AN:
Hooo boy.
Here we go, folks.
Let's play.
Chapter 15
It took him another day to make it back to the Aviator, and he was approaching being exhausted. Aura could work wonders, but going nonstop for nearly three days without any sleep at all, and spending every waking moment on flying - which only grew more mentally strenuous as time went on - it took its toll. Upon returning, he found that the Legion had left it the morning he'd arrived, and had given him a location to meet them at. Another brief flight and he landed in the forests a few days west of Gurstheim, and it took him a few hours of stumbling around before he was able to locate the Legion of Doom. They hid themselves well, masking their tents underneath some tall, thick trees and keeping their campfire limited to burning coals, with low flames. Aldric was only able to get a good heading when he found an 'X' carved onto a tree, and started following those.
Cinder also decided to scare the living hell out of him, burying an arrow into a tree as he came close. She appeared as if from thin air with a thin smile on her face, and gave Aldric a few moments to get his heart rate back under control as he followed her to their campsite.
"Amber is a few hours away. I would recommend you rest." She said.
"What's the plan?" Aldric asked, as he set up his own tent.
"Emerald is waiting on the main road. She and Mercury will attack first, and will signal your arrival. They will retreat to rebuild their aura, and then rejoin you once they have. I will join you all to ensure I land the killing strike. You must ensure each of you are out of her line of site when I do... I must be the last thing she sees." She stressed, giving Aldric a fierce look.
The crash survivor nodded, humming in affirmation. "Any tips?"
"Don't die."
"You people are going to be the death of me." He returned, sliding into his tent, and falling to his back, losing the battle to sleep just a few seconds later.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, Aldric had been awakened, Cinder kicked at his feet, her face was set in a tight frown. He could tell time had passed, it was dark outside, and he was certainly more rested than he was earlier, but he also could have used a few more hours of sleep. Cinder, however, dispelled those notions quickly by shaking her head.
"Up." She said, tersely. "She's coming."
That woke the crash survivor up pretty quickly, and he followed Cinder, rushing through the woods at a frantic pace, before they came up to the edge of the trees. Beyond them was a wide, grassy clearing, which gave way to a dirt road flanked on both sides by wooden fence posts. Aldric saw Emerald standing in the center of the dirt road, and on the other side of the clearing, he could sense Mercury hiding in a tall tree.
He felt Cinder tap his arm, and she pointed to the west. Aldric followed her gesture, and saw a large, regal, white horse trotting down the dirt road, moving straight for Emerald. On this horse was a woman clad in light leather and thin metal armor and a thick, hooded cloak. The crash survivor frowned, as it dawned on him that this was really happening. The horse rider looked up to Emerald, and Aldric sensed her tilt her head to the side, as if in confusion. She guided the horse over to the side of the road and dismounted it, slowly, carefully approaching Cinder, but looking at the ground before her feet, instead of her face.
The brief exchange played out exactly as he expected it to. She got down on one knee and produced an apple from her cloak. He felt Cinder grasp at his bicep, and he gave her a sidewards glance.
"That apple..." Cinder whispered, so lightly that Aldric didn't even hear it. "It didn't exist, a moment ago."
Aldric was tempted to ask how she saw it, from their position more than a few dozen meters away, but he'd seen it. Aura pretty much was magic, it gave them vision comparable to eagles. "Magic." He rumbled, lightly.
"Indeed..." Cinder whispered, as Emerald prepared her weapons.
Amber, however, sensed something was wrong, her head snapping upwards. There was a moment's pause as Emerald feared her cover being blown, and these fears were founded when Amber launched herself backwards, the cloak flying away as she whipped out a staff, on each end being a different crystal of dust. Emerald charged, centering her revolvers on Amber and firing as rapidly as she could, but Amber threw her hand up and deflected each slug. When the bullets stopped coming, she whirled her staff around, spinning it so fast that it was a blur, with each revolution bringing forth a powerful gust of wind, with her acting as the eye of the hurricane she was generating. It twirled around and around, exchanged hands and revolved around her back before she shoved it forward, sending a hurricane-force gust of wind at Emerald, and causing her to fly backwards as it slammed into her.
"Wind..." He heard Cinder breathe. "Get ready."
Aldric slid his coat off as Mercury rushed in from Amber's side. The dark skinned girl's head whipped around to face him, and with the wind still whirling and raging around her, she thrust her staff upwards. It caught Mercury's double-leg kick and absorbed the blow, and she shoved forward, sending him flying off of her as if he'd been smacked by a wrecking ball. Without even looking, she sensed Emerald charging her from behind, and swung the staff around again, sending her away with another blast of wind, as Mercury landed on his feet, and blasted away with twin explosions.
Amber again spun around, this time thrusting the red crystal forward, and when it glowed to life, flames burst out of the staff and assaulted Mercury. The assassin's son curled up into a ball, hiding behind his cybernetic legs as he catapulted forward. He burst through the cone of fire and landed a powerful kick on Amber's chest, sending her stumbling backwards, for Emerald to bury her into the ground. The two retreated to recover, and Amber staggered to her feet, her entire body trembling, though in fear or anger, Aldric couldn't tell.
Suddenly he felt a wave of energy he'd never sensed before, and Amber thrust her hands to her hips, her teeth bared and a fiery aura surrounding both of her eyes, each taking the shape reminiscent of a butterfly. As Amber slowly began to levitate, Aldric witnessed Mercury and Emerald exchange glances, before they nodded. Emerald raised her revolver, but was pointing it at the trees.
His heart sank into his stomach when the bullet buried itself into the trees next to them, Mercury and Emerald retreated, and Cinder called out, "go!"
If ever, in his entire life, there was a time to not hold back, that time was right now. With the sound of dirt being blasted into the air, Aldric circled around the tree and hurled himself at the battlefield. Roaring loud enough to get Amber's attention on him and away from Emerald and Mercury, Aldric flew through the air so fast that he left contrails in his wake. He thrust his hand forward, and it was enveloped in a bright red white and blue disc. Amber sensed his approach and turned towards him, thrusting her hand forward; he felt powerful gusts of wind beating at him, trying to slow him down, but the brunt of it all was taken by the shield, and he, in response, sped up.
