grimm-Matter.
All the while relishing the experience of once again being able absorb and merge and create.
It was a gift that would not only help them in their inevitable battle with Pantheon but would also allow them to slip the proverbial leash around their neck and destroy the human who had thought himself capable of mastering the Creatures of Grimm.
It was a gift that would be the end of Damascus Nero and the man had given it freely.
With Team MARSZ reunited Zirconia had been able to explain to her friends and team-mates the true scale and final goals of her adopted fathers' plans for Remnant, for the Creatures of Grimm and their Cyber-Grimm counterparts and finally for herself. She had done so haltingly and tearfully with several periods where she could go no further; her inability to continue leaving Athena-Jade to carry on in her stead until finally the five of them were left in a near total silence at the conclusion of the revelations, one broken only by Zirconia's distraught sniffling and hiccups as she wiped the traces of her crying from her face.
Athena-Jade had clung to the Grasshopper Faunus, both reassuringly and defensively in an effort to impress upon her partner that she was not alone and also to ensure that if the Cyber-Grimm entered the room and sought to take Zirconia away from Team MARSZ that there was already a body between them. Following her lead Regalia, raised on physical closeness as a matter of course rose from her seat and drifted closer to the pair and added herself to the hug almost reflexively despite her own shocked numbness at what she had learned.
"We've got you. We promise" Stygian murmured quietly as he joined what was becoming a group hug, speaking to Zirconia even as he reached out and laced his fingers through Athena's. Regalia craned her neck to look over at Astra, holding out a hand and offering an expectant, longing expression to her partner who was the only member of the team to remain distant.
In response the Deer Faunus trudged towards the tangled group of bodies, massaging their temples as they went but halted partway as their racing, spiralling thoughts seemed to highlight key details.
"What does Nero need us for?" the words were tense and strained, their sea-green eyes wild and somewhat glazed as they stared at their team "Why is he keeping us as hostages and leverage….He doesn't need us any more?"
"What do you mean?" Zirconia rasped out, swallowing thickly and choking on the words in the wake of her own emotional breakdown.
"You said Athena told him that General Schnee has altered the Aura Transfer Machine and it didn't bother him at all, right?"
"Right" Athena admitted uncertainly, unsure of where Astra's thoughts were headed but doubting that the conclusion her friend was coming to would be a pleasant one "He basically said he could reverse engineer it, he just needed the parts"
"So then he's won" Astra said, a simple matter-of-fact assessment rather than anything despairing "Or he's about to win and he doesn't think there's anything anyone can do, or he wouldn't tell us….He's not stupid"
"No, no he's a lot of things….But never stupid" Zirconia agreed.
"Astra what're you getting at?" Regalia asked nervously.
"He only worked with General Schnee to take down Pantheon and to get an Aura Transfer machine. Now we've seen that even working together we couldn't take Pantheon down in a straight fight he doesn't need to use us as leverage to make the General go along with his plans, if Carmesi is still alive and he's got the Aura Transfer Machine then he doesn't need us alive to trade us for it….Does he really need us as human shields to keep anyone from shooting at the Megalodon when it has stealth capabilities and already managed to sneak into Atlas airspace once?" Astra paused, eyes widening and becoming wider still as they fixed on the Grasshopper Faunus at the heart of the group-hug "Zirconia….I think he's keeping us alive as leverage against you specifically?"
"WHAT?" Zirconia demanded, voice cracking as it rose to a furious yell.
"Think about it!" Astra urged her "You've already gone against Nero once and he still wants to give you….I mean he still wants to turn you into an artificial Salem, or some super AI with a soul that runs all of his Cyber-Grimm. He obviously can't just program loyalty in or he would have done it with Gestalt-Prime-"
"So he's gonna put a gun to our heads to keep her following the plan" Stygian noted, his body language and every syllable to leave his mouth filled with an unspeakable disgust and righteous fury "Because he knows that even if you do give him what he wants there's nothing to stop you from blowing it all up in his face, or turning his Cyber-Grimm on him….He tried isolating you, now he's using fear. Just like Pikesreach"
"No" Zirconia whispered, shaking her head with violent trembles "No….I-I won't do it b-but I can't lose you, I can't lose any of you. You're the best friends I ever had"
Athena-Jade saw they way Zirconia's eyes fixed on her as she spoke and without hesitation the Bear Faunus pulled her closer; the group hug breaking apart as Zirconia was pulled into the shorter but more muscular woman's arms, burying her face in the crook of Athena's neck as she was held tightly.
