Chapter 18: Run or Fight? Both!

"We are not asking again. Hands in the air! NOW!"

The Faunus in the front yells his orders.

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"Penny," I whisper to her. " Raise your hands and close your eyes."

Inside my pocket, I feel the pin of one of my flash grenades. I just need to time it right and hopefully, we can escape. There is no way for me to take these four on in a fight and having Penny here with me, I'm not taking that chance.

"Don't worry Seth." I see her step in front of me. "I'm combat-ready!"

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"Wait what?!"

The moment she said that, I see her back open up and see a bunch of swords pop out of her back.

"She is arm! Shoot them both!"

The group of four opened fire at us. I raise my Aura to protect myself but no bullet hit me. Looking in front of me I see Penny spinning her blades around protecting Me and her.

As the rain of fire continue she started to walk forward toward the group.

"What?" "No way. "How did she?"

Soon their ammunition was empty and then Penny made her move.

Rushing to them I see her send her swords to the leader of the group and send him flying backward. While two others that were on his side tried to attack her she sent her swords flying to the two, sending them both to the wall next to them. Finally, with the last remaining Faunus standing, he went for a punch but for some reason the moment he connected the punch he felt pain in his hand.

Meanwhile, Penny just looked at him confused.

"Are you hurt?" She just asked.

"Penny they shot at us! Knock him out!"

"Okay!"

THUD!

And like that the four Arm Faunus were all out cold.

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"Wow. That was awesome Penny!"

"Thank you."

Walking toward her I get a better look at the people on the ground and see that they were all wearing the same clothes. Black hoods with white robes, but what got my attention was the mark behind their backs.

"White Fang, Here. Shit Penny, we need to go and tell-"

"Freeze!"

I look back and see more White Fang members turn the corner of the halls and aim their guns at us.

With no time I take Penny's hand and began to run back from where we came from.

"Why are we running Seth?"

"There are way too many of them to fend off! We need backup!"

I reach for my scroll and began to call someone.

'Pick up Pick up Pick up!'

"Seth Where are you!?"

"Mom we have a problem here."

"I know. Seth listen to me, You need to find a way back to us and try to avoid any White Fang do you understand."

"Yea, but I have a problem of my own here." I quickly glance back and see that we are being chased by a group of White Fang.

"Where are you?"

"Currently running for our lives here Mom. I got Penny with me but I also got some other people chasing us."

" Can you make it back to us?" I can hear the worry in her voice.

"Yea! If anything we know the way back to you guys so we can. OH SHIT!"

Soon the connection was cut off.

"Seth! SETH! SETH!"


The moment I look back up I see another Group of White Fang in front of us. Aiming their guns at us and opening fire.

'How did they get here?'

I quickly turn the corner while taking a few hits on my arm. Trying my best to protect Penny from the bullets shot at us and keeping a good grip on Penny so we don't get separated, we continue to run.

'Thank you, Aura.'

"Seth I can deal with them myself we don't need to keep running."

Yea, she can deal with them, Even if they are more than us, I feel like she can deal with them with no problem. But...

I picture her on the ground, her torn-up lifeless body. And I just keep a good grip on her hand while running.

"I know you can. But there are too many of them to fight."

I take another corner and keep going straight. I turn my head once more to see if anybody was behind us, but no one was there. I turn another corner and see a door.

I rush to the door and open it.

"Let's get inside and wait a moment."

We enter the room and I try to catch my breath. Soon I see what type of room we enter and see a bunch of dust around us.

"What is this place?"

"It's a storage place for unfinished dust."

"Unfinished dust?"

"Yes. This facility works on creating different types of dust to make new ones. These are some of the unfinished ones."

Huh... Creating new dust. Well, whatever. I reach into my pocket and pull out my scroll or what's left of it.

"Shit... There goes all of my pictures and contacts. Penny, do you have a scroll?"

"Sadly I don't."

Great. We are in the middle of a facility with no contact to anybody with a bunch of trigger-happy Faunus ready to kill us. And I don't have my weapon on me.

I fall to the ground and just sit there thinking about what to do.

'What can we do? What can we do?'

I reach into my pocket and pull out one of my flash grenades. I open my jacket and pull out one more.

'I'm going to have to use these two wisely and make each one count.'

I attach one grenade to my belt and put the other one inside my pocket. I get up and search around the room to find anything I can use as a weapon, but all I see are boxes and dust. I can maybe use the dust but I have no idea what reaction it can cause so I rather not risk it.

I turn to Penny and see that she is looking at the door we just enter.

"What's wrong?"

