Author's Note: This chapter came out a bit long, so I split it in half. I'll upload the second chapter later this weekend though, so enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its associated characters. The characters in this writing so far are mostly original characters, but I make no claim over the existing characters.

Chapter 13

Hammer and Stone

"I don't want to hear about this after we get back to base, Grayson" Captain Stone said bitterly as she shifted uncomfortably on my back. My original proposal to just carry her by her armor's rescue handle had been rejected. I thought it would be a nice poetic justice for when she had thrown me up the side of a building by my collar when we first met, but evidently she was not amused by the concept.

Instead she opted to hang from the rescue handle on my own armor like the world's most uncomfortable backpack as I scaled the cliff. Perfect magical adhesion to the face of the cliff allowed me to essentially climb it like a ladder, with the only difficult portion of the climb being that Captain Stone would not sit still for even a moment as she dangled behind me.

"Ma'am" I replied with irritation. "If you don't stop moving around back there we aren't going to make it back to base."

You'll be fine. LIWI spoke into my mind, sending a constant trickle of strength into my limbs. She's not even that heavy.

"Says you." I replied under my breath, making sure that my helmet's speakers weren't transmitting to the outside. "She's surprisingly dense."

Oh? I'll just tell her you said that then.

"Please don't. I'd like to keep my ribs intact today."

Like you haven't broken your ribs before, I can heal those no problem.

"Yeah, but it still hurts you know?"

We reached the top without further incident, and I only had to put up with LIWI's newfound snarkiness for a few minutes until he had something else to occupy his attention.

Oh wow! He remarked as we reached the top. Look at the view!

I unloaded Captain Stone at the top of the cliff and turned to look outwards with LIWI. Before me I could see all the way back to Argus, some thirty miles away. A boundless beautiful forest was sprawled out before us, the trees still green and untouched by the snow storms that would soon be arriving as the weather changed. Rolling hills and valleys subtly broke up the monotony of the otherwise flat terrain, creating an oddly beautiful asymmetric landscape. Behind me the mountain range reached up towards the sky, snow capped tops still not having fully melted over the summer.

I turned back to view the top of the cliff we had scaled. It was largely flat where we were, gently sloping downwards towards the camp at the other end of the plateau. The entire area couldn't have been more than a few thousand feet long, with the camp taking up a full half of the available space at the top. There were at least three dozen tents pitched, and I noted the three largest that Major Fin had pointed out in the earlier discussion.

Off to the side I noticed a conspicuously empty patch of cleared flat land. It was possible that at some point they had stored a Bullhead or other transport aircraft there. It would certainly explain how they had managed to get all of their equipment to the top of the otherwise mostly sheer cliff. There was a series of switchbacks on the southern side of the mountain, opposite the side we had scaled, but it would be extremely difficult to get anything large up that difficult trek.

Team FRIL joined us at the top, and both teams prepared for the assault on the camp. Captain Stone pointed out the hill that Lieutenant Rivers needed to set up on, and he nodded his confirmation. I noticed that for some reason Rivers was carrying the non-tech sword that Sergeant Green had showed me, but before I could ask either of the Huntsmen about it Major Fin gave the order to begin the assault. We set off at a steady jog, hoping to preserve our energy for the upcoming fight.

LIWI enhanced my senses as we ran, and I searched the enemy defenses for signs of sentries. Oddly, I could only see a single sentry manning the switchback trail, with no others in sight. Apparently the commander of the camp didn't anticipate a mobile team scaling the back of the cliff, and believed that any real assault would be forced to climb the switchbacks.

Eugene split off from our team and moved to the hill to take up his sniping position. Now that I looked at it up close I could see that it was a truly horrible vantage point. He would struggle to see anyone actually within the camp, as his minor elevation would not be enough to allow him to see over the tents. He dropped to a prone position, deploying his sniper's bipod. A second later a silent round spit out of his barrel to drop the only sentry on duty.

Captain Stone picked up the speed and the rest of us matched her pace, now moving at a sprint towards the unsuspecting camp. They didn't have the same dirt berm or moat that the last camp had built, so we dashed into the rows of tents unopposed. Team SGGE arrived at our target tent without incident, and Sergeant Green ripped open the flap to reveal a dark interior filled with different computers and what looked like communications and planning equipment.