"You won't lose us" Athena promised in a hoarse whisper "And you won't have to do any of it….We're not gonna let Nero make you; we're not gonna let him win even if he thinks that he already has"
"AJ's right" Astra nodded, a small flickering of the usual confidence finding its' way into their eyes as they finally joined the rest of Team MARSZ and took Regalia's hand "We're getting out of here"
"What's the plan?" the Racoon Faunus asked, bushy tail swishing animatedly.
"We need to let General Schnee know about Carmesi still being alive. If she can put enough ships between it and Nero then he can't get to it. We could try and jack the Megalodon's comms to do that but we could also do that and also keep Zirconia safe by getting off of this ship….So that's the first step"
"I like this plan" Athena beamed "How're we breaking out"
"Still working on that part" Astra admitted, somewhat sheepishly "You two did good managing to get some information about the layout and where the check-points have been set up, we managed to find out some more….But we still need something we can use as an opening-"
As if in direct response to Astra's words an alarm ripped through the entirety of the Megalodon, with crimson light flashing klaxons blaring and a digitised voice piercing through it all declaring that all crew were to make their way to their stations; that an enemy had been spotted as was inbound.
"Like that" Astra smiled, already unfurling Buckshot Ares "That, we can use"
Winter Schnee's predictions of where Damascus Nero and his followers might be headed and what they might be in search of in the short-term before returning to their larger plans had proven accurate. The Megalodon had taken enough damage that in addition to the copious amounts of Grimm-tissue it had taken onboard by butchering and consuming several of Pantheon's largest abominations in the previous battle it would also need several tons of metal in order to complete its' automated repairs, which had seen the living vessel steered towards a disused and decommissioned platform of some sort out in open waters beyond the reach of any of the Kingdoms which would serve Nero's purposes well.
The damaged airship-Grimm had not reached its' goal yet however and Team FADE were rapidly closing the distance.
The four of them were carried on the back of a single glowing construct summoned by Arctus Slate, the towering Bear Faunus having sculpted this particular construct to resemble a vast bat-winged and reptilian monstrosity Team FADE had faced off against over the course of their career with a serpentine neck and tail, monstrous claws and a gaping jaw which left its' appearance resembling that of a dragon from a children's story. For all its' primal brutality the faux-Grimm was still less threatening in that moment than the Megalodon itself which had turned in the air to face the approaching Hunters, the creaking of steel support struts and grinding of metal plates against one another filling the air in a haunting parody of whale-song as its' body undulated like any of the vast and ancient marine predators the thing could be said to resemble and whilst it lacked eyes or anything that might resemble a face, the entirety of the Megalodon's upper skull replaced with the airships' Command Bridge Team FADE could not help but watch the way the things' maw twitched and think that it was watching them hungrily.
"You know I can't actually use this construct to breathe fire or lasers at the Megalodon right?" Arctus warned, voice right and hinting at the strain he was under. The Bear Faunus sat at the base of the Dragon-Grimm's neck where it joined with its' shoulders and spine whilst Eagle and Diamond were positioned behind him and clutching precariously onto angled and jutting spikes emerging from the constructs' back and shoulders which moved with each flap of its' wings and Felix had placed himself further back, closer to the hindlimbs of the dragon.
"Won't be a problem" the Lion Faunus assured his cousin, raising his voice over the sound of howling winds as the four of them hurtled closer towards their target "Trust me, I've got a plan"
"Just letting you know now, 'cos they've just raised their shields and I can see their weapons locking-HOLD ON!" Arctus cut himself off as he brought his construct into a steep dive which brought Felix from the rear of a horizontal grouping to the top of a vertical one and in a moment of calculated recklessness the Lion Faunus let go of the glowing faux-Grimm; allowing himself to not only fall through the air freely until he caught the very tip of the constructs tail in his golden cybernetic hand but also to be struck by one of the Megalodon's lasers as it lanced through the air.
"DUDE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Diamond screamed in panic and disbelief, her Semblance allowing her to run unhindered vertically along the back of the construct in a flagrant breach of the laws of physics in order to save the Lion Faunus; only to halt as her team leader fixed with a giddy and unbelievably smug grin as he used his own Semblance to absorb the heat and light of an airships' weapon into himself until his body glowed with fiery orange light.
