Went to get groceries yesterday and noticed the car parked beside me was a little far over. Pretty much on the line but still enough room since the other side of me had a small car parked pretty far on the other side of their spot. Usually, I'd take a moment to either memorize their license plate or take a photo of their vehicle, just to be safe (OCD plus worked in car insurance claims for a bit). The one time I don't, I come back to find they'd hit my car with their door and left. Should be covered, but with a deductible of $200, but that's money out of my pocket for their stupidity. Really hate people sometimes.
Started my first ever Resident Evil game. Got a mod for Biohazard (7) on PC to allow me to use VR. Already regretting some life choices, but managed to win the first real boss fight and escape the house, so I'm making good progress! Still scaring me half to death along the way, but it's definitely been fun. Can definitely understand all the hype.
On a story-related note, though, I forgot to mention last chapter that I managed to sneak in two different character song references. Lionize and Smile both made appearances if you look for it. Can't believe I didn't include that in the notes. That's what I get for procrastinating last week. Stuff slips through the cracks.
Night crept over Mantle, shrouding the cramped city in a darkness that neither the shattered moon nor the brightly shining city of Atlas could fully dispel. The dim, yellow lights all throughout Mantle contrasted sharply with the pristine white above, as if Mantle was nothing more than the sickly underbelly of the imposing capital floating overhead. The two halves stood as a stark dichotomy between the self-important elites above and the huddled masses below, slaving away for the benefit of their masters that refused to even share the same ground as them. Mantle was beneath Atlas, undeserving of notice or concern.
That would change tonight.
The last few hours of preparation flew by in a flurry of activity. The infiltration team was surprisingly small - nothing more than Felicia, her two lieutenants, and the man who'd met them at the door of all people. As it turned out, he worked in the facility they were about to hit. With the refinery being empty so late at night, a larger team wouldn't be needed and would only risk drawing more attention. The goal was to get in, secure the dust, and get out before anyone noticed.
The vehicle team would actually be the larger crew - three drivers with several grunts along for the ride. They'd be in charge of loading the dust onto the trucks and helping offload in Dormir at the end. Even if their job sounded easier, everything hinged on whether or not they could secure the vehicles. Adam would be starting with them, making sure they were good to go before breaking off to join the infiltration team. They wouldn't start until he gave the go-ahead in person. While Atlas didn't have any reason to be monitoring communications in the area, they definitely had the capability, so any electronic communication would be risky.
Of course, monitoring could work both ways, if you had the right equipment. Felicia certainly did, as an entire room on the top floor stood ready with a mix of communication equipment for almost any situation. Scrolls. Radios. Police scanners. Even what looked like an old analog switchboard that Adam couldn't imagine being very useful nowadays but which Felicia assured him still saw some use.
"Overkill is underrated." Words to live by, according to Felicia. Adam couldn't say he disagreed. From this unassuming room, the White Fang had access to everything from dispatch calls to military comms channels at their disposal. Some of the more heavily encrypted lines up in Atlas were still beyond their reach, but those were rarely used, or so their spies up top advised.
Spies in Atlas. Not just that, but within the military itself! Adam hadn't realized just how well equipped the White Fang really was. Ghira had never mentioned anything like that, but then again, this had Sienna's fingerprints all over it.
Felicia might as well have been a student of Sienna's. Maybe she had been, once upon a time. The two certainly thought alike.
"Dust bombs?" Adam stared down at the small device apprehensively. They weren't very big, but even a little dust could pack a punch. "I thought we weren't going loud on this one."
"We're not," Felicia assured him. She strapped one against the small of her back, easily concealing it under her top before tossing one to Adam. He caught it as delicately as he could, as if it might go off at the slightest bump. "Relax. They're just breachers. Besides, they're remote activated, so they won't just go off without warning. The basement door is a bit heavier than the exterior. Might need a little encouragement to open." Explosive encouragement. "Might not even need them, but better safe than sorry."
