It's easy to say that you are going to do something, words after all are just noises made with your mouth and that's one of the easiest things in the world to do. But putting those words into action is a different beast altogether.
Now that probably seems rather obvious and it is, it is so obvious that it can feel like a waste of time to even bring it up. But yet it is a lesson that deserves repetition because it is so easy to forget. It is easy to make a decision but come to regret it, sometimes before you even get the chance to do whatever you had decided to do… It's all so silly in hindsight and yet it's fully understandable.
Greenstone right now was a perfect example of this.
Just a couple of hours or so ago he had followed a young Huntress, fellow Faunus, former colleague, and unexpected ally by the name of Blake Belladonna through a window high above the streets of an abandoned city. They did this to get to the building across the street, a building that was filled with Grimm looking for them. Together they had fought their way down the floors until they reached the streets below. Once they reached the streets they joined forces with the rest of Blake's team and the accompanying professor all for the sake of giving those people the best possible first impression of Greenstone.
Together the six of them made very short work of the Grimm and bought for themselves valuable time to recollect themselves and decide what to do next.
Unfortunately for Greenstone, he was not included in that conversation.
What happened instead was that Oobleck thanked Greenstone for the assistance before arresting him. That didn't bother him though, he expected that. So he didn't take too much offense when his weapon was taken or a piece of rebar was twisted around his wrist like a shackle, or how he was blindfolded before being taken to their camp, and made to sit down in a corner while being guarded by two members of the team as Oobleck took and Yang and Blake aside to explain the situation to him.
"Can you at least take off the blindfold?" Greenstone asked his guards.
"Sure," One of them answered.
"Ruby, wait!" The other protested but was too slow to stop her partner.
Now that he could see the first thing that Greenstone noticed, was a young woman dressed in a black and red dress, wielding a massive scythe with one hand and holding the blindfold in the other. He recalled that her name was Ruby and that the scythe was also a high-impact sniper rifle, a truly scary weapon for a girl who was rather cute and friendly.
"Thank you." He then looked around to try to figure out where he was but soon gave up.
He could tell that they were inside a ruined building but that didn't mean anything in a city filled with ruined buildings. Even the room gave him no clues, it had been cleared out and cleaned to make room for the camp. Frankly, it was completely possible that they were camping out in the same building where his radio equipment was, it's not like he had checked every room before setting up on the roof. Hell, he didn't even know what this building used to be!
"Ruby, you weren't supposed to do that," the second guard said with a shake of her head.
Greenstone glanced at her. She was sitting across from him and her white clothes and hair along with the way she carried herself gave away that she was a Schnee. In her hands, she held an expensive-looking rapier whose blade she was cleaning. Next to her were some vials of Dust that she was going to load into the blade once she was done cleaning it.
Earlier Greenstone had told Blake that he'd be more than happy to turn himself in if it meant stopping Adam. But now that it was too late to change his mind, he was kind of regretting his earlier courage. It was silly but he could not deny his feelings, he could not deny how much he hated not being able to advocate for himself… But maybe he could distract himself?
"So…," he wasn't sure what to say and didn't want to say anything stupid so he looked around the room to find something to talk about… there was nothing. I could bring up their weapons but that might be seen as trying to size them up. Which means that the only other option is ol' reliable.
"Nice weather today," Greenstone you idiot. We're indoors and there are no windows! How are we supposed to talk about the weather when we can't even see it!?
"It is nice weather," Weiss answered with a level of politeness that surprised Greenstone. But internally, she was reprimanding herself. Really Weiss? You have a current member of the White Fang standing right in front of you and you're talking about the weather?! Blake told you that he was an ally, ask him something important!
"I love your halberd!" Ruby said to help break the ice. "You must have been practicing with it for a long time. I assume it was a gift?"
He gave her a surprised look, "I've had it for years but how did you know that it was a gift?"
"Before I came to Beacon I studied at Signal where we had to build our own weapons. The forge master there took a liking to me and explained a lot of things like how to properly gift a weapon."
Ruby then walked over to where his halberd had been propped against a wall and pointed at some slots built into the handle. "Gift weapons that are meant to serve as your main often come with extra slots or grooves. They're put there so the user can install extras if they want to, like a gun or a Dust system."
