Tossing an array of throwing knives into the body of the Blind Worm, Hori used them like stairs. Once his foot reached the top blade, he launched himself into the air. With a shout, he drew his katana and sent several slashes into the heavy white armor on the Grimm's back.
The attack did nothing but scratch and agitated it. It twisted its body around and thrashed its head in his direction with a low hiss.
Holding out his hand, Hori narrowed his eyes as an arrow flew through the air towards him. He caught it in his hand and the momentum pulled him out of the way of the attack. Once the arrow lodged itself into a building, he spun around it before landing carefully on his feet on top of it.
"This damn thing is gonna wreck the whole camp, Troy!" McCree gritted his teeth while holding down his hat with one hand and gripping his revolver tight in the other. "The hell are we supposed to do!?"
With a groan, Black slowly breathed in. "Alright." He took a step back. His voice was quiet but still authoritative. "Hawkes. Think you can ride him out into the sands?"
"Do my best, boss!" The large mercenary gave a gentle nod before shouting and charging in. As he jumped, the sand pushed away from his feet. He landed on the Grimm's back and ran up its spine towards its head. As the Blind Worm opened its mouth, he grabbed a hold of two of its fangs. His eyes began to give off a faint dull glow as he jerked the creature towards the side away from the remaining structures.
"Sir." Snape spoke up while pulling himself away from his rifle. "It seems our guests have returned."
"That is their mistake." Smoke stepped to the side while notching one of his arrows and taking aim.
"Wait." Black held out his hand. "Wait." He repeated as he narrowed his eyes.
Cheyenne narrowed her eyes down the sights of her rifle. Following the Blind Worm's direction, she fired shot after shot at the ground just in front of it. A layer of ice formed and the creature slid. Once it was away from the group's camp, the chains of Kris' weapons wrapped around its body.
"Any time now!" Kris grunted as her feet were pulled through the sand.
"Agreed!" Elise shouted while holding on to the weapon on the other side.
Rolling her eyes, Kagami hauled herself up onto the head of the Grimm next to Hawkes. "Hey." She smiled. "So, you're really strong." Her eyes met his. "I have a job for us."
"Sure. What is it?" He asked.
While Asher shot into the Blind Worm's eye and actually blinded it, the two of them slid down its back and jumped onto separate sides of it. They traded places with Kris and Elise. As they jerked on the chain weapons, their feet dug deep into the sand and the creature came to a haulting stop.
It struggled. The chains tightened and were crushing its insides. As it thrashed its head in pain, acid blood spewed from its eye.
"Hori!" Cheyenne called out. With Kagami's sword in her hand, she tossed it towards him.
Catching it in his left hand, the swordsman blinked a few times. He eyed it, weighed it and then spun it once before flashing a small smile. It wasn't normal steel. Much like his own, it was ageless. "Smoke!" He flexed his shoulder blades.
Behind him, a smokey bear slowly stood up. A large bear. It grabbed him by the waist and tossed him up into the air with a grunt.
Hori went high up into the dimly lit sky. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes as he froze mid air for a second. He opened his eyes and glanced down. He could see a few distant settlements and the light from Shade in Vacuo. Below him, he eyed the small figures that were his friends and enemies. Not that it mattered now. When living in a wasteland where everything wants you dead, it's easy to forget that not every little detail is worth fighting for. Sometimes, one has to let go.
He exhaled as he began to fall back down. He gripped both blades tight and with a sharp battle cry, spun around. He collided with the Blind Worm and a shockwave shot out as sand burst into a cloud. As it cleared, the swordsman stood up from the ground and glanced between the two halves of the Grimm. "Hmph." He smirked before jumping away from the spewing acid blood.
"Well I'll be damned." McCree let out an amused scoff with his hand on his hat. "They have guts. I'll give 'em that."
Before any more praise could happen, Asher took note of how the Grimm wasn't decaying into smoke. She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Her eyes then widened as she saw both halves of the Blind Worm jerk around. It was still alive.
"Way to fucking go, you idiots! Now we have two problems!" She snapped while flashing her teeth. "Congratulations!"
"How were we supposed to know!?" Elise glared over at her.
"Enough! Both of you!" Snape jumped down from the roof with a thud. As he landed, he slid his rifle onto his back and started rushing over. "Asher! Help the girls with the backend! We'll take its mouth!"
"What?!" Kris glared over.
"Exactly. What!?" The fiery redhead narrowed her eyes.
"Asher. You heard him." Black walked by while tipping his hat. "Get to work."