"If you say so," Adam replied as he set the charge back down on the table, glad that he wouldn't be one of the walking bombs tonight. That would be left to Felicia and her two lieutenants - Epsilon and Gamma. They'd be going by codenames tonight, just to be on the safe side. Felicia would be Alpha as befitted her role as leader, while their tagalong would be Omega. They'd offered to name Adam as well, but he didn't bother.
After all, word would get out soon enough about Adam Taurus being involved.
So far, the orphan keeper had been as good as his word. They'd been listening in all day, waiting for even a single mention of Adam on the police or military frequencies, but they'd heard nothing but business as usual so far. If Atlas heard that Adam was here, they'd at least be mobilizing a force to capture him. Instead, the floating city slumbered on, blissfully unaware of what they had planned down below.
Final preparations were checked, double checked, then looked over once more. Adam could sense the nervousness of everyone around him as the hour drew ever closer. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel it too. He'd never been on a mission like this before. Sure, there'd been Orostachys, but that was just a relief mission, not some clandestine attack deep in enemy territory - or as close to enemy territory as he could get without going topside to Atlas itself. At least this raid should be bloodless.
Then again, that's what he'd said about Orostachys.
/- - - - - - - - - -/
Securing the trucks took no time at all. Adam had half-expected there to be some sort of alarm, armed guards, or even a passing Huntsman to ruin everything with his luck. Something to end their caper before it even began.
Instead, they'd arrived to find a quiet lot with trucks parked neatly in a row, guarded by nothing more than a chain link fence. All it took was a quick blow from his sword to sever the chain keeping the gate closed and they were inside. Soon enough, three trucks were hotwired with engines humming softly as they idled in place and their crews climbed into the back. If this was any sign of how the night would go, they'd be in for a smooth ride all the way to Dormir.
"Twenty minutes," Adam instructed, even if everyone had gone over the plan a dozen times. Twenty minutes, and they would head for the refinery for loading. That would give him time to reach it on foot, infiltrate the building, and secure the dust for loading. Assuming everything went smoothly, the trucks would arrive just in time and depart as fast as possible. The less time three stolen delivery trucks spent parked behind a closed refinery, the better.
Adam slipped away into the night, cutting through a preplanned route that kept him away from most of the main streets, instead skulking through alleyways where most people wouldn't even see him. The few that did were a mixture of downtrodden and criminals who seemed just as interested in avoiding notice as anyone else. Both watched him pass with hungry eyes, one in hopes of charity while the other considered a less generous option. Adam kept his hand on his sword as he passed, ensuring none dared try to challenge him.
He slowed as he neared the refinery. An armed faunus skulking around SDC property wouldn't go unnoticed, but there wasn't a soul around to spot him. He checked the time, seeing he was slightly ahead of schedule. Good. That meant more time to find the dust and get it ready. Up ahead, right on schedule, a set of lights went down, plunging an alley into shadow.
It was go time.
As Adam approached the alley, he could hear the voices of his team in hushed conversation, muffled slightly by the bandanas over their mouths. "Alright. And you said no cameras?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there aren't-"
"Pretty sure?!" Felicia did her best to keep it down, but her response to Omega was anything but calm. "You work here!"
Cameras could be a big issue. He didn't care if they were seen afterward. Heck, he wanted the SDC to know who'd robbed them. If they saw a few faunus in jackets emblazoned with the White Fang logo, not to mention the infamous Adam Taurus, that would certainly send a message. But it would ruin everything if Atlas or the SDC caught wind early and had time to respond.
Omega's omission might very well cost them the mission. "I work in labor," he defended. "I'm not even allowed near processing."
This was their insider? Someone who had never seen the target area in person?
One of the lieutenants - Epsilon, if Adam's memory served. It didn't really matter. Thing 1 and Thing 2 worked just as well for him. "This doesn't feel right."
"Maybe we should just leave."
"No."
Adam's timing proved perfect, rounding the corner as his single word silenced their doubts. He couldn't let them back out now. Not when they were so close. He'd get that dust, even if he had to carry it all the way to Dormir by himself.
Adam strode confidently down the alley, taking his time as if there was nothing to worry about. "It's time we stood up for ourselves."