"Wow… they taught you well, really well. I got it from my instructor when I graduated from boot camp, it's called Stone Biter!"
"The White Fang have a boot camp?" Weiss suddenly asked out of genuine interest.
"Yeah we do, Sienna set it up after a few too many recruits got hurt. It's nothing like an academy but it does help lower casualties and they're all trained to do field medicine. Is there anything else you'd like to ask? Anything at all?"
Weiss held her breath as her mind raced, there were so many things she wanted to say. So many questions that she wanted to ask, things that she had spoken to Blake about but now wanted to see if others thought the same. "Why?"
"Why?" He repeated the question hoping to get some clarification.
"I- I'm not sure," Weiss confessed. "When I found out that Blake…-" Weiss put a hand over her mouth and glanced towards the room where Oobleck was privately talking to Blake and Yang.
A few moments passed before Weiss dared to continue, "I had a lot of questions and she did her best to answer them. But there was a lot she didn't know, Adam wouldn't tell her. Moreso, she left the group before any of this madness happened. So… I guess my first question is why is Adam doing this?"
Greenstone sighed, "It's because he hates humans."
"Plenty of Faunus hate humans. Plenty of humans hate humans but they're not messing with a deadly drug or according to you, planning on smashing a train filled with drugs and explosives into Vale."
Ruby then added, "Don't forget the video and the hospital filled with Rage victims or the fact that he's working with Torwick."
"Look, I know that Adam doesn't seem very consistent and that's because those things aren't his idea. I already told your friends but Adam has been working with some third party. Whoever they are, they are the ones responsible for a lot of things including Torchwick. And even Torchwick thinks that goes even deeper."
"So… what do you think is going on?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know. I just don't know. Adam is being secretive, more so than usual. And then after…," Greenstone looked over where they could hear Yang and Blake talking to Oobleck before returning his gaze to Ruby, "After they left, he then kept a closer eye on everyone."
"Control," Weiss whispered low to herself before repeating it out loud for the others to hear. "Adam hates the idea of losing control and by leaving him they've challenged his control."
"Sounds like you have experience with that."
Weiss gave a soft but dark laugh, "Let's just say that he and my dad have more in common than either would probably like to admit."
"That's rough, I feel for you kid."
"It's alright, I've been slowly but surely squirming out of his grasp." Though it hasn't been easy. Everything became an uphill battle after Winter left, now that I'm on the way out I'd imagine that he's become more unbearable… I-... I wonder if Whitely's okay? We may not get along but he is still my brother.
While Weiss was lost in her thoughts, Ruby took the opportunity to ask a question. "What kind of weapon does Adam have?"
"He has two named Wilt and Blush. Wilt is a red sword that I think is imbued with Fire Dust or at least has been treated with it. Blush is the Scabbard for Wilt but it's also a rifle. Adam built the weapon but he didn't design it, he found the blueprint in the workshop of this racist weapon smith in Mistral who was trying to form a hate group."
Ruby frowned, "From the hands of one racist to another."
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Ruby, the weapon is the least important thing here."
"It is important if you want to take down Adam," Greenstone quickly retorted.
"Sure his weapon is important bu-!"
He interrupted the heiress, "You don't understand. Adam needs his weapon, his Semblance allows him to take the hits he blocks and turn the power against his enemies but he needs to block it. He can't use his Semblance without a weapon and the fact that his scabbard is also a gun matters because of that. He is also an expert at Aura manipulation and his Semblance gives him a lot to work with."
Weiss processed what he said and she didn't like it, Adam did not sound like someone they could beat. "Anyone else we should watch out for, assuming we don't just head straight back to Vale?"
"His lieutenant, a mountain of a man named Banesaw."
Weiss and Ruby exchanged a skeptical glance with each other before Ruby asked the obvious question, "That's… not really his name, is it?"
"Hell if I know. But that guy hates humans and especially Schnees though I have no idea why. He isn't just strong or tough, his Semblance lets him adapt."
"Adapt?" Weiss curiously asked.
"His Aura takes less and less damage the more it's hit with the same kind of attack. It's not just damage, let's say he's trapped under Gravity Dust. His Semblance will work to free him from that effect, so you either have to beat him fast or keep switching up how you attack him."
