Author's note: Now you'll get to see what the defense protocol Beta Juliett looks like.
Also, this is a bit longer than usual, since I wanted to include a fight in full.
Ruby, Blake, Jaune and Ren were using their copied Flight semblances to get down to Mantle, while Yang was in her dragon form, carrying Nora, and Weiss had arranged her own transport. The Ace-Ops were hurrying to a nearby Manta gunship, except for Harriet, who was determined to prove that she was better at saving people than Ruby was and had jumped off of Atlas to get to Mantle first. Below them, Ruby saw several white orbs float along the streets. Upon taking a closer look, she noticed that countless rats were pouring out of the sewers near the safe-houses, placed a Combat Drone on each corner and ran along the roads. Whenever they reached a crossing, they sent a drone down the street and split up, effectively covering the entire city in a network of Grimm-killing drones.
"And remember, everyone," Ruby said over communicator, "The Deathzone effect has worn off, so the military's tech is no longer safe from Grimm. I'll go to a hole and keep the Grimm from coming through the wall." She flew a turn and headed for one of the openings in the wall. Yang roared in agreement, and Ren flew closer to her.
"Mind if I take that?" Ren asked and took Nora's hand. Yang rolled, letting Nora fall off, and Ren swung her onto his back.
~o~
An Atlas soldier had his feet covered in light blue energy and was jumping along the street lights of Mantle, with a swarm of rats following him. He landed on a car that was stranded on a crossing and sent a Combat Drone towards the civilians running from a pack of Beowolves and Sabyr. The orb flew above the civilians and killed the Grimm, creating a smoke screen with each hit that harmed Grimm on contact. The soldier waved the civilians around the corner, making them stay close to the wall to that the rats could get past them and continue their mission.
"My teddy," a little girl said, stopped behind the corner and tucked her mother's sleeve. One of the foxes on Brunswick Farms used her Detector semblance through the pigeons and rats to triangulate the toy's location, and a pigeon flew the stuffed Big Ursa to the girl in under a minute. She happily hugged the toy and she and her mother continued running from the Grimm.
~o~
Harriet rushed towards the cold hard concrete streets of Mantle, and used her copied Flight semblance in the last moment to slow her descend. She pulled out her scroll and checked the video footage, then burst into a cluster of rose petals to zip through air vents and fight Grimm. She stopped in front of a small group of people and got her weapon ready just in time to block an attack from a Sabyr. Using her copied Retaliation semblance, she reflected the damage back onto the Grimm. She pushed it back and ran into it at full speed, sinking her left fist elbow-deep in its head and torso.
"Get to safety!" Harriet called out, looking at the civilians. Suddenly, Maria's semblance told her that there were Grimm around a corner, coming for the people. Harriet picked up a manhole cover, made it home in on the Grimm and threw it with full force before running after it. She ran along the wall, upside-down under the bridge above, and slammed into a Big Ursa, after the first one was decapitated by the flying metal disc.
"Thank you," one of the civilians said, and they ran away to safety. Harriet paused for a moment and took in what had just happened. Normally the people she saved didn't thank her, as far as she could recall. She always just saw it as a job, but now, something was different.
"Those are… real people," Harriet thought, "Each with a life as complex and unique as my own. If one of them died, the world would lose as much as if I died." Taking her new realization to heart, Harriet ran through Mantle, relying on Maria's semblance to tell her where people needed saving, and not allowing her aura to drop under any circumstance.
~o~
Vine stood on a crossing, using his semblance and two lamp posts to form an improvised slingshot. Weiss had pulled his cupped aura hands back with a glyph, and Elm was holding them in place so that Weiss could load several sticky explosives in them. She stuck them to his arms and hands, making sure they didn't touch anything he couldn't make disappear in the blink of an eye.
"And you're sure that's going to work?" Elm asked.
"Yes, trust me," Weiss answered, "My friends and I killed a Giant Nevermore in a similar way during our initiation."
