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Chapter 134: Taken Captive
Upon leaving the battle against the Grimm which had attacked the settlement under her protection in capable hands, namely those of the settlements' own defenders and the crew of the airship she had been assigned to Atlas Specialist Corvid Xiao Long had returned to the airship itself and begun barking orders with an urgency and fervour which had reminded more than one person of her Aunt Winter.
Her orders had been for a strike team to be assembled, veteran fighters, Hunters, robots and heavy weapons were all to be mustered and deployed in transports which would be accompanied by fighter craft and these orders had been followed with a speed that had been impressive but had also allowed Corvid enough time to resupply the Omega Wing and catalogue what small amount of damage her battle-suit had taken, being pleased to note that there was nothing more severe than small scuffs and scratches which would be easily remedied and allowing herself a moment of pride in her own abilities before returning her focus to the task at hand.
Once deployed Corvid's urgency had made her restless, pacing within the confines of a small transport craft as much as the cramped interior would allow and in a way which, combined with the dark expression she wore had made the soldiers accompanying her visibly uncomfortable.
She had tried several times to make contact with Team MARS and found each of them to be unresponsive, from there she had tried to track their scrolls only to find that she was unable to do so which meant that either the portable CCT uplink which Astra Mars had secured in their truck was damaged or destroyed or simply that Team MARS had found themselves collectively out of its' reach; neither of these options were reassuring to the Specialist and she had ordered her pilot to hone in on their last recorded location as fast as possible. The only deviation thus far had been the moment were the mercenary Wolf Faunus Noir and the wrecked remains of her semi-personal truck had been found, prompting a single aircraft to break formation so that she could be evacuated and receive the urgent medical attention she so clearly needed whilst the rest of the strike team continued on.
Which brought her to her current moment.
"Specialist Xiao Long" the co-pilot of the transport, responsible for several scans and readings whilst not actively firing the crafts' weapons gestured forwards to a settlement in the distance which they were rapidly drawing close to, the place being one which Corvid had no knowledge of and which more importantly was the source of several plumes of smoke rising up into the sky"
"Anything?" Corvid asked simply.
"We're not picking up anything on thermal….Although it might be interference" the co-pilot answered with an impressive degree of calm professionalism "But that's the last known location of our uplink-"
"They said there were Grimm….So where the hell are the Grimm" Corvid murmured.
"ETA two minutes, but we'll need to secure landing zones" the pilot announced, the blunt reality of that statement causing thoughts to coalesce in Corvid's mind and spurring her into action.
"Link tactical displays, including the uplinks' last known location to the Omega Wing" she instructed before turning on her heel and striding out of the cockpit into the rear compartment of the craft where several of the veterans accompanying her bristled or gave her questioning looks which Corvid ignored in favour of unfastening the dormant form of the Omega Wing from where it had been secured and activating the sizeable aerial drone before opening one of the side hatches of the transport craft.
"Standard deployment, secure landing zones and sweep the area. I'm heading in first" she finally spoke, telling the soldiers under her command all they needed to know and trusting that they would do their jobs without issue; her voice rising to be heard over the howling wind which rushed in to greet them.
And then Corvid simply strode forward and allowed herself to fall out of the aircraft.
The Omega Wing lent itself well to Landing Strategies which were themselves the first challenge most would-be Hunters faced as part of their initiation and Corvid, with years of practice had grown so utterly desensitised to the sensation of falling that her expression remained entirely neutral as she began entering commands into the touchscreen of a computerised and lightly armoured gauntlet fitted to her left for arm before simply stretching her arms out to her sides and waiting for the Omega Wing to catch up with her and unfurl, transforming into its' battle mode and wrapping itself around her body in mid-air in a display that Corvid was unashamed to admit that she still enjoyed the experience of just as much as the many children with dreams of being a Hunter it had left an indelible impression on.
One the Omega Wing was secured Corvid engaged its' propulsion systems and rocketed through the air, racing ahead of the strike team and over the walls of the settlement which she quickly saw was not only damaged and partially destroyed, but had never been fully built in the first place.
Whatever forces Nero had stationed here had evidently put up an impressive fight given that there were very few places where the Creatures of Grimm could have visibly broken through the defences and instead the majority of the damage was limited to defensive positions where artillery pieces had been destroyed and a few few collapsed buildings or torn up streets near the walls which indicated where monsters had made their way inside; though as she studied the scene before her from the air Corvid quickly came to the conclusion that many of the fires she could see burning deeper within the unfinished settlement had likely been started intentionally as a way to deny resources or clues to whoever found the place once Nero's people had left.
Though the sight of nightmare-black forms slipping and skulking through the shadowy recesses of the place, using smoke and rubble as cover informed Corvid that she was not alone.
"Be advised, Grimm are on the ground. Numbers unknown, be ready to engage" she spoke curtly before readying her shoulder mounted rail-guns and snapping off a swift volley of shots which obliterated the Creatures of Grimm in her immediate sight. Corvid hung in the air above the twice abandoned settlement and tried to make sense of what had happened here for a moment longer before locating the last known location of Team MARS's beacon.
Striking the ground with a dull thud Corvid was in motion again a moment later, prowling through streets with her mace at the ready and eyes scanning for any faint motion that might be the Grimm or a waiting assassin ready to reveal that she had walked into a trap until finally they halted at the sight of a familiar gaudy red paint-job with black flame decals.
"This is Manta One" the voice of her pilot crackled through her helmet "We've found a secure landing zone, it looks like the enemy had a some kind of setup of their own which we've used….First sweep have already found something, it looks like that jetbike the Racoon Faunus was riding. It looks busted up, there's bloodstains on the ground but no bodies-"
"Understood" Corvid's voice was tight and strained, though she managed to maintain some degree of composure until the comms fell silent again; at which point she let out a wordless scream and drove her armoured fist through the nearest wall before stepping back and taking in several deep breaths as she struggled to come to terms with the reality of the situation.
Team MARS were gone.
It seemed that Nero was not so much of a monster that he would leave bodies to rot in the street where they had fallen, such barbarism had been reserved solely for Aefen Cruor, this small shred of decency however meant that it was impossible for Corvid to say whether the team of runaway students, including her own cousin and the Deer Faunus with whom she shared a brother were prisoners or if they had fallen in.
Corvid pushed that last thought aside, refusing to allow herself to contemplate it.
Which left her with a greater issue to contend with; she would now have to finally tell her Aunt, General Winter Schnee that Team MARS had been found several days ago and had in fact been aiding her in her operations, that the mission to corral Damascus Nero's forces and pressure them as they left for Atlas where a trap was waiting for them had worked only to be placed in jeopardy by Team MARS's capture.
It seemed obvious that the four teens would be interrogated for information, meaning that either they would crumble and tell their captor of what was waiting for them or they would not; meaning that they would still be aboard Nero's airship when the Atlesian fleet opened fire.
