What is up players, you are NOT MY FRIEND-
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
The new command came in perfectly, as unorthodox as it was. These robots weren't made for combat, but they could still dish out a beating if used for those purposes. With their new murderous objective, they scurried over to the walkway, one positioning itself right under, before lashing out and up. Its circular saw stabbed right through the metal, causing both Huntresses to jump back and draw their weapons.
The foreman jumped back too, putting distance between himself, the saw, and the huntresses before the blade started to spin up and cut through the walkway.
"What the hell?!" Ceres yelled, getting her gauntlets ready.
"T-they must be glitching out!" the foreman answered.
Ruby quickly whipped out her scythe, and took a deep breath. If there's anything to salvage after this, I will take the pieces home with me. Ruby jumped down, and quickly slashed through the robot's arm with one clean cleave.
"Sorry!" Ruby yelled to the foreman.
"H-hold on! I'll try and reset them!" he called out...before running away.
"Wait, can't you do that with the Scro-!" Ceres was about to ask before the walkway buckled underneath her. It fell ever so slightly so that, now, she was facing two whirring blades, courtesy of another robot.
The one Ruby had slashed off the arm of had its attention all on her. With its good arm, it tried to return the favor and cut the huntress in half. She smirked and zoomed around, letting it only tear into rose petals. Ruby landed on its head and morphed Crescent Rose into its rifle mode, pressing the barrel against its head. With three quick pulls of the trigger, lightning rounds found their way into its head and short-circuited the robot.
"Sorry," Ruby said. "Guess these things aren't as durable as they look."
"Must've used the cheap materials." Ceres said, before she spewed out flames to melt the whirling blades.
The blades quickly came to a stop, seemingly surprising the robot as it looked at its two melted weapons. It turned to look back at Ceres, just in time for her fist to slam into and crack its eye. The hit knocked the machine off its feet and sent it careening backwards, till it landed on the floor with a loud thud.
Ruby jumped back up onto the walkway and looked at the two busted up robots. "They're glitchy, they're not durable, and they can't even saw through this walkway with one swift move- they're kind of a let down."
"They're meant for industrial work, not..." Ceres dodged another saw strike and punched through the arm of another robot, "combat!"
"Even then! These workers are the ones using them! If some rubble crushes it, it's toast!" Ruby said, shooting another one down. "Needs a better material if you ask me."
"We can take it up with management later!" Ceres said, dodging more saw strikes.
Meanwhile, the foreman was racing back to his office, Scroll still in hand. He sent a few more commands to more of the worker bots, telling them to attack the Huntresses.
"Shit, shit, shit..." he hissed, "why me? Why now?! Fiefstone's gonna kill me if he finds out that they know about me!"
The man cursed as his scroll began to lag. "C-come on! Work! I don't need his sort of stupid glitch right-"
Suddenly, a saw blade came down before the man, and nearly sliced the tip of his nose clean off. The man stepped back in horror- the bots were really malfunctioning now.
"Oh shit!" the foreman yelled. Fortunately, the sounds of gunshots were a lot easier to pick out from the other industrial noises that filled the steel mill. Blake's cat ears twitched as she heard the familiar sound of Crescent Rose going off.
"Grab the notes," Blake said, drawing Gambol Shroud and making sure the ammo clip was full, "We've got a problem!"
Yang didn't hesitate to reload Ember Celica, and busted down the door. The two headed straight for the action- near the poor foreman getting attacked.
"H-help!" The foreman yelled, as it slashed at him.
The bot reared up its arm for another slash at the foreman, only for a quick ribbon-strike to wrap around its arm and pull it back even further. The still-spinning blade cut into the bot's own head, sparks flying as the saw's teeth ground into the chassis.
"Hey, boss-man!" Yang shouted, "the girl in the red hood and the other brawler! Where are they?!"
"T-they're down that way!" The foreman yelled. "P-please! They're out of control!"
"We got it!" Blake yelled, before she and Yang ran off.
Ok...maybe Fiefstone won't kill me today, the foreman said, taking his Scroll and racing back to his office.
