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Chapter 123: Recon
Nugget opened his eyes and found himself confined to a nightmare from which there would be no waking.
The Chicken Faunus had been struck down and captured after his efforts to discover exactly what kind of corruption and insanity High Speaker Aefen Cruor was engaging in, with his own overconfident hubris being as much to blame for his defeat as his foes' suspicion and forethought. He had been taken down within the small control room adjacent to the mad scientists' main laboratory though now his eyes were open Nugget could plainly see that he had been moved into the laboratory himself and that his clothes had been removed above the waist.
The realisation drew a keening, whining sound of pure terror from the young man.
From the sensation alone he could have deduced that he was being held on metallic slab, its' cold surface pressing against his back even as he was held upright at a roughly forty five degree angle and fastened to the slab with restraints that he could not force his way free of despite his best efforts; looking down Nugget's fear was amplified by the sight of thick metal bands placed across the width of the surgical slab which were then further bolstered by restraints which the Chicken Faunus recognised as being similar to something used by the police in various Kingdoms, most notably Atlas which were designed to limit and suppress a captives' Aura without breaking it. The knowledge that he was trapped and at the mercy of a decidedly unhinged individual and that even his Aura-enhanced strength would be denied to him and entirely useless would be terrifying in its' own right but somehow it was made far worse by the sight of the remains of previous restrains in the form of frayed and torn leather and the remains of broken chains.
Swallowing the bile that rose in his throat Nugget tried to force himself to pay attention to his surroundings more fully and see if there was anything that he could use to his advantage no matter how hopeless the situation seemed, though the prospect was made more difficult by the shallowness of his unsteady breathing, the sound of his heart hammering painfully against his chest and the ringing in his ears.
The laboratory had once been pristine though Nugget could see several places where cabinets and pieces of equipment had been crushed with tremendous force, along with burns and scorch marks consistent with the entire place having been immolated at least once before; moreover the once unremarkable and drab walls of the laboratory were now tarnished by something which threatened to cost Nugget all control of his faculties.
Things which resembled vines, or perhaps tendrils or even a strange approximation of some form of nervous or circulatory system spreading out across the walls in thin, ropey and pulsating strands and whose pitch black, writhing forms could only have been comprised of Grimm-flesh.
The tissue grew along walls to either side of Nugget and seemed to originate from a point behind him and as he forced his rattled and reeling mind to focus the Chicken Focus realised that he could hear something coming from that point of origin; a squelching, crunching thing underscored by both erratic clicking sounds and also faint, disturbingly human groaning.
Nugget tried to turn his head, but then upon realising that he would not be able to see the source of the noise promptly decided that he did not actually want to and instead fixed his gaze firmly and with what little defiance he could muster on the observation window where he was certain that Aefen Cruor was watching.
"Okay, let's talk business" he did everything to keep his voice from cracking and wavering and still it was far from enough "Come on, you know well enough that I'm not helping Shadowmoon out of any real loyalty….It's just business, make me an offer"
It was a grovelling pure and simple, begging for his life but even here Nugget could not entirely give up his pride, as though he still believed that he could attain enough leverage to negotiate from a position of power. There were several seconds of silence and the Chicken Faunus's breathing grew more frantic as he began to suspect that he was being ignored, yet when he was on the verge of screaming out to demand he be heard and listened to the faint crackling of an intercom reached his ears, followed by amused chuckling.
"You are certainly entertaining, I'll grant you that much at least" Aefen's voice filled the laboratory even as the scientist herself spoke quietly "But I can assure you that you have nothing to offer me that is more important or of more interest to me than what I already have planned….This is important work Nugget, I know that you don't have any great plans or interest in a better Remnant; but this is something you should be honoured to be a part of-"
"WE'RE HUNTERS!" Nugget screamed, resolve finally shattering completely "A TEAM OF FOUR HUNTERS, IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD DO WITH A TEAM OF HUNTERS THAT ARE LOYAL TO YOU AND NOBODY ELSE!"
"One Hunter" Aefen corrected dismissively "You were unconscious for some time and your friends were….Well not exactly eager to make their contributions to scientific advancement but still-"
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO! WHERE ARE MY TEAM?" Nugget's voice cracked and he let out a single, choked sob. No matter what accusations might have been levelled against him regarding his lack of loyalties, principles or honour the young man did still care deeply for Team NUGT who had been his first friends on the island of Menagerie and a safe haven he had been able to retreat to; the idea that he had failed so badly as a leader that they had fallen into Aefen's clutches and that he could not save them no matter how he schemed and connived broke the Faunus at his core.
"Why don't you see for yourself" Aefen answered, her tone light and calm; a sickening blend of theatricality and total disinterest which was followed by her using some remote control to turn Nugget's slab in a slow circle until it finally came to face what had lurked behind.
The decision to scream or cry was taken from him as the sheer, unrelenting horror of what confronted him robbed Nugget of all reason for several seconds.
They had once been people, though whatever Aefen had done had transformed them into monsters of the most horrific kind; Grimm-tissue had replaced much of what had once existed and beyond a basic, albeit still mangled and corrupted shape all that truly remained of the beings' humanity were ragged flesh worn like robes and in some places their hair and tattered clothing. Nugget counted almost a dozen figures in total, though that number was dependant on whether the freakish abominations counted as individuals any more; the majority of the things that had once been human had merged, the vines and tendrils working across the walls having branched out from the heart of a barely mobile mass of fungal and tumorous rot where individual limbs were still visible amongst the fused flesh and bioluminescent mushroom caps which filled the place with a faint crimson glow; amongst those limbs there were human appendages but also lashing tendrils and spiked claws which had extended out to ensnare the remaining trio of unspeakable things and begin drawing them into the whole.
They had once been his friends.
"WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU MONSTER!" Nugget finally screamed as he gazed upon the ruined forms of the people he cared for; each of them contorted into something barely humanoid in its' exaggerated proportions, each of them skinned and reduced to groaning, snarling caricatures with obsidian flesh, visible bones and sporting fangs, claws and other weapons which Nugget was further disgusted to see vaguely resembled some of the melee weapons they had favoured in life.
"I am making humanity better Nugget" Aefen answered, her voice more firm now as she entered commands that saw the metallic slab turning to face her once again "So far Hunters, or students at least have proven to be the only group capable of undergoing to merging and retaining any degree of who they were-"
"MY TEAM ARE STILL IN THERE?" hope and disgust battled within Nugget until Aefen spoke again.
"In a sense" she sighed "My vision is for the best of humanity and the best of Grimm, a single species immune to all of our ills; for that I need test subjects with the resilience to complete the process….I already took data from your friends' experiences, now I'm going to see if allowing them to be absorbed into the failed experiment behind you has any effect; I'm hoping that it will be restorative or corrective in some way"
Before he could scream at the horror and insanity of it all, or plead for mercy and promise Aefen anything that she might ask Nugget was forced to come to terms with the fact that it was too late and that his fate was sealed; a single armature was already moving into place and affixed to it was a modified oxygen mask with a feed connected to a tank filled with what the young man sobbed upon realising was a shifting, roiling cloud of Grimm tissue.
"But you" Aefen almost cooed "Are going to be my control group and the proof of concept I keep for separate study"
Maintaining the illusion of their recon mission to see just what was happening at Pikesreach being simply another student training mission had meant that Team MARS were departing alongside various other students of Breaktide Academy, primarily of their own year group. Ordinarily this would not be a cause for complaint and departing for missions at some point in the mid to late morning would be deemed early enough for the group of teenagers, with such a vital goal ahead of them however the four of them might have been happier if they had been allowed to depart at the crack of dawn instead.