"Got a plan" he repeated, breathless as his body positively thrummed and tingled with redirected and absorbed power. Diamond considered reprimanding Felix, something that his position as team leader gave him absolutely no ability to avoid but thought better of it, deciding that it could wait until more important issues had been dealt with. Instead she held a hand out to Felix, offering to pull the Lion Faunus back onto the back of the Grimm construct and extend the benefits of her Semblance to him; Felix declined with a shake of his head however and instead wrapped his arms and legs around the tip of a scaly, lashing tail and offered her a look that suggested that he knew exactly what he was doing and that he was where he needed to be.
Diamond decided that she trusted him enough to simply wait and see; preparing herself to add whatever Felix did next to the infuriatingly long list of times that her friend and leader had succeeded when common sense dictated that he shouldn't have.
"HANG ON, THEY'RE FIRING AGAIN!" Arctus bellowed, voice carrying to the tail of the construct-dragon a moment before the entire thing banked violently in air before pivoting and surging upwards to avoid a cascade of laser-fire and incoming rockets.
"Careful Big Guy!" Diamond called over her shoulder to her husband whilst frantically waving a hand at Felix for him to take as the construct climbed steeply upwards through the air "There's at least one of us who can't fly!"
"I'm not planning on 'flying'" Felix answered her, with a faint chuckle and an emphasis on the last words of that statement which caused Diamond's cherry red eyes to narrow with suspicion; a sudden idea of what her friend was planning coming to her.
"Don't you dare you crazy son of a-"
"GUYS WE'VE GOT CYBER GRIMM!" Eagle called out in warning and both Felix and Eagle looked down to see that there were indeed a dozen or so mechanical horrors shrieking and buzzing like chainsaws against sheet metal as the burst out of flesh-covered openings which lined the flanks of the Megalodon's battle-scarred hull.
"Keep 'em off me and tell Arctus to line up the shot. He should know what to do!" Felix ordered, his tone suddenly stern enough for his words to be interpreted as such; Diamond was relieved by the sternness, it suggested that this was something that had been calculated and likely adapted from previously successful strategies rather than a simple spur of the moment idea. Without question or hesitation Diamond readied Lex Talionis in its' sniper rifle form and took a shot, a small benefit of her Semblance allowing her to do so without any concern for the movement of the construct beneath her feet.
The Cyber-Grimm she shot out was sent plummeting down into the ocean, a key connection point between its' skull and torso severed by an armour piercing round.
Sentinel streaking through the air and ripping fleshy chunks out of another Cyber-Grimm with twin compact Gatling-guns whilst being given direction and cheering encouragement from Eagle, who had also drawn her sword in case any of the enemies creations drew close enough to be problem served as the final piece of incentive Diamond needed to follow the plan.
"BIG GUY!" she called out as she ran, once again vertically along the spine of Arctus's conjured Grimm and perched behind her husband with her rifle at the ready for another shot "Fluffy said to line up a shot, he said you'd know what to do?"
"Did you tell him he's a crazy son of a bitch?"
"Of course" Diamond blew hair free of her eyes and leaned her back against Arctus's so she could reach over and kiss his cheek.
"Well, as long as he knows" Arctus shrugged before rapidly changing the direction of the glowing and ethereal dragon the four of them were riding, diving and swooping closer to the Megalodon until they were almost nose to nose; separated by a few dozen feet horizontally and a somewhat greater distance vertically before the Bear Faunus compelled their construct to carry all of its' momentum into a single whipping motion of its' tail.
Throwing Felix at the energy.
"No way!" Eagle laughed as she watched her partners' antics, her excitement building as Arctus not only summoned up a pathway of glyphs which perfectly lined up with the Lion Faunus's flightpath but imbued each and every one of them with Fire Dust. A common misconception amongst the Hunter community was the Felix's ability to absorb heat was a direct equivalent to Nora Valkyrie's ability to channel electricity however what this failed to understand was that the Lion Faunus was not simply made stronger by his Semblance.
He became an immovable object, with barriers in his way becoming entirely meaningless.