Ruby quickly slashed through the mechanical legs of another saw-bot, forcing it to rely solely on its treads. Another robot blind-sided her, slamming into her with a shoulder-charge that knocked her off her feet. Crescent Rose's blade dug into the stone floor as Ruby stabilized herself from the hit. The two bots then closed in on her, only for Ceres to jump in and land on top of one, slamming her fist right through the protective armor and into the machine's processor. A familiar shotgun-like blast sounded out and, right after, Yang landed a devastating hit on the second, denting its armor and threatening to split the robot in half.
Blake was quick to swing her blade around by the ribbon and quickly cut the legs of the drones- they went down without any trouble. These materials were seriously, seriously cheap.
Some of the drones tried to slash at any target that was in reach, to little effect. Ruby fired off an earth Dust shot at each of the saws, denting them to the point that they couldn't spin properly, eventually coming to a halt. The bots, now deprived of all manner of offense, kind of just...sat there awkwardly, trying to formulate a new way to destroy their designated targets.
Ruby blinked. "Okay! Team meeting!" Ruby called out, and the girls all headed towards their leader.
"So, whatcha find?" Ruby asked her sister.
"Blueprints- for the orb." Yang grinned. "This place is in on it."
"Where'd you find these?" Ceres asked.
"Foreman's...office," Blake said, immediately looking around, "Wait, where'd he go?"
"...hey. We got attacked after we talked to that one guy, right?" Ruby asked.
Ceres' eyes narrowed. "Yeah. We did."
The girls stood in silence for a second.
"Let's get his ass." Ceres announced.
"He probably doubled back to his office," Blake rationalized, "He might not think we were already there."
"Perfect," Yang slammed her fists together, "Corner him."
The girls all rushed towards the office, all with the intent to capture and restrain this man, and drag him back to Atlas for questioning. He knew something!
Outside, Weiss and Kylie were sitting on a metal bench on the other side of the street, watching the entrance to the steel mill. Weiss held her cheek in her hand as she sighed. There had to be a way to break the awkward silence.
"So...uh, you watch anything good recently?" Kylie grinned.
"Kylie. We live together. Anything I watch, you watch." Weiss frowned.
"R-right, right." Kylie blushed. "Well, what about...dreams? Have any good dreams?"
"Most of my dreams are just forgotten when I wake up, unless the dream is very vivid. Which…haven't had a lot of lately," the heiress sighed.
Kylie blinked. "Oh yeah…"
"I still appreciate the sentiment though," Weiss said, leaning back on the bench. She sighed a bit, just annoyed at how much of a hindrance her own name had been during this part of the investigation. More doors were closed than open, all because of... The heiress blinked when she heard someone run out of the steel mill and, when she looked, it was one of the workers.
"Hey, where's he going?" Kylie asked.
"Well. Consider this." Weiss said. "Our friends are in there, and a total stranger is looking around frantically for a place to run."
Kylie hummed before she pulled out her gun, "Ooooh. Oh, okay. I get it."
"Make sure to keep him conscious." Weiss suggested.
"Conscious but stunned," Kylie nodded and loaded a round into True Rebel, "Got it."
She took aim and began leading her shot, watching the foreman run for a few seconds before pulling the trigger. The shot rang out and hit its target, shocking the foreman and stunning him on the sidewalk.
"Nice shot," Weiss said, hopping off the bench, drawing Myrtenaster and spinning the cylinder to the ice Dust chamber. With that, she froze the foreman's feet to the pavement to ensure that, by the time the shock wore off, he wouldn't try to run again.
"So, what's your story, stranger? How'd you screw up?" Kylie grinned.
"I…I was just following orders…" the foreman frowned.
"That's what they all say!" Weiss said.
"...really?" Kylie asked.
"W-what? I've...kind of always to at least try that cliche," the heiress huffed.
"It's okay. You'll get a chance to say it properly one day." Kylie said, shaking her head.
"Thank you." Weiss said, as the other ladies caught up with them.
"Oh, hey. You caught him!" Ruby said.
"After quite the daring chase!" Weiss lied. Kylie smirked and just shook her head, holstering her weapon.
"Ok, now then," Yang said, "let's see what you have to say for yourself, eh?"