"This is it then, everyone ready?" Astra asked, voice raised barely above a whisper as they led their team towards the waiting doors of the campus's vast amphitheatre where mission briefings were being handed out and teams of students were meeting their assigned Hunters.
The four of them had slept little despite having managed to enjoy themselves somewhat the previous evening, with Astra waking even earlier than was their usual habit and finding that Regalia had climbed up onto their bunk which led to the couple simply holding one another for some time before they had been forced to begin their day. Showered, dressed and with weapons that had been maintained, cleaned and tested the day before given a final series of checks the team had lingered for a while and taken a few moments to send messages to loved ones before finally gathering the belongings and equipment they expected to need for the mission and departing. Their first port of call had been the canteen where the four of them had made small talk with friends and peers and tried their best to force themselves to eat, knowing that it was important to be prepared and that that included taking care of their own bodies' needs even if it was not particularly enjoyable to try and force down food when each of them were distracted by the cold, coiling mass of nerves in the pits of their stomachs.
Finally however there had been nothing left to but set off to where they knew Coco would be.
"Ready might be a little generous….but I'm not backing down" Stygian answered, trying to maintain a level of composure and bravado even as he adjusted his jacket, hair and the two necklaces he wore incessantly.
"What he said" Athena nodded, reaching over and squeezing her partners' arm reassuringly before her expression darkened, brow furrowing and eyes becoming downcast "But yeah, I won't pretend that I'm not nervous about this….Part of needs this and part of me wishes I could run and hide"
"I can't imagine you doing that" Stygian noted thoughtfully.
"Heh, remember we're a recon mission….We might not find anything, they might all be gone" Regalia offered, though the way she nervously rubbed her hands together and her bushy tail twitched behind her suggested that she was far less confident in that notion than she might like to be. Astra turned to face her, reaching out and taking her hand as they nodded and remained solemnly silent for a moment before adding.
"Whatever happens we'll get through it" they asserted bluntly and then there was no room or time left for them to talk at all.
They had entered the amphitheatre and Coco Adel was already waiting for them.
The Headmistress stood near the centre of the room where her presence projected an air of authority and control over her domain so complete that even the adult, qualified Hunters within her academy were forced to stand a little straighter. She was flanked by Velvet and Yatsuhashi who would be in charge of Breaktide Academy in her absence, through the genuine tenderness with which she reached out and hugged the pair tightly suggested that it was a situation that none of the members of Team CFVY were overly happy with and that either of Coco's team-mates would have preferred that they were joining her on her mission.
She broke away from her family and team a moment later however and Team MARS found themselves subjected to the same raw presence as the people around them as their headmistress strode towards them with purpose.
"Team MARS" she nodded slightly, peering over her sunglasses as she did so and cutting to the heart of the matter without preamble "You know and understand what you're mission is and what it entails….I feel obliged to offer you a final chance to decline, if you feel that this is too dangerous-"
"Absolutely not" Astra interjected, as politely as they could manage
"I feel obliged to remind you" Coco repeated, her words more pointed in the wake of the interruption "That we run a very real risk of encountering Cyber-Grimm, along with your former team-mate….I understand that this mission will be personal for all of you and I asking you to seriously consider whether or not you will be able to do what is required of you"
There was a pregnant pause after that, a few moments where each of Team MARS did as they were asked and looked inwards; ending when Astra nodded and spoke again.
"We've known what the mission was for weeks Professor, we've already had these discussions and made our choices. We're ready"
"Good" Coco nodded and offered her students a tight smile "Then walk with me"
"The launchpads?" Astra enquired only a few moments later as the Deer Faunus surmised their destination from the general direction of travel.
"Exactly" Coco nodded "We decided against allowing you or your partner to bring your personal vehicles for this mission during the planning stages"
"Of course Professor" Astra nodded in understanding "If Zirconia's there then she'll recognise them"
"True enough" the Headmistress nodded "But we also won't be taking any vehicles within Pikesreach's estimated range of control….Our plan is to be deployed like any other student mission out in the wastelands and then begin a stealthy approach on Pikesreach; We'll setting up a base camp in an area we secure, Mister Blue your judgement will be critical here"
"I won't let you down Professor" Stygian nodded.
"That's what I like to hear" Coco nodded "Once our base camp has been established we will be conducting surveillance and reconnaissance of Pikesreach to determine if our targets are still present and if so how well defended they are, their intentions and if the people of Pikesreach can be rescued; if all goes according to plan you will not be a part of anything beyond the recon stage of this mission, once we have more information to work with we can deploy more experienced Hunters to detain or neutralise enemy forces. Naturally however there is a chance that we will be spotted or encounter Creatures of Grimm whilst in the wastes. Do you all understand?"
"We do Professor" Astra breathed out, their assent being followed by similar words from Regalia, Stygian and Athena-Jade; though the latter pair hesitated for a moment for reasons which Coco seemed to understand and chose not to comment on, instead nodding once again and gesturing ahead.
"Then let's move; we have a transport waiting"
Zirconia had tried everything she could think of to waylay and hobble Gestalt-Prime's return to Pikesreach without putting the people in her charge at legitimate risk or doing something so drastic that it would give away her intentions and see the Alpha Cyber-Grimm turn on her.
Her efforts had included but were not limited to, stopping to perform field triage on several members of the search party who had been bitten and clawed by Grimm during the course of their first skirmish with the Grimm even though none of the injured were at any risk of dying before returning to Pikesreach, using the claim that she couldn't accurately assess the damage or work safely whilst the vehicles were in motion. She had sabotaged two of the vehicles in question, leading to multiple delays as the collection of fighters and Cyber-Grimm were halted first by a flat tire and then by another lightly armoured vehicle falling behind the group and finally coming to a halt entirely only for its' driver to curse furiously at the realisation that the fuel lines had been damaged, presumably by terrain or even some small and subterranean monster attacking from below. Using these distractions to create others Zirconia then claimed to have spotted some clues which might give some indication of at least which direction their entirely fictitious quarry had fled and, to even her own surprise managed to convince Gestalt-Prime to turn and venture off in an entirely different direction where, once again the party had encountered the Creatures of Grimm and engaged in a brief skirmish.
The end result of the entire ordeal, which would have been a comedic farce were its' stakes not so high and knowledge of why it had to be undertaken so terrifying was that by the time Zirconia and her allies finally returned to Pikesreach the sun had already passed its' peak overhead. Gates opened and were raised as the small convoy of vehicles and the accompanying Cyber-Grimm, made their way through the maze of razor-wire and other obstacles intended to keep the unwelcome at bay, prompting the sentries guarding those gates to stand at ease and make way whilst above them a group of snipers and weapons teams prepared to focus their fire, training all weapons on the entrance to Pikesreach in case all were not as it seemed or any lurking Grimm tried to take advantage of the open gate.
Gestalt-Prime, for reasons of their own had deigned to join the group of returnees on the ground rather than simply soaring overhead and returning to their usual haunt which Zirconia chose to believe was a sign that the Alpha Cyber-Grimm did indeed have limits and could feel fatigue; though their monstrous presence beside her was undeniably worrisome and the Grasshopper Faunus felt a distinct chill pass over her as they drew close which left her focusing on precisely where Gestalt-Prime and their Cyber-Grimm minions were at all times rather than what she knew she should be paying attention to.
Shaking her head faintly and narrowing her mismatched eyes Zirconia scanned the faces and saw that amongst them were several people who were loyal to herself, having been sent directly from Jidhir Town by Nero or were at least nominally loyal to her through Nugget; though as she looked around a glaringly obvious absence became impossible to ignore.
