Dust Queen looks interesting, although I wish more people would include Yang's disability. I know it's an AU, but still. It's a main reason why I had Yang be disabled from the start of the series. Thought her losing an arm as a kid would be interesting.
I've also realized…some early timeskip chapters suffer from an issue of 'resolved in one episode'. I think that's a problem of who I was working with at the time (a few of the discord peeps should know who) subtly influencing my writing.
Fuck that guy.
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The Grimm horde had finally hit Mantle properly. None of Atlas' air support could even try to strike down the Grimm now, the risk of civilians being caught in the crossfire was too great. Nevermore screeches, Teryx roars, and Manticore bellows filled the air above while the howls of Beowolves, growls of Sabyrs, and trumpets of Megoliaths filled the streets below. It was pure chaos. Just what Watts wanted and just how Tyrian liked it.
Fiona and some other citizens affiliated with the Happy Huntresses were doing their best to protect groups of civilians as they made their way to a shelter. Crossbow bolts race through the air and stab into any approaching Beowolves or Sabyrs, easily downing them.
"Has anyone been able to reach Robyn?!" Fiona called into her earpiece, before she dodged a swipe from a frost-coated Beowolf and used her weapon to cut the wolf down in an instant. An older Sabyr, with thicker bone plates and more ice coating its fur, stood atop an abandoned car and just watched Fiona and her allies slay its counterparts.
Something that people tend to forget about Grimm is that they're not stupid. Yes, aggression is their main trait, but with age comes a bit of wisdom, a bit of patience. This older Sabyr, an Alpha, let its younger counterparts do the dying while it began to search for much easier prey. With the Happy Huntresses distracted by the deluge of monsters, the Alpha stalked its way past the vigilantes and stumbled upon a lynx Faunus mother and her crying child, hiding at the end of an alley.
"Shhh, it's ok, baby, it's ok," the mother tried comforting her son. The boy's ears, what might be those of an arctic fox, were pressed against the top of his head as tears flowed down his cheeks.
"Don't worry, baby. The Huntresses are out there, they're fighting to keep us safe!" she reassured, wrapping him up in a hug.
The Alpha Sabyr growled as it lowered its head closer to the cobblestone. The lynx ears atop the woman's head twitched and she looked over her shoulder, wide-eyed and afraid. She saw the Alpha Sabyr narrow its eyes, locking onto its prey.
"I love you," the mother told her son, hugging him tightly, "K-keep your eyes closed."
The Sabyr flashed its claws and then leapt at the two frightened civilians. The lynx Faunus held her son tightly, hoping to try and shield him with her body, let the Grimm take her if it meant her son could live. But the sound of threads tightening around something filled the air and the coming death that the woman was expecting never came. After a few tense seconds, she opened her eyes and turned around to see the Alpha Sabyr suspended mid-pounce by a collection of purple threads that just seemed to appear from thin air.
"Not letting this be your final chapter," Min said, her hand lifted up, a purple orb in the middle of her palm. With a quick flick of her wrist, the threads suddenly constricted and then sliced through the Grimm with ease, the pieces turning to smoke before they even hit the ground. So much for "age brings wisdom" applying to Grimm.
"Who...who are-?" the lynx woman asked.
"Name's Min, agent of chaos, here to help. You two ok?" Min quickly approached.
"I-i...y-yes. Yes, we are now. T-thank you."
"Good. You can stand right?" Min asked, extending her hand.
"Y-yes," the Faunus mother took Min's hand and got back to her feet, holding her son in her arms.
"This way. We're setting up an evac zone," Min nodded and led the two of them back towards the warehouse. When the three of them exited the alley, the lynx girl noticed that the Huntresses had gotten more back-up.
A myriad of rainbow-hued lasers fired off and cut through the next wave of Grimm, rendering them to dust in a matter of seconds. At first, the mother thought that maybe that was Ben 10, hard to forget seeing a kid turn into an alien on live TV, but this form didn't really match up. It was much more jagged, with large crystals jutting out from the shoulders and the symbol on their chest was red.
"Min, you got 'em?" Rainbow in the Dark asked.
"Yep! Good to walk!" Min confirmed.
A Manticore was about to swoop in and crash into the defenders, fangs bared and tail at the ready.
"STAY!" Marrow shouted, pointing at the creature and freezing it in the air. Three crossbow bolts fired out, racing above the wolf Faunus' head, and found their marks in the Grimm's eyes and throat. With that, Marrow broke off the use of his Semblance as the Grimm turned to scattered ash. The Ace-Op smirked and shifted Fetch into its boomerang form.
"Heads up!" Marrow shouted, tossing the saw-boomerang out and, at first, it looked like the weapon would hit Fiona, but it was actually aimed at the massive Ursa rearing up behind her. Fetch sliced right through the Grimm's neck, letting its head slide to the pavement before the body vanished.
