Watching as Diamond hooked the truck up to the Unsubtle, Oswald wondered how much worse things could get. Of course things could get worse. They could get attacked right here, hooking things up. They could be betrayed and forced to kill the rest of the survivors, though he doubted that would happen after the slaughter they'd just experienced. When the guard came over and asked for help, Oswald was taken aback by Diamond's reaction.
"If you think staying here's a death wish, go and call for back up. We're authorized to get staff or a senior team for assistance, so do it. Our mission was to come here, stay the night and help the defenses, then go home. I intend to follow that mission. Besides, Marcus said to defend the camp. Those are our orders." Putting his hand on Diamond's shoulder, he looked at the guard. "Get back to the camp. I'll be along to help in a moment."
Diamond was going too far. Whatever she had going on her head was near paranoia levels of suspicion. Yes, things didn't add up here. For now, though, it was better to find out what was going on rather than throw around baseless accusations. "I'm going to help them defend the camp. Do what you will." Turning his back to his teammates, Oswald made his way over to the camp, getting in position near the mine entrance.
"Someone get me a gun and some ammo. I have a feeling my sword might not be the best thing for right now."
Growling at Oswald's [i[lack[/i] of paranoia, she let the guard go at the touch on her shoulder. She had half a mind to go out on Oswald too, but there was something else she learned. Even if it's a bad thing to do, it was more likely to succeed if everyone did it, rather than if they split up. She sighed in defeat.
"If this is a set up and we all die horribly, I'm haunting your ass. Anyway, AMrcus is the only one who can catch up to Rice and the second truck and he has a radio to call backup. He should go do that, and we have to try and hold down the fort until hopefully some backup arrives." she said, breaking the lock on the truck with a shadow crowbar and emerging with a few capsules of the ice dust that were inside. "That oughta help. fighting's your part, just tell me where you want me."
Giving Diamond a blank stare as she approached, he nodded. This was their job, like it or not, and he was glad that she was willing to defer to the description of the mission, even if everything had gone to hell. "Just stay by me. I'm assuming there will be more bugs in that damned mine. I'd recommend grabbing a rifle, because getting close is a good way to dig yourself an early grave, and I'd rather not have to bury anybody else just yet."
Turned towards the mine, Oswald watched the entrance carefully. "Guards, I need a brief on the situation at hand. What the hell is down there, and do you have suggestions on how to kill it?"
The messenger was rightly afraid of Diamond, and without a weapon he really didn't want to get on her bad side. Fortunately Oswald seemed like he cared enough to help, so he led the two back to the camp where he took them to the senior officer, the same guy who spoke to them before. The young man brief him about Diamond's and Oswald responds. This earned them a angry look from the officer.
"Are you daft or something? Of course we're with the Schnee Company! If we weren't I wouldn't give two damns about this place and would have left the moment we set up camp here! And like I'd know what they need dust for. I'm just a guardsmen, foreman died a few days ago. And it doesn't help that we've been stuck on radio silence for the past two weeks, so it's not like we could have asked them to bring reinforcements!"
Handing the young man his rifle the senior officer looked towards the mine entrance. He beckoned his hand around the camp, where there were still bodies laid about and fires burning.
"The brief is that these Faunus tried to pull a coup a few weeks back using those bugs. We used to have 50 guardsmen, but we were stuck having to coral 500 Faunus, and things went strait to hell once we started getting attacked by bugs. I'm suspecting White Fang involvement, cause it's always the White Fang when these animals act up. And we can't get far from the camp without getting eaten alive by those bugs either. Saw that explosion and let me tell you, that ain't enough. At best we got an hour before a new swarm shows up, and this time we don't have an electric fence to protect ourselves, no thanks to you."
The officer pointed over towards the now destroyed generator off in the distance. He let out a deep sigh and pulled out a partially used cigar, lighting it with a match. He gave it a few buffs before his smoke joined the rest of the smog in the air.
"I'm pretty sure someone in that mine is using their semblance or whatever to control those bugs. It's the only explanation why they've been attacking us with tactical precision. I'd have my men go and gun them all down, but this is the first time in the last two-weeks that we've been able to step foot outside out bunkers, whereas those Faunas largely had free-reign of the camp. I don't know what's down those mines, but I'm sure those monsters are ready for us, and we barely have enough ammo to use on them. So no, I can't give you a gun either. Or rather, feel free to pick one off the ground, cause there ain't enough bullets to pass around. As for taking them all out, if you can get one of those trucks here soon I'm sure we can rig the dust to collapse the mine. Assuming that the White Fang don't come later to dig them all out, that'll at least solve one of our problems."
