Ch. 62 Judgement
As Qrow stared ahead he regretted many things, but chief among them was that he didn't tell the boy and the redhead to split from them and search for a faster route. The thought crossed his mind back at the split in the road. He saw the recognition when the two read the crossed out sign. He thought they would be safer travelling with the group… and like many times before luck shafted him for no reason.
The Nuckelavee stood before the weakened Qrow. The humanoid face of the beast seemed to laugh at his plight while the equine looked at him with eyes of allconsuming hunger. Qrow held onto Harbinger with his uninjured arm. For all his efforts he was not able to get the mechashift to work, the gears locked in place by the viscera of the scorpion tail.
So Qrow stood with a sword in hand, weak from the poison seeping into his body and soul from beyond the tourniquet, and with four teenagers that were not ready to fight the beast mocking him.
The first few strikes were swift and decisive. They had the numbers advantage, sure, but the kids were not on par with the Nuckelavee's strength and agility. Yang, who was so used to relying on her semblance, took the first hit dead on, hoping to deal the damage back. Instead the stretchy arm of the Nuckelavee took hold of her and swung her through a wall, pinning her to the rubble.
Nora wasn't much better, she all but abandoned her primary weapon and charged with the spear. The horse-like body of the Grimm was large but by no means was it slow, so as Nora charged at its legs it stepped around her attack before kicking her away.
The Pyrrha was the only one with any reason in that situation in that she attempted to stay at range. Attempted being the key word. The Grimm slung the other arm at her and she nearly rolled out of the way, only to be caught by the ankle and ripped her away from her rifle. It launched the gladiator girl with ease and turned its attention to the strongest source of negative emotion of the five.
Ren was mad with hate, grief, and fear. To his credit he was the only one of the teens that managed to land a blow, but it was glancing at best, his weapons ill suited for such a large creature. The horse-like monster knocked him away with its equine head, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Qrow tried to deal with the Grimm, but his muscles barely listened to him. He could barely walk and had to push himself to fight. His blows to the Creature were glancing at best and while he managed to stay out of the way of its attacks, it wouldn't be long before he too would get struck down.
The Grimm's screech of pain took Qrow by surprise. Though perhaps it shouldn't have. Yang, as untrained as she was with magic, was really good at a few things, fire was always one of them. The damaged arm of the Grimm pulled back like a stretched rubber band to get away from the little inferno that was the young woman with the legacy of a Fall Maiden.
A similar, yet different sight unravelled on the other side of the battlefield as Nora Valkyrie let go of any remaining bits of reason. The static charge was palpable as the hair on the back of Qrow's neck stood up. Before the Grimm beast could put its full attention on the redhead, the other one struck it with her shield, the sharp edge nearly cracking the equine skull.
The crack of thunder was deafening and the Nuckelavee stood still for a moment. Charred and clearly injured, its bone protrusions cracked and crumbling, but still standing. The humanoid face of the creature relaxed and faced the sky. It released a shrill sound akin to a mocking laughter.
As Nora tried to pull more power from the dust infused metal to finish the job she was struck with a horrifying realisation; she had burned through all the remaining dust in the spear.
While she stood still in horror, the Grimm capitalised and feasted on her fear. A kick to the chest from the faux horse hoof was enough to knock the air out of her lungs and knock her unconscious.
Qrow tried to stand up to it, but he could do little else but parry the blows of the vicious monster. He was tired and the battle got the blood and poison pumping through his veins.
Yang went to burn it further, but before her fire-covered fist connected its blow, the Nucklavee swung its whole upper body, knocking her to the side before she could reach its legs.
When Yang hit the ground a second time and her Aura flickered out, Qrow was struck with a recollection of Amber the last time he saw her conscious, screaming in pain as her very soul was rendered in twain. That proved to be a fatal lapse of judgement as the horse head swung full force intent on crushing him. Qrow managed to just barely lift Harbinger, saving himself from certain death in his weakened state, yet was still knocked onto the ground.
The last thing Qrow saw was the Grimm beast scream out in surprise and pain as a beacon of fury and hate suddenly appeared beneath its feet as Ren armed with Magnhild swung the hammer at its kneecap.
The teen boy that was normally so calm could no longer hide the emotions with his semblance, but once was enough to land a crippling blow to the creature. And blow after blow the Grimm screamed even as it fed on the young man's deepest fears. It was not enough to save it however. At last its humanoid head hit the pavement of the ruined Kuroyuri only to be crushed with an overhead swing of Magnhild.
=O=O=O=
Jaune was distracted. At first the distraction could be attributed to the research Ruby showed him so excitedly just hours earlier. As the droning deposition went on, Jaune could no longer ignore the obvious.
His dream, the tribunal the Staff had shown him, was being reflected today. Not in any detail, far from it in fact, but the question remained, was it a coincidence or design that the dream coincided with today's events.