"I can hear people getting close to us. Around six rooms away from us."

'Shit they are checking the rooms now. We need to plan fast or else.'

"Okay, Penny here's the plan. The moment they open the door I throw one of my flash grenades and as soon as they are blinded we run out of the room."

"Or I can take them out."

I just shake my head "Too much of a risk here. We have no idea how many there are out there so-"

"There are about six of them. And they are four rooms away from us."

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"How do you know that?"

"I uhh. Lucky guess." Hic.

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"Okay well, do you know where the nearest exit is?"

"I do, all we need to do is keep moving the way we were going and make a left right right left straight right left straight left left, and right."

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"Then we hit A B start?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing Penny Nothing."

"Perfect! They are now one room away from us."

"Okay let's do this and-"

Soon for some reason, I start to hear a harp start to play.

"Aw, you got to be kidding me right now."

"Seth, what is that noise?"

I quickly tap at my heart but it doesn't go away.

'Fuck me! Not right now!'

"Hey, you hear that?"

"Yea. It's coming from that room."

On the other side of the door, we can hear the group start to get close to the room we are in.

"Shit okay, Penny change of plans we are rushing these people get ready.

Soon the harp is gone and soon a drum beat is heard and it was a heavy one at best.

I pull the pin off my grenade. And soon the music starts to include a guitar.

'Well, this song sounds cheery.'

Taunted and tortured

Insulted and reviled

Enthralled by human overlords

Since I was a child

"It's behind this door." "Get ready and open it on my mark."

Yea, let's not do that.

Surrounded by weaklings

Pathetic and oppressed

Satisfied to gnaw on scraps

Afraid to leave the nest

I count down in my head and as soon as it hit one, I open the door and throw the grenade at their faces.

BOOM!

"AHHH MY EYES!" " I can't see" "Open Fire!"

Won't apologize for

Retribution

Punishment is

Well-deserved

Subjugate, humiliate and rob us of our pride

Watch them fall as I am glorified

For the people in front of the door, they immediately drop their weapons in their hands, while the ones behind them Started to open Fire everywhere.

This gave us an opportunity to escape the room. But seeing one of the weapons on the floor I quickly pick it up and took it with me.

"Run!"

You'll see

I'm their hero

I'll be lionized

"After them!" We heard one of the Faunus yell out and began to follow us.

I have

The strength to do what's needed

Unify our people with no compromise

Champion the truth until they recognize

Lead them to salvation and regain our lives

As we continue to run I keep turning my head to see if we were being followed. I think trying to lose them was out of the question since my semblance was playing at full volume. So the best we could do was keep running and keeping our distance from the group behind us.

"Enemies at twelve a clock."

"How?!"

To my surprise we see a group of four turning the corner and aiming their weapons at us.

"Penny Block the shots."

She soon gets in front of me and begins to spin her sword around blocking any incoming fire.

While behind her I aim the Rifle in my hand and try to shoot their guns out of their hands.

Behold your flaccid leaders

Too weak to take the prize

Replace them with a warrior

It's time we mobilize

"Straigh or left?"

"Straigh then right left straight-"

"I got it I got it just keep running."

As we got close to the group they try to attack us but Penny was able to keep them away from us.

Depose the feeble cowards

Heed this battle cry

Vengence on the human filth

The time is now we'll rise

As we continued to run we start to hear gunshots from a distance and by the sound of it we were getting close to it.

Wandering through the life of

Destitution

Suffering is

Oversun

Terminate, annihilate, our enemies will stay

Destroy them all while I am glorified

Soon the hall began to turn red as we kept on running. This must mean that the building has finally notified that it was under attack.

I'm here

I'm your savior

I'll be lionized

I am

The path to reclamation

This world will have no peace

Until our dream is realized

No mercy

No compassion

Our fate's justified

Time to turn the table

On who's tyrannized

"The exit should be right in front of us, we are almost out."

Finally, we are home free. Just a little more and we are out! As we pass a hall I soon turn my head and saw a group of security on the floor attacked by a group of Fang. I turn my head and saw a man wearing a mask and dressed in black ready to strike one of the people who worked here.

I raise the Rifle and took aim at the man.

BANG!

The man raises his head and blocks the bullet.

He sees me and gets ready to rush me but I just kept Firing at him trying to get his attention away from the guy on the ground.

But soon the gun runs out of ammo and not having any extra, I do the two only reasonable things I could do.

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I throw the gun at him, in which he immediately destroys and the other was a technique only a few people knew about.

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RUN AWAY!


"Seth, where did you go?"

