Worldwide communication for most of Remnant's history was nothing more than just a pipe dream shared by many but with only a few believing it was actually possible. That didn't stop people from trying to make it a reality but most attempts would either never make it past the drawing board or fail to find the funding. After the Great War, the four kingdoms came together and made global communication a priority and during that first round of discussion an idea managed to overcome all those hurdles to become the first true attempt at making that dream a reality; It was a large network of vehicles and couriers that would deliver messages and packages all around the world… It is hard to understate what a massive undertaking it was and it is hard to overstate how unacceptably slow and prone to mistakes the system was. And that was before taking into account the Grimm and other natural obstacles which claimed the lives of many brave couriers.
The second great attempt came with the invention of Radios which seemed to promise a way to connect the world that avoided all the pitfalls of the previous attempt. But sadly the limitations of that technology soon became obvious, especially in regards to their range, it was just too short. However, its proponents argued that the range could be augmented by building more radio towers but they quickly ran into another problem called logistics. Experts ran the numbers and found that global communications required too many towers to be built, maintained, and staffed in order to function and the world was not kind to such vast projects. On the bright side, the tech is still widely used today so the effort wasn't a complete waste of time.
Then came the idea of satellites which were the third and by far the most promising of all solutions… and then the idea came to a complete stop when it was discovered that Dust stopped working at a certain altitude. Many considered the dream dead and buried but then Atlas proved them all wrong with a working solution that it gifted the rest of the world as a sign of good faith to usher in a new age from the ruins of the Great War. The Cross-Continental Transmit System known commonly as the CTT is a marvel of the world that consists of four relay towers, one located in each kingdom, that together allow anyone with a scroll to talk to anyone else in the world provided they also have a scroll. Even better was that the technology wasn't limited to just communication, all manner of signals and data could be sent near instantaneously to nearly anywhere else in the world thanks to the towers. The dream had come true and the world had never been so interconnected, soon the idea that kingdoms were ever enemies felt distant, strange, and even silly. However the system had one major flaw, all four towers must be active for it to work, if even one goes down then the entire network goes down with it. It should then be no surprise that each kingdom chose to place their respective tower in the one place where they would be the safest; Right in the middle of the academies. If any alarm went off then it was guaranteed that at least a handful of huntsmen-in-training would show up within the first couple of minutes either out of curiosity or to make sure that everything was alright and that was in addition to the tower's normal security. And the CCT in Beacon was especially difficult to break into because the tower was integrated with the school itself, and the top floor even doubled as the Headmaster's office!
This put Cinder in a very undesirable position, she needed to break into the CCT and plant a virus so that her true goal could be accomplished and screwing up here doomed the plan entirely. Even worse was that the virus would need time to penetrate the system undetected which put a time limit on the young ambitious woman, wait too long and the plan would fail. But tonight offered her a rare opportunity, the chaos of the Rally was drawing more and more attention to itself as more and more people were being sent to help contain it, Probably because it was happening so close to Vale's center of commerce. There is nothing politicians hate more than even the tiniest dip in the economy. It doesn't matter if they had nothing to do with it, their rivals will blame them for it and people will believe them because they are too lazy to look it up. She couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the coming weeks, it was going to be fun watching everyone scrambling about looking for someone to blame, and then that someone would try and find someone else and they would do the same until everyone finally settled on a scapegoat. And of course, the actual problem won't ever be addressed, it would be political suicide to admit that the White Fang is a direct product of their policies and willingness to throw the Faunus under the bus for personal gain.