After catching her sword that was thrown back to her from Hori, Kagami narrowed her eyes at the desperately flailing halves of the Grimm. Seeing them try to burrow, her eyes widened. "Chey! Blast the ground!"
Raising an eyebrow, the Faunus eyed her before quickly taking aim with her rifle. She shot the sand around the back end of the Blind Worm. Its body crashed into a frozen solid sheet of ice that cracked. With pained movements, it bashed itself against the ice. The acid blood from the severed part of his body spewing everywhere and making the ice sizzle.
"Sooo, the plan??" Elise quickly asked while stepping out of the way.
"Oh hell no!" Asher stepped up with a snarl. "I don't give a damn who you think you are! I ain't-"
Kagami's hand suddenly pushed against her face and gently shoved her back.
"Shut up and help or back away and keep shouting." The jadette narrowed her eyes. "I don't care which option you choose. Just choose one."
She blinked a few times, stunned. "Tch..." She bared her teeth. "Well how do you expect to kill that thing! It survived being cut in half!" She waved her hand.
"So we obliterate it." She flashed a smile. "How quickly can you shoot?"
"Do you really have to ask that?" Her eyes narrowed back.
"Hmph." Her smile grew. Gripping her sword tight, she turned to face her two marksmen friends. "Use all the ice Dust you got on that thing. And I mean all. This isn't the time to worry about saving any for later."
"You heard her." Elise unlatched the straps of a few pouches on her belt. Pulling out a clip with darts that had blue stripes on them, she readied her rifle. "Eat ice, sandsucker!" She shouted before firing away.
As Cheyenne shot ice blast after ice blast, Kagami eyed Kris. "You're with me!" She waved a finger before running towards the halved Grimm.
"And what about me?!" Asher glared while baring her teeth.
"She does this. She doesn't like explaining her plans." The short redhead chuckled while extending the blades of her weapons. "You're just as clueless as the rest of us. Just wait for her to shout your name or something." She shrugged before running after her leader. "Don't disappoint!"
Her brow twitched. With a sharp breath, she closed her eyes and let out an annoyed and frustrated scream.
As large chunks of ice formed across it, the back end of the Blind Worm twitched and thrashed around. Sliding underneath spewing acid blood, Kagami jumped to her feet while slicing through part of the frozen creature. A large chunk of frozen Grimm fell off. With a grunt, she kicked it up into the air.
Quickly catching on, Kris brought her blades around in a single slashing motion. She lopped off another piece. Slowly, she and her leader chipped away at the Blind Worm. When the ice was cut off, Cheyenne and Elise were quick to replace it.
"Light it up!" Kagami called out towards Asher while chucking part of the frozen Grimm up into the air.
With a scoff, the fiery redhead looked up in disbelief. The chunks of ice glimmered in the moonlight. "Y'all are unbelievable." She shook her head. Eyeing Kagami, she partially smiled while drawing two of her revolvers. "But I'll show ya a real show."
She tossed one up while grabbing her third. With narrowed eyes, she began to juggle all three. Each time she caught one, she fired a bullet enhanced with red Dust into one of the chunks of frozen Grimm. She reloaded effortlessly when she needed to and soon enough, Kagami kicked the last piece of ice and Grimm into the air.
With smoking barrels, Asher fired one last time. As the bullet struck, the ice and Grimm exploded into small crystals and smoke. She quickly holstered her weapon before catching the second and third and sliding them away. With a sharp exhale, she placed her hands on her hips. The small ice crystals fell around her with the moonlight shining through them like falling stars.
"Hawkes. Grab it." Black calmly called out as the mouth of the Blind Worm went to burrow itself into the ground.
"Got it, boss!" The large gentle giant jumped over while grabbing the monster with his bare hands. With a grunt, he dug his fingers into its sides and hauled it back out of the sand. "No you don't!" He bared his teeth before shifting his foot and tossing it away. "Smoke! Can you hold 'em?"
"Can I?" The Faunus quietly scoffed. Placing his hands together, he closed his eyes and let out a sharp breath. Behind him, a large spiral of gray smoke swirled before out of it shifted and a large squid that slid across the sands. Its arms all quickly wrapped around the Grimm and squeezed it tight enough that it let out a pained shriek.
"Ooh, someone don't like that." McCree chuckled while loading his revolver with completely black rounds. He tucked and rolled in to avoid the Blind Worm's thrashing. With a grunt, he jumped up towards its head. Latching himself onto one of its fangs, he took aim and fired into its mouth. The shots seemed to do nothing as he jumped and rolled away.