"Where are Team NUGT?" she rose her voice so that she could be heard by all present, leaping out of her still moving vehicle as she entered Pikesreach "They were supposed to rendezvous with me here. Does anybody know where they are?"
The sounds that greeted her may as well have been total silence as for all of their muttering amongst themselves as none of the sentries or gunners could offer an answer; instead the quiet confusion was allowed to linger for a few moments, just long enough for Zirconia to consider repeating the question more forcefully and phrasing at as a demand for Team NUGT to be found but before she could do so an answer came as Gestalt-Prime loomed over her, the monsters' shadow completely engulfing her as she spoke.
"Perhaps they are busy elsewhere. We were delayed" the Alpha Cyber-Grimm offered, something unsettlingly human working its' way into a voice that was smoother than the tortured and garbled screaming that they had once been limited to and yet no less unnerving, a faint bemusement in their words and faint flickering in their lone optic which suggested to Zirconia that if the monster were capable of smirking then they would have.
"They have been interested in helping the scientist have they not, perhaps they're in her lab" Zirconia's blood ran cold at those words; it was a threat and a challenge from Gestalt-Prime which left no doubt at all in her mind as to the level of danger her former classmates were now in. Gestalt-Prime reared up and mechanical panels of their body began to shift and allow tissue to grow and expand as the they unfurled axe-tipped wings that had been tucked away inside of their body in a collapsed state; she was unsure if her foe intended to attack her there and then or to simply to soar up onto their usual roost and into Aefen's lair to see the results of whatever the demented woman had done and in that moment she found that it didn't matter at all.
Zirconia acted, without thought an in the only way she could.
"WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!" the words left her in a ragged scream as she leapt into action, Sunriser Cain finding its' way to her hand in its' pistol form as she lunged towards Gestalt-Prime and then unleashed all of the power in the mechanical limbs to vault and somersault over them, time seeming to slow to a crawl for her as her heartbeat thundered in her ears and rendered the sounds of panicked confusion around her distant and senseless whilst she watched Gestalt-Prime's wings continue unfurl as if it were in slow-motion, moving panels allowing her a brief moment of opportunity which she quickly seized.
'Ice! Magnetic!' her weapons' synthesized voice declared her attack as she fired, using the odd combination of Dust varieties to thread a single shot between moving parts and into to unspeakable innards of Gestalt-Prime where the Ice Dust detonated and began to freeze everything in its' path, with that path being guided and driven deeper by the Magnetic Dust which had peppered the monsters' insides.
And Zirconia was not finished.
"WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED!" she repeated, screaming the words to reach as many people as possible "DOCTOR CRUOR HAS BETRAYED US ALL, GESTALT-PRIME AND THE CYBER-GRIMM HAVE GONE ROGUE; FIRE ON GESTALT-PRIME!"
'Fire! Gravity!' Sunriser Cain announced as its' chambers rotated and she fired another shot at the back of the now immobile Gestalt-Prime. In truth Zirconia was not entirely sure to whom the Cyber-Grimm would be answerable in such a situation but in her blind panic she refused to take such a massive risk and instead capitalised on the brief moment where she had the initiative; her second attack hurling Gestalt-Prime back into the side of one of the now empty vehicles in a billowing ball of fire with a screech of tearing metal and the moment the Grasshopper Faunus saw fluids, which she dearly hoped were oil or something else that might be flammable she fired again.
'Double Fire!' the lightly armoured buggy exploded as the overpowered incendiary round struck it and caused on eruption of flames which forced Zirconia to look away, something which saw her tactically retreating as she had no intention of being caught by Gestalt-Prime when they inevitably emerged from the flames.
Doing so allowed the young rogue a chance to scan her surroundings and despite her terror and adrenaline she managed to process and understand a single, interesting truth.
The Cyber-Grimm were not united.
Whilst the monsters that had been following Gestalt-Prime directly had behaved exactly as expected and gone rogue, with that category including the single remaining Shroud Variant which was currently stalking the ramparts and in the process of inflicting catastrophic injuries to a gunnery crew in order to keep them from putting their weapons to use those Cyber-Grimm seemed to be in the minority; the beasts which had been assigned to a human handler were acting, Zirconia supposed as though that handler were their own personal Alpha and fighting viciously to destroy the threat to them regardless of the fact that the threat came from there own kin.
It was a small sense of victory and relief, that despite everything that had gone wrong and all of her wavering faith Damascus Nero had indeed expected treachery from his allies and had clearly planned accordingly; some small part of Zirconia would have smiled as she realised that the Cyber-Grimm's current behaviour might in fact be a final gift from the late Albion Herringbone.
That sense of victory was quickly snatched away from her.
"YOU WILL DIE FOR THAT!"
Gestalt-Prime's challenge came as a distorted, shrieking of metal on metal much more akin to the voice of their previous bodies and iteration and before Zirconia saw the monster themselves she was forced to leap and roll aside to avoid being cleaved in half a jagged and roughly torn sheet of metal which she realised had been part of the vehicle she had blown up.
Then the Alpha Cyber-Grimm strode out of the flames, their axe-tipped wings had wrapped around the monsters' body and merged with their arms to create enormous masses of bulging muscle whilst at the same time allowing Gestalt-Prime to shield themselves from the worst of the heat and damage by cloaking themselves with extra limbs. As they came striding towards her they ground the blades of the axes together menacingly, their tail lashing behind them and additional moving components allowing them to deploy a pair of small, shoulder mounted lasers all whilst Gestalt-Prime glared hatefully and with murderous intent at Zirconia, their visor never sliding into place as though they wanted to look her in the eyes directly.
Zirconia did the only thing she could in that moment.
She snapped off a single shot and then bolted, sprinting for life as fast as Aura, cybernetic limbs and pure desperation could carry her in the direction of Aefen Cruor's lair; leaving her allies to fend for themselves against the Cyber-Grimm that had followed Gestalt-Prime and loathing herself for betraying them as people and her own principles whilst also being terribly aware of the fact that the Alpha Cyber-Grimm themselves was giving chase, forcing her to weave and zigzag to avoid laser-fire as she raced towards her objective.
All that mattered now was stopping Aefen Cruor.
She would not fail again.
With the famed and impossibly imposing Coco Adel beside them, her presence adding to the severity of the situation and importance that was impossible to overstate Team MARS had begun their mission with gusto and made what they believed to be steady progress already.
Their transport, one of many in Breaktide Academies' service which was modern enough to be reliable and serviceable and unremarkable save for the schools' emblem upon its' wings had flown the five Hunters beyond Port Alistair and over several of the smaller ancillary settlements that clustered around it, out into the wasteland proper; a place that had grown ever more frightful in recent months as the loss of Hammerfall Outpost had allowed darkness to pool in seemingly every crack and crevice.
Upon landing they had hastily and carefully set up a small and largely concealed base camp in a place where the terrain and geography had provided a respectable amount of cover and in a place where Stygian had assured Coco that, to the best of his knowledge Pikesreach's defenders did not patrol with any degree of regularity; the positioning of their tents and supplies allowing the headmistress to lead Team MARS on their mission in their entirety rather than being forced to leave a student behind to act as a sentry, instead simply making do with a small collection of particularly dangerous booby traps which Coco had casually explained were gifts from Flax Scarlatina, Velvet's younger brother and father of Honey Scarlatina whom Astra had managed to defeat in the Vytal Tournament despite the terrible odds against them.
