Welcome back to The Fallen. First things first I feel like I could have made the chapter longer but I didn't want to make the chase a wall of text as I personally get lost while reading those. Beside that I feel a little unsatisfied with the first part of this chapter due to wanting to do something much loftier but looking back at the full scope I realized I did not have the skill to pulls something like that off and keep it entertaining.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.
-OtherwiseR00K
One.
Ironwood felt the wind whip at him as he shot above the crowd of screaming citizens. The black revolver piece of Due Process was loaded with gravity dust bullets to launch the Atlas Captain forward, to get to spots quicker and catch up to those faster then himself. Ironwood waited until he knew a shot down wouldn't hit some fleeing civilian before firing beneath him and rocketing up to the roof of the building the sniper had been on.
Two.
Ironwood finally neared the crescendo of the force of the last shot from Due Process and could see the roof of the building. It was littered by the bodies of BT3 and S3, all of them sprawled out with their weapons either destroyed or discarded. Ironwood's eyes caught the quick flutter of black going over the edge just before it dissapeared .Before gravity could reinstate its control, Ironwood let off another shot of gravity dust and flew over the roof of the building.
Three.
He didn't have the time to check on BT3 and the assassin was escaping. Though he did turn on the comm unit of his scroll, "This is Captain James Ironwood, BT3 and S3 are in need of medics. Both are currently at S3's sniper post." Ironwood didn't wait for a response and shut off comms.
Fully clearing the roof, Ironwood could now see the assassin running across the smaller buildings below. Ironwood pointed his revolver behind him, angling the shot to send him just ahead of the assassin. The revolver barked and Ironwood was sent down toward the building the assassin had just jumped toward.
Four.
Ironwood slammed into the roof shoulder first. He quickly readjusted himself and switched out his black revolver for the white one while useing his prostetic arm to slow himself down. His fingers dug into the roof, leaving visible grooves while his other arm aimed at the assassin and Ironwood pulled the trigger.
Wind dust rounds shot out at the assassin, though Ironwood now recognized him, but he dodged the bullets and changed course. Ironwood ripped his fingers from the roof and charged after the Wildcard. He wasn't sure why the Wildcard had done this but he'd figure it out after apprehending him.
Ironwood vaulted over a ventilation unit to keep pace but as the chase continued he noticed that the Wildcard was simply faster. He knew he had two more rounds in the black revolver but he'd prefer to use them if utterly needed. He couldn't risk reloading in the middle of a chase unless he could keep up and as it was he couldn't.
As if to solve Ironwood's problem, the roar of a manta came in. The manta sped in, keeping pace with the chase just above them. Ironwood pulled out his scroll and quickly got on comms for Atlas' Command Center, "Who's piloting the manta above the assassin?" Ironwood demanded.
A professional voice came over the comm, "Manta-054 is currently in the area, Captain."
"Patch me through!" Ironwood exclaimed, soon hearing a familiar tone of static. "Is this Manta-054?"
"Yes, sir! May I say your utterly hauling ass, sir?" The pilot replied, though Ironwood ignored that last bit.
"How many do you have on board?"
"I got a squad of grunts, sir, all armed with assault weaponry."
"Good. Line the doors up with the assassin and give him hell!" Ironwood ordered.
"Sir, yes, sir! You heard him you louts! Make something of yourselves!" The pilot shouted before the comm line was cut. Ironwood glanced up at the Manta to see it pull to the right of the buildings. The side of the manta opened up and four Atlas soldiers wielding A-32 Dust Assault Rifles were revealed.
They took aim at the Wildcard and opened fire. The Wildcard had clearly noticed them as he then began dodging the bullets, though this had also slowed him down slightly. Ironwood was still being outpaced but he could catch up now. Ironwood picked up speed but was caught off guard by the Wildcard stopping in his tracks and weapons suddenly appeared in his hands.
