Their new guide Savek is what she calls a scrapper in service to The Spider and his organization. Her job was to traverse the Tangled Shore collecting scrap and anything other that was worth anything that washes up here. According to her, everything eventually washes up upon the shore and if it is worth anything, someone will pay for it, no matter what it is or how old it is. She also explained that Petra Venj was in the midst of negotiating with the Spider to help with the current situation regarding the escaped inmates of the Prison of Elders and the newly named Scorn. Said assistance included her seeking out Team RWBY and Summer Rose.
After collecting what remains of the cryopod, Savek led team RWBY and Summer Rose to her cart which was a small container on the back of a modified Heavy Shank. The Dreg led them towards a series of rocky formations and to a path that the five never realized was there.
"On the shore, one can hide anyone or anything, even pathways from prying eyes." She said leading them through. Summer had to give the Dreg credit. Even she and Drei didn't realize that this path was here. Only by looking at it at a certain angle was it revealed.
Savek led them through the rocky pathway, picking up any scrap that came along. Team RWBY looked around them and saw metal doorways at ground level or metal structures of Fallen and Cabal material coming out.
"So, can you tell us anything about the Shore?" Yang asked, keeping an eye out. So far, there were a few other dregs in the shadows eying them, but they kept to themselves.
"Life is hard on the Shore, but Spider keeps some form of order and stability here. Ever since Scorn arrived, they burned down his palace. But Spider smart. He keeps numerous hideouts to hole up in." Savek replied picking up a discarded Cabal launcher from the ground and placing it in the cart. Ruby, sitting on the cart with her legs dangling over the side looked over the contents as they went. Some of them were unknown to her. Others were pieces of a ship or armor. And some were weapons, both in pieces or whole. She decided to tinker around with some of said pieces as they went.
"The Scorn. So those are the undead Eliksni that we faced in the Prison of Elders?" "Indeed, daughter of Summer Rose." Savek said giving a look to both Roses. "Yes, your relationship is well known by now. That is one of the main reasons why all Fallen Houses united into Dusk House. And to answer your question, yes, the Scorn are the reanimated dead of Eliksni slain either recently or long ago. Resurrected by Fikrul, one of the leaders of the Scorn; the Scorned Barons." She said leaving behind the small dwellings and in deeper through the rocky pathway.
"Tell us what's the current landscape of the Shore, inhabitant wise." Summer said, keeping an eye behind them.
"Scorn wild across the shore. With the Spider's Palace destroyed, anarchy reigns on Shore. Every group that is two or more is scrambling to make a name for themselves. Either killing or gaining territory. You and your daughter are prime targets for those wishing to make a name for themselves. We are close."
After going through a tight pathway where they were led single file, they emerged in a clearing with a small building ahead of them. Surrounding the building were tents with the House Devils logo. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of said tents would never be a problem for them ever again.
Scattered all about were the torn bodies of Fallen. Some Dreg, others Vandals and Captains. All killed horribly. And in the center of it all, impaled and desecrated with totems was the Servitor that provided Ether for them.
While this sort of death and destruction wasn't new for Summer Rose, it was new for team RWBY. They've read news stories and listened to their history lessons about villages being destroyed by the Grimm. But seeing this for the first time was something new.
Savek however, was used to this sort of thing. "Please keep an eye out while I get the door open." She said stepping over the disemboweled chest cavity of a Dreg. "How can you be so indifferent to this?" Weiss asked their guide as they approached the doors. "This is life on the Tangled Shore. You either get used to this or end up like them." Savek said clicking the controls.
As she worked, the others looked around them. Summer looked around the destruction and noticed something different about the Fallen Captain. Nudging its arm, she saw the dull red wires coming out of its chest, arms and the metallic horns coming out of its head. "These are Devil Splicers!" She said taking a step back. Team RWBY followed suit and gave the bodies a wide birth.
A couple of years ago, a sect within the house devils called the Devil Splicers found and old Golden age technology called SIVA. A nanotechnology that can convert any form of matter into anything one desires whether it be a weapon, armor, ship or even terraform an entire planet. The Devil Splicers sought to convert themselves with it turning them into cyborgs or even full-on machines and sought to spread it through out Earth and the rest of Sol. If it wasn't for Summer Rose and her fireteam destroying the SIVA Replication chamber deep in Old Russia and destroying the leadership of the Devil Splicers, they might have succeeded.