"I…I was just following orders! Honest!" The man panicked. "You need to understand, my boss- he's dangerous!"
"Fiefstone, right?" Ceres asked.
"E-exactly! I know everyone looks up to him a-and his goals are good! B-but..."
"Let me guess," Weiss interrupted, "He's been hiding his more dangerous self from his adoring public."
"T-there is a group of workers who know about his real self...and they're just as dangerous as him!"
"Ok...and what about these?" Yang pulled out the schedule and the instructions, "Why'd he give 'im to ya?"
"T-the instructions were for placing the weird...ball thing, I don't know what they do! He just said it'd change everything when they went off!" the foreman confessed, "A-and the schedule's just that! Mosset Grotto's where the next one's gonna take place! I-I don't know when it is!"
"And Mosset Grotto's outside the city...isn't it?" Blake asked.
"Y-yes! T-to the west!"
"What's at Mosset Grotto that's so important, exactly?" Kylie asked.
"I didn't think there's much out there. Let's just contact Ben and Rex and make our way over." Ceres said, pulling out her phone.
Funny enough, right as she went to dial, Ben called her. The timing on that was fantastic honestly. With that, the Archimedian answered.
"Nice timing on that," Ceres smirked, "Found Cedar?"
"Yes...and no," Ben said, "The good news is that we managed to find Cedar and arrest Fistrick in the process."
"And the bad?"
"Cedar's gone. Someone else grabbed her while we were dealing with our favorite tech-dealer."
"Greaaaat," Ceres sighed, "Well we made some progress too at least. We managed to catch one of Fiefstone's followers and he told us everything."
"Funny, so did Fistrick. We know the last place they met and part of me's betting that's he still there," Rex smirked.
"Where?" Ceres asked.
"Mosset Grotto. Weird place outside of town..." Ben said.
Ceres chuckled. "Oh, that's cosmic."
"Huh?"
"Explain later. Meet us there!" Ceres said.
"On it!" Ben said before he hung up.
"So you'll never guess what Ben had to say," Ceres smirked.
When one heard the name "Mosset Grotto," the first thing they'd probably imagine is maybe a cave with just an overabundance of moss. Looking at a map of Solitas, you wouldn't even find the name anywhere. It was something of a local secret. In truth, Mosset Grotto was a unique cave ecosystem that no Atlesian scientist could even begin to explain. The mountain above the grotto was full of large cave systems, with theories about their origins ranging from a cataclysmic Dust detonation to an unseen species of giant burrowing Grimm. Now, pine trees and other forms of flora flourished in the grotto, the sun shining down from a massive opening in the cave roof.
Today though, several people had made their way into the grotto, all of them wearing workers uniforms of some type: miners, factory workers, shipping employees, even airship pilots. Of course, there were guards to this event, a group of Fiefstone's followers that seemed to come from, or at least dressed like they came from, Mantle's steel mills and machine shops, armed with giant wrenches of all things. The only odd attendee to this event was an old man with a long green beard handing out what...looked like tourism brochures. There was even a large bird perched atop his walking stick. Out of pity or genuine kindness, some of the other workers took the brochures.
"Is...that guy handing out pamphlets...for the cave?" Rex asked, looking through binoculars.
"Uh...yeah, yeah, he is," Ben confirmed, using Eye-Guy's own enhanced vision, "...how is that the weirdest thing for this?"
"Could be a nice cave, I guess." Rex said. "Maybe the cave's so big it needs a map?"
"Good theory. May have to be careful traversing it then." Ben hummed.
"Huh...so that's Mosset Grotto. I'm...not really impressed," Weiss admitted.
"Yeah, when I hear Grotto...I expected something cooler, y'know?" Ruby frowned. "What even is a grotto?"
"It's usually a small picturesque cave, especially an artificial one in a park or garden." Blake defined. "...but this one doesn't really look fake or manmade."
"Lot more crowded than I thought," Yang admitted, "I mean I know the guy's respected, but still."
"Lotta people...and we don't know how many are as die-hard as the ones with the wrenches," Kylie hummed, "What's the plan here?"
"We sneak in, figure out what's happening, and see if we can find Fiefstone." Ruby instructed. "A few workers aren't gonna slow us down."
