Mòrag sighed as she heard the doorbell ring through the Mantlen home. Relenting that she had had enough time in the bath, she stood, pulled on her pants and did her hair up in a bun, slid on the black button up shirt and jacket over it, opening the bathroom door, she walked down the hall and said, "Hello, Winter, before you even ask, the answer is still no."
"General Ironwood ordered me to ask anyways, so I have to, will you join DriveOps?" Winter said, chuckling slightly as she offered Morag a cup of hot chocolate.
"No," Mòrag said.
"Weren't you part of your military on Alrest, though?" Winter asked, sitting across from Mòrag.
"Exactly, my loyalty lies with Mor Ardain, and, if it's no longer there, to my friends. Tora and I are only staying long enough to make enough money to buy tickets to Vale so we may reunite with Ruby."
Winter drank her coffee, clearly in thought, before saying "I might be able to help you with that…"
"Go on," Morag said, raising an eyebrow.
"Project P.E.N.N.Y has shifted due to Poppi lending access to herself for the project. Doctor Pollendina thinks that within the next month, he can get a functional Ether Furnace working. Making P.E.N.N.Y an-"
"Artificial Blade," Mòrag finished, "You're playing dangerous games, Winter…"
"Professor Pollendina's contract was clear. He would have a functional limitless budget in return for the most advanced prototype he could give us, even if it took decades to recreate. It'll take even longer to have Artificial Drivers anywhere near the skill level of a natural one. Anyways, I put forth Weiss as P.E.N.N.Y's Driver, and General Ironwood has agreed, of course, that such an important asset needs an escort. And while officially I am going to be enough, I doubt General Ironwood would protest if the two most experienced Drivers in Solitas came along."
Before Mòrag could respond, both her and Winter's Scrolls went off with the sound of an early Grimm warning. Winter expanded hers, which had more (read:any) military data than Mòrag's, to show about fifty red dots rapidly approaching Mantle's left side, about six blocks away.
"Brighid!" Mòrag called, her faithful Jewel appearing out of her bedroom, "Grimm, we're going to go deal with them. Aegaeon will meet up with us."
"Newt!" Winter said into her Scroll.
"Already on the way, Specialist!" Newt said, "Permission to recall my Blade?"
"For the time being," Winter said, Mòrag watching as the chroma katana vanished from her hip and she drew her saber.
—
Winter wasn't so proud as to refuse to admit, in her mind at least, that she looked up to Mòrag. It was hard not to, when she was everything Winter wanted to be. Former right hand of the leader of a nation, seemingly unflappable no matter the circumstances and, as something new, a better Driver than her.
Winter was getting used to Newt, both as a person and a weapon faster than anyone in DriveOps, but compared to Mòrag, she couldn't help feeling like an amateur.
In the time it took Winter to impale one Sabyr on her blade, Mòrag had split her blades into a whip form, whirling to pick up momentum before slashing through two Sabyrs and then, with seemingly the barest of effort, flicked her arms and changed the momentum to sheer the wings of a Manticore off, easily sidestepping the fireball before closing the distance and impaling the Manticore on Brighid's blade.
Not to be outdone, Winter cut down two more Sabyrs as they reached Newt, who was cleaving apart Grimm, back to back, with Aegaeon. jumping from glyph to glyph, Winter couldn't help but think- this was definitely more than fifty Grimm.
"Specialist!" Newt called, tossing her the Blade. The massive blade shrunk until it was barely a katana and more a wakizashi. Winter caught it in a backhand grip, spinning over another Manticore, glyphs lighting up along her saber before she slashed into it, leaving a wound covered in frost. Finishing the spin, Winter drove the flaming sword through the same wound, melting the ice and causing it to boil. The Manticore roared before turning its head to glare at Winter, firing a fireball at her. Winter sheathed Newt's Blade, just for a second, before drawing it fast and splitting the flaming blast in two. Before she could finish it off, a giant stone axe slammed into its head, slamming it into the ground and letting it decay. Seconds later, Donovan landed and drew his Blade, Yama, from the ground. Off to the side Lilac landed with her Blade Yura, and on the other Ishikawa landed with his Blade Gomen.
Still in the air, Winter flipped Newt's Blade into a front grip, coming down to bisect an Ursa about to hit Donovan, who was laying his ax against his shoulders with a grin.