Felix's body glowed, skin taking on the appearance of molten rock with magma-like veins criss-crossing his skin whilst his hair and eyes blazed with golden fire as he channelled the heat of the Megalodon's own weapons and then amplified it with each vibrant red glyph that he crashed through; becoming a living missile on a collision course with the Megalodon's bridge.
By the time the living airships' crew realised the danger and tried to move it was too late.
The Megalodon managed to surge forwards and angle itself enough to ensure that its' bridge an entire command structure were not decimated in a single devastating strike however Felix still hit the vessel with a sound like a thunderclap amplified a thousandfold. Fractals of light exploded into and out of existence in a fraction of a second as the airship-Grimm's shields failed, utterly overloaded by an impact they were powerless to stop and from there Felix continued to crash downwards and shatter steel, bone and pulverise flesh as he tore a diagonal swathe through several decks of the Megalodon until he came to a halt somewhere within the bowels of the thing.
Leaving the rest of Team FADE chasing after him so that hey could take advantage of the opening he had created.
"Y'know….After knowing that guy since I was seventeen you'd think that he wouldn't be able to surprise me any more" Diamond noted, snapping off a shot which caused something inside of a Cyber-Grimm to detonate before glancing at her husband and seeing his expression was a grimace of silent determination which needed no explanation.
There was no time for witty back and forth, not when they needed to save Team MARSZ.
Author's Notes:
Okay first thing's first, I don't know if there's any changes to the formatting but if there are it's the result of me having to download the FF Net app and make some minor chages there rather than on my desktop because the site is having problems with the doc manager... Because it's always something isn't it.
This was a chapter I really enjoyed writing, it's got the right balance of plot relevant stuff, character interactions and fun action at the end.
Next chapter's gonna be a fun one as well.
Also, I'm writing this 15 weeks before anyone is gonna read it (Middle of November 2023) but I've gotta say my writing juice has kicked into overdrive the last week or so….I went from trudging and slogging through one scene 1-2k words per day to writing to scenes for this story and a scene for another story every day (The story in question being a Parahumans fic called 'Invidiak' which I will hopefully have posted at least some of by the time you're reading this).
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Winter has spent most of her life at the top of the "Needs a hug" pile.
It will always be my head-canon that for all of her training both in proper etiquette and as a Specialist she has some nervous tics that she lets out in private.
Also, if you relate to the feeling of "Why I am I sitting here having meetings when I could literally just go and fix this" the you have my condolences.
Gotta love Coco's honesty I guess….But also the mental image of Ruby just lurking in the background behind her giving Winter the "I'm gonna fucking murder you" face amused me.
Okay, Ruby is absolutely right to be upset….Not exactly being fair to Winter there though.
If I get to fifty years old and someone calls me Kiddo they're getting choke-slammed.
The biggest bit of silver-lining they had isn't even true and they don't know it yet.
So the fact that Nero hasn't made demands or even bothered to gloat should have been a massive giveaway that he doesn't need Team MARSZ for leverage against Winter and co.
Also, Pantheon can turn up anywhere….Some foreshadowing.
Look, a certain amount of lying to the public is justified when their panic will actually draw more monsters and make things worse….And this is just putting a positive spin on things.
Gotta love that distinction from AJ, it's not that she isn't gonna shoot Nero just that she's gonna make sure she means it when she does.
As much as he doesn't like public speaking Nero does have a gift when it comes to verbal confrontations, he threw AJ from the opening words.
And the best part is that he actually believes the shit he's saying.
"If you didn't help a mutiny along then I wouldn't have had to kill so many of my own people and you wouldn't have monsters for prison guards now. This is your fault really" with that level of gaslighting you know he worked in corporate.
AJ, sweetie….When the villain gives you a sarcastic "Oh" that means you haven't figured their plan out as well as you thought and you're not holding all the cards.
But the joke about Atlas was a good one.
Look, a certain amount of lying to the public is justified when their panic will actually draw more monsters and make things worse….And this is just putting a positive spin on things.
Gotta love that distinction from AJ, it's not that she isn't gonna shoot Nero just that she's gonna make sure she means it when she does.
NOW THAT'S HOW YOU DROP A BOMBSHELL! Nero wants the Grimm under control by using an intelligent Cyber-Grimm and an Aura Transfer Machine to make a Grimm with a soul that runs it all….An artificial Salem; but he's planning to use Zirconia to do it.