Pantheon had remained sat upon their throne of twisted steel and pulsing, living tissue since their assaults all across the island of Menagerie had failed yet the Grimm General was no longer fused with it and using a connection to various Synapse Grimm to navigate multiple aspects of the Hive-Mind at once; instead they were alone within a throne room that was illuminated solely by the glow of deep-sea vents as even the skittering, barely alive Grimm which served no other purpose other than to cast light on their surroundings had been sent away. Pantheon was fully present in the physical realm in that moment, with the living cloak that had once been a pair of membranous wings draped and wrapped around them as their vast, claw-tipped tail coiled itself on their lap with its' three-pronged appendage clacking erratically; despite being conscious and alert their thoughts were consumed by the realities of the world beyond their seafloor lair and each new thought caused their six eyes to glow brighter and more malevolently until finally the Grimm General sprung from their throne and let out a deafening roar and lashed out at their surroundings with such force that the effects of the blow were felt all throughout the living fortress they had built, with each of the various Spawning Pits which served as its' base reacting and vomiting forth fresh creations.
Pantheon seethed at their losses.
Their attacks on settlements across the island had initially been an effort to force Gestalt-Prime and their allies out into the open, though as circumstances had changed they had been reduced in importance to little more than distractions and an act of bloodletting which, whilst certainly not without some results had certainly been worth the resources that the Grimm General had committed to them and now, with the benefit of hindsight and with the loss of sizeable forces that would take time to be mustered anew it was clear to them that they should have left the prey to their own devices and instead gathered everything at their disposal for a single killing blow.
Though even then Pantheon was forced to conclude that it might have simply been insufficient.
The Nova Beast and the Shatter Beast were amongst some of the finest and most powerful Creatures of Grimm that the Grimm General had personally overseen the creation of in their time as the de facto leader and master of the Grimm, monsters who had been refined to be avatars of pure, unfathomable destruction and yet they had been destroyed.
Gestalt-Prime had proven themselves to be a worthy opponent, though such an admission even to themselves was enough to push Pantheon's fury into new, deeper reaches and the usurper Grimm had shown not only the capabilities that their perverse and amalgamated form, an affront to the natural order of things had provided them with but also a predatory cunning and ability which far surpassed what little they had seen from the younger sentient Grimm thus far; a vast departure from the skulking and hiding behind proxies that they had employed previously. There had been a moment however when, despite all of Gestalt-Prime's monstrous power it had seemed to Pantheon that they might be victorious and that the usurper might be slain; only for the true threat within Jidhir Town to reveal itself.
The thing which defied all description or reason.
Pantheon had been forced to watch, dumbfounded and enraged as the Nova Beast was not only cut down by the colossal fusion of Grimm and machine which prowled through the skies but had then opened it's maw to reveal machinery which had first broken the supposedly unstoppable terror down into chunks and portion and then, in an affront to Pantheon's might began to process it, reducing the Grimm down to raw components for more of the twisted mechanical parodies that Gestalt-Prime and their human allies had forged. From there it had been nothing more than a formality and Pantheon had found their awareness of the situation steadily reduced as vast swathes of the eyes and ears they witnessed the battle through were simply unmade, once the thing which was both a Cyber-Grimm and the means to produce Cyber-Grimm all at once was mobilised it had ceased to be a battle and had become a slaughter; within mere moments the tidal wave of claws, fangs and rage Pantheon had hoped to drown their foes beneath had been reduced to such tattered remains that it was all they could do to watch the airship Grimm leave through the eyes of what few Grimm were left.
In a desperate bid to achieve something for their troubles Pantheon had instructed the ragged collection of lesser monsters to scour the settlement only to be denied first by the fires that Gestalt-Prime's human proxies had left behind them and then, only a short while later by the arrival of none other than Corvid Xiao Long; a Hunter he hated on a deep and personal level who would once again live to see another day simply because Pantheon lacked the forces required to kill her.
For the first time in some time the Grimm General, a being of raw ferocity and force of will was uncertain.
Gestalt-Prime's living fortress, the flying Grimm which Pantheon had come to recognise upon reflection was simply the usurpers answer to their own seafloor domain was simply gone. Despite its' vast size and the simple presence such a predatory mind, along with those aboard it should have imparted on their surroundings the flocks and squalls of airborne Grimm Pantheon had sent to track the airship Grimm had found nothing, suggesting that along with its' power and range the thing also had the means to hide itself; making it an even more deadly threat.
Leaving Pantheon with ruined forces on Menagerie, an opponent who would only grow more daring in their schemes now that they had tasted such a victory and had the means to bring the fight directly to Pantheon if they so chose and more importantly, they had no idea where Gestalt-Prime had gone or what they intended.
The Grimm General sank into their throne and pondered some more, time losing what little meaning it held within their domain as they finally came to a simple conclusion.
It was clear now that they had been half-hearted in their efforts, that when Pantheon had elected to intervene and combat Gestalt-Prime to ensure that the natural cycle of creation and destruction was maintained they should have done so more directly; it was clear that they should have acted more like a true Creature of Grimm and responded with all of their might instead of deal in ploys, misdirections and proxies as though they were trying to ape the same humans their would be usurper had bound themselves to.
Pantheon vowed to not repeat those mistakes.
Aboard the Megalodon Damascus Nero sat within personal quarters whose appearance had been altered by the great change that he wrought upon his airship to a fortunately minimal degree; a brief check of his belongings and the contents of his wardrobe had revealed that they had not been damaged, though he noted that there was now a black vein-like pattern stretching its' way across the walls and ceiling whose surfaces had been darkened inexplicably, the veins seemed to congregate in the corners and dark places of the quarters which were far more spacious than was the norm given the original design and purpose of the vessel. The lighting too had had changed, casting everything in a glow which was not an ominous red like the eyes of the Creatures of Grimm but rather a pale pinkish hue which Nero supposed would not be so uncomfortable were it not making him particularly aware of the fact he was now within a living creature; sitting at a desk within the foremost portion of his quarters which served as a small and private office which would have to suffice now that the ships' command bridge was being used for its' intended purpose the former chairman idly wondered if changing the lightbulbs would fix the issue or if it was still possible to do so.
Until a knock at the door, its' heavy handedness indicating that it was Carmesi reminded him that there were far more important matters at hand.
"Come in" he said simply, watching the door slide open with a faint hiss and none of the grisly biological features which were presenting themselves in the newly made portions of the Megalodon that the former Chairman feared might have spread further, such as strands of mucus stretching between the door and its' frame or interlocking teeth. Behind the door was Carmesi and also Zirconia who Nero took a moment to study, the young woman he had raised sported several small cuts, grazes and bruises which had likely been kept from healing unnaturally quickly by the Aura dampening collar fastened around her neck but hidden almost entirely from view by the fact her eyes and indeed her entire head were downcast in a concerted effort to keep her from meeting Nero's gaze; he had procured several such collars as a precaution but had truthfully never expected them to be needed.
Certainly not in a situation like this.
His quartz coloured eyes narrowed as they darted to Carmesi however, Zirconia was unarmed and her abilities restrained and yet still the Komodo Dragon Faunus had his shotgun pointed at the back of her skull.
"I think you're being a little gratuitous, overeager perhaps?" Nero noted, choosing his words carefully and his tone as even as possible as he rose from his seat but did not move forward.
"Debatable" the rumbled reply drew a scowl from Damascus.