"How did I miss that?" Fiona asked.
"You're welcome!" Marrow smirked.
"Thanks, Wags!"
"...Robyn's nickname for me?"
"I mean...is she wrong?" Fiona shrugged.
"Fair enough," the wolf Faunus sighed.
"Appreciate the banter!" Kevin called out, "REALLY do hate to interrupt, but we got another pack incoming!" And sure enough, he was right. Another massive pack of Sabyrs was charging headlong towards the group.
In another part of Mantle, Blake was doing the most stupid plan any of them could have thought of and given the Outcasts' track record, that was saying something. She was running down one of the empty streets, being pursued by three frost-coated Ursai and a Megoliath. Why wasn't she using the rooftops, swinging between them with Gambol Shroud? Well for one, she had no idea if there were any citizens still hiding in these buildings and a Megoliath would bulldoze anything in its path to get the kill. For another, it would expose her more to the quicker, airborne Grimm, and she needed all the ammo she could spare tonight.
The third Ursa ran up from the back position, behind the massive elephantine beast and tried to tackle Blake to the ground. With a quick motion, Blake dodged out of the way and left behind a shadow clone infused with fire Dust. Once the Ursa made impact, it and the clone exploded in a cloud of flame and smoke. One of the two remaining Ursai, who had flanked the charging Megoliath, tried the same thing. Though here, instead of being met with a fiery end, the Ursa was met with a more shocking demise, courtesy of efficient lightning Dust usage. The remaining Ursa tried the exact same tactic, not learning from its comrades, and slammed into a perfect recreation of Blake made of ice. The cat Faunus leapt ahead once she made the ice clone and fired off a few rounds to stun the bear monster, sending the creature tumbling. The Megoliath couldn't care less about the Ursa in front of it. It continued charging forth and trampled the stunned bear underfoot. Blake rounded a street corner and kept running, skidding a bit as she did. The Megoliath's speed was too much, forcing it to slam into a nearby building. It trumpeted out in annoyance and continued its charge.
"Please tell me you're set up," Blake groaned into her earpiece.
"Hey, have some faith!" Ceres called over the radio, "You're almost there! Just remember to jump!"
Blake rolled her eyes and readied Gambol's ribbon. She could see the smoke rising off the pavement ahead and, once she had the breathing room needed, she threw out her weapon and wrapped it around a nearby streetlamp. She swung over the trap while the Megoliath, laser focused as it was on the feline Faunus, was oblivious to the improvised tar pit that was created. The mammoth Grimm's feet practically sunk into the melting tar of the street. Ceres smirked as she and Yang emerged from alleyways that flanked either side of the giant Grimm. The Megoliath trumpeted and thrashed around as it tried to free itself, before the duo of brawlers rushed out.
Ceres' hands were engulfed in flames, each hit she landed on the shaggy coat of the monster causing small fires to ignite. Yang launched in and landed on the back of the elephantine beast's head and began punching away at the back of its skull mask. She fired off two more shots and flew off the beast, landing gracefully next to Blake. Ceres backed off as well, joining back up with the other two, handing Blake some purple sunglasses. The Archimedian and Yang put on their own shades before the blonde brawler activated and detonated the sticky bombs that had been planted on the back of the Megoliath's head.
Needless to say, with all those explosions going off at once, the Megoliath's head was busted open, causing it to go limp and disintegrate.
"Best. Plan. Ever," Ceres smirked.
Elm smashed down on the head of another Minorox as she, Kylie, and Weiss defended another shelter for fleeing civilians. An Alpha Beowolf was about to get the drop on the muscle of the Ace-Ops, pouncing at her from above, only for it to be cleaved cleanly in half by a familiar glowing broadsword.
"These shelters are," Kylie began before gunning down a duo of Ursai, "Are gonna fill up fast!"
"And they're all we got for now!" Elm yelled, "We just need to hold off the Grimm for a little longer!"
"And then what?" Weiss asked, firing off a barrage of Glyph darts at the nearest Grimm, tearing it apart.
"We...we wait for more air support! We just...we just need to wait for some Mantas to come and get anyone who can't squeeze into a shelter!" Elm answered, but even she sounded unsure. A level seven attack meant that the airfleet was gonna be busy.
"Guys, incoming!" Kylie yelled, drawing the group's attention to another charging Minorox.
"I got this one!" Elm yelled, running up and using her Semblance to provide an immovable object for the minotaur's unstoppable force. And here, the immovable object won, with Elm grabbing hold of the Minorox's horns and using its momentum against it. The muscle of the Ace-Ops yelled as she held the monster above her, by its horns, so that Weiss' knight could swoop in and slice its head clean off.
