A/N: Salem is now taking control of Patrick, and he is once again going berserk. In the very heart of Atlas. General Ironwood is set on putting an end to this madness once and for all, especially despite Mashika's protests. I feel like I'm doing nothing but foreshadowing Ironwood's tyranny in Volume 8.
Chapter 49: The Power Within Part I - Grimm Unleashed
One week ago
Authur, Hazel, and Tyrian return to the Evernight Castle. They make their report to Salem, who listens patiently and calmly. They are worried over the fact that they not only were defeated by Patrick but also didn't get any information on the whereabouts of the missing Fall Maiden.
"Hmm. I see." Salem responds.
"It's nothing like we're ever seen. It was like...Well, he was like you." Authur says.
"Except he was wild and feral. As mindless as the actual Grimm." Hazel says.
Tyrian deviously smiles with a sinister chuckle. "He was a worthy opponent for me to face, even though I was stuck in that metal suit of yours, oh good doctor."
"That 'Metal suit' is a state of the art Atlasian Paladin. It was a prototype but it was still in top condition thanks to me." Authur says proudly, then that pride turns into disappointment as he turns to Mercury and Emerald. "That migraine boss of yours owes me a new Paladin."
Salem doesn't say anything. This concerns the group. "Your grace?" Hazel asks.
"Hmm...This could work in our favor. Excellent discovery." Salem says.
Sometime later, Salem is alone in her chambers. She is observing her crystal ball. The dark smoke within it clouds, even under Salem's power. As she's doing her work, Rufus walks in and stands by her side.
"What's the plan of action?" Rufus asks.
"Patience, Rufus." Salem says. "Our primary goal is to locate our missing Maiden. If I know Ozma, he'll have her hidden away somewhere close and impenetrable. And since the one student who just so happens to be the brother of our maiden is part Grimm, we can use it to our advantage." The crystal ball reveals Patrick and the background shows his location in Atlas. "Hmm...It appears he is in Atlas."
"So we're gonna control him to find the Fall Maiden?" Rufus says.
"Controlling him won't be that simple. He may be Grimm, but he's still human. It'll take more than mere power to control this one, and I believe your knowledge of the boy will be of some good use." Salem leans her head close and whispers to the orb. "Join me. Join me."
Ever since then, Salem has been sending whispers into Patrick's head, trying to manipulate him into her control.
And eventually, she succeeded.
Ironwood is in shackles face to face against the frightening Grimm Patrick. Ironwood turns his head to the non-responding droids. "Shoot him! Open fire!" The droids position themselves to shoot. Just before they can fire, the floor is covered in shadow, and black spikes burst out of the shadowed floor and impale each of the droids.
Ironwood is powerless and alone. Patrick grabs Ironwood by the throat, beginning to strangle him. Until... 'No. Leave him.' Patrick releases his grip on the general. 'You want to find your sister. Go!'
Patrick starts walking away. As he does, the shadow chains dissolve, releasing Ironwood.
Ironwood spares no moment to recover. He immediately gets back on his feet, he takes out his guns, and shoots at Patrick. After about four shoots, Patrick superspeeds back to Ironwood and swipes at him, destroying his mechanical arm, then unleashing another swipe, severely damaging the mechanical leg and wounding the flesh one.
With Ironwood incapacitated, Patrick dashes off.
Meanwhile, Mashika, giving up on her struggles, is being escorted to the detention cells by half a dozen droids. She can't let Ironwood get away with this, but she needs to find a way to escape. The guards open the door to the next hallway, but they come to a stop but a sudden surprise.
"Hello there." Clawdia says.
Seeing her surprises Mashika. "Miss Clawdia?"
"I'm a little lost, and I was hoping mew security droids can tail me where to find the prison cell to break out Pet-rick." Clawdia ends her sentence with a charming smile and innocent blinking. But the droids immediately have her at gunpoint and fire. It only took one blast to destroy Clawdia like a shattered illusion. Mashika was shocked at first, but then realized it was only one of her clones. "Yo-ho!" The droids turn to another Clawdia behind them. "I'm over here." "No, I'm over here." Another Clawdia appears on the right. "Now I'm here." Clawdia appears on the left.