Two straight daggers, resembling nails, appeared in his hands. Though they were attached to long chains that were wrapped around the Wildcard's forearms. As the bullets continued coming, the white haired killer spun the chain, blocking each bullet. Ironwood continued his charge though, not wanting to let a chance at capturing Dolus' killer go.
As Ironwood got closer, the Wildcard spun around and threw the other dagger directly at Ironwood. The Atlas Captain moved his upper body out of the way of the dagger and grabbed the chain connected to it and the Wildcard. He wrapped his hand around it and pulled.
The Wildcard was pulled violently toward Ironwood and he meant to capitalize on this but Ironwood hadn't expected the chain in his hand to simply disappear. Ironwood stumbled slightly, having lost the weight of the chain making the inertia of his pull continue with him. The Wildcard hit the roof and slid past Ironwood.
Ironwood whips around, the white revolver pointed forward. Unfortunately the Wildcard had just dived off the side of the building. Ironwood quickly pursued but found that the Wildcard was now using the chain nails to swing through the square and further away. Ironwood immediately pulled his black revolver but changed his mind when he spotted the manta going to pursue. Instead he aimed the revolver away from the manta and shot forward.
Four.
Ironwood soared toward the manta and grabbed the bottom of the manta's open door. He was greeted by the barrel of an assault rifle but as soon as the soldier recognized him he immediately lowered the gun and reached out a hand, "Sorry about that, sir. Wasn't expecting you to hitch a ride."
Ironwood gripped the soldier's arm and was pulled up into the manta. Ironwood then pulled out his scroll but before he called anyone he turned his head toward the pilot, "Do not lose him!" Ironwood yelled over the roaring wind.
"Aye, aye, Sir!" The manta dipped to the left, likely to continue following the Wildcard but Ironwood began calling the command center.
After a moment the line connected, "Yes, Captain?" An operator greeted.
"Where's the Spider Droid?"
"Currently making its way up Atlas Academy to get a shot."
"ETA?"
"A few seconds."
"Good. I need that gun pointed over here as soon as possible. On my signal fire the cannon." The Prototype Spider Droid's cannon was incredibly powerful, the pure dust beam could utterly disintegrate a Grimm in one shot. With some extra testing they'd even learned it could burn through aura. It was incredibly deadly.
Ironwood turns his focus back to the retreating Wildcard and notices he'd swung himself back onto the buildings. Ironwood then walked back into the troop hold and replaced the ammo in his revolvers. After doing so he then grabbed a A-32 Dust Rifle off the gun rack near the back of the manta.
The manta suddenly shuddered. Ironwood lowered the rifle he had just been checking and turned back toward the still open door. Outside he could make out the Wildcard and a large sword being launched at the manta. Ironwood backed up alongside the other soldiers as the sword came through the open door and impaled the roof of the manta.
"Oh that son of a bitch!" The pilot had turned back to see the sword. "Captain, you better break that prick's arm!"
Ironwood would be doing more than that when he got his hands on Dolus' killer. He didn't respond and instead launched himself from the manta and toward the roof. He pointed the rifle at the killer and pulled the trigger, firing hot fire dust rounds. Ironwood wasn't surprised when the Wildcard summoned those black and white swords to block and deflect each round. It was part of his plan after all.
Finally Ironwood landed on the rooftop. It cracked beneath the force of his landing but held strong as Ironwood continued dumping rounds at the Wildcard. Soon though, the magazine ran dry and the Wildcard deflected the final bullet which Ironwood blocked with his arm.
Before anything else could happen though the comm link came back with a voice, "The Spider Droid's Dust Cannon is now fully charged, sir."
Ironwood quickly grabbed his scroll and without a second thought, "Fire now!" Ironwood gave the order for the cannon to fire. A moment later and a flash of light appeared. Milliseconds later Ironwood could just make out the loud whine of the beam approaching. Ironwood could see the Wildcard react as well.