He tackled her in mid-air, ramming the broad side of the shield into her chest and sending them both careening back down to the grass. She landed with a grunt, but found herself pinned by his shield, as he straddled her stomach and raised his fist; and as he clenched it, he used his semblance to slide the sheet of paper with Qrow's message up and into his palm. Amber didn't notice, because the attack that followed was powerful enough to blast a boulder-sized crater into the ground below her head, and he saw her dark brown eyes, both enveloped in the fiery orange aura of the Fall Maiden, glaze over temporarily. Seeing his chance, Aldric siezed it and struck her again, before using his semblance to slide the small sheet of paper down her shirt. On the third meteoric strike, she suddenly regained her bearings, and her fiery brown eyes instantly locked onto his gunmetal gray orbs.
Oh shit. He grunted, knowing something big was about to hit him.
A moment later, through his radar pulse he sensed the clouds darkening and forming into tight masses above him, and when he sensed her fist clench, he used his semblance to wrench around his shield. The lightning bolt slammed into it with the sound of an electric guitar strumming its strings, sparks flew in all directions and he grunted with the effort as the lightning was rebounded. Amber took her chance and buried her fist into Aldric's chest. His barriers and armor blunted most of her attack but he was still sent flying back, and as she got to her feet like a vampire, he backflipped and dug his feet into the dirt, skidding to a halt.
Okay... That's one down. That's the easy part... Now how in the flaming fuck do I take out her eyes? He gasped, as Amber raised her hand toward him threateningly. He frowned, tilted his head to the side, and after a moment's pause, he, in response, spun around and threw his shield at her.
By the look on her face, she hadn't expected the attack, but she reacted quick enough, throwing her fist forward and slamming it into the edge of the shield. Her strength was enough to overcome even Aldric's natural strength and the extra force of his semblance, enough so that the shield bounced off of her knuckles, and flew straight back at Aldric with the same speed and force, as she lowered her stance to a defensive one. Aldric didn't even slow down as he charged Amber, instead he grunted and hopped into the air, round-housing the shield and sending it back at her. She lost their deadly game of ping-pong, unable to react fast enough to his counter and stumbling back when the shield slammed into her chest.
Aldric threw his right hand forward in a powerful superman punch, using his semblance to slide his shield back onto his arm, it clicking into place and then following his directions as he swung forward. His fist smashed into Amber's face, she grunted on impact and snapped downwards, sending her right into Aldric's left uppercut. She stumbled back, but blocked Aldric's next right cross, before she hopped up and kicked him in the chest. Aldric, however, deflected the attack with his semblance, causing her to fall to her knees, where her nose quickly met Aldric's knee. She recoiled from the attack, and used a powerful blast of wind to send Aldric skidding back again.
Fighting her like this, Aldric was starting to understand what Cinder here, and Qrow in canon, was saying about Amber being inexperienced. Anyone else he'd fought, by now they would have countered him four times and cracked a rib. She was a novice compared to them - likely having no combat experience beyond minor training in fighting and the usage of her powers. Now it made sense how the group had dominated her so easily in the show: She just wasn't used to fighting. This didn't, however, mean she couldn't fight, as evidenced when she got back to her feet.
Aldric felt the ground explode below his feet, and he was sent flying backwards - Amber was there, and she buried her heel into his back, slamming him into the ground. He, however, used his semblance to slide across the dirt and out from under her foot. He rolled onto his back and brought his shield around, blocking the next dropkick with the sound of metal striking metal. He grunted and used his semblance to shove upwards, stumbling Amber back and giving him enough time to spin to his feet.
Amber brought her hand up to block Aldric's shield bash, but Aldric let the shield vanish in a flash of multicolored embers. Not prepared for this, Amber couldn't act fast enough to block Aldric's follow up attacks, bashing her in the face with his fist. She blocked his follow up left cross, but found herself sent flying regardless as Aldric used his semblance to increase the force of the strike. Before she could recover, Aldric thrust his hand forward, and caught the Fall Maiden with his semblance, halting her in mid-air. He then wrenched his hand back and she came flying right back to him.
He caught her chest with his foot and noted the lack of cracking ribs. Amber chose this time to recover and locked her arms around Aldric's leg. Immediately he felt it heat up as her eyes flashed with a fiery aura, and instantly the warmth turned to blinding pain. Aldric cried out and tossed Amber from his leg, but she was back in front of him an instant later, her fist surging towards his chin. He dodged the attack with his semblance and backhanded her arm away, countering with a right cross, and spinning into an elbow. She caught his elbow and halted his circular momentum, but she needed both hands to do it. Aldric thought he would be able to reach around with his fist and hit her regardless, but instantly he felt electricity arcing through his body.
Fire, he could handle, but electricity, that was the dangerous, screw-with-your-heartbeat stuff, and with a grunt, Aldric blasted away, creating distance between the two, as his arm shook and twitched from the jolts running through it. His heart racing and his breath rapid, he clenched his fist tight and sprinted forward. Amber met his advance, he ducked under a sloppy swing and elbowed her in the stomach; she used her abilities to fight the recoil of his augmented strike but he still heard the muffled creaks of her ribs bending under his strength. He surged back upwards and uppercutted her jaw.
She recovered quickly, grabbing his wrist and wrenching it to the side. Aldric tried to catch her with his other hand, but she caught it too, and as he saw her eyes glow with energy, he knew what she was going to try. So, to avoid getting another painful electric shock, he threw his head forward. His forehead buried into her nose and he felt a crunch, she stumbled back, and he saw her clench her fist as she wiped her nose with the back of her arm.
