Sorry for being late! Baby is coming soon so needed to do a lot of things to prepare the house, car, and others. Anyways, enjoy!
P.S. A lot are asking who are Condal and Hess. They are the showrunners for House of the Dragon in HBO and they departed from the source material so much that the author of the book called them out on it.
WARNING TAG: DEATH!
Location: Branwen Camp, Mistral.
Time: 2:59 AM
Qrow's peaceful sleep after a long day of recuperating via the Branwen Way was rudely interrupted when a red portal opened up beside his bed.
His eyes were still closed when he suddenly felt a loud crash beside him.
"Damn it, Raven! I'm still recovering, you know?!" He yells out instinctively, hands rushing up to protect his face as he immediately rolls off the bed.
It wasn't the first time Raven tried to test him while he was vulnerable but this was just pushing it.
Bad enough that she doesn't even let him keep Harbinger unless he could fight for it, but disturbing his sleep?
Now that was just a new low, though thinking about it now, it was not so strange to the Branwen Way where constant vigilance was needed. It just so happens that it's been so long that Qrow had to live with savages that he forgot about it.
Let it not be said however that Qrow Branwen was not a fighter.
Screams, squawks, and shouts were thrown as his fists automatically flew out but before he could even fully land a devastating combination of one-two-uppercut, Qrow felt a kick to his stomach.
He winced painfully. Damn! Wasn't she worried she'd tear his wound open again?! All thoughts of pain are left forgotten however when he hears Raven's reply.
"NOT NOW, QROW!" Raven shouted and Qrow's eyes immediately opened at that.
And there she stood, panting with one figure on her shoulder and another under her arm.
He had never heard Raven sound so desperate yet before he could even say anything, his breath was already rushing out of him just as he heard a voice he never thought he would ever hear inside Raven's camp.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby Rose, carried under Raven's arm, looked at him with wide eyes.
His tight fists turn into open palms and suddenly, he finds his arms full of his niece.
"Ruby." He says breathlessly over Ruby's head as he watches Raven walk out of the tent assigned to him with Yang over her shoulder.
"MEDIC!" Raven shouts, undoubtedly waking up every single unfortunate soul in their vicinity.
Qrow wanted to follow to ask what was going on but Ruby cried and that was his signal to stay.
"You're alive….You're alive! You're alive! You're alive!" She repeated with wet sobs and Qrow's eyes could only widen as he held her tighter to his chest.
"Ssshhh, little petal." He shushes softly before rubbing her back comfortingly. "Of course I'm alive. Why would you think I wasn't?"
Ruby however does not answer. She only cries as she repeats that he's alive. Yet even his sleep-addled mind was good for something because he slowly starts to put some things together.
There was only one reason Raven would encounter Ruby and Yang and that was to save their life. Raven calling for a medic only supports that theory. His heart skips a beat and his skin pales as he suddenly makes the connection.
The only reason Raven would call for a medic desperately was if Yang was hurt! As hurt as he was!
"Ruby, what happened? I need you to tell me what happened." He asks as he looks down at his niece's hair but it was futile.
Ruby could only mumble quietly before losing strength and falling asleep. Tears still streaked her cheeks as Qrow internally cursed. Not willing to leave his niece behind, he carries her like a baby like he used to all those years ago. Her arms slowly circle around Qrow's neck as he walks out of his tent to follow Raven.
As someone recuperating in the tribe, Qrow's own tent was held up just beside the healer's so it was no trouble getting there with Ruby still in hand. He cringed however when he felt a pain in his abdomen.
Damn, perhaps his wound did reopen when Raven kicked him earlier. Good thing he was already on his way to the healer then.
He freezes however once he enters the healer's hut and sees what's inside. Raven's back was to him as she talked with their resident healer but all he could see was Yang laying on a table.
He was sure Raven was saying something passionate judging by the movement of her hands but all he could hear was the beating of his heart as he took note of Yang's condition.
Her skin looked pale, highlighting the angry red mark on her neck as she laid silently on the table with her eyes closed.
"Raven, what?" He mutters fearfully but his sister was too busy reaching across the table and pulling their healer by the neck.
"IF SHE DIES, YOU DIE!" Raven shouted angrily and it was only then did he notice the red staining one of her palms.
"S-She's lost a lot of blood-"
Before the doctor could even finish, Raven was already stretching her hand towards him.
"I'm her mother. Take mine."
There were a lot of words Qrow had reserved for the moment Raven tries to claim Yang as hers, none of them good and all of them belonging to the variation of 'you left her!', 'you have no right!', 'Now, you want to be a mother?!'