Once their base camp for the duration of the mission, whose expected duration was somewhat flexible Team MARS and Coco Adel had finally began the process of approaching Pikesreach, moving at a swift but cautious pace; using both Stygian's knowledge of an area which was less well-mapped than other areas of Menagerie's wastelands, owing simply to the information gathered by the people of Pikesreach never being shared when contact between the settlement and others which would become the Kingdom of Menagerie ceased, in addition to 'Look-See' with Regalia's Semblance seeming to confirm that there was indeed something of interest and importance in the general direction of Pikesreach even if it could not tell her exactly what lay ahead.
Despite their best efforts the approach had not gone entirely smoothly or without incident and the five Hunters had been forced to defend themselves from the Creatures of Grimm after being spied by a lone Scree circling overhead, with the massive Nevermore-like Grimm which more resembled a buzzard or vulture certainly being one of the larger examples of its' species and also, either through design or simple happenstance managing to attract other monsters to where Coco and Team MARS had been taking cover. The true difficulty of the battle had not been the Creatures of Grimm themselves no matter how ferocious and determined the monsters, which had acted with a surprising amount of cunning despite there being no Alpha amongst them had been; instead the real test for Team MARS had been disposing of the enemy in a way which did not draw more unwanted attention towards them, a demand which had seen many of their ranged weapons rendered unsuitable with Coco herself suffering the most from the limitation. The team had ultimately succeeded however, with Athena-Jade and Astra managed to unleash an impressive amount of damage on the Grimm with surprisingly little noise, even if the glowing Aura-based light that their Semblances produced had been some concern whilst Regalia's harpoon and Stygian's teleportation and katana had handled whatever monsters managed to withstand or evade the larger attacks from their partners.
Eventually however they had managed to continue onwards until finally Pikesreach was in their sight.
"There it is….Home, or at least it used to be" Stygian murmured as he gestured to the shape of the captured settlement in the distance, too far away for any details to be distinct with the naked eye even for a Faunus; though close enough that binoculars or similar means of magnification would overcome the problem.
"Heh….Is it weird to say that it looks cooler than I was expecting" Regalia noted, peering intently through her goggles whose lilac-tinted lenses had adjusted themselves to allow her a better view of the place "It's like a castle"
"I mean castles were meant to withstand an invasion, so was Pikesreach" the Mouse Faunus answered, unsure of exactly how to take the comment that supposed was meant as a compliment of sorts.
"It wasn't meant to withstand us though" Astra noted, every ounce of the Deer Faunus's being filled with an intense focus as they stared intently in the direction of Pikesreach "Let's get to work"
"Recon remember….Unless things change" Athena pointed out, the Bear Faunus matching her team leaders' focus though with an undercurrent of uncertain apprehensiveness making itself known as she realised, in a way that had seemed academic and hypothetical only a short while ago that was was indeed painfully close to the partner who had betrayed her and would likely see her before the mission ended.
"Slate's right….But I like your style Mars. We need to set up a better vantage point, Russet be ready to use your Semblance again, Blue what's our next move?" Coco looked at each of her students as she spoke, they were easily amongst the most capable in their year group and amongst some of the finest her academy had produced even if their grades or records did not always support that assertion and after only a brief assessment she found herself satisfied that they were indeed ready for what was required of them. With that in mind she turned her focus to her surroundings in an effort to get a feel for the place before Stygian considered his answer, using technology hidden within her signature sunglasses that had been implemented by Velvet to magnify and otherwise everything she saw whilst privately lamenting the absence of Hammerfall Outpost as with it she would have been able to share what she saw in real time. Beyond the walls which enclosed the heart of Pikesreach itself Coco could see that there were defences surrounding the settlement in an expansive maze, through which only a small handful of clear paths could be found, those paths being simple dirt roads no doubt originally made through simple erosion and wear rather than planning which in turn led out to a collection of fields containing crops and livestock which were defended by a limited amount of fences and other defences including a smattering of rudimentary watchtowers.
"Something's not right" Stygian's eventual answer drew all eyes to him, whilst the young man's own electric blue eyes were fixed firmly on his former home as he peered through a pair of binoculars he had brought with him, one hand holding them whilst the other fiddled absently with his two necklaces.
"What is is?" Astra asked, nervous but willing to take charge before Coco could ask the same question.
"At this time of the day there should be people working in those fields" the Mouse Faunus answered whilst not turning his gaze away from Pikesreach "And there should definitely be someone in the watchtower over there"
"Maybe-" Athena had intended to speak but whatever she had hoped to say was silenced by the sound of something exploding in the distance and whilst whatever had caused the ruckus remained hidden behind the walls of Pikesreach the tower of smoke which began to rise up into the air gave some indication.
"Listen!" Regalia exclaimed "I can hear gunshots!"
"We need to move!" Stygian urged.
"Wait!" Coco demanded, clamping a hand on the Mouse Faunus to prevent him from using his Semblance and doing something reckless no matter how much it might be understandable to her.
"Let me take the binoculars" Astra gentle relieved their friend of the item and brought them up to their own eyes in order to make better sense of what was going on, only for their jaw to hang loosely for a moment as the colour drained from their features "Professor, there's Cyber-Grimm in the air….Whatever's happening at Pikesreach is big; I don't think this is just a recon mission-"
"Not your call to make" Coco shut her student down bluntly before letting out a guttural snarl of sheer agitation as he glasses allowed her to see what Astra had "But damn it I agree, we can't just sit here. Intervening is authorised….But we need a plan, we can't rush in"
"I might have something" Astra offered.
"I'm listening"
"AJ, can you hit one of the watchtowers that Stitch said are empty from here?" upon seeing the Bear Faunus consider for a moment before finally nodding the Deer Faunus continued "Okay, take the shot….We don't have to take it out, just do enough damage to draw some attention; between whatever is already happening and needing to investigate we should have an opening to sneak inside, especially with Stitch knowing the layout"
"That's a good plan" Coco nodded, turning it over in her mind before adjusting her beret and deploying her oversized weapon "Slate, take the shot"
A moment later Heartbreaker was unfurled in its' laser cannon form and each of Team MARS felt their pulses quicken in time with the sound of the weapon priming to fire as they prepared to intervene in a way which had not been planned and yet felt inevitable all the same.
'Double Ice!', 'Hard-Light! Lightning!', 'Ice! Lightning', 'Double Fire', 'Magnetic! Gravity!' Sunriser Cain gave out a continuous stream of announcements which began to blur into one another as Zirconia fired almost blindly over her shoulder, she desperate in her attempts to slow down the monstrous behemoth which gave chase that she barely even regarded the specific combinations of Dust that she was using and instead focused entirely on the act of shooting herself, hoping that something would be enough to buy her a few more moments which she could use to reach her goal.
Her weapons' synthetic voice made any notion of hiding an impossibility, though it was an idea that Zirconia would never have entertained even in better circumstances.
There was no hiding or fighting against Gestalt-Prime, all she could do was run.
The Alpha Cyber-Grimm continued to stalk after her with an unwavering and inexorable certainty, clearly undamaged despite Zirconia's earlier attack and yet giving chase on foot rather than simply taking to the air and ending the entire charade in moments, similarly they had continued to use their smaller shoulder-mounted weapons when a single blast from the main weapon stored within their chest cavity would have burned through Zirconia's Aura and body in the blink of an eye which led the Grasshopper Faunus to the horrifying conclusion that her pursuer was enjoying the chase, feeding on the panic and dread which now surely permeated the air.