"And if they know who we are?" Weiss asked.
"Improvise!"
"Fair enough." Ben nodded, as he reverted to normal. "I say we sneak in through the back."
"So in other words, we get to go," Ruby smirked and grabbed her hood.
"Oh no, not the accent again," Blake sighed.
"Undercover?" Ruby chuckled in what...might have been a very bad French accent.
Ben made a face. "Babe. On behalf of Natalie Tennyson's french side, never do that again."
"What? It's not that bad," Ruby defended.
"It is," the rest of WBY all said in perfect unison.
"Betrayed twice in such a short time. The pain is unbearable!" Ruby overdramatically grabbed her cloak, right over her heart to emphasize the pain she was feeling!
Ben rolled his eyes. "Look, I love you, but that was HORRIBLE."
"Even my own lover-!" Ruby sighed dramatically.
"Here lies Ruby Rose, died of a broken heart," Yang snarked, "Want me to write the speech or are we actually sneaking in now?"
"Fine...we'll sneak in. Without the accent."
Ben sighed. "Thank God. Come on..."
The group moved around to a rear entrance of the grotto, one that was either low-profile enough for Fiefstone's thugs not to know about or they did and didn't both to put anyone on watch. Ruby still had her hood up in dismay, having had her accent privileges revoked indefinitely. The group carefully made their way towards the main area, where Fiefstone would give a surely inspiring speech, before moving behind the curtain to plot his next move.
"If Fiefstone has any of the orbs, top priority is making sure none of those go off," Ceres said softly, ensuring the words didn't echo.
"And if he doesn't, then we focus on arresting the guy himself," Yang said.
"Well that sounds like a perfectly reasonable course of action!" an unfamiliar, older voice said, piquing Ruby's attention.
"Thanks," Ceres nodded, without even noticing, "Wait..."
The group spun around to see...him. The man had green hair, and his clothing was covered with plant leaves. And a stick to walk with.
"So! Looking to enter the Grotto, eh?" The man said. "Not many travelers return!"
"The...old man with the brochures?" Yang asked, almost activating her gauntlets in anticipation of a fight.
"Yep, that's me! That's the motto of my little berg! Not many travelers return the same because...well, look at the wonders! Not just the trees, but rocks too! Like Duck Rock, our local duck shaped rock. No shenanigans, it was shaped like that when I found it!" the old man continued on.
"...o...kaaaaay then," Weiss blinked.
"And you are-" Ben asked.
"Mossius Berbere! Mayor of this grotto! I'm quite the figure here!" The man bragged. "Oh, but I'm missing my secretary..."
"Missing? Well, what does she look like-"
"She's a bird."
Ben made a face. "Nope, not dealing with a crazy guy. Let's go, guys."
"You say that like we haven't dealt with crazier," Ruby said.
"Name one."
"Tyrian," Ruby smirked.
"...that's too easy, name another!" Ben countered.
"Animo."
"Wha-ok name a less obvious one."
"...Steam Smythe. The man is messed up in the head." Ruby said.
Ben sighed. "Okay, fine! We deal with a LOT of crazy people. Jeez."
"So dealing with one who's less crazy can work out," Ruby said, "Besides, this is his home."
"She's right! The grotto is my home, I know every cave, every path, every patch of moss! Especially the one full of boxes after someone paid to rent it," Mossius said.
"...boxes?" Ruby asked. That sounded important. "Why'd they do that?"
"Said they needed some objects kept secret and safe! Must be some old junk or whatever." Mossius shrugged.
"Do...you know the name of the guy who paid you?" Weiss asked.
"Uh...something something Firestone? I think?" Mossius scratched his head in thought, "Or was it Fleetstone?"
"Fiefstone," Blake corrected.
"Fiefstone! That was it!"
"...can we see that cave?" Rex asked.
"Sure! If you can find my bird-" Mossius said, as Ben groaned. He slapped down the Omnitrix to transform into XLR8 and zipped through the caves. He returned with a bird in tow.
"Here! Bird." Ben yelled.
"...that's not her. That's a boy bird. Don't you know anything?" Mossius scoffed. Ben yelled again, before taking off into the cave.