As he watched the doctor begin to shakily work on Yang and Raven however, Qrow could only shake as he tightened his hold over Ruby.
Yang was supposed to be safe in Beacon, she and Ruby both were yet here his nieces were, passed out and hurt.
Just what the hell was happening in Beacon?! What the hell was happening in Vale?!
Location: Blue 4, Above Commercial District, Vale.
Time: 3:02 AM
"BREACH! BREACH! BREACH!" A voice called out through the ship intercom as General James Ironwood walked briskly out of his quarters. "I repeat! Vale has been breached!"
It took him less than thirty seconds to reach the bridge wherein the door slid open to show him the chaos.
"Status report!" He barks as Winter snaps to salute him.
"Sir! Approximately two minutes ago, an explosion occurred under a portion of Vale's Southern Walls leading into its Agricultural District!"
His Semblance, Mettle, comes to the fore as his eyes harden at the holographic map marking the location of the explosion.
An explosion at 3:00 AM, the hour at which people are statistically known to be at their most vulnerable with most having their guard down? It sounded suspicious, especially when it happened on one of Vale's walls.
"Do we know what caused it?" He asked as his eyes scanned the rest of Vale's perimeter for any other unexpected surprises.
"Negative, sir, but I've sent a drone to get eyes on the location. We should be seeing it in 3…..2….1." Winter answered, eyes widening as a live feed of the situation flashes into existence on the main holograph.
Vale was breached alright, that was plain to see. Smoke rose up into the night sky and James could already see fires spreading to the buildings near the collapsed section of the wall.
The cause of the damage? A train poking out of the ground near the Southern Plaza just inside a collapsed section of the city's walls.
This was an attack.
James only nodded stoically however even as the crew looked on in confusion.
"Good job, Winter. Have Blue 1 and Blue 2 stationed near Vale's Northern Walls and the docks to the west respectively."
Winter jolts at that. "Not the south, Sir?"
"Someone put that train in there, Specialist. This could be a diversion meant to occupy our attention." He waves a hand to the live feed as he sees Winter's eyes widen in realization.
It was the type of thing he would do. Create a distraction while another team accomplishes the objective and in this case, James could only think of one thing worth it to make Vale a distraction.
The Maiden.
With that said however, James was already directing his forces in response to such a situation. "Get Blue 3 to occupy the air above Beacon while we respond to the situation."
"Yes, Sir!" Winter saluted before turning around to snap at the crew and relay his orders. "You heard the general! Get Captains-"
James didn't listen to whatever else was said as he watched the holographic map in tandem with the live feed. He frowned as he saw people escaping from the wreckage of the train with Grimm trying to chase them.
It was the White Fang. He could already see the sneers appearing on his crew's faces as they took note of the same thing.
He was just about to order the cameras to focus on them when a voice jolted him out of his thoughts.
"Sir! A call from Vale's Council! They're requesting our ships to remain above the Upper Residential District and the Commercial District!" The ship's Communication Officer shouted out to everyone's surprise.
"What?! Why?!" Winter asked immediately even as James began silently cursing to himself before Mettle took over.
James knew why, of course.
Self-interest.
Most politicians lived in the Upper Residential District while having businesses in the Commercial District. Not to mention, the delegates and investors already settling in for the Vytal Festival were currently residing there.
James understood the notion of self-preservation. How could he not when it was something he had to take into account when sending green recruits to missions? But still, this was just going too far.
Damn those selfish cowards! Don't they know staying in place is useless if the rest of the city falls?!
The Communications Officer however only looked at them helplessly as he tried to look away from his general's eyes as James inadvertently stared him down.
If he was in Atlas then he would have already ignored the foolish request! Alas, he was not in Atlas.
Any action he takes here without the sanction of Vale's Council would only reflect badly on the conduct of Atlas. Still, that did not mean they were powerless. The Council wanted them to stay in position? Well, they will, but that just gave him the perfect opportunity to test Atlas' drone technology.
"Winter, take the Paladins and drones to plug the breach. Prioritize the safety of the citizens but capture any perpetrators responsible for this act of terrorism if you can." He nods, turning around to Winter who was….gawking at the holograph?
The answer comes when James follows her gaze and he sees the live feed zoom in just as Weiss Schnee climbed out of the train's wreckage with Blake Belladonna in tow.
Even Mettle could not push back the incredulousness in time as James blinked at the image. Weren't those two girls supposed to be with their team in Mountain Glenn? Was this from Mountain Glenn?!
Thoughts flashed into overdrive as his mind connected the dots.