It was their command tent, and almost slapped myself for not realizing it earlier. I turned to look around the camp, noticing for the first time a distinct sound that my enhanced hearing had picked up on the approach. It was a constant high pitched whining, but until now I had not consciously noticed it. I looked around the dark and motionless tents, then whispered to Captain Stone

"Where the hell is everyone?"

A resounding explosion answered me from the other end of camp, it had emanated from where team FRIL was investigating the tent I had identified as a possible munitions depot. Suddenly, lights snapped on around the camp, and I squinted my eyes in pain as my pupils struggled to adjust.

"Ambush!" Sergeant Green called out, and I looked around in confusion as I tried to figure out what he was seeing. A second later a resounding roar emerged from the surrounding tents, and Wings of Freedom soldiers in full armor emerged with weapons drawn.

MOVE! LIWI shouted in my mind, and I jerked into action, raising my rifle and firing off a sustained burst into the nearest group of soldiers before diving backwards into the open command tent to avoid the hail of gunfire that flew towards me. A few of my rounds went wide as my vision was still impacted by adjusting to the bright light, but enough shots found their marks that I saw three soldiers in light armor stumble and fall. I felt bad about the lethal shots, but I didn't have time to dwell on it as I saw Captain Stone and Sergeant Green being driven back by massed firepower.

Evelynn slammed her hammer into the ground, throwing up enough debris to form a quick shield as bullets bounced off of her aura. Randall danced and weaved around dozens of shots, but not even he could dodge or block all of them. I raised my rifle again and sighted in on a heavy machine gun being manned by two soldiers. I snapped off two clean shots, not sparing any time for sympathy, then rolled to regain my footing and stood back up.

Bullets shredded the tent around me and the protective spells LIWI had cast phased and flickered as some shots found me.

The armor and I can handle this much! LIWI shouted. Keep shooting!

I flipped my weapon to automatic fire and let loose, gunning down every sound or flash of movement my enhanced senses could pick up through the rapidly disintegrating walls of the tent I was in. I was rewarded with cries of pain or sickening silence from multiple directions. In only a few seconds I had emptied the magazine of my rifle, and I dashed forwards out of the tent as I ejected the spent magazine and slammed a fresh one home.

As I emerged I was greeted with chaos. The entire opposite end of the camp was now on fire, with multiple explosions emanating from it one after another. Captain Stone was rapidly firing shots from the dust cannon mounted in her hammer into clusters of infantry, but her purple aura was already noticeably beginning to form cracks. Sergeant Green had dashed across the open ground into the nearest tent, and was engaging a group of six soldiers in melee combat. Five soldiers already lay dead or dying of their wounds around him as he danced and weaved between bayonets and combat knives to land a piercing thrust in a soldier's chest, then spun away from an incoming attack to land a pommel strike on the side of a different man's head.

"Ice wall!" I shouted to LIWI, and he responded with a surge of power, forming a wall of ice between Captain Stone and the infantry that was currently laying down heavy fire upon her rapidly failing stone wall.

Captain Stone whipped around to face me, eyes wild with adrenaline, and began shouting orders.

"Get to Rivers!" She called out, "It's an ambush!" I shook my head.

"He'll be fine!" I shouted back "But we can't stay here! They know where we are and they've got the firepower to bring us down!" As I shouted, that odd whirring sound I had heard earlier returned to my conscious mind, it was now significantly louder, loud enough to be heard even over the sustained gunfire that filled the camp. I recognized the sound, I had heard it dozens of times before when preparing to go on missions.

"Oh shit" I said, mostly to myself, then cried out "Enemy Bullhead!"

The now roaring sound of engines reached a peak as a Bullhead that had previously been at the base of the switchbacks screamed into view over the edge of the mountain. Giant speakers on the side blasted out a familiar song, 'Welcome to The Jungle' translated to Mistrali and clearly covered by some local band.