"So uh," Ruby began, "Why...is a bird your secretary?"
"Well, secretary is a formal term, but I like to think of her as an emotional support bird! A good listener who offers no judgment and is the best at keeping secrets!" Mossius began, "Orphaned she was! Discovered she had fallen from a tree with no mother in sight! It took some time to train her right...but in the end, she and I became inseparable! Is there any bond stronger than that between a man and his bird?"
"Think the saying's between a man and his dog but...I guess it holds true no matter the pet," Kylie said.
Ben returned with a big white bird on his arm. "Is THIS her!?"
Mossius blinked. "Ah! There she is. Thank you, lad."
"Yeah, cool. Please just TELL US where the cave is. I can't handle fetch quests." Ben frowned.
"Of course, of course! One good deed deserves another, this way!" Mossius said, taking the lead.
"Ugh, hopefully he's...right...uh...what did I miss?" Ben asked, seeing Ruby stave back tears.
"N-nothing," Ruby sniffed.
"...ooookay."
Mossius led them through the labyrinth maze of the grotto. Every twist and turn felt like they stretched on for forever.
"So, how'd this place come to be?" Blake asked.
"One of the great mysteries of Solitas!" Mossius said, "Much like the prehistoric paintings out in the tundra and Tumak Ruins. No one knows how but they're thankful for it. A rare respite from the unforgiving cold."
"So, it just...popped up?" Ben asked.
"Pretty much! With all these caves carved out! Pretty cool, right?" Mossius said.
"Weird, more like." Weiss said. "Since grottos are mainly limestone geology, the standing water dissolves carbonates in the rock matrix as it travels through small fissures. Then it evolves into...this."
"You're thinking from a science standpoint. Try looking from a mythical one." Blake said. "The early Greek grottoes were shrines over holy springs. They became temples. They were popular in ancient Rome. Maybe...this was once a shrine to something similar."
"...Maybe! I just like to think of it as a cool bunch of caves." Mossius grinned.
"And...Fiefstone. How long ago did he pay you?" Weiss asked.
"Couple of...weeks? At least a month, I think," Mossius nodded, "He and his friends from the mills have been bringing in boxes so often now that I'm thinking of upping my rates! Ha!"
"How many boxes does he have?" The heiress asked, as they arrived to a cavern full of boxes.
"A lot!" Mossius said.
"Feels like we're gonna find the Ark of the Covenant in here," Yang quipped.
"Ok, split up, try and find any orbs first," Ceres ordered.
"And what should I do?" Mossius asked.
"Uh. Might wanna keep a look out for your client." Ben said. "He's…done some bad, bad things."
"I'll upcharge him, then." Mossius said, walking off.
"Alright...now, for the orbs," Ceres said.
With that, the group spread out and began to open every box they could, trying to find any trace of the orbs. While they didn't find any, yet, what they found was equally disturbing. Among the boxes they found weapons, some normal and some Fistrick creations, along with Dust and other raw materials.
"This guy's gearing up for a revolution..." Blake said, just looking at the sheer amount of firepower.
"And it's gonna be big."
The group flinched at the unknown voice. From somewhere out of the boxes, the man of the hour stepped out- Halon himself.
A tall man with gray eyes, unruly black hair, and a thin beard, Halon had a vertical scar that ran across the left side of his face, just over his eye. His outfit included a white button-down shirt with rips in it, a gray coat, bright red gloves, a light brown belt, and black pants. He also wore black slacks. On top of his head was what looked like a blood-red banana, which was covering his forehead.
Flanking him were two of the steel mill workers, each armed with giant wrenches. One of them was holding Cedar by the collar of her shirt.
"Let her go," Blake growled, taking aim with Gambol Shroud.
"Really gonna pull the trigger? What if you hit her?" Hanlon motioned to the terrified worker, "One worker being taken out isn't a problem...plenty more I can use for this."
"Use?! These people were under your protection and they're just fuel for your plan?!"
"You're a union figurehead! You should be working for a better future!" Ruby said.
"The paradox of power is an anomaly," Halon frowned. "The mere exercise of power does not breed corruption. It emphasizes and reveals the innate features that a leader possesses. I had to accumulate power, lie through my teeth, and shake hands with all sorts of people...so I could do what I always needed to do."