The White Fang in the southeast from Mr. Arc's information. His information was correct. There really was something there. That something just happened to come here. Jaune Arc was innocent all along.
But what happened to Qrow? He should have ran into these people before Team RWBY did.
James didn't have any more time to wonder about that however because Winter was already saluting him before stomping away to lead the drones.
"Remember your mission, Specialist. Civilians first and perpetrators second." James called out at that. Normally, he would have raised an eyebrow on such a break in decorum, especially from Winter, but he knew that when family was at stake, soldiers tended to shed unnecessary pomp. Besides, he had already given his order and he had full faith that Winter would fulfill it despite her sister becoming involved in the situation.
He freezes a bit however when the live feed zooms back to the wrecked train. Adam Taurus leapt out of the wreckage to chase after Weiss Schnee with Roman Torchwick and his partner close behind him.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Winter had already left the bridge by then. She did not need the added pressure of knowing her sister was being chased by vile criminals. Yet as he was preparing to send additional forces to assist Winter, another report comes through from his Communications Officer.
"Sir! We have additional intel coming in from Vale's Security Forces! According to them, the train used an old underground railway coming in from Mountain Glenn! They're worried the explosion caused another breach underground into the city's sewer systems!"
His fists clenched tight at that.
Vale as a metropolitan city was expected to have a sewer system to handle all the waste. Having Grimm breach into it would be catastrophic as it would give them access to almost the whole of the city.
It seems Winter would have to find help herself because now he had to direct the rest of his forces across the whole city!
Still, it was not as if he alone was responsible in keeping this city safe.
His eyes drift away from the holographic screens and pass his ship's windows to land at the sight of Beacon Academy starting to wake up.
Location: Beacon Academy, Vale.
Time: 3:05 AM
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Groans sounded out inside the quiet room as a Scroll rang loudly, eventually however, a hand weakly reached out to grab the loud device.
Click!
"Hello?" Jaune Arc answers the call.
"Hmmh, who is it?" Pyrrha groaned sleepily as she cuddled his side.
Before Jaune could even answer her however, a voice was already rudely shouting through his Scroll.
His hand automatically pulls the loud device away but even then, words screamed loud enough pass through his ears.
"Ne….reinforcements! Vale…breached! GRIMM!"
His sluggish mind immediately snaps awake and his eyes crack open to look at the Scroll.
Captain Roger's name flashes at his face before his Scroll goes dark.
"What…..was that?" Pyrrha blinked blurrily at him but Jaune was already pulling his hand away from her naked form.
"An emergency." He said gravely even as he rolled out of Blake's bed and a headache passed through his head.
"What?" She asked incredulously as she tilted her head at him.
Jaune turned back and looked at his girlfriend's incredible for a moment before shaking his head. "Come on, we need to wake up. Vale has been breached." He finished, fishing his clothes from the floor and throwing Pyrrha's to hers as he did so.
They had no time to waste and Jaune was already rushing out of Team RWBY's room to wake up Ren and Nora.
Vale….breached. His heart pounded at the thought even as he used his leader's access authorization to unlock his team's room. Screams greeted him as he opened the door and flicked the lights on.
"Get up! Vale's been breached!" He says while he ignored Ren and Nora clutching their blankets to themselves as the situation started to weigh on him.
Never in his life has he ever heard Vale being breached by the Grimm and Captain Roger having to call him only means that they needed all hands on deck, which in turn meant one thing.
Shit had hit the fan.
Just what the hell was happening to Vale?!
Location: Southern Residential District, Vale.
Time: 3:06 AM
Screams rang through the night as Captain Roger tried to push his forces to the breach farther south to the Agricultural District. Yet try as he might, he couldn't even get his people past the civilians trying to run away farther north. All he and his officers could do was direct the evacuation as people began to panic.
He knew something hit the walls almost five minutes ago. They all knew, it woke Vale up but five minutes ago was already too much time in his book.
He was sure Grimm were already trying to pour into the city and even now that he could hear Vale's automatic defense system come to life as turrets sprang up from high atop the walls, Captain Roger was worried.
Screams and explosions closer to their location from the walls meant that Grimm were already in the city. Something must have gone terribly wrong if that was the case and it was what prompted Captain Roger to call out every single Huntsman he knew with his Scroll, even the students were called into action as a final line of defense.
Things only got worse however when he heard a voice call out through his radio.
"They're in the tunnels! They've breached the sewers!"
His blood grew cold and his skin paled as the news rang out.
He immediately grabbed his Lieutenant at that. "Ramirez! Get twenty good men and get the plans to the sewers from the Mayor's office! Block the chokepoints and hold-"
BOOM!