But that was in the future and Cinder was a woman of the here and now. And right now the CCT was vulnerable as it was closed to the public and its guards were sent to Vale to help protect the market. As for Ozpin, her informants have assured her that he was somewhere else having a secret meeting with Ironwood, Probably about how they are going to handle the fallout. Regretfully there were still plenty of students and faculty on the campus but they would only act if someone saw her walk in or if the alarm went off, she was confident that neither would happen. This was going to be the best chance she had to plant the virus until the dance and she was not going to let such an opportunity pass without an attempt, Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Center your sights on the target, keep your breathing even, pull the trigger, confirm the kill, move on to the next target, and repeat, that was the cycle that Blake currently found herself in as she gunned down another member of the Nightwatch without hesitation or remorse. Why would she have any for a group of loathsome assholes who defined themselves solely by their hatred for people whose only crime was only being a little different from them? Why should she have mercy on someone who would have none to offer her and thought that civilians were acceptable targets? She wasn't the only person who held this opinion, the normally soft and quiet Velvet was standing only a few feet away from her and using a rifle made of hard light to gun down the attacker with efficiency. Even Sun who was jovial to a fault was down there swinging his gun-chucks with brutal speed breaking limbs and making shots with shocking accuracy but, perhaps neither Velvet nor Sun was really surprising given how they were Faunus defending other Faunus from those who would do them harm.
What Blake did find surprising was the actions of her human classmates. To be clear, she was not surprised by the fact that they were helping to drive the Nightwatch away, Huntsmen are supposed to protect people so they were just doing their job. What did surprise the young woman was the sheer ferocity that was on full display as those same classmates utterly eviscerated the Nightwatch, Yang was shattering skeletal structures with every strike while her shotguns shredded flesh, while Weiss rained down sharp icicles from every direction with frightening precision, and Ruby was an untouchable whirlwind of rose petals and bullets! But that was only her teammates, Sun, Neptune, Cocco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi had all racked up an impressive kill count; however, none could hold a candle to Penny. Her blades were dancing in the air and cutting down anything that got between them and wherever they wanted to go, occasionally one of those blades would stop and fire a beam that was always followed by a racist in red dropping to the ground never to get up. But Penny wasn't just utilizing her obvious weapons, every now and then she'd use the thin almost invisible wires that allowed her to wield the floating array to tangle someone up. Specifically, every time she spotted a member of the Nightwatch dressed noticeably different from the others, she would attempt to capture them this way, taking prisoners for later interrogation. Penny looked like a girl, acted like a girl, and most importantly she was undoubtedly a friend but there was no denying that she was built first and foremost to be a weapon, but for what?
Blake pushed that question out of her head but filed it away for later contemplation, why Penny was built didn't matter, not right now. What did matter was that the fight had ended almost as soon as it began, those thugs ran in seemingly with no plan other than a reliance on numbers and they paid dearly for it. But more importantly, was that they would not try a second time at least for a while, this was going to be their best chance to get the civilians out of here.
"Ruby! Penny! Make sure that the area is clear, this is the chance we've been waiting for!" Blake shouted.
"Got it," Ruby disappeared in a flurry of petals.
"I'll help!" Sun declared before using his impressive acrobatic skills to climb up the nearest building.
Penny on the other hand didn't immediately run off like the other two, she first needed to hand her prisoners over to somebody who could keep guard, "I require assistance to secure these ruffians." Her voice was so oddly cheerful that the juxtaposition between her demeanor, her captives, and the carnage just behind her would have been rather disturbing had she not been sincere.
That said, it still took a few moments for someone to volunteer and when they did it was Fox and Yatsuhashi who stepped forward, "We can handle them," Fox said speaking for the two of them. "I can read minds and he can erase memories, they'll have no chance of escaping."
"Thank you so much!" Penny cheerfully said as she used extra wiring to bind the prisoners' hands behind their backs for extra security while ignoring their futile struggle to break free. She then handed them over to her two classmates before turning around and using her swords and wires to rapidly rappel up the nearest building to get the best vantage point possible. Note to Self: Review all footage of this night. Priority: Figure out how to avoid such messes in the future.
As all of that was happening, Yang was looking around and realized that everyone had forgotten something extremely important and shouted a question to her partner, "Hey Blake! Do you want to do something about these bodies? I don't think that the people in there with you are going to handle the sight of them very well."
It didn't take a genius to realize that Yang was right, these civilians have already been through enough today and the last thing they needed was to see corpses, even if they were corpses of people who tried to kill them, "What do you have in mind?" Blake answered back.
Yang shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, "Nothing yet but I'll go talk to the others, I'm sure someone will have a workable idea in the meantime, you should probably get those people ready to move!" said Yang as she ran up to Weiss and Coco to see if there was anything that the pair could do with their Dust.