Blake frowned. "To wreak chaos."
"Exactly. No one listens to people holding signs or holding hands! They respond to the REAL protest- violence." Halon said.
"You're not the first person I've heard say that," Blake's eyes narrowed.
"Then they were right," Hanlon said.
"No...they weren't."
"Nevertheless, I bet whoever your friend was didn't have things like this on hand," the union leader revealed an orb to the group. Blake tried to fire off some shots that would destroy the orb, but the bullets never hit. One of the steel mill workers activated a hard-light Dust shield that stopped the shots, projecting it out from the wrench's head.
"Cedar," Hanlon growled, turning to the Faunus girl in the grip of his other thug, "You failed me; you let emotions blind you. Well...if blindness is what you wish for."
The poor Faunus struggled to free herself but it was too late. Fiefstone's Semblance activated and, in what seemed to be a very painful process, a thick, orange-red smoke was pulled out from Cedar's eyes and mouth. She struggled and screamed the whole time before going limp in the thug's arms. The orb of smoke, condensed in Fiefstone's hand, was then moved and placed inside the Arrowfell orb. The device clicked closed and beeped, showing it was ready for deployment.
"Your fear will be useful, girl. With it...we can finally tear down the eyesore in the sky," Fiefstone smirked.
"Was that your SEMBLANCE?!" Ben demanded to know.
Hanlon smirked. "Handy little power, isn't it? Used to waste it on keeping people from rioting, but when it's for an alternate fuel source, it's much more efficient," the thug dropped the now motionless Faunus on the ground, "Not much from this girl, but...whatever."
Ben grit his teeth. Is that what's making the Omnitrix run wild? Raw, unfiltered emotions? I dunno how that's affecting the core, but Ben activated the watch.
"Thanks for giving me more of a reason to kick your sorry ass," Ben said through grit teeth. "And I know just the guy to do it!"
Ben slapped down the Omnitrix, and allowed the nanotech to spread up his arm and cover his body. The machines soon melded together a suit for Ben- Nanomech was his weapon of choice in this battle.
"Take 'em," Fiefstone told his goons before he made a break for it. On the way out, he managed to grab something, but Ben was too focused on the fight ahead to really care. The two mill workers readied their wrenches, seemingly upgraded with maybe Dust or alien tech. Hard to tell at a glance.
"Wanna handle them on your own?" Ruby asked, Crescent Rose already drawn in case he asked for backup.
"Absolutely." Ben said, as the helmet went over his head. Be rushed towards them, dodging the men swinging their wrenches and shrinking down. He sprouted a jetpack, and began to soar towards Hanlon.
With that, the whole group raced after the corrupt union leader, dodging and weaving their way through attacks from some of Fiefstone's goons. A wrench strike aimed at Ruby's head missed, letting the red-hooded reaper land a powerful double-kick to the worker's face. A few pistol shots rang out, hitting a wall of ice that Weiss brought up to protect the others, while Kylie fired a few rounds of earth Dust at the shooter, pinning them to the wall. Yang and Blake ended up double teaming another thug, The ribbon of the ninja's weapon wrapped around the arm of the thug, pulling him right into a powerful right hook from Yang.
Mossius watched the fight from afar, stroking his beard.
"Hm. Well, looks like we'll need to improve our background check policy," the old man said. His pet bird squawked in agreement.
In front of Hanlon's eyes, Ben exploded back to normal size and then kicked Hanlon in the center of the chest with a spear kick. Ben had hardly planted his feet when Hanlon was flung into a stack of boxes. After placing gauntlets on his hands, he moved quickly toward Hanlon. Hanlon was barely back up before Ben struck his face a few times.
But in his fury, Ben didn't notice Hanlon put the tip of his weapon to the Omnitrix-wielder's chest. A burst of high-powered air slammed into Ben and knocked him back, slamming him into the nearest wall. Fiefstone smirked as he got to his feet, his weapon extending out to its full configuration. It was an arm-mounted double-headed drill, with two canisters placed in the body of the weapon, full of glowing white and dark orange Dust. Fiefstone smirked as his Aura flared.