"Were Devil Splicers." Savek said not tearing her eyes away from the door controls. "After destruction of SIVA, those who were still part organic found their SIVA enhances deteriorating. Turns out they needed a steady supply of SIVA to keep their enhancements running or else they either shut down completely or revert back to their previous state. Sometimes fatally. These were in the latter." She was about to finish with the door when a shot fired impacted the doorway, making Savek jump back in fright. She ducked behind her container of scrap as another shot fire.
Both Team RWBY and Summer Rose raised their weapons. Summer was the one to find the source on a ridge across from them. All five looked up and saw five large Fallen up above. To the left and right were a fallen with a bandolier of bombs and with mechanical arm and leg; one with a flaming ball and chain; one that had a mechanical backpack outfitted with cannons; one wearing the skin of a Cabal War beast as a cloak with a sniper. But in the center of them was a large fallen wearing a cloak and helmet baring the sigil of what the five now known as the Scorn.
"The Scorned Barons, leaders of the Scorn!" Savek said in fear, shaking.
"Now dead leaders." Summer said as she manifested a Tongeren-LR3 rare sniper rifle and opened fire on them. This prompted team RWBY to also fire at them. Ruby used Crescent Rose in its sniper form to fire. Weiss created a series of glyphs and fired several fireballs at them. And both Blake and Yang fired from their own weapons.
However, none of their shots even made it halfway.
With speed that impressed even Ruby, the one in the War Beast cloak quickly shot down every shot, destroying them.
"No need to shoot at us dead thing. Wanted to welcome you to the Tangled shore!" The one in the middle said raising its staff and slamming it on the ground. The tip of its staff lit up.
From the destroyed servitor, pale blue ether with streaks of black poured out of it. It seeped out of the ground around the feet of the five humans. Team RWBY watched as it moved across the ground. "That's tainted ether!" Drei said out loud before it disappeared within Summer's mind. As it seeped across the ground, it hovered over the dead bodies of the Devil Splicers. It seeped into their wounds and open mouths. Team RWBY watched as fingers twitched and the bodies rose up!
They took a large step back with Savek jumping right into her scrap container. They watched as they rose from the ground, pick up bits and pieces on the ground as makeshift clubs and stand at attention. "I welcome you to the Tangled Shore in the form of my children; the Scorn! Every Fallen that you have killed in your dead life is a potential child for me to raise. Kill one Fallen, I raise as Scorn. Kill one Scorn, I raise ten in its place!" He slammed his staff down and the Scorn charged at the five!
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A Scorn hefted its makeshift club and brought it down on Blake's head. As it connected with her head, said head vanished, only for the real Blake to slice its throat with Gamble shroud. What was supposed to be a killing strike, only made it stagger as it got back up and attacked her again. Again and again, she used her Semblace to use her clones to keep her opponent at bay. But no matter what she did, whether it be kicking, stabbing or shooting, the Scorn wouldn't go down.
And it wasn't just her opponent, the rest of her team alongside Summer were having problems as well.
Weiss used her Semblance to summon a flock of Nevermore's to slice into her opponents, even managed to tear off a few arms and bits of flesh. Unfortunately, they just put them back on themselves, flesh stitching right back together and they attacked her even more, forcing her to use more summons on them. Yang just kept punching them as they came. Some even landed a few blows, but she shrugged them off as her Auara absorbed the blows, which strengthened her more. Ruby used her semblance to speed around either shooting them or using her weapons scythe mode to slice the body parts. But just like Weiss, the body parts were picked up, put back in place and the flesh healed as if nothing happened. And Summer kept shooting them. Some she decapitated by shooting their heads off, but they simply got back up and attacked her, despite not having a head for them to see her with.
This has been going on for a solid five minutes already. The five Fallen, obviously the leaders of the Scorn had long gone away, so she and Team RWBY had to deal with them. "Hey, are going to help or just cower!?" She shouted to Savek who was still in the cart while they were getting attacked.
"Just…a moment…yes!" Savek said emerging from the junk pile on the cart showing what she was doing.