Pikesreach had descended into chaos as a civil war between multiple parties began to erupt within its' walls; Cyber-Grimm were turned against one another with their loyalties being solely to which individual happened to be in control of them at the time, with those operated by people loyal to Nero's vision of a better Remnant, or simply too confused to do anything more than blindly follow orders attempting to destroy or contain and possibly repurpose the Cyber-Grimm that had been following Gestalt-Prime only to be pushed back as the Path of the Apex Being, presumably at some command from Aefen Cruor came rushing into battle in a chaotic eruption of violence which had seen Cyber-Grimm taking to the air and raining death from above or else wading into bodies and carving bloody swathes through any resistance resistance and buildings levelled as the settlements' defensive weapons were turned inwards all whilst those who called Pikesreach their home began taking whatever weapons they could find or steal and attempted to liberate themselves, seeing the infighting between their new oppressors as an opportunity.
Zirconia used the chaos to her advantage, it was a notion she knew that she would lose sleep over at some point in the near future yet if she was to have any future at all then there was no choice.
An Aura-fuelled leap saw her vaulting up onto the roof of a stone building which, like almost any other in Pikesreach was fortified and built to act as a defensible position if the situation called for it; such plans had never accounted for the sheer devastation of the Cyber-Grimm and as such the building had already been severely damaged, with part of its' roof collapsed and torn away which allowed Zirconia to quickly drop inside and bound over rubble and wreckage and through what remained of the interior of the building to reach a window on its' opposite side which the rogue promptly leapt out of; Gestalt-Prime's lasers reducing stone to a molten state as fist-sized beams of searing light burst and cleaved through the building in its' entirety at seemingly random intervals. She was certain that the sentient monster could see her even without a direct line of sight now, likely tracking her body heat or something similar and thus was deliberately tormenting her with such lazy attacks and yet she pressed onwards; with her breathing reduced to frantic, ragged gasps from beneath her mask and her mismatched eyes were wild with fright whilst her weapon jolted every motion as she clutched it in trembling fingers, no longer firing but instead simply evading as she weaved and raced through the streets of Pikesreach towards her goal.
And eventually she reached it.
The entrance to the larger building which served as Aefen's lair, workshop and laboratory was in plain sight and entirely unprotected, at least from the outside. With her heart hammering and lungs burning, every muscle screaming in protest the Grasshopper Faunus sprinted towards it only for some barely perceptible shift in the air to make the hair on the back of the rogues' neck stand on end and see her leaping and rolling to the side.
'Hard-Light! Lightning!' Sunriser Cain was shifted into its' cylinder bladed and sword-like form, Zirconia swinging out in a wide arc as she skidded across the hard ground to create a crackling and potentially lethal barrier around herself and yet realised in the next instant that it would be entirely meaningless; Gestalt-Prime was visible some distance away, too far for her to effectively return fire and yet Zirconia could still see the Alpha Cyber-Grimm's chest reconfiguring as their main weapon was retracted. A cursory glance around her left Zirconia's mismatched eyes wider still as she saw that walls to either side of her were blackened and scorched whilst turning towards Aefen's lair revealed the attacks' true intention. Gestalt-Prime had planned to shoot her the moment she bolted for the entrance, threading a single beam of crimson light directly through the doorway to no doubt inflict catastrophic damage on whatever lay beyond.
Seeing that she had a small window of opportunity before Gestalt-Prime fired again Zirconia scrabbled to her feet and charged.
She was inside within seconds and confronted by utter ruins and surfaces which still glowed with enough heat to make her Aura waver as she hurried by them and yet this paled in comparison to what lay beyond, the unmistakable chainsaw-shrieking and chittering of Cyber-Grimm being activated as what seemed like the entire contents of Aefen's workshop were awakened in response to the attack; with Zirconia having neither the time no the optimism to halt and try to command the snarling abominations and instead simply charging through their midst with a wordless scream of terror and built-up rage, throwing out Hard-Light Dust shields to either side of herself with Sunriser Cain as she hurtled through the midst of the monsters before they could become fully responsive and from there she pushed her way deeper into the lair in search of Aefen Cruor so that she might stop whatever madness the scientist and save Team NUGT from whatever fate that following her orders had seen them subjected to.
Until eventually she came skidding to a halt, her blood running cold at the sight before her.
"Lo and behold….I suppose it is cliché to tell you that I've been expecting you….But I have" Aefen Cruor, once named Doctor Shirley Aefen, High Speaker to the Path of the Apex Being and the creator of the Cyber-Grimm twirled her ram-skull topped staff animatedly and gave a mocking bow in greeting.
The black-clad and masked woman stood in front of what could only be her personal laboratory, its' bulletproof and treated windows obscured by some black sheets though if she strained her eyes Zirconia could still see movement beyond them; large but undefined shapes whose outlines she could not force to correlate with anything recognisable whilst adjacent to the laboratory was a control room filled with computers and various other instruments and displays.
More importantly however was the fact that Aefen Cruor was flanked by a pair of standard model Cyber-Grimm whose weapons bristled irritably whilst the slithering form of the Man-eater coiled and wove itself around the older woman, low to the ground with its' mandible stretching open as it prepared to fire its' prehensile and weaponised tongue at its' latest victim.
"Call off your Cyber-Grimm and surrender your research….You're done here" Zirconia demanded, forcing every ounce of the confidence and control she wished she could feel into her voice but to no avail, her words wavered and cracked and her usual rasp was reduced to something hoarse and edged with fear; so much so that Aefen merely laughed in response.
"Well look at you, I can see why Nero is so proud of his little girl; I imagine some people might find that impressive" despite all of her attire and charisma Aefen alone was simply a single human being without the benefits of an unlocked Aura and if she were able to face the scientist directly Zirconia knew that it would be a brief and one-sided affair, with a trio of Cyber-Grimm at her back however it was an entirely different matter and Zirconia understood that alone she had very little chance of leaving Aefen's lair alive.
A point that was underlined by movement behind her.
The sound of something heavily, presumably an entire workstation being flipped and thrown aside caused the Grasshopper whirl around and see that there was no longer a path for her to retreat as the Cyber-Grimm which had been brought online, many of them damaged to some extent but ultimately more than capable of eviscerating a single scared young woman had lumbered their way towards the laboratory and were now steadily moving into position behind her, whilst at the same time moving aside without complaint to allow the powerful form of Gestalt-Prime, arms and wings fused into massive and disproportionately muscled limbs which ended with curved axe-blades to come stalking forwards; their lone eye fixed on Zirconia and a low snarl escaping them.
"Now you die-"
Whatever else Gestalt-Prime had intended to add to this opening threat went unheard as an explosion larger than any of the sounds of the battle currently going on outside ripped through Pikesreach and left a deafened, apprehensive lull in the din behind it.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Aefen demanded, her usual bravado faltering as she grasped her staff in both hands in order to cudgel some as yet unidentified foe; Gestalt-Prime's response was equally enraged, a shrieking howl of hate and fury echoing throughout the lair.
"HUNTERS ARE HERE! CYBER-GRIMM WITH ME! SCIENTIST, KILL HER!" with that Gestalt-Prime separated their wings from their arms and bolted back out towards the exit, their bounding footsteps transitioning to flight with a single leap; followed by Zirconia being forced once again to leap and dodge as the Cyber-Grimm, both those that had been awakened and those which had flanked Aefen rushed after their Alpha with the carapace horns of the standard variants nearly striking her on several occasions in the span of little more than a second whilst the Man-eater nearly barrelled over her entirely, almost lethal even when disinterested.
Until eventually Zirconia and Aefen were alone and the sound of Sunriser Cain's mechanisms as it was transformed into its' pistol form were all that could be heard.
"Now don't for a moment presume that just because-" Aefen fell silent as Zirconia took a single step closer and raised her weapon, levelling her gun directly at the mad scientists' forehead with absolute certainty that the mask she wore could not protect her.
