If you don't have anything substantial to add, then do not speak.
Melanie loathed her mother, but in this case, the old lessons proved fruitful. Under the realization that Vale had more than one broken dam, and facing rivers of grimm from a potential multitude of openings underground, a small bit of her wanted to scream. But the powerful never screamed from fear, they roared with fury.
Too bad her rage refused to bubble.
Ruby led the charge, said a few things too, but she droned it all out in favor of following the noise. Voices of people rudely awoken to the chaos which actively made an effort to overtake the city in a slow, monotonous sludge.
Miltia alone pierced her shield of indifference towards all but cautious focus.
"I don't think we'll be able to handle them alone."
She agreed, but someone else didn't.
"As if Vale will ignore this!" Weiss snarled beside them, appearing to struggle with her own indecisive features who strung her face into a garbled mess. "... Sorry."
Melanie genuinely accepted the apology with a simple and quick nod. They didn't have time to be bitching at one another, or anything to potentially get in their way. Under all this pressure, she found it shocking that the blonde one who totalled the bar had managed to keep a level head.
However, Yang's eyes looked straight ahead and nothing more.
What did Yang see? Nobody could say, because the second they turned a corner the mayhem began. A body flew past them to splat against a wall and drop into the crumpled gravel. The Ursa responsible roared, and before anyone had a chance to act, a heavy blade bisected the monster. Both halves split to reveal the one responsible, and the leaking mist blew away.
Qrow Branwen stood, rested his blade over his shoulder, and muttered something illegible that only lip-readers could possibly pick out from their distance. His neck crooked to face them, and he rolled a shoulder.
"You kids okay?" His voice carried far past them, and Melanie felt her skin crawl as several little faunus rushed ahead from behind. Tulip stopped beside her, and Melanie took the chance to ask.
"Why are you moving?"
"Safe House is screwed. Fucking explosion would have buried us if it wasn't for Beige warning us about noise all around the city."
Melanie noted a distinct lack of said boy.
"Where is he?"
"We split into teams when he told us of the first blast. White Fang or Slave Trader; bombers never strike only once - least, not as I know 'em. He's taken his group towards your club around the eastern route. I took these ones here, hoping to make a quick break for it."
"Why split up at all?"
"Speed and experience." Tulip scowled, more so to herself from the looks of it. "Beige left with most of our "fighters" as we call 'em. I was s'posed to get these little babies here to safety while they lead the dangerous charge to draw the grimm away. Shit luck had the mob flooding here first, or so I'm assuming."
"Guess you'll know when we get to the club." Melanie strolled along once she noticed the group began to move again. The others had formed a protective barrier around the children, and Melanie opted to fill the space in the back, as did Tulip.
"You on your way there too?"
"We're off to clear out some of the mass for a while. If we're lucky, we'll run into the brat we're still looking for."
"You get him?"
"Nope." If they got a chance, though, she wouldn't mind having Neo ring up Roman to see what the ever-loving fuck happened back with the train.
For an invasion of grimm, not too many dared cross their path along the way. Every now and then a small group of Beowolves and even a single Boarbatusk tried its hand, but other than that... nothing. They surely shared the same confusion as she did, but Melanie never tried to ask. Most of their time had been spent, of all things, keeping the children from being too frightened.
Out of everyone, Ruby handled that the best, because while her golden haired sister could draw out laughs, Ruby spoke with a warmth that awoke a longing within even herself. Melanie thus strangled it every time it rose.
Nothing good ever came from raw memories.
.
.
Pinned down and strapped for cover, Josh checked his mag.
He really didn't need to; he hadn't fired a single shot yet. Stupidly, and damn near unbelievably, the firearm itself heated up just a little when those monsters, the grimm, drew close. Heck, he'd rounded a corner right into the face of one once, and right as it froze up just like he did, Josh's instincts kicked in and he whipped the pistol's barrel across its snout.
The grimm quite literally exploded into smoke, sweeping him off his feet to leave him wrought with heavy gasps on his ass.