"Nice...nice combo there," Elm huffed, "We got this...right?"
"P-probably." Kylie said, pulling out True Rebel. She shifted it to its axe mode as a bunch more Grimm came in.
Kylie gritted her teeth as she charged into a pack of snarling Beowolves. She swung True Rebel with all her might, the axehead slicing through the air and cleaving through the Grimm with ease. One by one, the Beowolves fell before her, their bodies shattered and broken by the impact of the weapon.
As the last of the Beowolves fell, Kylie took a moment to catch her breath. She wiped the sweat from her brow, glancing around at the carnage she had wrought.
"...yeah we got this," she muttered to herself.
At another part of the city, Qrow fired off Harbinger's shotgun form and downed a few Teryx, watching them descend and turn to ash before they even hit the ground. Clover was using Kingfisher to wrap around the flying reptilian Grimm's legs and pull them down into range of Qrow's shots.
"This is almost too easy," Qrow smirked.
"Lucky us, eh?" Clover smirked. He was about to cast out his line again before his Scroll buzzed. He pulled out the device and checked it, a message from Ironwood. The leader of the Ace-Ops' eyes went wide as he read it.
"Qrow...save your bullets," Clover advised, putting away the Scroll.
"Why? Thought our priority was saving lives here," Qrow said, "Taking down these flying bastards clears the skies for your Manta-"
"New orders, straight from the top," Clover cut him off, "Come on."
Qrow frowned, but he knew better than to argue with Ironwood's orders. He holstered Harbinger and followed Clover as they made their way to the rendezvous point.
"What do you think this is about?" Qrow asked, as they ran past a group of civilians huddled in a destroyed building.
"Easy. Things are about to get a lot worse..." Clover answered, racing off.
Near Mantle's outer wall, Ruby, Ben, and Harriet were defending another group of civilians. The Ace-Ops' speedster bounced between Beowolves, punching and stunning each of them long enough for Ben to follow up behind her and cut them down with precision attacks from Omni-Drive XLR8. Ruby had given him a bit of fire Dust to boost his attacks, so each kick and slash carried an extra spark, incinerating the Grimm. As for Ruby, she took careful aim at the airborne Grimm that were circling above. High-powered bullets tore through the wings of Nevermores and Manticores alike, forcing them to crash and turn to scattered ash on the pavement.
"We won't survive down there!" a man called out.
"We need to get to Atlas!" a woman with ram horns added.
"Why...why isn't Ironwood doing anything?" another woman questioned.
"Please! All of you! Calm down! We'll get you out of here, promise!" Ruby yelled over the chaos.
"Take us to Atlas, now!" a more gruff, wolf Faunus man shouted.
"Please! Just hold on a little long-" Ruby was cut off by a loud ping, almost like an amplified Scroll notification noise, followed by a cyan glow illuminating the wall. Soon, a giant holographic broadcast showing Ironwood and Robyn, standing side by side, appeared and loomed over the citizens gathered in the evac zone. But it wasn't just here. On every still intact screen in the city, industrial scale, television, or even Scroll, that same broadcast took up the screen.
"What... is this?" Ruby muttered, looking up at the hologram in confusion.
"Attention citizens of Mantle," Ironwood's voice boomed out of the speakers. The camera panned over to reveal Robyn by his side.
"Atlas, Mantle. I know you're scared. I'm here with General Ironwood, and we have a message for you." Robyn suddenly added.
Ben and Ruby's eyes widened- the camera zoomed out to show that Robyn was holding the general's left hand, and both their hands were covered with a glowing green Aura.
"Here we go." Ben muttered.
"Is...is he-?" Harriet asked, before she turned her attention back to the nearest Beowolf and punched it in the face, flooring it.
"As you are aware," Ironwood began, "the ancient evil of Salem has always been hidden at the periphery of our world. Her first move was at Beacon, her second at Haven, and her third is here, with the recent murders. She seeks to divide her enemies, divide us. If we allow ourselves to give in to hate and fear, then the Grimm will come...and we will destroy ourselves."
"And this witch does not work alone," Robyn spoke up, "Her agents, her minions have infiltrated Mantle and caused chaos and strife these past few months."
"Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows."
Back in their hideout, Raddock, Floyd, and Cinder were watching the broadcast as well. The Geist seemed to be unphased by the revelation, but Raddock? While his expression was hidden behind that iconic mask of his, Raddock was focused on Cinder. Her master was Salem?
"She...she sent them?" Cinder growled, gripping the arm of her chair tightly.