"Oh no freaking way did he go out of his way to recreate that song" I said in disbelief. In the cockpit of the Bullhead I could see an all too familiar face grinning as Logan flipped switches in the cockpit, arming the weapons.

"MOVE!" I shouted, dragging a confused Captain Stone to the side as a twenty millimeter cannon ripped rounds through the camp in a line towards us. We barely dodged out of the way in time, sliding behind a tent, only to see the aircraft climb and regain a line of sight on us. Silent sniper rounds from Lieutenant Rivers' position slammed into the cockpit glass, but deflected mostly harmlessly.

"He can reinforce technology with his semblance!" I shouted, "We need to get inside the aircraft to fight him directly!" Captain Stone nodded, then motioned to her hammer.

"I'll get you up there, go!"

I took a running start, and she used her hammer as a catapult to launch me. She used her entire body and semblance to accelerate the hammer, sending me shooting upwards at high speed. The Bullhead twisted and rotated in mid air, repositioning to gain a new firing solution on Captain Stone as I shot upwards. It hovered in mid air, then opened fire, the gatling cannon sending high caliber bullets out at an impressive rate of fire. The shots were so close together in fact that they sounded more like a chainsaw than a gun.

I overshot the aircraft and flew above it, twisting and turning through the air to redirect my path as I began arcing back downwards. I snapped my rifle into its sword form for close engagement, then activated my feather fall system in short bursts to control my downward momentum. I released the feather fall as I slammed into the side of the Bullhead, shouting the command phrase 'Itsy Bitsy Spider!' to activate the spider climb enchantment on my boots and gloves.

I hit hard, cracking my helmet against the bullhead door, and shook my head to clear it as I listened to the continued buzzsaw of the chin turret firing at my teammates layered over the guitar of Logan's chosen song.

That was awesome! LIWI shouted as I reached for the door handle and yanked it open. I grunted, more focused on killing the pilots than conversing with LIWI.

The door slid back and I hauled myself into the Bullhead. Logan and his copilot both turned towards me in their seats, startled as I raised my sword and charged. Logan was a big man, easily as tall as I was and much larger. His copilot was a bit shorter, and had a much slimmer build. The copilot reacted first, raising a pistol and firing at me. The bullets bounced off of LIWI's protective spell as I stabbed him through the chest, my blade cleanly severing his spinal cord and pushing out through his back.

"You son of a bitch!" Logan shouted, and I felt myself gripped by some sort of force as my armor completely locked in place, then began to lift me off the deck of the Bullhead.

"Oh right." I chastised myself "Technokinesis."

Let him go! LIWI shouted in my mind, and lightning arced from my free hand's fingertips to dance across the control panels, arcing through the Bullhead and striking Logan in the chest. His mental grip on me remained firm, and I was locked in place, but the Bullhead's systems were scrambled. The song playing on the speakers cut out and the engines began revving downwards in pitch.

The Bullhead dropped out from beneath us as the engines failed, only to snap to a halt as Logan extended his semblance to take manual control of it.

"You screwed with my plane" He said angrily. "Now you're gonna fuckin' get it." A small canister on the side of his combat armor fired two small projectiles upwards, which began floating around him as he exerted his semblance over them. Now that I could see them properly, they appeared to be some sort of magical and technological hybrid, likely designed by Gary to give him a powerful but compact weapon. The small capsule shaped devices hovered, then pointed their red tipped ends directly towards my chest.

"Wait!" I shouted, right as they fired. Beams of fiery orange energy slammed into my armor, temporarily held back by LIWI's protection and the magically enhanced armor panels I had installed. I could feel my armor heating up rapidly as LIWI cried out in anger.

Hey! Magic is my thing!

Lightning again arced out from my open palm to strike Logan and his two hovering turrets, the electricity jumping between them. Logan stumbled backwards, and his devices ceased firing with a loud POP that indicated circuit boards being cooked to a crisp by voltage a thousand times more intense than they had been designed to handle.

"Ow! Christ that hurt!" Logan cried out in English as his jet black aura flashed to protect him from the full exposure of the lightning blast. "Alright" He said in Mistrali again, "You suck, go away."