"Run Penny I fucked up!"

I quickly grab her hand and pull her toward the exit of the Facility. Once outside, we are met with a group of White Fang carrying containers of Dust and loading it up into an Airship.

The group turns to us, to see who just came out.

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"Ehe! Wrong exit!"

They point their guns at us.

We start to back up but the door behind us opens and out comes the guy wearing black and two other Faunus following him.

"Highleader what should we do with them?" I hear someone ask.

"Tie them up we have no use for them." A woman with cat ears or maybe tiger ears said to the group behind us.

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"Penny any ideas?"

"Yes, I have calculated a few that will guarantee our safety. However, you will need to keep your distance from me and throw your last grenade in the air."

"Say less. Just tell me when to throw it."

As two Faunus began to walk toward us A explosion was heard from across the facility.

As everyone looked at the explosion from across from us Penny yells out.

"Seth Now!"

Hearing Penny yell at me I soon reach at my belt and pull the pind off my last Flash grenade and throw it above us.

BOOM!

For those who were close to us, the flash made them go blind for a good second, but that's all Penny needed for her to unleash her blades again and attack anyone close to us. The others soon realize what happened and aim their guns at Penny and began to open fire.

I on the other hand began to run towards one of the containers trying to keep my distance from Penny like she told me While throwing a few punches at people who were in front of me keeping them away from me. The moment I got behind one, I told Penny to go all out.

"Penny do it!"

Seeing that she was in the clear I see her blade begin to glow green and soon she started firing lasers.

'Wow. Okay, that's cool.'

Looking at what she was doing I soon see Some of the White Fang take cover behind some of the containers... Containers full of Dust... Which can blow up.

Shit!

"Penny stop or else you are going to blow us all up."

She realize what I meant and soon stop and continue to fight with just her swords.

As I keep looking around I realize something.

'Where are the other three?'

I feel something cold on my neck I try to turn my head but the person behind me makes me face forward.

"Call off your friend or else I will paint the floor red where you stand."

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'Fuck me!'

I feel the blade get closer to my neck.

"Okay. Fine!"

He pushes me toward Penny while keeping the blade around my neck.

"Penny stop!"

As she turns I see her eyes go wide. She then stops and began to put her blades back inside her.

"Good. You come here and take care of this kid." The person behind me yelled at someone.

Another member soon replaces the man in black and gets behind me and puts his arm around my neck.

"Don't try anything stupid kid or else I'll put a bullet in your head."

"..."

I soon see Penny get tied up and is set on the ground just looking at me.

'Shit this is my fault I should have paid more attention to my surroundings and now we are captured prisoners.'

As the White Fang starts to return to what they were doing and load more boxes of Dust. I see some of the members beginning to take Penny away.

Cmon think of something. or else we-

BOOM!

An explosion was heard and we see the door that we enter from fly off and out comes.

'Mom!'

My mother comes out with some security guards with weapons drawn.

The moment her eyes lay on me I can see her face change drastically.

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY SON!"

The wind around her started to pick up and she starts to walk toward the Guy and me.

I feel the guy's grip get tight around my neck and call out to my mom.

"Take another step and I put a bullet in your kid's head!" He warns my mom while aiming his gun at my head.

'Shit think Seth Think'

I look around trying to find anything I can use in the situation that I'm in but Nothing. I soon start to see some of the security people split away and see one get to a higher ground.

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'Wait instead why don't we help him out.'

"Hey, you might want to check your left. Some guy is taking aim at you from the top." I just tell the guy.

I got one chance I need to make this one count.

"Huh?" He looks at the direction that I tell him to and sure enough, he sees someone Aiming at him.

"Hey! Don't try anything or else." I feel his grip around my neck loosen a bit and he moves his arm with the gun in front of my face.

'Now!'

I quickly raise my hands and grab him by his Forearm and do the only thing I can do.

I throw him to the ground with a shoulder throw.

OOF!

Once his back hit the ground, I grab his arm and do something that my Mom told me to do a long time ago.

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Break it.

CRACK!

"AHHH!"

The guy screams. And for the first time, I'm feeling regret over the actions of what I did. But that quickly goes away once bullets fly past me.

I quickly get behind cover and soon I feel a hand on my shoulder. In truth, I turn around to throw a punch but realize it was my Mom's hand.

"Are you okay are you hurt?"

"No. I'm good. I... Mom we need to help Penny."

"Where is she?"

"They took her over to those containers." I point in the direction where I last saw her.

"Okay I'll go and-"

"No Mom they are a group of three that look really strong. I think one of the grunts even said 'Highleader'. So you are not taking them alone."

