Chp. 19: Hunt of the Huntresses
Gehen Station
It had been a couple hours since Keaton, Alex, Cassandra, Bulldog, Ice Pick, Missionary, and Steel had left Atlas Academy for their mission. They are all at Gehen Station on the small island west of Solitas. They had managed to bring the Happy Huntresses with them since they were still angry with their American weapons being found in the Atlas military's hands and didn't want the Ace Operatives to come with them. An Atlesian soldier approaches the group as they all turn to face him.
"We'll be ready for departure in five minutes. You all better get on board," the Atlas soldier said.
"Excellent. We'll be aboard shortly," Keaton replied as the soldier turned around and walked away.
They all looked at the train and noticed that the wheels had treads and were on no railroad tracks.
"A train with no tracks and is on treads. That's new," Ice Pick said.
"The valleys in Solitas are mostly large snowy flats. And with constant snow in weather like this, we've going to need treads to go through the snow," Robyn said.
"I guess that makes sense. We all better get on board," Keaton said.
The Americans and the Happy Huntresses all approached the train and started to get on board.
A few minutes had passed as the train traveled through the snowy tundra. The seven Americans and the Happy Huntresses all sat inside one of the train cars filled with cargo waiting to reach their destination.
"How long until we reach our destination?" Joanna asked.
"Hopefully not too long. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get back to questioning Ironwood on the stolen weapons," Ice Pick answered.
"But he also accused us of stealing Penny's blueprints. A bit suspicious to be a coincidence," Steel said.
"You're right, Steel. This is too suspicious to be a coincidence," Bulldog said.
"I had checked in with the higher ups and they confirmed that they do have Penny's blueprints. I asked them how they got it, and they answered that a couple of Atlesian soldiers sold them the blueprints and they claimed that General Ironwood offered it," Cassandra explained.
"Then why would General Ironwood accuse you of stealing the blueprints?" May asked.
"Maybe he-," Keaton was cut off as the doors slid open as three people entered inside.
The Americans and the Happy Huntresses noticed the visitors as the Americans instantly recognized them to be Amonco Glass's mercenaries; the woman with the tommy gun, the man with the prosthetic arm, and the woman with the giant grabber.
"What the hell?!" Alex said as his fellow marines and soldiers pointed their rifles at the three mercenaries.
"What are you doing on board this train?!" Missionary asked.
"It's payday for us in return for your heads," the woman with the tommy gun answered.
"Did Glass send you three?" Steel asked.
"Nope, someone else did?" the woman with the grabber answered.
"Who?" Keaton answered.
"Here's a hint," the man with the prosthetic arm replied before several Atlesian soldiers ran out the door and aimed their guns at the Americans and the Happy Huntresses, much to their shock.
"Take cover!" Keaton yelled.
The Atlesian soldiers and the woman with the tommy gun opened fire at the Americans and the Happy Huntresses as they all ran or jumped behind some crates. They hid behind the crates as the Atlas soldiers and mercenary continued shooting at them.
"What now?!" Robyn asked.
"There's only one way out of this!" Keaton said as he pulled out a smoke grenade.
He pulls the pin and tosses the smoke grenade in front of the mercenaries and Atlas soldiers. It then detonates and releases smoke all around them obscuring their vision. The marines, American soldiers, and the Happy Huntresses then poked themselves out from behind the crates and began to open fire into the cloud of smoke. A few Atlesian soldiers dropped to the floor dead from getting shot at, while the mercenaries' aura protected them before they ran straight back out of the door, followed by a few Atlesian soldiers. When the smoke cleared, The Americans and Happy Huntresses saw a few dead atlas soldiers on the floor in a puddle of their own blood.
"What the heck was that all about?!" Robyn asked.
"Did General Ironwood order his men to attack us? Was he that angry about Penny's stolen blueprints?!" Fiona asked.
"And why the hell were Glass's mercenaries with them?" Cassandra asked.
"Something's not right," Bulldog said.
"No time to ponder now. Everyone on this train wants to kill us. We've got to fight our way out," Keaton said.
They all ran out through the door that the mercenaries and Atlesian soldiers came from and went into the next train car. Inside were more crates all around and on the other side of the car were a few Atlesian soldiers, some Atlesian Knight-200s, and some dark-gray humanoid robots known as Atlesian Knight 130s.
"Contact!" Alex shouted.