"Adam!" Felicia sounded startled, though whether at his sudden arrival or him seeing her leadership falling apart, he didn't know. All he knew was that he had to take control of the situation. He needed to remind them why they were there.
"Our kind's been beaten. Murdered. Treated like dogs. Taking this Dust is only illegal in the eyes of the same people that call us animals." The same people that had enslaved him, taken his eye, and condemned him for fighting back. They refused to see him as human, treating him as some lesser creature simply for being born different.
So he refused to play by their rules any longer.
They called him a monster, all because he wouldn't bow down and accept their control over his life. Well, if it was a monster they wanted, then it was a monster they'd get. Adam smiled grimly as he loosened the mask from his belt and raised it to his face, hooking it on the ribbon already hiding his eyes.
The effect was immediate. "Yeah, you're right," Omega said, already sounding more confident.
Gamma watched him curiously before asking, "Hey, what's with the custom mask. Kind of makes you look like a Grimm."
Good.
Smirking, Adam marched through their group enjoying how they parted before him as he approached the entrance. Omega may have been shaky on the details inside, but his intel about the locks was spot on. Nothing but a simple padlock stood in their way.
"We may not want them to know who we are, but we should make sure they never forget what we looked like." He'd make sure they knew who had hit them - a monster of their own creation. He'd make them suffer for what they'd done to him until they learned to fear him more than the Grimm. Only then would they truly understand the pain and terror they'd inflicted on people like him. "Now," Adam's sword flashed out, obliterating the lock in an instant before returning to its sheath as the door slowly swung open, "it's time we got what we deserved."
Felicia and her men nodded before rushing into the darkened building. Adam brought up the rear, closing the door softly behind him. They'd entered a hallway running alongside the edge of the building, punctuated every now and then by office doors where the human supervisors would sit around doing next to nothing while their faunus workers labored in the refinery beyond. Halfway down, the hallway split into a T with one branch veering off sharply to the right and going deeper into the building.
"No cameras so far," Omega whispered from the front, hoping to validate himself a little. True to his word, there wasn't a single camera to be seen, but that didn't mean much. Why bother watching the humans? They might have some in the actual refinery to keep an eye on the faunus, which is where they were headed.
They stopped at a set of double doors with frosted glass panes etched with the symbol of the Schnee. A snowflake, perfect and pure as it shimmered before them. As if anything about that family and their corrupt business could be so clean. Adam wanted to smash the glass but knew better than to risk making so much noise.
Maybe he'd come back on their way out.
Adam pushed both doors open and entered a much larger space. This part of the building was taller, the ceiling a good two stories above them with a catwalk circling the entire upper area. The room itself was filled with enormous pieces of machinery, some of which he recognized from Orostachys. But unlike the single system at his old camp, there were three series of machines arranged in lines, acting as a sort of conveyer to take raw dust through the entire refinement process, ending with purified crystals at the end ready to be sold whole or reduced to powdered form later. He had a feeling the extra machines across the room could be used for just that purpose.
"Where's the storage room?" Adam asked as he looked around. He could see a line of bay doors on one end of the room, but that would be for the trucks. What they needed was underground.
"This way," Omega answered, waving for them to follow him. They swung around the lines of machines to the opposite corner of the room. A section of the floor sloped gently down, forming a wide ramp that ended at a rather large door made of thick metal. "I think…yeah, this should be it."
Either that or they'd found the building's bunker. By the looks of things, it could probably double as that. Still, if you wanted to store a sizable amount of dust - the most dangerously combustible substance on Remnant - in one place, this looked like the perfect spot. The size of the door also made him wonder just how much dust they'd find inside. Maybe they should've gotten more trucks.
Felicia noticed the size, too, but her response went a different direction. "I thought you said it was a door!"
"It is!" Omega insisted. "A really big, metal door."
"This is a freakin' vault!" Epsilon yelled back. "How the hell are we supposed to get in? With these dinky things?" He pulled one of the breaching charges from his back and held it up. Compared to the intimidating barrier before them, it looked woefully small.