The world shook and everyone screamed and stumbled as a second larger explosion occurred on Vale's Southern Wall.
Location: Under the Southern Wall, Vale.
Time: 3:06 AM
Perry was slow to wake up but wake up he did to the sound of screaming through his radio.
The thing about being inside a Paladin was he had protection.
So when the speeding train inevitably crashed, Perry was confident he would survive the crash. If not….well, he'd be too dead to worry about being wrong.
Alas, his Paladin's internal safety systems left something to be desired as he remembers being whiplashed at the moment of the crash. He cringed as he raised a hand up to the back of his head to feel a bump under his hair. That would knock him out alright.
Regardless, he was lucky to be alive. He shook himself awake and rubbed his forehead as he answered his radio.
"Perry, here. What's the situation?" He asked as he tried to get his Paladin's other systems online but all he could see was darkness.
"Perry! Thank the Gods you're alive! We're pinned down just trying to hold the Grimm back!" A voice replied just as his machine whirs to life.
It wasn't long after that before he managed to get his bearings and bring his Paladin up. He was face down and partially buried in debris!
"Where are we?" He asks as he assesses the damage to his Paladin.
The advantage of being at the back of the train during its crash? They weren't squished at the front. The disadvantage however was that they were thrown all over the place and had Grimm on their back.
He turned around to see his comrades holding back Grimm coming in from the tunnel behind them ... .and from a hole on the ceiling above their heads.
"We've passed the station for Point Bravo! We're in the tunnels under Vale's walls!" An aged voice answered as guns spat out bullets to kill the Grimm rushing to them.
"That's what the Huntsman shouted at least before leaving us here by running across the train's roof!" A younger man's voice called out and Perry could see the guy's Paladin stomping and sweeping its arms to eliminate the Ursae getting close to them.
"They survived?" He asked as he cocked his own arm gun, raising it up to shoot a Deathstalker leaning down from the ceiling.
"One of the guy's arms was broken but other than that, they were good. More than that however, what the hell do we do now?! We're all that's left!" A woman's voice shouted, her own Paladin swatting off a Beowulf leaping down from the hole in the ceiling.
Perry's heart sank at that. From a group of 12 trying to catch up to the train earlier, only four of them survived.
What to do indeed?
Perry thought gravely as his mind struggled to think of a plan. The train was supposed to stop at one of the underground stations just outside of Vale. Obviously that did not happen but that meant that everyone was still here, or at least close to here.
What was next was obvious then.
Regroup and escape.
He knew Deery and Richard would lead the support staff close to the front of the train so that's where they needed to go.
How though? A quick look at the train's direction already told him that their Paladin's wouldn't fit with some parts of the tunnel's ceiling being caved in and piercing some of the carriages. They'd have to dismount their Paladin's but then they'd be easy pickings for the Grimm.
That left one option.
"We climb up to the surface and follow the tunnel's path there! Hopefully we'd get a better read on the situation there and try to regroup with the others at the front!" He shouted as his Paladin pointed to the hole in the ceiling above them.
Seeing as there was no better option, the others expressed their agreements.
""Roger!"" The guy and the woman both called out while the older man shouted something else.
"Get to it! I'll hold the Grimm back!"
"Make sure to stay under the hole later, we'll pull you up!" Perry nodded, walking under the hole with his Paladin's arm gun aiming upwards. "Come on, you two! Give me a boost!"
"Hey, if you're going to order me around then at least know my name. The name's Reyna, Reyna Diaz." The woman, Reyna answered as her own Paladin walked beside his.
"Cool, if we're introducing ourselves then the name's Clayton but my family calls me Carmine." The guy, Clayton, laughed loudly as his own Paladin put a hand on his before he nodded at elderly man's Paladin. "How about you, old-timer?"
"Dominic Santiago but call me Dom, kid." Dominic called out as he resumed firing at the mass of Grimm inside the tunnel.
"Nice to meet you all. The name's Perry." Perry nodded with a smile but the others only snorted at him at the same time.
"""We know."""
Perry laughed bashfully at that. Even in a dark time such as this, the camaraderie within the White Fang warms his heart.
"Who wouldn't know Adam's protege?" Clayton asked as Perry blushed within his cockpit.
"Do you think he's out there right now?" Reyna asked, pointing her Paladin's gun up at the ceiling as Perry shrugged.
"Probably, he's not the type to sit out of a fight when it comes to protecting our people."
"Listen, ladies! Are we going to do this or are you going to sit there and talk?!" Dom interrupted, shouting as he kept on shooting even as he swiped his Paladin's other arm to punch an Ursa to the wall.
