It was finally time for Walker to leave the tank and he took a few breaths in preparation as the fluid started to drain. As soon as the air met his skin, his body was sent into a cold chill and he shivered. The door opened and he crashed to his knees, coughing and breathing harshly while the others crowded around him. He gripped the helmet and tugged at it, managing to rip it off shortly after.
The tubes in his arms sprang out and hissed as the air escaped them, some had nutrients spilling from the tips and he didn't even notice them. He breathed harshly and held his hand up when they went to assist him. They stopped and he sat on one of the steps in front of the tank, steadying his breathing and leaning forward, hiding his face. The cold feeling that nipped at his skin was ignored and it was silent for the most part.
A few of the Tech-Heads approached him and bowed down on their knees. On a blue pillow was his repaired golden helmet; a vertical gash was seen in the right eye from when Scorn dealt the devastating blow. They had repaired it, but signs of the damage was still there and he was grateful they put forth the effort to fix something so dear to him.
He was handed a dark grey shirt and pair of pants. His fingers curled against the clothing and he pulled it towards him, putting it on easily and grabbing his helmet. He brushed his thumb against it and the golden material gleamed against the light. It was flipped around and he stared inside it before putting it over his head.
They all watched the helmet lights illuminate with a dull hum and he rolled his neck around several times. A dull crack was faintly heard and he sighed in relief before stretching his body and sighing in relief some more when his back and shoulders popped. For the next several minutes, he just did little exercises to get himself started and used to using his body again.
He thanked everyone for keeping him alive and was helped out of the Metal Throne building. He looked back to see some of the others cleaning up and nodded in appreciation before stepping outside of the building and shielding his eyes from the brightness of the sun. Once his eyes were adjusted, he spotted an SUV and climbed in the back, seeing the chauffer in the driver's seat.
"Welcome back, Lord Commander." He greeted.
"Thank you." Walker nodded and got a bit more comfortable.
"What's the first destination you have in mind?" The driver asked.
"The Medical Platform, I still need to get checked up on by them." Walker answered and he looked out the window. He saw how much the base had seemed to expand while he was unconscious and saw that there was more people as well. Some were taking the tram system that took them to their destination, some took bikes and a few cars, and others simply walked.
"You've been out for a while. We recently got a new platform for agriculture." The driver said.
"I can see." Walker responded. He knew because he's been awake for the last several days to a week and a half, getting caught up on everything.
The driver seemed to be delighted that Walker was finally awake, because apparently his recent customers have been a bit boring. It got a small laugh from Walker as he continued to look out the window. The trip stretched into several minutes and Walker grabbed the nearby tablet, turning it on and watching as it booted up.
He tapped a few things and approved others before setting it down when the arrived at the hospital. The vehicle was parked and he stepped out before walking inside the building and stepping into the waiting room. Everyone froze when they saw him up and were about to rush towards him, but he simply told them to continue on with their day as usual.
There was an opening at the front desk and he took it before grabbing the clipboard and filling out the necessary paperwork before handing it back. He sat down in his seat again and let out a breath and leaned back.
Squeaking from a wheelchair made him look ahead to see a father rolling his daughter in it. She had tubes connecting to her nose while an oxygen tank attached to the back of her wheelchair. The two stopped next to him and the father sat down, rubbing his face stressfully.
"Hello." She greeted.
"Good morning." Walker greeted back.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked curiously and Walker could hear her slightly labored breathing. It always made him uncomfortable when he saw kids like this; seeing them in this condition made him constantly think about Ajay when he would get sick.
"Nothing serious. What about you?" He asked.
"I have pneumonia and it's hard to breath sometimes." She answered and let out a small cough.
"You should take it easy." Her father said as he stood up.
"Daddy, I'm okay." She said as she smiled. Her father smiled back but Walker could see the pain in his eyes. He watched as the father pushed her towards the play area with the other children before sitting back down and rubbing his face.
"How'd she get pneumonia?" Walker asked out of the blue.
"What?" The father asked.
"How'd she get pneumonia?" Walker repeated as he crossed his leg over his knee and looked at everyone in the hospital.
"We're... refugees from Atlas. She must have gotten it from our way over." The father answered.