"They are the ones who sabotaged the heating grid of Mantle, as a means to wreak havoc in the name of their dark master. They seek to divide us? It won't work. As citizens of Mantle and Atlas, we must all unite, look her dead in the eye and defy her. Every single one of us! That is all I have ever wanted, but...my secrecy has done more harm than good," Ironwood said. The camera's view shifted to show only Ironwood, hiding his and Robyn's clasped hands.
"This...is what I have been hiding. This is why I have diverted resources away from Mantle. This is the Amity Communications Tower," as the words left the general's mouth, an image of the tower appeared to his left, floating undisturbed at its launch site.
"It is now completed and ready to launch. With it, global communications between Hunter communities will be reestablished. As your general, I am sorry for keeping this from you all...but tonight, I intend to start fixing that mistake. The council and I have decided to evacuate all citizens of Mantle up to Atlas for your safety. All defenses from Amity are being redirected to aid in this effort, and Mantas will be arriving shortly to begin taking you up here at designated landing zones." Ironwood continued.
"We must put aside our differences tonight, band together to end this threat to both our cities. The general has my full support," Robyn said with a smirk.
"What...what do we do now?" Raddock asked, turning to Cinder.
Cinder was silent for a moment, still processing the revelation. "We continue with our plan," she finally said, her voice cold and determined, "I don't care if it's just some brats or proper Hunters that are in our way. I will get what is rightfully mine."
"You know that means we'd have to push back-"
"I'm very much aware of what it means!" Cinder hissed, Floyd silently moving away from his master in response, "...you don't need to keep reminding me. I've waited months for a chance, I can wait another day or two. The plan's changed. Take Floyd." The Fall Maiden removed the necklace from around her neck and handed it over to her new second in command. The kingpin nodded and put the magical necklace on, gaining control of the Alpha Geist.
"You're going...to Atlas Academy. Find their rooms. Ransack them if you have to, but there's a golden and blue ornate lamp. Find it and bring it back to me," Cinder ordered.
"And you?" Raddock asked.
"I'm going to administer some last rites..." Cinder grinned evilly.
Raddock nodded and turned to leave, with Floyd following closely behind him. Cinder watched them go before turning her attention to her own task.
Tonight would mark the end of Atlas, no matter how "unified" the tin man thought the kingdom was.
While Cinder was surprisingly calm about this, Watts was scrambling. Tyrian and his partner had left by now to cause more havoc, but he had to get moving. He finished up a few broad keystrokes in his command center before he shut off the connection. He could always come back if he needed to, he had bigger concerns to deal with. Everything they'd done was supposed to destroy the opposition, not make it stronger. And the tower, that damned tower. How did Ironwood keep that a secret from him for so long?! Watts growled in annoyance, as it seemed like Ironwood had played him for a fool.
"Your heart's cost you your mind, James," Watts scoffed, resolving to get back at the tin man of Atlas.
He grabbed his revolver on the off chance he'd need it and he grabbed a large leather bag, probably used to carry tools and other such tech. Watts then quickly made his way to a nearby airship landing pad where a sleek black Manta airship was waiting for him. The ship's engines were already humming as Watts jumped aboard, tossing his bag onto one of the seats. He quickly navigated through the ship's controls, powering up the engines and lifting off into the air.
"Time to see an old friend," Watts smiled.
Once the broadcast was over, a large fleet of Mantas descended on Mantle, landing at the nearest designated landing zones. Soldiers poured out to guard the transport or to guide evacuees to the transports. The group Kevin, Min, Marrow, and Fiona were guarding was one of the first groups taken up. The little arctic fox Faunus boy that Min saved gave her one last quiet thank you, making the chaos demon smile a bit before she waved goodbye to the two she saved.
"Alright, first group is away!" the Manta pilot said over the radio.
Ruby, Ben, and Harriet, meanwhile, were leading their group through the city to the nearest pick-up zone as well. A Minorox burst through a building, sending debris and dust everywhere as it thudded into the road. The trio got ready to fight, before they saw a myriad of familiar blades launch out and impale the bruiser Grimm.
"Penny!" Ruby beamed.
"Salutations, everyone! One moment!" Penny greeted.
Dust calculations complete! Ice Dust injection now! Eunice said. The green lights on Penny's swords turned to a light blue. With a few quick tugs, blasts of ice fired off inside the Minorox's body and froze it from the inside out. The monster quickly crumbled under its own weight as the blades of Floating Array returned to the android protector.
"I am very glad to see you! I could not get any communications out for the longest time!" Penny beamed as she flew over to the trio.
"Holdin' up alright?" Ben asked.
"As best as we can!" Penny saluted, "Eunice has been invaluable today!"
If I could blush, I would be right now, Eunice chuckled.