"You have other duties to attend to. You can leave us now"
"Yes Mister Nero" the burly reptilian lowered his weapon, sheathing it the harness fastened around his bare torso before striding out of view. Zirconia stepped forward into the small office attached to her foster fathers' personal space without a word and Nero waited for the door to slide closed behind her; once it did so he crossed the distance between them until he was standing less than a step away from the young woman who still would not meet his gaze, an issue which he corrected by reaching out with his gloved cybernetic hand to take her teen and gently lift her head up as he spoke slowly and softly.
"Where did I go wrong with you Zirconia?" her lip quivered and now that he could see her eyes Nero saw how red and puffy they were, his understanding of the situation keeping his temper in check and preventing from truly exploding with an anger that he had never felt for Zirconia before though as she remained silent he found his patience slipping away.
"Gestalt-Prime is currently within the bowels of the ship, connected to the Forge as they recover….They were very nearly lost, if the Megalodon had not been operational then they certainly would have been" Nero's words gathered speed, faint traces of a stutter making them halting and erratic "And though it will set us back Zirconia I suppose you should be congratulated. You tried to kill them, you tried to undermine everything I am working towards and you very nearly succeeded and so help me YOU WILL TELL ME WHY YOU DID IT!"
The sight of Zirconia visibly flinching away from him as though struck sent a chill through Nero which silenced the man in an instant; leaving viscerally disgusted at himself.
"I-"
"This is why" Zirconia finally managed to rasp out, her words watery and strained "Because working with Gestalt-Prime has made you lose sight of our goals!"
"What on Remnant are you talking about?" Nero demanded, indignant annoyance adding itself to his maelstrom of emotions.
"There was a time when you would never have worked with Aefen Cruor, when you would never have given her the kind of freedom that you did….There was a time where you would have found another way, Gestalt-Prime has gotten into your head and you've gotten too comfortable with making other people make sacrifices, you treat people like Gestalt-Prime treats their Grimm!"
Nero remained rooted to the spot for a moment, swallowing thickly as they processed words which they were unashamed to admit had been painful to hear; the former chairman needing some time before they could answer in a way that would not sound scathing or insulting, he loved the young woman he had raised as a daughter and would give her concerns a fair answer.
"You mean to tell me that you tried to hinder Project Megalodon in order to target Gestalt-Prime….Because you think that I'm being influenced by the Grimm?-"
"Yes!" Zirconia exclaimed, exasperation fighting its' way through her panic and turmoil; as though it were an obvious thing "They are working against you, you know this and you let them do it! You assure yourself, try to assure me that you have that thing under control but what if you're wrong? What if you're playing into their hands? With what you're planning to do in Atlas-"
Nero placed his hands on her shoulders and Zirconia fell silent.
"My plans in Atlas will ensure that Gestalt-Prime will never have the future for the Grimm that they want and the Aura Transfer Machine is the only way to ensure that the future we have worked so hard for comes to fruition….The fact you don't see that already only tells me that understand as well as I thought you did" Nero paused, keeping his hands where they were as he considered his next words "And it pains me to say this Zirconia, more than you know….But at present I have adversaries far larger than your grudge against Gestalt-Prime which I need to prepare for, you don't truly think that the Grimm attack on Jidhir Town was coincidental do you? I love you Zirconia but at present you've made it clear that I can't trust you; you will remain in your quarters aboard the ship until we have a more settled base of operations for me to put you in-"
"I'm being….Grounded?" Zirconia's disbelief gave way to faint bemusement until Nero answered coldly.
"No, you are being detained" he released her shoulders and shook his head "I can't very well press-gang you into service with the other traitors can I, you've made that much clear"
Zirconia's face fell, anger and mortified fear crossing her features as she regarded Damascus as though it were the first time she was seeing him; something which stabbed at the man's heart but was not enough for him to relent, his plans were close to completion and those who would stop him were on his tail so it seemed that staying the course was the only option left.
No matter the cost.
"You're my Dad and I love you….But you're wrong" Zirconia finally whispered
"Go" he murmured and Zirconia turned on her heel before stalking out of the room and into the corridors of the Megalodon where she stormed off in a way that she had very rarely done as a teenager. He had already advised several key figures within his faction, most notably Carmesi that Zirconia's location was to be monitored and that he was to be made aware whenever she left her own quarters; if she did not head directly there then he could make several safe bets as to where she would go and had, just as he had with Aefen and Gestalt-Prime begun making plans that would factor the seemingly inevitable betrayals that would come in the near future.
The Creatures of Grimm had attacked him at the behest of whatever ruler of the monsters Gestalt-Prime planned to overthrow, unwittingly clearing a path for Nero's final gambit and the former Chairman found it unlikely that the arrival of Team MARS had been anything other than a similarly deliberate and calculated blow given its' timing. Nero was certain that Zirconia would communicate with her old friends and it was through those conversations that Nero would learn exactly what General Winter Schnee, the obvious inheritor of Qrow Branwen's mantle was planning.
If any of his enemies thought him foolish enough to walk into a trap then they were sorely mistaken.
Three members of Team MARS had surrendered themselves, trading their freedom for medical attention that would save the life of their absent friend and in doing so they had been gathered onto Nero's monstrous, living airship which they had learned was called the Megalodon. Once aboard and surrounded by heavily armed fighters, Carmesi Hueso and several Cyber-Grimm Astra, Regalia and Stygian had been searched for any tracking devices, additional weapons beyond those they had already surrendered or other tools that could be used to escape and sabotage the enormous airship Grimm before having heavy Aura dampening collars slapped around their necks and from there they had been escorted deeper into the bowels of the airship into an area that their jailers had gleefully explained was not an original part of the vessel and had been assembled wholesale during the creation of the Megalodon.
A fact which explained a great deal about the cell they had found themselves in.
"So Stitch, is the plumbing here better or worse than what you had at Pikesreach? What about you Regalia, how does this compare to the Aiktishaf?" Astra raised their arms and paced around the cell which was thankfully at least large enough to allow such movement, reverting to cockiness and bravado in the hope that it might annoy whatever guards were undoubtedly lurking just out of view and at the same time give their mind the initial momentum it needed to begin forming ideas; at leat giving the Deer Faunus a goal even if any notions of how to achieve it were beyond them.
"You gonna get used to wearing them chains after a while, but you never stop listening to them clinking" Regalia answered ruefully, tugging at the Aura dampening collar she wore and blinking several times before finally screwing her eyes shut for a moment in which suggested to Astra that she had tried to use her Semblance despite the collar and found herself unable to.
"Huh, don't know that movie" they noted quietly as they toyed idly with one of spiked tips of their auburn Mohawk and regarded the cell that the three of them had been confined to. It was located towards the bottom and the rear of airship and was comprised of flesh, scales and chitin with only a bare minimum of metal and wiring running through its' core and had been part of a storage facility of another kind before the three members of Team MARS had been brought to it; the three of them being left slightly nauseous by the sight of the living interior becoming entirely modular and customisable as empty racks of shelves sank into the obsidian floor and bars of reinforced bone to descend and form a cage in which the three Faunus had been trapped. It was spacious, but entirely without features or amenities as the floor had become a hard and solid surface of fish-like scales which threatened to grate and abrade skin if one laid on it for too long with Astra hopeful that Nero was not so demented that he would ignore his prisoners when issues such as food, water or bodily functions become unavoidable.
