The Reviews!
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Reader: Unfortunately no, but that would've been really freaking cool!
Phantom117a (1/2): Thank you and ah, I should've known it was Gilgamesh you were talking about
X3runner: Flynt is one of my favorite characters in vol.3 and I also like the same schtick sometimes cuz it's always a bit funny in my head
Phantom117a (2/2): Listen to "Son of man" and I can see why you'd choose that, but to me, Jaune's theme is the new remix of "Number one" from bleach's TYBW
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Up in Atlas, specifically Atlas Academy, Winter was on call With Ironwood. "Sir, we are searching everywhere we can for Hades as well as the three others that attacked Beacon academy, however, we still have nothing sir," Winter replied.
Ironwood sighed over the other end, [I was hoping to find him already, but it seems he still knows his way around the kingdom,] Ironwood said, [But, I do have some good news, we may have some idea on his motives for taking Penny,] Ironwood told her.
"You know his motives, sir?" Winter asked, "How?"
[Well it's just a suspicion, but before he left and stepped down as General, Hades talked about building an army of Androids that could protect Atlas in case of another war, but the tech wasn't as advanced as it was now, and somehow, he knows about Ms. Polendina and he thinks that with her, he thinks that he may be able to create the army he needs,] Ironwood told her.
"But sir, does he even know anything about our new advanced Tech?" Winter asked with a raised brow.
[He did back then, but I'm sure he knows little now, so he'll need help, however, there is only one person who really knows Ms. Polendina...] Ironwood began.
Winter realized what the general was hinting at, "Dr. Polendina," Winter said. "Hades will be going after him in order to understand how she functions," Winter said.
[Indeed] Ironwood told her, [So I need you to inform him of what has happened and put some soldiers on him to keep him safe, Hades can not get his hands on him, understood Specialist?] Ironwood asked her.
Winter nodded, "You can count on me, sir," Winter told him.
[I know I can] Ironwood said, [Ah, I should also inform you that a Bullhead was stolen just last night, and the ones who stole it are Ms. Soleil, Mr. Arc, Ms. Katt, and Mr. Visilias, who are on their way to Atlas no doubt,] Ironwood told her.
Winter was confused by the information, "Why are the four of them coming here?" She asked.
[Three of the four of them were attacked by Hades and were there when Ms. Polendina was taken,] Ironwood told her, [I think that they want to take on Hades and rescue Ms. Polendina, but this is none of their concern, they are to be arrested and brought back to Vale, where Ozpin will deal with them,]
Winter nodded once again, "Understood sir, when they show up, they shall be dealt with," Winter told him.
[I'll let you go now, Specialist, be safe,] Ironwood told her.
"You too, sir," Winter said before ending the call.
Once the call was over, Winter looked through her contacts and her eyes landed on a contact that she knew was free and one who was just as powerful as her. She clicked on it and put the scroll to her ear as it rang before being picked up.
[Winter, been too long!] came the voice on the other end, [What can I help you with?]
Winter smiled, "Hello Elm, I was wondering if you'd like to help me with a very important Mission, are you free?" Winter asked.
[You kidding?] Elm asked, a humorous tone in her voice, [The rest of the team is on different missions, and I'm the only one that's free, so you bet I'm up to help you with whatever mission you got!]
Winter smiled, "Thank you, meet me at the front of the academy and we'll head down to Mantle," Winter said before ending the call.
As she walked away, Winter swore that while Ironwood was in Vale, she was going to protect Atlas, it was her job and her mission, and she would deal with both Hades and the three rouge students, and nothing was going to stand in her way.
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On the stolen Bullhead, Ciel and Neon were in the pilot's seats, while Jaune and Neptune were in the back, but with them nearing Mantle's port, Jaune went to the front and looked at Ciel with a bit of confusion.
"Why aren't we landing up in Atlas?" Jaune asked.
Ciel looked at him with a smile, "Because, by now, General Ironwood will know that the four of has have left, so he'll have his best soldiers waiting up at Atlas's port to arrest us, but I doubt they'll expect us to land in Mantle," Ciel said, "We land here, they won't suspect a thing," Ciel said.
"Uh, guys..." Neon called and pointed to the cockpit window.
Jaune and Ciel turned to look out the window, and even Neptune came up and looked out the window, and as they landed, waiting and surrounding the port were Atlas Soldiers, but to their surprise, Winter along with a very tall and muscular woman, with a large Hammer stood and waiting for them.
Neon and Ciel looked in shock as they saw the two women.
"Y-You've gotta be kidding me!" Neon cried, "Specialist Schnee and Ederne!"
