Two weeks ago Team RUST were on a patrol assignment to track down a pack of beowolves. During their assignment they had a chance encounter in the desert, meeting a mercenary group calling themselves RXDY, an all faunus team who were looking for someone in the desert. After becoming acquainted the two teams decided to return to Shade before nightfall giving RUST the opportunity to report their findings and RXDY a chance to rest before heading out again the next morning. Unfortunately, their truck was attacked on the return trip and they ended up in an underground cavern.
Awakening to find their truck trashed and the driver missing, the two teams explored the area hoping to find their driver only to hear his screams from deeper within the cavern. Rushing to help him they were too late arriving only in time to find their driver trapped in a large web and a spider grimm several meters in size descending upon the driver before biting him, the venom quickly and painfully killing him. The size of the grimm alone caused fear in half of them and upon realizing what it was Alena was ready to call for a retreat, unfortunately the grimm had sensed their presence and attacked.
The battle was exhausting and almost deadly with all of them except Sin taking heavy damage, their auras almost depleted forcing them to find a way to slow it down or trap it before escaping. Realizing they couldn't win the teams came up with a plan to hopefully immobilize it, most of them would provide a distraction while Brick and Xavier the two heavy hitters would collapse part of the cave in a semi successful attempt at trapping the monster and allowing them to flee. Finding a way to the surface they were quickly found and rescued by a search party airlifting them to safety mere seconds before the gloom widow emerged it's horrible shrieking following their airship.
Escaping with their lives, they all watched as the grimm retreated to its lair immediately warning Shade's headmaster when they returned, a gloom widow. A grimm that was supposedly hunted to extinction for how dangerous it was, any reported sightings or even mere suspicions or rumors would elicit an immediate response of a search and destroy assignment and each one would either end with the assigned huntsman either killed or barely alive by the time they returned. While their headmaster Professor Jaina Edenwas happy that her students survived she was visibly disturbed to hear that such a dangerous grimm was sighted. Promising her students she will see the matter dealt with, she dismissed them to get some rest and allowed RXDY to stay for the night as thanks for helping RUST.
Impressed by RXDY's performance Sin challenged their leader Rena to a match in Shade's amphitheatre wanting to see how good she was one on one and Rena, equally curious about Sin and how he managed to survive the gloom widow without taking a scratch, accepted. Their match happened the following afternoon with Sin going hard right out the gate, his fast swarmer boxer style forced Rena into an early defensive and nearly kept her there for the entire match. Striking and quickly weaving to a blind or unprotected side Sin struck again and again, each hit enhanced by his aura. He knew there was no denying Rena was going to be tough so he had to keep her off balance and while she never touched him his offensive use of his aura left him drained and Rena won by outlasting him. Despite it being his first loss since entering Shade, Sin merely laughed his appreciation for Rena increasing, despite it being his loss and his undefeated streak ending it was the most fun match he had ever been in.
After the two fighters had recovered it was time for Rena and her team to take their leave with both teams wishing the other luck in the future and looking forward to meeting again should they ever cross paths. After RXDY left Headmaster Eden and Professor Iris Ritter in charge of Grimm Studies called RUST to the Headmaster's office to discuss the extinct grimm they had encountered. A long detailed debrief from the start of RUST's assignment to track down a beowolf pack, to their fight against a lone legionnaire, their meeting with RXDY and then the encounter and battle against the gloom widow.
Professor Ritter hugs each of her students when they finish recounting the encounter, while the gloom widows were supposedly hunted to extinction before she was born she had heard stories of how dangerous they were and she was thankful that her students managed to survive.
"So what should we do?" Rhia finally asked their two teachers, "We obviously can't let it stay if those things really are that dangerous."
Headmaster Eden agreed with her, "Don't worry Ms. Teysa, Iris and I will see to it that the creature is handled. I'll call you and your team again when we are ready."
"Headmaster?" Rhia said, wondering what Eden meant.
Eden offered her a soft smile, "I will gather what huntsman I can and we will take you and your team with us. The desert is a big place and even with the flight logs from the bullhead your team will accompany us to make sure we go to the correct location, but the four of you will remain on the ship once we arrive. You did exceptionally well in surviving, but you are still inexperienced and I won't risk losing any of you to a monster like that."
With those words the headmaster dismissed the first year students and began searching for available huntsmen and huntresses to deal with the extinct monster. Two weeks passed and the teams were ready, gathering either professional hunters all of whom had been teammates back when they were students.
"Professor Eden" one of them said upon seeing Shade's headmaster, "It's been a long time."