And Stygian was yet to speak or move away from the corner he had huddled himself in, pressed against a wall.
"Stitch?" Astra raised their voice slightly, they would have understood the Mouse Faunus ignoring their attempt at a joke but seeing him so utterly unresponsive as he curled deeper into the fabric of his oversized coat, the garment stained with blood that was not his own was deeply worrying.
Seeing Stygian jerk suddenly, along with the trembling of his hands and the stains where tears had fallen from electric blue eyes that were still wild with panic had only furthered Astra's concern and the leader of Team MARS gave a small gesture to Regalia who understood and followed their lead so that a moment later Stygian was sandwiched between their team-mates as they sat on either side of him.
"Stitch man...I'm not gonna ask if you're doing okay, it's a dumb question and I know that" Astra breathed out, their own fears clutching at them as they remembered Athena's unconscious form "But what the fuck happened out there?"
"She got caught in the middle" Stygian managed to croak out, his voice hoarse and his words as shaky as his hands "Zirconia's Semblance interfered with mine, I couldn't teleport to her so I charged in; AJ ended up between us and I couldn't stop myself in time and….Damn it, fuck-"
"She's gonna be okay" Regalia swallowed thickly, her purple eyes filled with a haunted look which made Astra want to reach out to her and pull her close and it was clear from Stygian's next words that he saw the doubts and uncertainty clearly.
"You think so?" his voice lowered to a whisper "The blade went straight through her….Just like what happened to Snapdragon-"
"You got her to a doctor, Nero has doctors" Regalia answered, clearly hoping that it would make a difference.
"Besides" Astra chimed in darkly "AJ is General Schnee's niece….If Nero wanted us dead he could have killed us all easily, he clearly likes the idea of having us as prisoners; Athena is the best leverage he has right now, he isn't gonna let her die"
"He can do worse than kill her" Stygian's answer, utterly blunt and stark sent a wave of cold, icy dread through the cell.
"Don't fucking say that man" Astra whispered, their voice cracking at the idea of seeing the horrors of Pikesreach re-enacted on one of their best friends "I'm being serious Stitch, I can't think about that right now….I just can't"
"What are you thinking about?" Regalia asked expression brightening with a sudden burst of hope which Astra hated that they had to relieve her of "Have you got a plan?"
"Not yet" they shook their head, peering around the living cell and everything beyond it in the hopes of spotting any obvious listening devices or cameras but finding none; whilst at the same time refusing to accept that the three of them had been left without any means of monitoring which left the Deer Faunus simply assuming that either the entirety of the Megalodon could serve as a means for Nero to spy on those within it or, perhaps more reasonably that some means of surveillance were hidden within the light fittings currently casting the bowels of the airship Grimm in an unnatural glow.
"What can we do?" Stygian interjected, bitter, morose and utterly defeated in a way that Astra realised they would have to work on correcting if Team MARS were to have any hope of clawing back any kind of victory. Looking around again the Deer Faunus grabbed the fabric of Stygian's coat and pulled it up and around both himself and Regalia to hide their faces from view whilst speaking in a hushed, barely audible whisper.
"As far as we're aware Nero is still heading to Atlas and took the bait; so whatever plan I can come up with is gonna be based around catching him off guard right before the Atlesians hit the Megalodon"
"Make it closer to the kind of fight they were expecting, instead of going up against a giant Cyber-Grimm"
"Exactly" Astra nodded "But we need to wait….We can't make a move until we know that Athena's safe, right now Nero can use her as leverage over us as well-"
"But what if she's-" The Deer Faunus waved Stygian's interruption aside, their expression darkening to something that both of their team-mates found unnerving to look at; their sear green-eyes discoloured but illuminated frighteningly in the glow of the overhead lights.
"I can promise you that if anything happens to her I will kill every single person on this airship, fuck a plan"
If Astra had not been so preoccupied and consumed by their own thoughts and emotions they might have noticed the look of sheer terror which flitted across Stygian's face in response to the promise.
Consciousness returned to Athena-Jade Slate slowly, with each degree of awareness and sensation that came to her being rewarded by fresh waves of pain and stomach-churning nausea until finally she could contain her misery no longer and let out a wordless, whimpering groan whose pathetic and keening sound only further illustrated to the Bear Faunus how beaten she truly was.
Attempting to force herself into an upright position however produced a fiery lance of true, unadulterated agony which tore a scream from her which biting down on her own knuckles could not muffle entirely as the pain seared its' way outwards from her left flank and stomach. There was movement in response to her outcry however and through vision blurred by tears and pain Athena saw a dark shape settle over her to block out what little of the pristine and sterile white space she had been able to discern, it took only a moment for her to blink enough for her vision to clear and the form above her to come into focus and reveal a familiar face just as the accompanying voice reached her ears.
"You're awake….How are you feeling?" nervousness was etched deeply into every aspect of Zirconia Shadowmoon's being, with her mismatched eyes darting furtively as urges to see Athena and look anywhere but at her former partner competed with one another; Athena herself was in no state to properly study the Grasshopper Faunus's appearance and instead could only note that she was wearing far less than she had been, clad in only a black tank-top and shorts which had been modified to allow for the uniqueness of her legs whilst the body armour, black turtle-necked sweatshirt and twin capes she often wore at her hips were entirely absent though a reason was easy enough to identify, Zirconia's hands were still stained with blood which had spattered and trickled down her forearms and stained the jade green bandanna wrapped around her left wrist which had once belonged to Athena herself and it was reasonable to assume that much of Zirconia's clothing had been removed because it was soaked in the Bear Faunus's blood.
A realisation which saw Athena try and rise again only for Zirconia to place a hand gently on her chest to halt her, being rewarded with a glare which made her flinch away for her efforts.
"Don't" the rogue Huntress whispered "Don't try to get up yet….You're still connected to stuff"
"Where am I? Where are my team, what the hell is going on?" Athena demanded, forcing words out of a dry mouth which prompted Zirconia to reach for a plastic cup filled with water whilst the Bear Faunus herself glanced around her sterile surroundings and realised that she was indeed in some sort of medical facility and was partially secured in place by several tubes connected to her body and filling with various fluids, including those which she recognised as painkillers and Aura stimulants
"The others are okay, they surrendered so that we could get you to one of the doctors before it was too late….You're gonna be taken to them as soon as the ships' doctor says you're okay to move-"
"Ship" Athena's face, already pallid and haunted lost what little colour it still held "We're aboard-"
"The Megalodon" Zirconia confirmed with a slow nod of the head "Headed to Atlas, where Nero is planning to launch an attack"
"He won't win" Athena croaked out defiantly, refusing to take the proffered water in a display of simple pettiness and instead forcing words out with a voice that was unwilling to cooperate with her "He can't, we'll stop him….Somehow we'll-"
"AJ, Stitch nearly killed you and they're going to put you in an Aura dampening collar as soon as you leave here. If you try to fight or escape then you're going to hurt again, maybe worse and I won't be able to help you" Zirconia's blunt admission halted any cold rebuttal Athena might have offered, though not as much as what followed "But you're right….We've got to stop him"
"Wh-what?" Athena finally managed to force the word out, finally taking a sip of water after several moments of silent confusion.