"Normally I wouldn't believe you, but since it's you guys…," Elm said.
"Alright, I'm done," Weiss said and stepped off one of her glyphs after putting the last bomb on Vine's Vines.
"Ready?" Elm asked and made the explosives home in on Grimm.
"Ready," Vine answered and said, "Fire." Elm let go, the aura constructs shot forward, and at the highest point, Vine made them disappear. The bombs stuck to the aerial Grimm, and Weiss made them detonate.
~o~
Ren and Nora landed on the wall, next to a hole, and looked at the approaching Grimm. There were Sabyr, Beowolves, Alpha Beowolves, Ursai, Big Ursai and a few Megoliath as far as the eye could see.
"This seems… unfair," Ren said and held his right hand towards Nora.
"Yeah," Nora said, "They're hopelessly outnumbered." She took his hand, hugged him, and they shared another kiss. Their auras began glowing and merging into one, revealing an androgynous fusion with intricately braided dark orange hair and purple eyes. They wore a black knee-high boot on their left foot, a white one on their right, and had an unattached white pant leg under their white boot, which reached almost all the way up to the fusion's white short skirt. Both boots also had metal soles, as well as golden accessories. The fusion wore a white dress with a light blue midsection, gold accents and an exposed midriff, and puffy pink sleeves. They also wore a single black elbow glove on their left hand, as well as a thick pink one on their right hand. Their weapon was a white minigun with golden accents, which had an integrated grenade launcher and doubled as massive axe.
"Ren, Nora, are you alright?" Ruby asked and said, "I saw some strange light from where you are."
"Don't worry, I'm fine," Renora answered, "But the Grimm won't be." Renora aimed their weapon at the Grimm and began shooting the enemies. They fired dozens of bullets into the horde each second, creating a constant stream of black smoke rising from the ground. When the bullets ran out, Renora switched to grenade launcher mode, firing ice-dust canisters in an arc around the hole in the wall, creating a barrier of spiky ice chunks. A large group of Teryx, Sphinx and Manticore flew overhead and Renora used their semblance, releasing a spectral serpentine dragon from their chest to strike their enemies. They switched to cartridges that exploded on impact and shot them at the ice barrier, sending razor-sharp ice shards through the Grimm that waited for the Megoliath to clear the way.
"Looks like they'll have to glue you back together," Renora said, and shouted, "In hell!" Their spectral dragon constricted the aerial Grimm, forcing them to land, or just bit their necks off in mid-air.
~o~
Marrow was keeping Grimm out of the city by stopping them inside a hole in the wall, creating a plug. Whenever Grimm climbed over their allies, he let the plug go, only to stop the Grimm again shortly after. Using his copied Tentacles semblance, he grabbed his weapon and shot the Grimm while they were immobile, even though his weapon wasn't designed for dealing damage.
"Guys, I could really use some help over here," Marrow said over communicator. He nervously wagged his tail, and suddenly remembered what June had told him about the mushroom sauce at the restaurant.
"Right, my tail fur acts like dust now," Marrow thought, "Let's see which type." He focused and felt how the air began to cool down. Small snowflakes fell to the ground around him, and he remembered his aura training with Sirena. The snowflakes turned into hail, and finally icicles, and he managed to make one of them float upwards and hover next to his head. With a quick flick of his tail, he sent it flying away at high speed, and heard a metallic sound behind him as the icicle decapitated one of several Atlesian Knights escorting a small family to safety.
"Sorry," Marrow called over to them, and the family hurried away. He tried again, this time hurling the icicle into a Sabyr's eye with enough force to impale its skull, killing it.
"Idea. Good," a slightly purring voice said, and a female humanoid cat landed between Marrow and the Grimm plug. She stood in a crouching position, had dark orange fur, bright orange stripes and silver eyes. She also had light blue fur markings on her face, resembling Maria's old mask, and wore a necklace like Maria did.
