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The Atlesian guards were shoved forward, forced to kneel in the snow. Their captors were clad in heavy winter gear with a black and red color scheme, complete with a black mask bearing the mark of a skull. They hadn't seen it coming. The ambush was perfect. Whoever these guys were, they had practiced this.
"'Ere's the last of 'em, boss," one of the attackers said. He seemed to be of a higher rank than the others, being of a stockier build, almost like he should be a wrestler instead of a marauder. Resting on his shoulder was a large, metal club. The club itself was made in such a way that it was more like several sheets of metal surrounding a core.
"Right then!" the leader of the marauders said, turning toward his captives with a dramatic flourish of his cloak. The leader wore a similar outfit to the others, a black and red color scheme on winterized combat gear, under a cape that included a higher than normal collar. Unlike the rest of them, he wasn't afraid to show his face. He had spiked-up brown hair with a similarly spikey goatee on his chin, a red headband covering his forehead and black eyes.
"So as much as I love a snow day, I'm not exactly here for a vacation. I've got work to do," he said as he walked over to the captive guards, "Or...actually, could you REALLY call it work if you enjoy it? I mean I'm loving this personally, just not a fan of the weather. I prefer it CONSIDERABLY above freezing. Ooh, maybe after this I should take the boys to Hawaii!"
The captives looked at each other in confusion.
"Now where was I...oh yes! I start rambling so easily, apologies," the leader said before he pointed at one of the officers. It looked like both of his arms were cybernetic, made of some kind of black metal. His hand then let out steam as part of his arm flipped, the hand retracting, flipping back into his forearm and being replaced with a gun barrel.
"You're the man in charge right? Uh…" the leader squinted to try and find a rank on the soldier's armor before his eyes found the mark on the soldier's chestplate.
"Ah! Captain! Captain…Oh, bollocks, nobody got his name did they?" The assembled marauders let out various ways to say no or just shook their heads in response.
"Well, that's a bit rude. Uh, what's your name, oh captain?" the leader smirked.
"Captain Ortez, registry number S116231. That's all you're getting," the Atlesian soldier said.
"Oh come on, Ortez! Don't be like that! You talk like I'm some terrorist!" The leader said, sounding genuinely offended.
"And you want me to believe that you're not?"
"Listen, despite the well-armed nature of my little band here, we are NOT tactless savages. We...are PIRATES!" The leader declared.
"Don't you need a ship to be a pirate? And...oh I don't know, be on the WATER?" one of the other captives shot back.
"Hey, you can still be a pirate without fitting the stereotype! We're land pirates! Or ice pirates. Ooooh, I like the sound of ice pirates! When we get back to base, put that to a vote! Ice pirates: yay or nay?"
"Not ex-military," Ortez said, "that's obvious. So what do you want?"
"I thought you said I wasn't getting anything out of you?" the leader shot back.
"Humor me."
"Actually you might not say anything...but the others might. Alright then! If any of you tell me where I can find a nice, lovely supply of your fancy multi-colored magic rock, I'll let you go with only bruises! If you lie to me, I start popping heads." He raised his gun-arm and cocked it, just to emphasize the point.
The captives were silent.
"No one? Come on, I just need to know which truck it's in!"
Silence.
The leader rolled his eyes and walked to the end of the line of captives. He took the helmet off of one of the soldiers and placed the barrel of his gun against the soldier's temple.
"Getting really impatient here. Just a single answer, that's all I waaaant."
"Second truck from the back!" one of the soldiers finally called out.
"Go check," the cyborg called back to his men. Three of the marauders went over to one of the still intact trucks in the convoy and threw open the back doors. Sure enough, there were several crates of fine Dust powder.
"Word's good, G!" one of the marauders called out.
The leader pulled his gun away from the captive's temple, shifted his gun back into a hand and patted the man he was about to kill on the head. He then moved over to the soldier who talked, knelt down...and hugged him.
"Thank you SO much for making this bloodless! Honestly, I thought I was gonna have to kill the man and I do so hate unnecessary violence."
All of the captives, even Ortez, had one thought on their minds as they saw this...unusual display.
What the fuck.
Projected up on the holographic screen, Elm, Harriet, Vine, Weiss, Ruby, Ben, and Rex watched from the first-person point of view of one of the soldiers from the convoy. It was peaceful for a few minutes before an explosion struck the first truck. Gunshots and revving motors echoed outside. The soldier grabbed his standard-issue collapsable sword and pistol before leaping out of the truck. Surprisingly well armed bandits hopped off snowmobiles and charged the convoy. Some used the vehicles for cover and shot at the soldiers, while others rushed in with a variety of crude melee weapons: swords, hatches, clubs.
The soldier that everyone was looking through the eyes of managed to take down quite a few of the close range fighters, putting them down with well placed sword strikes. But one of the marauders got lucky, and slammed the butt of his rifle into his helmet. The feed blurred and froze there.
"This is the fourth Dust convoy hit this month," Clover said as he stood at the side of the screen, "Same MO as all the others. Quick hit and run tactics, interrogation, and then they leave with the shipment. A little stranger is the fact they leave people alive. It sounds like a good thing, and it is, but it also sends a message. Whoever's in charge of these raids, he's arrogant. He thinks we won't catch him, even if we know his face."
"Someone we've heard of?" Harriet asked.
"From the description the survivors gave us and the way the men are armed, no. This is someone new. Or at least, new to Atlas."
"Textbook op then? Lure 'em out and cuff 'em?" Elm suggested.
"Mostly, but this'll also be an escort mission. We'll be delivering a larger than normal shipment of Dust to Site 81. But we'll split in two teams and neither team will know which convoy holds the shipment," Clover explained.
"And that's where we come in," Rex said.
"And someone else I managed to grab. He returned from a mission in Vacuo two days ago."
"Wait...you don't mean-"
"Yes. Six'll be accompanying us."
"Oh hell yeah. If we get in trouble, which, let's face it, we will, you guys are gonna be in for a show."
"I've heard of the guy before, but...c'mon, he's gotta have a real name right? Six is just a codename," Ben said.
"Good luck getting him to tell ya," Elm chuckled, "Nobody's ever gotten it."
"Ok, he's committed to the codename. But why Six?" Weiss asked.
"Cause he's 'the sixth most dangerous person in the world.' Well, sixth normal person," Harriet scoffed.
"And lemme guess, he won't say who the other five are," Ruby guessed.
"Yeah, but, he's not just all talk. Remember those gorilla Grimm?" Rex asked.
"Berringels, right?"
"Yeah. I saw Six slice through one of those things like it was a Beowolf. Didn't even use a gun!"
"Ok, now I know you're lying."
"Trust me, I've worked with Six on a few missions. First time I asked him, he said he hated guns. Hey...speaking of...shouldn't he be here?"
"Agent Six is meeting with the general right now. He was briefed earlier," Clover said.
"And you're sure about this?" Ironwood asked.
"Positive. Files in front of you have all the details I could get on him and his operation. His front's almost flawless," Six said.
"Almost?"
"You sent me out there for a reason, sir. I didn't fall for his 'advertising.'"
Ironwood opened one of the files and read through it, his eyes narrowing at the specifics. It was surprising, if unsettling to know these details. "If he has this kind of muscle...we'll need to monitor him closer. Nothing's escalated, though…"
"For now. But, we'll need to deal with him at some point."
"Agreed. We might need to send you back there again if these files are accurate. For now, though, I believe you have a convoy mission to assist with."
"They're probably finished with the briefing by now. I'll meet them in the hangar." The agent gave a nod to the general and departed. Once the door to Ironwood's office slid closed, the general started going over the files. He paid special attention to one file in particular. The "products" this man was peddling...why did the effects seem so familiar? Was it possible that…
No, there was no way. All of them had been accounted for when the project shut down.