At another one of the LZ's, the Manta landed and let its group of soldiers disembark along with Robyn herself. A few Grimm were still charging this group of civilians, despite being defended by Joanna and Rex. An Ursa bit down on the BFS that Rex had brought out to deal with the larger packs, take out multiple Grimm with one big swing. The bear Grimm's fangs began to crush the blade between them, before a bolt fired off and jabbed into the monster's neck, but not deep enough to kill it. The bear roared and turned its focus on Robyn, before a quick beeping caught its attention. Rex formed up the Block Party and shielded himself from the bolt exploding, blasting the Ursa's head clean off.
"Showed up just in time, eh Robo-Boy?" Robyn smirked.
"Not a robot, Robyn!" Rex rolled his eyes.
"Nickname's sticking! Joanna, how we looking?"
"Got more than a few people in the shelter," Joanna said, smacking aside one last Sabyr to give herself some breathing room, "Gonna take more than one trip to get them all out."
"Got it covered. You and Robo stay here, make sure these people get out safely. I'll check for stragglers," Robyn said and had another bolt load up into her unfolded crossbow.
Joanna nodded and raced back to continue guarding the evacuees with Rex, while the Happy Huntress' leader bolted off into the practical maze of alleyways and buildings. Perfect timing on Joanna's part, too, as the next wave of Grimm began charging towards them, a pride of Manticores led by a frost covered Sphinx.
"Rex!" Joanna called out, but Rex was already on it. Blue circuits appeared and snaked across the Ace-Op's back before a collection of mechanical spider legs emerged and curled forward, showing off their sharpened endpoints. He wordlessly lowered his goggles over his eyes and got into a ready stance, the spider legs rearing back as well. Joanna stared wide-eyed at the new build for a moment before snapping back to the issue at hand, deciding to give Rex some ranged support here. Noah, while directing people over to the evac-Manta, couldn't help but stare at Rex. Part of him jokingly felt sorry for the Grimm, because right now he had more than a few issues to work through. But more of him worried for Rex specifically. All that anger, confusion, and sadness swirling around in Rex's heart was a perfect storm to attract the monsters. Rex was using himself as bait to keep the civilians safe.
"Rex..." Noah muttered in concern.
Robyn made her way down through the snaking alleys, crossbow at the ready in case she ran into anymore Grimm which, given the sheer number tonight, was more than likely. So far, she hadn't really found any other stragglers. Good, Joanna'd found most of them. But then something caught her attention.
"W-wait...what are you doing?" a voice called out from around a corner, "W-wait...wait no! NO!"
Robyn ran right for the source and saw someone emerge from around a corner, an older Faunus man with a pair of large horns jutting out from his forehead.
"Hey, hey!" Robyn called.
"R-robyn Hill? Oh, thank go-" the man started, before bandages wrapped around his head and horns entirely and he was pulled back around the corner. The Happy Huntress' leader skidded to a halt when she saw that, her fear only heightened when she heard a loud snap followed by a heavy thud.
"You know," a mad voice said from behind her, "for such a small bird you make QUITE the impact around here."
Robyn spun around and, without hesitation, fired off one of her bolts. Tyrian twisted his body out of the way, letting the bolt fly and clatter to the cobblestone. He grinned, rightened himself and began walking towards her.
"You bring hope and a smile wherever you go," Tyrian continued as another bolt raced through the air. The scorpion Faunus caught the projectile between his index and middle fingers, turning it over and examining it.
"And I find that deeply..." Tyrian took a deep breath, before snapping the bolt with his thumb, "upsetting." Robyn was about to fire off two more bolts, but the bandages from before slithered around the corner and wrapped around her arms, holding them off to the side.
"The hell is this?!" Robyn yelled as she struggled to get free. Her crossbow's "wings" folded up to form a shield that doubled as a war fan. She sliced through the bandages and fired off two of the bolts she had loaded up before she was restrained again. Tyrian's tail lashed out and swatted the bolts out of the air as he got closer.
"You can come out now...partner," Tyrian grinned.
"Partner?"
From around the corner, a figure shuffled out of the shadows, revealing Tyrian's new "friend." It was a much taller, much less talkative, and somewhat less refined Thep Khufan, another mummy like Amhonet. While the priestess of Zs'skayr had a much more elaborate, pharoah-like headdress, seemingly made out of the most elegant materials, this one seemed to be much more common, for lack of a better term. The headdress' materials were simple and somewhat dirtied, maybe they were made out of the Anur equivalent of polyester or burlap. Two small purple lights shone out from behind the mask-like visage of the mummy's face, both focused on Robyn.
"I know! With all the grand speeches and the 'will of the people' behind her, she's not very impressive is she?" Tyrian grinned.
"What's the matter, Callows? Been outta the game too long so you needed someone to hold your hand? Serial killer training wheels?" Robyn taunted.