"Eyes up! This isn't a drill, there's no time to be posing!" Winter reproached, turning as they heard a noise from the distance. Coming down the hill into Mantle were ten more Sabyrs, a Megalith, and a flock of Teryxes charging right for them. Before she could give an order one Teryxes flew down and snatched Lilac by the arms, leaving her struggling as they climbed higher and higher until.
Splat.
It dropped her from on high, her Aura, meager as it was to begin with, couldn't handle, shattering it and leaving her lying in the path of the Megalith, which promptly crushed her underfoot, Yuri having just enough time to gasp in horror before returning to her now dim Core Crystal. Winter tightened her grip on her weapons.
And then was reminded that Ishikawa had a teleportation Semblance, beating her to the punch as the middle aged man drew Gomen from its sheath, both of his red eyes open and blazing with rage. The Teryxes was split in two horizontally. Before Ishikawa teleported out of the way of two swooping ones. Appearing above, he decapitated them both before teleporting to the ground.
—
Ishikawa Kanji had an advantage his compatriots didn't, and he knew it would make all the difference in this fight. Unlike all the fighters except Commander Schnee, he had been an experienced Huntsman before joining DriveOps. One who's entire team had broken in the wake of exiting Atlas Academy. Some joined the, at the time, burgeoning Specialist Program, some moved to greener, and warmer, pastures, and another had died. But he had stayed home at Mantle, wanting to protect his hometown.
Even now, Ishikawa and Gomen had agreed they would only be part of DriveOps for a maximum of two years before returning to guardianship of Mantle.
And he could feel Gomen thought that was the right decision, which he was in agreement with. Awakening Gomen had shown he had an aptitude for Blades, but Ishikawa didn't think it would ever be as good as those two's.
The Commander had thrust her Blade in the air, making a flock of flaming Teryxes to distract the ones in the sky, meanwhile, she used her saber to cut down any Sabyrs that got too close. The other woman was efficiency in motion, swapping between her two Blades without missing a beat. One moment, she was swinging whip swords around to clear out Sabyrs, the next she was splitting an Ursa Major in two with a slash of a katana.
Finally, all that was left was the Megalith, which had been watching them throughout the fight. It was smart, it was learning…
Donovan ran forwards, swinging Yama for its head, where it left a prominent crack. The Megalith reared back, and Ishikawa realized with horror that only he would make it in time, and he had no way to stop the goring tusk. Gripping his Blade anyways, Ishikawa half drew it as he prepared to give his life, determined to at least take the beast out with him.
Before he could activate his Semblance, however, somethings rocketed through the air faster than he could blink. One directly towards the Megalith and the other towards Donovan.
Slamming into the tusk was a shield held by a strange, medium sized creature with fur and wings apparently. Engines fired off the back of the shield, holding it in place against the force of the Megalith.
"Meanie-big Grimm not hurt Driver!" It yelled.
"It's about time you got here, Tora!" The dark haired woman called.
"Not Tora's fault!" The creature protested, "Tora had to wait for Poppi. Tora came as soon as he could!"
"And just in time, I might add," Winter said, "Newt!"
"Right, Specialist!" The Blade called as she caught her blade, growing to massive size in her second pair of hands. Ishikawa, on instinct, tossed the blade to his partner. Gomen's eyes closed beneath his tengu mask, his ether lines flaring beneath his kimono as he lowered himself into an iaijutsu stance, the ambient ether causing the snow around his feet to gently swirl.
Then, in an instant too small for Ishikawa to keep track of, Gomen's eyes had opened and the katana was unsheathed, a wave of light ether rushing past Newt to slam into the spot where Donavon had cracked the bone, shattering it and leaving a deep wound in the Megalith's face. Newt brought her giant sword down on the wound and slashed it in half.
—
Mission Report, DriveOps, 0001
On Site Operatives
Winter Schnee, Specialist Commander Rank 1
Lilac Orchid, Specialist Rank 10, deceased. Blade will be recycled when possible.
Donavon Stone, Specialist Rank 10, uninjured, but reprimanded by Specialist Commander Schnee for un-Operative behavior. Several more weeks of drills before being allowed back into the field.
Ishikawa Kanji Specialist Rank 9, pending promotion to 8. Fought commendably with Blade, nothing but praise from Specialist Commander Schnee. Credited with partial defeat of Megalith Alpha, nominated for promotion for efforts.