"Calm down, F- Epsilon." Felicia caught herself before she could waste Adam's time with another forgettable name. "We can handle this. Gamma!" Her other lieutenant hurried to stand beside her. "Think you can crack that lock?"
Gamma eyed the rather large dial built into the door, studying it for a moment before smiling. "Ha! Looks like an old eighteen hundred series. I'll have that door open in no time." He spun the dial a few times, placing his ear against the door before slowing the rotation to a snail's pace. "The eighteen hundred series has louder tumblers than modern models and no failsafes, but the big flaw is they made the gates too wide. Makes it easier to-"
"Stop nerding and start cracking," Felicia ordered. Gamma clammed up with a sheepish grin before going back to his task, occasionally muttering numbers to Epsilon, who had joined him at the door. "Gamma's good, but he'll be a bit. We should go secure the loading bay while we wait."
"We could disable some of the equipment," Omega suggested. "Those things look pretty expensive. The repair costs and lost days could set them back a bit."
"Idiot!" Felicia shot back, smacking the back of his head. "If the refinery shuts down, do you really think the SDC is gonna pay its workers to do nothing? The SDC can afford some downtime. Our brothers and sisters can't."
Omega frowned as he rubbed the back of his head, but Felicia had a point. The SDC hadn't bothered to pay him for all his work in Orostachys, so they wouldn't hesitate to skip out on wages if the refinery was down for repairs, especially if the damage was done by faunus in the first place. Might even lay some of them off or spend the extra time looking into the attack, trying to figure out who might've helped. Unjustified firings would follow shortly thereafter.
Hurting the SDC shouldn't cost other faunus.
The loading bay proved the easiest part of the mission. Adam tested the controls, lifting one of the doors just a foot or two up. Felicia slipped outside, scoping out the road before crawling back through. "All clear. Trucks should be here soon."
"Then we'd better get the dust," Adam reminded her, feeling a little on edge with the new delay.
"Gamma will come through," Felicia promised. "He always does."
"He'd better, or we'll need to try the charges." They couldn't risk delaying too long. Speed and stealth were the name of the game, and in that order. The risk of someone hearing the explosion should be low, since most of the surrounding buildings were all SDC property. No one else should be around this late at night, but the longer they delayed, the more risk they faced of someone spotting them.
"He'll get it." Adam didn't quite share her optimism. Not when so much hinged on a single barrier. They weren't even sure the charges would be enough, but they had to try something.
A sudden thought hit Adam. "Actually, I might have another option."
"You can get us through the door?"
"Maybe." Adam glanced over toward where Gamma was still hard at work. "Probably a better chance than those charges at least." And if his idea failed, they could always use the charges afterwards. Basically, if stealth didn't work, they'd just throw everything they had at the metal door.
Starting with his Semblance.
It sounded kind of stupid in his head, but he'd gotten pretty good at controlling it lately. He'd need to charge it, of course, but he could just have one of them swing something at his sword repeatedly until he built it up enough. So far, his Semblance had cut through just about everything they'd tried. Armor. Weapons. Training dummies. They'd even tested it out on things like blocks of concrete. With enough charge, he could slice through them all. He had to assume it would work just as well here.
Felicia gave a quick nod. "Right. We'll give him until the trucks arrive. If he's not done by then-"
"Finished!"
The timing couldn't have been better. Adam and Felicia jogged over to see Gamma beaming beside the door. It didn't look any different…until Gamma turned the large handle and a metallic groan echoed through the building.
"Told you I could get it," Gamma boasted.
"Good work."
"Wasn't too bad," Gamma continued. "Got lucky on the first number, but that third one proved a little tricky. Couldn't hear it catch at first, but then I-"
"Save it for later," Felicia ordered. Adam was beginning to see a pattern. "Get this door open. We can start moving the dust to the loading bay. Should make things go a little faster."