"Hmm." Walker hummed in understanding. There were people that looked lost and didn't know their way around the base like others.
"They said her condition's gotten worse and she might have to get surgery. I came here because people told me it was easier to live here, that we'd be safe from everything and... and..." The father trailed off as he rubbed his face some more.
"Nothing here is easy. You put in work and earn your stay here, that's how its always been and will always be. What can you do?" Walker asked.
"What does this have to do with anything?" The father asked.
"Answer the question." Walker said instantly.
"I... was a journalist. There's not much here that I can do." The father answered.
"There's always people at the news station who are in need of someone. I'd check there if I were you." Walker said. He glanced at the father when the man was given a clipboard. The girl apparently needed surgery and the father's face paled.
"Why is it this much?" The father clenched the clipboard.
"..." Walker glanced at the price and did wonder why it was that much, but he just stood up and walked to the counter. He tapped it and got the receptionist's attention before he started to pull some strings. Due to his position, he simply paid for the surgery and headed towards the room to get his check up.
He didn't even wait around to see the surgery being approved and the look of shock and relief on the man's face when he heard his daughter was receiving treatment. There wasn't really a reason as to why Walker did it, he just felt like it and he had too much money sitting around anyways. He earned more than enough to set him up for a lifetime and something like this barely made a dent in his pocket, not to mention it would earn the loyalty of another person.
Nothing wrong with spreading a little good every once in a while.
Walker stepped into his apartment and immediately headed to the bathroom and took his helmet off. It had been several days since he got out of the tank and he was finally glad to be moving around again. When he looked in the mirror, he saw that he had grown a lot of facial hair and it had an unkempt appearance. He rubbed his face a bit and grabbed the clippers and turned it on. The device buzzed in his hand as he started to cut the hair that had grown over the past several months.
While he would've liked to keep some of it, it was too unkempt for his tastes and it needed to go. Small clumps of facial hair fell into the sink as he continued to cut it down for the next few minutes, switching the device off and opening his medicine cabinet to grab some shaving cream. He smeared it on his face and made sure it covered every inch that had facial hair.
After rinsing his hands off, he sat on his couch and let the shaving cream rest for a few minutes before he went to the bathroom and grabbed the razor. He carefully shaved his face for several minutes, a tedious process of shaving then rinsing the razor off. Once he was done, he put the cover on his razor and threw some aftershave on, wincing at the stinging sensation.
He decided to take a shower and get rid of the smell from the life support tank, even though it had been a few days since he got out of it. Nearly everything in the bathroom was the same, but it was clear someone was maintaining the upkeep of his apartment. It rubbed him the wrong way a bit and he could only hope they weren't being nosy and getting into his personal belongings.
Hot water splashed over him and he let his muscles relax a bit. As much as he wanted to exercise and get back into his prime, he decided to bathe himself. He'd fully recover within another week; Serans were always good at bouncing back after their injuries.
Making sure he smelled good, he rinsed himself off then turned off the shower and stepped out. The mirror was fogged up and he wiped a bit of it to look at himself. Every aspect of his appearance was the same and he dared to admit that he felt a bit better about himself. He didn't realize how much he needed that rest, if he could call it that, to get himself in the right state of mind.
As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom after putting his clothes on, an excited sounding beep made him look up to see Hal zoom up to him. The robot beeped several times and Walker gave him a few pats on the chassis. He sat on the couch again and Hal hovered in front of him before landing on the table and allowing Walker to tinker with him a bit.
Slowly but surely, Walker started to have everything come back to him and he felt his routine start to return as well. It was a nice feeling to be honest and he didn't realize how much he missed being awake. There was a time that he considered letting go but decided against it. He was glad that he made that decision since it meant his head was screwed on better and he could start making plans again.
He wanted to enjoy the things he had, whether it was simply going around the base or tinkering with Hal. Although... he knew he couldn't do that too much. There was still a war present and he had to be there to do as much as he could. A ping on his C-Droid made him look to see a notification on it. It was from Blake and he quickly realized that she must have not realized that she sent him an update as well.
Each message and email that was sent to his device was carefully read and he nodded in approval that they kept everything updated. Information was more important than money at this point to him and every detail had its use. The Gears were handling the Locust and Glowies along with the BSS and VDF, and he was glad the first two had a somewhat stable relationship with Vale.