The group was getting ready to head out, doing one last gear check. The group had been separated in a way where two of the higher ups would help them. Ruby and Weiss were to go with Elm and Harriet , while Ben and Rex were paired up with Vine and Six.
Six had finally walked into the hangar, meeting up with Clover and the other Ace-Ops, save Elm, who was gathering up some spare ammo for the trip.
"Ah, there you are. Almost ready to go, just doing last minute checks," Clover said, "You'll be going with Vine, Ben and Rex."
Harriet was checking on her Fast Knuckles as they all talked.
"You sure this is a good idea, sir?" Harriet asked, "Putting her back on a mission this big after the gauntlet incident."
"The gauntlet incident?" Six asked, raising a brow.
"I thought we went over this, Hare," Clover said.
"We did. Doesn't mean all my doubts are gone," Harriet said.
Clover sighed, "If you're that worried about it, consider this an evaluation then. Keep an eye on her during the mission and report back."
"Right," Harriet finished up her last minute checks and walked over to her team's transport.
"Care to explain what that was about?" Six asked.
Clover rubbed his temple, "There was a...slight breach in protocol a while back. Elm got a hold of some contraband and things...escalated."
"I...see. Lapses in judgment happen."
"This breach was...something you'd expect of a new recruit. Not someone with the experience Elm has," Vine added.
"Harriet still hasn't gotten over some...words the two shared during the incident. Elm brought it up when she...wasn't herself," Clover said.
"And now, Harriet's...well," Vine didn't really need to explain things further.
"I'm just hoping this doesn't escalate further. Tried talking with her, but she's good at keeping her emotions under control."
Six wanted to say something, but for the moment, better to leave it unsaid. Not that it wouldn't be good to say, but because he didn't want to have a debate of beliefs before a mission of this much importance. With that, the two senior operatives made their way over to their respective airships, Elm catching up with Harriet and her team.
Ben and Ruby hadn't boarded their ships yet, getting some details down for what they would do after the mission.
"Movie night?" Ben asked.
"Sure. But I pick the movie," Ruby smirked.
"Just us?"
"Just us."
"Thinking six?"
"Six or eight. Kinda depends when we get back."
"Fair. Six or eight it is then."
With that little plan done, Ben and Ruby went to their ships. Since they were the last two aboard, the boarding ramp raised up behind them. The Mantas' engines roared to life before lifting off and flying out of the hangar.
Ruby felt a bit...trapped inside the car. Sure, Weiss was there to ease some tensions, but God, the miasma and overwhelming pressure exuding off of Harriet's body was just so overwhelming. No one dared speak. The gentle giant Elm was simply focused on looking on the window, and occasionally giving a small sigh. Ruby assumed Harriet would've killed her for such a minor infraction, but thankfully not.
Ruby slowly built up the courage to pull out her scroll, and send a message to someone.
Weiss' scroll buzzed- she assumed it was Kylie texting her a picture of a cat or a question for writing (the last one she asked was "How do you describe 'the taste of paint', which really worried the heiress), but no. Ruby had sent her a message.
It simply read "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp".
Weiss had to admit, that really was an appropriate way to feel about this situation right now. She'd heard about what happened between the two Ace-Ops from Ben, but she never took Harriet to be one who would hold a grudge against her own teammate. She texted Ruby back, still not daring to break the silence.
"And what do you want me to do about this? It feels like if anyone speaks, Harriet's gonna threaten a court martial," her message read.
"I dunno, something! Anything!" Ruby texted back.
"I feel like saying anything in this situation would make it a million times worse than it should be. Elm said somethings about Harriet, airing some grievances under her current state. They were valid in some sense. Harriet didn't like that she had issues. She's gonna internalize it for a while, and saying anything about it is just gonna cause us to be in the midst of a heated argument." Weiss furiously texted back.
"I'm not saying bring it up! I'm saying we gotta make this trip less...awkward," Ruby's reply came back quickly.
"...it was going to be awkward the minute these two got put on the same team for this," the heiress messaged back.
"Who on Earth assigned the teams so they could make sure we suffer through this? I want to punch them in the liver. :(" Ruby texted back.
Weiss stared at Ruby. Her face could only be described as an "are you kidding me" kind of look. Weiss didn't break away eye contact as she typed her next message. Ruby looked down at her phone.
"My sister did, before she left on a mission." The message read.
"Oh. Sorry!" Ruby quickly texted back, almost fumbling with the Scroll. She was hoping to make the ride less awkward, not more!
Weiss sighed. "It's fine, it's fine. Listen. Let's just keep ourselves busy with whatever, and try to avoid them as best we can."
"Yeah. So, anything you wanna talk about?"
"Are you two just gonna text each other the entire time?" Harriet said, breaking the silence herself.
Maybe." Ruby said, awkwardly looking away from Harriet's view.
"Really?" the Ace-Op deadpanned. She rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair. At this point, she was hoping to try and hijack their convoy.
"Unbelievable. We're supposed to be focusing on transporting the Dust, and you're out here just, acting in secret. What's so important that you can't say it out loud?" Harriet huffed.
"It's not that important per se. It's just..." Weiss started, nervously trying to figure out how best to put this.
"Well? Come on, say it."
"They're talking about us, Harriet." Elm said, not breaking her view from the window. "Just leave them alone. At least they're being respectful about it."
"Respect? Coming from you? Please." Harriet huffed.
"Oh no," Weiss muttered.
"Really? Are we actually gonna start this now?" Elm asked, turning back to Harriet.
"Considering how you ignored every single protocol in the book and almost brought a war machine-" Harriet started.
Ruby's eyes suddenly noticed something in the road. "Uh, guys?"
"No, no, no! I am gonna let her-" Harriet began.
"Well, stop doing that and go back to FOCUSING ON THE ROAD!" Ruby yelled, as Harriet's eyes darted back to the road.
The arguing operatives turned back to see the road and their eyes widened in shock.
"Oh SHIT!" Elm yelled, as the convoy was quickly and suddenly coming to a halt.
The reason for the unscheduled stop was a roadblock made up of four buggies all modified for the cold weather with what seemed to be turrets in the back and several snowmobiles. It was the same self-proclaimed "pirates" that had been attacking the other convoys.
The pirate leader was standing front and center, right in front of the barricade, arms crossed and smirking.
"Ready the ion cannon...thingamabobs!" the leader ordered.
Ruby hissed. "Great, they got thingamabobs!" Ruby huffed. "Here I was hoping we could run them down."
"we possibly still could..." Weiss said, holding up her glyph. "Distract them, would you? Wait for my signal.
"Oh, I'm good at that." Ruby said, grabbing her scythe. She opened the door, and walked out into the cold tundra.
"Oh thank god," Elm muttered as she hopped out the armored car as well, grabbing Timber on her way out.
"At least try to stick to-!" Harriet said before she realized Elm was just ignoring her now, "Oh, fuck it."
The pirates on the back of the buggies swiveled the turrets in the direction of the convoy as energy started to charge up in the barrels.
"And here they come," The leader said. "Those aren't the usual tinmen and bucketheads that guard these things. Finally, something a little more interesting!"
Ruby rolled her eyes. "Great. Theatrics."
"Never encountered a guy this hammy before." Elm noted, looking up at the man's strange appearance. "You seem like you've faced the type."
"Many times. I can list them- Torchwick, Animo, Fistrick, the bug guy, that one kid from middle school-" Ruby made a face at that one. "God, he had the dumbest name. I can't recall it."
"Keep your sights trained on 'em," the lead pirate said, letting his men take aim with their rifles, "All I need's a reason, just ONE good reason..."
"I thought you always said you didn't need a reason, boss." One of his men said.
"I should throw you off the nearest cliff for STEALING MY LINE."
Ruby frowned. "Yeah, I'm getting a lot of Torchwick vibes from this guy. This one is somehow even hammier."