She had been using the scrap in her cart to create a weapon. Not just any weapon, but a Scout Rifle. It was made out of junk, but it was serviceable. A white barrel with a red-brown stock at the end. With it, she took aim and started to take potshots wherever she could. She managed to take one Scorn down that was sneaking behind Weiss as the white-haired member was too busy fighting those in front of her. Weiss gave her a nod of thanks as she continued the fight.
Even with the additional firepower, the scorn still kept coming.
"So, this is what it's like fighting against a Guardian?" Blake asked as she was getting tired. She wasn't the only one. The rest of her team were getting tired already. Save for Summer Rose, they don't think they could do this much longer. "Similar to fighting a Guardian. But much different. There has to be a way to keep these ones down!" Summer said using a knife to jab into a scorn's throat. The Scorn fell down, but quickly got right back up, ripping out the knife and fighting again.
Ruby was scanning the battlefield looking for something. All she saw were the Scorn fighting her teammates and her mother, Scorn fall down to the ground where the Dark Ether was still pooling, they get back up and fight again.
Wait.
She looked again and saw that a Scorn with slash marks courtesy of Blake's weapon fell to the ground, then get right back up with its wounds healing as if they never existed.
It was the Dark Ether! It's what was responsible for healing the Scorn! She saw where it was coming from, the destroyed Servitor with the strange totems around it . Seeing how tough the destroyed servitor looked like, she knew who would be the one to destroy it.
"Yang! Destroy the Servitor! It's what's healing the Scorn!" She shouted to her sister who had a scorn in a headlock and punching it in the face with it's own arm muttering, "Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself…" She looked to her sister, seeing what she was pointing at and knew what she was talking about. Removing the scorn from her arm, kicking it away, she charged up her Semblance, flames bathing her hair and eyes turning red.
She ran towards the destroyed servitor surrounded by the totems, jumped in the air and with a click of her gauntlets, punched downward!
The force of her punch combined with the munitions in Ember Celia resulted in the servitor being destroyed completely, bits and pieces flying everywhere. The remained of Team RWBY along with Summer Rose ducked as said pieces flew over them. The scorn however, weren't so lucky. Some of them got impaled with the shrapnel and went down. Some twitched and tried to get back up, but Ruby's was correct. Without the Dark ether, their healing wasn't as fast as before. Already, the dark Ether on the ground was dissipating, the wounds on the scorn not healing as fast or none at all. Seeing them not so tough anymore, the remained of the team went back to the fight.
Summer pointed Dire Promise at the last scorn and pulled the trigger, ending the fight. The others were taking a quick breather as Summer went about making sure that the scorn stayed dead this time. Ruby sat alongside Savek as the Dreg placed her weapon back in the cart.
"So, you made that weapon out of all this?" Ruby asked the Dreg eyeing the contents of the cart. She could see that Savek had other weapons created or semi-created in the pile. She could see a completed auto rifle, a quarter done pulse rifle and a nearly completed grenade launcher. "Yes. Have an eye for making weapons out of what's on hand." Savek said as she fiddled around with some more scrap. Her fingers moving quickly over each part. "Good at making weapons. Spider pays me to find scrap, bring it to him, takes what he wants and pays me in Glimmer and Ether. If I make weapons from scrap, pays me more." She said as her fingers stopped and in the scraps place was a sidearm that she placed in the cart.
Ruby looked at the weapon and the skill Savek had. While they started off as scrap, Savek made them into something beautiful. Something any weapon enthusiast would enjoy.
A flash and a bang startled them, but it was Summer walking away from a pile of scorn bodies that she set on fire with her golden Gun Super. "Alright, that should take care of them." She said looking at Savek. "Lead the way."
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Turns out, the top of the asteroid that they resided on was only the tip of what the Tangled Shore really was. Opening the doors, Savel led the group down a gravity lift and they were on their way floating downwards, there they saw the true Tangled Shore.
Every asteroid that was part of the shore was hollowed out. And it was filled with buildings. Some of them were of human make, others Cabal. But a majority of them were of Eliksni make. Scattered here and there were signs of habitation. Blake couldn't help but make similarities to the back-alley places of Menagerie or of Vacuo during her time in the White fang. The group soon landed and Savek gestured them to follow her as she made her way. She described this place as Thieves Landing; one of several places on the shore that one could land, ship whatever they want or need. Passing several of the buildings, the group minus Summer kept their hands on their weapons as they made their way, passing the graffiti line on the walls. Some in Eliksni, other human or Cabal and even, surprisingly, Hive script. They ignored the bodies of numerous races laid out on the ground, obviously of gang violence. Like Savek said, every gang bigger than two are trying to make a name of themselves here.