A majority of Vale's supplies came from Menagerie; weapons, armor, vehicles, and other tools. While some would complain that their equipment felt inadequate to what the Gears got, they were always told otherwise. Their equipment was meant to get the job done given the certain circumstances. The bullpup rifles they owned was easily mass produced compared to the weapons the Gears had. One could easily lose one of their rifles and get another one within a few days.
Lancers on the other hand didn't have such luxury. Each one that was made for a Gear or BSS operative was taken care of. The average citizen didn't realize how much work went into creating them. Gears had this hammered into their skulls during basic training and hammered in some more during their advanced training. Their weapon was practically their best friend on the field.
He turned on the news and saw an interview with the council and Ozpin's party. His eyes narrowed a bit but he listened for the most part, retaining whatever was spoken and carefully picking each detail apart. Rolling his eyes at Ozpin's empty promises, he just kept shaking his head at Ironwood's reassurances. It was clear that both men were having trouble trying to keep the public calm, and while Walker did find it funny for the most part, he knew they were doing their best.
People were scared, angry, and fed up with empty promises. It was only a matter of time before something kicked off in Atlas. The people there were too used to being sheltered that they didn't have to fight tooth and nail like the people who previously occupied Mantle. It was a shame what happened to Mantle, but it was either flooding it or have the Locust seize control and eventually work their way up to Atlas.
A flash of rage spread across Walker's soul when he thought about them, especially Scorn. He wasn't mad that he lost that fight, because going toe to toe with a Locust of that caliber was a feat on its own, he was bitter because he didn't manage to cause any significant damage to the Locust leader.
He was drawn out of his thoughts and finished tinkering with Hal before walking to his door. It was quiet in the hallway as he took the elevator to the floor his office was on, tapping his leg to the tune of it.
The doors opened and he started to head towards his office, managing to catch the air freshener that was present in the hallway. He unlocked his office door and entered the room, looking around to see nearly everything was the same as before. The only thing that was different was his password when he tried to log in and he quickly worked around it.
Three Skull-Drones quickly hovered near him and scanned him before they were under his control. His main Skull-Drone hovered over his shoulder while the other three started to do their menial tasks. Hal appeared next to him and beeped several times while he just smiled a bit and gave his chassis a few pats before doing some paperwork.
He looked at the screen and kept checking up on the status of everything. While he was glad that they were thriving, he didn't appreciate some of them trying to cut deals and add useless platforms. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing to have some sort of entertainment, because it kept morale up, he didn't want it to be extravagant like an amusement park. Some people just couldn't let go of the past and he didn't fault them, it was a hard thing to let fade away.
This was war though, and the sooner it ended, the sooner people could go back to living their lives the way it used to be. However, he knew better than to think that; the amount of death and destruction that Remnant had faced would forever change the course the world worked. He had a hunch that the Gears and BSS would remain to have a close relationship after all the assistance they did.
Vale would have to let go of the Huntsmen and Huntresses tradition that's been a part of its culture for hundreds of years, and Atlas... Walker didn't know or care too much about Atlas as a whole. If they pulled their heads out of their asses then it was about time, but he wouldn't have them standing in his way.
A notification on his screen made him look up to see Cardin saying he was ready for a mission, but it wasn't directed at him. When Walker found out that he had lost his team, he felt a wave of pity flash through him towards the other man. Cardin and his team were rowdy individuals, but their hearts were in the right place. They were his brothers and now that they were gone, Cardin probably wasn't in the right mindset.
Walker did some more work on the computer before shutting it down and stretching. It wasn't a good thing to say that he was slightly eager to get back out there but he was. He had spent too much time on his ass and now was the time to get back in action.
It wouldn't be anything heavy, just some light reconnaissance to get his feet wet again. One couldn't go wrong with that type of work.
The wind howled as a King Raven flew through the air. It was heavily modified and Walker sat by himself in his seat. His helmet lied next to him and he flexed the stealth armor a bit. He remembered wearing it back in Atlas during his mission with the Obsidian Guards, and it worked like a charm back then. R&D modified it some more to allow the battery to last longer. It was probably one of the most expensive pieces of equipment.