"You're interfering with the transport of Atlesian Military materials," Elm called out as her hammer shifted into a rocket launcher, "You have 20 seconds before we simply blast you out of the way."
"Something different and yet they still spout the same lines. I'll happily let you all pass. Juuuuuuuuuust once you hand over the weird magic rocks you've got stored away in there," the head thug smirked.
"Do you actually not know what it's called?" Ruby asked.
"Listen, names can be hard to remember. The big guns back there?" he pointed back to the turrets on the buggies, "They have some fancy name, but I can't be bothered to remember it, so they're ion cannon thingamabobs to me. Just like how whatever that shit's called it's 'multi-colored magic rocks' to me."
Elm and Ruby shared a look. "I am so FASCINATED by whoever you are. Please tell me how your small brain can remember your own name." Ruby said.
"FINALLY! Someone who actually deigned to ask! Usually these military types are all shoot first, then lose, then just be quiet until I start threatening to shoot people! I'm Gatlocke," the pirate said with a bow, "Scoundrel, struggling businessman, anarchist...ok that's a lie, I'm not struggling."
"Yeah, we're a bit different here. So, what, you're just thinking you can steal some supplies just because you have some giant cannons? That's your entire fallback plan?" Ruby smirked.
"Hm? Oh no, the big cannons are actually the non-lethal options. We're anarchists, not animals. Why do you think I haven't actually killed anyone from all the previous little outings. If I wanted to be lethal...well, let's just say there's going to be lots of fire involved."
Ruby hummed, nodding a bit. "So, all talk, some game, but mostly just bluffing."
"Bluffing? Who said anything about bluffing?" Gatlocke paused. "Wait a minute. Oh, I see where this is going! Ha ha! Oh, oh did you actually think I was that stupid? What are you stalling for? Is this a trap? Oh did I actually piss someone off enough to warrant a trap? If so, I'm honored!"
"Maybe we wanted a conversation," Elm said.
"Yeah, the car ride was kinda awkward," Ruby shrugged, "Thank GOD you intervened."
"That bad, huh? Well, happy to help. But in all seriousness, you can stop stalling. Someone's probably trying to get around behind me, or flank me, or whatever, when they don't realize I decided, 'Fuck it, let's use those old mines we raided from that bunker a few weeks back!'"
Ruby suddenly got a buzz on her phone. "Nope. No flanking. We just wanted to drive right through here."
A straight line of glyphs appeared underneath their feet.
"Ooh, nice lightshow...but I fail to see how this is gonna help y-"
Ruby grabbed Elm, and pulled her into her semblance, and back into the car. Harriet floored it, as the car's momentum went from not moving to speeding down the way- Gatlocke's barrier was destroyed in the process.
"Aaaaand just like that, it's fun again!" Gatlocke said, hopping onto the nearest still functioning snowmobile and revving the engine, "If the motor can still run, use it! I am not losing those rocks!"
The others ran to whatever functioning snowmobiles there were, and revved them up. They followed Gatlocke on his wild chase, ready for whatever was going to happen.
Once she and Elm were safely back inside after the convoy took off, Ruby looked back to see the crowd of snowmobiles racing towards them. A shot rang out and impacted the rear armor of the vehicle and sparks went flying from the impact. Despite going as fast as he was, Gatlocke's aim was still dead on. He just needed the right angle.
"Weiss! We need some support in the back!" Ruby said, holding up her weapon. "Can we do that one cool trick with my bullets and your glyphs?"
"If you insist!" Weiss called back.
"Great!" Ruby lowered the window and peeked out, taking aim at the anarchists chasing them. She tried moving her crosshairs over Gatlocke, but she'd take any good shot she could get. If it was the scoundrel himself, all the better.
Weiss formed two massive glyphs, one in front of the other, before Ruby's weapon. Ruby fired out two shots and they quickly turned into sharp, pointed icicles that sliced through snowmobiles like it was nothing.
Gatlocke swerved out of the way of one shot, letting the ice-infused bullet hit another snowmobile behind him and send the riders flying.
"Ooh I like that!" The scoundrel grinned as he revved the engine and tried to race closer, to get rid of the distance between him and his target.
"Put up a fire one!" Ruby yelled, as the chamber on Weiss' weapon spun. Ruby fired another one, and this bullet became a pillar of flames. The riders of another pursuing vehicle had tried to stop when they saw the pillar, but they couldn't in time. The anarchists skidded right into the flaming pillar and the snowmobile was consumed in a fireball. Even with the losses, Gatlocke wasn't letting up. The self-proclaimed pirate took aim with his gun-arm and started firing shot after shot at the car.
"Jeez, that one's annoying." Weiss huffed.
"He's the leader, of course he's obnoxious!" Ruby said. "Uh...Gravity? Have we tried that one?"
"Worth a shot."
Ruby swapped out the clip and took aim at Gatlocke. She tracked the scoundrel's snowmobile as it swerved left, right, back and forth. When the crosshairs finally settled over the pirate, Ruby fired. Gatlocke, being the eccentric individual he is, took a gamble. He quickly stood up on top of his snowmobile, extended two large, red blades from the side of his arm and jumped. The bullet hit the snowmobile a second too late, crushing the vehicle like it was just thrown into the deepest part of the ocean. Gatlocke stabbed the back of the truck with his arm blades and clung on for his life.
"You know, I appreciate you giving me a preview of the magic rocks! Ice, fire...I wanna say maybe magnetism for that last one? Not really sure, I'll figure it out later!" the scoundrel yelled over the roaring engine.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Allow me." Weiss formed a decent sized glyph, as the outline of a smaller knight suddenly forced its way out of it.
"Wow, those rocks really are magic aren't they?" Gatlocke muttered as he climbed atop the car to get a better position. Well, better than hanging off the back of a speeding car anyway.
Back inside the car, Elm lowered the window on her side and was getting ready to fire back at the remaining crowd of anarchists.
"The hell are you doing?!" Harriet yelled, taking a quick glance over to her.
"What does it look like Hare?!" Elm yelled back.
"Are you crazy?! At this speed, the recoil-"
"Ok, what's the bigger problem?! Fixing this thing's fucking suspension or making sure a bunch or bandits don't get ahold of the Dust?!"
"FINE! DO WHATEVER!" Harriet yelled, as she floored it even more. "NOT MY DAMN PROBLEM!"
Elm huffed and rolled her eyes, taking aim at the thugs still chasing them. She lined up the snowmobiles in her sights and fired the twin rockets at them. Just like Harriet thought, the recoil almost forced the car on its side. Gatlocke and the knight on top of the vehicle almost lost their balance, both needing to stop themselves from falling by using their blades as supports.
"Why do you have a rocket launcher?! Aren't the rocks explosive?!" the scoundrel yelled.
"Why did you bring mines then?!" Ruby shot back.
"Ok, my mistakes are not yours to criticize! Even if you are right!"
"These guys are just a barrel of fun, aren't they?" Elm huffed.
"I told you that was gonna happen, and yet, you still did it! You're INSANE!" Harriet yelled.
"Hey, insane plans work sometimes!"
"You're just saying that because it works for them!" Harriet motioned back to Ruby and Weiss, "In case you forgot, we're supposed to be PROFESSIONALS!"
"I don't know if you can talk," Gatlocke said to the knight. "But are those two okay? Sounds like they need counseling if you ask me..."
The Knight gave no visible response.
"Aw. Thought you'd be witty like the others." Gatlocke sighed. "Oh, well."
The knight rushed in, taking a swing at the scoundrel. The cyborg anarchist rolled under the attack and fired a shot into the knight's leg with his gun-arm. He smirked as he stepped back, watching the knight stumble from the cheap shot. It quickly recovered and started slashing at the pirate. Gatlocke either dodged the strikes or blocked them with his own arm blades, though they probably wouldn't hold up against repeated attack. Whenever he saw an opening, Gatlocke fired a shot at the knight to disorient it, and then moved in for a quick flurry of slashes.