Blake then turned her attention back to the inside of the warehouse and took stock of the situation. The civilians were scared but mostly quiet and more importantly, they were not trying to break out, Running out into a gunfight would be a good way to get yourself killed. "Attention everyone!" She spoke as loudly as she could and with as authoritative of a tone as she could muster, "The fight is over and we are going to escort you all to safety once this area has been secured, please remain calm."
There was a small collective sigh of relief but no one said anything, even Haley was completely silent, Blake wasn't sure if this was a good or bad sign and she wasn't about to jinx it by prodding for an answer. Instead, she would do something far more fruitful with her time and that started with finding Velvet and gathering the other members of the White Fang to decide how they were going to move forward with the plan. Fortunately, the older woman was already close by and was in the middle of a discussion with some White Fang Grunts and unfortunately, there seemed to be some kind of disagreement.
"What's wrong?" Blake asked as soon as she was close enough to be heard.
Velvet was about to answer but a Grunt cut her off, "What's wrong is that we don't want to get arrested and blamed for all of this or shot up by trigger-happy cops!"
"And I understand but we need to get these people out of here or things will only be worse!" Velvet said exasperated with everything.
"Was that a threat?!" the Grunt asked half out of anger and the other half out of fear.
Blake stepped in before things could escalate out of control, "How about this, help us get the people out of this warehouse, and you all can stay behind. We will take them over to the police and you guys can just head in the opposite direction. We get them home and you get to go free, deal?"
"I- um," The Grunt was at a loss for words, it was clear that he never expected an offer like that. "Let me ask the others," replied the Grunt before walking away to talk to his comrades from a distance where the two huntresses wouldn't be able to eavesdrop.
As he did so Velvet leaned in and whispered to Blake, "Thanks but try not to make those kinds of deals in the future, you don't have that kind of authority and the police won't like it if they find out."
"No offense but what should I have done?" Blake whispered back, "Try to arrest them right here right in front of everyone?"
Velvet sighed, "No, you did the right thing… I just can't help but worry a bit. Please don't make a habit of just cutting in and offering deals like that, talk to people first to make sure of what you're jumping into. Honestly, what do you think might have happened if there was a cop here or an Atlassian Soldier?"
Then they would have been pissed and while they wouldn't have done anything here, they might report me to their superiors and I'd rather avoid that attention. "Fine, I'll try to be more careful."
"That's all I ask."
The Grunts came back a few seconds later, "Alright, how is this going to work?" He was trying to sound as confident as possible but there was an unmistakable quality of nervousness in his voice and it was reflected in the equally nervous shuffling of the Grunts behind him, they really didn't want to leave their fates in the hope that Blake was being sincere but what choice did they have? They knew that they wouldn't win a fight and if they ran their chances of escape dropped to zero the moment someone started chasing them, all they could do was hope.
Velvet sensing their unease decided to do what she could to help them relax but first, she turned to Blake, "Could you call your partner and find out what they have planned, while I get everything organized here?"
"My pleasure," Blake said as stepped away, pulled out her scroll, and quick-dialed Yang who answered almost immediately.
"Perfect timing! How do you feel about fog?"
"Fog? What ar- are you guys planning to create fog? How would you even do that?"
Velvet overheard and quickly cut in to add her own opinion, "That might work, also ask her if Fox and Yatsuhashi managed to find anything out from the prisoners."
"Velvet is interested in the idea but I want to know what exactly you mean, also did you learn anything from the prisoners?"
Yang then explained what she meant, "According to Weiss and Cocco, they can create a nice thick fog and still have enough Dust left to fight in an emergency. Weiss also thinks that she can use her glyphs to keep the fog away from the civilians, allowing them to see clearly while hiding them and the bodies!"
"That sounds good but let me clear it with Velvet before you do anything. What about Fox and Yatsuhashi if they found anything out from the prisoners?"
"Understood and as for our little friends, Fox managed to pick their brains and found out why they attacked. As it turns out, they thought they saw their leader waving them over in this direction and they followed her."