"Ain't gonna like this even more though." He smiled while flicking his wrist to empty out the casings in his weapon. When he did, small explosions bubbled from within the creature of darkness. It cried out in pain again and practically began to throw up acid blood.
"Gods! I'm so damn tired of that!" Holland groaned while narrowly avoiding the acid as it burned the sand at his feet. With an irritated growl, he charged in while holding out his shotgun. It transformed into a longer wider barrel that he quickly shot out a flame from. The fire went deep into the Blind Worm's throat, burning it closed.
It began to weakly squirm as Smoke's squid dispersed. Falling onto its side, it slowly shifted against the sand. Suddenly, a heavy rain of bullets shot into its body one after another.
Watching it closely, Snape slowly breathed in as it quietly withered in pain. "Just die already and end your suffering. There's no point to this."
"It does not fear death, Snape." Hori stepped around the Grimm. Calmly standing in front of its mouth, he knelt down while bringing out his blade. "It does not feel anything." He closed his eyes while driving his blade into the ground.
While his ancestors returned from the dead as spirits and impaled the monster, Black changed his gun into his dual blades. "Your silly ghost swords aren't going to kill that thing." He stepped between two of the spirits and jumped on the back of the barely moving Grimm. "Sometimes, you gotta do things personally."
He drove both his blades into its back and dragged them down its spine. The Blind Worm jerked slightly before eventually falling limp. When it did, Black stood up straight while pulling his swords free. The Grimm at his feet turned to smoke and he calmly let his feet fall onto the sand with a thud. With a sigh, he combined his weapon back into a double barrel shotgun and slid it onto his back.
"Well... dang." Elise blinked as the dark Grimm smoke rolled across the sands and between the seven men. "I think they topped us-"
"Quiet." Asher narrowed her eyes while pressing one of her revolvers against the brunet's neck. "The lot of you are a bunch of dumb asses. You shoulda kept running-"
"Shut up already." Kris huffed while placing the barrel of one of her candy cane weapons against her head. "Nobody likes you."
This caused something to flash in Asher's eyes as she glared back.
"You are one to speak!" Smoke shot back while drawing an arrow aimed at the short redhead.
"Hey! You better unnotch that right now!" Cheyenne bared her teeth while taking aim at him with her finger on her trigger.
"You better watch your tongue, miss." Holland narrowed his eyes while cautiously approaching from behind her with his shotgun out.
"You first." Kagami shot him a glare while pointing her bracer at him. "We just want to leave."
"Sorry, but it's not happening." Snape raised his rifle while locking on her with his sights. "Job's a job."
Gritting her teeth, Elise's breath hitched as she stepped away quickly from Asher and took aim at the retired sniper. Ignoring the fiery redhead's shouts, she bit her lip. "You better stop pointing that at her or I swear!"
"Hey, hey, hey." Hawkes walked up while gently waving his hands. "Hey now. Everyone calm down. Why don't we all take some deep breaths? Breathe in," he deeply inhaled, "and breathe out-"
"Shut up!" The entire group that was aiming at each other shouted back in unison.
"Well," McCree eyed his husband while lighting a cigar. "Whatcha wanna do, Troy?" He moved his hands behind his head.
"I think he knows what he needs to do." Hori stepped over as arguing loudly resumed. "We do not need more Grimm. So just do it and get it over with." He calmly sat down on his knees before laying back to stare up at the night sky. "Do not touch my katana this time."
"What?" McCree blinked before it dawned on him. "No, no, no, don't you even dare-"
"Quiet, Matt." Black pressed a hand against his face and shoved him back. With his brow twitching, he quickly stormed over towards the group. He could feel it in his core. The building up of annoyance. The frustration. The rage. The urge to shout louder than everyone.
"Hey!" He snapped while raising his voice. The sound echoed and everyone went quiet.
"Shit..." Snape's shoulders fell as his eyes went wide.
Flashing his teeth, Black took a very deep breath. "Everyone... shut up!!" His voice cracked as the ground shook. A shockwave came off him as he shouted.
With a groan, Kagami stumbled back. Her body felt weak. Her vision grew spotty and blurry. "What... the..." She clenched her jaw and blinked slowly before falling over and collapsing on the ground with a thud. She was out cold.
Watching everyone around him collapse, Black let out a sigh and lowered her head. "Dammit, Evelyn." He crossed his arms as his hat hid his eyes. "You put me in one hell of a mess this time." He sighed again before turning around on his feet and walking over towards his husband. "Alright, Matty. Let's get you in bed. I'm going to have to deal with you complaining about a headache all damn day tomorrow." He snatched him up by the arm and pulled him over his shoulders.