"Haha!" Gatlocke grinned, closing in on the knight. "Out matched, are we-" Gatlocke was suddenly smashed in the face by Ruby's size 10 boots.
The pirate staggered back from the hit, almost falling off the back before regaining his balance.
"I have NO IDEA who you are and yet, you are already my favorite person to deal with during this! ...actually I think you'd be the first lady in my gang if I recruited you," the scoundrel hummed at that last part. Did he actually have no ladies in his gang? Wow, he needed to fix that.
"...uh, thanks but no thanks." Ruby said, before she fired another energy shot- this one thankfully knocked Gatlocke off the truck.
"Ooh I like that!" Gatlock said, firing one last shot into the car's rear tire before he hit snow and rock.
Ruby gasped, as the car started to skid a bit. "Fuck!" She yelled, as she tried to hang on.
Gatlocke got up from where he landed and took aim one more time, not even bothering to dust the snow off of his shoulders before firing at the other rear tire.
"Reaaaaaaaaaaally shouldn't have knocked me off. I'm such a better shot when I'm not on a speeding snow-bike."
"GREAT!" Harriet yelled, trying to regain control. "Knew Winter made a big mistake putting me with you three idiots!"
"Oh, sure, blame Winter!" Elm shot back, "You can't be to blame for anything, right? Always gotta be Miss FUCKING PERF-"
"CAN WE FOCUS ON SURVIVING THE CRASH?!" Weiss yelled at the two. The armored car then began to veer off the road, before slamming into a snow covered rock.
"Now then, let's see if they survived," Gatlocke said, finally dusting off the snow as he walked towards the car, "I'm actually hoping they did!"
Ruby groaned. God, she hoped Ben and Rex were doing better.
Six was driving the second car down its route without any major incidents, tot a single marauder or Grimm in sight. The route did pass by a group of penguins making their way through the tundra, but outside of that? Nothing.
Vine was taking this rare peace as a chance to meditate.
Well, he was trying to.
"So, lemme get this straight- some kid from your middle school tried to send you to an alternate dimension?"
"Yep."
"You are the hardest person to play two truths and a lie with."
Vine looked back at the two and sighed.
"I would appreciate it if you two were a bit more on guard," the Ace-Op said.
"We are. We're just trying to lighten some tension." Rex said. "At least we're not treating this like some road trip."
"That'd be totally unprofessional." Ben nodded.
"I see," Vine said, not entirely onboard with it. Or at least, it sounded like he wasn't. His tone of voice was never easy to read, really.
"Now, for your lie, I'm gonna have to say the whole 'abandoned city of Grimm' thing in the middle of Solitas. No ones crazy to build stuff out there. Too freaking cold."
"Yep. Even if something like that did exist out here, Ironwood would probably be sending the Dust there instead of Site...what was it, 81?" Rex asked.
"That's correct," Vine answered.
"The general hasn't told them?" Six chimed in.
"Not yet. It's better for them to see it though, don't you think?"
"See what though, exactly?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The general's had a plan in place for some time that'll restore communications between the Huntsmen communities," Six said.
"And all the Dust?" Rex said, looking back at their cargo.
"Is fuel for it." Vine finished.
"Thus why you held something so secret- you didn't want anyone finding out about this, did you?" Ben asked.
"When Salem has spies and Zs'skayr has invisibility, it makes you up your game a bit." Six said.
"And, lemme guess, he's gonna have a small army to guard it?" Rex guessed.
"Actually, no. There's a different type of security in place for this one," Vine corrected.
"How secure is it, exactly? Given how Zs'skayr's invisibility thing is irritating." Rex said.
"That part's still a work in progress. I'm talking about Salem's more conventional agents. The Grimm, Cinder..."
"Lemme guess- strong forcefield, heavy security system, some Plumber tech…" Ben listed off. "Tell me if I'm hitting a mark."
"The first two are in place, but that's not quite it. After all, the Grimm can only go so high."
"Huh?" Rex asked, tilting his head.
"Wait, are you telling us that..." Ben paused. "That the new tower is-"
"A repurposed Amity Colosseum, yes." Six nodded.
"Oh, shit, it's Amity too? I was just gonna guess airborne..."
"Better than simply building another tower from scratch."
"Good move, honestly. People won't suspect a flying tower in the sky. Ironwood really outdid himself with that maneuver."
"Keeping it hidden was easy- blizzards out here obscure everything." Six went on.
"All the fuel he'd need, out of the way construction so no one can easily find it, and no collateral in case something goes wrong," Rex listed off, "All the bases are covered...so why do I feel like there's a negative side to it?"
"Some of these supplies were supposed to go to Mantle." Vine said. He sounded a bit disappointed when he said that.
"What?" Ben asked.
"In order to keep up with the demands of the project, some of the materials we need have been...siphoned off from Mantle," the Ace-Op sighed, "I agree that it's not the best option-"
"You're kidding." Ben frowned. "I get it, communications for the world again, but...not even a bit to spare for Mantle?"
"Unfortunately, no. You have to remember the scope of this, and if we're to keep on schedule."
"When's it scheduled to go up, then?" Rex said. "If it's like a few weeks, I get it...but if it's a few months."
"It seems to be the latter, especially when you consider the raids on the last few shipments," Six said, "Everything's being retooled and repurposed."
Ben groaned. "Alright, fine. Gotta make some dirty moves for a clean future. I get it."
It still hung on Ben's conscience, though.
As the second team drove on, they didn't even realize that someone just took a photo of them with their phone. He was looking down on them from a far-off cliff and checked the photo before grabbing his favored weapon out of the snow.
"Boss's gonna wanna see this," Gatlocke's second-in-command muttered to himself.
Ruby took a look at the damage the car had suffered and cringed. The engine had to be totaled. "We can't call for a tow-truck out here, can we?"
Harriet didn't answer.
"...hello?"
Weiss groaned as she came to her senses from the crash. She was lucky her Aura didn't break from the impact, otherwise she might have a new scar.
"Ruby? Are you out there?" The heiress asked as she quickly went to grab her rapier. She figured the anarchists would be circling them like vultures by now.
Ruby rushed over and helped Weiss up. "Hey, hey, I'm here...you okay?"
"Aside from a bit of a headache? I'm fine." Weiss said, looking around.
"Where's Harriet?" Ruby looked around, the sound of snowmobile engines revving getting closer.
"I don't know...no idea where Elm is either."
"Did they get kidnapped?" Weiss asked.
"I dunno, maybe!? Maybe they got flung from the truck-" Ruby huffed.
"No...no, no, no..." the duo heard a familiar voice mutter from nearby, "You are not going out like this..."
Ruby's head perked up. "Was that?" Ruby and Weiss ran around to the front of the car, to see Harriet, trying to revive Elm.
"Come on, you're an Ace-Op, you are not dying to a fucking car crash!" Harriet said in a panic.
"Harriet?" Ruby asked. Harriet spun back around to face the girl- woah. She looked on the verge of tears.
"Don't just fucking stand there!" Harriet yelled, trying desperately to get Elm to wake up, Ruby and Weiss had never seen the usually collected Ace-Op this...emotional before.
Ruby looked around, making sure the pirates weren't around. "R-right." Ruby put her fingers to Elm's neck, looking for a heartbeat.
Weiss looked back to see how far off the pirates were, hand ready on Myrtenaster to try something, anything. Gatlocke's crew knew they weren't going anywhere, so the anarchists decided to take their time with this. Gatlocke, himself, was walking towards the crash site, swinging his arm blades around as he whistled to himself.
"I'll hold them off." Weiss said. "Just focus on Elm."