Eden shook his hand, "Yes it has Mason, I've heard you and your former teammates have been doing some amazing things since your graduation."
Mason chuckled, "I wouldn't say amazing, we're just doing our job, nothing special about that."
Eden shook her head, "Ever humble."
"Headmaster?" one of the huntresses began, "You were not specific in your message, all you said is to report immediately for a high priority search and destroy. How dangerous is it that you needed eight of us?"
Eden looks at her and then steps back to address all of them at once, "One of our first year teams was on a patrol assignment a couple of weeks ago...they encountered a gloom widow."
The eight professional hunters froze, every professional knew about those monsters even if they were supposedly extinct; it was an agreed rule across the kingdoms that every licensed huntsman and huntress were to know about them in the event one was ever spotted.
"Are they okay?" Mason asked his former headmaster.
Eden nods, "They survived with some injuries and thankfully they are fully recovered. Thanks to their teamwork and quick thinking they were able to temporarily immobilize it so they could escape. You'll be meeting them shortly, they will accompany the eight of you as well as myself and Professor Ritter to ensure we arrive at the correct location. From there the first years will remain safely on the bullhead while the ten of us enter the cavern and destroy the grimm."
The eight hunters acknowledge their assignment and begin preparing their gear and going over potential tactics based on what they know about the target. Once they were prepared Eden walked with them to Shade's hangar to introduce them to the first year team that found the monster. The hunters were quiet on the walk over, normally they would reminisce about their time as students, but the severity of their upcoming mission left them pensive and silent.
Once they arrived at the hangar Eden walked them to the pair of bullheads they would be using and over to Iris and the first years, "Team RUST" Eden said, calling them forward.
"I would like to introduce you to the two teams that will be joining us today, all of them former students of Shade and some of the best I've ever taught. Mason Ridge, Abelia Dawson, Jacob Yaloch and Andrew O'Maley. Team MAYA."
The first team stepped forward and greeted RUST.
Eden gestured to the next team, "And this is Team LAVA, Laura Stern, Abigail Dawson, Vickie Olena and Anthony Esta."
She turned to the pro hunters, "All of you this is Team RUST, Rhia Teysa, Ulrich Mauer, Sin Saber and Alena Teysa."
With introductions done Eden quickly ushered all of them onto the bullheads and with RUST's directions returned to the location of the cavern.
"RUST stay on the ship" Eden told the first years as her, Iris, MAYA and LAVA stepped off, "The ten of us will search for the grimm and deal with it under no circumstance are any of you to follow us inside."
She looks at the pilots and tells them to take off at any sight of the target or a swarm of legionnaires and once the pilot acknowledges her orders the teams descend into the cavern to find the gloom widow and return the species to extinction. During the flight Sin pulls his scroll from his pocket and takes some pictures of his team and the huntsmen and huntresses around them standing in front of them holding up a peace sign in each one before sending the pictures off to the mercenary team they fought the grimm with. 'That gloom widow won't know what hit it' his message read.
"Alright" Sin began once they were gone, "I understand her wanting to keep us safe and I do appreciate her being worried about us, but if those things are really that dangerous shouldn't she be taking us as well? Fourteen against one will have better odds than ten against one and we have fought it before."
Alena looked over to him, "I don't disagree with you, but it's like you said. She wants to make sure that we're safe. She's doing her job, not just as a huntress, but as our teacher as well."
"I know" Sin replied, looking at the cavern entrance, "I just got this really bad feeling" his fist tightly balled against the ship's hull, "And I don't like standing by while others could be in danger."
Nearly an hour had passed by the time Sin checked his scroll, they were all experienced professionals, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Sin stood up and walked several paces from the bullhead holding up his scroll and contacting their headmaster only to receive no response. The other teams were far enough underground that no signal could get through that or they had already encountered the target and were too busy to answer.
He turned to his team, "I'm not the only one here with a bad feeling right? It's not just me?"
Brick shook his head an uneasy growl rumbling in his throat as he shifted his glance to the cavern entrance.
"I'm worried" Rhia admitted, "Do you think we should go check?"
Alena reminds her sister, "Eden told us to stay here."
"What if it's too much for them?" Sin asks her, "After all Eden and Iris have done for us are you really going to suggest we just wait here and do nothing?"
Alena stares at the horizon in the direction of Shade, "She made the choice to go in and for us to stay here."
"Alena!" Rhia gasped at her sister's cold remark.
Sin replied, "Look Alena, I know you don't like humans and I don't blame you for it. You have every right to, but Jaina has done a lot for us and three of the people down there are faunus, Iris included in case you forgot. Is that enough for you?"