"You wanted a fight, kid. Now you got one," Fiefstone taunted.
Ben cracked his neck and morphed his hands into drills as well; longer and thinner in appearance, they more resembled a cross between the usual drill and a rapier's blade. Ben pointed his left drill at Hanlon, and cocked his head back.
"I'm gonna knock you out, drag you to Atlas, and let you rot in a cell for what you just did." Ben growled.
"Fitting you decide to fight me as a machine," Fiefstone said. He yelled as he slammed his arm-drill into the floor, sending out a wave of stony spikes to try and skewer the hero. Ben quickly dodged out of the way and slashed through the closer of the spikes before racing towards the corrupt leader. He unleashed a flurry of precise rapier-like strikes, almost like he'd taken inspiration from Weiss for the attacks. Fiefstone managed to dodge out of the way with little effort though, ducking under one and and jolting up to slam Ben with an uppercut. He then backhanded Ben, which actually hurt through the armor with the weight of the drill behind it.
Ben stumbled back, but quickly regained footing. Ben used some shoulder mounted jets to increase his next attack. He stabbed forward, striking Fiefstone right in the chest. At the moment of impact, Ben 'unfurled' the tips of the drills to unveil lasers.
Ben undid his helmet just for this moment. "I'm still human, dumbass." Ben let the lasers fire, knocking Fiefstone back.
"Can you really call yourself that," Fiefstone growled, "working for the tin man upstairs?" The corrupt union leader activated the wind Dust in his drill and then began to spin in place. Winds swirled around his body, concealing him inside a tornado. The tornado then raced forward and began to barrage Ben from all angles, bouncing off the boxes and walls to add to his momentum.
Ben re-equipped the helmet. "What, you got problems with Ironwood too? Take a number!" Ben bulked up the material on his body, allowing him to take the assault with ease.
"Oh my problems extend far beyond Ironwood! Just like you, he is a cog in Atlas' workings!" Fiefstone called out, slamming into Ben one last time before coming to a halt. He skidded to a stop in front of the next wall, swapping the active cartridge to earth.
He then turned and jabbed the drill into the wall, the power of the Dust not only cracking the rocky wall of the cavern, but the entire mountain felt like it was shaking from the attack. Ben took aim with his rapier-like blades and began channeling energy into them. Fiefstone smirked as he gave one last push into the wall and sent a column of stone down from the ceiling to crush Ben. The hero didn't even look up as the stone came down. The corrupt union leader heard the stone slam into the floor and, when he turned around, he was sure he would see the destroyed armor of that military lap dog.
Only…there weren't any signs of Ben when Fiefstone turned to look. No blood splatter beneath the pillar, no broken metal from that fancy suit of his. It was far too clean for the end he'd planned. But there's no way he could've-
Fiefstone was suddenly smacked in the jaw by a metal-clad fist. Then again in the gut. Again and again the strikes landed until the barrage was capped off by a metal fist slamming into Fiefstone's face. Without his Aura, the hit surely would've broken his nose. Ben adjusted the gauntlet he struck the criminal with, looking down at Fiefstone and his flaring dark orange Aura.
"How did you…you didn't even know what I was doing…" Fiefstone hissed.
"Figured it out the minute the room started shaking," Ben corrected, "Besides, I got these." With that, Nanomech's insectoid-wings unfurled from Ben's back.
"...of course, you can fly," Fiefstone growled and rolled his eyes, getting back up to his feet.
"Stay down, Fiefstone," Ben warned, getting ready for another round.
"Stay…down? You really are working for Atlas. How many times have I heard that before? Stay down and follow orders, stay down and accept your conditions, STAY DOWN and be another nameless cog that we grind to dust and replace!" Fiefstone yelled, "So long as I have my weapon and my life, I will never STAY. DOWN!"
While he couldn't let Fiefstone's words sway him, they still hit something in Ben's mind, but it was something he'd have to deal with after arresting the union leader. Fiefstone revved up his drill, activating both cylinders of Dust at once. Once more, he slammed the drill into the ground and started to bore through it.
