Team MACE waited.
They waited endless hours and nearly went insane as each agonizing second passed by.
They waited and waited.
They were painfully aware they couldn't escape.
So they waited.
Not for their imminent doom from being picked up by Sanguine's lackies.
They waited for the Grimm.
They knew Hori was on edge. Smoke hated them. Holland's pride had taken a heavy hit. Black was annoyed to say the least. McCree couldn't stand seeing his husband upset. And Asher HATED them.
Snape was too well trained to give in to his emotions and Hawkes, well, he was too much of a gentle giant. Not that it mattered.
The four captive girls were doing the exact opposite of what they had been told their whole lives: giving into the negativity.
The Grimm would come eventually.
They couldn't escape on their own.
So team MACE waited.
Hawkes was watching them. He calmly sat while gently flipping through an old book. Every now and then he'd glance up, look at the four quiet girls and then go back to reading. This went on for some time until a bell started ringing from somewhere inside the camp. "What?" He blinked confused and quickly sat up straight. With a sigh, he closed his book and stood. "You four stay safe here." He gestured with an awkward smile before walking out.
Once the door shut behind him, Kagami smiled to herself. Shifting around, she placed her back against the metal bars and narrowed her eyes at the back wall. "Ready?"
"Yep." Kris gave a nod while moving beside her.
"As ready as I can be." Cheyenne took a deep breath and sat beside Kris.
"Let's do this. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the sand." Elise let out a chuckle as she moved beside her leader.
"Heh." Kagami eyed her with a smile before putting her attention back on the wall. Running and rumbling could be heard before something stopped and scratched.
"What do you think they are?" Cheyenne asked.
"Not sure." She shrugged back as the scratching turned into heavy thumping.
"Well they're not Ravagers. I don't hear any wings flapping." Kris smiled. "That's a plus."
"Maybe they're-" Elise cute herself off quickly as the wooden wall splintered.
Immediately on her feet, Kagami lunged while flashing her teeth.
Bursting through the wall, a Sulfur Fish clattered its teeth and lashed out with its legs.
Rather than avoiding it, the jadette shifted towards it. Using its own attacks to her advantage, she let it slice through her bindings. With free hands she reached down and, in one fluid motion, picked up a broken piece of wood and sent it into the creature with an aura enhanced thrust.
With a quiet shriek, the Grimm thrashed before going stiff and turning to smoke.
Exhaling, Kagami brushed the smoke aside while flipping the piece of wood around in her hand. "Who's ready to get out here?" She smiled while stepping over to untie her teammates.
With a hardened glare, Black calmly walked down the swarm of Grimm. Holding a double barrel shotgun, he fired shot after shot. Each of his rounds striking a Sulfur Fish and turning it to smoke. Finding himself surrounded, he gripped the handle of his weapon with both hands. With a small grunt, he broke it apart into two single barrel shotguns.
He spun around while the sound of gunfire echoed in the night. Once the last of his shells fell to the sand, he flicked his wrist. Both of his firearms straightened as a blade extended out of the barrels. He flipped the now dual swords around before swinging both in a downward strike.
Behind him, Snape watched his back from the rooftops as he fired away with his rifle. His whole body jerked with each shot.
"It is starting to look like these children are more trouble than they are worth." Hori growled quietly as he threw an endless amount of throwing knives that precisely struck the swarming Grimm down. "They have annoyed all of us to the point Grimm have been attracted to us."
"No shit!" Asher flashed him a glare. After running out of bullets in one of her revolvers, she pulled out the second and started firing. While she did that, she flipped an extra speedloader up into the air. She unloaded the empty casings and with a flick of her wrist, perfectly caught the speedloader in her revolver. Once she finished reloading, she shot the last bullet in her second revolver and started shooting with her first one again. All while reloading her second weapon.
"Shouting like that will not help." Hawkes plainly stated as he charged in with his arms out. Grabbing two of the Sulfur Fish, he spun them around and bashed them against their own kind. "Perhaps you should join me in-"
"Won't help. Gonna make her angrier now." McCree patted his back before rolling away from him and underneath a Grimm. With a grunt, he kicked it up for an arrow to go straight through it and turn it to ice. Firing a shot from his revolver, it shattered into a million pieces that fell around him. "Though I think we're all a little angry now." He pulled his hat down over his eyes before running in.
Watching from the roof, Smoke narrowed his eyes as he saw movement on the other end. With a low growl, a smokey bear formed behind him. Jumping onto another building, he fired a few more arrows before sprinting across the roofs.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Holland narrowed his eyes up at him before shooting his shotgun. The rounds made of red Dust that burst into flames. Spinning around, he fired quickly while holding the trigger down at a large group.
"Dealing with the issue." The Faunus snarled back as he jumped onto the ground. His bear followed behind him. After a few seconds of running the ground began to rumble and he skidded to a stop. He quickly looked around with a furrowed brow. "What?" His coyote ears twitched.
After reclaiming their weapons once again, team MACE slipped through the shadows while striking down Sulfur Fish that dared to cross their paths. They all remained as quiet as they could and only used blades. Not that it affected Kagami much. Cheyenne kept to her warclub, Kris used the blades of her weapons and Elise used the hidden knives within her baton.
Coming towards the edge of the camp, Kris glanced back and partially smiled at the chaos ensuing. "Think that'll keep them busy?" She slid her weapons onto her back. She and her friends were clear of the battle.