The droids are left confused. What they don't realize is a pair of hands suddenly appears behind one of them, tinkering with the hardware within them. Once done and the hands vanish, the droid starts acting weird. The color of its lighting changes, and then it starts shooting at the other droids. The remaining droids focus their attention on the renegade, Peter dives in and destroys one of the droids.
Two of the remaining droids turn to Peter. They start shooting, but Earnest dashes right in and mines a shield to block the bullets. While the droids are shooting, the real Clawdia dives in between the droids and delivers lightning-strike scratches from her claw blades. In the blink of an eye, the droids fall apart into pieces.
With the droids defeated, Team CPER helps Mashika out. "Instructor, are mew all right?" Clawdia asks.
Earnest works on uncuffing Mashika. "You guys came? How did you-"
Rayla's Semblance ends and she, Marlene, and Marina are revealed. "I saw the general arrest you, and I asked Team CPER and Marlene for some assistance."
Earnest has finally undone the cuffs. "Boy, am I glad you all came. We have to stop Ironwood, he's going to kill Patrick."
Everyone is shocked to hear that. "My word, has the general lost his mind?" Marina asks.
"He certainly has bad manners." Rayla says in disapproval. Earnest speaks and Rayla translates. "'We have to stop the General, we can't let him get away with this.'"
"Earnest is right. Let us hurry." Marlene says.
They all hurried to the prison cell. By the time they arrived, they are shocked to see what has happened. The room is filled with destroyed droids, the holding cell broken down into pieces, and Ironwood, who lost most of his body, is crawling toward a wall.
It takes a moment for Mashika to collect her emotions, she steels herself and approaches Ironwood, who is starting to pull himself to a standing position. Mashika uses her lance to have Ironwood pinned against the wall, which startles the wounded general.
"What happened!?" Mashika asks.
Ironwood puts on a serious expression before he answers. "I hope you are happy. You want him to live...and now he is loose. Gone berserk. You have no idea what dangerous force that you wish to protect is unleashed." Not turning his face away from Mashika, he pushes the alarm button. The light in the room turns red and an alarm blares. Everyone's worried about the alarm going off. Mashika's expression hardens into hostile as Ironwood turns on his communicator. "This is General Ironwood. A prisoner has escaped. Target: Patrick Aki. Status: Hostile. Threat Level: 5. Orders: Do not capture." Mashika tightens her grip on her lance, and Ironwood hardens his expression towards Mashika. "Shoot to kill."
Fed up, Mashika hits Ironwood on the side of his head, knocking him out. Everyone else remains silent. There's tension in the air. Ironwood's being strict with his order, and Mashika is upset in a way no one has ever seen her before.
Mashika sheathes her lance as she walks away, passing CPER, Marina, and Marlene. "Let's go."
The alarm blares all over Atlas. Patrick is walking through the hallways, showing off a terrifying presence that coats him in a black aura and cracking the glass of each window he passes. At the end of the hallway, soldiers and droids rush in.
"There he is!" One of the soldiers says.
Several of the human soldiers are horrified by the sight of Patrick. "That's our target? ...Is he even human?"
"It doesn't matter. The General has given us our orders." The soldiers man up and start shooting. Patrick takes a couple of hits, the bullets doing no effect against him, then he melts sinking into the shadow. The soldiers hold their fire, surprised by his sudden disappearance. The only thing they see, that frightens them, is his shadow charging towards them. The shadow comes close to the shadow of one of the droids and swipes it with one of his claws. In that instant, the droid is slashed and falls apart collapsing. The sight of this frightens the soldiers. "Shoot at that...that thing. Hurry!"
The soldiers and droids start shooting at Patrick's Shadow. The bullets do nothing against it, and Patrick just swipes at each of the droids shadows he comes in contact with. Patrick is only several feet away from the human's shadows. The soldiers begin to panic. They shoot non-stop at the shadow. When taken enough hits, Patrick's Shadow comes to a halt. The soldiers hold their fire seeing the shadow halting its action, until countless shadow chains burst out of the ground and shackles each of the soldiers.
Patrick rises out from the shadows. By his command, the shadow chain forces the soldiers out of his way, and then he walks by them.