She just looked at me wondering if I should follow her or not.

Sigh..." Fine, you can come but you might need this." She hands me Saltatio Favillae and I check its ammo count. Five shots got to make them count.

"Okay!" I pump Favillae, "Let's go."


We soon start moving through containers while fighting through a bunch of White Fang.

"Mom, were you able to contact anyone after this place got attacked?"

"We did, Pietro was the one dealing with that. So hopefully Atlas or Mantel comes quick." She tells while Sending some Air slashes toward the Fang members.

Hopefully, they do. I know this is Mantle but to have one of their facilities getting attacked and no response has come yet is really weird.

We turn a corner and see Penny lying on the ground next to some Grunts.

"Penny!"

She looks up and sees us.

"Seth and Miss Sapphire what a pleasant surprise."

"Don't worry Penny we are here to save you."

"Oh. So Seth is alright. Well in that case."

We see her stand up from the ground and soon the ropes tying her up break. Then her swords come out her back dealing with the people watching her.

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"Are you sure she needed help, Seth?"

"Honestly she has been surprising me this whole day Mom."

We see Penny walk toward us and just smile at us.

"So what should we do now?" Penny just asked.

"Um. Mom, what should we do now?"

"Now we deal with the remaining White Fang and group them up. For once Atlas or Mantel arrive they can take them into custody."

Okay easy enough hopefully from here on it will be easy.

"I don't think so, Humans."

We turn and see the man in black, the woman with cat ears, and a girl with a ponytail. Standing behind us.

'I really need to learn when to shut up.'

"Seth I'll deal with the woman. You and Penny deal with the other two."

I soon see her get into a stance and see Penny pull out her blades. With no other choice, I Split Saltatio Favillae and get ready to fight.

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As both sides were about to rush each other. A big spotlight soon shines on the people on the ground. And soon a voice is heard.

"This is the Mantel Police put down your weapons and get down on the ground."

Oh, so they made it in time.

I look back at the three individuals and see them put their weapons back.

"Fall back we got what we needed." We see all three start to run away into an Airship.

"Should we try to stop them?" Penny just asked.

"No, we let the Police deal with them. I'm sure they won't get far." Mom just said.

Huh. Well, I kind of feel let down by that.

This was an adventure. Looking around I see a lot of damage around us.

'Man, we really did a number on this place. Hopefully we won't get blamed for most of the dama-'

My train of thought was cut off when I felt my Mom hug me.

"Sweet heart you're okay. Oh, thank you for being Okay." I feel her hug crush me even more and soon feel tears fall down her face.

"Mom it's fine. Penny helped a lot here, So we are fine." I try to assure her that I was fine. But man this was really a scary experience.

"Penny thank you for protecting my son."

"It was no problem, Miss Sapphire."

"Yea, Thanks Penny you're a real friend." I tell her.

Soon I see her eyes widen and a smile appeared on her face.

"What did you call me?" She starts walking towards me.

"...Um Did I say something wrong."

"You called me friend. Is this true?"

I just looked at my Mom trying to find a way out but she just nods her head.

"Umm. Yea Penny we are friends. I mean we did kind off fight together so I guess we ar-"

ACK!

I feel my life flash before my eyes as soon as Penny gives me a hug.

"Yay! My first friend here in Mantel!"

Fuck this hurts! This hurts a lot!

We soon start to hear Airships land near us and see some police officers begin to take care of the scene.

Then one of the officers starts to talk while looking at the sky.

"Oh look. Atlas is sending some people to help with Mantel."

Up in the sky. A bullhead is seen heading straight to the S.D.C Facility. Soon the bullhead starts to land and the door of it starts to open.

"Alright people have no fear Atlas has sent out Team GAMT (Gambit) to save you all."

"Marrow! Get back in formation!"

"Ah leave him Joanna he can take care of himself. Right, Fi." A girl with blue hair said.

"I sure hope so."

Soon the team of four stepped out and saw a strange scene in front of them.

"Penny please let go! I think you are going to break my Aura!"

"Penny I think you hug him enough." The mother soon said.

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"Miss Sapphire?"

The Mom soon turn when she heard her name and saw.

"Fiona! Marrow! Oh, how nice to see you two again."

"Wait you know her?" "You know him?" Both look confused at each other and then at the mother.

"Aw Look at you two. You two grown up so fast, same as Seth."

"Seth is here!" They both said at once.

"Of course! he's right here." She just points at the boy going limp at the Hug of one of his friends.

"HELP ME!"