He heard the radio cackle and Control started to inform him about the mission. While they updated him, he went to the door and slid it open, hanging his feet over the edge and sliding the belt over his lap. The wind was barely making it through his armor and he rotated his neck as they reached the drop off location.
An abandoned village was seen and the King Raven stopped a bit away from it, hovering above an open area and he unbuckled himself. He slid over the edge and dropped down into the snow, letting the boot's shock absorption take a majority of the impact.
"Be careful down there, Boss." The pilot said as he took off shortly after.
Walker stood up and looked around before bringing out his Lancer and started to lightly jog through the snow. He constantly looked around as he weaved through the snowy forest, vaulting over fallen trees and large rocks. After a minute of jogging, he came across the top of a hill and lied down on his stomach, slowly crawling towards tip of it and bringing out his binoculars.
He looked through them and narrowed his eyes when he saw several Locust patrolling around the village. Seven Drones, three Grenadiers, two Boomers, and one Theron. A fairly small group but enough for Walker to get back into the groove. Some would call it unhealthy behavior to looking forward to killing Locust, but he saw it as normal.
After spending the next half an hour watching their movements, he brought out his Longshot and slid a round into it. Snow had accumulated over him and he looked through the scope, looking around and finding the Drone that was by itself near the outer right side of the village.
With the squeeze of the trigger, the suppressed shot wasn't heard due to how far away he was. The round spun through the air and he watched as the Drone's head explode before its body crumbled to the ground.
A Drone spotted the corpse and he quickly reloaded before firing another suppressed shot, killing the Drone that spotted the body and watching its body collapse to the snowy ground as well. Only eleven remained and he watched as a Drone climbed the watch tower, looking out into the distance. It was facing East and he aimed at its skull, slowly squeezing the trigger and feeling the recoil.
Yet another body dropped and a faint audible thud was heard. Although he couldn't see it, he already knew that the Drone's head was nothing but a bloody stump and brain matter, blood, and skull fragments caked the surface. Only ten remained now and he aimed at the left side of the village, watching as two Drones approached one another, communicating about something.
Walker focused on them and faintly heard them discuss about Beacon. Just before they could separate after their conversation, he fired a single shot and went through both their skulls. A shower of gore painted the snow and gate red as their bodies fell to the ground and went forever still.
Eight left.
He slid another round in and aimed at the Theron, watching as it walked around the village, noticing the lack of a few Locust that were supposed to be roaming around. It looked in his direction but barely had time to react when he fired once and its head exploded. He watched the body fall and slid another round in before moving onto the next Locust.
Snow had accumulated on him some more and he wiped the scope when some of it got on the lens. A smudge clouded his vision and he wiped it several times until it was clear before it was clear again. He aimed at the three Grenadiers next to the remaining Drones, spotting a crate of explosives next to them. It seemed they were simply moving supplies and he aimed at the crate of explosives that the group was next to.
The round spun through the air quickly and he watched as it struck the crate. It struck the box and a faint hissing noise was heard before the crate exploded, violently ripping the Locust apart and scattering their body parts across the ground. The sudden explosion made the Boomers look towards the origin of the sound and they roared out in alarm, aiming their weapons as they stomped towards it.
Walker loaded a special Longshot round into the rifle and aimed at the first Boomer's head. He fired and the round made it jerk to the side, clawing at its head violently when an acid started to eat away at its face. Bits and pieces of melting flesh started to dribble onto the ground and stain it a disgusting mixture of green and red. It flailed around before spinning onto the ground with a heavy thump.
The other Boomer didn't have time to react before it's head suddenly exploded. Its colossal body fell to the ground and kicked some snow up before all went quiet. The snow continued to fall as some areas started to turn red from the corpses that littered the village.
He stood up and the snow slid off of him, silently landing on the ground and he brushed the rest off his shoulders. After making sure no one was left, he started to slide down the hill and approached the village. The footprints he left were quickly covered by the falling snow and he entered the abandoned village. Even though the occupants had been long gone, he could still feel the phantom presence that they left. Whether they were evacuated or killed by the Locust, he didn't know.
It wasn't one of the villages that he had evacuated during the start of the war. They were an outside group that he presumed initially refused but their decision probably ended up being the one that to put them in the grave.