"Are there any li-!" Weiss saw Oobleck enter the room just in time to shut herself up.
Next to the Professor were Yang and Blake and while they looked mentally exhausted, there was a satisfied smile on their faces as they went to sit down. AS for Oobleck, he sat down near Greenstone and just observed the man in silence for a few seconds before addressing him.
"My wards have filled me in on your situation… but I want to hear it from your mouth." Oobleck then stood up and offered a hand to Greenstone that was accepted and pulled him to his feet. "Before that, can I offer you some coffee and something to eat?"
"I can talk and eat at the same time," Greenstone then glanced at Yang and Blake and nearly smiled when Yang gave him a thumbs up. You better watch your ass, Adam, 'cause I'm about to sing like a canary.
By now, team PRAN had plenty of experience fighting Grimm so they shouldn't be too worried and yet they were. It would be easy and even tempting to dismiss this feeling as just them being a bunch of worry warts. After all, they faced danger at the Rally, at the Raid, at the Docks, during Initiation, and now they were facing a straightforward horde of local Grimm attacking a fortified town. They made it out fine all those other times and they would make it out fine now as well.
But what about the civilians?
There were no civilians at the Docks, or during Initiation. During the Rally, the civilians were in danger but they were also hidden away at a guarded warehouse, and at the Raid, the civilians were the threat due to the Rage in their system and that was disastrous… But here in Autumn Hills, the civilians would be by their sides getting into the thick of it.
Now it wasn't enough just to defeat the enemy in front of them. What was meant to be an easy mission was now going to become a true test of their skills, multitasking, and ability to adapt and they would have to adapt. They were the guests here, they were the ones who had to mind their step so they wouldn't accidentally get in the way.
"Okay, we don't have much time so we'll take this in steps." Sheriff Slivia said to team PRAN who were giving her their full attention. "For now we just need you to buy time and stem the horde. The Grimm are mostly coming from the direction of the Forever Fall, just follow the river and you'll meet them in the field and slow them down."
"But we're not nearly enough to hold them all back." Nora pointed out.
"That's fine, we're not Huntsmen but we can handle a few. Just slow them down and take care of yourselves. Also, switch your scrolls to walkie-talkie mode, we'll be in contact. Do any of you know how to drive stick?"
Ren quickly answered, "I do."
"Good." Silvia then reached into her pockets and took out a key that she gave him. "At the base of this hill, by the river is a truck. Take it, you'll need it to conserve your energy." And with that, she left to join Carla in shouting orders to the guards and civilians who were staying behind.
Ren took the lead as they descended the side of the hill, it was surprisingly tricky. The angle of the slope worked along with the weirdly slippery grass creating a unique form of natural defense. If it hadn't been for the pressing circumstances then they would have taken a moment or two to admire the barrier that had kept Autumn Hills safe till now, and in the next moment, they would have had fun sliding down the hill.
But there was no fun to be had now. None laughed when they reached the base of that hill. When they found the truck, none made any comments about how it looked like it was made from the parts of seven different trucks. No one called for the shotgun seat or tried to race anyone else for it. Ren just took the driver's seat, Jaune took the passenger's, and Pyrrha and Nora jumped into the back and then they were off.
The truck wasn't very fast, the engine made a funny noise, and the whole thing had an off-rhythm vibration that they had little time to acclimate to. It was wholly uncomfortable and yet they barely noticed, the only thing on their mind was the wish that the truck could go even faster.
The only thing reflected in their eyes was an approaching wave of black, red, and white coming from the Forever Fall and crossing the plains towards the town.
Nora opened fire the moment they were in range and the truck came to a stop soon afterwards.
They weren't as far out into the plain as they would have liked but they were just going to have to make do.
They disembarked from the truck and moved away from it, they didn't want to risk it getting damaged in the fight. Ideally, they would have hidden it behind some cover but there wasn't even enough cover for themselves, clear plains were neutral ground that neither helped nor hindered them. Luckily, the Grimm didn't care about trucks no matter how ugly they were. What they cared about was killing people, especially ones who fired a grenade launcher at them.
Just like Nora had hoped, her grenades did catch the attention of quite a few Grimm who turned away from the town to charge at her and her team. but it wasn't enough, it wasn't nearly enough because the majority of the Grimm kept charging at the town. It was just too tempting of a target, too many people gathered in one spot and riddled with negativity that was growing… Four kids could only do so much to distract them.