His eyes widened and he thrust his shield up to his left as he sensed leaves and grass being torn from the ground in the clearing. They all froze solid and were instantly launched at him, but his shield ensured he took no damage. She, however, used this as a chance to charge him, throwing her foot forward in a front kick. Aldric thrust his free hand outwards, and his semblance caught her leg, it hovering just in front of his hand. She saw the fierce look in his gunmetal gray eyes, and her scowl faltered as she noticed her leaves were no longer flying at him, but were instead floating in mid air, twitching, as her abilities struggled against his.
What happened next, however, Aldric didn't expect. Before he could decide on his next move, her scowl returned and her aura grew in intensity, and a moment later the air between her foot and his hand exploded, sending them both flying backwards. However, he was caught by Mercury, and didn't fly nearly as far as she.
"Good job, big guy." He grunted, helping Aldric back to his feet. "You can stand up to a Maiden without any training."
"Shut the fuck up." Aldric sniped, as he noticed Emerald circling around the Maiden. "How do you want to play this?" He grunted, as the Maiden got to her feet, and his shield formed again around his hand.
"Em's going to flood her with false visions. You take her from the front, we'll get her sides." And as he spoke, Amber's head snapped around and she began responding to phantom attacks, bobbing and weaving, dodging punches and responding in kind. "We need to break her aura."
Aldric nodded, "hit her hard, hit her fast." He turned to the assassin's son. "You ready?"
He nodded, "come on!" And the two launched forward.
Aldric had to arc around a fireball launched out of Amber's palm, and when she saw that it apparently didn't strike a single one of her phantoms, she seemed to be aware on some level of what was happening, and with a cry of anger, swung her hand in a wide circle, sending a storm of harsh wind and fire arcing around her. Emerald had to drop the illusion to get away, and this gave Amber time enough to notice Aldric charging her from the front. With a harsh growl she blasted him with another fireball; he felt the heat beat at his body but he'd long since learned how to cool himself off, and the air went from scalding to chilly in a manner of seconds.
He rammed the broad side of the shield into Amber's crossed arms, and again it dissipated, where he smashed his fist into her head with a straight punch. She stumbled backwards, only for Mercury to reach her, drop to his hand and swing his legs around in a wide, circular arc. He kicked the back of Amber's knees and leapt to his feet as she fell. Aldric elbowed Amber, sending her listing to the side, where the other side of her head was roundhoused by Mercury. She stumbled back forward towards Aldric, who grabbed both sides of her head and smashed it into his knee. She tried to blast him again with fire as she listed back, but he crouched behind his shield and absorbed the blast, just as Mercury kicked her back and sent her face-first to the now scalding hot disk of solid light.
She called out in pain, Aldric heard her skin sizzle, but sensed her counter attack coming down from the sky. He looked up to Mercury, who frowned at the serious look on his face. "Move!" He shouted, before he launched himself backwards.
Mercury didn't hesitate to obey, and hardly a second later Emerald was surrounded by multiple bolts of lightning, the ground exploding from the impact as she fell forward to her hands and knees. As Aldric and the assassin's son recovered, Emerald came charging in, her sickles extended. Aldric watched as Emerald's blades violently rebounded off of Amber's shields, Amber rolled out of the way after the first attempted stab and used her powers to vault herself back into the air, but Emerald predicted this, and threw one of her weapons outwards. It extended far on its chain and hooked around Amber's leg, she was summarily yanked back down to the ground and slammed into it as if she were the weighted end of a ball and chain.
Aldric charged forward now, but Amber's aura only grew even more fiery, the air around them growing in temperature and rain beginning to fall. This rain, however, it wasn't soft warm droplets, but rather harsh flying shards of water, each impact felt like getting pelted with an ice cold pebble, Aldric felt bruises welling up and only seconds had passed. Amber's next attempt was to use the rainstorm to enhance her lightning attack, but Aldric predicted who her first target would be, and threw his shield with all his might.
It hurtled through the air, going from a horizontal spin to a vertical one, and taking a lightning blast full force, absorbing the attack that would have hit Emerald. The shield bounced back over to her as Aldric continued sprinting forward through the rain. She caught it deftly and whirled around, sending it right back to the fighter as he reached the Fall Maiden. Aldric caught the shield and leapt into the air, bringing it down hard as Amber got to her feet; instead of beating her right back down, however, she thrust her hand up and caught it bare-handed, stopping him in his tracks.
She then thrust her hand forward again and Aldric was blasted away by a powerful gust of wind. He felt sharp stabs of pain lance through his body as the harsh rain beat at his now open wounds. As he flew back through the air, Mercury sprinted in behind her, but she whirled around with an unnatural speed, Aldric's shield affixed to her arm. She used it to block Mercury's next kick, his metal foot striking it with the sound of a mallet hitting an anvil. Before she could follow it up, Mercury kicked off of it with two dual explosions, launching himself back. She watched him a moment before she felt Emerald yank at the chain still fastened around her feet.
She hit the ground with a huff, and saw Aldric flying right back towards her. She, however, brought up his shield to block his attack, but just like Yang Xiao Long before her, using his own weapons against him backfired instantly, as when his hand made contact with the solid light, it instantly vanished in a shower of fiery embers, and he kept forward. He smashed his fist into her stomach, burying the two of them into the ground and forming a crater, which quickly began to take on the water of the harsh and violent rainstorm raging around them. She tried grabbing at his hands and wrenching them around, but Aldric used his semblance to rip them out of her grip, and then he ground-pounded her face again and again, water spraying out with each attack.
It surprised him how durable she was, considering that, by this point in the show, she should have been down for the count. Regardless of his thoughts, she recovered and caught his hands again, but this time yanked backwards, burying her elbows into the ground and yanking Aldric forwards. She rammed his head onto hers, sending stars into Aldric's eyes and causing him to list to the side.
Aldric didn't even have time to curse before he was blasted away with a loud electric zap. He was buried into the side of their crater, he felt the side of his face burning and multiple jagged rocks poke, jab, and tear into his arms and legs. When he was able to open his eyes, he saw Amber's hand hoisted in front of her, pointing right at him, with a white-hot ball of fire swirling in it.