Aside from Locust supplies, there was practically nothing useful. Everything had been picked clean when he searched each house thoroughly. He clicked his tongue as he went up to a Locust crate and found some ammo and weapons. Most of Remnant's forces usually disdained the use of the weapons from their enemies, but the Gears saw a use in nearly everything related to war. Plus, it was stupid to leave something that could shift the tide if needed.
Wind blew against him and he looked up at the falling snow, opening the palm of his hand and letting a few snowflakes fall into them. The silence was peaceful for once; no gunfire, explosions, the feeling of dread, or death. It was just a comforting sense of stillness that he didn't think he'd ever enjoy in his life.
He flicked his hand and started to mark the Locust supplies for retrieval with the C-Droid. For the next half an hour, he went around marking the supplies before spotting a shed with several chains on them.
The roar of the chainsaw bayonet echoed throughout the air as he slammed it on the chains, easily cutting them apart. He flew backwards when the door suddenly exploded and he grunted as he landed on his back, staring up at the sky before leaning up.
An infected Boomer sluggishly walked out of the shed, a wet gurgling noise reverberating from its throat. Crystalline growths were seen sprouting from its body and face while a cleaver was fused to its left arm. A Boomshot was fused into its right arm and it stomped once before bellowing loudly. Saliva and blood flew from its mouth and splattered onto the snow.
It shakily raised its arm and aimed the Boomshot at him, making him roll to the side when it fired. A glowing grenade was fired from the weapon and exploded several feet away from him, throwing rubble all over the area. He got up to his feet and aimed the Lancer at it, firing several rounds at it before taking cover behind a destroyed car. It fired another grenade at him and shook the car, causing him to jerk around a bit.
Loud stomping was the only sound aside from the pained gurgles it made and he heard the grotesque sound of muscle and bone shifting. He peeked over the car to see it raise its right arm and reload the Boomshot. From what he saw, it was forcing its bones and flesh into the weapon to reload it; while it confused him, he wasn't about to wait and see anymore since it aimed at him again.
He ducked behind the car again and jerked around when another grenade was launched at him. The sound of flesh tearing made him look to see the Boomer raise its left arm and throw it down. Like a viper, its arm shot towards him and he moved to the side just in time for the car to be cut in half by the cleaver. The weapon got stuck and Walker revved up the chainsaw before sawing the appendage off.
It bellowed in pain but he didn't care and blood and glowing ichor shot from the mutilated appendage. A mixture of a howl and gurgle made him wince and he aimed the Lancer at it and started to fire nearly two dozen rounds into it. Its body started to jerk around as the rounds easily tore into its body and detonated.
He watched it bend down on one knee before raising its head in the air and giving one final animalistic howl and it started to charge at him, glowing brightly and pulsing every few seconds. His body dashed between one of the buildings and it followed him before he managed to get it stuck in between two houses and snarl at him, trying to load another infected grenade into its weapon while flailing around.
When he saw it glowing brighter and brighter, he quickly ran away and took cover behind a truck. Its body started to expand and inflate to unhealthy proportions before it opened its mouth one last time.
A colossal, wet sounding explosion met Walker's ears and made them ring when it finally exploded. The two houses were shredded and multiple pieces of them flew through the air, hitting the ground and some pieces nearly hitting him.
He stood up and stretched a bit before rolling his neck around several times. There was a dull crack from his neck that made him shudder before he started to head back to the shed. He aimed inside of it to make sure nothing else was lurking inside.
There wasn't anything inside and he sighed before he stepped on a certain part of it. It was hollow and he looked at the spot before lifting the latch and looking inside. His heart sank a bit when he saw a family inside. All of them, including the infant, were huddled against each other but it was hard to tell when they last drew breath. If he had to guess, they were waiting for someone to rescue but nobody came.
After looking around, he gently closed the cellar door and put the rug back over it. No reason to disturb the dead and he saw it that their pain was over. It was a shame that the Gears couldn't get them out in time, but they weren't saviors. The Gears were people who stood in between the Locust and the people of Remnant.
"Boss, should we inform everyone that you're up?" Control asked.