"What do you mean they thought they saw their leader?" Blake asked, confused by the odd way Yang had worded that.
"Their leader didn't go with them to Vale, she's still in Mistral."
"What?! But then what did they see?" It could have been an illusionist but I've never heard of a Semblance that can cause a mass hallucination, not without major drawbacks.
"I'm just telling you what Fox told me, so are we good to go on the fog?"
"Give me a second," Blake then turned to Velvet, "They're planning on creating heavy fog and then using glyphs to keep it concentrated and away from us, according to them it should hide the civilians without blocking their vision."
Velvet mulled it over for a second, "That's not the best plan I've ever heard but I suppose it's good enough, and the news from Fox?"
"I'll tell you later, right now let's get these people out of here."
Velvet nodded and got to work as Blake returned to her call and gave Yang the go-ahead for the plan, she then joined the Grunts on the ground floor to help them out. Within minutes began to look just a little less like an aimless mob and look more like something akin to an organized group. It wasn't perfect but it would do especially since it allowed them to start something that should have been done long ago; Help everyone who had been trampled in the earlier panic.
"Blake! We found another one!" Haley shouted while jumping up and down in an excited manner that made her seem like a child, sadly she did not have anything cool to show to Blake. Instead what she had was someone who in the earlier panic had the misfortune of falling to the floor and being trampled.
"How are they?" Blake asked as she arrived with a first aid kit.
"They're unconscious and their leg is swollen, I think it might be broken."
Blake quickly looked over the victim, it was a man who seemed to be only a couple of years older than her but it was hard to tell due to the bruises and footprints on him. What she could tell was that he was breathing nice and evenly which was a good sign, "I'm going to fasten a splint to his leg. In the meantime can you find me a stretcher or a wheelchair to carry him?"
"A wheelchair?"
"We're in a warehouse, there is absolutely something stashed away in some corner that we can use to move him without further hurting his leg. Be sure to get some help, I got a feeling that we're going to need at least a few stretchers."
Blake watched as Haley nodded before running off to get some help with her search, she then turned back to her patient and got to work making the splint, it was an easy task that she had plenty of time and practice to perfect, Good to know that my time in the White Fang wasn't a complete waste.
"There's a heavy fog rolling in but they haven't given us the signal just yet!" Shouted a Grunt who was keeping watch.
"Keep watching, meanwhile let's get ready to open those doors!" Shouted another Grunt who then walked over to an electrical panel and began flicking some switches, a machine began to hum and other Grunts took up positions by the large doors. They, aided by the machine, would pull open the doors allowing everyone to get out in an orderly manner.
Velvet stood in between the crowd and the doors, "Could everyone please take a step or two back? We have some injured people that we would like to move to the front to evacuate first."
There was some shuffling around as the people made space for the injured and then an uncomfortable silence fell when they saw just stretcher after stretcher being taken to the front, the consequences of their actions. And then they saw one that was covered with a dirty sheet, the meaning of that wasn't something they needed explaining, the shame they were feeling was palpable. As for Velvet, she was tempted to just let them stew in that negativity, it made it easier to keep them in line but that wasn't what a Huntress was supposed to do, they were supposed to inspire, take weights off of shoulders, and bun the burden so that others wouldn't have to.
"This is not your fault," Velvet said loud enough to be heard. "It's my fault. As a Huntress, I was supposed to protect you all and I failed. Don't blame yourself for this, blame me, and know that I will do everything in my power to make this right."
Blake frowned and she wasn't the only one to do so, nobody doubted Velvet's words but there was something rather upsetting about her taking the blame like that. It just wasn't right especially when the fact was that there was nothing she could have done, not unless she could see the future. I'll have to talk to her about this later.
"We got the signal!" Shouted the Grunt on watch, "Open the doors!"
Blake placed her patient on a stretcher and handed him over to two civilians who had agreed to carry the guy then she went to the front to stand by Velvet's side. The two Huntresses had their weapons drawn, there wasn't much chance that they would have to fight but they wanted to be ready just in case. Together they would be the ones leading the people to safety, not because they were interested in the glory but because it was what a Huntress was supposed to do.