The hooded man brought his swords to bear and suddenly Ironwood could no longer see the Wildcard due to the beam that shot past. Ironwood could feel the heat of the beam, which could possibly melt through aura as the scientists behind it had theorized. Ironwood had no intention of leaving things to chance though and waited to see what had happened.
Soon though the beam dissipated, the power source having only been stress tested for ten seconds in the lab before it blew apart. This beam had only last about five due to that. Ironwood tensed as he he saw the Wildcard for the first time since the beam had blocked his view.
The swords were crossed in front of him and were even glowing at the heat they had just endured, though it seemed the blades were fine otherwise. The Wildcard himself looked worse for wear though. His hood had been knocked down, exposing spiked white hair with darkened tips, likely singed, and a tanned face. His coat was singed by the heat and it looked like steam was rising from his whole body.
The Wildcard uncrossed his swords and adjusted his stance. Ironwood could tell, this wasn't over yet. So Ironwood tossed the rifle away and pulled the white revolver from his hip holster as he bolted forward. He pressed the trigger and shot the entire cylinder of wind dust at the Wildcard who immediately began blocking them as Ironwood got closer.
It was exactly what Ironwood had wanted and soon his shoulder collided with the Wildcard's mid-section. The two tumbled forward, close to the edge and Ironwood smashed the butt of his revolver into the white haired man's jaw. He tried to continue with another hit but the Wildcard's hand lashed out and grabbed Ironwood's arm before bringing his own fist to bear.
The hit smashed across Ironwood's chin, stunning him with the force, before he coiled his legs up and kicked out with both steel soled boots. The force sent Ironwood backward but he quickly shook his head of the daze and sent a haymaker forward with his prosthetic arm. The blow was ducked and in the same move the Wildcard leaped off the building.
This time though Ironwood had no intention of being left behind.
The Atlas Captain leaped from the roof just as the Wildcard had sunk the chained nail into an adjacent building. Ironwood's weight slammed into the man's back and his hand latched onto the case strapped to the Wildcard's back. The extra weight dragged the Wildcard down and the case shifted enough for Ironwood to see the Wildcard's eyes.
Molten Gold eyes met Metallic Blue eyes.
Steel and Mettle clashed.
Mettle was crushed by the Steel's weathered gaze.
James gasped as he felt Mettle recede. He was so surprised that he couldn't react when the Wildcard used that black sword to cut the strap of the case. James felt himself fall and instinct kicked in. He pulled his black revolver from its holster and shot down as he got closer to the ground, sending himself onto the roof of a building.
He turned and looked around but could no longer see the Wildcard. James had lost him. He should be furious, outraged at his failure but…he wasn't. All that flashed through James' mind were those eyes. Eyes that reminded him of his own when his Semblance was active but…worse.
It made him think. If the Wildcard had a similar Semblance to Mettle then…he would do whatever it takes to complete his goal. James looked down at the case in his hand, it likely held the very weapon that killed Dolus.
Whatever it takes to complete his goal…
James stared at the case and then he reach into his coat pocket and pulled out his scroll. He quickly connected to the manta that was still in the area, "Did you catch that bastard, Sir?" 054 asked.
"Negative, I lost him in a scuffle. Though I was able to take the weapon he used to kill Flae." James reported, raising the case up to look at it for a second. "I need pickup."
"On my way, and don't worry, I'm sure we can chase him down!"
"No need. I…need you to take me to the apartment complex near Atlas Academy."
"Uh, permission to ask why, sir?"
"Permission denied. Get here now."
"Aye, aye, sir." The line went dead and James could hear the engines of the manta approaching. James could be wrong about what was going through his mind. He hoped he was wrong.
Whatever it takes to complete his goal…
But James had to be sure.
-Commander Hail Burns-
Commander Hail Burns was a stern man and someone who considered himself a patriot of Atlas. Currently he was storming through the halls of Atlas Academy, heading toward the command center which was off limits to the students of the academy. Behind him was the short Special Operator Caroline Cordovin who had to jog just to keep up.