The AK-130s transformed their arms into guns and started to open fire, along with the AK-200s and the Atlas soldiers, forcing the Americans and Happy Huntresses to take cover behind some crates once more. Robyn shoots an explosive crossbolt from her crossbow at an AK-200's head, which then explodes and takes out two more AK-200s and a couple Atlas soldiers. Ice Pick and Alex both shot at a couple of AK-130s disabling them. Two more AK-130s transformed their arms into blades and charged at the American soldier and marine. Before the two robots could reach them, Fiona rushes in and swings her crossbow staff at one of them, slicing it in half, before slicing the second one's head off.
Joanna sliced an AK-130's arms off before slicing it in half by its torso. An Atlesian soldier sneaks up behind Joanna with a sword and is about to strike, but Steel suddenly approaches and strikes the Atlas soldier in the head with the blunt end of his rifle, knocking him to the floor before shooting him in the face. Two more AK-200s approached and tried to shoot at the soldier and Huntress, but Cassandra and May suddenly appeared from behind the two drones after sneaking up on them with May's semblance. Cassandra shoots one of the drones in the back of the head, while May impales it through its back and slams it to the floor.
Bulldog and Missionary continued to shoot at an AK-200 and an AK-130 as they tried shooting back at them. Keaton ran up to the AK-130 and kicked it to the floor before shooting it, while Robyn ran up to the AK-200 and sliced its head off with her shield. The Americans and Happy Huntresses all looked around and saw that all the Atlesian Knights were destroyed and the Atlesian soldiers in the train car were dead on the floor.
"We need to get to the front of the train so we can stop it!" Robyn said.
"How do we get up there?" Fiona asked.
Keaton looked around for a moment before noticing a ladder leading straight up to a hatch door.
"Everyone get up to the roof!" Keaton ordered.
They all approach the ladder as Bulldog climbs up the ladder and opens the hatch door, leading out onto the roof of the train car. One by one they all climbed up the ladder and exits out the hatch door and onto the roof.
"So why the fuck are they attacking us?!" Alex asked.
"And why all the way out here?!" Missionary asked.
"General Ironwood can't be that pissed with us, can he?!" Ice Pick asked.
Keaton ponders in thought before widening his eyes in shock before his expression turns to anger.
"Ah, shit! We've been played!" he said.
"What are you talking about?" Alex asked.
"Think Barker! We were told that it's possible that someone in the Atlas military has been providing Glass with military technology. That person could have had a high authority and could have convinced or bribed some of the Altesian soldiers to help out in this conspiracy. And that person gave us information to keep us occupied until that official came up with a plan to get us all out here," Keaton explained. " So tell me Barker, who do you think that person was?"
Alex ponders in thought for a moment before widening his eyes in shock upon figuring out the answer.
"Wait! Harper?! She's part of all this?!" he asked. "That can't be!"
"She wanted to get us out here in the middle of nowhere so that we couldn't tell General Ironwood who is behind all this! She set us all up! This is a trap set for us!" Keaton explained.
They looked over to the side of the train and saw a few Atlesian soldiers and the three mercenaries jumping off of the train and into the snow. They all looked confused for a moment before Fiona looked up ahead of the train and pointed forwards with a panicked expression.
"CLIFF!" she yelled.
Everyone looked up ahead to see that the train they were on was about to go over a cliff.
"We've got to jump!" Robyn shouted.
Seeing no other option, they all jumped off of the train and fell onto the snow. The train went over the cliff and fell down to the ground below with a crash. The Happy Huntresses All got up from the snow covered ground easily, while the Americans slowly got up from the ground all groaning in pain.
"That freaking hurt," Cassandra said.
"Better than being dead," Bulldog said.
"At least the snow cushioned our fall," Cassandera said.
In a daze, Steel walks over to the cliff to see the wreckage of the train crash. Up ahead of the crash was a ring of large vertical standing stones topped by some large connecting horizontal stones, resembling that of one of Earth's wonders, Stonehenge. Steel soon noticed four figures standing on top of one of the stones staring at him. He narrowed his eyes for a moment and recognized them. It was Team BRIR. Steel rubbed his eyes for a moment to wipe off his daze and when he looked back at the stonehenge to find that they were now gone. Bulldog soon approaches Steel as he turns around to face him.
"You okay?" Bulldog asked.
"Bulldog, I just spotted Team BRIR," Steel said.
"Team BRIR?" Keaton asked as he, Cassandra, Alex, Missionary, Ice Pick, and the Happy Huntresses approached. "Are you sure it was them, Steel?"
"Yes, they were just standing on top of that stonehenge," Steel answered.
"Then what are they doing here?" Cassandra asked.
"Who's Team BRIR?" Joanna asked.
"A group of rogue Huntress mercenaries we encountered in Essen," Ice Pick answered.
"I'll contact a ride for us," Cassandra said as she pulled out her radio and stepped away from the others.
