Chapter 4: Heading Out
The group made their way back over to the command tent where the Happy Huntresses were operating. Jaune had a handful of ideas rolling about in his head, but they needed to actually get up to Atlas first.
Jaune deduced that if Ruby and the other's hadn't come back to the crater before the broadcast, that they were still somewhere up in Atlas. That made things both more difficult and easier. Up in Atlas there were only a few places they could hide from Ironwood's men, but he and Team JOKR would have to try and sneak past said men.
He opened the flap to the tent and allowed the team from Morioh to enter. Still inside the tent were Fiona and Joanna, the pair looking at the group expectantly.
"Listen you guys, we have an idea, a way to save everyone down here. Remember Rohan's semblance? What if we could get up to Atlas and change Ironwood's mind? Then we could get the bullheads down here, get everyone to safety! This place is basically a staging ground already. We just need to find a way of there first and-"
"Get yourselves captured, or killed," Joanna interrupted. "Even if you found a working bullhead out there, you'd probably be spotted by an Atlas ship or some grimm. And that's if you even know how to pilot one. That's on top of all the other potential problems and death traps. Besides, even if you did somehow reach Ironwood and use that semblance, there's no guarantee that the rest of the Atlas military would listen. To him, especially if they find out he's under the influence of a semblance."
"That's all true," Jaune conceded to himself. But he knew he's faced down long odds before. And heck, even if they couldn't reach Ironwood, they could at least regroup with Ruby and the others, tell them about what had happened to Oscar, the hound grimm, and of course Team JOKR. Then they could make a plan together.
Before he could reply to Joanna however, Josuke had beaten him to the punch. The pompadour teen had stepped forward.
"Listen lady, I know you doubt us, but hear me out. I may not look like it, but I've had to deal with some pretty shitty situations before. I've fought assholes that could make things explode by simply touching them. I fought a guy who could travel through electricity with his semblance. We may look it, but we aren't newbies. We have a chance to help all those people out there, a small one sure, but a chance nonetheless. We should at least try!"
Silence. Joanna looked at him for a moment, an unreadable expression adorning her face. She looked down and gave out a dry chuckle. So dry in fact Jaune thought it was a cough.
"Gods you really are confident in yourselves. Confident to a truly stupid degree. Fine. I'm not your mom you guys can do whatever you want, but don't come back to haunt me when you inevitably get fucked up. Got it?"
With that the huntress stomped past the group and headed outside, leaving them alone with Fiona. The woman looked at the group with a little apprehension before taking a deep sigh.
"Look I'll be honest. I don't like this either. Joanna is right, it's too dangerous. If you want to go and do this I won't stop you either, but you'd likely be thrown into a deadly situation you can't get out of."
Fiona turned her attention back to the console as Josuke turned around and gave Jaune a big thumb's up. They had succeeded in, at the very least, getting the Happy Huntresses to not stop them.
"Now what?" Jaune thought. They still needed to find a working bullhead to try and head up to Atlas. Their best best way to try and look for some at the Mantle airport. And there'd likely be one or two outside of Mantle given the circumstances. It would also be very dangerous however. Even the airport wouldn't be that safe. With its location being in the same direction of Salem's horde, and with Ironwood no doubt watching it in case someone tried to use something there to get up to Atlas. It certainly wouldn't be easy regardless.
Then there was the fact that none of them knew how to fly such a craft. Jaune reasoned he could probably get the autopilot working at least. Getting the autopilot working would be useless however, if they couldn't even get a broken one working. With this thought Jaune turned to Josuke.
"Hey your semblance, can it fix a bullhead?"
The pompadour teen put a hand up to his chin for a moment. "Well it should yeah. But these bullheads sound like big vehicles. I've never really done anything super big before outside of people and some appliances. I guess we'd have to see how that goes, we should be fine though."
That was good enough for the blonde. With that the group headed off back out of the tent and into the crater. As they looked up they noticed the continuously darkening sky. They froze up as they saw out in the distance, the grimm horde.
The black and violet clouds spread unnaturally quickly, the groans and gasps of something within them could be heard even here. Black specks, like indiscernible flies, streaked in and out of the clouds.
Salem, the grimm. They were almost upon them. Who knew if Atlas could even hold out against her onslaught. But one thing was clear, they needed to get to Atlas before she did.
"Come on guys. We don't have much time. There might be some bullheads at the Mantle airport. We should try there first."
The group hesitated for a moment before seemingly resigning themselves. As they followed Jaune out from the crater and back into the city. They inched closer and closer to the monstrous horde. Nearing where they had parked the bike, Jaune noticed that none of the others were with him. He turned around and saw Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi, and Rohan standing a few paces away.
"Guys what's wrong?" Jaune asked, only to mentally slap himself. It should have been obvious to him earlier. Maybe the four of them were just good at hiding it. They were nervous, even a little afraid.
"What's wrong?!" Rohan began. Pointing up to the storm clouds the monstrous sounds from within getting ever-closer. "This whole place is wrong! It's a nightmare, an apocalypse made reality! The stuff you would only find in fiction is here with us now! Maybe you and everyone else here have gotten used to it, somehow. But we aren't from here! Less than a day ago we were living normal lives! Bizarre sometimes, yes, but for the most part normal."
Jaune could sympathize a little. A year ago he probably would have reacted the same if he had been dumped here and now.
"Normal. Believe me I'd love for things to go back to normal, even my normal. Classes with my friends. Hanging out with Nora, Ren, and Pyr-... The point is, despite all the horrible stuff that's happened to this world, I'm still here to fight for it. My friends are here and are willing to fight for this place. I know you guys will fight for it too, you've proven that to me already. I know things are bleak right now, but if we want to survive this we need to keep moving. We'll find a way out of here I promise."
The group still looked uncertain, but once again Josuke took the lead. Giving a confidant nod, he walked up to Jaune.
"Alright, let's go guys. He's right, we need to get back home. And the best way to do that is to continue with all of this. Even if this is pretty batshit, refusing to go on will mean we'll never get home."
Jaune smiled. Josuke was a natural leader, he and the others could have been great huntsmen if they had the profession back at their home. Better than he was at the start, that was for sure.
The other Stand users looked at each other for a moment before catching up with Jaune and Josuke. Jauen guessed Josuke's belief in them and their abilities was enough for them to keep going for now.
"Hey I'm sorry about that. It's just, it's nerve wracking. All of this is."
"I know, and it's alright. I'd be more concerned if you guys were totally fine with all of this. We really have just been heading in and out of danger all day. Mantle is actually not that bad of a place when an army of grimm isn't bearing down on it."
The five of them reached the bike and it was quickly decided that they would use The Hand in conjunction with the bike again to help speed things along. As they all climbed aboard and Jaune started the engine, he took one last look at the darkening sky.
He saw something peek out from the clouds. Large and bulbous, with what looked like lightning shooting about. It pushed further and further out of the clouds till he and the others could see it clearly.
A massive flying whale. A grimm so large that even Jaune couldn't believe it. It slowly floated across the sky, bringing the storm with it. It groaned and gasped like it was in pain, all the while making its way towards Atlas.
If they were going to get up to Atlas, they needed to do it right away. Jaune put his foot on the accelerator and with The Hand's help, the bike shot up from the crater and into the city.
Short chapter I know but it's Christmas time and my family is coming together. Meaning I haven't been able to keep up with this month's chapter. No worries however I should be back to the normal chapter length in January. Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone and I'll see you all in 2024.