Chp. 17: Orb Hunt Pt. 2
Atlas Command Center
March 2, 2020
The next day at the Atlas Command Center, Keaton, Alex, Bulldog, Ice Pick, Missionary, and Steel were standing around waiting for Cassandra as she was typing on a laptop searching for the other three hidden orbs.
"Anything yet?" Bulldog asked.
"Still working on it," Cassandra answered.
"Keep working. The more we wait, the more Grimm are being attracted by these orbs, putting more lives in danger," Keaton said.
"Radio me when Cassandra here finds something," Alex said as he turned around and started to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Ice Pick asked.
"Getting a coffee," Alex answered.
He then exits out of the room leaving the others behind as they wait for Cassandra to locate the other three hidden orbs. Alex closes the doors behind him and as he is about to continue down the hall, he turns around to see Lieutenant Colonel Harper holding two cups of coffee.
"I take it that you came to get me some coffee?" Alex asked with a smirk.
"I thought you might need one after your mission yesterday," Harper answered.
She hands one of the cups to Alex as he takes it.
"Thanks," Alex said before taking a sip from his coffee.
"Still working on the other three orbs?" Harper asked.
"Yep, still looking for them," Alex answered.
"I wish I could help give you more information on where the other orbs might be hidden, but Fifestone kept on refusing to disclose the orbs' locations," Harper said.
"I can always join and rough him up a bit. We Earthlings have ways of making people talk," Alex said.
"No need. We'll get him to talk soon," Harper said.
"Well feel free to ask for a little help if you want," Alex said.
"You know we will," Harper said. "I do wonder though, What is your kingdom like back in your world?"
"To start, the United States of America isn't a kingdom at all, it is a country. A nation. In the past we started off as settlers that traveled to a new continent to make money or set up trade with Great Britain, while others wanted religious freedom, but soon we wanted to escape British tyranny and rule. We started off as thirteen colonies and declared our independence, and over time we grew into fifty states and became the most powerful nation on Earth," Alex explained.
"Sort of like Atlas being the most powerful kingdom on Remnant," Harper said.
"In a way, yes," Alex answered. "We may not have robots like your Atlesian Knight-200s or giant Airships, or even Dust, but we still made achievements of our own that Remnant can only dream of."
"Like what?" Harper asked.
"We've traveled to the moon and are currently working on traveling to our neighboring planet of Mars, created weapons powerful enough to not only level cities but leave them uninhabitable for many years to come, and we are still working on more achievements to make to this day," Alex explained.
"All that without Dust?" Harper asked with a stunned expression on her face.
"Yes, no Dust, because it doesn't exist in our world," Alex answered.
"And no Grimm like you had told me once," Harper said.
"Yes, no Grimm," Alex replied.
"If it's possible, may I travel to your world one day?" Harper asked.
"Once diplomatic ties are formed, you can," Alex answered. "Hell, I can even give you a tour around a few parts of Earth if you want."
"I'd like that," Harper replied with a smile.
The radio goes off as Keaton speaks through it.
"Barker, This is Captain Gordon. Rogers has located the hidden orbs. Join us back with us."
Alex pulled up his radio and answered into it.
"Copy that," he said before putting away his radio.
"I'll let you get back to work now," Harper said before walking away.
Alex watched the Lieutenant leave before turning around and walking back inside the room. He approached Keaton, Cassandra, Bulldog, Ice Pick, Missionary, and Steel, along with Winter and the Ace Operatives who were all gathered around.
"You came fast," Ice Pick said.
"I was just outside the door," Alex said. "And I see the Ace-Ops and Specialist Schnee are here too."
"I asked them to come," Keaton said.
"We're going to be joining you guys in finding and destroying the orbs," Clover said.
"So you've said you've located the other three hidden orbs?" Harriet asked.
"Yes. One is hidden in the city of Atlas, one down in Mantle, and the other in Crossed," Cassandra answered.
"Now that we know where they are, let's get out there and scrap 'em," Steel said.
"We'll split off into three teams. Bulldog, Missionary, Barker, Bree, and Amin will go down in Atlas. Schnee, Ebi, Steel, and I will go down to Mantle. The rest of you will go to Crossed," Keaton instructed.
"And who put you in charge?" Harriet asked.
"General Ironwood tasked us to find and destroy the orbs. We asked you to join us," Keaton answered.
"Enough of this. We need to head out now. The longer we stand here, the more damage the Grimm will cause," Winter said.
"Specialist Schnee is right. Let's get what we need and get going," Clover said.
"Right. Let's move out," Keaton said.
Everyone in the room then walked out to prepare their search for the three other hidden orbs.
City of Atlas
Main Street
A half an hour later, Bulldog, Missionary, Alex, Harriet, and Marrow were wandering down the street searching for the orb.