"Maybe until then we can find Team BRIR and find out what they are up to. C'mon, let's get a move on," Keaton said.
As they all started to walk through the snow Keaton turned around and noticed Alex looking out at the cliff with a saddened expression on his face. The captain then approached his teammate.
"Is something bothering you, Alex?" Keaton asked.
"It's about Olive Harper. I'm wishing you wouldn't have to be right about her being involved in this operation with the orbs. I mean, we've been hanging out with each other, and I'm worried that she might have just been faking this whole thing between us, and I don't want that, man," Alex explained.
"Well, we won't know unless we can prove this. I can't guarantee that she'll get out free if proven guilty," Keaton said.
"Yeah, I know," Alex replied.
Keaton and Alex then walked away and started to catch up to the others.
An hour had passed as the Americans and the Happy Huntresses continued to travel through the snowy tundra. As they were approaching up towards a rocky wall, Fiona noticed something up ahead.
"Look. Up ahead," the sheep Faunus said, pointing forwards.
Everyone looked up ahead to see Team BRIR standing in front of a cave with their weapons out.
"Hello, fellas! Fancy meeting you here," Bianca said.
"I take it you ladies are Team BRIR?" Robyn asked.
"That's right, lady," Ivy answered.
"We are Bianca, Roane, Ivy, and Ruda," Bianca introduced.
"So you guys are this unknown military that we've heard about. I've heard you're called Americans, right," Roane asked.
"Enough chattering. Let's tear these knuckleheads up, Bianca!" Ruda said.
"Get ready for my Pins and Needles!" Ivy declared.
"Stay your wip, Ivy. Let's not be hasty. I need our new friends to understand just how thorny their current situation is," Bianca said.
"What are you ladies even doing out here?" Bulldog asked.
"Cleaning up the trash," Roane answered.
"Who are you working for?" Alex asked.
"We work for ourselves. But in this case, we're here to stop you from causing any more trouble for Bram Thornmane," Bianca answered.
The Americans instantly grew surprised to here that last part of Bianca's answer.
"Wait a minute! Back up! You're telling us that Thornmane is behind all this?!" Steel asked.
"Or his... companion," Ivy answered.
"You mean Lieutenant Colonel Harper. You were right, Captain. I wish you weren't, but you are," Alex said.
"Alright, this is getting old. C'mon Team BRIR, let's roll these idiots!" Ruda said.
Roane shot a blast of fire at the group in front of her as the Americans and Happy Huntresses dove to the ground to avoid the attack. Robyn quickly gets up from the ground and rushes at Roane while folding her crossbow into a shield. Bianca jumps in front of Robyn and slashes at Robyn as she was quick to block her attack. The two women exchanged blows and attacks with each other as they blocked, dodged and parried each other's attacks. Fiona looks watched as the two opposing leaders fought each other. As soon as she tries to rush in to help Robyn, Ruda bursts out from the ground in front of Fiona, forcing her to jump away. Ruda tries lunging her drills at Fiona as she dodges and weaves away from her attacks.
As May and Joanna got up from the ground, they both saw Ivy and Roane charging towards them. Ivy swung her whip at May as Roane shot a fireball at Joanna. The two Happy Huntresses jumped away from the attacks as the two members of Team BRIR approached. May fires a couple of cross bolts from her crossbow at Ivy as she stops and creates a portal in front of her and another next to May. The cross bolts go into the portal in front of Ivy and come out of the other. One of the cross bolts shot passed May as the other struck her in the side, making her cry out in pain. Ivy swung Pins and Needles at the Happy Huntress as she was barely able to jump away from the attack. Joanna fires a couple of crossbolts at Roane as she runs past them. Roane activates her semblance and shoots a large blast of fire at Joanna as she was barely able to jump away from the attack. Joanna charges straight at Roane while transforming her crossbow into its staff form. She gives a few swings at Roane as she dodges her attacks before shooting a blast of fire from Inferno at Joanna's chest, sending her flying into a boulder.
The Americans finally got up from the ground and saw the battle between the Happy Huntresses and Team BRIR.
"They need our help. C'mon!" Keaton said.
The marines and soldiers ran over to help the Happy Huntresses in battle. Fiona was struggling to land a hit on Ruda as she was using her semblance to surface and dive up and down around the Faunus. Ruda shoots up from the ground and strikes Fiona to the ground. As Ruda was coming down to strike down at Fiona, Ice Pick and Alex shoot at Ruda knocking her to the ground. As soon as she got back up, Fiona rushed at her and gave her a few strikes with her crossbow staff. Ruda blocks one of Fiona's attacks and was about to strike at her opponent, but Ice Pick struck Ruda in the side with the blunt end of his rifle and Alex kicked her from behind. Fiona gives Ruda an uppercut knocking her to the ground.