"Ma- Maria?" Marrow asked.
"Rondra," the fusion purred and unleashed her silver eyes, petrifying the Grimm plug and sealing the hole properly.
~o~
Ruby rested on her scythe, which was hooked on a Teryx' chest, and was invisible to the Grimm due to using Tranquility on herself. She pulled the gun trigger, shooting a fire-dust bullet into a Sphinx' open mouth and killing it, while also propelling her scythe backwards and cutting the Teryx in half. She turned her scythe's blade around and threw it into the Grimm. Ruby drew Thief's Respite, swung around the Grimm, decapitating several of them, and shot six bullets into six different Grimm, then put the weapons away and caught Crescent Rose. Using Cinder's semblance, she made the bullets explode, killing even more Grimm.
"And, did you have fun?" Ruby asked her weapon. She put Crescent Rose away and extended four vines from her limbs, drawing in four Manticore. Just before the Grimm collided with her, she created a fire-dust clone and killed them in a single explosion. She sensed a small Grimm move along the streets of Mantle, and in her frenzy, drew Crescent Rose and fired a Hellrazer Mk. 3 round into it without thinking. She made the shrapnel explode, and immediately felt a burning sting in her chest, as if she had just made a horrible mistake. She put her weapon away again and dashed to where she had sensed the Grimm. The entire area was badly damaged, and she saw Arthur on the ground, with severe injuries all over his body.
"I… never thought you of all people would be my end," Arthur said weakly, straining to lift his head. Ruby knelt down beside him.
"Weiss, I need a Healing Circle and Safezone," Ruby said, and both circles appeared around the two of them, healing Arthur's injuries and making both their auras regenerate faster. Ruby used Aura Amp to further increase the speed at which Arthur's aura recharged, speeding up the healing process even more.
"Why… are you helping me?" Arthur asked.
"Because I won't let Salem win," Ruby answered, "And if anyone dies, she is one step closer to her goal. I will not let that happen."
"You can't save everyone," Arthur said, his wounds closing up again, "One day, someone will die, despite your best efforts. And there is nothing we can do about it. Noone can turn back time."
"I can save everyone," Ruby said, "And I will tear through the very fabric of reality to protect my friends."
"You're naive," Arthur said, "Your conviction is admirable, but it will be your downfall."
"We'll see about that," Ruby said, "But I also can't let you die without you paying me back first."
"Why would I have to pay you back?" Arthur asked and said, "I owe you nothing."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Ruby said and asked, "How do you think those videos of Penny fighting Grimm got where you found them?"
"You… helped us?" Arthur asked.
"No, you helped me," Ruby answered, "I let you and Tyrian go around pretending to kill people, while Sophie's swarm made sure noone actually died."
"Trust me, Tyrian killed a lot of people," Arthur said, "Just check the news. You lost."
"No, I haven't," Ruby said, "Sophie's swarm includes some of Mistral's best prop artists, and most of Atlas' best forensic scientists. It was laughably easy for her to create organic and convincing replicas of the people you guys would be targeting. I allowed you, and all of Mantle, to believe that people were dying, but in reality, they are all alive and well. Your plan failed. I'm in charge."
"So, you caused chaos for your personal gain?" Arthur asked and said, "Maybe we are not so different after all."
"My gain is irrelevant," Ruby said, "I want to protect the people. But to do that, I needed them to follow me."
"Do you honestly expect me to believe this?" Arthur asked, "That you saw all of this in advance and prepared to take advantage of our plan while letting us think we were winning?"
"You'd be surprised," Ruby answered, "People can do a lot when they're not caught up on some petty revenge over having credit stolen from them."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked, visibly intrigued.
"You," Ruby answered, "I mean, sure, Ironwood is a jerk, but that's no reason to betray mankind like this. You could have done so much more."
"What do you know?" Arthur asked.