"Oh, you never really forget how to take a life and keep it within your preferred...method," the madman's scorpion tail curled over his shoulder, its metal stinger gleaming in the dark, "But! Every so often, there's just one little person you want to do something special for. And what luck! Tonight, that 'special something' is reserved for YOU!"
"Sorry, I don't swing for crazy," Robyn scoffed.
"Cute," the murderer rolled his eyes, "You'll be good practice for when I go after the Rose. All those little thorns, little verbal jabs, how so very LIKE her!" Tyrian aimed the barrels of his gun at Robyn's head, threatening to pull the trigger, "Ah, but putting a bullet between your eyes isn't special. Is it? You see, I was just supposed to kill you...but I was inspired by my friend back there! I'm going to turn you against your 'merry band' and watch them put you down with tears in their eyes."
"As sick of a bastard as you are, you must be a fucking moron if you think I'd turn on them," Robyn said confidently.
"Not willingly. But tell me...have you ever heard of Corrodium?"
Hearing that made Robyn's blood run cold. Flashbacks of the mutated rat Grimm filled her mind.
"Judging by the lack of a witty retort, you have. And you've seen what it can do. But tell me...have you ever seen what happens when people are exposed?" Tyrian began madly cackling.
"Oh to hell with that. NOW!" Robyn yelled, slicing through the bandages again, this time going fast enough to free both of her arms. The Thep Khufan tried to grab hold of her again, but a barrage of shotgun blasts fired off and tore through the mummy's body, making it stumble back. Robin raced forward as the blades on the Queen's Servants extended out from Tyrian's bracers. The sharpened wings of the stylized war fan collided and sparked against the pincer-like blades. Tyrian was put on the defensive, taken off guard by the sudden outburst. Salem's devotee leaned away from the last, sideways, arcing strike and smirked. His eyes turned purple as the blades on one bracer retracted. His hand was covered in the dark purple glow of his Aura and, exploiting the opening, he lunged forward and slashed at Robyn with his bare hand. The hit landed and a chunk of Robyn's lilac hued Aura, around her stomach, burned away.
Tyrian's stinger jerked forward, aiming for the unshielded portion, only for the metal sting to bounce off the folded wings of the war fan/shield. Tyrian was about to lash out again, only for a fishing line to wrap around his tail and pull him back. Tyrian yanked on the line and forced the line off, leaping and landing in such a way to where his tail was propping him up.
Qrow and Clover jumped down from the nearby roofs with their weapons drawn, much to Tyrian's annoyance.
"Sorry Callows. I wanted to beat your scrawny ass into the pavement myself, but the general insisted I share," Robyn scoffed.
"Bastard tried to kidnap my niece...suffice to say, you'll have to wait in line," Qrow smirked, transforming Harbinger into its scythe mode.
"So long as he ends up in a cell, I think we can rough him up a bit. Lord knows he deserves it," Clover spoke up.
"But you're forgetting, it's not just me you have to deal with! Oooh, now there's an idea! Expose you all to my friend's bleeding heart! Have Ms. Hill rampage down here, send the Branwen brother after his precious niece, and then unleash the Ace-Op against his own team! Hahahaha! Oh that's PERFECT!"
"You've been taking lessons from Zs'skayr, haven't you?" Qrow leered.
"Nope! ALL ME!"
Clover stepped forward, his weapon at the ready. "Enough from the looney bin..."
"I couldn't agree more." Tyrian grinned, his eyes glowing purple.
The two clashed, their weapons colliding with a resounding clang. Qrow and Robyn charged in, flanking Tyrian from either side. The mummy, still recovering from the shotgun blasts, tried to grab hold of Robyn again, but Clover swung his weapon and severed the bandaged arm. The Thep Khufan hissed in pain and stumbled back, allowing the Huntsmen and Huntress to regroup.
Tyrian snarled but was forced to go on the defensive. Qrow lunged in from the side and began to batter the serial killer with strikes from his scythe. The Queen's Servants managed to tank the hits, but each one got closer and closer to break through. Tyrian ducked under the latest slash and, just like with Robyn, tried to exploit the opening. Here though, he tried to sweep Qrow's legs out from under him, only for the gruff Huntsman to jump over the attempt and bring Harbinger down. Tyrian leapt out of the way, letting the scythe blade stab into the stone instead, before he jumped on top of the weapon. He spun and tried to land a roundhouse kick to Qrow's jaw, but the usually unlucky Huntsman ducked under the hit and let the scorpion hit air.