"While the Hard-Light Dust shield over Atlas protects the city from the Grimm and the bitter cold weather of Solitas, eye witnesses report that some Grimm have been sighted somewhere in this area," Harriet said.
"So how did they get through?" Missionary asked.
"Probably brought into the city by aircraft by those mercenaries involved in this conspiracy. It's the only thing we can think of," Marrow answered.
"Yes, the White Fang did the same thing when they attacked Beacon," Bulldog said.
Suddenly, dozens of screaming people ran past Bulldog, Missionary, Alex, Harriet, and Marrow as they all watched.
"We must be getting close," Alex said.
They heard sounds of roaring and growling and turned to see that the sounds were coming from a shop. The five approached the shop and saw a couple of Beowolves and an Ursa wandering around the shop. They also notice an active orb sitting on a shelf.
"I see the orb," Marrow said.
"I have one idea that can take out the Grimm and the orb in one blow looking at the situation here," Alex said.
"Let's hear it," Bulldog said as he, Missionary, Harriet, and Marrow gathered around Alex.
A minute had passed as the two Beowolves and the Ursa continued to wander around in the shop. Marrow approached the shop with Harriet beside him, carrying a couple of C4 explosives. Marrow raised his arm at the shop and was about to snap his fingers.
"Stay," Marrow said as he snapped his fingers and pointed at the shop.
With his semblance active, the Grimm in the shop then all froze to a stop. Harriet dashes into the shop with the explosives in her hands with her semblance. She placed the explosives next to the orb and dashed out of the shop. Alex, Bulldog, and Missionary walked up next to Marrow as he continued to focus his semblance on the Grimm in the shop. Missionary pulls out a remote detonator as Harriet approaches. They all backed away to a safe distance and hid behind a car. Bulldog turned to face Missionary.
"Do it," Bulldog ordered.
Missionary presses the trigger on the detonator as the C4s explode, destroying everything in the shop. When the smoke cleared, the shop was in flames.
"That's one orb down," Alex said.
"I still say we should have attacked them," Harriet said.
"The inside of the shop was too narrow. Things would have ended differently," Bulldog said.
"Besides, explosions are awesome," Missionary added with a smirk.
Alex pulled out his radio and spoke into it.
"This is Sergeant Barker. The Atlas orb is down," he said.
"Copy that, That makes two more to go," Keaton answered through the radio.
Crossed, Atlas
Meanwhile all the way in the ruins of Crossed, Cassandra, Ice Pick, Vine, and Elm were riding inside a Manta, flying over the settlement ruins and were preparing to search for the orb hidden in the ruins. They looked out the windows to see platoons of American soldiers inside the settlement ruins shooting at a large horde of Grimm that was approaching.
"Once we land, we spread out and search for the orb and then we destroy it," Cassandra said.
"And we help out our boys down below take out those Grimm," Ice Pick added.
The Manta soon makes its landing in the middle of the settlement square. Cassandra, Ice Pick, Vine, and Elm all boarded off of the Manta and all spread out to find the hidden orb.
Ice Pick steps into an alleyway and spotted three Swindlens hopping around. He shot and killed one of the small Grimm, catching the other two Swindlens' attention. They rushed over at the soldier as he quickly shot and killed the second Swindlen. The last Swindlen tried to jump at Ice Pick, but the Army man smacked it to the ground with his rifle and shot it before it could get up again.
As Vine was looking through a ruined home, a couple of Razorwings flew down towards the operative. He notices the two Grimm coming down at him and quickly uses his semblance to grab onto the Razorwings, then slams them to the ground. A Beowolf tries to rush at the Operative from behind, but Vine pulls out his three-bladed throwing star, Thorn, and throws it at the Grimm's chest which went through its chest and it flew back at its own as he caught it in his hand and put it away.
Three Ursai charged at Elm as she swung Timber at one of them, sending it flying out of the ruined settlement. She then swung her hammer down at the second Ursa, crushing its head. The third Ursa lunges at Elm as she quickly lifts up her hammer to defend herself. Elm plants herself to the ground with her semblance as the Grimm was unable to push her back no matter how hard it tried. She pushes the Ursa to the ground before swinging down her hammer at the Grimm's stomach, killing it.
Cassandra was looking through a ruined home and then saw three Swindlens circling around something on the shattered floor. It was an active orb. She shoots one of the three small Grimm, killing it and catching the other two Swindlens' attention. The two Grimm rush at Cassandra as the marine shoots at the second. The last Swindlen jumps at Cassandra as she weaves to the side avoiding the lunging Grimm before shooting and killing the last Swindlen.
Cassandra approached the orb and picked it up from the floor and soon stepped outside of the ruined house. She looks around for a moment before spotting Elm smacking a Beowolf away.
"Ederne!" she called out to the operative catching her attention. "Smash the orb!"