"I tried to stop Gestalt-Prime" Zirconia's answer did nothing to help Athena's confusion and instead simply left her more lost for words than she had been before, almost choking on water in response but bidding her former partner to carry on.
"Whatever Damascus's might have planned before, plans with good intentions….They've changed" Zirconia shook her head, mismatched eyes filling with tears which Athena had to halt herself from reaching up to brush away with a sudden pain and tightness in her chest "It's clear now that he isn't going to listen, I thought he could be reasoned with but he can't….He isn't the person that I thought he was-"
"Sucks when that happens right?" Athena's words were bitter, delivered in a low cracking hiss and with a force to them which surprised even the wounded Bear Faunus herself; the scathing comment leaving Zirconia pausing to swallow thickly and gather her shaken composure.
"I deserved that" she nodded, voice watery until she forced herself onwards "But it's Gestalt-Prime. Everything that's changed, everything that's gone wrong is because of that monster and I tried to get rid of them….I failed and Damascus knows. I shouldn't be here right now-"
"Then why are you?" Athena couldn't help but sound sullen and bitter, something she felt she was entitled to despite the severity of the situation.
"Because he's going to have me confined somewhere as soon as he gets the chance, lock me away in a tower like a fairytale….I want to help you and I want to try and make things right, but this might be my last chance to do it" Zirconia finally met Athena's gaze, mismatched pale pink and orange meeting sapphire blue as the Grasshopper Faunus's scarred face formed a weak and nervous smile "And besides….I wanted to see you-"
"Don't" Athena shook her head "Don't do that please….Even if I believe you and I'm not saying that I do, or that I can any more; don't….Just don't"
Zirconia visibly slumped in on herself, almost folding inwards as she hugged her forearms with bloodstained hands; Athena privately certain that there were layers of symbolism in that gesture that could be unlocked if her thoughts were not so dulled by painkillers and shaken by the ordeals she had endured.
"I'm sorry" Zirconia whispered finally "Just….Tell Astra what I said, they're probably already thinking of something and they need to know that I'll help if-"
The sound of a door opening, followed by a rumbling snarl interrupted her.
"You shouldn't be here" Carmesi stated bluntly as he strode into room and unsheathed Vindication, a lazy and casual swing of his arm bringing the tip of the machetes' blade to Zirconia's chin faster than she could react.
"Damascus-"
"Is willing to tolerate far more than I am, but I'm the one here right now" the Komodo Dragon Faunus interrupted "You were confined to your quarters because you are no longer trusted. Mister Nero might be willing to allow you some leeway and be a romantic at heart, letting you talk to her….I will personally kill you the next time you try to sabotage the plan. Now go"
Zirconia fought the urge to strike the older Faunus across the face, halting herself when she realised that Carmesi was neither bluffing nor exaggerating and that she was no longer certain if Nero would intervene on her behalf or if she had simply been consigned to the category of 'tragic but acceptable losses'. Beyond that she realised that Athena-Jade would react if Carmesi attacked and that it would undoubtedly end with the Bear Faunus who Zirconia still loved being killed as well, the Komodo Dragon Faunus always eager for a chance to further repay her for the scar she had given him.
It was an intolerable idea and so Zirconia left, taking care to drive her shoulder into Carmesi as she passed him, an admittedly meaningless gesture only given so that she could take her frustrations out on something.
Once alone Carmesi regarded Athena for a moment, the Bear Faunus glaring harshly back at him in return; refusing to show fear even in such a compromised position and silently the reptilian sheathed the smaller of his two blades and nodded before producing an Aura dampening collar.
"Your doctor will be here at any moment. I'm here to ensure that you cooperate and don't try anything reckless"
Athena remained silent, partly a refusal to give Carmesi Hueso, the man who had left her legs littered with scars any form of satisfaction and partly because her mind was simply too overwhelmed by her swirling thoughts as they raced around her mind and settled fleetingly on a single tentatively accepted fact.
Zirconia was making the right choice.
Headmistress Coco Adel would have been glad of the respite that retreating to her office might have afforded her under normal circumstances, however the current situation was anything but.
Menagerie had been ransacked by the Creatures of Grimm.
Coco herself and those closest to her, her family friends and colleagues at Breaktide Academy had been amongst those defending the walls of Port Alistair; fighting of the monsters as they threw themselves at the defences of the Kingdoms' capital from both land and sea and the older students of her academy had made themselves useful by spreading out to position themselves in key strategic positions, bolstering the defences of shelters and hospitals in case the Creatures of Grimm succeeded in breaching the walls. Such precautions had proven unnecessary and the threat had been pushed back through coordinated effort, strategy and sheer unwavering willpower though any sense of achievement Coco might have felt from such a victory had been snatched away as she began to receive word that Creatures of Grimm had come in frenzied and ravenous hordes to most of the islands' largest settlements from the Capital to Blackwater Cover and out to the Eastern Fringe of the edge of the Kingdoms' territory and everywhere in between with a burst of violence which the Headmistress, a veteran Huntress since the days of Salem could not see as anything but an organised effort.
With such a terrifying thought lingering in the back of her mind, unformed and indistinct yet still deeply concerning Coco had reached out to her fellow heads of the Hunter Academies and members of the shadowy group she was a part of, wanting to share theories and hypotheses with similarly skilled and experienced minds as well as request whatever additional forces the other Kingdoms could spare to shore up her defences after such an unprecedented assault; almost more importantly however Coco had wanted to speak with General Winter Schnee as she knew, by virtue of so many Atlesian Hunters and other forces being present on Menagerie, including members of the Specialist Branch that Winter would likely have a better idea of the wider picture of what was happening.
That General Schnee had responded to the request by stating that she was already aware of Coco's predicament and had matters of her own to discuss as a matter of urgent priority was both oddly reassuring to the leader of Team CFVY and at the same time filled her with an electric and unyielding tension as she was forced to accept that she was likely about to be utterly blind-sided in ways she could not anticipate.
It was in this exhausted and off-kilter position, with her hair messy, beret skewed and clothes still stained and smudged with the smoke and detritus from the earlier battle and a bone-deep weariness etched in her entire being that Coco received Winter's video call, the usually proud and exquisitely put together woman completely uncaring for her frazzled appearance.
"Adel" Winter's habitual sternness lasted only a moment before her appearance flickered more fully into view on the screen and she treated her comrade with a faint smirk and the kind of repartee she knew the younger woman would appreciate "I see you've been keeping your skills sharp, you look like death"
"I see you've been keeping the printer cartridges topped up and the paperwork in order in your office, General" Coco shot back, removing her sunglasses as she matched Winter's tone "Are none of the others ready to join us?"
"Negative, unless you're waiting for people on your end?"