And he's so far gone that he actually thinks of it as a gift.
The Carmesi scene was always just padding, I was originally gonna have it be a series of flashbacks as he deteriorated and hallucinated but I didn't want to introduce the ghosts of his family this late in the story.
But yeah, he bought himself a little more time with Aura stimulants in dead Hunters' medical equipment….But the trade of is that swimming around water full of dead bodies and Grimm pulp has definitely given him an infection of some sort.
Also….There's some more foreshadowing here; but not in a straightforward way.
The tragedy of Carmesi is that after his parents death he's devoted his whole life to the idea of "This can't happen to anybody else"….Just to become someone that this parents would be disgusted by and terrified of; he's easily more violent than the bandits who robbed them and left them for the Grimm.
"The best parts of me died when I was a kid, so may as well throw the rest away for the sake of the cause" he really is sunk cost personified.
Of course Stygian paces, his Semblance is literally "Get closer to problem" there's no way he stands still with a dilemma.
Regalia's ability to find/make some dangerously spicy food literally anywhere is basically another Semblance in its' own right at this point; it would almost be worth it to make a joke about her unlocking her Semblance in the search of stronger chilli.
"It's not that they're well stocked, it's just that they killed so many of their own people that they've got spares" is definitely a fun way of looking at it.
Stitch is right, everyone who might have helped Team MARSZ on the Megalodon is already dead.
His comments about Zirconia might make the inevitable talk between AJ and the two of them go easier.
Yeah Zirconia threw up after hearing what Nero has planned for her and can you blame her really?
Yay for Grimm mind-scape shenanigans once again.
But hey, at least their honest enough with themselves to not try excusing what happened out there….Pantheon beat the shit out of them so bad they learned whole new emotions from it.
Okay so this is just a way of saying that the scientists Nero tasked with rebuilding Gestalt-Prime stronger last chapter are already on it and that they'll be ready to roll out sooner rather than later.
Trying to find descriptions for sensations that have absolutely no real-world analogue does lead towards venturing off into abstract prose….I blame the Warhammer 40k lore.
But, once again with the foreshadowing….Gestalt Prime has actually been given back an ability that they haven't had in their arsenal for roughly two-thirds of the story and it's gonna be VERY relevant.
The group hug was needed.
So Astra doesn't have personal drama with Nero….But pitting the "Spur of the moment plan that somehow includes every available tool at my disposal and relies on a dozen moving parts" person against the "I have literally spent more than a decade building towards this moment" person against one another is entertaining, which is why Astra was the one to figure out why Team MARSZ are being kept.
Team MARS minus the Z are absolutely being kept as leverage, but it's leverage to use against Zirconia, not Winter.
And at this point, Nero realistically has pretty much won….He's like two moves away from victory here a) Pick up Carmesi and b) repurpose Aura Transfer Machine back to original settings….He could probably even do that after he's used it to immobilise all of the Grimm.
Stygian and Zirconia are clearly the new "My Dad's a bastard" crew….Weiss will adore both of them.
Astra's plan is solid, just deny Nero the one thing he needs indefinitely….As for getting out, Nero did a good job of giving them nothing to work with but did not expect Team FADE.
Team FADE riding and Aura construct dragon Vs Megalodon Cyber-Grimm.
Okay let's be honest Felix's plan was an obvious one to anyone who read FADE or any other scene involving him using his Semblance in this story….But if you didn't figure it out immediately then you should have when he absorbed a laser.
Just know that if Regalia was there she would absolutely have humoured Felix and thrown in the "It's not flying it's falling with style" from Toy Story.
Eagle is the Team Mum of Team FADE and the one who makes sure everyone has eaten….But Diamond is the one who is absolutely done with the three gung-ho maniacs she's surrounded by.
The little exchange between Arctus and Diamond reminded me of why I loved the Diamond Dust ship when I was first writing it.
So, that was the plan…..The ultimate fastball special; in fact if you've seen those "Red hot copper ball Vs X) videos on TikTok, it was basically that.
Which means next chapter will be another fight to get Team MARSZ out of the Megalodon….It might sound redundant but if Vol.10 gets green-lit you can't tell me that the cast aren't ever going to be inside Monstra/Salem's base again.
Thank you to SpookyDonutGhostHouse for their reviews on the last chapter.
Noms...Indeed.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.