Jaune looked at the two, "I've met Winter before, but that other woman, I've never met," Jaune said.
Ciel glared at the two women from her seat, "That's Specialist Elm Ederne, one of the top specialists in the kingdom and a member of the Ace-Ops, the best of the best in the entire kingdom, no one's ever beaten her, and with Specialist Schnee... Our chances of getting out of here without being arrested are zero," Ciel told Jaune.
Neptune chuckled, "I don't know about Zero, Jaune's faced that Winter chick before and was getting close to Winning," Neptune told her.
Ciel turned to Jaune with a raised brow, "You fought Specialist Schnee?"
Jaune nodded, "Long story, but yeah, and I might have a way to keep up with her... but I don't know if I can really use it," Jaune replied.
Neon then looked at them both, "Don't mean to interrupt but we should head out there because if we don't, they'll come in here and we'll be trapped!" Neon cried.
"Right," Ciel said, "We need a plan,"
Jaune nodded, "First we need to get rid of the small fries, then, we should split up and try to escape," Jaune said.
Ciel nodded in agreement, "Good idea, if we fight they'll outlast us, our job is to escape, regroup and find Hades,"
Neon nodded and stood up, "Got it! Escape!" Neon cried as she ran out of the bullhead.
As Neon ran out of the Bullhead, she used her speed to knock over a few of the Atlas soldiers, before trying to escape, however, Elm was up above her with her hammer ready to strike the young Faunus.
"Too slow kid!" Elm said with a smile.
Neon stopped herself hoping to dodge the hammer, but appearing before both of their eyes was Jaune with his shield raised. Jaune managed to block Elm's swing before she pulled her hammer back and rested it on her shoulder as she looked at the blonde.
Elm chuckled, "You have to be Jaune Arc, right?" Elm asked, "Winter said I had to be careful around you and I gotta say you were right, You took a hot from my hammer, something that's able to kill a Megoliath!"
However, Jaune didn't reply as in the blink of an eye, Jaune appeared right in front of her and swung at her, catching her off guard and actually hitting her, causing Elm to stagger back in surprise, Jaune used her shock to push his Aura into Crocea Mors and unleashed a close ranged Arcus Mortis and it flew straight at her. Elm quickly dodged the attack, but then Jaune appeared next to her and quickly unleashed a fury of slashes, but Elm managed to block most of the strikes.
Elm couldn't help but smile as she and Jaune fought, 'Winter said this kid was something else, but I can't believe this! He's able to tank my attacks and move faster than I can keep up with! Hell, he might give Harriet a run for her money!' Elm thought 'How is it that a 1st-year student of Beacon academy is this strong!?'
Meanwhile, Neptune and Ciel dealt with the soldiers quickly, knocking them out with their weapons, and just as they were finishing knocking out the last of the soldiers, a murder of small Nevermores flew at them and managed to strike both of them before disappearing. They turned to see Winter looking at them with her Sword drawn.
Winter's glare was directed toward Ciel, "Ms. Soleil, you are a soldier of Atlas, what you are doing here is treason,"
Ciel glared back at Winter, "No, I'm doing what I swore to do," Ciel rebutted, "I am doing my duty!"
Winter's glare remained and then she sighed, "I was hoping that you'd make this easy for the both of us," Winter told her.
Ciel didn't answer, but her hard light dust bow disappeared only for them to morph into blades that popped out from atop her wrist, and she quickly charged at Winter and swung and jabbed at her with great speed, but Winter was keeping up perfectly. Winter was so focused on keeping up with Ciel that she had failed to notice the blast of dust coming from her side until she did and he popped out her hidden weapon from her sword and summoned a glyph to block the attack, which she did successfully, but she failed to notice Neptune coming from behind her and jabbed her with his trident.
Neptune managed to shock her and at the same time, Ciel managed to slash her across the rib, before both quickly kicked her away, Winter was sent backward but she quickly summoned her glyphs to regain her footing before skating backward, and she stood up and the glyphs under her feet disappeared, and she glared at the two. She summoned four light blue glyphs and then millions of shards of Ice shot at the two, but they quickly ran away to avoid the large-scale attack.
Ciel and Neptune backed up only to bump back with Neon and Jaune.
Ciel looked at Jaune, "How are you two faring?" she asked.
Jaune looked back at her, taking a few breaths, "So far... good," Jaune replied, "She's a heavy hitter and she's able to keep up with most of my attacks, what about you?"
"Specialist Schnee's Glyphs are troublesome, she can shoot ice, stop people in their tracks, speed up her own time-space, and summon Grimm she's slain," Ciel replied.