"Yatsuhashi and Arslan are coordinating the students, Arslan and Velvet are at the perimeter, Reese is liaising with city officials to ensure Dust and other supplies aren't affected and Penny and Ruby are preparing to contact your people to see where they're needed most" Coco rattled the short list off before pausing and giving Winter a pointed look "Which I assume is part of why you needed to talk"
"It is" Winter answered slowly and as the words left her she did something which Coco Adel would not have believed possible even a few moments before; the great and fearsome General Schnee averted her eyes and looked away shamefacedly.
"Fuck….What happened?" Coco breathed out, a deep icy dread coiling around her stomach at the thought of whatever tragedy or disaster could prompt such a response from the older veteran whose ability to remain entirely unflappable Coco had always admired.
"The Grimm attacks across Menagerie interfered with an operation to move against Damascus Nero that was already in progress at the time and could not be halted" Winter's expression darkened "And I was not in possession of the full details at the time"
"Schnee don't talk in fucking riddles, just spit it out and get it over with….This is my home we're talking about" Coco demanded, more irritation slipping into her tone than she would have liked until a more immediately important detail caught her attention "You were moving against Nero? You know where he is?"
"My Specialists and field operatives knew where he was for a brief moment, but were too busy defending Menagerie to go after him" Winter answered, a long and pained sigh escaping her before she began to explain "Knowing the object of his cyber-attacks against Atlas provided an opportunity, we deliberately left a trail of bait for him to follow which we hoped would would force him to gather up the bulk of his forces for a decisive blow; one which the Atlesian fleet would be laying in wait and ready to counteract. Further to this my people in Atlas were watching likely allies of Nero's so that when they were inevitably called back to wherever Nero's base of operations was we could strike at him from all sides both before and after the fact"
"That makes sense, exactly the kind of ruthless planning I expect from you" Coco nodded along, sipping her coffee before coming to the realisation "But the Grimm hit every major settlement on the island right as you were gearing up to make a move….Which means Gestalt-Prime has access to-"
"The Grimm hit Nero's base as well. One of my Specialists' forward operatives had to fight through the Grimm in order to gain access to their base of operations" Winter interrupted, the revelation leaving Coco stunned as her mind came to a conclusion which she simply refused to voice; the Winter did so regardless "The movement of the Grimm today has been entirely outside of normal patterns and predictions and thus far the only reasonable conclusion we can draw is that it was indeed the result of a deliberate and directed effort; but one conducted against Gestalt-Prime and Damascus Nero as much as the Kingdom of Menagerie….Which raises further questions"
"Which is terrifying and something we cannot afford to deal with right now" Coco answered, voice a haunted whisper and her stare becoming distant and unfocused at the suggestion of what the attacks could mean.
"We will have to deal with it" Winter answered bluntly "More importantly by the time my Specialists could arrive on the scene the Grimm attack on Nero's operations were concluded and the settlement had been entirely evacuated with evidence burned"
"But you know where he's headed, your plan is still in effect and the Grimm have scuffed his people up as much as your forward operatives….You're winning here?" Coco insisted, the facts as they had been presented to her leaving the fashionista incredulous at the idea of Nero somehow recovering from such a well executed move against him.
"There were complications" once again Winter looked away and sent a wave of panic through Coco with her sudden reluctance to speak plainly "We found a makeshift landing and docking assembly for an airship….Though it was far larger than the airship Nero was last known to be using and several aspects of the assembly do not conform to any known models-"
"So he's been customising" Coco scoffed, only for her brow to furrow "You don't think….Cyber-Grimm-"
"It's a possibility we have to consider but at present we simply don't know what kind of airship Nero has at his disposal or what it, or his forces capabilities are" Winter answered "And simply shooting them out of the sky the moment they appear in Atlesian airspace is no longer a possibility"
"Why not?" Coco demanded, a sickened and revolted look coming to her face as she considered "Pikesreach….He hasn't deployed that Grimm-virus anywhere else, but it could be an insurance policy"
"Perhaps, but at present we believe that he already has an insurance policy" Winter's knuckles audibly cracked and the General needed several seconds to calm herself, leaving Coco genuinely afraid, in a way she had not been for quite some time of whatever had elicited such a response from the older woman.
"Specialist Xiao Long, my niece Corey was supposed to lead the assault on Nero's location"
"Blake and Yang's oldest, I know the one" Coco nodded, unsure of where the conversation was going but growing more uneasy with each passing moment.
"Then you know that she is related, by degrees to two members of your missing team; both she and Athena-Jade Slate are my nieces….It seems Team MARS reached out to her"
"No" Coco gasped, suddenly beginning to understand "No, she wouldn't be that stupid, surely-"
"Specialist Xiao Long's argument was that Team MARS were prepared to take risks either with or without the guidance and assistance of more experienced Hunters and that, given the betrayal of Zirconia Shadowmoon the team deserved a chance to right certain wrongs….She also argued that since they were not officially affiliated with her or anybody else officially that they made suitable forward operatives, especially when a situation occurred which allowed her to have them follow Nero's allies without it appearing to be anything more than a personal grudge" Winter's explanation was cold and detached, followed by her running her hands through her hair and massaging her temples in a display of the stress she was suffering under "Vehicles belonging to Team MARS, along with the transponder they were equipped with have been recovered"
"Are they-"
"No bodies" Winter answered, already knowing what Coco's question would be and giving it a response which allowed for a small modicum of hope whilst also underlining the severity of the situation "At present we believe that Team MARS have been captured by Nero's forces"
"Damn it….FUCKING DAMN IT!" Coco yelled "FUCK! Winter if you'd worked WITH me on this rather than going and doing your own thing you could have had proper support, we could have sent Ruby-"
"And pulled her away from defending Port Alistair?" Winter countered "There was no time and repositioning forces beforehand would have given us away, using my covert assets was only viable option"
"And now you're plan is wrecked because you think Team MARS will crack under….Interrogation" Coco faltered, unwilling to even entertain the idea of her students being tortured for information by a man whose works included the Cyber-Grimm and several murders.
"No" Winter snarled "My plan is ruined because I will not shoot down an airship whilst my niece is on board….Every Hunter should be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice when called to; but none of us should have that decision made for us by an ally, not by family….I can't"
Winter Schnee visibly trembled and to Coco it was like seeing a statue flinch.
"I'm not judging you" she answered quietly "Hell, I'd judge you if you didn't call off the operation; we don't throw people under the bus and trade lives like that…..At that point we may as well just concede to Nero because he's right about us. So what do we do?"
"Firstly I'll be relieving Specialist Xiao Long of her duties. You're welcome to employ her as a Hunter on Menagerie but I can't have a high ranking operative that I don't trust" Winter's eyes narrowed for a moment before she let out a choking sound that might have been a bitter laugh "And it's for her own good, otherwise she'd be recalled to Atlas where Weiss and Gangrel can reach her, or even Arctus when they find out-"
"I mean what do we do about Nero" Coco interjected "I can't spare many people with Hammerfall Outpost still out of action, especially not after today but I will send whatever Hunters from Menagerie I can spare and convince"
"I don't know; the bait we laid for Nero was never real and the assets he's looking for are hidden and secured which is a small mercy but the reality is that he has an unknown amount of manpower and firepower, that he may well know that there's a trap waiting for him and have a countermeasure in place which may or may not include a refined version of Aefen Cruor's Grimm-virus….All whilst having a team of student Hunters, including a member of my family as hostages to use as leverage" Winter met Coco's eyes and Coco saw an expression of utter defeat and brokenness in the older woman which she would never have thought possible, one which was only amplified by the Generals' final words.