"STOP IGNORING US!" Nora shouted as she fired one more grenade before switching Manghild to its war hammer mode to meet the Grimm that she did manage to pull… as the others kept running towards the town.
As for the ones charging towards the team, Jaune was the first to meet them and he did so by slamming his shield into the face of a Boartusk, stopping the creature's charge dead in its tracks. He followed it with a quick and efficient stab with Corcea Mors into the creature's eyes ending the monster's threat and then Jaune moved onto a nearby Ursa Minor without hesitation. And when he was done with that one, he moved to the next and the next and the next and the next and every single one after that with focused furry.
And it wasn't just him either, his actions and attitude were merely mirroring that of his teammates. Each and every one of them was focused entirely on defeating this group as quickly as possible so they could pull in more Grimm… and that was a mistake.
Their rush to attack left them open to counterattack and they took hits they would have otherwise avoided. A shove here, a scratch there, a stumble here and there were insignificant on their own but they added up. On top of that, every single time that they used their own Aura to boost their abilities to kill just a little bit faster brought them closer to their limits and made them more desperate.
Even worse was the knowledge that it wasn't enough. It could never be enough. There was never any possibility that they could have distracted every Grimm from such a tempting target.
Already Team PRAN could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosives that didn't belong to them, each one indisputable proof of a Grimm that they had failed to stop… which only made them fight even harder.
But soon there was nothing left to fight.
The rest horde had run past them and the few that they had managed to pull away had been slain. The whole fight had lasted only a scant 10 minutes and yet they had managed to burn a good chunk of their Aura and the job wasn't over yet.
Suddenly they heard Siliva's voice through their scroll, "Good job thinning them out, but another horde has been spotted on the eastern edge of Forever Falls. Take care of yourselves and take out what you can."
"I can see them!" Pyrrha shouted before running back to the truck.
"How many?" Ren asked before turning on the engine.
Pyrrha tried to count but gave up when a second group emerged behind the first, "Now there are two groups!"
"We'll have to split up!" Jaune said as the truck moved close enough for Pyrrha and Nora to start shooting.
Ren shook his head, "No. Well wear ourselves out, we're using too much Aura and your Regen will get overwhelmed at this rate. We have to slow down."
"How do you know that?"
Ren quickly flashed his scroll. On the screen was an app that measured the user's Aura, it showed that just over a quarter of his Aura was gone.
"What? How did that happen?"
"It's about to happen again," Ren said as he hit the brakes on the truck so they could get out and face the oncoming Grimm. "We can't let ourselves get carried away."
"How are you so calm?!"
"I am using my Semblance to suppress my emotions," Ren bluntly said before stepping out of the truck to warn the rest of his team with Jaune following right behind him. "Pace yourselves!"
Nora didn't hear him, she was too focused trying to hit as many Grimm as possible with as many grenades as possible. She was so single-minded in this goal that it took her a few seconds to realize that her grenade launcher needed reloading. But doing so would take up precious time that could have been spent fighting, so she didn't.
"Shit," she muttered to herself before jumping off the back of the truck and running towards the Grimm with Magnhild in its hammer form raised into the air.
"Nora, wait up!" Jaune shouted before running after her.
Meanwhile, Ren and Pyrrha tried to provide cover fire but soon they needed to reload as well, they hadn't been keeping track of their ammo either, and now they were being forced to charge in as well. Even worse was that this sloppiness bled into their performance, they were knocked down, trampled, raked with claws, and at one point Nora's shoulder found itself trapped in an Ursa's jaw… they ultimately won but if Glynda had seen this sorry excuse for a fight then she would have failed them all on the spot and make them take remedial classes for the rest of the semester.
"We can't keep doing this!" Ren nearly shouted as the last Grimm's body broke down into smoke, the fight had taken so much out of him that it was becoming hard to maintain his Semblance.
"But we have to," Nora answered back as she reloaded Magnhild before climbing into the back of the truck while trying to ignore the throbbing of her shoulder, a sign that her Aura was getting close to breaking.