Neon groaned, "We can't let this go on!" she cried, "We can't deal with two Specialists who are S-Class ranked Huntsmen as well!"
"Then we need to split up and regroup later," Neptune said.
"But how, both of them are able to keep up with us!" Neon said.
They all quickly tried to come up with ideas as the two specialists closed in, however, Jaune realized what he needed to do, and so he groaned. "When I say run, run," Jaune told the other three.
Neptune looked at him confusedly, "Jaune?" he asked.
"Just do it," Jaune told him. 'Favnear, help me out here, give me some of your power!' Jaune said in his head.
Suddenly Jaune raised his sword and pointed it at Elm, before he turned and aimed his hand at Winter, his hand was held out as if he was holding a small ball. However, what the 3 noticed was that a black and red Aura was clearly shown around his hands.
"Jaune is that..!?" Neptune asked with a worried voice.
Neon just looked in shock and the duel aura colors from around his hands, not knowing what was happening.
Ciel also looked with shock, but then it turned to interest, 'What is that?' She asked herself, 'His aura is white, but those are two different aura colors... what is going on?'
Suddenly, black and red balls of energy materialized in Jaune's hands, and seeing that familiar attack, Winter knew what was next, and her eyes widened with shock, but she turned to look at Elm. "Elm! Back away now!" Winter cried.
Elm listened to Winter and the two specialists jumped back, just as Jaune fired the two Kuros at the two, and they struck the ground in front of the two older women and exploded, blinding them while also causing them to recoil from any attempts of attacking the four.
"Run!" Jaune cried in a harsh whisper.
The four quickly split up and ran in opposite directions, as the smoke cleared and Winter looked around only to see the four had run away. "Tsk! They escaped!" Winter said angrily.
Over an earpiece, a voice came in, [Specialist Schnee! Specialist Schnee! Are you there!?] Came a male soldier's voice.
Winter pressed on her earpiece, "I'm here, what is it?" She asked sternly
[We have bad news ma'am!] they told her [Dr. Polendina's lab was attacked and on fire, and all the soldiers on protection are dead!]
Hearing this, Winter's eyes widened with fear, "What about the Doctor!? Is he ok!?" Winter asked with fear.
[I... I'm sorry Ma'am...] they began, [But he was taken...]
Winter's fear became reality and she growled in anger, "I'll be right there! No one touches the scene until I get there!" Winter cried. She then turned to Elm, "Find them, Elm! They can't get away!" She told her.
Elm nodded, "Got it, Winter," She said, "You want me to bring them to you when I find them?" Elm asked.
Winter nodded, "Yes," Winter said, "Now I have to head to the lab and look through the crime scene, not only that, I'll have to inform the general about my failure," Winter said before sighing.
Unbeknownst to the two, Ciel had taken one of the Soldier's earpieces and overheard the radio conversation as she continued to run and blend in with the city. The young Atlas student now knew that things just went from bad to worse. Hades now had Penny's father, and she needed to inform the others, but the question on her mind was why did Hades need Penny's father? What was Hades up to? All these Questions swirled in her mind as she stopped running and took a few deep breaths, she then pulled out her scroll and dialed up the other 3 students.
[Ciel?] Neptune asked.
[You're already clear?] Neon asked.
[You ok?] Jaune asked.
Ciel nodded, "I'm fine, don't worry," She replied, "Listen, I managed to take an earpiece from one of the unconscious soldiers and I overheard another soldier informing Specialist Schnee about some bad news, that also affects us," She told them.
[What is it?] Neptune asked.
"Dr. Polendina's lab was attacked," Ciel told them "He's Penny's father and it looks like Hades was the one to take him," Ciel finished.
[What!? NO!] Neon cried
[Damn it! What do we do now!?] Neptune asked.
"I don't know but now we got the Atlas Military looking for us," Ciel said, "We need to stay separated for the rest of the day, meanwhile, look for a place to rest and I'll look for a place to regroup tomorrow, so for now, lay low, understood?" Ciel asked them.
[Got it!] Neptune said.
[Roger that!] Neon replied.
[Yeah... got it] Jaune replied with a low tone.
Ciel nodded and then hung up before walking away and trying to hide in the crowd of people walking along the streets.
Meanwhile, in a different part of the City, Jaune hid in an alleyway and sat next to a large dumpster, and let out a sigh.
"I know how this must bug you, Jaune," Favnear said in his head.
Jaune nodded, "I let her down Favnear... I let that bastard get away with Penny and now he has her father! Hades... Hades managed to beat me without even trying... He wanted me to feel despair and that's what I'm feeling... I lost... I failed," Jaune told him.