"Right now Nero has us one move away from checkmate"
Stygian Blue had allowed themselves to drift into a silence filled with uncertainty and dread, the blue-haired Mouse Faunus's thoughts an endless spiral of guilt and shame at their actions, the image of Athena-Jade collapsing to the ground with his sword plunged cleanly through her etching itself deeper into his mind followed by desperate attempts to ensure himself that the Bear Faunus would recover only for him to be forced to confront the fact that there would likely be no way to reconcile their partnership in the wake of everything that had happened.
Outwardly the tattooed and dark-skinned young man seemed to be in an almost catatonic state, consumed by his own thoughts and feelings and totally unresponsive however this was not truly the case; whilst preoccupied Stygian was still fully aware of his surroundings and the actions of his team-mates over a period of time that had been difficult to accurately track, but had undoubtedly been several hours.
Astra had returned to pacing around the edge of the cell that the three of them had been confined to, their mind obviously hard at work as they studied the bone bars of the cage that the living vessel had produced along with the makeup of the inky-black scales, possibly searching for any weaknesses or conversely anything which the Grimm-ship could use to defend itself and keep the prisoners in place. Regalia had remained largely still, though the Racoon Faunus had alternated between rubbing her hands together and tugging idly and futilely at the Aura dampening collar around her neck more out of irritation with its' presence than any genuine effort to prise it off; Stygian had first assumed that the former nomad was simply more comfortable with being confined with a cramped, dark space after an upbringing amongst Clan Aiktishaf and though this might have been the case to an extent the Mouse Faunus quickly realised that his team-mate was acting as a lookout for her own partner.
Her suddenly springing to her feet and getting Astra's attention, causing the two of them to make their way to the side of the cell facing the doorway leading out to the rest of the Megalodon confirming this and at the same time causing Stygian to attempt to follow suit, staggering uncomfortably to his feet and in doing so realising how numb he had become.
Though he was brought fully to his senses, electric blue eyes widening by a single word Astra.
"Athena?"
"Stay sill Mars, don't try anything brave or stupid" the familiar, rumbling snarl of Carmesi Hueso filled the gloom whose unnatural, tinged lighting made the Komodo Dragon Faunus appear all the more intimidating as he strode into view beside Athena-Jade herself; the Bear Faunus moving slowly and with her footsteps accompanied by the sound of metal on scales as she pulled a metal stand along with her which in turn held several bags of fluids which were fed into her body at various points through tubes. Athena's outfit had been too blood-soaked to wear and it seemed that something resembling a hospital gown was not in the airships' inventory, leaving her wearing a simple hoodie and sweatpants that were oversized in a way that only highlighted her pale and drawn features which were lacking so much of their usual liveliness.
Any ideas Astra might have had about rushing their captors the moment the cell was opened to allow Athena inside were rendered moot in an instant as Carmesi led her close to the bars made of bone and then simply stepped back, allowing new bars to form behind her; creating a waiting room of sorts before the bars on one side of Team MARS's cell sank into the ground to leave the four of them reunited within a slightly larger cage whilst Carmesi turned and left without another word.
"That was….definitely not what I expected" Astra muttered under their breath before turning their attention to Athena-Jade, the Deer Faunus gesturing to Regalia and the two of them helping her make her way into the centre of the cell "Are you okay?"
"Well considering I got stabbed by partner I guess I could be worse" Stygian withered under the glare he received, any notions of apologising being evaporated by the sheer anger and betrayal in Athena's sapphire blue eyes.
"Woah" Astra carefully positioned themselves between the pair, the Deer Faunus's antlers serving as a barrier to ensure that there was a reasonable amount of space between the two "AJ I get why you're upset, but we need to focus here"
"It was an accident" Regalia added, drawing a mocking, biting laugh from Athena.
"Oh is that what he told you? 'cos you weren't there Regalia" the Bear Faunus let out a dry, pained cough but fumbled and flailed to keep her friends from aiding her as she pointed accusingly at Stygian "He attacked Zirconia when he didn't need to, we could have talked her down….We could have taken this airship down before it got off the ground-"
"You tried and she wasn't listening" Stygian shot back "You keep trying and trying and-"
"And then you decided that enough was enough and that you wanted payback, don't act like it's only my feelings getting in the way here Stitch!" Athena's voice raised with every syllable "I made it pretty damn clear that I was trying to break the whole damn thing up but you kept attacking, so I really don't know any more; was it an accident?"
"How can you-" Stygian's words were cut off by a strangled choking and off all the things to silence the Mouse Faunus Athena had not expected it to be Regalia who clamped her hands around the young man's neck and hoisted him off of the scale covered ground until his feet kicked and dangled helplessly.
"We have been let down and stabbed in the back so many times" Athena and Astra were halted for a moment by trembling and teary note in the Racoon Faunus's voice "Not just by Zirconia, by Carmesi and Grapeshot and the people who were supposed to have our backs today….I am done with it Stygian, so I need you to promise me that you didn't hurt Athena just because she was in the way"
"I promise, she's my partner….I would never" it was a mark of how strongly Stygian felt that the emotion could be clearly heard in his voice even despite the strangulation and it was at that point that Regalia felt Astra's hand on her arm, gently pressing down until she lowered the Mouse Faunus to the ground.
"Babe, I believe him" the Deer Faunus' then reached out and took their partners' hands allowing Regalia to melt into their embrace and simply be held; leaving Stygian and Athena to stare silently at one another with countless expressions flickering between the two of the but remaining undead until finally the leader of the reunited Team MARS spoke again.
"It was an accident, but Stitch….You don't get to make fuck ups like that on this team; I'm only gonna say that once because like Regalia said, we have been let down too many times" they let out a deep, trembling breath which cut off any chance of a retort Stygian might have had before adding "But now we're all here, we need a plan"
"I spoke with Zirconia" Athena's voice left a silence in its' wake and Astra gave her a soft, pitying look as they tried to find words that would not hurt the severely injured Bear Faunus's feelings.
"AJ, look I know-"
"From what I could gather from her conversation and with what she was trying to say when Stitch and….From before; she's not okay with what Nero's doing. Nero's actually planning on having her under house arrest somewhere at the first possible opportunity-"
"Athena….She lied to us for two years" Regalia chimed in.
"I know" Athena swallowed thickly "And somehow I still think I can tell when she's telling the truth….But if that sounds crazy consider this, Carmesi held a blade to her neck and she's already tried to make a move against Gestalt-Prime; that's why Nero's trying to keep her away-"
"Hang on" Astra interjected, reaching out to Stygian who handed over his jacket which the Deer Faunus draped partly over their own antlers and then held out so that the teams could huddle beneath it, speaking in hushed tones and keeping their faces hidden from any cameras watched by people who could lip read in a crude but hopefully effective way to speak with some secrecy.