"It'll keep them busy for long enough." Kagami slid her sword onto her hip and crossed her arms. "We'll be able to get far enough away they won't be able to catch us."
"And once were in Vacuo with probably a ton of Huntsmen turned bounty hunters?" Elise raised an eyebrow.
"One problem at a time." Cheyenne eyed her.
Just then, the ground underneath their feet shook. The sands shifted as something moved under them and then around the camp. Before anything could be said, a Blind Worm burst out of the ground and straight through the mess hall. Both wood and sand flew out.
"That's... that's a really big Grimm." Elise stepped back with wide eyes.
Cheyenne agreed and slowly nodded back. "It is." She then eyed Kagami.
Gritting her teeth with her hand gripping her sword, the jadette stared up. Their plan was to draw in Grimm to distract the gang of misfits. Sulfur Fish were more annoying than a real threat to a trained Huntsman. But a Blind Worm...
Seeing the look in her leader's eyes, Kris' eyes widened. "No... no! Don't you even dare say it!" She pointed at her before pointing towards the endless sea of sand. "Vacuo is that way! Do you hear me!?"
"Kris..." Cheyenne glanced over at her.
"Kris is right." Elise suddenly said while watched the large Grimm slam its body against another building. "We should leave them. They brought this upon themselves." Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her jaw.
With wide eyes, the Faunus blinked in her direction. "Kagami?" She looked over.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled her sword from her sheath. "You can help or you can head towards the Kingdom. It's your choice." She shifted her shoulder blades. "But I'm going to help them and make sure no one dies." She glanced back before taking off sprinting. Her sword reflecting the moonlight.
Watching her, Elise closed her eyes for a second. "Why is she like this?" She quietly mumbled before running after her.
"I guess someone needs to be." Cheyenne frowned and after a bit of hesitation, she darted after her friends too.
Standing there alone, Kris blinked in disbelief. She kept thinking this had to be some kind of joke but it wasn't. Her friends had just escaped being held prisoner for the third time and they were running back towards their captors. With a sigh, she reached back and grabbed her weapons. "To hell and back." She mumbled while spinning the dual candy canes around before gripping them tight like tonfas.
"You gotta be kiddin'..." McCree trailed off with his hand on his hat at the sight of the large Grimm worm. Tucking and rolling, he barely avoided a snap from its four way mouth. When it missed him, he watched as acid spewed from its mouth. "Smoke!" He called out while tossing a flash grenade. Not that it would do much against a Blind Worm anyway. As it went off, he rolled farther away.
An array of arrows with ropes tied to them shot over the Grimm. As they lodged themselves into the ground, he ran by while shooting at them with bullets with ice Dust. The ice shards quickly formed around the arrows to help hold them in place. On the other side, Hawkes, Holland and Smoke held tightly onto the ropes. Hawkes had two in his hands. They all pulled, the Grimm shifting.
With a shriek and irritated sound, the Blind Worm suddenly started burrowing back into the sand. Within seconds, it was gone. Only a quiet rumbling underneath the ground could be heard.
"Nobody move." Black quietly let out as he put his weapon back together into a double barrel shotgun. "Snape. Got any eyes on it?"
"Looking, sir." He quietly crept around on the roof while crouched.
Taking out the last of the Sulfur Fish, Asher narrowed her eyes while quietly reloading. "I'm gonna to kill those girls." She mumbled while looking around cautiously.
The entire camp fell silent as the wind howled between buildings and tents. The top layer of sands shifted from the breeze. After a few seconds, the ground shook again.
The ground then moved underneath Asher.
With wide eyes, the fiery redhead jumped back. Her feet brushed against one of its fangs as she was forced upward along with it. Baring her teeth, she brought out two of her pistols and quickly unloaded every shot into its sole red eye. As it shrieked in pain, she landed on the ground in a backwards roll. Rather than reloading, she holstered her two revolvers and pulled out her third.
"Turn to smoke why don't ya?!" She shouted while firing. The bullets from this gun exploded in fire. Backing away, she reloaded it quickly as the Grimm towered over her. With a shout, she went to fire again only for her weapon to jam. With wide eyes, she glanced at it before up at the Blind Worm. She slid it away and took another step back while reaching for one of her others to reload. But not even she could reload that faster. She was the fastest gunslinger in all of the wastelands but she wasn't even fast enough here.
As the Blind Worm lunged towards her, a shadow shifted in the darkness of night. Then, moonlight glinted against a blade. With a shout, Kagami came down with her sword above her head. The blade sliced through one of the smaller fangs with a bit of trouble.
She landed on the ground and slid a foot back. Flipping her sword into a reverse grip, she held it up and blocked the acid that the Grimm spat out. With her sword dripping in green goo that made the sand sizzle, she jumped back up and brought it down against one of its larger fangs. This time, it went through a little easier thanks to the acid spit.
As it retreated in pain, Kagami glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Asher. The two of them silently glared for a second. Eventually, Asher let out a few ragged breaths and looked around. She scoffed as she quickly reloaded and unjammed all her revolvers. "Fuck off." She muttered before running past her and towards her fathers.
Scoffing back, Kagami placed a hand on her hip. "You're welcome." She couldn't help but flash a smile as her team caught up with her.
It was time to kill the horrendous creature of darkness.
Don't know why but the past month, despite wanting to, I haven't written any at all. Don't know what's up. But here we are. And on a day that deserves to have some creativity done.
Happy birthday, Monty.