"I know what you feel like," Ruby answered and asked, "But why didn't you go to another kingdom, like Vale, and help them be better than Atlas? Imagine Ironwood's frustration when he comes to Vale for the Vytal Festival, only to have to answer to you. That would've been a much better revenge, I think. Prove him wrong, and let the entire world know that he was wrong. Public humiliation. Make him beg you to help him, and then you can just name your price."
"You're a lot more serious than I thought," Arthur said.
"I know," Ruby said, "But only when I have to be. Tomorrow, I'll go and make the council ask for my price, and then I'll save this kingdom from Salem and her minions." When Ruby had fully healed Arthur's injuries and recharged his aura, the circles suddenly disappeared around the two of them, and Ruby suddenly felt all alone.
~o~
The night before the council meeting, Ruby and Maria met with Sirena in her soul core for another strategy meeting. Ruby was a bit nervous, but happy to be here despite being stuck in her sister's body while in the waking world.
"So, what do we do next?" Ruby asked.
"Simple," Sirena answered, "We lure out Salem's forces."
"Can't we hunt them down in the tundra?" Maria asked and said, "It's more fun, and it keeps the Grimm away from the people."
"It also keeps us away from the people," Ruby answered, "If any Grimm come into the city while we're gone, the people will be defenseless."
"Exactly," Sirena said, "However, I think you should go and do your plan, Maria. You know, to distract Salem."
"Got it," Maria said.
"So, how do we do it?" Ruby asked.
"We wait for Arthur to turn off the heat in Mantle," Sirena answered, "And then, we don't turn it on again."
"And what if Ironwood declares martial law?" Ruby asked.
"He can't," Sirena answered, "The pact prevents him from doing anything that harms people. But in case he somehow broke out of it, and declared martial law, I installed a little bit of a fail-safe. The system would kick him out, revert his decision to declare martial law, and aura-lock the city's major computer systems so that only silver-eyed warriors can access it. Same with Arthur. Once he shuts down the heat, the system will kick him out, and no computer in the city will respond to his commands any more."
"You're really prepared," Ruby said, "I'm impressed."
"Thanks," Sirena said, "It's part of my job as a huntress. But, to be honest, without you, I wouldn't know about many of the things that will happen, making it a lot more difficult for me to do my job."
"How can someone break out of the pact?" Maria asked.
"If Ironwood changed who he was, for example," Sirena answered, "The pact is with him as a person, in his entirety. If he somehow changed a major part of himself, like his semblance, the pact would be nullified."
"Wait, people can change their semblance?" Ruby asked, "How?"
"It's difficult," Sirena answered, "But, if he dug deep within the most remote corners of his soul, he could find alternate semblances that he could have manifested under different circumstances. There are a few cases where this has happened, or is happening. It's… not pretty."
"Where?" Ruby asked.
"In an asylum in Patch," Sirena answered, "Four women in intensive care. They know Niob's semblance, and it's corrupting their souls."
"Niob's semblance?" Ruby asked, "What does it do?"
"Sorry, can't tell you," Sirena answered, "He made it clear that he didn't want anyone to know about it." They talked a bit more about all sorts of issues, then they all headed back to their bodies and went to sleep, to get ready for the big night.
~o~
James was digging through stone, clay, and mud, trying to find the source of the wind, which had gotten much stronger and was now almost blowing him away. He forced his way through the ground, no matter how torn and dirtied his clothes and body were. He had to find the source of the wind. In the distance, he saw a faint light, and as he got closer, it got much stronger. James fell into a massive underground cave, with a forest growing in it. He got back up and dusted off his clothes.
"Let's see where this goes," James said to himself and headed into the forest. He fought past the undergrowth, thorny plants and all kinds of hazards, while the wind was howling. In the middle of the forest, he found a red orb entangled in thorny vines. As he got closer, the vines lashed out at him and cut his face, arms, legs and torso, but he knew that he needed to get to the light. He struggled against the vines and the wind, and stretched his hand to reach the light. Just as he was about to touch it, however, he was knocked back by a powerful gust of wind.