"Guess we're doing all the work tonight," Epsilon joked as he helped Gamma swing the door open. Inside, Adam could see several pallets loaded with crates of dust, each bearing the SDC logo. An attached form contained a plethora of details, likely including weight and type of dust in each crate. The room went pretty deep, promising enough dust to fill their trucks and maybe then some.
Omega took the lead, eager to get started. "Lucky us. They left one of the pallet jacks down here." Sure enough, one of the pallets still had a jack sitting underneath.
"Go find another jack," Felicia said. Epsilon hurried away to obey. "In the meantime, let's get these pallets moving."
"I got this," Omega assured them as he walked into the room.
Adam saw it a moment too late. "No, wait!"
"Huh?"
"Intruder," a monotone voice called out. "Identify yourself."
Both walls lit up red as humanoid shapes came to life, stepping out in unison as metallic plates clamped down over glowing faces. They turned as one to the door, mimicking a basic combat stance as two stepped into the middle of the room, cutting them off from the dust. Their arms shifted suddenly, robotic hands flipping back to be replaced by a trio of very angry looking gun barrels on each arm.
"Um, guys?" Omega called as he backed away. "What do I do?"
"Run!" Adam yelled.
That proved a mistake. The robotic foe that spoke before - at least, the one the voice had come from - turned to look past Omega. Time seemed to slow as it focused on Adam. Then, the face glowed brighter as the deep voice sounded once more. "Hostile detected. Eliminating threat."
The ominous whirring of gears was the only warning they received before the gunfire erupted. Felicia and Gamma dove to the side, using the door for cover, but Omega had nowhere else to run. Shots rang out like the buzzing of Remnant's angriest beehive. Omega screamed as he fell, cut down in a hail of bullets aimed beyond him.
"Omega!"
Adam's feet moved before he could think, but not in the direction he expected. Omega was down, and Adam had a feeling he wouldn't be getting back up. Still, he couldn't just leave a man behind. He had to try, even if that meant charging straight into the firestorm ahead of him.
Adam swung his blade as fast as he could, deflecting bullets even as others slipped through his defense. He cut a path directly through the middle of the room, sprinting past Omega's downed form, nearly slipping on the growing puddle that glistened in the foreboding glow of the room.
He struck like a Goliath, rampaging straight into and through the two in the middle. His sword burned angrily as a single slice severed them at the waist. Instinctively, he sheathed his blade, just as the two robots fell and clattered to the ground.
The rest of the robots surrounded him, but instead of more guns, their hands were replaced by thick, silvery blades. He wondered if they'd given up on ranged attacks after the initial failure before realizing what he was standing in front of. A stray shot could ignite the dust, engulfing the refinery and possibly a few city blocks in an explosion. There was no way any of them were escaping something like that, and while the robots shouldn't have cared for their own survival so much, the loss of SDC property was probably against their programming.
Adam smiled as he watched the robots form a semicircle around him and the dust, trapping him in the middle of the room. That was fine. If they wanted to test their blades against his, he'd let them. Pushing forward would leave him exposed on the flanks, though. Instead, he waited for them to make the first move.
He didn't have to wait long.
They charged in waves, starting at the center and then rippling along the flanks. Adam let them close the gap, keeping the wall of crates at his back until the first two to reach him swung in unison. A trigger pull sent his blade screaming forward as he used the momentum to disarm his opponents cleanly at the wrists. Without missing a beat, his scabbard swung in his hand, clicking into place just in time to blast a hole through the chest of his first disabled foe. His foot struck the chest of the other, hurling it back into the blind charge of its comrade and toppling them both.
Adam was a whirlwind of death, darting around the room in a calculated flurry of blows, kicks, and shots. The automated enemies tried to keep up, but Adam sliced through them with a vengeance. He ducked under an attack, slicing through legs before rolling away from the next attack. His sword caught a pair of blades aimed for his head, holding them there just long enough for the barrel of his own gun to blast a hole straight through the robot's chin, spraying the ceiling with bits of metal that didn't even reach the ground before Adam was moving again.