With a wave he sent me flying back out of the Bullhead, though my was weapon ripped from my hand as his semblance kept it from coming with me. As I was sent flying clear of the aircraft I saw a series of dust projectiles from Captain Stone, as well as sustained fire from the other end of the camp, blast upwards to impact the Bullhead. The combined firepower blew a hole in the side of the aircraft now that Logan was no longer focused on reinforcing its durability. I fell for a few seconds before activating my feather fall system at the last moment to avoid cracking my skull open on the rough ground. I landed a few hundred feet outside of camp, behind the sniping position Lieutenant Rivers had established. I rose to my feet, rolling out my shoulder that I had landed somewhat awkwardly on.

We need to get back in there! LIWI said worriedly. Evelynn is in there with him! She could get hurt!

"I'm on it" I replied in a rushed tone, "But I need to ditch my tech first."

I activated the emergency release on my armor, and the micromotors that controlled the series of minuscule latches at the joints of my armor released their grip, allowing the armor to fall off of me in sections. Underneath I was wearing a black jumpsuit, with the name Phoenix stitched into the chest in gold lettering, my Team SGGE patch on my left shoulder, and the Atlesian flag on my right. I reached down to retrieve my sidearm and medical kit from my armor, strapping on my battle belt and securing the leg straps.

I had already been wearing LIWI underneath the armor so as to avoid exposing him to danger, but now he sat just above the combination gun belt and utility pouch that carried my weapon, ammunition, and medical supplies. I drew my revolver and charged back into the fray.

I rushed past Lieutenant Rivers as he was moving to reposition himself, he no longer had a good angle of anyone in the camp, and was desperately searching for a line of sight. As I passed, he tossed me Green's technology free backup sword, and I caught it with grim determination.

The aircraft overhead wobbled as I approached the camp, then I saw a large figure leap from the shattered cockpit window, and the Bullhead dropped from the sky. I sprinted down the rows of tents in time to see Logan land heavily in the middle of the clearing outside of the dining tent. He stood to his feet as the Bullhead spun into a crash behind him, crushing a swath of tents and going up in a fireball.

The canister attached to his armor fired four more of the magical lasers into the air, and they joined my stolen weapon as they swirled around his head, swiveling to point in whatever direction he looked. As I got near to the clearing Captain Stone's hammer came flying out of the shadows being cast by the flaming wreckage of the Bullhead. It slammed into his back, driving him to his knees, before leaping up into the air to meet Evelynn's hand as she leapt over a dozen feet into the sky. She slammed downwards to follow up with another heavy strike, eyes wide and focused solely on her target.

Logan held up a hand, halting her hammer in mid air and jerking her to a halt several feet off the ground. The weapons floating around his head swiveled, then fired a series of blasts at her. The first beam of fiery energy hit her directly in the chest, and she cried out, releasing her hammer and falling to the ground as her aura barely deflected the blast. The next few lasers tried to track her as she fell, but a sniper shot hit Logan in the side of the head, distracting him as his aura deflected it.

I sprinted into the open area, bringing my revolver to bear on Logan's left side and rapidly squeezing the trigger to blast all five of the buckshot shells at him. His aura cracked, nearly collapsing under the weight of the sustained fire. He grunted, then with a flick of his wrist he shot sideways into the surrounding tents as he used his semblance to control his armor, repositioning himself at high speed. Lieutenant Rivers' next shot went wide as Logan weaved through the air, impossible to track properly.

I flicked open the cylinder of my revolver, then pushed the extractor rod to eject the smoking shells. Next I brought out a speedloader from my gun belt, inserting the shells and flicking the cylinder closed. It was awkward to reload the weapon while holding the longsword in my hand, but after I had finished I withdrew a blue flare from a pouch on my belt, firing it into the air to indicate that we had found Target Hephaestus.

Captain Stone rushed past me in a blur, leading the charge into the shadows. I moved more carefully, watching her back. As we advanced, Captain Hill and Captain Ripley ran in from the other end of camp to join us. Ripley held her weapon in its greatsword mode, fresh blood dripping from the tip as she ran. Beside her, Captain Hill had drawn his revolvers and was taking up the rear. The four of us pushed into the camp, spreading out to catch Hephaestus and stop him from getting away.