"No he's right," said Pyrrha. Out of all of them, she was the one in the best condition but that was more so due to her natural talent and instincts rather than her attempting to fight intelligently. Speaking of intelligence, her leadership so far had been atrocious, and this fight was a wake-up call. She needed to do better.
"He's right," Pyrrha repeated for herself and others. "We're supposed to be helping these people but at this rate, we will need saving."
"Then what should we do?" Jaune asked.
Pyrrha looked at him and felt sick, his armor was ruined and she could see his guts hanging out and being slowly pulled back into his body and that was just the most obvious wound. Jaune was not in any condition to fight. No… that was an understatement, Jaune was dangerously vulnerable right now. You've already hurt him once, are you going to do it again?
"Is there something wrong?" Jaune asked Pyrrha when he noticed the way she was looking at him.
Ren answered, "Your guts are spilling out."
"Shit!" Jaune tried to push it back inside when they heard Siliva's voice again over their scrolls
"We're almost clear, but you need to lock in for this next one." The older woman paused and began to talk to someone else. They couldn't make out what she was saying but they could hear that she was worried, really worried. "Sorry about that, I just needed to be sure."
"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked.
"It's a Nevermore, an adult Nevermore was spotted north and coming in fast… I'm going to be honest with kids, we can't handle that. You're going to have to deal with it but you can't let it reach town. We got some marksmen on the towers who will help you out but you need to stop that thing. This is the last hurdle, good luck."
Pyrrha's mouth went dry and her mind went into overdrive trying to think about how to take that thing down. Meanwhile, Nora reloaded and climbed into the back of the truck while Ren once again took the driver's seat and Jaune sat next to him, and then suddenly the driver's side door swung open revealing Pyrrha standing there.
"Can you teach Jaune to drive stick?" she asked Ren.
"What?"
"How quickly can you teach him to drive stick?"
"I- I guess I could do it in a minute but it takes a while to get used to, why?"
"What's going on Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.
"We need to get that thing to chase us and we'll need all the range weaponry we can get to make that happen. So I want you Jaune to drive while Ren gets into the back with Nora and me. Then hopefully, between the three of us and the town marksmen, we can take it down."
"And if we can't," Ren asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." She then walked away from Ren and joined Nora in the back.
Ren jumped out of the truck so Jaune could get into the driver's seat and then began instructing his teammate when he got there, "Look at the pedals."
"There's three of them."
"The one in between the gas and the brake is called the clutch, every time you shift gears you need to take your foot off of the gas and press down on the clutch completely. Then you shift gears."
"When do I shift gears?" Jaune asked as went through the motions of stepping on the clutch to better memorize it.
"Look at the speedometer, notice the bars?"
"Yeah, does each bar represent a gear?"
"Exactly, you shift to the next gear when you're going as fast as you can with the current one. Now repeat everything I just said."
*screech*
That was the familiar cry of the Nevermore, it was still a fair distance away but it was closing that distance quickly. Already the monster was close enough that they could more or less estimate its size, it was average. It was just average size for an adult Nevermore but that still meant that it was still too big for comfort.
Screech*
Ren frowned and then looked at Jaune, "Remember, the clutch is in the middle and you need to press down on it all the way before changing the gears."
"And I change gears when I hit the speed limit for the current gear," Jaune said so Ren would know that he did remember.
"Great, good luck!" Ren then left to climb into the back of the truck.
*SCREEEEEEECH*
Jaune turned on the truck, hit the gas, and shifted gears as he picked up speed and soon they were heading right towards the winged monster. At the moment the thing wasn't looking at them, its eyes were firmly planted on the town, and that needed to change right now. And to his team's credit they were doing their best, but grenade launchers weren't meant for aerial targets, and Pyrrha's rifle and Ren machine pistols weren't meant for such a large target, but even the tiniest of bullets sting.
The Nevermore looked away from the town and focused its gaze on the truck, compared to itself the truck was like a fly. It was merely an annoyance but it was a persistent one. But more importantly, was that the fly thought itself a hero. The Nevermore was not capable of higher thought but it instinctively knew that squashing this fly would cause its true target anguish and that the anguish would call forth a few more Grimm and that made the next decision rather easy.
"It's working!" Jaune shouted in joy when he saw that the Nevermore was now flying towards them… and then he realized that a Nevermore was flying right towards them, "OH SHIT!"