Alena keeps her back to him, "Human or faunus doesn't matter to me Sin. We were given orders, that's all there is to it."
Sin shook his head, "I'm not waiting any longer" he said, grabbing his gloves, goggles and ear plugs, "I'm going after them."
The sand muffled a heavy thud as Brick stepped off the airship, "I'm vith Zin. Ve schould zee if zey need help, effen if ve are bunisched afder."
Rhia grabs her weapons, "I'm the team leader remember?" she asks Sin with a rare stern tone, "But you're right, what kind of huntress would I be if I just stayed back knowing they could be in danger."
"Rhia" Alena called to her younger sister.
"We're going in" Rhia responded before her sister could say anything else, "Team RUST, check your gear and let's move. Brick you're up front."
"Vize choice" Brick acknowledged lifting his massive shield and holding it in front of him as he and Sin moved in first with Rhia looking back to make sure her sister was coming.
Alena rushed to her sister's side, "Fine, but if it gets too much you and I are pulling out, no arguments."
"Only if everyone else is with us" Rhia told her remaining adamant in both tone and stance.
The team of first years descend into the cavern, Sin's goggles adjusting to the low light while his faunus teammates and their natural night vision allow them to see.
"That way" Rhia said, aiming one of her weapons to the right, "The damage to the wall, that's the direction we escaped from the first time."
Sin cracked a smirk, "I am so jealous of you faunus and your night vision. I wouldn't have seen that until we got closer."
Brick began moving again, "Schtay cloze" he told them his shield raised and ready.
Each step deeper in made them more tense, the echo of Brick's heavy footsteps making them even more tense. Knowing what was down there made the silence around them cling against their nerves, knowing the habits of the gloom widow species, they were ambush predators and this darkness was perfect for them.
"Hold on" Rhia said stopping, "There's something we need to consider before going any further. What if they haven't found it yet? If we find it first."
"Zen ve affoid confrontazion until zey Harriffe" Brick answered.
Sin agreed, "That would be the smart play. If we do find it first, hopefully they won't be too far away."
Alena looked at her sister, "Should we double back?"
Rhia observed their surroundings before answering, "No. Let's keep going, if something does happen to one of them I wouldn't be able to live with myself for not helping."
"That's not what this is" Alena told her, "They are professionals, we're students."
"And we defeated a small horde before enrolling in Shade" Sin reminded her, "Students or not we have the ability and means to help, so we should" he turns away from her, "Evil triumphs when no one does anything to stop it...And I refuse to stand by and do nothing again" he mutters.
"What?" Rhia asked not hearing his last words.
"Nothing" Sin said, "We should keep moving."
His leader nods and they continue on another few minutes and they heard it, the unforgettable shriek of that nightmare.
"Let's go!" Rhia ordered and Brick began running, his heavy bulwark shield still raised to protect him and his team.
Entering the open room they saw the grimm engaged in combat against their teachers and the other huntsmen, two of whom were laying on the ground away from the others, motionless.
"They need help" Sin said looking at Rhia, "What's the plan boss?"
Rhia quickly looked around observing the battle, "Alena check on the two that are wounded, move them out of the way. Brick fire a shot at it to get it's attention then move in and see if you can't hold it still even for just a second. Sin do what you do best, I'll try and distract it. If we surround it and attack at once with everyone we should have a chance."
"God you are so hot right now" Sin said punching his open palm, "Alright let's go" he jumps down from the ledge rushing in fists raised and hunched close to the ground waiting for the sound of Brick's cannon in the center of his shield to fire.
The gloom widow loomed over Professor Ritter it's bladed scythe-like leg raised ready to impale it's prey before a deafening boom echoed through the cavern and something exploded against its side. The gloom widow shrieked and turned to see what attacked it just before Brick's forty-five kilogram shield was thrown at it's head causing it to stumble back from the heavy impact. Recognizing the weapon the wolf faunus teacher turned her head to see Brick stampeding toward the gloom widow a deep guttural roar almost as loud as his cannon echos from his throat as he charges the grimm seizing its leg and pivoting on his heel and with another battle cry his titanic might flings the grimm over his shoulder and onto the ground, the impact sending tremors through the cavern.
"We told you to stay topside" Iris told Sin as he rushed to her side to help her.
Sin placed her arm over his shoulders and lifted her up, "You can thank me later by letting me take you to dinner."
Walking Iris over to Professor Eden the huntsman-in-training set her down and looked at his headmaster, "Punish us later alright?"
Eden wrapped her whip around her hand and stretched it out, "Just make sure you and your team survive Sin."