Captain Hill found him first, crouched behind a tent while his aura regenerated. I heard a series of rapid gunshots, followed by the distinctive humming sound of Logan's magical lasers cooking the air. As Captain Stone and I charged around a corner to come into view, I saw Hill duck under a laser, then fire off four shots. The bullets leapt from the barrels of his revolvers, superheated by his semblance and leaving a trail of fire across the dark sky in my vision.

The next series of blasts caught Hill in the chest, sending him staggering backwards as his bright red aura flashed to protect him. Evelynn and I attacked together, I dropped to my shins, leaning backwards and firing three blasts from my revolver. She went high, throwing her hammer over my head. The attacks hit in unison, knocking Logan off of his feet.

As Evelynn recalled her hammer Logan held up a hand, halting it in its tracks. Captain Stone came to a stop, bracing her feet in the dirt and focusing on pulling the marble core of her hammer. Never before had I seen her able to apply a sustained force to anything, but now she seemed laser focused on her hammer, outright refusing to allow it to be taken from her.

Logan climbed to his feet, grunting with the effort of pulling at the tech in the dust caster built into the head of her hammer. Captain Stone screamed with her own effort, her aura flashing and on the verge of giving out completely as she put everything she had into the pull. Small purple wisps of smoke emanated from her hands as her semblance evolved under the intense pressure her will was forcing upon it.

"You will not take her from me!" She shouted hoarsely, "Not again!"

With a deep ripping sound the metal of her hammer split in two. The technology in the head of her hammer tore itself out of the rest of the weapon, flying backwards to Logan as the rest of the hammer flew to Captain Stone's hand. Stone's aura shattered in an explosion of purple shards as she caught the hammer, its momentum sending her skidding in the dirt as it flew at incredible speed now that it had been released from Logan's pull.

The fight almost seemed to pause for a moment, and I looked at Evelynn, seeing grief written heavily on her face as she stared at the ruined head of her hammer. I looked down at the exposed piece, and saw a beautiful engraving in the marble block that made up the core of the now ruined weapon. In the center of the engraving there was simple text that read 'Christine Petal, Friend and Leader, 2001-2019' A single chip was missing from the corner, taken off when the hammer had been pulled apart.

Evelynn examined the damage on the hammer, seeing the damage dealt to the marble tombstone core, then looked up at Logan, her eyes filled with murderous hate. I turned back to see him casually toss aside the dust projector. I looked at Logan, and saw recognition in his eyes as he finally looked at me now that I had removed my helmet and armor. I locked eyes with him and said simply:

"Oh, you're fucking dead dude."

"Come and get me then!" He shouted defiantly, activating the cylinder on his armor to launch out the last three magical lasers he was carrying to join the others floating above his head. I threw out my left hand in response, and LIWI sent a blast of chain lightning out of the tip of my sword, frying half of his lasers before they even had a chance to fire. Evelynn screamed a war cry and charged, her hammer trailing behind her ready for a devastating blow. Captains Hill and Ripley rejoined the fray as well, their swords singing as they slashed through the air.

Captain Hill's rapier heated to an incredible degree as he slashed at Logan, the tungsten core of his blade absorbing heat from his semblance and channeling it out into the world. His blade hit Logan's armor, which melted under the intensity of the heat being channeled into it. At the last moment Logan's pure black aura pushed the super heated blade away from his skin. Logan's aura was covered in cracks at this point, on the verge of shattering. He sent his magical lasers upwards, targeting one on everyone in the fight.

I dodged sideways, but still caught a blast to the leg. The laser scorched through LIWI's protective spell, burned through my jumpsuit, and bored a hole through my leg. I smelled burning flesh as the ruined limb gave out, and I grunted in pain as I hit the ground. Captain Stone took the blast straight to the chest, and it scored a hole straight through her armor to cut a line through her heart. Her hammer slipped from her grasp, dropping to the dirt of the camp floor.

"Captain!" I called out, watching helplessly as she slumped to the ground, a smoking hole through her chest.