He turned the truck around and started to drive away from the Grimm, this was an excellent decision. First of all, it made it much easier for his teammates in the back to aim at the beast. Secondly, his quick turnaround allowed him to unintentionally dodge the first shower of razor-sharp feathers launched by the Nevermore.
"Turn left!" Pyrrha ordered.
Jaune did so and narrowly avoided the second wave of feathers.
"Our bullets aren't doing much," Ren lamented.
"Aim for the eyes!" Pyrrha replied.
"I'm trying but it's protecting them, this thing is smart."
"It's even dodging my grenades," Nora said as she reloaded and found that she was down to her last six grenades. "We need to make these count."
"Try hitting it just as it launches its feathers," Ren suggested. "Like now!"
Nora lined up a shot just as the Nevermore's body lurched backward as it threw its wings forward. The whole thing only lasted for a moment, but during that moment the monster lost the ability to turn or dodge in any meaningful way and Nora wasn't going to let that chance pass her by, even Jaune's attempt to avoid the feathers couldn't break her focus… but it didn't matter.
Nora fired and that grenade would have struck the Nevermore, if it hadn't been for its feather projectiles intercepting the shot.
"This isn't going to work, we need to get closer!" Nora shouted. "We need to get right underneath it!"
"WHAT?! Are you crazy?" Jaune shouted back. "That thing will kill us if we face it head-on!"
"At this rate, it's going to get us sooner or later, we need to take a risk or we're going to lose anyway!"
"What about the town? Where are the marksmen that were supposed to help us?"
Ren answered, "I think they have been trying to help, but their guns aren't doing much either… The grenades are our only chance."
"There's got to be a better way!" Jaune protested.
"It's fine, Jaune. I'll protect everyone here." Pyrrha said as confidently as she could. How am I going to do that? I can't block every feather with my shield or shoot them down, I couldn't even if I had enough bullets… She looked at her rifle, it couldn't hit hard enough. But my javelin could, I'd lose my weapon, but if I time this right… yeah, I can do this!
The Nevermore watched with something similar to curiosity as its prey began to turn around to face it. If the monster had a sense of humor it would have laughed but it didn't. Instead, it prepared to fire more feathers when something flew towards it, something that it swatted away with its wings or at least it tried to. Whatever that thing was, it was now stuck in its wing but that was a minor inconvenience.
But just to be safe, the Nevermore began to flap its wings harder until it gained some altitude. Soon it was well above the reach of everyone but that also put them out of reach from its talons, and the distance its feathers would have to travel would make them easier to dodge but that was fine. It had different plans, a method that would destroy them in one swoop and allow for aim correction.
It was going to dive-bomb them.
"Guys! It's coming right at us!" Jaune shouted despite knowing that his teammates could also see it coming.
"Good!" Nora replied, "Keep driving towards it! I'll nail it the moment it gets too close to dodge!"
"But what about us!?"
"We'll be fine… probably."
"Ugh, you better be right! Or else!"
It was objectively a rather stupid thing for Jaune to have said because there would be no next time if Nora failed. If she couldn't stop the Nevermore then its talons would crush and tear the truck apart along with anyone who got caught and they would be the lucky ones. The unlucky ones would be maimed, unable to do anything but watch as the Nevermore razed the town as another horde of Grimm appeared to finish off what was left… and that's why the stupid thing he said was also the right thing to say.
The cool thing about silly banter is that it helps take the pressure off, it may be small but in these situations every bit helps and Nora had a lot to appreciate. The fact that everyone was putting so much trust in her also helped, Pyrrha using her shield to help steady Nora's aim helped as well. And Ren's hands on her shoulders to help keep her standing helped the most.
As the monster rapidly descended towards them, Nora felt an odd sense of calm. She could do this, no… there was no doubt in her heart or mind that she was going to do this and so she fired the first shot.
The Nevermore saw it coming, its eyes could perceive the grenade flying towards its face but the ability to see an attack coming is worthless without the ability to do anything about it. The distance between the rapidly approaching grenade and its face was far too short, the only thing that it could do was close its eyes.