"Do we know whats happening?" Burns questioned as soon as he walked into the command center. Several operators and staff were running around in a controlled chaos. A Specialist walked up to the two soon enough.
"Sir, ma'am, we currently do not have eyes on the assassin." The specialist reported.
"And why not, Specialist?" Cordovin sternly spoke, it was obvious to everyone else that she was keeping a rage down.
"Captain Ironwood was in pursuit, he chased the assassin going north bound. He'd spoken to us demanding the Prototype Spider Droid's location and when its cannon would be ready. After he'd given the order to fire he's been off the radio but Manta Pilot-054 has explained that the assassin got away." The specialist reported.
Cordovin nodded, a look of pride coming to her face at the information on Ironwood, "Good on Ironwood. We need more Captains with his swift action."
Commander Burns was in agreement but his focus was on the main issue, "Do we know where the assassin went."
"We have a general direction. We believe he's still heading nort-" The specialist was cut off by an operator yelling up at the three.
"We have a visual on the target! Public cameras have caught the target swinging through the shopping district head North-West!" At the operator's words Commander Hail turned toward the large screen at the front of the command center.
"Give us a visual!" He barked. Soon after an image appears showing the assassin swinging past the camera. "The Shopping District correct?"
"Yes sir!"
Hail gained a vicious grin, "Then we have him trapped like a dog."
The Shopping District was directly next to the hard light dust wall. If they sent two teams on either side and one to push in front the South they'd have the assassin cornered against the wall and at their mercy.
"Send in three Huntsmen trained teams. I want them coming from the East, West, and South. Trap him in." As he spoke a screen lit up with a geometric map of the Shopping District with a red triangle moving closer to the wall. "Is this live?"
"Its as close as we'll get, sir. Its a predictive algorithm which is placing the possible location of our target with the information we have." An operator explained.
"Teams are in route!" Another operator yelled.
Hail could feel a grin form on his lips. He wouldn't allow the killer of General Flae get away. Hail would make sure Flae's killer was cuffed and dragged before the Atlas Courts and the book was thrown at him. Maybe even executed if it felt necessary.
Unfortunately his plans were dashed as soon as an alarm began blaring. It screeched throughout the control room and as of yet unknown to the people inside, it was blaring through the sound systems throughout Atlas loud enough for the entirety of the floating kingdom to hear.
In the control room, Cordovin and Burns were covering there ears. Hail turned toward an operator furiously pressing buttons on their terminal, "What is happening!?" Hail questioned, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the alarm.
"One of the hard light dust pylons went down, sir!" The operator yelled, and then the alarm shut off. "The target somehow broke the pylon, sir."
"How!?" Cordovin questioned. "Those pylons should be capable of tanking most attacks, even a Sea Feilong would have trouble!"
"Hang on." The operator tuned their headset and seemed to be listening to something. "Look around the pylon, it couldn't have just switched off." Some more waiting as then a look of shock came over the man's face. "Understood, thank you."
The operator twisted the dial on their headset again and turned to the two awaiting answers, "The target somehow knew where the power source for the pylon was. A large hole was found going straight down, it hit the wiring for the pylon."
"And what of the target?" Hail asked.
"There's no sign of him."
Silence descended upon the control room. The Commander and Special Operative both quietly deliberated what happened. Until finally, one of them broke their silence.
"He jumped." Cordovin said. "It's the only possibility."
"I agree." Hail grunted out. He turned to address the entire command center. "Everyone! I need your undivided attention!" Hail waited to see everyone looking up from their posts and looking at him. "We know our target has gotten away from us. More importantly he's no longer trapped on Atlas. This means we will be sending troops down into Mantel to secure the airship station! I will not let the General's killer get away so get to work so we can bring this scum in!"
As the people within the room got to work, Hail put his hands on the railing in front of him. His hands wrapped around the railing tightly, his mind a whirl. He hardly noticed Special Operative Cordovin heading down to assist in any way she could.