But by now, the Thep Khufan had recovered. It unraveled its hands into their component bandages and launched them out towards Qrow, hoping to cocoon him and expose him to the mutagenic mineral it carried. Qrow fired off the shotgun portion of his weapon, freeing it from the stone and knocking Tyrian airborne with the momentum. The scythe then transformed into a tonfa-like mode that let Qrow deftly slice through the bandages as they came his way. Tyrian stabbed his tail into the alley wall and hanged there, upside down like a bat before he took aim with his weapons' SMGs. Before the first bullet could leave the chamber, three of Robyn's bolts stabbed into the masonry around Tyrian.
"Ha! You missed!" Tyrian taunted.
"Check again," Robyn said with a smug smile.
The scorpion Faunus looked to each of the bolts surrounding him and noticed they were beeping. His eyes widened as he leapt off the wall to the other right as the bolts exploded, sending chunks of stone to the alley floor. Tyrian jabbed his tail into the other wall and opened fire on Robyn and Clover, laughing maniacally as the bullets flew. The Happy Huntress' leader expertly blocked each of the shots, letting Clover leapt up and cast out his line. Kingfisher's line wrapped around one of Tyrian's arms and, with one deft pull, the scorpion was dislodged from his little perch and pulled right into a powerful clothesline from Clover. The murderer's eyes went wide as the lucky Ace-Op's arm collided with his chest. His eyes flashed purple in anger before he tried to lash out at Clover's face with his Semblance, only to be stopped by a powerful kick from Robyn to send him skidding back.
As for Qrow, he closed the distance on the Thep Khufan, slashing through every slithering bandage that tried to entrap him. When it became that strategy wouldn't work, the bandages retreated back to their owner, forming back up into its hands. Purple energy seeped out from spaces between the bandages of the mummy's arm, followed by what seemed to be purple grains of sand. The sand swirled around the bandaged arm and quickly solidified, forming into a scarab shaped shield. Qrow's bladed tonfa slashed against the bug-based bulwark, leaving a massive scratch in the now glass-like surface.
Fun bit of science trivia for the Anur System. Corrodium's mutagenic properties can be negated, in a way. It took a bit of trial and error, but it was discovered that powdered Corrodium was safe to use around other species. What's more, Thep Khufans had a natural affinity for creation with this watered down form the mineral. It wouldn't be out of place to see purple, crystalline shields and khopeshes used by the soldiers of Anur Khufos.
The other arm of the mummy produced a similar miniature powdered Corrodium dust storm and solidified the substance into a jagged blade, almost resembling volcanic glass in its texture and appearance. With a moan-like roar, the mummy lashed out at Qrow wildly, forcing Qrow into a duel with the creature.
Qrow's Harbinger clashed against the Thep Khufan's Corrodium blade, sparks flying from the collision. The two combatants exchanged blows, each one trying to gain an advantage over the other. Qrow had to be careful, as the mutagenic properties of Corrodium could turn the tide of the fight in an instant if he let his guard down. From what Ruby told him, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
He dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding the strikes of the mummy's blade. The Thep Khufan was relentless, its strikes coming faster and more ferocious than before. Qrow realized that he couldn't keep up this pace for long and needed to end the fight quickly. He decided to take a risk and go on the offensive, hoping to catch the mummy off guard.
Semblance, don't screw me now. Qrow thought before he lunged forward, feinting a slash to the Thep Khufan's right, only to switch directions at the last moment and instead striking at its left. The mummy was caught off guard, and Qrow's blade struck true, shattering the Corrodium blade.
Qrow smirked. "Gotcha." The mummy recoiled in surprise, but quickly recovered, unleashing another dust storm of powdered Corrodium. Qrow ducked and weaved, avoiding the dust as it swirled around him. He then launched himself forward, taking advantage of the mummy's momentary distraction.
His weapon extended, morphing back into its scythe mode. Qrow swung his scythe at the Thep Khufan, but it was ready this time, quickly parrying the blow with its now bladeless arm. How tough are these bandages!?
The mummy's eyes seemed to shift in shape, almost suggesting it was a bit smug at the surprise. It bashed its scarab-shaped shield into Qrow and knocked him back, almost to the point where he was back to back with Tyrian. Ruby's uncle shifted his gaze behind him as Tyrian did the same, both enemies taking note of each other. The scorpion killer grinned and spun around, hoping to slash into Qrow's back, but the man was gone, much to Tyrian's confusion. A crow cawed before the mad Faunus looked up, only to see Qrow falling down from above, Harbinger in sword mode. Tyrian jumped out of the way before he was skewered, rushing in to strike at the supposedly exposed Hunter. Instead, he was forced to block a heavy swing from the greatsword that was Qrow's weapon. The hit may not have broken through, but it still packed quite a punch. Tyrian was knocked back into the nearest wall from the sheer force of it. The bandages of the Thep Khufan launched out, forming into Corrodium tipped drills aimed right at Qrow. Fortunately, a mixture of war fan slashes and fishing rod bashes were able to thwart the mummy's plan.