Considering his limited supply of ammo, especially due to the absolute lack of regular firearms anywhere in this place - if Remnant even had regular functioning guns - he decided to make use of this strange obliteration effect the gun had when slapped upside the grimm.
Their reactions to his presence had been downright ridiculous, to put it lightly. Every time he came across one, it refused to act immediately. The monsters would focus their piercing glowing eyes on him, but they'd never strike, or pounce, or do anything at all relating them to the regular animals he recognised in their appearance. One sniffed him, but he'd used that opportunity to kill it - he considered this all luck, and he didn't want to waste it when the entire city faced a surge of these things.
Whenever anyone else popped up, the grimm would pounce, ignoring him in favor of gorging on the suffering of others. He did his best to prevent this, which proved thankfully easy seeing as everyone he came across ended up carrying a weapon of sorts. Huntsmen and Huntresses; if things didn't quite work out and they couldn't return home, he'd probably make a killer warrior like them, supposing the grimm didn't suddenly decide to get serious around him.
Too bad those White Fang folks couldn't cut him a break too.
"How are you holding up?" Beside him, a police officer also crouched behind the upturned car - maybe his own, but Josh hadn't asked.
"Still breathing. You?"
"I've seen worse." The man pulled him in, flipping them on their stomachs as more gunfire shattered the diagonal window above. Most of the car got wrecked by a grimm a little while back, but luckily for the dude, Josh had been right around a literal corner and blew that sucker away.
And that's when the White Fang showed up.
"Really?" Josh crawled beside the officer as they creeped under some ruined debris that used to be a flat paved road - apparently brawling grimm could go swinging like the Hulk, although they weren't nearly as heroic.
"Used to be a huntsman myself." A roar overtook the sky; another grimm had found them, and under more gunfire, he could tell they were after the Fang. "And that's our cue. C'mon!"
Lifting fast, they bolted for the alleyway ahead, and out onto another street under just as much siege. The grimm showed no mercy; not to people, and certainly not to property rights. Buildings had chunks of them hacked off of the corners, and roads dipped into trenches deep enough to fit entire lines of men. Hell, he even saw some snake looking thing slither between a few places before it got beheaded by a serrated blade of rapid-fire bullets.
The user, Coco, choked up a grin once the snake fell and crushed a few hopefully empty cars, before it too started to fizzle into smoke.
He would have said hi had she not sped off with half of the other hunters, leaving behind four who looked to be guiding a group of civilians along. One of said hunters spotted them and called them over. They were numbered fast, but midway through he noticed something, which he brought up to his new cop buddy: Officer Coal.
"They seem a little young for huntsmen."
"Students," he said, and a tiny sigh slipped out. "They shouldn't have to clean up something like this."
"They're just trying to help."
"I'm not criticizing them."
"Oh... Sorry."
Ahead of them, Josh caught the apparent leader mumble something about faunus under his breath. A real resting-bitch-face looking guy with an almost full on militant sliced haircut. Josh heard Officer Coal groan.
"Something wrong?" Besides the whole invasion thing, Josh meant, but didn't add.
"It's spreading even amongst the youth." The old man crossed his arms, but moved along as they were directed methodically around shattered streets. Josh needed only to catch another bit of noise: blame and ire, being cast not over the White Fang individually, but the "animals" as it was said.
"These guys don't seem friendly." He whispered, and Officer Coal looked... conflicted.
"That's spite for ya, son. It corrodes any sense of understanding you might have otherwise had, if you let it." Through clenched teeth, some anger still slipped by. "Though I can't blame 'em. White Fang's been souring the presence of faunus in general. But at the same time, the people of old have only themselves to blame."
In Josh's understanding, that being the basic rundown of what Jay explained, the White Fang became killers because of people being people again; hating on each other for dumb reasons. Only, unlike in the real world, the presence of these grimm monsters made it a touch more understandable. But after a thousand years, those old superstitions really shouldn't have held up to stuff.