Oh shit. He scowled, thrusting a hand up and forming his shield. The fireball slammed into it a second later and he was sent flying, blasting up and out of the ground and spinning through the air. He felt ribs crack when he hit the ground, and sensed Mercury and Emerald rounding on Amber, both of them shooting at her with their respective weapons.
Amber's aura was still strong enough to deflect these projectiles without her even flinching. She slowly climbed into the air, hands held out to her sides in a messianic pose, as fire, electricity, the rain itself and powerful gusts of wind began swirling around her. Emerald and Mercury, both with their arms held up guarding their faces, exchanged worried glances as the Fall Maiden's power only grew.
Alright... Maaaaaybe... Aldric grunted, getting back to his feet, his entire body in pain. Maybe the reason they kicked her ass so fast is because they kept the momentum up. Weren't actually trying to fight her... Lest this shit happens. He wondered if there wasn't some kind of Avatar State kind of a thing going on right now, that the reason she was growing in power was because she was tapping into the memories of previous Fall Maidens. It'd explain the hell out of how Cinder mastered the powers so fast in canon.
So... Problem. He gasped, breathing heavily as he looked up at the Maiden, who was blasting at Emerald and Mercury with her powers, the two dodging for all their life as they waited for either an opening, or for Aldric to come up with a plan. She can just spam the shit out of her powers, and that doesn't affect her shields. Her shields are also wicked stupid fucking powerful. Solution? He watched her continue zapping the ground, Emerald and Mercury continued leaping away. Well... If this is Avatar... How'd they kill Aang? He looked up at the sky, at the multitude of lightning bolts the Maiden was forming, watching them briefly arc in and out of the clouds, like fish hopping above the surface of the water before diving back down. Solution? He used his radar sense, feeling for the lightning as it flowed through the clouds and crashed down to the ground, trying to burn what all of those electrons zapping around felt like. Solution. He frowned, and his shield vanished from around his hand.
The question now, was was he Azula, or Cole MacGrath? Regardless of the answer, both Emerald and Mercury were having to retreat further and further away - he and they could sense their aura growing dangerously close to zero. This was his fight, now. "Maximum..." He growled, slowly raising both of his hands, reaching out with his semblance, feeling for Amber's powerful, energetic lightning strikes, sensing every budding bolt in the clouds above them as if they were running across his fingers, and he himself were in the storm.
Amber seemed to realize something else was in her storm, she somehow seemed to sense Aldric's presence and his feeling around, briefly pressing against the lightning bolts she created. Her bright, fiery eyes turned to him as she whirled around, and then shot up as she saw him grabbing at the lightning with his semblance and guiding it towards her, its previously golden hue turning a bright energetic blue, as his influence won out over hers. It began to build and grow like a fire, more and more bolts created by her storm, the electrons grabbed by his semblance, stolen from her control, and then sent towards his growing lightning storm right above her head. Her eyes dropped back down to him, wide with fear as she saw his own eyes, but instead of two gunmetal gray eyes, she saw two deep, dark onyx orbs staring back at her.
"EFFORT!" He roared out, dropping both of his arms to his hips, and baring both of his teeth.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment, the rain seemed to stop and the wind ceased its howling. After this moment, everything came snapping back to reality and the multiple bolts of lightning, made by the Fall Maiden and stolen by the man from another world, came crashing right back down on top of her. She threw both of her hands up and tried to abate the attack, but Emerald and Mercury laid on the heat, forcing her to divide her attention one too many ways to effectively halt Aldric's attack.
With loud zaps and thunderclaps, the lightning bolts slammed into Amber's barriers and beat at them with reckless abandon. Aldric roared out with effort as Amber screamed in fear, being pushed back towards the ground as the lightning bolts tore at the swirling vortex of a barrier she'd summoned around herself. More lightning bolts slammed into her barriers and sent her plummeting to the ground, and after a few seconds, Aldric sensed that the barriers she'd created shattered, and she soon was hit with the full force of the very storm she'd summoned as a weapon against them.
He couldn't help a wide, savage grin growing across his face as he won out over a god, but this grin was wiped away when the flow of lightning ceased, having been cut off by the Fall Maiden's command. As the onyx color faded away like oil being drained away, he cast his eyes up to the dark sky above, and then back down to Amber, as she hauled herself to her feet. Aldric saw she wasn't done fighting him, he could see it in her eyes. She thrust a hand forward and out blasted a fireball, Aldric ducked down and summoned his shield, taking the hit and stumbling back as he sensed Mercury and Emerald regrouping, their aura so low that they could only watch.
And here I thought I was the fucking weak one... Aldric growled, as he peeked over the edge of the shield.
He saw Amber raising one hand behind her head, and the other in front of her, and then saw lightning once again gathering in the clouds. He frowned, bit back a curse and again ducked behind the shield as he realized what she was doing. A second later the lightning surged downwards, arcing from her upper hand, down her body, and to the outstretched limb. Aldric couldn't trust himself to replicate his last party trick, not without the others distracting her, and instead had to trust his shield.
Turnabout was fair play, he noted ironically, before he was blasted full force by a constant stream of lightning, but his shield did its job, absorbing most of the force and allowing him to struggle against the raging lightning, advancing on the Fall Maiden, whose scowl faltered as she saw him moving forward, taking many multiple times what he had given her, without even flinching.
So she added wind to her attack, and this managed to stall Aldric's advance, his hair and his baggy pants billowing against the raging winds. It was as if he had his hands against the hood of a car, and the driver was flooring it, and he was trying to push against its forward acceleration. His every movement was resisted against with an equal and nearly greater intensity, as if the very earth itself didn't want him to breathe, let alone take another arduous step forward. His muscles burned and his lungs screamed for as much oxygen as he could give them, everything he had - all of his power and all of his strength - was being put to him bodily struggling against the might of what was, by rights, a goddess.