"Damn right I will!" Harriet yelled.
Weiss walked off past the crash, spinning the chamber in Myrtenaster until it stopped on the ice Dust with a click. The heiress sighed and closed her eyes to focus, blocking out the scoundrel's annoying whistling and the revving engines as a glyph appeared behind her. Her knight climbed out of the summoning Glyph and readied its greatsword, ready to charge as soon as it was ordered.
"You hear it, right?" Harriet quickly asked, referring to Elm's heartbeat.
"Yeah, it's there. I think she's just knocked out." Ruby said, feeling for a pulse to double check.
"Oh, thank god," Harriet said, sighing in relief. Even though she heard it, it looked like she was still trying to do CPR. She grabbed her left hand to stop herself and took a shaky sigh.
"So, ice queen!" Gatlocke shouted out, "I'll be accepting your surrender now! I'm very merciful, so I'll only leave you four with bruises and be off with the rocks!"
"Uh huh." Weiss said. "Bit overconfident for a guy facing a Knight that could crush you like an ant."
"Maybe. But I do have numbers on my side. I mean you guys only hit...what, three snowmobiles? That's still a lot of guys! And considering your friend there's bigger, that means he's a bit slower now too...or it should. Either way!"
Weiss hummed. "You'd be surprised at what other options for attack I have…" Weiss pointed her rapier at Gatlocke, as multiple glyphs formed in front of her- hurricanes appeared from all of them, blowing Gatlocke away.
The wind forced the scoundrel back before he jabbed his blades into the ground, stopping himself.
"Ooh, I like that!" Gatlocke smirked as he took aim and fired off some rounds from his gun-arm. Soon, more gunshots followed suit as the anarchists joined in. Weiss quickly turned the Glyphs to shields, letting the bullets strike them harmlessly. The knight used his greatsword as a way to block the incoming shots as well. With the hurricanes gone, Gatlocke rallied his men and had them charge Weiss, each armed with whatever the hell they could find. Hatchets, daggers, some were even armed with pickaxes and hammers.
Weiss stabbed her blade into the ground- she'd been wanting to try this new move for a while. A giant glyph formed in front of her. Above the enemies. Behind the enemy. Around the enemy and beneath them, too.
They were caged in.
"And, repel." Weiss said, as they suddenly turned black.
The Glyphs then pulsed and sent the anarchists flying, sending them slamming into each other, into the snow, back into their snowmobiles. Gatlocke dodged one of his men flying towards him and smirked, taking aim again and firing a new barrage. Only, the last shot wasn't directed at Weiss; it was aimed at the rear doors of the truck to blast the lock off.
Weiss didn't even notice it; she was so caught up in her "snow globe" that she narrowly avoided the bullet flying past her head.
The last shot struck and broke the lock on the rear of the truck.
"Cover me!" Gatlocke yelled, making a break for the truck. Most of the scoundrel's crew took aim with their rifles and other firearms and kept firing at Weiss, hoping to keep her on the defensive so their boss could get what they came for.
Weiss quickly formed a glyph in front of her, blocking the shots. Gatlocke grinned.
"Ah, yes- gotta love that sweet karma…" Gatlocke grinned.
He happily and eagerly grabbed hold of the rear door of the truck and flung them open. He took his arm blades and cut open the case, hoping to let the "magic rocks" spill out. His grin somewhat faded as he saw what actually fell out of the case.
"You must be joking."
Weiss looked back, and noted his disappointment- what the hell just happened? A second ago, Gatlocke looked like a kid on Christmas. Now he looked like he'd been handed a lump of coal.
"Alright...who's the wise guy who decided to get the info wrong? Ha, ha, pulled a fast one on the boss. You answer me now, and I won't bury you headfirst in the snow," the scoundrel said. His usual cheerful tone was still there, but there was a substantial amount of anger mixed in there too.
Weiss gave him a weird look. "What's your deal? You won, didn't you?"
"Not even you know, huh? I mean, it's in good condition but...not what I'm after!" Gatlocke said, tossing something over to Weiss, "Good job on the decoy maneuver, really fun making me waste my time like this!"
Weiss looked down at something- it was something small.
"Is this a Lego Man?" Weiss frowned, picking up a small minifigure of some alien. He was weird looking, more alien looking than any of Ben's aliens.
"Do...do you not know Star Wars?" Gatlocke asked, genuinely shocked, "Even I know Star Wars."
"I don't watch movies all that often." Weiss deadpanned.
Gatlocke groaned, a bit over the top. "Ooooh, come ON! It's Akbar! It's a trap! Surely you know the quote!"
"...no." Weiss shook her head.
"Ok, where's the red one? Red! You back there? I need someone who understands the joke up here! The ice queen's living up to the title I gave her!"
Ruby walked back out. "...what?"
"Okay, so- you're carrying a fake one! There's this Lego guy from Star Wars in there-" Gatlocke explained.
"What's Star Wars?"
"...aaaaand you killed the fun. Thanks for that. I'd ask you if you knew where the real rocks are but CLEARLY none of you even know this wasn't the real thing! So...just...an entire waste of my ti-"
Gatlocke suddenly heard his phone buzz.
"...one sec," Gatlocke turned around and brought out a phone, looking at the most recent message.
"Oh look at how he framed this. Very nice, even caught some of the glacier in the background," the scoundrel muttered to himself with a grin, noticing a location marked on a map sent along with the picture. "Right then! Leave 'em!"
Ruby and Weiss watched as Gatlocke and his men (the ones that weren't knocked out) got back on their snowmobiles, and rode off.
Ruby took the minifig from Weiss' hand. "Aw, it's Admiral Ackbar. That's a cute joke."
"So, you do know Star Wars?"
"Yeah, I just liked seeing him get angry over nothing."
Harriet struggled a little as she tried to carry Elm, her strength being boosted by her Fast Knuckles being activated.
"They just...left?" Harriet asked.
"Yep. Turns out, we were the decoy," Ruby said, showing Harriet the minifig.
"So, I'm supposed to feel better? And I'm supposed to know what that is?"
"...h-have you never heard of Star Wars, Legos, or both?" Ruby asked. "If it's both, I'm gonna be VERY concerned."
"...is that really the question you're asking right now and not, 'If they left, then do they know where the other truck is?'"
"Well, they got a call." Ruby said, "But...considering Ben is on that truck alongside Rex, and Six and Vine- uh, yeah. It's gonna be a massacre."
"Fair." Harriet sighed, looking back down at the still unconscious Elm, "See...see if you can call back to base, let them know we've got an Ace-Op down."
"On it." Ruby said, pulling out her scroll. Hopefully Ben and the others were gonna be able to take down Gatlocke.
Gatlocke and his crew were speeding off on their snowmobiles towards the second truck. Unless the man in charge was bold enough to send two decoys, this one would give him his payday. But they had a lead on him, so he needed to be quick. He never really paid attention to where the trucks were going. He always stopped them in the end anyway, so why would we? But wherever they were going, if he didn't stop them before they arrived, he could wave goodbye to his payday.
Like hell he'd let that happen.
Besides, if the Ice Queen and the Red Reaper were that powerful...who knows what could be in that other car?
"Okay, that's bullshit." Rex said flatly.
"What? I really DID make an alien eat me." Ben said.
"I have to agree with Rex on that one," Vine surprisingly chimed in, "Why was that even the strategy you went with?"
"Okay, so, the alien was allergic to silicon, so, I went Echo Echo, a silicon based life form, and-" Ben continued, before Rex gagged.
"You forced it...into an allergic reaction," the zen Ace-Op deadpanned, still in disbelief.
"Yeah. Maybe not the best strategy, but it worked!" Ben defended.
"I...feel like I should be questioning this more, and yet your penchant for unorthodox plans just makes this seem normal."