But hey, if your grandpappy says not to trust a guy, then what's a little boy to do?
When they came upon a few non White Fang faunus in the streets, their apparent leader nearly clammed up. Grows came out, and for a second it seemed like he'd be ready to ignore the lot, until Officer Coal shouted "over here." Mister scowls bit his lip apparently, but nonetheless allowed it. At best, he briefly ordered everyone to huddle up as they moved.
Strangely, complaints towards the faunus outright vanished, as did a little tension in the dude's shoulders; although he probably could have used that attention when he got bashed aside by a massive ass scorpion tail.
The pincer tore up the ground below, and Josh had to assume the hunter caught sight of the oncoming attack at least a little before it struck, because that strike had been aimed to smite. It hadn't.
"Shit! Cardin!" Their secondary guide bolted for his buddy, who rose quickly and readied a somewhat fancy mace.
"Damnit…" Cardin's gaze shot to them, and he proceeded to slap his forehead. "Shit. The fear drew them in. Hey you!" His voice upped in volume, not to an extreme degree, but it flew far enough for Josh at least to catch without struggle. "Scatter behind cover!"
Josh blinked once before being yanked by Officer Coal, who immediately fell into the five second routine of relay and order, where he pointed to safer looking spots all around. Everyone split immediately; each shot off to their designated destination, which supposedly diced the fear enough that the grimm could focus on that Cardin dude, whose buddy backed up to try and take the backside.
"Back here again." Josh still had a few wise cracks - if they even counted - for being locked behind a tall slab of sidewalk upturned and flung from the scorpion's tail. At least it behaved right.
"You able to keep pulling off miracles?"
"What for?"
Officer Coal readied his pistol, but they both knew it wouldn't do good against anything other than the smallest of fries.
"Grimm almost never move alone, and if that big bastard found us-" Multiple howls cut into their conversation, which slapped an edge back over his tongue. "Then more are sure to come."
Josh once more debated firing, but held off. Slapping the grimm with this thing blew them up, and while it seemed that bullets may likely do the same coming from the same gun, he honestly didn't know if he could entirely trust it. A deep warmth clung to his hand as he held the weapon, one that had his skin crawling.
Had the weapon always radiated what he'd describe as deceitful comfort, or was it Remnant that corrupted the stolen killing instrument into something capable of banishing darkness? Heck, an evil slaying weapon should have been holy...
So why did his hands clamber under its weight?
Josh lifted Jay's pistol and breathed deeply. He cocked up a half-smirk, unsteady and obviously fake, as he flicked a quick nod over.
"It's worked up until now, hasn't it?"
"Yes. Let's keep it that way."
.
.
Alright asshole, come get me.
Weave to the side. Step back and slam. Once the pincer is pinched between cement just swing beside and hammer. Not enough to break the limb, but the screeching cry that whistled from the overgrown dune-runner proved satisfying. Cardin hadn't exactly faced down a Death Stalker in person, but the twerps' show during initiation gave him a good enough rundown of its habits and abilities.
When they couldn't burrow, be it due to hard soil or insufficient space, they liked to make use of their tail. And why wouldn't they? Any idiot knew that long ranged options were preferable to getting up close and personal. Too bad most grimm could shrug off far too many bullets, otherwise he'd have attached a gun to his weapon instead of rigging it to go boom.
The boom still paid its dues by cutting visible chunks into the black hide of his foe, and Cardin could easily retain his strategy of dodge, step, strike for as long as it took to down the prick. But luck never made things so simple, because the calls of more grimm told him they were in for, at least, a minor horde. Quickly he ordered Sky to shove off for the others. He could handle this alone.
"Brought some friends, have you?" No doubt more would come if the terror being dragged in by his little caravan didn't cease. "Were you feeling lonely, or are you just a coward?"