Salem watches the whole thing through Patrick's eyes. She smirks deviously as she watches the event unfold. "That's right, my child. Lead me to her. Let no one stop you."
Patrick arrives at a sealed wall. He conjures an orb of combust magic and blasts the door open. Behind that door, he is greeted by countless droids and soldiers. Patrick sneers and lets out a soft growl. He summons Shadow Claws, and with a roar, he charges toward his enemies and unleashes the first swipe.
In that instant, Selena awakes in shock. In her wake, she takes a moment to be aware of her surroundings. She sees Akira in the bed next to her, the heart monitor still at a slow pace. But what alerts Selena most is the deafening sound of the alarm blaring. Wondering what is going on, Selena opens her Scroll. Much to her surprise, she's received dozens of messages from everyone.
"Mashika's in trouble."
"Ironwood's going to kill Patrick."
"We have to stop the General."
"Selena, if you're awake, please answer."
"Patrick has gone berserk."
"We have to find him before the General does."
"Where are you, Selena? We'll need your help!"
Reading the part about Patrick going berserk frightens her. Images of his frightening Grimm side replay in her mind. All ended when Akira took the blow that was meant for her. The scroll shakes as the cold dread of fear takes over the young idol. Her friends need her, but she knows how powerful and terrifying Patrick is in his rage form. And to top it off, she can't leave Akira here alone. Not with the doctors threatening to pull the plug on her.
What can she do?
Winter Schnee is out in the courtyard with a full arsenal of droids and soldiers. All ready and waiting for the battle before them. The air is silent, full of tension. Just even the sound of a pin dropping is enough to make everyone jump.
The doors burst open, and it startles all the soldiers ready to shoot but hesitates the second they noticed it wasn't Patrick but somebody else.
"Hold your fire!" Mashika shouts.
Winter is surprised to see Mashika. "Mashika?" Mashika and her friends approach Winter. "But...You're supposed to be under arrest."
"Well, my imprisonment was delayed. But we don't have time to worry about it." Mashika says. "Winter. I must as you and your soldiers to stand down."
"Are you insane? What do you expect to do against this monster?" Winter asks.
"He's no monster. He's...well, he's kind of a monster but I know him. Let me reason with him." Mashika says.
"That's your plan? Reason? He's a Grimm!" Winter says.
Marlene stands in between Mashika and Winter. "Instructor, Patrick is my friend and leader, and I agree using forceful means is brutal, but Winter may have a point about reasoning with him."
Mashika and Winter turn their glares at Marlene. "Stay out of this." They say in unison. Marlene steps back as Mashika and Winter return their glares at each other. "The General has given me his orders, and I'll do what I must to carry them out."
Mashika draws out her lance. "And I'll do what I must to stop Ironwoord."
Winter and Mashika have a stare-down, their weapons drawn, waiting for the other one to make a move. It lasts a while minute, and it becomes easily interrupted by the sound of an explosion. Everyone turns their attention to Atlas Academy. Coming out of the smoke is Patrick, letting out heavy growling breaths. He stands on the top of the stairs, looking down at the countless army before him.
Team CPER is all in shock at the sight of Patrick. "Th-Th...That's Patrick?" Peter asks.
"My word." Rayla says.
Earnest speaks, but his hands are shaking too hard for Rayla to understand.
Mashika turns to Winter. "At least let me try."
Patrick glares down at the Atlesian Army, each of them having him at gunpoint. 'They all stand in your way. Are you gonna let them stop you from reclaiming your sister?' Patrick responds with a growl and starts channeling powerful magic through his body. 'Do it.'
Patrick raises his claws, forming his power to unleash it all, until... "Patrick!" Patrick glares at Mashika, his power slowly but slightly depleting from the hesitation. "Don't do this. This isn't you, it's that voice in your head!" Mashika shouting about the voice has everyone, even Winter, muttering in confusion. "Please, you must calm yourself, Love. Do not lose yourself to Anger!"
'Why should you trust her? She always stood in your way, didn't she?' Patrick just stares at the begging Mashika. 'You desired to avenge your sister, yet she wanted you to forget it. Show her how you truly feel.'
Patrick lets out a roar as he unleashes a blast of dark magic at Mashika. Mashika quickly blocks it with her lance but the power still overwhelms her. "Instructor!" Marlene rushes to Mashika's side.