"Well, yeah. Then the other time I went inside an alien's mouth was to free a baby-" Ben said.
"I hate to interrupt the story," Six said, looking in the rearview mirror, "but they found us."
Vine secretly let out a sigh of relief. At this point, the Ace-Op was wondering just how insane Plumber missions could actually get.
"What are we looking at?" Rex asked.
"Snowmobiles. Multiple." Six said, as Ben activated the Omnitrix.
"Already got a solution." He said, turning to Upgrade's icon.
He slammed down on the icon and in a flash green, he'd taken on the form of a Mechamorph. Vine was already focusing on his Semblance, a yellow light starting to envelop his arms.
"So, shall I upgrade this ride and give us an advantage in moving?" Ben smirked. "Easy road?"
"Do it," Six said, slamming down on the gas and speeding off. The snowmobiles revved after him, Gatlocke trying a similar tactic that he did last time, racing up close enough so he could jump and climb aboard.
Ben quickly merged with the truck, turning it into an aircraft within seconds. Ben lifted off into the air, as Gatlocke watched in awe.
"How the bloody hell..." the chief anarchist said in shock. He shook his head to regain his focus and took aim with his gun-arm.
"Just because you can fly, doesn't mean you're immune to bullets!" Gatlocke laughed as he fired a few shots, only for the car-turned-jet to swerve out of the way.
"Aaaaand you know that and you can still doge. Should've guessed, really," Gatlocke shrugged.
Ben's head poked out of the back. "SUCKS TO SUCK! LATER DUMBASS!"
"...did the armored truck just call me a dumbass?" The anarchist picked up the radio on his snowmobile and turned it on.
"We still have the thingamabobs?" Gatlocke radioed in.
"Fully charged ones at that! Rockets, too!" his second-in-command answered.
"Good, then use 'em and bring that thing down!"
"Uh oh." Ben said, noticing the prepping snowmobiles. "Uh, hey, they got missiles!"
"Allow me." Vine said, walking forward. "Open the doors."
The door on Vine's side slid open and the Ace-Op nimbly climbed his way on top of the truck. The energy around his hands had fully coalesced into projections of larger arms over his arms. The anarchists charged the "thingamabobs" as Gatlocke called them, readied their rockets, and took aim, their sights locking onto the upgraded truck.
With an explosive launch, the rockets flew through the air, towards Vine on top of the truck. Vine simply caught them with his hands, and threw them back at the ground. As for the shots from the thingamabobs, in reality some kind of ion cannon, the truck swerved out of the way of each shocking blast, letting the orbs of lightning fly right past.
"Oh bugger m-!" one of the anarchists started to say before the rocket hit and exploded, sending bits of armor and snowmobile flying and scattered across the tundra.
"Ok, is THAT the magic rock too?! I refuse to believe it's not!" Gatlocke yelled.
"This is honestly easy." Ben smirked. "They can't really touch us up here, can they?"
"Really showing off how good an idea the floating tower thing is, honestly." Rex joked.
"Ok...lemme think, lemme think..." Gatlocke muttered to himself, trying to think of a plan. His men desperately took shots up at the flying vehicle, but each volley missed as Six maneuvered out of the way easily each time.
Unbeknownst to all of them, though, things were about to get more interesting. See, out in the tundra, there's usually not too much noise. Perfect place to sleep if you're not affected by the cold.
And the creature that just woke up thanks to the rocket exploding certainly wasn't going to freeze any time soon.
Gatlocke heard the loud, threatening roar of some monster, one that shook the ground. His eyes went wide. "In blazes was that ruckus?" He asked.
"Oh no," Vine said, already reaching for Thorn on his back.
"Lemme guess, we just woke up a Grimm?" Rex asked, hearing the roar as well and getting ready to jump into the fight too.
The Grimm that had woken up walked out of its lair out in the tundra before flapping its wings and taking flight, chasing after the source of the noise. In no time, Six caught a glimpse of it in the rearview mirror.
"Is that a fucking dinosaur?!" Ben yelled, forcing even Gatlocke to turn back and see it flying behind them.
The main body of the Grimm resembled a large raptor, bone-like spines lining its neck and tail, almost like they were the exposed quills of feathers. Its usual Grimm-black skin was actually mostly covered by frozen patches of ice, more so than other Grimm that made Solitas their hunting ground. The wings it used to fly were red and translucent, ice lined the wingtips, and there visible veins snaking across them.
"A Teryx," Vine corrected. "A very old one too."
"Why do you guys have some of the WEIRDEST Grimm down here?!" Ben yelled.
"I'm going to guess you haven't seen a Megoliath before. Or a Shatterhorn."
"Just tell me about them later!"
The Teryx began to fly towards the Upgraded vehicle. "Focus on the supplies!" Rex yelled, putting on his goggles. "Time I got in on the action!"
Rex jumped out the back, quickly forming his jetpack as he soared towards the beast.
The flying Grimm roared before speeding off towards Rex. He tried to slash at the jetpack's wings, ground its opponent. Rex managed to swerve out of the way of the Teryx's claws, letting them just swipe at the air. It hissed in annoyance before simply lashing out at him with its tail, hitting him in the gut and sending him spinning in the air.
"Uh, boss, what do we do about THAT?!" Gatlocke's lieutenant asked over the radio in a panic.
"What the blood hell do you THINK?! Shoot it! And if we're lucky we'll take down the weird jetpack kid too!" Gatlocke yelled, "Honestly, if it's not robots, it's soldiers, and apparently, when it's not soldiers, it's some kind of...winged nightmare."
Rex quickly flew above the Grimm. "Alright, let's start with a nice, painful strike to the back!" Rex's weapons suddenly shifted into powerful boots, as he slammed his feet into its back.
The Grimm cried out as it fell slightly from the impact before it tried to spin in the air, shaking Rex off its back. It was about to spin around and bite at him, but its plan was interrupted by a bullet narrowly missing its snout. Its eyes turned to lock onto the anarchists, who were now just shooting up at both it and Rex. The Teryx changed targets for a minute, flying down and slamming into one of the thugs. The hit sent him flying off the back of the snowmobile, crashing into another vehicle with a loud clang.
Rex cringed. "Oh, that looked like it hurt." Rex said, before his hands shifted into two large Gauntlets. "But this is gonna hurt MORE!"
The Teryx turned mid-air before rushing back at Rex, the raptor-like hooked claws extended as it aimed to slam into him. All it needed to was pin him and then go for the throat like it had every other time it had killed. Of course, it didn't count on getting a solid-iron punch to the chest.
Rex landed a few more powerful iron bashes, grinning as he watched it slowly crumple under the force of his hits. "Aw, come on! You can go a bit longer, can't you?"
As if to answer, the Teryx suddenly lashed out and bit down on one of his hands, the fangs actually managing to puncture the armor. It slashed at Rex, leaving claw marks in the build like it was trying to completely sever it.
Rex quickly let go of the build pulling his hand back before the thing bit through his aura. He quickly formed his hoverboard build, as he flew around the beast. "Okay, guess you can..." Rex shook his hand a bit. "Let's just scout for some openings.
Of course, he still had to dodge the bullets from the thugs down below. Though, one of the shooters was quickly dealt with when Thorn slashed through the rifle and shooter. It flew back up towards the transport where Vine used his Semblance to catch the weapon before throwing it out again.
"I don't suppose this form can give the truck weapons as well?" Vine asked.
"Oh, absolutely!" Ben grinned. "Don't call myself Upgrade for nothing!" Ben immediately took over the flight via autopilot, and began to form a multitude of weapons on the truck.
"Ok, what, do the rocks affect TECH as well?" Gatlocke asked no one in particular before he spotted a red targeting laser on his snowmobile.
"...see, that's just not fair," the self-proclaimed pirate said, swerving to the side just in time to avoid a barrage of green energy blasts.