Ivy swings her whip into one of her portals as it comes out of another and wraps itself around May's legs. Ivy then yanks her weapon back, causing May to fall over to the ground. Before she could do anything else, Cassandra and Missionary started shooting at her from the side. Ivy retracts her whip and creates two portals, one in front of her and the other next to Cassandra and Missionary. Upon seeing the portals and where they were positioned, the two quickly stopped firing. May was able to get up and looked up to see Ivy facing off with Cassandra and Missionary. She then activates her semblance and turns invisible. Ivy swings her whip into the portal in front of her as it comes out of the other portal. Cassandra and Alex jumped away from the attack. Before Ivy could attack again, she suddenly felt something hit her in the stomach, then in the face. May appears right in front of her, deactivating her semblance. May swings her crossbow staff at Ivy's face, making her stagger back. May slowly approaches as Cassandra and Missionary approach from behind.
Roane shoots a couple of fireballs at Joanna as she runs to the side avoiding the blasts. an object suddenly lands in front of Roane's feet. She looks down at the object to see that it was a smoke grenade. The grenade explodes, releasing a cloud of smoke around her. She was unable to see what was around her as the smoke was obscuring her vision. She felt two pairs of arms grabbing onto her own as when the smoke cleared, she saw Bulldog retraining her left arm and Steel restraining her right arm. Joanna ran up to Roane and swung her crossbow staff at her head knocking her to the ground. She swung her weapon down at her opponent, but Roane rolled backwards avoiding the attack. Joanna, Bulldog, and Steel all rushed over at Roane.
Robyn fires a couple of crossbolts from her crossbow at Bianca as she deflects them away with Cause and Effect. Using Ruda's semblance, She dives into the ground and moves herself towards Robyn. She shoots up out of the ground in front of Robyn and as she did, Bianca slashed at Robyn's chest making her stagger back. Using Roane's semblance Bianca swung her swords, shooting blasts of fire at Robyn, knocking her to the ground. The leader of Team BRIR approached the downed leader of the Happy Huntresses and just as Bianca was about to strike, she was shot in the shoulder from behind. She turns around to see Keaton shooting at her. As Keaton kept on firing, Bianca deflected his shots away. Robyn soon gets up and shoots a crossbolt at Bianca's back, making her cry out in pain. Keaton fired more shots at Team BRIR's leader, making her stagger back. Robyn folded her crossbow into her shield and charged over at Bianca and bashed her in the head, making her stagger to the side.
As Bianca recovers, Ruda flies over and crashes into the ground next to her. Following this, Ivy jumped backwards and landed next to her team leader, and Roane slid backwards towards the rest of her team. All of Team BRIR looked around and saw that the Happy Huntresses and the Americans had them surrounded.
"Stand down, now! You've outmatched and out-numbered!" Robyn demanded.
"I can't believe these people just overpowered us!" Roane shouted in frustration.
"Undisciplined little snots, you all got lucky!" Ruda shouted.
"Get ready for round two!" Ivy shouted.
"Not now. We've got other priorities. Who knows where else these... Americans here have hidden the orbs they stole from Fort Arrowfell," Bianca said.
"Are you shitting us? We didn't do anything like that!" Missionary said.
"And we were just recently pulled into this!" May added, gesturing at herself and the other Happy Huntresses.
"Don't expect us to believe your lies! You know that Thornmane set the record straight shortly after our encounter, right? We've been ready for all your little scheming plans all along!" Roane said.
"You stupid pack of bitches! We haven't stolen anything! This is the second time we were accused of stealing today!" Alex said.
"Did you think we didn't notice you were literally carrying one of those orbs on you that moment we first encountered you?" Ruda asked.
"We were investigating that matter for ourselves, trying to find the origin! We had no idea it was that dangerous!" Ice Pick answered.
"They seem sincere," Ivy said.
"Or particularly good fakers," Ruda said.
"That's enough. Our duty as the Keepers of Arrowfell is more important than anything we can accomplish here right now. Until we meet you guys again. And I'm sure we'll meet again," Bianca said.
Team BRIR turned around and ran into a nearby cave and disappeared from sight.
"Ain't that ominous," May said.
"I can't believe they think we were the ones who planted the orbs! It had to be Thornmane and Harper coordinating this all along," Cassandra said. "But the question is... why?"
Everyone then heard the sound of whirling as they looked up to the sky to see a Blackhawk helicopter approaching.
"We better get going," Keaton answered as Bulldog pulled out a flare and lit it before waving it back and forth to catch the helicopter's attention.