~o~
Yang and Blake were fighting Grimm in Mantle, with Blake creating numerous clones to switch places with in order to strike Grimm from various angles, while Yang kept tanking hits and attacking the bigger Grimm. Yang uppercut the head off a Sphinx, and Blake cut several Sabyr, Beowolves and Alpha Beowolves in half. The duo stopped and looked around, but there were no more Grimm.
"Looks like we're done," Yang said.
"No," Blake said.
"What do you mean?" Yang asked.
"It's quiet," Blake answered, "Too quiet." Suddenly, one of her cat ears twitched and she switched places with an ice-dust clone just as Tock charged at her. Tyrian charged at Yang, using his semblance to try and disrupt her aura. Yang held her right arm to block and Tyrian stung her after disrupting her aura. Tock broke free of the ice, activated her semblance and started her stop watch.
"Enjoy the next sixty seconds," Tock said, "They'll be yer last."
"Don't worry," Tyrian said, "We'll be happy to work overtime." He cackled and both attacked Yang and Blake.
"Don't mind us," Blake said and kept Tock at a distance with her shadow clones, waiting for her invulnerability to run out.
"Yeah, go and take a night off or something," Yang said and blocked Tyrian's attacks, building up energy for a counter strike. Blake ducked under one of Tock's strikes and switched places with a fire-dust clone. Tyrian drove Yang back with relentless attacks. Tock kept chasing Blake around the battle field, trying to land a hit. Her stop watch rang and she stopped. Just as Yang was about to hit Tyrian with all the energy she had gathered, Tyrian jumped away and pulled Blake into the line of fire. Instead of stopping, however, Yang pulled through with her attack. In the last moment, Blake used a strand of her hair stuck to one of Tock's weapons to create a clone next to her, and switched places with the clone and Tock. Tock created a hard-light barrier to protect herself and was hurled into the side of a building.
"No!" Tyrian called out, ran over to Tock, lifted her up a little and said, "Come on, don't leave me. We'll make it back home, just stay awake. Don't close your eyes now, you hear me?" Yang and Blake watched from a distance, and they even saw tears fall from Tyrian's cheeks, even though he didn't seem to know how to react to that and just let them fall.
"That's oddly… sad," Yang said, "I mean, that's the last thing I would've expected to happen."
"Don't worry," Tock said, "I'm fine." She gently pushed Tyrian away and got back up.
"I… have an idea," Yang said, "Mostly because of how well they get along."
"How stupid is it?" Blake asked and slightly tilted her head.
"Like leaving Nora alone with pancakes," Yang answered, and Blake chuckled a bit.
"So, the usual," Blake said.
"Yep," Yang said.
"You!" Tyrian shouted, staring at Yang, "You'll pay for this!" Blake created a shadow clone between Tock and Tyrian, grabbed both of their wrists and initiated a forced fusion between all three. Just as the fusion was about to fully form, Blake jumped out of it and returned to Yang's side, where she fused with her friend. Bumblebee had magenta eyes and wore beige boots with black leather straps around the shaft, black pants with padded knees, and a beige cat suit under a black tailcoat with golden accents under a dark brown crop jacket with black belt straps on the upper arms. She also wore golden armor plating on her right arm and a black fingerless glove on her left hand. Her hair was still as long as Yang's, and shifted from straight and golden to black and curly, giving it the appearance of smoke, and mostly covered her small dragon wings.
"Check me out," Bumblebee said, looking down on her self and bending to see just how cool she looked now.
"What is this?" The other fusion asked, "What have you done to us? Who am I? Tock, or Tyrian?" The other fusion had orange eyes and long brown hair styled to resemble a scorpion's tail, and wore dark brown boots, dark green, knee-long pants held by a black leather belt, and a dark gray striped shirt under an open brown leather jacket. They had crocodile scales and a scorpion tail, as well as metal teeth, and looked down at themselves in confusion.