"Are we gonna start a campfire and tell scary stories as well?" Stygian's attempt at a joke to lighten the mood fell flat, being roundly ignored by his team-mates, with Astra focusing solely on on Athena-Jade for a moment and asking a question whose answer would form the core of whatever plans they managed to concoct.
"Do you trust Zirconia?"
"I….Trust is a strong word" Athena looked away "But she wanted me to tell you that she wants to help us, that what's happening now isn't the future Nero promised her-"
"I don't really care about that last part. She made her choices"
"But what if she really wants to make new ones?" Regalia murmured, purple eyes seeming to brighten with a faint spark of cautious hope.
"So we're all okay with this?" Stygian's voice was a mixture of shock and carefully controlled outrage "After everything she's done, we're gonna-"
"Do you have a better idea?" Astra demanded hotly, gesturing to the living cell the four of them shared as widely as their current position would allow as they added "Whatever plans I come up with all hinge on us getting out of this cell, with no Aura, Semblances, weapons, scrolls or tools; that is step one and whatever I think of Zirconia….And that's a talk I'll have with her; I don't see anybody else lining up to help us"
"So, everything is in Zirconia's hands" Athena managed a weak, wistful smile as she shook her head "Remember when that would have reassured us….I wish we could go back to that"
Author's Notes:
Okay, so we're now halfway through Volume eight of ten; we're steadily nearing the conclusion of this story and the series I've been working on since 2016.
I'm gonna take a week or so to plan out the second half of this volume, although given that I'm writing this roughly three months before anyone is gonna read it that doesn't really matter.
But anyway let's summarise shall we?:
Corvid arriving at Jidhir Town just felt like the best place to start the chapter.
So, Noir survived getting thrown from a moving semi-truck when Athena flipped it over but she's in critical condition….definitely a lot of broken bones, probably not gonna be conscious to answer questions for a while.
Yeah, landing strategy was never really a problem for Corey.
Of course Nero's people burned everything important before they left.
Well Clunker and Regalia's jetbike got recovered, which is something at least.
And now Corvid and therefore Winter and Atlas know that Team MARS have been captured.
Yay for more Pantheon, I can't wait for the point where they get off of their throne and start engaging with the other cast directly.
This is definitely a turning point in how they think of Gestalt-Prime though, thus far they've just been 'The upstart' who's only a problem because their plans change the status quo….After Jidhir Town, they have to be regarded as a real threat.
Pantheon, leader of the Grimm and all round monster-supreme having a hate-boner for Corvid, who has been a supporting character in every part of this series she's appeared in is honestly funny….It's like if Salem ignored Ruby to go fight Coco Adel in a parking lot.
So the Megalodon is 'Gone' because remember, the original airship had stealth capabilities.
Okay, so Pantheon is getting ready for a more direct approach.
Of course the interior of the Megalodon is a bit horrible now….Had to get those Warhammer 40k 'Corrupted by the Warp' vibes in.
So Zirconia's weapon and Semblance are off the table.
Oh yeah, Nero is beyond pissed right now.
So Zirconia tried the direct honest heart to heart with Nero, telling him exactly what her concerns were….And they went nowhere, because he thinks he knows what he's doing.
Which does beg the question, just what is he planning to use that Aura Transfer machine for and how does Aefen's research play into his plans, because he hasn't used the Grimm-Human hybridisation for anything yet.
And this is one of the reasons that writing a smart villain is tricky but fun, plans are constantly changing because they're aware enough to know when they're being set up….Team MARS showing up just at Nero was preparing to leave is a dead give away that his enemies are onto him, so from there he can extrapolate that he's walking into a trap.
So I realised that Nero's original ship was a personal one and had absolutely no reason to have a brig, but since the Megalodon is bigger overall with whole new sections added I worked around that problem by having a modular storage area that can double as a living jail.
See Stygian's answer about what happened was the truth….But missing a lot of context.
"He can do worse than kill her" I mean Nero won't turn anyone into a Grimm-Zombie, that's not the part of Aefen's research he needs or wants and despite being the villain he has some standards.
Astra was at least smart enough to check for monitoring devices.
And of course their plans are a) make sure AJ is safe and then b) find a way to break out and sabotage the airship.
Zirconia obviously didn't take to getting grounded/detained well and did exactly what Nero thought she would….She went straight to Zirconia's bedside.
….I feel like turning up to a medical triage and sitting at a patients' bedside whilst soaked in blood is probably unhygienic, even if it's the patient's blood.
Let's be real, if it wasn't for the blood loss AJ would absolutely have checked Zirconia out, just out of habit.
Zirconia is switching sides, it's finally happening.
"Sucks when that happens right?" was absolutely called for.
"Lock me away in a tower like a fairytale" deliberate word choice was deliberate.
Carmesi is just being his usual self, the real concern is that Zirconia's right to be worried about whether Nero will just cut his losses and get rid of her.
Yeah Pantheon's attacks across Menagerie mean that Coco is dealing with the fallout of what's happening literally right after leaving the battlefield.
The little opening banter between Winter and Coco was fun.
So the fact that Grimm hit Nero as well means that it wasn't on Gestalt-Prime's orders, which means that the shadowy cabal/former Ozluminati are now are that the Grimm are being led by something.
Neither Coco or Winter are idiots, they see the guy who made Cyber-Grimm has modified his airship in some way to make it bigger; it's not hard to guess what he's done to it.
Once again the heroes are worried about Nero using Aefen's Grimm-Virus because they have to be.
Yeah, the reaction to Team MARS getting captured was always gonna be bad.
Winter is not going to shoot at her own family.
Oof, Corey just lost her job….Still I suppose she can join Team GORE and Qrow.
So Nero is headed to Atlas, he knows it's a trap which means he's still got to look for the Aura Transfer Machine, which Winter is already securing.
Oh yeah Stitch is not coping.
Astra and Regalia casually trying to workout how to jail-break themselves.
Yeah AJ's still on a drip, mainly Aura stimulant and painkillers because she got skewered a couple hours ago….The fact she's walking around is just anime super-healing.
You didn't really think that there was gonna be hugs and a happy reunion did you?
Yeah, Regalia considered quitting the academy back in first year when she found out that Carmesi and Grapeshot weren't who they said they were….After so many betrayals, she is done.
Astra and Regalia are underappreciated for trying to let AJ down gently there, 'cos let's be fair they've got absolutely no reason to trust Zirconia.
But ultimately practicality wins out and Astra is right….Trust Zirconia or not, who is else is helping the team right now?
Thank you to Neil12 and MajorBrony95 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Remember, this was only the mid-season finale...We've got plenty more chaos to go.
With what's coming I honestly think the team would rather have a fight with Ruby and Coco
I think it's a bit of a stretch to say they beat Carmesi, they held their own but he was by no means finished.
AJ's not a monster at all, if anything she's just too loyal and wants to believe the best in people.
Yeah AJ's gonna get medical attention...Bargaining chips work better when they're still alive.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.