Going down an alley that led to the stone wall, Savek paused and looked to her companions. "Follow." She said before stepping through the wall.
All five were surprised at her disappearance. Drei drifted to the wall and did a quick scan. "Obviously Stealth drive technology. Designed to cloak the entire wall." He drifted to the wall, expecting to go through, but met solid resistance. He blinked and then drifted right where Savek entered and partially faded through before going back out. "Okay, a little more advanced than what I'm used to. The Spider's got some nice toys."
"That's for sure." Summer said before entering. Quickly followed by the others. What met them on the other side were a bunch of Eliksni in unique armor; spiked backs and cloaks with a sigil that they recognize as the Spiders. They saw that Savek was handing over her cart to one of the spiked guards and gestured to them. "I take you to Spider now." She said leading them away. Summer walked behind the group, eyeing the Fallen around her, hand staying near her holstered hand cannon, as a warning to them not to screw around with her. The guards also kept a grip on their own weapons, her reputation reaching even the wild frontier of the Tangled Shore.
After going down tunnels down below, they reached the Spider himself in his circular web.
The room was circular, staffed with other Eliksni guards like the ones outside wielding spears or rifles. In the center was the Spider himself along with Petra Venj. Compared to the Awoken woman's size, the Spider dwarfed her, but that was due to his chair suspended high above. The Spider himself was pudgy in Ruby's opinion, but kept it to herself. She thought he was fiddling with a small toy in his hand, but when he stopped briefly, she realized that it was a dead Ghost. To her horror, behind the Spider, dangling in nets. And she wasn't the only one to see them. Summer herself saw them and kept her hand tight on her holster. The Spider and Petra Venj were in deep conversation until the latter saw them
"Ah, I see our illustrious guests have arrived. Welcome to my shore!" The Spider said, his arms wide in greeting. Seeing their stares, he turned to look at the nets behind him. "Ah. You think I've killed these Ghosts and pinned them there as a trophy. Let me assure you, they are not trophies, but salvage. Each and every one of them have been killed by paracausal means that resulted in the final deaths of their Guardians." He said reassuring them. Pointing to one cluster he said, "These were recovered during the time the Vanguard tried to take back their moon. That was until Crota came to town and kicked them right back to your Last City."
"As enlightening regaling, us on your salvage operations, lets get back to business." Petra Venj said. The spider nodded, adjusting himself in his seat, while also making himself look taller. "Indeed. Let's go over our deal for our guests."
"Deal?" Summer asked, stepping forward, the guards straightening up, as if ready to fight at a second's notice.
"Yes. In exchange of Spider cooperating with us and providing intel on the Scorn, the Barons, and Uldren, he requires some…extracurricular things done for him."
"What sort of things?" Weiss said stepping up, seeing this as a business transaction, similar to what he father used to do, she was more qualified to find any hidden loop-holes in said deal.
The Spider looked to Weiss. "Nothing that will compromise your morality. Just reclaim several bits of territory from usurpers, take out would-be rulers of the shore, and acquire a single object of mine."
"What sort of object?"
"An object that will help you immensely in finding out what our wayward prince is up to. Unfortunately, due to how valuable it is, I had to keep it moving, never staying in one place too long."
Summer stepped forward, the guards gripping their weapons tighter. She approached the Spider in his throne and stuck out her hand. She would gladly work with the Spider if it meant avenging Cayde "Deal."
She and the Spider shook hands, and the Spider explained the importance of said object with a single question.
"Tell me, what's your favorite fairy tale?"
A/N: Info on Scorn in my story: The scorn require Dark Ether to be reanimated, whether they get it directly from Fikrul or a Servitor that has been desecrated and impaled with Totems (like the Ether harvesting Scorn Public Events). In order to heal their wounds/regenerate, they need constant exposure to said Ether. That's why a certain Scorned Baron is hunting Servitors and tearing them apart.
See ya next time and happy holidays!