Cassandra throws the orb at Elm as she swung her hammer at it midair, breaking it into pieces and the raw fear that was inside it dissipated away. Cassandra approached Elm just as Vine and Ice Pick caught up.
"Another orb down," Ice Pick said.
"I'll contact the captain," Cassandra said as she pulled out her radio and spoke into it. "Captain Gordon, this is Sergeant Rogers, the orb in Crossed is down."
"Copy that, Rogers. Go ahead and return to Atlas whenever you're through," Kaeton replied through the radio.
"Let us finish off the Grimm here before we get back," Elm said.
Cassandra, Ice Pick, Elm, and Vine went out of the ruins to join up with the American soldiers to help fight off the remaining Grimm in the area.
Mantle, Atlas
Meanwhile down in Mantle, Keaton, Winter, Clover, and Steel were wandering through the streets of the city continuing the search for the last remaining orb.
"The Grimm have been seen mostly running around in this area," Winter said.
"Our soldiers are doing their best to contain the Grimm activity and keep the citizens of Mantle protected," Clover added.
"As soon as the last hidden orb here is destroyed, the Grimm will stop coming," Keaton said.
They group walked around the corner and noticed a large group of Grimm consisting of, Beowolves, Swindlens, Razorwings, and a Sphinx wandering around a large warehouse.
"The orb has got to be inside," Steel said.
"Then that's where we're going," Winter said.
"Schnee and I will go first, you two follow us in," Clover said to Keaton and Steel.
Keaton and Steel nodded in response as Clover and Winter ran out in the open. Winter uses her semblance and creates a glyph behind her and summons a flock of small Nevermores from it as they fly straight towards the Grimm. The small summons flew all around the Grimm as they tried to attack the summons. Clover ran up and swung Kingfisher at a couple of Swindlens, then slashed at a Beowolf, killing them. Winter follows in and goes up to the Sphinx as it spits a fireball at her. The Specialist dodges to the side and as the Grimm swipes its paw at her, Winter slashes its paw away. The Sphinx's snake tail lunges at Winter, but she quickly sliced the snake head off, making the Sphinx cry out in pain.
A Swindlen charges at Winter as she continues to fight off the Sphinx. As the small Grimm tries to jump at the Specialist, Keaton fires a shot at the Swindlen, killing it. Keaton approached a couple of Beowolves with Steel following behind him as the shoot at the two Grimm. After the two Beowolves went down, a couple of Razorwings flew down from above straight at Keaton and Steel. They managed to shoot one of them down, but the other flying Grimm swooped down and tackles Keaton to the pavement. Steel was about to shoot at the Razorwing, but a Swindlen jumps onto Steel's chest and tries to claw at him as the soldier tried to pull it away from him. Keaton tries to wrestle the Razorwing off of him as it tries to claw at him.
Winter continues her fight with the Sphinx. The Grimm spits a fireball at her as she jumps away from the attack. Winter creates several glyphs circling around the Sphinx as they shoot several ice shards at it, impaling it all over and killing it. Winter turns around to see Keaton struggling to push the Razorwing off of him. She dashes over and slices the Grimm's head off and the rest of its body disappears right after. Keaton gets up off the ground and faces Winter.
"Thanks," Keaton said.
"Of course," Winter replied.
Clover wrapped his fishing wire from Kingfisher around a Razorwing's neck before swinging it into a few Swindlens and slamming them all into a wall. As soon as Clover reeled in the hook to his fishing pole. A few icicles that were hanging from the edge of the roof fell off and struck the Grimm down below. Clover turns around to see Steel still trying to pull the Swindlen away from him as it was still trying to attack him. Clover quickly went up and sliced the Swindlen in half as its body then disintegrated.
"I'm going in to the warehouse!" Steel said.
"Copy. But be careful!" Keaton replied as was shooting at a Beowolf.
Steel ran up to the warehouse and steps inside through the entryway. Inside were several crates stacked onto each other all over the place. Steel walked through the warehouse looking around and searching for the hidden orb. He soon noticed an open crate and approached it. Steel looks inside and sees the active orb.
"There you are," he said.
Steel pulls out a grenade and pulls out the pin before placing the grenade inside the crate and next to the orb. He then runs away from the crate and hides behind a couple more crates. The crate with the orb inside then explodes. Steel walked out into the open and saw the crate was now destroyed and the orb was now in pieces. After assessing the damage for a moment, Steel turned around and ran back to the entrances and exits out of the warehouse. He saw that all the Grimm that were outside of the warehouse were now gone and Winter, Clover, and Keaton were the only ones out in front. They all turned to face the American soldier.
"Last orb is down," Steel said.
"Good. That means the Grimm will stop coming," Clover said.
"At least for now," Winter said.
"Let's head back up to Atlas and meet up with the others," Keaton said.
Winter, Clover, Keaton, and Steel all walked away from the warehouse and started to make their way back up to Atlas.