"You're going to call of the Cyber-Grimm and tell me how to kill Gestalt-Prime. You're going to surrender your research….And you're going to tell me what you've done to Team NUGT" Zirconia's voice tightened with her final demand, bile rising in her throat at the thought of whatever unknown horrors had already been inflicted on her former classmates; a condition that was only amplified when Aefen took a single step backwards so that she was in reach of the door to her laboratory, her body language already regaining its' theatrical air.
"Oh I didn't realise that you were such close friends….They're doing rather well" everything about Aefen's words left a voice in Zirconia's mind urging her to pull the trigger "Would you like to see them?"
With that Aefen opened the door and stepped backwards, allowing Zirconia to follow her.
Athena-Jade had opened fire as part of Astra's plan and the empty watchtower had been completely obliterated, revealing itself to have likely contained a noteworthy amount of Dust or something similarly volatile which the laser-fire had ignited to produce an explosion of unexpected proportions.
With the first stage of the plan complete Coco had urged Team MARS onwards, stating that it would be an extremely bad idea to be present when someone, or something came to investigate the attack. The five of them had rushed forwards, weapons at the ready and keeping a watchful eye out for any incoming threats as Stygian had guided them on a safe, if somewhat indirect route from the vantage point they had previously taken towards the outer edges of what constituted Pikesreach's territory and into fields where they had been forced to move more slowly, taking care to ensure that the same tall crops that they were using to hide did not give away their approach by rustling too much; that advance being brought to a momentary halt as something heavy and mechanical flew overhead in the general direction of the destruction acting as a decoy but still far too close for comfort.
"Well, they definitely know they're here" Astra whispered, words no louder than a breath and yet still enough to draw Coco's attention.
"As long as they don't double back and fire on us then they're not a problem" the professor and far more experienced Hunter said firmly, her voice equally hushed and focus swiftly directed back towards the path ahead.
"But where are the others?" Athena-Jade asked hesitantly "There's no way there's only one Cyber-Grimm left here"
"Heh, she's right….It's quiet, too quiet" Regalia noted with a Grimm smile.
"I wanna say that hopefully they're tied down with whatever is happening ahead" Stygian's electric blue eyes narrowed "But hope is a strong word, I know those people"
"Remember that Gestalt-Prime was expected to be present and that the Cyber-Grimm are not fully autonomous….We have to account for their operators being smart enough to know a decoy when they see one Coco noted "As long as that one that flew overhead doesn't double back we're fine. Focus on the mission and leave problems like Gestalt-Prime to me"
"Oh don't worry, I think I've fought Gestalt-Prime enough to know I don't wanna do it again" Astra muttered darkly, with Coco managing a faint snort in response before raising a hand to keep her students from moving any further ahead as the five of them drew close to the edge of the field of crops and towards a dirt road between it an another field.
"There's something waiting for us ahead, it's on the road and I don't know what it is but if it's smart enough to know where were are when the other Cyber-Grimm don't and predict our route then I'm gonna take it on first" Coco's words gave Team MARS pause, each of them had seen the footage of the larger or more capable specialised variants of Cyber-Grimm to be deployed in Neo Vale but nothing they could recall matched the behaviour the professor described; readying her Mini-Gun Coco braced herself "Wait here"
With that the Headmistress of Breaktide Academy rushed out into the road, the glasses that had been a gift from Velvet allowing her to see her attacker and take away the element of surprise it had hoped to rely on; she aimed and fired with a maelstrom of Dust-based explosive rounds which tore the ground and everything in the immediate vicinity to shreds and yet Team MARS were left looking on in dumbstruck horror as, only a moment later Coco was seized about the upper arms by appeared some shapeless and prehensile limb which crackled with electricity, leaving Coco's Aura flashing but stable and her weapon clattering uselessly to the ground as it hoisted her into the and then slammed her head-first onto the ground.
At which point the monstrosity itself stepped into view.
"What the hell is that?" Stygian demanded "They didn't have these in Neo Vale!"
"Doesn't matter, it's going down anyway" Astra countered as they regarded the abomination before them and struggled to comprehend how they would even begin to tackle something that over a dozen feet long, with eight legs and a segmented body that resembled some horrific combination of bear and centipede which had been plucked from the nightmares of someone who was decidedly unwell, to say nothing of the fact it was armoured, boasted a pair of cutting lasers fitted to small armatures grafted to its' back and that its' tongue was more than double the things overall length and spooled out out from with an open gullet where its' oversized mandibles and prehensile neck had opened to accommodate it.
As though Astra's resolute declaration had drawn its' ire the Man-eater variant turned its' attention from Coco to Team MARS and charged.
"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Astra bellowed, already aiming and firing Buckshot Ares the moment the thing began to move and yet doing little if anything to the Man-eater as it slipped between steams of bullets with ludicrous ease, contorting and writhing in a way which saw every movement bring it closer.
"I've got it!" Athena assured her friends, aiming her laser cannon once more and firing; Heartbreaker tore a burning, smouldering gouge into the ground where crops were kept from being set ablaze only by being reduced to ash entirely and yet the Man-eater avoided even this and simply changed its' approach, forcing the Bear Faunus to throw up a series of glyphs to avoid the lancing beams' of the things' return fire only for those same glyphs to be used by the Man-eater in much the same way that Athena herself used them as it leapt slithered from one improbably placed and angled surface to the next and turned the attempt to stall it into an advantage.
"AJ GET BACK!" Stygian yelled as he appeared in mid-air between in his partner and the incoming Cyber-Grimm with a use of his Semblance, Sharp Cheese already in hand with its' blade transformed into an all consuming darkness and event horizon as it is imbued with enough Gravity Dust to ensure that whatever the Mouse Faunus attacked would be partially collapsed and imploded if it was not outright severed. The Man-eater gave no quarter or opportunities however and angled its' body once more even Athena-Jade vanished all of her glyphs in the same instant, using the moment it fell through the air to swing its' long, electrified tongue out in a way arc meant to impact rather than ensnare and promptly batted Athena and Stygian aside with a single painful blow.
Then it was on Astra again.
"LOOK OUT!" Regalia screamed as the Man-eater closed the distance; the Deer Faunus threw Buckshot Ares up in front of them in shield form and immediately combined both halves of the weapon in order to project a field of Hard-Light which the Cyber-Grimm promptly collided with, with enough force to almost throw them off balance. The Deer Faunus's eyes grew wide with a fear and panic they rarely ever allowed themselves to show on the battlefield as they saw that their monstrous foe was not so easily stopped and despite being unable to overpower the forcefield it was instead more than large and flexible enough to simply work around it; already positioning its' cutting laser to go over and around the upper edge of the rose-tinted hard-light whilst using its' prehensile tongue to seek out weaknesses at the bottom so that it could ensnare and crush its' preys' legs.
And then, with relief and a fresh wave of a different kind of fear coming in the same instant Astra saw Regalia run behind the Man-Eater with Apex Scavenger at the ready.
"You are one ugly motherfucker!" she bellowed before bringing her pickaxe up overhead and then down into the armoured back of the monstrosity, piercing a point between its' laser cutters which left them jerking erratically for a moment and then following up by shifting her weapon into its' shotgun mode in order to shoot the Cyber-Grimm in the back of the head before it could turn around or use its' winding tongue.
Astra took the initiative and went of the offensive out of a desperate desire to keep their partner and girlfriend from becoming the target of the Man-eater's attention; the Deer Faunus threw their arms out to the side to send the Cyber-Grimm staggering off balance and in the same moment they engaged their Semblance. Fiery red Aura rippled across Astra's body and took shape, engulfing them and growing until Astra's Semblance-self was large enough for the Deer Faunus to take the laser cutters and the armatures they were a part and use them to hold the Man-eater away whilst at the same point crushing them to a point of non-functioning.