"No. I'm headed to Beacon myself... I need to have a little talk with the idiots." Walker said as he stepped out of the shed and started to walk towards the landing zone. Within the next few hours, the supplies would be acquired and fed into the war machine.
The sky was pitch black at Beacon and Jaune stared at Ozpin and his company. Red and Blake were by his sides and he frowned at Ozpin, clenching his fists tightly and shaking them in anger. When he looked at Ironwood, the General turned his head away in shame. Qrow sat in his seat quietly and drank some alcohol, not bothering to look at them.
"So you want us to just... stop what we're doing and dedicate all our resources into keeping this girl safe and hunt down the one who put her in this condition?" Jaune asked calmly, a bit too calmly in the other party's opinion.
"She's a special individual. While I do regret not sharing this information with you all sooner, things are only going to get worse." Ozpin said.
"You've had all this time, you knew who attacked her, and you somehow still haven't found this woman yet?" Blake asked.
"No, slippery bastards got away." Qrow said.
"..." Blake, Jaune, and Red just silently stared at the others before looking at one another. As far as they were concerned, Amber was guarded by several Gears and the Locust couldn't dig underneath Beacon. They were annoyed that Ozpin had the audacity to request for them to allocate all their resources towards making sure she was able to live.
"We'll discuss this another time. You mentioned something about delivering a bomb?" Glynda changed the subject. While she was concerned about Salem and her faction, she felt that the witch was probably too occupied with the Glowies that spread across Remnant like a plague. While it did give humanity some breathing room, that also brought up the concern on how they were going to deal with the threat.
The Glowies were more animalistic than their original counterpart and she dared to admit she missed when the Grimm were normal, not these mutated abominations that sought to infect everything. If there was one thing she'd never forgive Ozpin or Ironwood for, it was dropping that weapon in an effort to push back the Locust.
"We're still working out some things, but it's nearly complete." Blake said as she tapped her tablet.
"How are we sure it'll work?" Qrow asked.
"A lot could go wrong with it... but we don't want you involved with it." Jaune said.
"Excuse me?" Qrow whipped his head towards him.
"Nothing personal, well... it kind of is, but your Semblance." Jaune pointed out.
"What about it?" Qrow asked.
"Bad luck, and the last thing we need is that." Jaune answered. If they were going to do this, he didn't want some Huntsman with bad luck to screw everything up. There was too much at stake at this point.
"If I do decide to join?" Qrow quipped.
"Then I'll kill you and show your nieces." Walker said calmly as he stepped into the office as soon as the elevator doors opened. Everything went silent and Blake, Jaune, and Red's eyes widened. They were frozen in shock and rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren't hallucinating.
"W-Walker?" Red asked, her voice was small and it was the first time anybody's heard it like that.
"Heard you were dead." Qrow deadpanned.
"Been getting that a lot lately." Walker responded evenly as he put his fingers on Red's bottom jaw and closed her mouth.
"Oh, Lord Commander... we didn't expect you to join us so suddenly." Ozpin cleared his throat.
"Scoot." Walker gestured to Jaune and the blonde quickly got out of his seat and allowed Walker to sit in it. He took the Longshot and Lancer off before sighing in relief when he sat down. The silence was slightly suffocating and Walker just snorted in amusement.
"I assumed you would've been recovering after..." Ironwood trailed off.
"I was at death's doorstep?" Walker guessed and tilted his head a bit.
"Yes." Ironwood nodded.
"Been hearing that a lot lately." Walker clicked his tongue and stretched a bit.
"We were just finishing up the meeting." Ozpin said.
"You mind explaining that then?" Walker pointed to the screen and they all looked to see a picture of Scorn on it.
"It's some Locust that's been showing up recently." Qrow said.
"Scorn isn't just "some" Locust..." Walker said evenly, causing everyone to look at him.
"How do you know its name, huh?" Qrow asked as he stood up and stood in front of Walker, causing the other three to tense up and glare at him.
"Who do you think put me on life support?" Walker asked as he stared calmly at Qrow.
"Branwen, back off." Ironwood ordered.
"..." Qrow narrowed his eyes at Walker and stood still.
"Tell us more about this Locust." Ironwood gestured.
"For one, he's smart-" Walker started.
"We kind of figured that out." Qrow said.