With the combination of Dust working, the criminal managed to conjure up several dust-tornadoes, each carrying rocks and pebbles. While that may not sound terrifying, the speed of the winds that made up the tornadoes effectively turned them into collections of blades and bludgeons. Ben was caught up in one almost immediately, with the sand and pebbles bouncing and scraping off his armor.
While he was being battered, Fiefstone sacrificed some of his remaining Aura to jump into the tornado and slam Ben in the gut with the drill. The wielder of the Omnitrix managed to grab it before it made contact, since he could hear the drill whirring.
"Let's see how durable that fancy suit is," Fiefstone smirked. "Against a drill meant for mining Dust!"
Before the corrupt leader could even try, a shot rang out and knocked him away from Ben. Fiefstone staggered from the hit, his Aura shattering from the hit. With the opening, Ben morphed his hand into another blade and cleanly sliced through Fiefstone's drill. The pieces clattered to the floor, depriving Fiefstone of any illusion that this fight could end in a win for him.
"Nice shot Ru-' Ben began, but when he turned to see the shooter, it wasn't Ruby or anyone from the Outcasts.
"Your girlfriend ain't the only sharpshooter in Atlas, kid," the familiarly cocky voice of Felix said. In his hand was a smoking pistol.
"...Felix?"
"One and only," Felix said, "Hanlon Fiefstone, you're under arrest for weapon smuggling, extortion, plotting to incite treason…and…well the whole Semblance thing you have."
"Maybe now you see it, boy," Fiefstone said, "Ironwood sent you to find me, and then he sent his hitman to finish what you won't."
"If this was a hit, why the hell would I miss the first shot and then tell you what you're charged with?" Felix asked, "See, this is why I never get along with the preachy types. They'll just change everything to fit their own little narrative."
"An apt description of Atlas itself," the union leader taunted.
"My god, do you ever shut up? Christ, even when looking down the barrel of a cannon you'd give a speech, huh? You seem the type!"
"Felix, you're not helping here," Ben said, trying to at least get Fiefstone to surrender properly now, "Fiefstone…it's over."
"Then you really are blind to the machinery at work here. Just another cog in the machine. I broke free from my position because there was no other choice! My Semblance once eased tension between the lower and upper classes of 'the greatest kingdom,' but it wasn't enough! It was NEVER enough! Because that's what the Atlesians wanted! Acceptance of the poor conditions they forced on us!" Fiefstone roared with what pride he had left.
"That doesn't mean you throw innocent people aside as fuel! You're just stooping to their level!" Ben countered.
Fiefstone lowered his gaze to the floor. Maybe Ben had gotten through to them, considering how long the usually vocal leader was silent for. The union leader looked to his broken weapon, then finally back up at the two who had bested him.
"Why are you really here…Tennyson?" Fiefstone finally asked.
"You made a Grimm lure. That kind of tech would only lead to mass chaos and who knows many people would lose their lives because of it," Ben answered confidently.
"Is that so…? Or is that just what you convinced yourself to think?"
"Fiefstone-"
"Don't. I'm done talking. I know what happens next. Just remember…whatever happens beyond this is entirely your fault."
Fiefstone quickly pulled something out of his back pocket and pressed a button. Right as the button was pressed, another shot rang out and Fiefstone's head jerked back, a crimson splatter painting the wall behind him. The union leader fell back before hitting the cave floor with a dull thud, the item in his hand clattering away.
It was a small, one button remote.
"Felix!" Ben hissed.
"What?! I thought it was a gun!" Felix defended, "I doubt he would've talked anyway! He's one of those 'my life for the cause' types."
"So you just shot him?!"
"Oh, like you wouldn't shoot that Ren-faire guy who always kicks your ass? Or the crazy girl who shot you in the chest? Missed your chance on that one though."
"That…that's not the same," Ben sighed.
"Really? Sure sounds the same to me," Felix shrugged and holstered his pistol. He quickly moved over and scooped up the remote in his hand before tapping a comm in his helmet, reporting in and walking off. But something still felt off about this. Ben spared one last glance to Fiefstone, before he sighed and followed Felix out.
Hopefully Ironwood could reassure him and this was just Felix's own gung-ho attitude.
But what if it wasn't?