"YOU CAN DO THIS ASTRA!" Regalia called up to where their partner was contained within the centre of the constructs' mass; her certainty wavering a moment later as she saw the abhorrent creature use its' overlong tongue once again, this time to encircle Astra's Semblance-self and begin both constricting and using its' internal Dust stores to electrify and superheat the appendage so that the Deer Faunus's Aura began to deplete more quickly and fissures of pure white began to web their way across the red surface.
"Oh no you don't!" the Racoon Faunus growled, readying Apex Scavenger once again and pausing only momentarily to use Look-See; her Semblance identified a single point towards the rear of the Man-eater's segmented form and Regalia simply hoped that it contained something vital before aiming and firing her harpoon into the monster. The Cyber-Grimm variant let out a choked, gargling sound of what was hopefully pain as its' attempt to thrash only allowed Regalia to ensure that her harpoon was buried as deeply into the things' body as she began to retract her harpoon, stretching the Cyber-Grimm's body taut and straining it in ways which left sparks and smoke spewing from mechanical components whilst sludgy black ichor dripped on the ground as its' flesh began to tear and yet still it refused to perish or release its' steadily constricting hold on Astra.
Thankfully however Astra and Regalia were not alone.
"WE'VE GOT IT!" it was Athena-Jade who called out as she and Stygian rushed back into the fray, the partners' both having the blades at the ready and the Bear Faunus being the one to launch the attack, using a staircase of glyphs which she sprinted and leapt from to reach the height she required before summoning the wings of some great avian Grimm she had defeated at her back and using them to swoop downwards; bringing Heartbreaker down onto the Man-eater's midsection from above. Stygian had lingered only to ensure that their blows came at the exact same moment and that the Man-eater would have chance to coil and curl in upon itself between blows and his teleportation brought the Mouse Faunus directly level with the crackling, glowing hot surface of the Cyber-Grimm's long tongue which his sword cleaved through with ease.
The Man-eater fell to the ground in three pieces, its' tongue cut from its' mouth, its' torso cut cleanly in half and its' laser cutters crushed into sparking scrap and yet still the thing persisted; thrashing and flailing in a way which left no uncertainty in Team MARS's mind that if they did not defeat it here that it would be repaired and sent out to plague Remnant once again.
Fortunately Coco Adel had returned to her feet.
"That one's mine" she declared, trying her best to remain cool and aloof as she adjusted glasses, hair and a beret that had been knocked askew when the Cyber-Grimm had tried to smash her skull open on the ground but being unable to entirely keep the predatory, growling edge from her words as she kicked the remains of the Man-eater over onto their back and planted a heavy boot on its' underbelly to keep it in place before levelling her Mini-Gun squarely at its' face an opening fire.
She did not stop shooting until her weapon fell silent and needed to be reloaded, by which point there was nothing recognisable left of the Man-eater's head and its' fate was much more certain.
"Thanks for the assist" Coco forced herself to sound nonchalant as she addressed her students "You did good"
"What do we do now?" Astra asked, panting as their team regrouped around them and trying to compose themselves despite how close they had come to possible being bisected by the monster that now lay utterly ruined only a few feet away.
"We've lost the element of surprise, but we've got too keep moving. We've got to get inside Pikesreach"
"We need back up" Stygian noted "Trust me, it was always a dream to come back here and free this place Professor; there is nobody more invested than I am….But we can't do this on our own"
"Agreed" Coco nodded "I plan to call back up, but we can't afford to wait….So until they get here it's going to be the five of us against whatever is in there. Are you with me?"
Team MARS reassured her that they were and the five of them began their approach once again, with Stygian taking point as he bean to direct his friends towards weaknesses in the defences of Pikesreach.
"What have you done?" Zirconia demanded as she followed Aefen cautiously into her laboratory, expecting some sort of trap but being so utterly floored by the what had been waiting for her within that she had almost dropped her weapon and sunk to her knees in utter grief and despair.
She had particularly liked any member of Team NUGT and yet it was all she could do not to sob or scream at the sight of what had been done to them.
Towards the rear of the laboratory was a twisted mass of bodies whose amalgamated forms had been so mutated that they were almost amorphous; with just enough of what had once been humanity left for the Grasshopper to identify the origin of the pulsing, fungal and tumorous mass of Grimm-flesh had once been a collection of people and that some of less ruined forms within the conjoined and melded mass had proportions and attributes far too similar to members of Team NUGT to be a coincidence.
Whilst Nugget himself was far more recognisable.
"Beautiful isn't it, the future, ascension" Aefen sounded almost dreamy as she waved airily at what the leader of Team NUGT had become.
Nugget had only been stripped above the waist and Zirconia could easily recognise some of the clothes he still wore, though he would still be recognisable in an odd way as the off-white bony carapace armour covering his arms, whose flesh had become midnight Grimm-tissue much like the rest of him were small and oddly shaped things which she realised with a distinctly sickening feeling matched with the tattoos he had sported when he had still been himself. His new form was both skulking and avian in varying regards; with the thing that had once been Nugget having extended proportions and a doubled-over and hunched body which exacerbated the slouched stance he had often taken whilst at the same time his, or more accurately its' arms were too long and ended in enormous sickle claws around which tufts of feathers' grew.
Nuggets' own feathers, his Faunus attribute had been replaced with similarly shaped blades of bone which erupted from their shoulders where they clacked and rattled in some form of animalistic threat display and more formed sleek rows of jagged spikes along the things' back and up the length of its' neck towards where there had once been hair but there was now only a single row of slicked back bony spines; where Zirconia had once noted that Nugget's hairstyle could be considered a pale imitation of Astra's distinctive style the spine Mohawk was instead a twisted parody of it. The Grimm-Zombie that had once been her classmate had a deformed and elongated skull with a nose and maw that melded into a single, hardened thing that was not quite a beak and was filled with rows of needle like teeth to resemble some prehistoric proto-bird; eyes that glowed a nightmare induced red gazed at Zirconia with a cold, muted and oddly detached hate as though the Grimm-Zombie were somehow aloof or disinterest and yet still it licked its' chops hungrily with a long, saliva drenched tongue beneath which Zirconia could see what appeared to be pulsing sacs of some viscous liquid attached to hardened chitinous nozzle not unlike a shotgun barrel.
"You're a monster!" Zirconia screamed.
"Is that such a bad thing?" Aefen cooed, gesturing at Nickel once again "Look at him, have I not made him better? Stronger, fearless, more reliable….The others are failures I'm afraid but Nugget here, why he is so much more than he was when you sent him to me Zirconia and I think you understand that as well-"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Zirconia screamed in response, her fury at the accusation mingling with her horror and grief at what had been done, only to be undercut by fresh fear as the thing that had once been Nugget stepped forwards and revealed that it was not contained or held in place by anything at all.