"Qrow!" Ozpin snapped suddenly and the man looked at him. For once, Ozpin's gave was stern and it was enough to make Qrow back off and sit down in his seat.
"He's smarter than most, and better at fighting too." Walker continued, eyeing Qrow and narrowing his eyes at him.
"What else?" Glynda asked.
"He spoke." Walker answered curtly.
"Walker... I thought all Locust could speak?" Jaune asked.
"I'm not talking about like a normal Grub, Jaune. Scorn spoke like a man." Walker said and they felt their stomachs sink a bit.
"Big deal." Qrow said.
"Locust never speak like that, and they don't leave people alive. Not to mention, the last I checked... Locust couldn't control Grimm." Walker said. They all went silent and just stared at him then looked back at the picture of Scorn.
"So that swarm of Shredder Bats?" Ironwood asked.
"Who do you think was controlling them?" Walker asked back as he leaned forward.
"Holy shit..." Jaune muttered. From what he learned, Shredder Bats were some of the most lethal Grimm species out there. Individually, they were easy to deal with, it was only when they were in a swarm was where the danger came. Entire settlements would disappear and nothing of its occupants would be left. They were the only Grimm species to actively consume those that they killed.
"So what do you suppose we do?" Glynda asked.
"Blake, Beacon has UV lights, right?" Walker craned his head up to her.
"Yeah, but they're somewhat weak." She answered.
"Get some stronger ones. I want every Gear, BSS, and VDF personnel to carry a UV torch along with them." He said.
"Understood." She nodded and started to tap her tablet.
"Good." Walker said as he stood up and put his weapons on his back.
"You're leaving already?" Glynda asked.
"Yep." He answered.
"There's still a lot to discuss." She said.
"Listen, I'm tired and I really don't feel like talking tonight." He drawled
"How? You've been asleep for several months." Qrow said.
"Why are you so nosy?" Walker raised an eyebrow.
"Just curious is all." Qrow shook his head.
"Head downstairs, I'll meet you down there." Walker turned to the other three. He nudged them towards the elevator and nodded to reassure them when they gave him worried glances. He gave Blake a reassuring pat on the shoulder when she gripped his forearm, as if making sure he was actually here and not some hallucination from the accumulated stress.
The doors slid closed and he could faintly hear the elevator descend before he sighed and clenched his fists tightly. It was hard to contain his annoyance but he reeled his anger in and kept it in check.
"Command-" Ironwood started.
"I don't respect any of you, not even a single bit." Walker interrupted as he crossed his arms and leaned near the elevator door.
"..." They just stayed silent and stared at him.
"However, the last thing we need is division, especially with the Locust and Glowies knocking at our door." He said.
"What will you have us do then?" Glynda asked.
"I can't tell you. You're still leaders in your own right, just a group of shitty ones." He admitted. There was barely any heat in his words, he was just giving them his personal opinion. At first, he did have some form of respect for them but that started to dwindle over time.
"So this is the end?" Ironwood asked.
"Of what?" Walker asked.
"Whatever bridge that stands between us?" Ironwood asked.
"No, unfortunately. Like I said before, the last thing we need is division and fighting amongst ourselves. Locust and Glowies are doing a hell of a job at taking countless lives, we don't need to help them." Walker answered and pressed the button.
They somewhat understood what he was saying, that he wasn't fighting their battles for them. His main concern was with the war and he'd do his job, whether they were in the picture or not. He was a truly neutral piece on the chessboard, his faction wasn't one that anybody could control.
"What about Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked.
"What about him?" Walker asked as he faced the elevator.
"He's been trying to be like you." Ozpin said.
"I don't want him to be like me... I want him to be better." Walker responded as the elevator doors opened up and he stepped inside. He just stared at them before the doors closed. A sigh escaped his lips and he hummed as the elevator started to descend.
For the next fifteen seconds, he just waited before the doors opened up and the other three were waiting for him. He smiled a bit when they walked next to him, asking him questions if he was alright and how long he's been up. Once they all got back to base, he'd catch up with them and set things straight but he wanted to rest a bit now.
Relaxing after missions always felt well deserved.
Here's another chapter for you all, a little bit of action to kind of take a break from the slow paced filler chapters. I don't have much to say other than thanks for reading. See you later.