Seeing the result of Mashika's choice, Winter makes her own. "All units! Open fire!"
All of the soldiers fire at Patrick. Patrick uses his superspeed to make his way through the ballets unharmed. He starts swiping his claws on each droid or human he comes close to. Once and a while, Patrick starts unleashing a devastating blow of magic to knock out a large amount of them within the area. Winter starts resourcing into using her Glyphs to keep Patrick contained. The second that she does, Patrick summons Shadow Chains to subdue her.
Salem watches the fight unfold. She sees he's making his way through the army but not fast enough. She then whispers to the orb. "The army will stop at nothing to destroy you."
Patrick drills his claw into the droid's power core and rips it out before suddenly stopping to listen to Salem's voice. 'Allow me to assist you.'
Patrick groans and growls as his body twitches and bends, bones cracking, as Salem begins empowering up. Patrick lets out a loud roar as he suddenly grows Nevermoore Wings. Seeing this stuns and shocks everyone. Patrick takes flight several feet into the air. He begins charging up powerful energy within his mouth. Everyone is confused and astonished at what he is doing, and once Patrick is done charging, he unleashes a destructive power of energy from his breath, raining down on the army before him.
Several of the soldier armies get caught in the blast, but more are wiped out from the explosion afterward. Patrick drifts his breath throw the row, defeating any soldiers in the way or caught in the explosion. Once his attack ends, Patrick lands on the ground, mindlessly gazing at the sight of the destruction he has unleashed. Bodies everywhere, flames burning.
'Good work, my child. Now, go and claim your prize.'
Patrick spreads his wings and takes flight, but he is halted. Patrick growls as he looks down at the source. Rayla has her wires entangled on one of his legs, and she is trying to hold him back. And Peter is holding onto her for the extra weight.
Patrick roars with rage as he dives down upon them. He summons Shadow Claws, ready to strike. Just as he's about to reach them, Earnest slams an invisible heavy mace against Patrick, knocking him back until he crashes onto the academy stairs. Patrick softly growls as he begins to get back on his feet. Team CPER and Marlene stand against Patrick, weapons out and ready to attack.
"We are not letting mew get away, Pet-rick!" Clawdia says fiercely.
Patrick growls as he digs his claw in the ground. 'You heard her. You know what to do. Crush them.'
Patrick lets out a roar before sinking himself into the shadows. Patrick's shadow starts rushing toward them. Marlene catches on to what's going to happen the second he's heading toward Clawdia. "Look out!" Marlene pushes Clawdia on the way, just before Patrick's Shadow attacks Clawdia's shadow. "Don't let him touch your shadows! Whatever he does to them will happen to you."
Patrick's Shadow chases after everyone, and each of them does their best to avoid getting hit by their shadows. Earnest mimes a Minigun and starts shooting right at Patrick's Shadow. Patrick's Shadow starts heading toward Earnest. About halfway through, Patrick jumps out of the shadows, leaping towards him. Earnest then mimes a wall, and Patrick's attack hits it, only resulting in Earnest sliding back several feet.
Marlene aims her pistols at Patrick, firing Ice Dust Bullets. The bullets encase both of Patrick's feet and his right claw in ice. Angered, Patrick fires an orb of combust magic at her. Marlene dodges out of the way but still gets caught in the blast radius. Patrick's about to fire another one, but Rayla coils her wires on him, snaring him in place. Patrick attempts to break free, only to have Mashika hold him still by pinning him against her with her spear.
"Patrick! Calm down! It's us, your friends!" Mashika says, though her words aren't doing any good in calming him. "We don't want to hurt you, we just want to help." Patrick struggles to try and break free. He then spreads shadow all over the ground, extending. Whenever the shadowed ground reaches someone, they become shackled in Shadow Chains and pull down. Rayla loses his grip and her wires release Patrick.
Patrick gets a firm grip on Mashika. He tosses her over him. When she's on the ground, he grabs her by the face, repeatedly slamming her hard. Mashika's Aura flickers and fades in the end. Patrick then has her pinned down, a claw on her throat. And the other one charged with dark magic.