"You had him sniffing around and playing people against each other for weeks and I think you only used Nugget and his team because of Nugget himself, because of how disloyal and untrustworthy he always ways….After all why would anybody question the loyalties of a man who had none?" Zirconia almost vomited as she heard the truth of her actions thrown back at her, leaving her disgusted at herself "But when I truly perfect the formula, when I spread the hybridisation across Remnant then Nero will get the world he dreamed of….There will be no need to defend ourselves form the Grimm when we are one with them, humanity, Faunus and Grimm will be one being when the spores spread far enough and adapt properly. It will be a peace like nothing the world has ever seen Zirconia, imagine it….People on Menagerie are lost outside of their settlements because Hammerfall fell, when my work is done we will have our own Hive-Mind! Everyone connected and nobody able to lie, perfect cohesion, loyalty and nobody will ever truly die because they will literally be a part of all of us!….But in the mean time, Nugget will be the proof of concept….And he still needs to be tested"
There was a single bone-chilling moment where Zirconia knew what would happen next and yet she was powerless to prevent it; the words were already leaving Aefen's mouth before the Grasshopper Faunus could raise her weapon and certainly before she could decide who should be shot first.
"Nugget my dear" the demented scientist cooed, twirling her staff and pointing it at Zirconia "Show us all how loyal you are….Kill Zirconia for me"
Author's Notes:
Oh boy, we are really in it now.
This is the Body Horror volume and I can promise you it's gonna get nastier before we're done here.
Two more chapters of big set-piece finale and then one to set up Vol.08.
What's actually crazy is that I'm writing this on the same day I posted Chapter 116; I got so far ahead that I'm writing the finale while you were reading the mid-season.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Nothing like opening a scene with the designated red-shirt character strapped to an operating table just to set the tone.
The knowledge that something did break out of the restraints and isn't around any more is honestly just as bad as the knowledge that you're not gonna make it.
Honestly if you didn't know that he was 100% dead when you saw the Grimm tendrils I don't know what to tell you.
I mean, he had to try something and talking his way out of it was the only option really left on the table at that point.
"One Hunter" the most casual reveal that the rest of Team NUGT are already dead.
There was a time skip, which means that Aefen has added more people to that original trio of Grimm-Zombies that had started to merge.
Zirconia was told to get the data Nero needs from Aefen's studies and she definitely has the data now….There's just the matter of the Grimm-Zombie mushroom in the way.
And that's the end of Nugget, at least as Nugget.
Team MARS were doing basically everything they could to stall for time.
AJ and Stitch's little moments of supporting each other are great to sprinkle into scenes.
Yeah, when Coco turns up even former students who are qualified Hunters now get nervous.
"I feel obliged to remind you….That if you interrupt Coco again Astra you're going to get swung around by your Antlers".
Yeah Clunker and Astra's truck are just too distinctive.
Look they can say "Just Recon" as many times as they want, we knew where this was going.
Zirconia really did spend the whole life doing everything she could to slow down Gestalt-Prime, she was about five minutes away from painting a tunnel onto the side of a wall like Wile E Coyote.
Yeah we knew it was gonna go down as soon as she asked about Team NUGT, she gave them a big enough window of opportunity to get what they needed and get out.
"They have been interested in helping the scientist have they not, perhaps they're in her lab" they know, Gestalt-Prime knows and this their way of letting Zirconia know that they know, because fuck it what is she really gonna do?
That was a pretty good opening hit from Zirconia to be honest, if it had been against another opponent it could have been an easy win.
But now we do have an answer to one thing….Nero can actually keep control of the Cyber-Grimm, even if Gestalt-Prime goes rogue; granted he might eventually struggle to make more but it proves that he and Albion understood their job.
Huh, two volumes in a row that Zirconia has spent the finale running.
This mission was never gonna last long enough for a base camp to become relevant but it's one of those things that should at least be mentioned for things to feel authentic.
So the Scree and the other Grimm it drew which Team MARS off-screen were mentioned as being smarter than expected with no Alpha….Those were definitely the first small wave of Pantheon's forces.
Taking out Grimm silently, or at least without guns….Because we're doing Zombie-Grimm now and everyone knows you need stealth kills.
But now here we are.
I haven't read the Team CFVY novels but I heard that Velvet tricked out Coco's glasses so I'm taking that idea.
Zirconia's orders and the fighting that came from them had an effect, people aren't where they should normally be and Stitch obviously noticed that.
Explosions, for dramatic tension.
Astra was right, but Coco was also right to shut them down before they could do something stupid.
The plan is, distract 'em while they're already distracted and then distract 'em again.
Zirconia employing the time-honoured 'Kitchen Sink' strategy.
There was no hiding or fighting against Gestalt-Prime, all she could do was run….I mean look, people have Gestalt-Prime before, she's fought them before herself; but that was when she had a team with her and when Gestalt-Prime was in a different body.
They could absolutely catch her whenever they wanted to, they're just enjoying the fear.
We see exactly why Gestalt-Prime was letting her run when she got near to the door for Aefen's building; their plan was to let Zirconia run for her life and then vaporise her with the main cannon at the last moment, right when she thought she'd made it just to be cruel.
And now we get our Zirconia Vs Aefen showdown, with Aefen just going cliché villain straight out the gate.
And look….It was out of pocket but also kinda understandable, because Zirconia started making demands with absolutely no leverage or authority.
Yeah it was never gonna be Zirconia surrounded by Gestalt-Prime and Aefen because that is a complete mismatch; Gestalt-Prime was always just there to guide her to where she needed to be….And then Team MARS's arrival/approach did its' job of distracting them.
I highlighted the Man-Eater in this scene just enough for you to expect it to be the one to face Team MARS.
Yeah when you put a gun in someone's face and it doesn't bother them at all, you're probably in trouble.
Okay so the plan worked, Team MARS blew up a watchtower which sent some Cyber-Grimm out to look at it and now they're in the fields that Cornflower used to work in; very close to Pikesreach itself but not quite inside.
It's quiet, too quiet….She had to say it eventually.
Damn, Coco knew the Man-Eater was there and it still managed to catch her off-guard with its' range and speed; if it hadn't been for those glasses she'd be fucked.
This fight really could have been an entire chapter on its' own, but the Man-eater needed to die quickly just because of how much other stuff there is going on; but I think it still gave a good showing here, it really only was able to be kept at bay by combined efforts; there really was no point in the fight where any individual member of Team MARS was trying to fight it alone.
And a pretty sweet four person combo to finish it….Although I had to let Coco have the finishing blow just for the disrespect.
Okay so back up is gonna come, which means things are now even more time sensitive; but there's still a lot of work to do in Pikesreach.
And now Zirconia gets to see the horror show.
Nugget didn't get fully stripped because honestly this is traumatic enough without his Grimm cock swinging about.
Okay setting aside the fact that he's clearly got a ranged weapon of some sort built into his mouth, Nugget's transformation was basically supposed to be a feathery Raptor, or something prehistoric and avian….But with obvious Grimm aspects; I did like the idea of the armour that's the same shape as his old tattoos and the clacking armour plates where his feathers used to be.
Okay Aefen through some shots out and managed to hit a few raw nerves, but really it's just monologuing at this point; she thinks she's won.
….Remember, Nero doesn't want this whole new world of Grimm hybrids that she's preaching; he just needs the technology to repurpose it for his own ends; giving him the ability to mix Grimm, human and machine….Like the mecha Petrol was fused with in Vol.05, but more successfully and for an entirely different purpose; whatever you're thinking it's too small.
But in the meantime, Nugget Vs Zirconia and a cliffhanger.
Thank you to MajorBrony95 for their review on the last chapter.
Yeah the last chapter was a nice little chill out session, at least mostly and a chance to catch up with characters like Team WULF who've sort of faded from secondary to background.
Well, how does it feel to know that you were right about Team NUGT?
Oh this isn't Nero's dream...The Grimm-Virus and full human hybrid is Aefen's plans; Nero is thinking BIGGER.
Having the Cyber-Grimm turn on everyone fully was honestly too obvious, especially given how well Nero has managed to play everyone so far...He clearly had a countermeasure in place for an inevitable betrayal.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.