The doors opened, at first, there was just a little crack but that alone was enough to send a collective sigh of relief through the civilians and Grunts, they were getting out of here. Velvet and Blake stepped past the doors once they were wide enough to let a person walk through and together the pair surveyed the area. Just like Yang had discussed with Blake there was now a thick fog hiding the corpses, that same fog was surrounding the warehouse preventing unwanted eyes from peering in and on the floor, Blake could see the glow of glyphs keeping said fog a short distance away making the path to the police and medics clear.
"Looks like it's working," Velvet commented as she glanced at her fellow students keeping vigil, she could see them all except for the three who had left to better keep watch and one more Huntress that was oddly absent, "Where is Weiss?"
Balke didn't share Velvet's concern, "She's probably hiding in the fog for the sake of the civilians, after all, she is a Schnee and this is a White Fang Rally."
"Makes sense… Alright, let's get everyone out of here." Velvet then turned around to face the crowd still inside nervously waiting to see if it was safe to finally leave, "Let's get you all home."
Heavy breaths were followed by carefully made steps as the fighters kept wary eyes on each other, the hunt was nearly at its end. Its participants couldn't explain why they knew this as a fact, it was just an instinctual feeling in their guts that told them everything would be decided in the next few exchanges. This hunt so far had been anything but normal, its twists and turns had led to the position of predator and prey being passed back and forth as both sides of the conflict struggled to ensure their survival and the other's death.
On one side stood the young team of Huntsmen, tired, Aura dropped to the yellow and on the edge of red, ammo low, and yet more than eager to continue to fight. They stood spread out to increase the angles of attack and make it harder for the creature to escape while remaining close enough to intervene if someone was overwhelmed. They accomplished that by utilizing the environment around them turning buildings into walls and alleyways into chokepoints. They said nothing as they got into position for what they hoped would be the final push, all communication was being done through hand signals and each one was chiming in.
On the other side stood the Creature with a wall protecting her back as antler-like armor covered her body. Her breathing was steady but labored, she had dealt those hunters damage and in exchange, she had received wounds of her own. Her regeneration had healed those wounds just like how the Huntsmen's Aura had shielded them from harm, Except for one, the knight heals like me but he'll be at his limit soon and then I'll kill him and wear his corpse as a trophy. There was just one problem and it was the fact that she was close to her limit as well, the armor was proof of that. I want to crush them. I want to rip their arms off and make them gag on it! In her twisted mind, she could already see her victory, it was beautiful in its brutality, but at the same time, she was aware of just how easily this could end in her death. Caution was the path forward, patience and a good plan were how she was going to win, all she needed was a chance.
Pyrrha, not wanting to give the monster a chance to relax, dashed forward and jabbed her spear at its midsection but it was able to move out of the way in time. The monster then raised its fists to strike back but it was forced to abandon that plan as Ren came in from a blind spot and scored a hit against her thighs, Storm Flowers's blades were able to cut through the bony armor but they couldn't reach the flesh beneath it. However, this did not deter the young man who then swung his blades as quickly as he could without using an Aura boost as Pyrrha continued to cover him with jabs.
The monster soon grew tired of this and was tempted to try and kick Ren away but she fought back against that instinct, this fight had gone on long enough for her to recognize that there was a pattern. They wanted her to try and strike back against either the boy in green or the girl with the spear, the moment she did they would move out of the way and the boy who was like her and the girl with the hammer would attack. Those two were the real heavy hitters, the other two were just distractions and she had no desire to waste time on distractions. Besides, she had a far better idea of how to get out of this situation, her armor wasn't just for defense.
Without any warning, the monster suddenly threw its body forward towards Pyrrha who scrambled to get out of the way so she wouldn't be skewered by the antlers. Meanwhile, Ren was caught off guard by the sudden movement but soon regained his composure and followed closely after the monster so he could continue his assault against that spot on her leg. Meanwhile, Jaune realized that the monster was moving, no, rolling towards him too quickly to escape from so he braced himself for impact as Nora moved in to intercept with the might of Magnhild. However, the beast predicted this and brought its roll to a sudden halt by slamming an elbow into the ground as an anchor. It then used the remaining momentum to whip a leg at the boy like her who tried to block with his shield, he succeeded but was knocked down onto his back in the process. The monster then got up and moved in to try and finish him off but then Pyrrha's shield struck the back of her neck and got stuck in the armor while also knocking the monster off balance but it did not fall, Got to keep moving, she then chose to abandon her attack and run past the knight while narrowly dodging a swing from the hammer girl.