"Ever fought something like this before, Ebi?" Robyn asked.
"Nope. Heard Tennyson has something like it, but he's never used it around me," Clover said.
"Fair enough. Kid's got what? A thousand aliens in that watch?"
"From what I've heard, you're off by several zeroes."
Qrow breathed heavily as he retreated a few steps, his eyes darting between Tyrian and the Thep Khufan. He knew that he couldn't let either of them get the upper hand, so he decided to take a risk and split his attention between the two.
"I could use a hand here," Qrow smirked. Robyn and Clover quickly jumped into action, each taking on one of the enemies. Robyn charged at the Thep Khufan, her war fan flashing as she deflected the bandages and Corrodium drills. Meanwhile, Clover engaged Tyrian, his fishing rod extending to keep the scorpion faunus at bay.
Robyn's war fan bashed away another of the Corrodium drill-tipped bandages, getting really annoyed at this Halloween reject. She needed to wrap this up quickly and focus all her attention back on Tyrian. Qrow raced in and tried to break through the shield the mummy had, only for each hit to just leave a scratch mark on it. One slash almost made it through the mummy's main body and would've cut at its head, if the shield didn't move to immediately protect it.
Wait, that's it! Robyn realized. Out of all the parts of this thing's body, the only part that wasn't some kind of bandage was the head. Kind of an obvious weakness but who was she to complain. Qrow leapt back towards Robyn after dodging a few more Corrodium-tipped drill strikes.
"Hey, got a plan for this guy. Then we can take out the psycho. I just need you to make sure it can't protect its head!" Robyn said.
Qrow raised an eyebrow at Robyn's plan, but he trusted her judgment. He lunged forward again, feinting another strike to the mummy's right side before quickly changing direction and striking at its left. The Thep Khufan raised its shield to block, but Qrow's blade shattered it.
As the mummy's shield shattered, Robyn seized the opportunity to launch a bolt from her war fan. With a small flick of her wrist, she sent a bolt charged with fire dust flying towards the Thep Khufan's head. The mummy tried to raise its shield to block the attack, but it was too late. The bolt struck true, exploding on impact and engulfing the mummy's head in flames.
A few more bolts struck true from Robyn's crossbow, igniting the mummy's bandages and sending it thrashing about with pained screams. Tyrian parried another strike from Kingfisher before he jumped into a handstand and spun on the spot, battering the Ace-Op with a barrage of kicks. He leapt up using his tail to right himself, before he heard the screams of his partner.
"NO! What have you DONE?!" Tyrian yelled, his hands going to his face.
The flames quickly spread, consuming the mummy's body. Qrow stepped back, watching as the flames incinerated the creature.
Meanwhile, Tyrian had dropped his guard in shock and was now on the defensive as Clover took advantage of the opening, striking at him with his fishing rod. Tyrian parried the blow with his stingers, but he was struggling to keep up with Clover's fast and unpredictable attacks.
"Not so funny when someone on YOUR side is dying, huh?" Clover smirked. THE AUDACITY! He could smile and joke at a time like this!?
"He was a loyal servant of his god and MY QUEEN! You would dare MOCK HIM?!" Tyrian screeched.
"Oh shut the hell up with your zealot routine!" Qrow yelled, rushing in. Harbinger and Kingfisher both came down at the same, only to be caught by the pincer-blades on Tyrian's arms. The scorpion Faunus' anger turned to mad joy as he held back both weapons, a mad cackle escaping his lips. His tail reared back over his head, swaying between Qrow and Clover. Who should he sting? Test the luck of the Ace-Ops' best? Or push the misfortune of the Branwens even further? Ooooh, decisions, decisions! He decided to poison Qrow, the purple liquid loaded into the stinger glinting in the dim industrial light.
But then one last bolt stabbed into the mechanical tail. The murderer looked up and noticed the bolt blink with yellow energy before it detonated in a controlled burst of electricity. The shock messed up his tail, forcing the poison to get stuck in its vial.
"He's all yours boys!" Robyn gave a mocking salute to Tyrian.
"You BITCH!" Tyrian cursed.
Qrow and Clover took advantage of Tyrian's distraction and delivered a synchronized punch to his face. The impact sent him flying back into a nearby pile of crates, knocking him out cold.
Robyn walked over, and spat on the bastard. "Get bent." She snarled.
"Nice one," Qrow said, offering a fist bump to Clover. The Ace-Op gave a small smirk and returned the fist bump before calling it in.
"This is Clover, requesting transport. Tyrian Callows is down, I repeat, Tyrian Callows is down," the Ace-Op smirked.