Sienna had shown him footage of Atlas robots before, but they weren't like this. The one's he'd seen were basically just weapons on legs, dedicated to a single weapon and a little clunky in their movements. Whatever these things were, they almost acted human and moved with coordinated efforts to respond to his every attack. One even parried his attack briefly, catching his swing between crossed blades in a weapon lock that would've proved deadly had he not dove away from the attackers on either side.
Coordination. Teamwork. Adaptation. Little hints of intelligence that they hadn't observed before, and all happening in concert without a single sound between them. Even if they weren't having any luck against him, Adam could see them being trouble for others in the White Fang.
Adam cut upwards, catching a robot in the crotch and sending him airborne. His blade slid smoothly into his scabbard, only to launch back out and drive the pommel into its knee, shattering the mechanism there. Adam leapt with a spin, bringing his heel around to hurl the robotic foe to the side where it smashed into a downed brother and shattered them both beyond recognition.
The moment he landed, Adam recognized his mistake. He'd lost track of his position, slipping further and further from the dust until he found himself exposed once more. The Atlas robots might not be able to match his fighting speed, but they learned fast. He heard the weapon shift before he saw it.
Two robots had broken off from the group and fallen back, waiting for him to stray too far out and give them back their ranged option. Wait, had the last few attacks been just to lure him out? They'd sacrificed themselves to bait, throwing their lives away for nothing more than a slight advantage for the others. Even if they were only robots, the tactic stunk of Atlas. They'd do anything to get the upper hand, no matter the cost.
Adam stumbled as the first shots struck, but staying still was a death sentence. He sprinted for the dust, hoping to rob them of the advantage once more, but his path was blocked by the last three opponents. Fighting them would leave him exposed, and while his aura should hold, trying to fight while being shot from the side might cause him trouble. If he ran for the firing duo, he'd just get shot from the other three. He didn't really have any good options, but he wasn't about to give up.
Adam weathered the hailstorm as the first bladed attacker struck. The moment its blade met his own, he turned, letting the momentum carry his target between him and the relentless gunfire. The brief shield gave him time to deal with the other two, cutting one from shoulder to hip while the second lost both arms when it overextended. A surge of aura kept his hand safe as he punched through its chest, nearly exploding out the other side as the lights across its face flickered and died.
He sheathed his sword once more, holding his squirming shield in one hand as he bent down and snatched an arm off the ground. The bladed appendage wobbled awkwardly through the air, forcing one of the robots to step aside before it hit. It would've been nice to take one out with that, but his real goal was just to buy time as he kicked his shield forward, sending the dying robot into the lessen fire as he gripped his sword and focused.
He struck a moment later, shooting across the room as his Semblance surged forward. He cut through the air, trusting his sudden acceleration to get him there in time. He tore through the first robot as it fell, already dead before he carved a path through it into the remaining two. He barely even felt his blade hit as it carved through them like a hot knife through butter. The three fell in unison, metal glowing bright red from where his dust-enhanced sword had struck. Even the wall behind bore a terrifying scorch mark around a cut that had gone several inches into the concrete, tearing free at the end of its arc in a spray of shattered stone.
Shaking the remains of his foes from his blade, Adam took a deep breath and slammed his sword back into its home. "It's clear."
"Adam!" Felicia rushed in after a quick peek to make sure it was safe. Her eyes widened at the carnage all around him. He'd been merciless in his destruction, turning the room into a scrap heap with the fallen forms of at least two dozen robots. She froze as she came upon the one non-metallic body. "Omega…is he…"
"Dead." Probably before he'd even hit the floor. A small mercy. Adam nudged the top half of a robot over so its lifeless face stared up at the ceiling. "What are these?"
"Atlas military droids," Felicia answered as Gamma rushed in. He hurried to Omega's side, pressing a hand to his throat in a vain search for life. A sad shake of his head confirmed the obvious. Meanwhile, Felicia inspected a discarded arm, pushing the gun barrels to make them rotate. "We'd heard rumors they were working on a new model, but it hasn't been released yet."
"Looks like the Schnees got a preorder," Gamma snarled, closing Omega's eyes as he tried to remove the mix of horror and shock still frozen on the man's face.