Mashika closes her eyes as she struggles to breathe, and tries to loosen Patrick's grip before the impending doom comes for her. Nothing happens, and Mashika doesn't even notice anything, until something wet drips on her face. Then again. then again a little longer later.
Mashika opens her eyes. Once she gets a clear look, her expression softens. Patrick is glaring down at her, burning red eyes, sharp teeth grinning, aggressively growling. Pretty much the same, except for one thing: Tears.
Tears are escaping from his eyes, sliding down his cheeks, and dripping off his face onto Mashika's. Mashika turns to Patrick's hand. It's charged up with magic, yet he doesn't unleash it upon her. More to that, she notices his hand mildly shaking.
Mashika now understands. And she shows it by slowly raising her hand, placing it on Patrick's cheek.
Their moment shortly comes to an end when ice shards impale Patrick from behind, and he lets out an agonizing roar. Patrick turns to see Winter summon several glyphs and use them to fire the ice shards. Patrick then lets out a breath of destructive energy that destroys the ice shards on the way. The blast reaches to Winter, who pins her sword to the ground to activate a Hardlight barrier.
Winter struggles to keep her barrier up, and Patrick shows no sign of ending his attack. Instead, it comes interrupted by a blast of fire. Everyone turns in the direction where the blast came from. To their surprise, it was Selena, holding out her staff indicating she shot that blast.
"Selena!" Marlene says, excited.
Patrick lets out a roar as he charges toward Selena on all fours. Selena adjusts her staff, opening two additional heads. She loads them with a Gravity Dust Crystal and an Earth Dust Crystal. With a twirl, Selena slams her staff to the ground, unleashing a shockwave that knocks Patrick back. She then switches the two crystals with Wind Dust Crystals. Selena channels the power from her staff, the fire, and the winds transforming into electricity, and then she shoots a lightning bolt at Patrick.
The electricity took a heavy hit on Patrick, at least compared to every other attack he took with no problem. After a moment of recovery, Patrick becomes aware of his surroundings. Everyone, Team CPER, Winter, Mashika, Selena, and Marlene, have him surrounded.
Patrick tries to find a means of escape. When he can't, he sinks into the shadows and rushes towards Winter. He swipes her shadow, injuring Winter, and rushes past her. At a far enough distance, he leaps out of the shadows, spreading his wings and fleeing.
Mashika, Selena, and Marlene try chasing after him on foot, but by the edge of the courtyard, Patrick is already long gone.
Selena and Marlene are disappointed in this defeat. But Mashika keeps staring over the horizon. "Patrick. Just hang on. I will find you...And I'll free you from this evil."
The next day, the military is still recovering from the attack. General Ironwood is in his office. His mechanical arm and Leg are repaired, but his human leg is in a cast. Ironwood is having a conversation with Ozpin and Qrow on video chat.
"He escaped, and he has gone berserk. Under her control." Ironwood says.
"This is a dire situation indeed, Oz." Qrow says. "Given the direction he was heading, it's most likely he's heading towards Beacon. For Amber."
"I'm aware of what Salem is plotting." Ozpin says.
"This is exactly the kind of thing I was worried that would happen. If you had just listened to me in the first place..."
Ironwood's conversation is cut short by the sound of doors bursting open. Mashika, Selena, and Marlene are storming into his office. "General Ironwood! I know you are plotting to destroy, Patrick. But I demand that you cease these actions and..." Mashika takes notice of Ozpin and Qrow on video. "Qrow? Headmaster Ozpin?"
Ironwood puts on a serious face as he turns to Ozpin. "These are the ones who interfered with my mission, Oz. Your students and instructor."
Mashika shakes off the surprise of Qrow and Ozpin and approaches Ironwood. "Look, you may think Patrick has turned bad, but it's not his fault. It's this voice he's hearing in his head. I don't know what it is but he's not himself because of it!" Ironwood shows a worried expression. He turns his attention to Qrow and Ozpin, all exchanging looks. Mashika catches onto what they're doing. "What is it?"
Ozpin offers a nod. And just like that, Ironwood sits back on his desk. "There are...some things you need to know about. Starting with this 'voice' you heard of." Ironwood says.
Mashika, Selena, and Marlene are left in confusion upon hearing this. Little do they know they are about to learn something unbelievable.