And he, a mere, mortal man, was winning. Every step he took was only more proof of this.
He felt dust and dirt adding to the assault on his shield, no doubt picked up by Amber's raging winds. Some of this dirt made it around his shield and hit his arms, moving so fast that they tore small cuts in his skin, but any blood that welled up was instantly sent flying away by the raging winds. Despite this onslaught, however, he still had enough strength in his body to exceed her will and force his way forward, one step at a time, both hands braced against his shield and holding it up in front of him.
He sensed Amber's scowl slowly fall to a look of shock, and on the outskirts of the battle, sensed Mercury turning to Emerald, exchanging words with her that, due to the distance and the sheer noise of what the Fall Maiden was throwing at him, he couldn't have even tried to hear. He continued to struggle against this onslaught, until Amber, in response to his ceaseless advance, added fire to her attacks. The full might of her attacks halted his advance as he was mere feet away from her, slamming into his shield and being reflected outwards in a brilliant, fiery display, almost appearing as a star radiating light. His shield still protected him from the physical force of everything beating on it, but he didn't have enough strength in his legs to keep struggling forward, and it took all he had to stay rooted in the ground, such that he didn't start sliding backwards.
But what he found important in all this, the most important fact, was that she wasn't moving either. They were in a stalemate. They were in a stalemate, and he wasn't even using his semblance. He was just Captain America-ing this. It made him smile. A moment after he cracked a grin, he found himself laughing, the barking, hoarse sounds of his voice picked up on the howling wind and made its way over to Amber's ears, and he sensed her determined expression falter as his laughter grew maniacal, and lifted his wide, wild eyes to meet the slowly growing expression of terror on the Fall Maiden's.
"I'm not even left handed!" He roared, before he shoved forward with his semblance.
With a mighty push from his semblance, he crossed the final few feet between him and the maiden, and his shield touched her outstretched hand. With the sound of a loud and deafening bell toll, the two detonated. The resultant explosion was massive, the trees at the distant edges of the clearing were flattened to the ground. The shockwave, as it surged outwards, picked up all of the rain droplets, creating a rapidly expanding dome of water, until it hit the clouds above. The clouds then parted under the biblical strength of the expanding shockwave, and soon following that the storm she'd summoned died. When the shockwave lost its strength, all of the water in the sky fell in one huge splash, soaking everything that wasn't already, and washing away loads of dirt and debris, kicked loose by the explosion.
As the dust cleared and the water settled, leaving cool air in its wake, both Aldric and the Maiden were revealed still standing. They each stood less than a foot from eachother, the latter's aura flickered violently before it fizzled out, and both of the former's arms hung limply. Both of them breathed heavily, and stared at eachother, Aldric with determination, Amber with fear tinged with anger. She swallowed thickly through her dry throat, but they both could hardly move. At least, until Aldric sensed Cinder approaching, sprinting towards them. Amber sensed it too, and she gathered her strength to continue fighting, but Aldric wouldn't have it. It was now or never.
Aldric lunged forward with a mighty cry, throwing a wide right, which Amber palmed away and countered with a punch to his chest. As Cinder picked up speed and grew closer, Aldric threw his head forward and rammed it into Amber's, stumbling her back. Now with space between them, Aldric reared his fist and three long blades of solid light sprouted out of his fist. He roared and charged forward, but Amber met his fist with her palm - the Maiden using her powers to catch Aldric's fist on a barrier that was separate entirely to her flickering aura. Aldric was stopped cold in his advance, a light gust of wind blasting forward like a slipstream. Aldric clenched his free hand for a follow up attack, but as he swung it around, he sensed something.
Right there, on the edge of his radar, sprinting in as fast as a speeding freight train, was a new, startlingly familiar face. It wasn't Cinder, and it wasn't Mercury or Emerald, but someone perhaps more terrifying than all three, by the simple virtue of the fact that he, unlike they, was fresh faced and full of aura.
Worse, was that Qrow Branwen came in so startlingly fast that Aldric hardly had the time to react to him. Worse than that, was that the luck that had saved his life so often in the past, chose now to run out. What happened next, he saw in slow motion. Aldric raised his arm, a shield forming around it, to defend against Qrow's sudden appearance and likely opening attack, but this distraction gave Amber the chance she needed to make an attack of her own. She splayed the fingers of her free hand outwards, and small, thin streaks of electricity arced around them. With Aldric's right hand still held in her unyielding grip, and his left raising his shield to defend against Qrow, that meant he was completely open to attack, and she took advantage of this.
In a split second, she violently latched her hand onto his face, and all of the electricity she'd gathered onto it immediately jumped to him. Though it was dulled from the blow to the head, he still felt all of the lightning jumping to his soaked skin - and being directed straight for his eyes. Aldric screamed in pain as his body convulsed and he felt his eyes burn.
Then Qrow entered the equation. Qrow reached him before he could have his shield fully braced, and with Amber wrecking any remote reflection of concentration he had, Qrow had a golden opportunity to take him out. Qrow had his scythe hooked around Aldric's shield in an instant. He jerked forward, ripping Aldric from his feet, and his head from Amber's hands, as the scythe collapsed and flattened into a sword shape. The world seemed to grow completely still as it darkened, and Aldric was unable to do anything but wait for Qrow to slam his palm into Aldric's chest and arrest his momentum. As Aldric's arm swung out, Qrow swung upwards, and for all of Aldric's defenses, Qrow's sheer speed and the damage done by Amber overtook them. Aldric couldn't block what came next, he couldn't deflect it, and he couldn't avoid it.
When he hit the ground, he hit it in two pieces, his left arm several feet away, and the stump still attached to his body instantly spewing blood. Aldric felt numb as he rolled to his less injured side, the air caught in his chest and his face and eyes burning from Amber's attack. There were harsh, jagged, red burns around his eyes, both of which appeared to have sudden and harsh cataracts. The gray, cloudy film appeared to merge his irides and pupils into one mass; he couldn't see out of them at all.