Ben's energy blasts were well concentrated and precise- Gatlocke was having a hard time avoiding them. "Okay, seriously! Those magic rocks better be worth my fuckin' while!"
Thorn flew out and struck another one of the thugs' snowmobiles, slicing clean through the treads. Vine caught the weapon as it made its way back to him before he shifted his attention to Gatlocke. He saw Gatlocke roll his eyes and take aim with his gun-arm, and like that, he found Thorn's next target. He threw the weapon one more time, right as the scoundrel was about to fire. The sound of metal slashing metal filled the air for a moment before the throwing star circled back to the calm Ace-Op.
The anarchist boss looked confused when he didn't hear the gunshot, only to immediately understand what happened. Vine had just sliced half of his arm off.
"Do you have ANY idea how time-consuming that was to make?!" Gatlocke yelled.
"I wouldn't know." Vine said, grabbing Gatlocke in his giant hands. "But I'm sure that you're going to obnoxiously yell it."
"I would NEVER!" Gatlocke yelled. "BUT YOU CERTAINLY MADE 30 HOURS OF WORK GO DOWN THE DRAIN!"
"Ben, think you can handle one more target?" Vine asked, not even noticing that Gatlocke's arm blades had come out.
"On it!" Ben said, lining up some of the truck's newly acquired weapons so that the Teryx was right in the line of fire.
Rex flew above the Teryx once more, and summoned forth his BFS- he plunged his sword deep into the back of the monster Grimm, and flinched as it let loose a loud shriek.
It thrashed around wildly in the air, trying to shake Rex off as black smoke rose up out of the wound. Ben's weapons were now struggling to get a clean shot at the Grimm without blasting Rex as well.
Around the same time, Gatlocke struck, trying to slice his way free from Vine's Semblance with his blades.
"I may be down an arm, but hey- I still got my favorite!" Gatlocke grinned, slicing like crazy.
Vine did his best to have the Aura vines regenerate in time, but with how much Gatlocke was lashing out, the anarchist boss was able to free himself. He landed on the upgraded truck with a thud, quickly getting up and dusting himself off.
"Now...I'll forgive you for the arm, but only if we're even!" Gatlocke yelled before rushing in, slashing at the Ace-Op recklessly. Vine used his throwing-star to block the manic slashes before kicking the criminal in the gut and forcing him back.
"I'd strongly advise you to simply surrender peacefully," Vine said, "I don't want to lose my state of zen right now..."
"Wow, you are the exact opposite of Red and her friends, aren't you?" Gatlocke asked, trying to lock his blades with Thorn's, "They at least had some sparks in them. Most of them still do, I think. Can't really vouch for the tall one though. Think she got launched out of her seat when they crashed. Shame that!"
"...what?" Vine almost lost his grip on Gatlocke. He sure did like to talk, but this time he talked a bit TOO much, "Repeat that again, would you?"
"The tall one. Didn't catch her name and now I might not be able to because, well, people don't often survive being tossed from a car through the windshield. Especially after going as fast as they were. Oooh, I'm sorry, was she a friend of yours?"
Vine sighed, as he simply lifted up Gatlocke high into the air, his semblance's limbs reaching up to a good 30 feet in the air. He loosened his grip on the man, and grabbed onto his shirt collar. "A fall from this distance will not only break your aura, but also your legs. So, do you wanna repeat that again?"
This was the most peaceful threat that Gatlocke had ever received.
"If I do, you're gonna drop me, aren't you?"
"Maybe." Vine said. His eyes showed an unyielding, silent rage. It was a very threatening aura.
"Gonna guess she was a friend of yours then, all things considered. So...if she really is gone...how about I reunite you?" the scoundrel smirked as he quickly retracted his arm blades and shifted his still-remaining arm into a gun, aiming it at Vine's stomach.
"Good threats though! Almost had me reconsider this!"
Vine's face didn't change. "Your ignorance speaks volumes. I know she didn't die. But, because you downplay her capabilities..." Vine's eyes lit up.
"Maybe I should've just shot instead of announcing I would-!"
Vine slammed him into the ground. Gatlocke, finally and thankfully, was shut up.
Vine sighed. "What an annoyance."
Suddenly, Rex was flung back onto the truck, skidding past Vine and the now unconscious Gatlocke. The now wounded Teryx locked its eyes onto and roared, making the truck its main target again. Ben tried to shoot it down, but it was faster, able to swerve and roll out of the way of each successive volley.
"Jeez." Ben frowned. "This thing's really starting to irritate me! For such a large target, why's it so goddamn hard to shoot down!?"
"Vine. Can you take care of the piloting for me?" Six asked.
"I can now, " Vine said after putting a gravity Dust bolas around Gatlocke's wrists. The Ace-Op quickly made his way back into the truck and readied to take over. The Teryx screeched out and tried slamming its head into the back of the truck, only for it to be deterred by another missed volley of shots.
Six pulled his blades out, and unfolded them. "Give me a minute with this thing." Six suddenly dashed out of the truck, and leapt at the Grimm.
Vine quickly moved over to the driver seat, grabbing hold of the wheel and keeping them steady. The Grimm saw Six and slashed out at him with its tail, only for both of the collapsible swords to sink into the beast's flesh. It screeched out, pulling its tail back out of instinct. Six pulled the blades free and landed on the flying raptor's back, stabbing one sword into its back before rushing up and swinging both blades in a crosscut, severing the Teryx's head from its shoulders.
He jumped off the monster's back before its headless body dispersed and he landed safely back on the truck.
Ben stared in disbelief- that was less than a minute, actually. Maybe a few seconds. What took Rex and Ben a few minutes to even tire out took SECONDS for an elite like Six to destroy.
"Damn." Ben said.
"Remember: normal guy," Rex said to just hammer the point home. No Semblance, no Aura...and yet Six could finish off a Grimm like that in mere seconds.
"How far out are we?" Six asked, calmly sheathing the swords after the blades had folded back up.
"We're approaching our supply drop point shortly." Vine said.
"Good. Then we can call in a prison transport for this one," Six motioned over to Gatlocke.
It didn't take long for the truck to soon arrive at Site 81 which was made up of an old and now rundown mining operation, including several buildings and a set of landing platforms for incoming ships. A garrison of troops was stationed here for security, a group of which was out by the landing pads waiting to greet the latest Dust shipment, while other workers and scientists were doing their own jobs in some of the old buildings. Hovering above the mine itself, supported by the familiar abilities of Gravity Dust, was Amity Colosseum. The massive structure looked mostly the same on the outside, save for what seemed to be four massive thrusters mounted around it, no doubt to help it reach the heights needed to stop any Grimm attacks.
"Woah." Ben said, looking at the colosseum once again- it was strange to be in its company again. The last time he was there, he got teleported out by Charmcaster, saw Penny die and fucked up a bunch of Grimm on his way out.
The upgraded truck soon landed at the landing pads and Ben pulled himself off of the vehicle, reverting to human in a flash. The security detail was already walking towards them as Vine left the driver's seat and moved around to the back of the truck. With his Semblance, he summoned up his Aura vines and reached up to the top of the truck, pulling Gatlocke off the vehicle...right as the anarchist started to regain consciousness.
"A-ha! Gotcha..." The self-proclaimed pirate started before he realized his predicament, "Very well then! We'll call it a draw!"
"Shut it, Jeff Sparrow." Ben slapped the back of his head. "Drop the theatrics, or I'm gonna duct tape your mouth shut."
"If anything, it's CAPTAIN Jeff Sparrow. If you're gonna do the joke at LEAST let me finish it," Gatlocke said.
Vine wasn't actually regrouping with the others as Atlesian soldiers came over to haul Gatlocke away. He had moved off a little, trying to get a hold of Harriet with his Scroll.