So Atlas had some new toys and they were already sharing with the SDC? Why did a dust company need military hardware in the middle of a city? Atlas robots were meant to protect people from the Grimm. He'd seen all the propaganda videos. Keeping citizens safe without risk to their soldiers. Instead, the first models off the line were hiding in some SDC refinery, guarding product instead of people
How disgusting.
"Start moving the dust."
Felicia and Gamma both looked up at him in confusion. "But…what about Omega?"
What about him? He was dead, cut down by the unholy marriage of corporate greed and military ruthlessness. Nothing they could do now would bring the man back. "We'll put him on the truck and give him a proper burial. One outside this filthy city."
"A burial at sea," Felicia insisted. "He…he would've wanted that. To be free from Atlas. It was all he ever wanted."
Adam nodded. "I'll see it done. But right now, we need to get the trucks loaded." Adam hefted the body of one of the robots, picking out one of the most intact units. "We'll grab a few of these, too. Sienna will want to see them."
"We should-"
"What happened?" Epsilon yelled as he came running in. "It sounded like- gods! Wha…what happened to Omega?"
"Dead," Adam reported bluntly, handing the robot to Epsilon, who strained a little under the weight. Adam picked up another with missing legs and headed for the door. "And if we don't hurry, we'll be joining him."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean these things are connected." He'd seen the coordination between them. They had to be communicating somehow, as if sharing a brain. One that likely wasn't housed in the refinery. "And where do you think they're connected to?"
Adam hurried up the ramp with his stolen tech, barely sparing a glance at the windows near the top of the two-story walls. The streets outside were bathed in red - warning lights that confirmed his fears. They didn't have long if they wanted to get out of there in one piece.
"Hurry!" Adam shouted, running the rest of the way. He dumped the robot corpse unceremoniously, grabbing the bay controls and hammering the open button so hard it cracked. The door slowly lifted to reveal the back of one of the trucks, along with several faunus who rushed in to help. Adam ignored them as he opened the other two doors and turned for the basement once more.
"What's going on?"
"What's that thing?"
"Why'd the lights change?"
The questions came immediately, though everyone seemed to notice Adam's haste and began to rush back and forth, some pulling pallets while others began frantically loading the trucks. Epsilon and Gamma appeared a moment later, carrying Omega between them. Felicia began barking orders, hurrying the process along as best she could. No matter how fast they moved, though, it wasn't fast enough. Adam could already spot the growing shapes through the windows. They'd be there soon. Far too soon for Adam's liking.
"Adam, what's happening?" Felicia demanded as she shoved her way through to him. She already knew the answer, even if she refused to accept it. They'd taken too long, and the trucks were still being loaded.
Adam's hand grasped his sword as he looked up at the night sky through the upper windows. He winced as light shone back suddenly, bathing the room in white and bringing everyone to a halt. The distant sound of engines grew louder and louder, sounding their doom. Adam's grip tightened as he stared into the face of destruction and confirmed what they already knew.
"Atlas is coming."
Originally, I'd planned to do the whole raid in a single chapter, but I decided to add a little more to the Atlas encounter coming up, meaning this would've been a really long chapter. Felt it was better to break it up with this being the obvious middle point.
As much as I hate action scenes (more of a dialogue and drama writer), I've been looking forward to this chapter. Even managed to finish it early for once. Been itching to start bringing in some White Fang missions and wanted to flesh out the one we see in the character short more. Unfortunately, it cost Omega his life, but such things happen when I get my hands on too many minor characters. Poor guy never stood a chance. Also, I totally didn't look up details on safe cracking for this chapter, study the process and mathematics behind it, and then decide there was too much to learn in a few days just to decide "look over there!" while Gamma does his thing. Sometimes, it's better for stuff to happen offscreen, so to speak.
Anyways, Adam will have to stare at those approaching bullheads for a week, as this will be a two-parter. Excited to wrap it up next chapter, even if I'm still working out a lot of the details. Such is life when you go in with nothing but a loose plan!
Next chapter: Atlas joins the fray.