The creature didn't have to look behind her to know that they were chasing her, they were always chasing her. Why does this keep happening? And what did they throw at me? She could feel a heavy object stuck in the back of her neck, held in place by the same antlers that kept it from piercing her skin, it was utterly maddening not to know what it was. So maddening that she was almost tempted to try and find a reflective surface to find out, But then they'll catch me. She surveyed her surroundings as she moved through them, looking for anything that could be used to turn this fight in her favor, and to her pleasure, she found that she had plenty of options, pipes, metal sheets, containers, vehicles, and the buildings themselves. And as she considered which one to use a recent memory began to stir in the back of her head, there was one building, in particular, that was different from the others. It was the building where she had found that lone man in red, He had broken the window with a brick, and then there was fear but not just from him… there was fear from inside that building. There were people inside that building! She smiled as a wicked plan began to form in her twisted head, she just needed a little space to work.
Pyrrha's eyes widened when the monster's hands reached toward a pile of sheet metal and picked one up, She going to throw it at us! She quickly realized that there was not going to be enough time to warn her teammates, she had to do something now and then warn them afterward. So instead, she used her Semblance to magnetically grab the sheet metal first and knocked it over so that it would not be used against her team, then she warned them. "Heads up, that thing is trying to find stuff to throw at us!"
The monster grunted in displeasure but wasn't deterred from its plan, it just needed to find something else and it did. It spotted a pile of PVC pipes lying just ahead and backhanded them as she ran past, the force of the hit sent the pipes flying towards the Huntsmen chasing her. The pipes were too light to stop the Huntsmen who could use their Aura to power through them but she didn't need them to be stopped, she only needed them to be slowed down and that was something the pipes were quite capable of.
"She's picking up the pace!" Pyrrha shouted as she used her sword to cut through the PVC, Where is she going?
Nora used some crates to try and get high enough to leap over an oncoming pipe and noticed something as she did, "Haven't we been here before?" she asked as she landed. The others began to look around as they continued the chase and at first, none of them noticed anything that stood out. To be honest, everything looked the same in this part of Vale and the fact that they occasionally had to dodge an obstacle wasn't helping but they trusted Nora and kept looking when they could.
Then they saw a corpse, specifically, it was the corpse of a member of the Nightwatch, and more importantly, it was a corpse they remember seeing earlier.
"I think we have been here before!" said Jaune with a creeping feeling of fear sprawling up his spine, Where is that thing trying to run off to?
Ren scoured his recent memories, "If I remember correctly, we should be seeing some White Fang bodies just about now."
"I see them!" Pyrrha nearly shouted when she spotted the corpse of a White Fang Grunt, "We have been here before!" And then it all clicked together, "That thing is heading toward the civilians!"
They opened fire, no one told them to do so, it was just something that they all understood that they needed to do if they were to have any chance of stopping that monster. All of the ammunition that they were trying to conserve for the final confrontation was used up in two minutes of continuous fire. The result of that display of firepower was worth a hefty amount of Lien in damages to the property and loss of merchandise, had circumstances been different then this action would have likely seen them potentially suspended or maybe even kicked out of Beacon with their weapons confiscated. However, in their current circumstances, they had a valid reason as to why this destruction was necessary to preserve the lives of civilians, and more importantly, was the fact that they had succeeded in their goal.
That barrage had halted the monster's charge, the projectiles shaved its armor but it was still present, and the beast was still standing, awkwardly leaning against the side of a building with the shield still lodged in the back of its neck but standing nevertheless. More importantly, it was no longer running, now it was facing them with grim determination and in its hands, it held a piece of concrete, a part of the road that had been dislodged by the onslaught of lead and grenades. That piece of concrete was the size of grapefruit which made it deadly against someone without Aura but in this situation that improvised weapon was nowhere near enough to secure victory over the Huntsmen but, that was not the only weapon the beast had access to. As a direct consequence of the destruction, there were now plenty of improved weapons well within arm's reach, especially for something as psychically strong as the monster and it was already weighing its options.