Cardin rolled under the snap of a claw. The wind from it brushed along the back of his neck which sent an exhilarating rush of excitement throughout his body. Unlike with people, he carried a strong appreciation for the grimm's simplicity. They didn't have extra quirks to improve their abilities that you couldn't already see, and nor did they maintain significantly altered instincts which they could barely keep under wraps. What you saw was what you got, and they all ran on the same hunger for fear.
More so, nobody would belittle you for pointing that out or distrusting them. Actually, killing grimm was the one thing everyone could agree on.
Step, swing, smash. Step, swing, smash. The pendulum of combat swung an even stride, its dips barely changed as the grimm followed through with their predictable line of action. No chatter; no counter strategies; simply basic thrusts when opportunity arose. But as it had many times before, Cardin's focus cracked under the bombardment of howls and growls and the flaps of wings above.
A flock of Nevermore and a few packs of Beowolves stormed the field.
Cardin kept his eyes on the Death Stalker. His boys knew how to handle the little guys, but he didn't wear the badge of leadership for nothing. Looking back on it, his position as head of a team had to be shared with the little girl who unknowingly helped him get his strategy down. Of course, she slaughtered a massive-ass Alpha Nevermore, so she had earned his respect.
Doubly so for wrangling in the cat pretending she was smart-shit with that stupid bow.
At the very least, Blake kept her predator instincts under wraps; anyone can tolerate her kitty tastes in cuisine, unlike Velvet whose lecherous eyes never stopped skittering around. He knew about rabbits, probably a little better than most - what with having a pet bunny as a kid. Little fuzz balls never left heat, and Velvet... At least she masked it with uncertainty and an ever skittery nervousness.
Once more, Cardin skipped to the side to dodge the tail. But instead of merely slamming the line with his mace, he gripped it under an arm. Though still solid, he'd battered the same spot enough that he could feel it give way as he brought forth his second to grip and pull. Under a shout of raw power, he tore off the stinger.
If that didn't inspire victory in those watching, even the fretful faunus, then he didn't know what would.
Still... a tiny part of him pitied them; they so badly wanted to be normal, but they couldn't - it was a simple fact. Velvet probably hated how horny she was, never able to look away from everyone around her. Heck, even his attempts to frighten her off of humans and men in general didn't do shit. No matter the extremity of his aggression or abuse, she simply took it.
He'd have called her a masochist, but her crying sung of anything but pleasure. He doubted she even could learn control, but at least he could continue to distract her from that side of herself, even if he had to keep making an animal of himself to do it.
Searing pain tore a blazing trail along his side, and Cardin winced. His aura tanked most of the hit, but it continued to take blows as the claw tightened around his torso. Losing focus to pity; what a way to go. His eyes moved, and he saw his boys handling the brunt of the outside assault. Pride welled up and spilled out onto his face in the form of a fair smile. They had this in the bag, and even the big boy clamping the life from him would fall with no issue under their combined work.
He could have called them to his aid, rescue himself, but Cardin refused.
A huntsmen's duty had forever been to die for others. Heroism and praise? Those were neat extras that made it more fun. Heck, if he had any regrets left to air as his aura shattered, it would be that he'd never gotten that official seal of approval.
Ah well, license or no, he'd still upheld his duty.
Ringing pounded into his ears. Dust filled his lungs. His ass hit the pavement hard enough to tell him he could keep breathing. Cardin, acting in a rush, stood and armed himself again. His head rolled. His aura would take some time to recover, but that hadn't factored in at the moment. He looked around, dazed. A glint of light drew his eyes over, to stare at a man standing tall amidst a backdrop of smoke; newly slain grim.
That civilian, the one with the cop, stared down the barrel of a pistol aimed right towards him.
Author's Note
…
Okay, so not exactly much for our heroes this time. Melanie got a little bit of screen time, and Tulip has shown up with the kids, but this time Josh got a good chunk of the action. We got a Cardin scene too. A bit of his perspective wouldn't hurt anyone, and it seems Ruby's actions had an effect on him.
That's all for now.