Blinded and disarmed, Aldric was so out of it that he even let his radar pulse fall to pieces, and as a result he didn't even sense Qrow bringing up the blade, intent upon driving it through his back. Before he could, however, Cinder arrived, quickly followed by Mercury and Emerald. The latter two blasted the Huntsman away with a dual attack, whilst the former caught the Maiden with an arrow to the shoulder, forcing her to retreat, leaving Aldric by himself.
Oooh... Bleeding too much! Aldric coughed, his left arm - or lack thereof - and his charred eyes causing such a pain that it took all of his strength not to break down and scream. Eyes...Can't see! Fuck! Fuck fuck! Need - see! He clenched his jaw and scowled deeply, his entire world as dark as a starless night sky. Radar! Radar pulse! Focus!
He growled through clenched teeth, spittle flying out as he gasped and wheezed in pain. It took longer than he would have liked, but his struggle bore fruit when he finally felt his aura again, buried underneath the mountains of pain welling up in his arm and his eyes, and a moment later, his radar pulse returned, granting him some functional form of vision. He couldn't see color and, because of all of the pain he was feeling, he couldn't see the finer details of the world either, it all looking like smooth clay sculptures, or cel-shaded CGI. He couldn't bring up the energy to care, however, as at least now he wasn't fully blind.
Arm bleeding... Stop need to bleeding... Heat - eyes - cauterize! He swallowed through a dry and hoarse throat, and leaned on his good elbow, pressing his single remaining hand and planted on the ground. He commanded the Power Glove to replicate until he had a disc-shaped object in the dirt, which he picked up and pressed to his bloody stump, it flaring up in a sharp, stinging pain as he pressed the goop into it. Light... Sun, hot, fuck fuck fuck!
As a battle raged around him, he shut his destroyed eyes tight, though it hardly made a difference in the amount of light that got in, and let out a long, pained groan. "Oh... God..." This was going to fucking hurt.
Three deep breaths were the only delay he gave himself before he used his semblance to crank up the heat, almost exactly as he'd learned he could do with silverware on the Aviator. In seconds the nanites in his meaty, bloody stump went from a dull gray to a bright, white hot, and his stump began smoldering and hissing loudly, as he charred and cauterized it; it immediately began swelling. He screamed out in pain as, on the edge of his dulled, pained, and blinded senses, he sensed Qrow trying like mad to get back to Amber, but Mercury and Emerald were both attacking him with all of their remaining might, the former keeping him on the defensive and the latter flooding his senses with phantoms. Aldric's voice shook and quivered with pain as he cauterized his wound - even Cubone's vicious, scarring attacks on his chest had paled in comparison to this burning pain.
"GAAAAAH FUUUUUUUUCK!" He screamed.
New solution - new answer - uh problem time now! He gasped. Oh... I'm... God Jesus Shit Fuck... I'm blind... I'm blind, fuck! He raised his head, hair plastered to his sweat-slick forehead, pointedly not focusing his radar on his stump, thinking about anything but whether or not his aura could heal his eyes, and absolutely refusing to think on the fact that his hand got stuck to the burned flesh and he had to tear it off with a light shluck. Qrow's cold - now, god, fuck... now. Not good, not -. Some part of him was certain that his lack of coherent thought was a very bad sign, but he was too busy trying to do anything that would even remotely resemble coming up with a battle plan for how royally fucked this situation had gotten. He had lost his eyes and an arm, and it was at this point only through sheer force of will that he hadn't lost consciousness.
Emerald she smart, masking our she god uh- faces! To him, masking, ow. Not problem, no. Problem... He grunted, breathing heavily through tightly clenched teeth as he hauled himself to his feet. The pain of effort made his radar pulse turn fuzzy, everything going from clay sculptures to badly cel-shaded CGI. It took all of his strength to get back to his feet, and even then he listed from side to side, and nearly stumbled back to his knees. He had to stand there for several seconds, just breathing, before he could get some kind of focus back in his radar pulse and see things somewhat clearly again.
Qrow hold no - not hold rear - back! Not holding back! God this is fucking cold - painful! Hurts! Cold? What the fuck? He shook his head, trying to clear it of the haze of pain. Cinder... Cinder's trying to kill Amber. Actively, oh... God damn it, should have coming seen... Think, think think think. Complex, get back. Need mind. Body shot. Shot? Working? Not? Fuck! Gonna die! He felt a great pain shoot into his eyes, forcing him to fall to his knees and bury his head in his hand with a loud bark of pain. A few seconds passed, and as he caught his breath, he felt the pain slowly flood out of his body, allowing him to let out all of the air in his lungs in one great gasp, and his brain to no longer be hazed by pain.
Adrenaline must be kicking in... Thank god. How - how do I single handedly beat back Qrow, gouge Amber's eyes out, and give Cinder enough time to do that transfer thing? A pause, his entire body shook and convulsed from pain, as he shakily swiped his hand through his sweaty hair and got it out of his face. Or... Do I even want to let her do it, now that Qrow's here, and such a set back could easily be set up, and not get tied to me? Without thinking, he reached up and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand.
Eyes... Shit. But even as he thought this, he felt the pain slowly fade away from behind his eyes. His hand came away wet and covered in a thick, warm, and viscuous liquid. Not good. I'm fucking blind! Fuck! He coughed again, though now, as his body dumped all of its available adrenaline into his blood, the pain began to slowly melt away. Still present, but not nearly as crippling as it had been moments ago.
Alright... He grunted, clenching his remaining fist tightly as he straightened his back, sweat pouring off of his body and blood slowly seeping out of his cauterized wounds. Let's prioritize... He thought, feeling his brain come back under his control.