The grimm shrieks in pain and rage as it quickly turns over righting itself and sweeps at the bear faunus with its scythe leg, but Brick digs his heels in and turns into the attack raising one arm to block and then wrapping his other around it's leg while Sin leaps onto and off his back and with a battle cry of his own slams his fist into the gloom widow's head unleashing a large burst of his aura with the attack stunning the monster once more. His semblance slowing his perception of time Sin evaded the feral flailing of the grimm moving and weaving closer to strike again while Rhia leapt onto the grimm's back a rifle tonfa in each hand and firing at the back of the gloom widow's head. As the grimm flailed about, Rhia jumped off connecting her two weapons into their double barrel form and firing another shot at its underside before diving out of the way of its attack. Drawing her third rifle tonfa she connected her weapons into their triple-barrel form and activated her semblance an indistinguishable clone of her appearing and running off in front of the grimm to get its attention, disappearing when it was struck and allowing Rhia to jump in front of it and fire a point blank shot at its eyes.
Meanwhile Alena had rushed over to the wounded hunters to move them to safety, but a check of their pulse and wounds revealed that it was too late. Jacob Yaloch of MAYA with large punctures in his torso obviously from the widow's fangs and Vickie Olena from LAVA with a deep gash right down her middle, leaving Alena to hope that it was a quick death for both of them. Anthony Esta, the only male of LAVA, sprinted over to check on his allies, but seeing Alena shake her head answered his question before he could ask it. Cursing the grimm, Anthony raised his axe and rushed back to attack the monster holding the flat of the axe under his arm he fired the shotgun end of the handle allowing the kickback to fling the handle from his hands catching the weapon by the handle in a half pivot he swung upward with the axe connecting with the grimm's scythe-like leg forcing it upward. With his axe swung above him, Anthony turned his back and pulled the trigger on the handle again, the force of the shot allowing him to reverse his momentum and bring the axe back down, cracking the bladed leg of the grimm.
His brutal attack left him open however and the grimm retaliated swinging its leg outward knocking him back and into a wall before turning to him and shrieking at him spraying a sickly green mist from its fangs. Getting back to his feet Anthony shook off the impact, but inhaled the mist before seeing it and soon felt his lungs and throat burning causing him to drop to his knees and begin coughing as the acidic venom filled mist ate and burned away at the inside of his throat. Left vulnerable by the venom mist the widow stood over its prey ready to strike, but seeing her teammate in danger Abigail Dawson dived in, pushing Anthony out of the way taking the hit from the grimm depleting the rust of her aura.
Her aura was gone, but the adrenaline pumping through her allowed her to keep moving, pushing herself up from the ground Abigail raised her weapon, but was too slow as the grimm's scythe leg swept across her throat. Dropping her weapon Abigail stumbled back covering her throat with both hands as she dropped to her knees, her sister Abelia rushed to her side, grabbing hold of her and moving her away from the enemy. Seeing the slice across her sister's throat Abelia panicked, tearing part of her clothing pressing it against the wound while pleading with Abigail to stay with her as she tried to keep enough pressure to stop the bleeding.
"Move!" Sin yelled at her before the gloom widow impaled one of its bladed legs through her back and her sister leaving everyone to watch as Abigail's last movement was her shaky hand cradling the back of her sister's head against her own.
The grimm's shriek echoed before it turned to the others flinging its impaled prey from its leg. Anthony Esta had finally stopped moving, the last gargles of breath escaping his mouth as the acidic venom burned his throat and lungs from within, his face forever frozen in an expression of twisted pain. The gloom widow set its sights on the others again only for Brick to fire another dust infused cannonball at it, scoring a direct hit against its head engulfing it in fire and as the monster flailed Sin rushed in calling to his best friend who kneeled and cupped his hands launching Sin as he stepped on him. Landing on the grimm's back Sin quickly hooked an arm around one of its leg joints and began punching at the leg over and over hammering away with aura enhanced strength hoping to cripple the leg before he was thrown off.
Rolling away, Sin managed to evade being stabbed thanks to his semblance and quickly got back to his feet as the gloom widow finally turned to him. Raising one of its legs the spider grimm was ready to strike until Alena swung in with her dual headed weapon, swinging the detached naginata blade managing to deflect the attack away from Sin who managed to catch her. He quickly thanked her before pushing her out of the way and sidestepping another stab from the monster's leg before pivoting and with the momentum punched with all his might at the widow's leg his aura once again exploding outward upon impact finally causing noticeable damage to the monster.