Without warning, it threw the rubble right at Jaune since he was the closest to her. In response, he swung his sword in an upward arc and cut right through the artificial stone, and followed it up with a downward cut to slice through the next thing it threw at him while carefully edging towards her. As he did so the rest of his team caught up and immediately started to surround their prey who had been waiting for all of them to gather together, once they were close enough she turned around and grabbed and began to pull on the biggest thing that was there, the wall of the building she had leaning against a moment earlier.
The Huntsmen-In-Training stopped their charge and gawked at the sight, it was a stupid amateurish mistake that would have gotten them chewed out by every instructor in Beacon, and for a good reason. Only an idiot gives their opponent breathing room and that was exactly what they had done and for what? Just to see if that thing could do it? To see if it did have the strength to pull down a damaged warehouse with just its hands? And what were they going to do if it turned out that it could? What were they going to do if that thing got away and went on to attack civilians while they were stuck underneath a collapsed building?! Fortunately for them, the building's foundations hadn't been too severely damaged and the walls were reinforced just in case of a Grimm attack. This meant that it took a considerable deal of effort for the monster to start pulling down the wall and as she did so, it loudly protested with a screeching noise that snapped Team PRAN out of it.
Without a word needed to be said, Pyrrha used her Semblance first on the wall but such a large and heavy target proved to be draining, I can't! I'm already running low on Aura and I don't have my shield to protect myself… my shield, that's it! She then switched targets to the shield in the monster's neck and began to twist, pull, and push but not pull it free, she wanted to redirect the beast's attention and it was working. The creature groaned in pain and discomfort before deciding that it wasn't worth it and abandoning its labor with a roar, instead it leaped towards Pyrrha with murderous intent.
Nora stepped in between her friend and the monster and swung her hammer just as the beast swung an armored fist. The metal and bone clashed with devastating force as blood and gore were splattered leaving a bleeding stump where there was once a hand but the monster did not care. Instead, it backhanded the energetic girl away as antlers began to sprout around what remained of the wrist and covered it in a manner that made regeneration impossible but allowed it to still be used to attack. And attack it did, the beast used every part of its antler-covered body to strike at one before quickly moving on to someone else, all while grabbing and throwing or swinging anything it could pick up and use as a weapon. Rocks were thrown and used as bludgeons, pieces of wood from broken pallets and crates were reposed as clubs, pipes became spears or swords as needed, sheet metal served as shields, and whatever else that was laying around was used as needed to break the Huntsmen's Aura and hopefully their bodies.
During all of this, Ren kept his eyes on the monster's leg. To be specific, he was watching the leg that just a little earlier ago he was working on slicing through the armor and now he could see that his efforts had paid off. Right now there was a spot on that leg that was exposed, a spot that would that could spell the end of the fight if he could reach with just enough Aura intact. And glancing at the shield still stuck in the back of the monster's neck gave him an idea of how to reach it.
"Pyrrha! I need you to distract that thing!" He shouted, not caring if the monster heard him.
"I can't! I barely have any Aura left!"
"Do it anyway, I can end this!"
Pyrrha raised her hand and began to concentrate once again on the shield but before she could start moving it the monster grabbed one of the many pieces of rubble on the ground and threw it at her as though it somehow understood what she was doing. However, Jaune saw what the monster was doing and was close enough to intercept the projectile with his shield though it hurt his arm to do so. He then stood by ready to protect his team leader from anything else that the monster might try to throw at her but instead it surprised him with a bum rush aimed right at him. He tried to counterattack but found himself knocked to the floor by the bigger heavier body, Nora attempted to save her teammate but the monster saw her approaching and picked Jaune up from the floor and threw the knight at her before dropping down into a sprinting stance intending on attacking them both before they could get up. It would never get the chance to do so, the distraction had given Pyrrha enough time to take what Aura she had left and use her Semblance to rotate the shield and force the monster to twist its neck. She didn't have the strength to break the creature's neck, if she did then this fight would have ended a while ago but, she did have the strength to force the monster's attention away from her friends and back onto herself. Hurry up Ren, I won't last long!