Priority one: Keeping up his act. He had to keep the Legion thinking he was on their side, so that meant attacking Amber. Emerald and Mercury were taking hits, but they were each giving just as good as they got, and Mercury was here in his element: There was no rule against killing Qrow, and as such the assassin's son could do what he did best, and be an assassin. That led to priority two: Keep Qrow alive. Whether or not Amber survived, if Qrow died, he would have no standing with the League, whatsoever, and his goals would be all the harder to carry out. Priority three was of a similar vein: Ensuring Amber didn't die. This was a victory he was, given the current circumstances, willing to not gain, but if at all possible, he didn't want to let Cinder become a goddess. He was honestly afraid of what that would do. What all this meant, was that he had to join the fight again, and his plan thusly became simple: Blind Amber, convince Emerald to go to Plan B, keep Qrow at bay - probably with the rest of the Legion's help - until he could hopefully sever the connection as he did in the show.
Problem: He wasn't dumb. He knew he was far beyond actually going in and fighting now. Any other injury, and he may have been willing to try and go in, but down an arm? He wasn't Piccolo, he couldn't regrow his arm, and he wasn't Raiden, he couldn't fight on without said arm. Worse was that his arm wasn't all he'd lost - both of his eyes were burned out and he could see absolutely nothing. His world was visions from the radar pulse, sound, and touch, now, and he couldn't focus enough to figure out if his eyes were really destroyed, or just really badly damaged. So, in short, going in hot and trying to fight either of those two hand to hand wasn't just a piss poor idea, it was a suicidal one. Fortunately though, while not this exact situation, he had planned for something generally resembling him either being unable or unwilling to get in close. This, however, arose a second problem: He was in so much pain that his control would be shot, he couldn't do anything fancy.
But where quality suffers... Thought Aldric, his senses focusing on, and his head turning in the direction of, his severed arm, upon which the red white and blue disc still stood affixed. Quantity can make up.
How would he blind Amber, and get Qrow to decide to beat feet instead of standing and fighting?
He'd just have to throw everything at them.
With a pained grunt, and another sharp lance of pain jumping through his bloody, burned stump, Aldric thrust his hand forward and, when he felt his semblance drag against his severed arm, clenched his fist, and then yanked backwards. As his severed arm flew back at him as if it had been catapulted, Qrow continued trying like mad to get through Emerald and Mercury; but while they were taking hits, including Mercury sporting a terrible gash on the right side of his chest that bled through his armor, they were still keeping back the Huntsman, while Cinder engaged Amber. Aldric could sense that Amber was faltering more and more with every strike she took, she too was sporting injuries, and if the look on her face was any indication, was becoming more and more aware of her mortality when compared against Cinder's less taxed stamina and aura. Even though the hazy radar pulse, Aldric could see that she wore a look of terror as she leapt out of the way of an explosive fire bolt, an arrow lodged in her hip and one of her shoulders, both leaking blood around the shaft.
Aldric didn't have much time. Cinder wore a look of pride and a wide smirk, she was going to go for the kill any second now, and the moment that happened, Qrow was dead. So when Aldric's severed arm reached him, his shield dissipated and he used his semblance to pull the Power Glove off of the severed extremity. He collected it into a viscous orb that hovered over his still functioning hand. With a single thought, he made the command for the nanites to begin self replicating, and immediately the orb floating over his palm began pulsating, growing slowly - no doubt eating the small particulates of dust and debris in the air being thrown around by the battle.
He would only get one shot. He was so injured that this was all he could do, all he could try. After this, he couldn't fight anymore. If he missed, Cinder would become a goddess. He had to pull out all the stops - all of his strength and power. It could knock him out cold, but he just needed it to work, not work well. Aldric closed his burned eyes, squaring his shoulders and bracing his feet out to the sides, as he took in a long, deep breath to steady his rapidly beating heart. He let the breath out, and felt the world slow down, his adrenaline spiking and turning his reflexes into overdrive. Another breath in, and he became deaf to the explosions and gunshots around him. Though he was still blind, his eyes snapped open, and the gray, cloudy film that covered them melting away, appearing as if having been injected with black oil. Two wide, raging onyx orbs locked onto Qrow first, before snapping to Amber and Cinder, the latter of whom he sensed was on the retreat, dodging a volley of lightning from the wounded and ailing Maiden.
One shot. His red, sweaty face settled into a fierce frown.
With a loud battle cry, Aldric launched himself forward. The ground exploded beneath him and the air was filled with a thunderclap as he broke the sound barrier. He crossed the battlefield in an instant, soaring over Mercury and reaching Qrow. The Huntsman, befitting of his natural speed, was able to see him coming, but he misunderstood Aldric's intention, thinking him to be on the attack, and not trying to set up the battle to end as fast as possible. Thus, when he threw up his scythe in a defensive manner, Aldric merely cracked a grin, and thrust his arm forward. The Power Glove popped like a balloon and quickly enveloped the scythe's blade in the pulsating mass of self replicating nanites, instantly becoming deformed as they began consuming it.
Aldric continued on straight past Qrow, completely failing his initial idea of turning directions on a dime and burning for Amber and Cinder. Instead he slammed into the ground, tearing a large divot out of the dirt road, some of the debris making it in between his armor plates and opening up all manner of wounds on his chest. He bounced once, but used his semblance to recover, skidding to a halt by driving his hand into the ground. He spun around to face Amber, as Qrow was engaged by Emerald and Mercury as one, and with his weapon rapidly losing its primary function, he was instantly on the defensive, cursing loudly.
With another scowl, Aldric blasted forward again, this time with his hand reared, three long, gray blades of hardlight stretching out from in between his knuckles. As he flew towards her, Cinder sensed his approach and dodged out of the way, but her eyes grew wide when she saw what she thought was a rabid look in Aldric's bared, bloody teeth, his discolored, grievously burned eyes, and the metallic sheen of the solid light blades on his one functioning limb. She instantly concluded that Aldric wasn't in his right mind, and knew that if she didn't act, he may be the one to kill Amber, thus ruining her plans. So in a battle of her speed versus his semblance, she thrust her hand forward, a small ball of fire forming in it, as he reached Amber and swung his arm around in a wide arc.