He couldn't let the General's killer get away.
-James Ironwood-
James strode through the main door to the apartment complex. The complex was a very protected one as most of the Atlas military leaders rested their heads here. James had more freedom in the building due to his own status as Captain and the Headmaster of Atlas Academy. Of course he was here for a reason.
It clawed at him, the thought that had invaded his mind after seeing the Wildcard's eyes. He knew that look, of course he did. How couldn't he? He also knew the mindset that Wildcard could be in or at least a general idea. James did wonder if it was similar to his own Semblance.
As James marched toward the elevator, two sides of himself clawed at each other. One side, the emotional man that had been tamed by his military training was defuting the possibility vehemently against it. The other side was the cold strategist that did not refute the possibility and as time went on began connecting possible dots that had been left alone for so long.
The Wildcard's goal was to destroy the Church of the Grimm Goddess, everything James and Ozpin's group knew supported this. It had also been noted by scouts in Anima that the Wildcard was ruthless against any group with ties to the cult. The Wildcard would not let anyone with ties to Salem live.
Now James needed to know.
The elevator dinged with the arrival to the floor. James immediately walked out of the opening doors and made his way down the hall. Soon he was at the door and he didn't bother trying to be subtle. One swift kick to the lock side of the door and it opened, the mechanical lock shattered under the force.
James entered the room and noted the tattered state of it. It looked like someone had flown into a rage. James grimaced at the room, more evidence to the small but heavy pile. It was clear this had been caused by Dolus. But why?
James walked further into the quarters and found himself walking toward the bed. It had been torn to ribbons of cloth of various sizes. James moved his foot to the side and suddenly felt the floorboard shift under the weight. His eyes snapped down to the floorboard and he stared down at the oddity.
James backed off the board and crouched down. He didn't bother wasting any time and reared back his prosthetic arm with his hand open before throwing it forward. His arm crashed through the wood and soon wrapped around a sphere like object. It was only a second later that it began screeching and something wrapped around his arm.
James roared before pulling his arm back out of the space, a new addition wrapped around his prosthetic forearm. The Seer Grimm screeched, its bladed tentacles attempting to cut into the arm but his aura held strong and even then it was metal. James stared at the grimm trapped in his clutches as the storm in his mind gave way to clarity.
Cracks appeared on the glass-like sphere and the grimm screamed louder. James' robotic fingers slowly applied more pressure to the grimm. The clarity of his mind had given way to the righteous fury that always followed when the cult had committed an atrocity. It was unforgivable.
Finally the pressure became too much and the Seer's orb head shattered. The pieces quickly dissipated into a familiar black mist that James ignored as he stared forward. The room was now completely empty with just the headmaster standing in it. Now his fingers curled into tight fists.
James Ironwood now had confirmation.
Captain Dolus Flae had been a traitor to humanity and James was an utter fool.
So...what do ya'll think? Personally I'm okay with how it turned out and I'm pumped that I was actually able to get to this part of the story. My past with discontinued stories has shown I'm very fickle with stories and I'm just happy this one is still going. Anyway I want to talk about the fight between James and Shirou. The two are different sides of a similar coin when you really think about it, the Mind of Steel is a very similar to the general description of Mettle. Plus their main weapons parallel each other as well, black and white. Now I know I'm gonna get some flack for how well James did during the fight but I just want to ask one question and then move on. How long do you think its been since Shirou slept?
Now admittedly I don't have much to say about Commander Hail as I only came up with his character a few weeks ago and he's just an OC for a commander. Cordovin was thrown in due to the fact she was still in Atlas and I felt it would make sense that she'd be trying to do something to assist. Shirou escapes anyway, but was there ever any doubt?
Ironwood knows the truth of Dolus Flae and that's going to cause some internal conflict. Hehehe, I can't wait to try my hand at that small storyline next chapter. Anyway, enough from me I hope you enjoyed and have a good day/night!
-OtherwiseR00K