Favnear didn't respond right away, but then he remembered what happened and an Idea came to the Grimm. "Jaune... You asked me for some power earlier, what if I told you I can lend you some more of my power that will give you a boost and we might just stand a chance against Hades," Favnear told him.
Jaune's interest was piqued and he raised a brow at what Favnear told him, "What do you mean?" Jaune asked.
"Listen to me, I can give you some of my power and as I said, it might just give you a boost that will give us an edge when fighting Hades," Favnear responded.
Jaune thought about it and nodded, "Alright, what do I have to do?" Jaune asked.
"First, find someplace to rest, and when you're asleep, I'll bring you into your soul and tell you how to summon my power and how to actually use the Kuro, and when I'm finished, and force you awake, and you try to manifest my power outside of your power," Favnear told him, "But be warned, there might be a time limit on how long you can use it, so we'll have to train with summoning my power longer at a later date," Favnear finished.
Jaune nodded in agreement, "If it'll help us kick that bastard's ass then you bet, let's do it!" Jaune said with a smirk.
With Jaune's agreement to Favnear's plan, he got up and left the alley before looking for a place to rest and train with Favnear in order to summon the Grimm's powers.
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In Hades's hideout, Dr. Pietro Polendina, the father of Penny was thrown into a chair, his lip busted and he turned to look at Hades, with Erick and Bella standing behind him.
"H-Hades... I should have known it were you!" Pietro said with an angry tone, "Y-You're the one that took my little girl!" Pietro cried.
Hades just looked the Pietro with a blank expression, "I need your help, Pietro," Hades told him.
"I refuse!" Pietro cried.
Hades then delivered a kick to the older man's face and Pietro was knocked out of the wheelchair and onto the ground. Pietro spat up some blood and used his hands to push himself up off the floor, but Hades grabbed him by his cheeks and Hades pulled him close, with a furious expression now on his face.
"Listen to me you old fool, that "little girl" of yours is essential to my plans to save this kingdom and this world!" Hades said, "I demand you tell me everything you can on how you made the Penny unit so that I may replicate the process to build the army that I need! SO YOU WILL DO AS I SAY OR I WILL RIP YOUR PRECIOUS "DAUGHTER" LIMB FROM LIMB! Am. I. Clear?" Hades asked.
Pietro looked at Hades, still glaring at Hades.
"AM I CLEAR!?" Hades cried once more.
Pietro still glared but nodded slowly, and with that nod, Hades let go of his face, and he turned to Bella and Erick and told them to put him back in his wheelchair and bring him to Penny, which they did as he told, and then wheeled him to another room, where Penny was still strapped down.
Pietro looked over his unconscious daughter and a sad expression formed on his face. "Oh, sweetie... what has he done to you?" He asked as he caressed his daughter's hair.
Erick grabbed his hand and looked down at the doctor, "Less of whatever this is Doctor, get to what General Hades asked of you," Erick told him.
Pietro glared at him, "How can you follow that man!?" Pietro shouted, "How can you do this to a little girl!? Do you people have no heart!" He cried.
"Hearts are for hippies," Bella chimed in. "We're soldiers, Dr. Polendina, we follow orders no matter what,"
Erick nodded in agreement, "This is for the betterment of human and Faunus kind," Erick told him, "You may not agree with what we've done, but we don't care, you and everyone else, just can't see the bigger picture,"
Pietro growled at them, "And what bigger picture is that!?" Pietro asked.
Erick and Bella stayed quiet and Erick just told him to get to work or he'll fulfill the threat that Hades told the old man, and reluctantly, Pietro did as he told, looking over her blueprints and writing detailed notes about certain parts and the process of how they work. However, he was going to put off talking about the core because if Hades knew how Penny was actually made, he'd kill both of them and begin creating his army.
He needed to try and stall so that the Atlas Military could have time to find them and rescue them.
'Don't worry sweetie... Dad's here and Help is coming' Peitro spoke to himself, 'I promise, help is coming!'
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And that's it for Chapter 36! Hades now has Pietro and is possibly close to building his army! Can Jaune and the others stop him in time!? Will Jaune and the others face or continue to evade the Atlas Military!? And will Favnear's idea work and will Jaune get a boost in power!?
You'll just have to wait and see it in the next chapter! But trust me, things are going to amp up from here!
Here's what to expect from Chapter 37!:
Penny has a dream about her friends. Neptune and Weiss have a very odd first encounter as the two fight and flirt! Neon manages to find Erick, Bella, and Brian and they plan an Attack, but Winter is on the hunt and two of the students must face Winter!