"You're both, and neither," Bumblebee answered, "You're a fusion. Equal parts Tock and Tyrian. Yang figured you two worked well enough together to give it a try, and Blake agreed. Now, let's see how strong you are, and if I can finally go all out. And since one half of you is undead, I think a fitting name for you would be Lich."
"Lich?" Lich asked.
"Yeah," Bumblebee answered, "Fictional creatures, often seen in fantasy settings, which are very powerful undead and often times also have necromancy and similar powers."
"I see," Lich said, "Let's dance, then." They cackled maniacally and readied their weapons, wrist-mounted bladed tonfas with guns hidden in them. Lich charged at Bumblebee and tried to hit her with their left fist. Bumblebee dodged the attack and Lich spun around to kick her against a building. Lich dashed towards Bumblebee and jammed their weapons into the wall beside the fusion, smiling at her, with their faces less than a finger's length apart. Bumblebee grabbed Lich's arms and used her semblance and maiden powers to bring the two of them somewhere else.
~o~
Bumblebee pushed Lich away from herself and landed on a large root, whereas Lich fell into the water.
"A mangrove swamp?" Bumblebee asked, looking at a point only she could see, "Really?"
"Who are you talking to?" Lich asked and jumped at Bumblebee. They had a suit of hard-light armor resembling a crocodile and tried to bite Bumblebee. Bumblebee jumped away in the last moment and shot a ball of black fire at Lich as distraction for a strategical retreat. Lich blocked the attack by forming a shield on their right forearm. They looked around, but couldn't find Bumblebee, so they walked back into the water.
"They have the home-field advantage," Bumblebee said to herself as she flew through the forest on a magical fire tornado. She landed on a large cluster of roots and looked around. Suddenly, thick fog began covering the ground and Bumblebee had to rely on Blake's enhanced hearing to detect movements. An astral wolf resembling the ones Lux made with their semblance charged at Bumblebee. She punched it to pieces in one hit, but the rest of the pack had already found her.
"Thanks for the tip with the necromancy," Lich's voice echoed through the air, and Bumblebee fought off the enemies. After killing several dozen spectral wolves, Bumblebee fled from the endless horde of enemies and tried thinking of a new strategy.
"You have got to be kidding me," Bumblebee said and asked, "Necromancy? Really? What's next, poison gas?" As she was flying over the river to be safe, a burst of water hit her in the face and slightly startled her, more from how unexpected it was, and less from how powerful it was. After a few more shots hit her, and started to disrupt her concentration, Bumblebee put up a barrier and looked around, spotting several archer fish made from yellow energy.
"Too bad I can only summon what I killed," Lich said from their hiding spot, "If it was anything either Tock or Tyrian had killed, it'd be much more fun now." Bumblebee landed on a patch of land and caught her breath, when Lich walked out of the water on a stair that grew out of the roots in front of them.
"What? How?" Bumblebee asked.
"Dust-infused scales," Lich answered, "And thanks for the tip earlier." Their tail started glowing milky white and they created a swarm of purple mosquitoes that attacked Bumblebee. As soon as the mosquitoes made contact, they exploded into puffs of purple gas that burned in Bumblebee's eyes, nose and throat. Lich kicked Bumblebee backwards and Bumblebee was forced to run away, coughing and with tears in her eyes.
"Today is really not my day," Bumblebee said and stopped by a pile of large scales with various metallic colors. She looked up and saw Ilia, as well as a few other faunus, standing around and loading crates of the scales into a Mistral airship.
"Wait, what is going on?" Ilia asked, "Yang, Blake, is that you?"
"Kind of," Bumblebee answered, "Everyone, run!"
"No," Ilia said confidently, and gave the rest of the group a nod to go ahead without her.
"But it's dangerous," Bumblebee said.