"That's sexist you know?!" Reyna shouted back even as Perry bid his Paladin to crouch.
"Ready?" Clayton asked as Perry nodded in the affirmative.
"Ready. On the count of three. One, two-what the fuck?!" His eyes widened as he suddenly felt his Paladin being thrown upward.
"What? That was three." Reyna shrugged as Perry grabbed the edges of the ceiling before trying to scramble to the surface.
His heart beat rapidly in his chest however once he gets a view of the surface. It seems like the tail end of the train was just outside the city's walls but the rest probably stretches deeper into the city.
Part of the wall seems to have crumbled down due to the train hitting the barriers beneath it before derailing upward to destabilize the walls enough for the Grimm to climb over it. And already, he could see packs of Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and Ursae trying to climb in.
Some looked at his direction but by then, Perry was already over the surface and standing tall with his Paladin. Gatling arm cocked back before it spat out bullets at the Beowolves rushing towards him.
He stumbles however when a Boarbatusk suddenly rams his Paladin's knee from out of nowhere but by then, Clayton was already up as well and smacking the Grimm away from him with his Paladin's hand.
"I'll hold them off! Get Reyna and Dom up!" Clayton shouted as Perry scrambled back to the hole. He could already see Grimm trying to run to them from all angles but by then he was already reaching a hand down the hole.
"Come on! Grab my hand!"
And immediately, he felt the feedback of metal clamping on metal as Reyna's voice called out through the radio.
"Got it! Dom, grab on to me so we can get out!"
Perry frowned at that, he didn't know if his Paladin would be able to carry that much weight but before he could even think about it, Dom was already screaming out a reply.
"I can't! We'd just get swarmed before Perry could pull us through!"
From the edge of the hole, Perry could already see Dom's Paladin wrestling with a King Taijitu with one hand even as he shot a Giant Deathstalker to death with the other.
By then, Perry was already pulling Reyna onto the surface just as Dom's Paladin gets pushed back.
"Dom, no! Perry put me back down!" Reyna cried out but Perry was already silently roughly pulling and shoving her to help Clayton fend off their attackers.
He looked back down at the hole to see, Grimm already starting to overrun Dom. He knew it then.
Dom was a dead man.
And the guy knew it too but he only shouts words of encouragement through their radio.
"Go on without me! I'm old enough to be a dead man already! You, young ones, still need to save our comrades!"
Perry nodded silently at that as his heart grew heavier. Another comrade to add to the list of the dead.
"I won't forget you Dom. It's been short but it was nice meeting you." He says as he sees Dom's Paladin get pushed back to the area below Perry's feet.
Perry was sure that sooner or later Dom's back would be against the train's last carriage, by then, he would truly be dead.
"Go on, kid! It's nice to see I'm leaving the White Fang in good hands!"
Gods, he was probably a veteran of the Faunus Wars. Perry thought as he turned around to join Reyna and Clayton.
He could hear Reyna's cries through the radio mixing together with Clayton's quiet sniffles even as Dom's loud laughter could still be heard.
"Never thought it would end like this, huh?! Huh, Maria?!"
Maria, huh? Probably his wife.
As Perry commits the older man to his memory however, he was forgetting one thing. The White Fang wasn't just carrying their people in the train.
They were carrying their equipment as well.
Dust, bombs, guns, and ammunition were all spread out along the train's carriages.
Perry and his two other comrades just managed to climb inside the city's walls while killing Grimm in their path with their mechs when Dominic Santiago dies.
It just so happens however that in a last act of defiance, Dominic Santiago blows up his own Paladin's power source, taking the Grimm with him and unfortunately, the train.
At 3:09 AM, 10 tons worth of highly volatile Dust explodes under Vale's Southern Wall.
The world explodes into white and for the second time that day, Perry passes out as he and his comrade's Paladin are launched into the sky by a giant explosion.
At the end of it all, a 20 meter long section of the Southern Wall collapses even as most of the explosion blasts through the underground, decimating any barricades and structures built along Vale's old subway system.
The world held its breath for a moment before screams, cries, and alarms sounded through the night for if there was still anyone asleep during the time of the explosion, they were certainly awake after it.
Fear filled the city then and where fear was, Grimm followed.
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pa tr eon.c o m (slash) MrLightbringer0
Just delete the spaces in between and use / for the slash.
P.S. I think I need to make a map of Vale and mark the locations of everything that is happening. Any thoughts on where to get the best version of a map available?
Also, Dom, Reyna, and Clayton are names from Gears of War. Won't be staying here much though.