Rex noted his- he'd never seen the usually calm Vine look so worried before. He was like a worried parent awaiting results from their kid's examination.
"Come on...answer, tell me he was lying," Vine muttered to himself. He tried to say it as quietly as possible so no one could hear him.
Rex walked over. "You doing okay, Vine? You were quieter than usual on the flight over."
"Rex? Oh. Yes, I'm fine." Vine lied, still trying to get a hold of the other team, "I'm just calling back to base. Requesting a prison transport."
Rex frowned. "Dude. You can be honest. Clover isn't here, and neither is Harriet. It's about Elm, isn't it?"
The usually calm Ace-Op sighed. Guess he wasn't as good at hiding his worry as he thought.
"It is."
Rex closed his eyes. "Hey, Elm's a fighter. She took down a Techadon from the inside just a few weeks ago. That woman could deadlift a train if she so wished."
"Yes, but everyone has limits," Vine said, solemnly. He paused for a moment, wondering if he should bring this up.
And then he decided to risk it.
"How much did you hear about that?" Vine asked, "Specifically, I mean."
"The Techadon incident? Ruby gave me some details," Rex noted. "Why do you ask?"
"So, she didn't tell you what exactly Elm said." Vine trailed off.
"She did tell me that." Rex said. "Sometimes you need to vent, release some stuff for the betterment of your health. Sure, she did it at the wrong time, but..." Rex sighed.
"We lead stressful lives."
"I know that...most people see her as...well, as an adherent to protocol. But trust me when I say this...she's not without emotion," Vine said, "You might argue that...hiding her emotions is a terrible way to handle it-"
"And it is," Rex interjected.
"But the 'she' Elm mentioned? She was Harriet's inspiration. Anything else...I think that's hers to tell."
"Was that the girl that Marrow replaced?" Rex asked.
"Indeed...Marian was a hero to Harriet, and I think she just never accepted her death." Vine said, closing his eyes.
"They were that close huh?" Rex asked. Marian though, that name was new to Rex; something to take note of.
"Yes. Like sisters, in a sense. But as I said, it's not my story to tell."
Rex took a deep breath. "I see. I had no idea, honestly. I always assumed Harriet was just a jerk because I was a 'slacker'."
"Not quite. If we're being honest though..Harriet was a lot like you in her early days. Marion was more of the 'by-the-book' sort."
"I don't believe you." Rex admitted.
"If you want to risk it, ask Clover," Vine said, with the slightest hint of a smirk.
Rex watched Vine walk off, as he paused to think. Harriet, a rebel. What a weird thought. Was she self projecting or something?
As the Ace-Op walked off though, his Scroll finally buzzed from a call. It was Harriet. He sighed and answered, walking towards the old mining buildings.
"Harriet, where are you?" Vine asked.
"On our way to the site," the strict Ace-Op answered, "Had to take an airship though. Truck's wrecked."
Vine paused for a moment.
"And...Elm?"
"Stable, but she's on her way back on a medical ship."
The usually calm Ace-Op released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. At least Elm would make it through this.
"Thank you. Now...you may want to fill them in. Rex and Ben know about Amity."
"Figures…" Harriet said. "I trust your trip went well?"
"Indeed- we captured the thorn in our sides, who goes by the name Gatlocke." Vine said.
"I heard. Glad you were able to shut him up at least," Harriet said. Vine didn't want to mention it, but something sounded off in the speedy Ace-Op's voice. It wasn't as confident as always. Or well, it sounded confident but she let that confidence slip at the end.
"We'll meet with you soon, then. In the meantime, please. Take it easy." Vine said, shutting off his scroll.
Back on the airship, Harriet sighed as she put her Scroll away.
"Alright, guess you get to know where we're going now..." Harriet began, getting the attention of Ruby and Weiss.
"Oh, yeah, the Colosseum." Ruby said. "Ben texted me about it."
"Of course he did," Harriet sighed.
The ride back to Atlas was, thankfully, uneventful. Ben had shared the story of how Six managed to take down what he guessed was an Alpha Teryx. Weiss was more skeptical than Ruby was here. She'd heard a story of a Teryx from Winter, back when she was first enrolling into Atlas Academy. Much like how she, Blake, Yang, and Ruby had to fight a Nevermore during their initiation, Winter had the misfortune of finding herself fighting against a Teryx.
Suffice to say, Weiss considered herself lucky that Teryxes were only native to Atlas.
The group, save for Vine who had left to go check up on Elm in the hospital, arrived in Ironwood's office for a debrief. Clover was there as well, giving his own report on a separate mission.
"Right on time," the general said with a smirk, seeing the door slide open as the group walked in.
"Vine's checking up on her?" Clover asked.
"Yes, sir. Though I was hopi-" Harriet was about to say.
"Good. After we're done I should visit, myself. You can tell me what you thought on the way."
"Uh, yes sir."
"Now then, considering the call for a prison transport, it's safe to assume the route to Site 81's clear," Ironwood said.
"Yeah. But, you don't have to call it Site 81 anymore," Ruby said.
"We know the plan. It's a good one and honestly, I get why you'd hide it," Ben admitted.
" . I was hoping to tell you when it was closer to completi-" the general started to say.
"But I don't think using resources from Mantle's the best way to get it done."
Weiss' eyes widened a little at that before she turned to look at her step-father. Ironwood sighed and rose from his seat behind his desk.
"I know. Considering the size of the project, if we were to go off of Atlas' resources alone, the tower wouldn't be finished for years. With Mantle's resources added in…You'd finish the tower quicker. But what does that cost Mantle?" Weiss asked.
"We're only diverting surplus materials to the project. Construction materials, Dust-"
Before the conversation could go further, Ironwood's scroll buzzed. He raised a brow before picking it up to see who it was. He smiled a little when he saw the caller ID.
"Excuse me for a moment. It's Winter," the headmaster said before answering the call. The first words he heard when he answered instantly put him on edge.
"I have urgent news. Permission to have the call routed to the holotable?" Winter said quickly. Ironwood plugged his Scroll into his desk and pushed a few buttons, having the table rise up from the floor and hum to life. Soon a hologram of Winter appeared, seated in a chair aboard the airship she had taken.
"Alright, you're on," the general said.
"General, while I was unable to bring Crujo in alive, I'm not coming back empty-handed. Security will need to be increased before our arrival."
"Sounds like you managed to grab someone important," Clover said. The hologram flickered a little as Winter sighed, the projection itself had turned around to face them all.
"Two important people," Winter corrected, "They're willing to negotiate."
"Who do you have?" Ironwood asked, brow raised in interest.
"I think it's better if you saw them," Winter said before motioning for two unseen agents from her team to move them up.
Ben's eyes went wide when two more figures appeared behind Winter in handcuffs. Ruby and Weiss were just as surprised; even Harriet did a terrible job at hiding her shock. Standing there, no doubt with agents behind them in case they try something, were none other than Neo and Albedo.
The ice-cream themed mute waved to the group with a nervous smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"How did...how did you-" Ben started to ask.
"It's.a long story," Winter admitted, "I'll give you the full version when we land. Which will be in…" She leaned up in her chair and checked the time. "Six hours."
"I'll only need three to have everything set up," The general nodded.
This may have been more of a gift than even Winter realized. After Ruby and Ben found evidence of a possible Atlesian traitor thanks to the Forever Knight's vendetta against the Omnitrix user, the general only had some of his most loyal techs, people who would rather be tossed to the Grimm than betray Atlas, looking at the files the duo found. One file was so well encrypted that they couldn't even begin to unlock it, Operation Hana Aki. Considering the security, it had to be important. If Atlas' most loyal and skilled computer experts couldn't break in, maybe someone who knew Salem could, someone with intelligence that went above and beyond that of humans.
Maybe a deal was in the cards for Azmuth's former student.
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