It was not as long of a distraction as he would have liked but, it was enough for Ren to focus what Aura he had left into his right palm, utter a silent prayer, and dive for the leg. The creature attempted to move out of the way but Pyrrha stepped forward and drove her blade into its gut forcing the beast to take a step back, to take a step towards Ren and it was enough. Ren's palm struck the exposed part of the leg, sent what Aura he had left into the monster's body, and utterly destroyed the limb.
The creature screamed in pain while clutching what was left of its leg as it fell over and landed on its stomach, the antlers were already growing over the wound but they were small, brittle, and would not be enough for the beast to regain mobility. Then without hesitation, Ren took one of his Strom Flower pistols and used the blade to pin the other leg to the ground before glancing at Pyrrha who understood what he wanted. She took her weapon Miló, walked over to the monster's right arm, and drove the javelin through the arm and into the ground beneath it.
Jaune got up, held his sword Corcea Mors and felt a sick pit growing in his stomach as he approached the left arm. This isn't a Grimm, this is a person just like me… how did this happen? What happened to make her like this? Could we have saved her? No… we couldn't, not after she started killing people. "I'm sorry," he whispered before stabbing his sword through her left arm. He then watched as Nora took her hammer Magnhild and positioned herself right next to the woman giving her a clear view of the shield, she then raised her hammer to strike the shield as if it was a wedge and drive it through the neck.
"Don't look at me like that," Nora said to the monster she was about to decapitate. "You're the one who put innocent lives in danger, you're the one who brought this on yourself… you're just a Grimm!" That wasn't true and Nora knew it, she had seen more than enough to know that this wasn't a monster. But thinking of this woman as a monster made this next part so much easier…
Nora closed her eyes, screamed, and ended the hunt with one last swing.
The computer screen began to flicker rapidly before going completely blank and for one moment Cinder feared that the mission had gone wrong, "No, it can't be! I followed the instructions perfectly!" A small insignificant part of her wanted to punch the machine but her more reasonable and mature side quickly smothered that thought, A tantrum is beneath me. Besides, there is no way Watts could make a mistake with the virus, he created the very system it was meant to infect and while he may hate me he hates Atlas far more. I just have to be patient… After all, the worst-case scenario is that I go back to Salem and explain how His failure ruined her plan. Cinder could see it now, the self-proclaimed Great Arthur Watts pissing himself as he tried to explain why his failure wasn't his fault to an unimpressed Salem… it was beautiful. So beautiful that she almost wished that the virus would fail but if that happened she wouldn't be able to take back what was rightfully hers, and that was not an acceptable outcome.
Then the computer made a beeping sound before the screen flicked back to normal, except for an image that was now on screen. It was the image of a chess piece, specifically, it was the image of the black queen piece. That gave the young woman a small pause, Watts knew that she held a certain fondness for the piece, and in turn, she knew beyond a doubt that he held no such fondness for her, Salem must have told him to do this, probably as a way of reminding me of my goal and my prize; Freedom.
The image disappeared and the screen went back to normal as though there was no virus but Cinder knew better. She knew that there was currently a malicious program burrowing itself into the system intending to spread itself throughout the whole network and had whatever it found to her. It would take some time for the program to truly complete its job, partially due to the system's intricate complexity and partially to keep itself from being discovered but time was something she could afford to invest. Her job here was over, tomorrow she would head to class and none, not even that old fool Oz, would know any better until it was too late.
She just had to take care of a few loose ends…
Author's Notes: This arc feels strange to me, on one hand, I know that it is a little too messy to call it good by any stretch of the imagination but at the same time I'm satisfied. I felt myself improve just a little bit and I know that if and when I write another arc similar to this, I will do better.
Either way, there are a few things I need to tidy up before this arc is truly concluded and I will endeavor to cover them all in the wrap-up.