"So?" Ilia asked and said, "I'm not running away. Tell me what I can do to help."
"Alright, come here," Bumblebee said, hugged Ilia and drew her into the fusion. Lich came onto the clearing and saw the new fusion, a woman with long golden hair tied into a ponytail that curled and turned black at the end, purple eyes, chameleon scales, cat ears and dragon wings. The new fusion, Wasp, wore ankle-high black boots, black cargo shorts, a black vest with golden zippers, which was partly open to reveal her midriff, and had some golden armor plating on her right arm.
"Well, someone got lazy," Wasp said as she looked at herself, and asked, "So, where's my weapon?"
"H- how are you doing that?" Lich asked, "And who are you talking to?" Wasp looked at Lich and realized that her head was next to her hip, with her neck stretching around her body like it was made of rubber. She made her neck return to normal.
"Guess that's my weapon," Wasp said and, mostly with Yang's voice, asked, "Also, what other parts of me do you guess I can stretch?" Her spots turned bright pink, and the rest of her skin took on a slight green hue.
"Can you two please keep it together for five minutes?" Wasp asked with Blake's voice being most prominent. Lich dashed forward and punched Wasp in the face. Wasp's head shot back, but her arms wrapped around Lich. When her head stopped accelerating, Wasp created a thick layer of dark blue ice on her forehead and had her head slam into Lich's face, letting go of Lich after the impact. Lich stumbled backwards and summoned a tiger made from light purple fog. It collided with Wasp and exploded into a cloud of poisonous gas, and Wasp started coughing on reflex. After a short moment, she realized that she was actually fine and stopped coughing.
"Wait a minute," Wasp said, with Ilia's voice being most prominent, and asked, "Are you part bulwark scorpion?"
"I- maybe," Lich answered, genuinely confused, and asked, "Why?"
"Ilia is part Vacuo desert chameleon," Wasp answered, "They're immune to most scorpion toxins, and through Argent's training, Ilia's aura gives her an immunity to that kind of toxin."
"Now that's just cheating," Lich said.
"No, skill," Wasp said, with Yang's voice being most prominent. Suddenly, Lich made a cluster of roots grow out of the ground and trap Wasp.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have some summons to collect," Lich said, cackled and walked away.
"What now?" Blake asked mentally.
"Well, we could probably blast our way out," Yang answered.
"I have a better idea," Ilia said. Wasp stretched her body through the roots and forced it into the ground, sensing Lich's movements through her seismic sense. Oddly enough, she also sensed petrified Grimm where there weren't any the previous day. Just as Lich reached the end of the swamp and was about to dive into the ocean, Wasp burrowed out of the muddy ground underneath the roots and rose to the surface in a force field. Lich stepped back in surprise and Wasp landed on the roots. She clenched her fists and slammed them together, and her arms bloated up as the shockwave visually traveled to her fists, collided with itself and her arms bounced back to normal.
"Wh- what is that?" Lich asked as Wasp began glowing red, with the water evaporating off her skin.
"A new trick I saw someone else pull off," Wasp answered, "Normally increasing my blood pressure that much would kill me, but since I'm made from rubber, I'll be fine."
"You stole a fighting style?" Lich asked.
"It's not piracy if you pirate it off of a pirate," Wasp answered, "Now, let's see if you can keep up." She suddenly appeared next to Lich, and before they knew what was happening, Wasp had punched them through several trees. Lich got back up, only to take a foot to the metal teeth and go down a few hundred meters further away again. They looked up and saw a small figure in front of the sun. Seconds later, Lich felt dozens of fists hitting them so quickly that it was impossible to tell in which order each attack connected. After the last hit, their aura broke and they split up again, and Wasp landed beside Tock and Tyrian. Wasp's blood pressure returned to normal and she stopped glowing and steaming.
"Come on, finish what you started," Tyrian said.
"Yeah, we're ready," Tock said.