The gloom widow shrieked more horribly than it had before as the pain of its leg being snapped surged through its body, but that would not deter it. It lunged forward again, its fangs bared ready to seize the human who smirked as it came down on him. His semblance still up, Sin watched as the world around him moved in slow motion, waiting for the grimm to get close enough while he moved his hand to the holster on his thigh, drawing his handgun and taking aim at one of the grimm's eyes. With plenty of time to aim Sin lined up his shot and pulled the trigger, the bullet embedding itself in one of the widow's eyes causing it to recoil back before it could bite him.
Mason finally rejoining the fight brought his hammer down on the leg Anthony had damaged earlier, the dust in his weapon encasing the grimm's leg in earth and with his semblance shattered the end of the leg eliminating one of the scythes as a threat. Laura charged in from the opposite end crouching down to drag her hand across the ground she used her semblance to mold the earth into a large spike that speared up from the ground failing to penetrate the gloom widow's armored body, but hitting with enough force to knock it off balance. Their enemy off balance Andrew moved in next slamming his gauntlets against the grimm's body, his semblance sending heavy vibrations through the monster preventing it from regaining it's balance.
Headmaster Eden attacked next, her whip quickly wrapping around another of the widow's legs before a frosty white-blue mist smoked off the weapon and the grimm's leg was encased in ice. With the leg frozen and unable to move Alena moved in to assist calling out to Sin as she fired the trident end of her weapon at him, her teammate catching it and quickly wrapping it around another leg and then another.
"I think I saw a movie with something like this in it once" Sin said as he stabbed the trident head into the ground to anchor it.
Alena yelled at him,, "Not now!"
Rhia fired her triple-barreled shotgun and her semblance kept the grimm distracted while it tried to fight back. Eden tightened her grip on her weapon and slowly pulled back causing the whip to constrict around the grimm's frozen leg even more before the ice encasing its leg began cracking and with a final jerk of her weapon the ice shattered along with the limb frozen inside.
Brick retrieved his bulwark shield and with a big backhand swing, slammed the shield against the widow's head almost knocking the monster over entirely. Allowing his momentum and weight to carry him through a full spin, Brick swung his shield with another backhand knocking one of the grimm's legs out from under it, finally causing it to collapse. Dropping his shield, Brick seized one of the giant spider's legs and with a massive roar and his mountainous strength ripped the leg from the grimm's body before turning it around and driving the scythe-like leg back into the wound.
It's own natural weapon used against it, the razor sharp leg along with the faunus' might easily speared through the body and through the armor plating on it's back. The widow's call of pain was just barely audible over Brick's raging roar as he grabbed his shield and shoved the cannon centerpiece against the grimm's mouth and fired, the dust infused cannonball blowing through and out the back of the living nightmare's head finally killing it.
Everyone backed away and watched as the gloom widow's body twitched once then twice before it began dissolving into the black mist like every other slain grimm.
Staring at the corpse until it was completely gone, Rhia gasped for breath, "We did it...We did it!" she cheered.
As the fox faunus cheered Sin ran over and threw his arms around her in a tight hug letting out a loud woo as he cheered as well before releasing her and rushing over to his best friend.
"You alright buddy?" he asked and with a neutral expression Brick nodded.
Alena ran to her sister hugging her and kissing Rhia's forehead before scolding her for going through with such suicidal odds and then kissing her forehead again and hugging her tightly against her.
While RUST cheered and celebrated Professor Ritter limped over to them with the help of Headmaster Eden, "The four of you did exceptionally well" the Grimm Studies teacher told them, "Beyond exceptional, you deserve to celebrate, but now is not the time. We must see to the fallen."
The adrenaline high of their victory was pushed aside and they looked to the bodies of the five fallen hunters, five out of ten dead and three of the remaining five nearly fatally wounded, one cripplied and the last Headmaster Jaina Eden only minorly injured.
The headmaster looked at the first-year team, "Coming down here was reckless, stupid and could have gotten all of you killed" despite her words, her expression was soft and her tone loving, "But if you hadn't it's very possible we would have suffered more casualties. So just this once I'll let you off with a warning and my gratitude."
Thanking their teachers, RUST helped move their fallen comrades out of the cavern and back to the bullhead so they could be given the burial and memorial they deserved. Along the flight back to Shade, Sin looked at his scroll, he was able to take a few pictures during the fight and record a video of Brick's two killing blows.
He looked over his shoulder at his best friend, "You're the best buddy."
Brick shook his head and silently pointed at Sin, indicating that he was the best, but Sin merely laughed, "You know that's not true, I'm nowhere near good enough."
Looking back at his scroll Sin sent the pictures and video to RXDY along with the question "Impressed yet?"