*BOOOM!*
Team PRAN was close enough that the sound of the explosion was ringing in their ears but they didn't care. How could they care about something so insignificant when their prey was wide open? Nora fired a second grenade into the Nevermore's belly and at the same time, Pyrrha used up the last of her Aura to magnetically reach out to the javelin stuck in the Nevermore's wing and pull the monster down.
The Nevermore crashed into the earth, its wing damaged but it was still alive.
But now it was a fair fight.
Heathcliff looked at his scroll and frowned, displayed on the screen was the warning of an ongoing Grimm attack. He knew that things were going to be bad, but had he known that it was going to reach this level of a clusterfuck then he wouldn't have come down here. But now that he was here, the question was what he should do about it.
"What's wrong?" The tall lanky man asked him.
"Grimm attack, you should go to your family and help keep them safe."
The lanky man thought it over and then shook his head, "No. They'll be fine. Besides…," He glanced at the hatchet in his hands, "I got the feeling that this wouldn't help much against the Grimm."
Heathcliff looked at that weapon, the hatchet was small but it was sharp and in the hands of a Huntsman, it could definitely kill plenty of Grimm without too much trouble. However, in the hands of a farmer… it would be a death sentence, this man would be safer staying down here with him even if that did lead to a fight. But this wasn't just about the viability of a weapon.
"Yer probably right," Heathcliff admitted. "Against the Grimm that probably won't help much but ya can do more than fight. There are plenty of things ya can do to help, just being there to hold someone's hand and tell them that it's going to be alright can mean the world to some people."
The man shook his head, "I understand sir. But my grandad used to tell me that it doesn't matter how many hornets you squash as long as the hive remains. If you want to get rid of the hornets then you have to get rid of the hive… I could go topside and help but I'll just be squashing hornets. The hive needs to be taken out."
Heathcliff sighed before replying, "I understand, ya gotta make a decision that ta won't regret. Let's git this over wit and find Brandy."
"If I know the deputy, then he'll be over at the Whitebays."
"Lead the way."
"We're actually not too far a-!"
Just then the pair heard raised voices from further down the hallway and past the corner. There were several voices, some were angry, some were scared, others sounded remorseful, and all of them had something to say to each other.
"That's the others!" The lanky man said before trying to run up to the corner to see what was going on but Heathcliff stopped him.
"I got the perfect tool right here," He said as he unslung his rifle.
"I don't think we should go in with guns blazing."
"I'm not gonna shoot them. Even if it comes down to it, they'll be fine. I loaded the thing wit stun rounds." Heathcliff then quietly snuck up to the bend, pressed his back against the wall, and carefully stuck the barrel of his rifle past the bend.
Normally such an action would be stupid and achieve nothing but Heathcliff's rifle was unique. The barrel of his gun suddenly began to move and bend so now it pointed down the hallway. In addition, the camera attached to his barrel allowed Heathcliff to spy on the people there without being spotted.
"Well I'll be damned," the tall lanky man whispered as he glanced at the screen and then at the rifle before realizing that it wasn't a rifle at all. It was actually a pistol attached to a rifle-shaped device that allowed the pistol to be moved around and contained the camera and computer.
Meanwhile, the camera revealed that there were about 11 or so people in the hallway, most of them men and all of them armed with either a tool or an old weapon. Amongst them was Deputy Brandy who seemed to be in charge though that position seemed to be threatened.
"We can't turn back now! We almost have them!" Brandy nearly shouted at the others.
"So what!?" A bearded man with a cleaver asked. "We came with you because you said this would protect our families but now Grimm are attacking! If we're going to protect them then we gotta go topside!"
"And do what?" Brandy asked as he shoved a finger into the man's chest. "What are you going to do against a Beowolf, hmm?" He then pointed to a stout woman armed with a pitchfork, "How long do you think you'd last against a Boartusk?"
Neither answered and so Brandy kept going, "And you with the saber, do you think you could kill a Creep or even a River King?" He pointed to someone else, "You got a gun, do you plan on facing down an Ursa?"
To Brandy's great satisfaction, nobody had an answer for him and that silence was exactly what he wanted to hear, "That's what I thought. Now just follow me and we'll take care of the root of this issue once and for all. The Whitebays are close by and by the end of this day, we will all be heroes."