The world seemed to slow down as the fireball left her hands, and Aldric's claws grew closer to Amber's face. All at once, the bolt of fire hit Aldric's right side, he was knocked off course, and Amber leaned backwards in an attempt to dodge his attack. The result of this was a combination of bad luck and horrible timing: instead of burying into Amber's eye sockets and stopping before her brain, the claws were dragged across her face, from side to side.
In slow motion, Aldric watched with his radar pulse as he carved three long, bloody gashes from one side of her face, to her first eye, over her nose, and to the other side, before they reached the second eye. In a display he already knew he would never forget, he saw both of her eyes split open, and begin freely leaking blood and vitreous humor. He completed the swing with a wide, spraying arc of blood, and Amber stumbled back, the scream that came out of her throat was unlike any he'd ever heard, an equal mixture of abject terror, incomparable pain, and the fear of imminent death, as she pressed her hands against her freely bleeding face, trying desperately to staunch the flow, as if that would magically repair her eyes.
The entire battle seemed to screech to a halt at the sound of Amber's shrieks of incomparable terror. Aldric hit the ground with a pained grunt and felt his senses again grow so fuzzy that all he could 'see' was fuzzy masses, like clay blobs being looked at through a low-quality camera. He gasped in pain as he felt his stump flare up, he was barely able to keep from losing consciousness, desperately rolling around on the ground to put out the fires Cinder had shot him with. He sensed Qrow's head instantly revolve around to face Amber even as his scythe disintegrated in his hands. His eyes opened wide when he saw her stumbling to the ground, desperately pressing against her freely, copiously bleeding face. Even Mercury and Emerald paused briefly to take in the image, before they exchanged glances, and pushed back against Qrow, forcing him back, dodging the gunfire from the only still functioning part of his weapon.
Cinder, however, was only barely able to contain her unbound fury, as her bright orange eyes went wide, instantly locking onto the screaming Fall Maiden. She didn't call out in a big 'no!', but with her body language, she may as well have. She sprinted over to the maiden as Aldric labored to his hand and knees, listing from side to side, his entire body feeling like it was an enormous, throbbing bruise.
What was the next part of my... Master plan, again? He asked himself, breathing so fast that his head began to feel fuzzy. "Oh..." He grunted, feeling out with his radar pulse, trying to clear it up so things were less grainy. Cinder was above Amber, the two of them mere inches from the side of the massive crater that had been formed earlier in the fight, the bug already squirming in the Maiden-to-be's hand, Amber in too much pain, and without functioning eyes, to even notice. Qrow was - Oh shit.
He'd fucked up.
Aldric had fucked up.
Qrow was alive, he had at least that much, but there was a sickle in between his shoulder blades, so while he yet lived, the same couldn't be completely said for the other two. Mercury had absorbed a monstrous gunshot to his legs to open up Emerald to shatter Qrow's aura. Now the assassin's son was on the ground, one leg blown apart and heavily bleeding from the knee down, the other sending out sparks of electricity every few moments. He was trying to get to his feet, crawling towards what looked like Emerald's other pistol, which sat feet from its owner.
Who lay on the ground in front of the kneeling Huntsman, her eyes glossed over, a trickle of blood leaking out of her mouth, her body completely limp, and bleeding copiously from a fist-sized hole in her chest.
Unfortunately, while Qrow now effectively had won his battle, the knife in his back wasn't his only injury, and all added together made him briefly fall to a knee, gasping for breath. As the huntsman took a second too long to recover from his injury, Aldric could sense more and more energy draining out of Amber and being poured into Cinder; and as Aldric felt his heart sinking to his chest, and his head growing even lighter from the pain and the bloodloss, he could only beg of himself: What could he do now?
Then, in a blink-and-you-miss it moment, the craterside collapsed, and Cinder slid downwards, her victorious smirk turning to an expression of shock as her feet were torn from underneath her by a rockslide. The oily black mass that connected her to the maiden stretched taut like rubber, and Amber herself was dragged by the head to the side of the crater, screaming allthewhile, as now the pain on her face was joined by rough treatment of her neck.
Aldric vomited when, through the radar pulse, he saw her actually open her destroyed eyes as she was dragged across the ground. Her eyeballs were partially sunken and pale, the color having been drained from them just as the blood had been. They still freely leaked blood, jelly and tears, and gave her a nearly ghastly appearance. She, appropriately, looked as if her eyes had been gouged out, and now her face was completely covered in blood from the eyebrows down. Seeing this, and after voiding his stomach, Aldric collapsed from a combination of pain, exhaustion, and blood loss. He could feel that he was rapidly losing the battle to stay conscious. He sensed Qrow recovering, his eyes snapping over to Amber and the black mass connecting her to Cinder, before shooting down to all that remained of his scythe: The haft.
With a scowl, Qrow darted forward, tossing the haft up into the air and gripping it like a spear, before he heaved it forward. The front edge of the haft, squirming with Aldric's nanites, hit the connective tissue between Cinder and Amber, landing inches away from the ghastly face of the natural Fall Maiden. As Cinder climbed back over the craterside, the nanites, alongside the jagged edge of the haft, ate through the tissue and severed the connection. Qrow then scooped Amber up off of the ground, grunting as he stretched his injured back muscles, but nevertheless continuing on, not even breaking stride or recovering his destroyed weapon as he charged away.
Cinder scrambled to her feet and, with a livid expression, fired after him, one of her eyes aglow with the fiery aura of her newfound powers. She launched fire bolts and several arrows after the Huntsman, even detonating the ground beneath his feet, trying less to kill him than she was trying to finish off Amber through blast damage, but the Huntsman dodged what he could, and took the brunt of what he couldn't, before he vanished into the woods to the south. None of the people present in the Legion of Doom even remotely capable of chasing after him.
The battle now over, Aldric felt everything drain out of his body. All of the energy and tension, all of the adrenaline, even the painful pressure in his eyes flooded out of him, and he collapsed into an unconscious heap.