The court started with the obvious suspects. Blackwood even publicly acknowledged that Jaune likely saved her life by preventing her from completing Airgiod's orders. Airgiod was charged with circumventing the chain of command as Specialist Schnee was given full autonomy over the operation, something Airgiod was aware of and chose to ignore in order to complete the orders he received. Further he was charged with several charges of endangering the troops under his command unnecessarily through willfully ignoring the critical information provided by the local guide.
Quite a few more names were brought up before the stage but Jaune's mind was focussed elsewhere. Namely the weapons in the room. The armed guards obviously had the most obvious ones but there were so many covertly hidden ones that Jaune had to wonder whether there was any meaning to the patdown they received on entering.
Eventually Jeremiah Holzkohle was brought before the judges, cuffs on his hands, but standing straight.
"Are you Jeremiah Holzkohle?"
"Yes, that is me." Jeremy replied, calmer than Jaune expected him to be.
"Are you aware why you're here today?"
"Because someone in my department had something to do with the Forever Fall incident."
It seemed to Jaune that Jeremy knew what to expect to a certain degree.
"That is both true and not entirely accurate. The trail in fact points to you."
That took the defendant out of his comfort a little, apparently he didn't have all the details necessary to stay calm in this situation.
"Well I didn't do it. I had nothing to do with falsifying orders." He spoke with a steady and clear voice but the sense of urgency colouring it was undeniable.
"And this court has reason to believe you're telling the truth. Though perhaps there is something you may be able to enlighten us on."
"Yes?" he replied questioningly.
"Do you know the whereabouts of your father Charles Holzkohle?"
Jaune stiffened a little at the question as it implied both that Chief Holzkohle had something to do with the case and that they didn't manage to arrest him. Jeremiah froze for a second before likely coming to a similar conclusion.
"No… well, not with much certainty. I know he's probably either in Mantle or Atlas. I know that he has been visiting some workshop in Mantle for a while now and that the frequency of his visits has increased in the past few days, perhaps a week."
"Do you know where exactly this workshop is?"
The question was eager as it seemed the court would get something useful out of Jeremiah after all, but they were met with disappointment when Jeremiah replied in the negative.
"No, somewhere in Mantle is about as specific as I'm able to get." Jeremiah himself was almost as disappointed as the court was at his inability to provide more accurate information and it occurred to Jaune that perhaps there was a reason he was so eager to help in the pursuit of his father.
"And are you aware what it was that your father was doing during his visits?"
"He told me it has something to do with our family semblance and that he was close to a breakthrough." Jeremiah gritted out, his composure finally cracking.
"Can you describe your family semblance for the record?"
His eyes almost lit up at the question as he launched into an explanation.
"Certainly. As some of you may be aware, the Holzkohle family is a branch family of the Schnees and our semblance is partially related to theirs. While Schnees are able to manifest glyphs and manipulate and amplify dust with them, the Holzkohle branch takes the form of gears and complex clockwork mechanisms. While unable to interact with the esoteric qualities of dust the gears are capable of exerting and amplifying kinetic force and angular momentum."
"And do you have any inclination on what Charles Holzkohle is trying to achieve?"
"Well it would either be the capability of working with dust or something to expand raw power and reach. As to how, I've no idea."
Almost on cue a red alert box covered all the screens in the courtroom. Jaune could feel it too, a weapon, a large construct of some kind was rapidly approaching, traversing the outside of the room.
And then as suddenly as it came, it was gone. The alerts have gone amber and Jaune nearly lost the feeling he had for the weapon that was there a moment ago. But he could still feel it, as faint as it was right now.
When Chief Charles Holzkohle entered by breaking through a skylight, very few guards were surprised and Jaune took a moment to murmur several choice words as he handed Ruby her Rosa and donned as much armour as his semblance allowed right now.
Chief Holzkohle's entrance was as dramatic as one could get. The trench coat of his uniform covered his shoulders and the empty sleeves flapped in the air as he descended from the ceiling window. He apparently showed no concern for the guns trailed at him and faced the judges and his son.
"It would seem the cat is out of the bag. I'll apologise for listening in today, but perhaps you'll find solace in the fact that you don't need to hunt me down today. I may not see eye to eye with my son on some things but I'd rather he be given one more choice before we truly part ways. Well Jeremiah? What do you say? Will you join my cause?"
"No…" Jeremy grit out
"Why! Do you not see the vision? We could be above the common man, and not just us, the people of Atlas could be so much more!"
Jaune was just as on edge as everyone else, perhaps more so given his dreams, but there was something bothering him. He ignored the speech for the most part as there was another thing he felt the need to focus on. Holzkohle's arm… it was fuzzy to Jaune's senses, as if it was just on the cusp of being a weapon.