Brandy then walked on ahead with his head held high as though he had already won, and in a way he did. The people he had been talking to hesitated for a little bit, for a moment it seemed that some might walk away but they didn't. In the end, they hung their heads low and meekly followed the Deputy.
Once they were out of sight, Heathcliff let out a low whistle and leaned against the wall. "By the Brothers, was that really Brandy? He sounded like a completely different person, was it all an act?" Why didn't my Semblance pick up on it? Is his acting just that good?
"He gets like that whenever he's in charge and Slivia isn't around," the lanky man said before adding. "Everyone in his family does, law enforcement runs in their blood and they're proud of it."
"I'd imagine that it doesn't make em very popular?" That explains why my Semblance didn't react, it didn't notice anything was off thanks to all the practice Brandy put into his act.
"Nope. They always run for sheriff whenever there's an opening but they always lose."
"So he wanted to be sheriff but lost the election and instead became a deputy… Now we ave a motive." Heathcliff peeked around the corner to make sure that it was safe before stepping out to follow Brandy and his group from a safe distance.
"A motive?" his helper asked.
"Does Brandy want to become the sheriff?"
"Yeah, but would he go this far?"
"Ya know him better than I do, ya tell me."
The man paused and after a few seconds mournfully answered, "Yes… he would. He's been waiting for an opportunity to one-up Silvia for years. He's been keeping his eyes on the Whitebays for years."
"And now he's got a chance so he deputized ya to git the numbers he needs to pull this off along with the e-!"
*BANG* *BANG*
The unmistakable sound of a double-barreled shotgun going off echoed throughout the hallway followed by the sound of shouting and the return fire of a pistol and shotgun.
Heathcliff and the lanky man broke out into a full sprint to find out what had happened and soon they ran into a couple of others. Specifically, they ran into people who had gone with Brandy to confront the Whitebays and now they were running away, the sudden gunshots had triggered their fight or flight response and it picked flight… for now.
It wouldn't take long for them to come to their senses and when they did there was a real chance that they'd come back. But that was a problem that they could handle when it got there. For now, Heathcliff and his new friend needed to find out what had gone wrong and somehow keep it from getting worse.
But when they arrived they realized that the shit had already hit the fan.
At the end of the dark hallway was the residence of the Whitebays, and its door was barricaded. In the barricade was a hole, a hole big enough to fit the barrel of a shotgun through. That was where the shotgun blast had come from, whoever was behind that door opened fire when Brandy arrived with his group and speaking of his group...
They were gathered in front of the door and disorganized. They clearly hadn't expected to be shot at and now one of them lay dead on the floor. Another was clutching her sides to try and keep her blood from escaping her body and she was being carried away by another. And the rest, the rest were scrambling for anything that could pass as cover in this hallway.
Meanwhile, Brandy was reloading a pistol, he was the only one who had attempted to fire back and fully intended to continue firing back. He did not attempt to try and calm down the people he brought with him, he didn't care.
"Brandy!" Heathcliff shouted, getting the attention of the deputy as the lanky man went to help the others. "The hell are ya doing?"
"Oh! Sire, I was jus-!"
"Drop the act, Brandy. Going after the Whitebays isn't going to make ya sheriff."
Brandy glanced at the door as if he was waiting for something but there was no movement. It was as though whoever had shot at them was gone, that thought made him more confident. "Sheriff? That's a nice theory, you wannabe detective, but it's your word against mine and I'm about to become a hero."
"Are ya? Wit kind of hero digs up old grudges for glory? Wit kind of hero drags others into their mess and can't even take care o' em?" Heathcliff pointed to the corpse on the floor and then to the wounded woman being carried away. "You're no hero at all. The guy I brought with me is more of a hero than ya."
Brandy growled and raised his pistol at Heathcliff, "Oh fuck off wi- Argh!?"
Heathcliff was faster and quickly fired several shots, all connected and the deputy collapsed unconscious to the floor. Heathcliff then turned to look at the others still there, "Leave now and I'll say that I didn't see you here."
They didn't need to be told twice and soon it was just Heathcliff, the unconscious deputy, and the lanky man.
"Now what?" the lanky man asked.
"Now we pay a visit to the Whitebays."
Author's Notes: Sorry for the late chapter, I got sick and didn't write for a few days.