"You guys… yeah, you have serious issues," Wasp said, "Just because you lost once doesn't mean you're worthless. No, I won't kill you. I'll let you go, so you can work on your teamwork, and on fusing, and when you're stronger, we can fight again. It was actually kind of fun."
"How can it be fun?" Tyrian asked.
"Noone died," Tock said.
"Whatever, I tried," Wasp said and knocked them both out. She went back to the line between the ocean and swamp and split up into Yang, Blake and Ilia again.
"That was… an interesting experience," Ilia said, looked down at herself and tried to stretch her limbs.
"It sure was," Blake said.
"But, where did we learn to do that thing we did?" Ilia asked.
"I don't know," Blake answered.
"But we said we saw someone do it," Ilia said and asked, "Do either of you know anyone who did this?"
"Nope," Yang answered.
"No," Blake answered and said, "But I guess it's best not to over-think this. Fusions between powerful magic-users can be a bit weird, mentally speaking, but I doubt there will be any long-lasting effects."
"You mean they're insane?" Ilia asked, "As in, our fusion's subconscious tried telling us how we can use her semblance, so we saw someone we thought we knew?"
"Maybe," Blake answered, "But like I said, it's best not to think about it too much. We won, they're harmless, everything is fine."
"Except you're stranded on Anima," Ilia said, "By the way, nice outfits you two."
"Thanks," Blake said.
"Yeah, thanks," Yang said, "And don't worry about us. I can arrange something to get us back to Atlas." She walked around a tree, turned into her dragon form while she was out of sight, and looked at Blake, waiting for her to get on.
"Wait, what's that?" Ilia asked.
"A little secret," Blake answered with a smile, then asked, "Anyway, what was with those scale piles?"
"They're for the turrets," Ilia answered, "I'm using my semblance to make some underground-living creatures bring their metal-rich scales there, so we can use them as material for the turrets used to protect trade routes."
"I see," Blake said, "Great idea."
"Thanks," Ilia said, "Anyway, goodbye you two." Yang rumbled a bit.
"One more thing," Blake said, "Yang wants to know how things are looking in Argus, and with Grimm attacks here in general."
"Argus is safe," Ilia said, "There is a bit of a health issue since the rats died in an explosion, but someone is making an army of clay soldiers to keep the Grimm away while the military helps the hospital staff treat the sick. And thanks to the turrets, Grimm attacks are decreasing steadily."
"That's good," Blake said, "But we got to go now, see you." She got on the saddle on Yang's back, and Yang flew away. Ilia stayed a bit and waved at them until she could no longer see them, and then some more, before she returned to her job in the swamp.
Author's note: Yang is the master of stupid ideas. But at least Clover survived the night in this timeline.
Rondra is named after the Goddess of War from The Dark Eye, which is basically a low fantasy version of DnD from Germany. In the game, her whole thing is honor in combat, so no ranged attacks, no stealth, no armed attacks against unarmed opponents, etc.
The fusion is somewhat similar. Her semblance is called Honorguard, and despite being named after a spell from Huntik: Secrets and Seekers, its function has nothing to do with it. The semblance is passive and protects the user against unfair tactics, such as ambushes, poisons, or being outnumbered. Basically, the user's offensive and defensive capabilities get multiplied by the number of enemies they and their allies are facing. So, if Marrow fought two enemies on his own, he'd only take half damage, but deal double. There is no upper cap for this. However, if all 5 Ace-Ops fought a single enemy, this would backfire, and Marrow would take 5 times as much damage, while only dealing a fifth of the usual damage himself. You know, to keep it fair.
The realization Harriet had in this chapter is called Sonder. Basically, the revelation that everyone has a life as unique and complex as your own. I feel like that is the most important thing for any huntsman to internalize, because now, Harriet has a really good reason not to let any of those people die. They're not numbers in a statistic, they're living beings, just like her. And none of them can truly be replaced.