"Forget your stupid vision! I'll never stoop so low as to rend my muscle and bone away just to replace them with metal!"
"Ah but it is a hallmark of great men to replace weakness with steel. Wouldn't you agree James?" Charles turned to face the General and for the first time Jaune could see what was bothering him so much. Underneath the coat was a uniform splattered with blood, the dress shirt's sleeve shredded and just where the bicep should be was a blood covered metal socket, and a mechanical prosthesis seeped in red. It seemed that the augmentation was a recent addition, so recent in fact that the fresh wound beneath the socket reopened itself under whatever strain caused this mess.
The man himself had a crazy look in his eyes, though few even saw it, as they focused on the blood. Then he saw them and locked eyes with Ruby.
"Ah, you… the reason for this mess."
He took surprisingly steady steps towards them even as both aimed guns at his head.
"I cannot do anything but apologise for the unpleasant business that brought us here today. It was for the sake of my people, for the people of Atlas to be able to stand above the common man. You were merely collateral… And yet it was you who brought me the answer." Holzkohle spoke with conviction in his voice.
Jaune's heart nearly stopped as he saw the glowing script on the outstretched bloody arm, its robust gears turning slowly as if idling.
Charles lifted his arm, and despite several gunshots from all around the room, Ruby and Jaune included, he stood unbothered. The obsidian gears with a gold trim that all connected to his arm once more formed a construct around Chief Holzkohle. Jaune's mind practically screamed at him. That was a weapon through and through and Jaune had unknowingly helped bring it to life.
"Do you see, Jeremiah? This is the power beyond mortal men! With this we could push back the Grimm, conquer the kingdoms and rule! We could be beyond human, we all could be! Don't you see it James? We could bring Atlas to a new golden age!"
Jeremiah remained silent as did General Ironwood. The same could not be said for the rest of the people present. Jaune was ready to summon Testae Cordis to his side to battle against the man who ordered their death, while Ruby held Lunatum Cor Rosae, trained at the madman yet frozen. It was one thing to think you were fine with shooting to kill another to do it, even if it failed.
Murmurs of agreement and disagreement filled the air as Jeremiah finally moved to action. He walked forward with measured steps summoning his own semblance into existence. The gears reflected the colour of his eyes, a pure obsidian in contrast to the speck of gold in his father's. He used his semblance to pick the lock of his cuffs as he walked towards his father.
Charles smiled at him as a part of the construct vanished to allow his son to approach.
Jeremiah had a determined look on his face as he approached, his steps getting faster until it turned into a reckless charge. He screamed a cry of a desperate man as he strained his semblance full force.
Gears ground to a halt as Jeremiah's attack left the construct paralysed. Charles looked at his son, sorrow at the betrayal in his heart. Before almost anyone could move, General Ironwood jumped from where he was previously sitting and with surprising swiftness slipped into the heart of the clockwork construct. The madman held in place by his son's semblance could do little more than watch James pressing a gun beneath his chin.
"I'm not steel by choice." was the last thing that could be heard before the black revolver in Ironwood's hand barked out a sound characteristic to gravity dust rounds.
Jaune silently cursed as Ruby let go of her weapon and buried her head into Jaune's hug, trying desperately to wipe the scene from her mind.
=O=O=O=
When Qrow opened his eyes he was struck with a headache that rivalled the worst of his hangovers. He was in Mistral that much he was sure of from the surrounding architecture. His memories were muddled and he remembered some of the fight with the Nuckelavee, but not how it ended.
As he looked over to his bedside table he found a note from Yang stuck to his scroll.
If you wake up, call me, the rest of us went out.
-Yang
Qrow groaned as he collapsed back to bed, now with a scroll in hand before he could call Yang a brand new message popped up on the screen. Now that Qrow was back in a Kingdom with a working CCT some messages were expected, though he didn't expect this one.
From The Cookie Monster (Ruby):
I need to talk to you. I'm in Atlas and Ironwood spilled the beans. It's about the fairy tales.
Qrow closed his eyes and contemplated going to a bar before letting the kids know he's awake, unfortunately for him the sound of the front door opening meant he had to face the noise now.
=O=O=O=
Authors note:
A little timeskip happened during this chapter with what I like to call the Qrow gang, so just for clarity sake though I believe it wasn't hard to guess, Qrow received a message from Ruby on the day of the court. Also I believe Qrows personal scroll would have nicknames for pretty much anyone.
As for the Holzkohle confrontation, the battle may be over and I admit the confrontation came a little out of nowhere, but that isn't the point of it as you'll see in the future chapters. Charles might be dead, but his ideology is alive and will ripple out... hopefully, I have a rough outline of that but I've not written it yet.
Personal life wise, good things. And that's about all I'll talk of that right now.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 63 My flesh and blood