Marcus Goldstein - Convoy Escort (This post will be revised tomorrow as it is the start of a collab work)
“Diamond? When did- never mind.” Marcus responded quickly. With the jammer still on his vision was reduced to two pinholes and a couple of slits. He simply missed her get close enough.
“I didn't see you. I, uhm-” he trailed off as Diamond already went ahead by herself. Sun damn it if she just let him explain! Where was Oswald then, was he nearby too? Also what to do about the out of control fire? It spread merrily in the few seconds that Marcus' attention was elsewhere. Fuckshit how was he supposed to know that the bugs wanted the fire to spread? He should have let rip with HE instead. No, before that, he should have checked his targets first before attacking. Sun damn it all to hell the collumn the team encountered on the way here should have been a much bigger warning sign. This just wasn't fair, a simple mission like this should have been easier. He should have had better intelligence and an enemy not seemingly designed to perfectly counter his single biggest strength. It was not fair. It was not fair at all. Out through a vsion slit Marcus barely managed to catch the tail end of Oswald doing something to the flames up in front.
“”Oswald what is- I dont'-” he managed to utter. Then he heard what his teammate said. For a brief moment Marcus wanted to protest. What was MODA up to?
Then he realised that it was not Oswald, or Diamon, or Aurellius that was the problem. Words died in Marcus' throat. Combat stress, he realised in a flash. An emergency brake kicked in and his train of thought screeched to a halt.
Stop thinking about what went wrong and what could have gone differently and what was unfair.
Think actions.
What did he know, what did have, what did he want?
Every electric device susceptible to EM radiation was down. He had a teammember right next to his treads.
“Aurellius, get up here and stay up here. You are to be the eyes in the back of my head. If a fly so much as farts in my general direction I want to know about it. Hostiles that leap on here without permission I want killed with extreme prejudice.”
“But that's boring! How am I supposed to get any action now? Is this seriously just because of some dead chumps?” the suit clad boy protested. Marcus ignored him.
Okay next up stopped truck, anything that could be salvaged? A quick check through a high powered scope revealed far too much about anatomy than Marcus would ever want to know. The drivers were most definitively dead. As for the dust it contained-
Marcus spun the Unsubtle around to present his strongest armour to the explosion.
“EVERYONE DOWN!”
What happened next was gloriously violent. The sheer power it contained was something Marcus would love to harness one day. However, now he had more pressing concerns to deal with. The second truck was merely flipped but the drivers probably lived. His suspension actually creaked as Marcus shifted into gear and rolled forward.
“Better than I was a minute ago.” he replied curtly to Diamond's inquiry if everyone was still in one piece. His mind went back to the problems at hand. Truck one was still on the run headed for Vale. A quick inventory check left Marcus with no way to get Rice's truck back, not with that radio jammer still up. No matter, they could save the second truck in it's entirety.
As Marcus drove he considered Diamond’s proposal, thinking out loud.
“Hmm. Drive shaft is busted, right side wheels out of alignment. Towing yes, to Vale no. Drivers will need medical help, the mining site is in friendly hands and three minutes away to Vale's twenty seven. Also has intel. Current status of truck Two means I can either tow Two or give chase to One, not both. No one in the team is fast enough to catch up to One otherwise. Lastly contract specified trucks needed to get to the mine, not Vale. Dependent on what intel we can get in five minutes we either chase after One or stay with the miners. Possibly wreck that jammer, kill the one in control of the bugs, or simply keep the miners alive for evac. Those people need help just as badly as our drivers. Possibly more so.” he rattled off as the thoughts passed through his mind. He spun the tank around in a nearly casual loop to make it easy to hook up the tow cables to the stricken transport.
“Oswald, status on the drivers? The medical kit is in the left side of the rearmost bustle rack. I'll keep watch.” Marcus called out. The tanker had his eyes on the plains around them, alert for any more surprises that might be sprung on the team. If this was over he'd eat his own tank with a bucket of mayonnaise.
Following touchdown at Beacon, the SASG predictably split apart. The other three, more estrogen-enriched members of Fallow's team arrived to assist him in keeping the various faunus from the Shelter both secure and comfortable until the Vale authorities could arrive at the clifftop academy, and that left little to no official business in the hands of the four freshmen hunters who'd completed the mission. Shiro stayed back to look after his gear, Gren did his own thing after a few words with the team leader, and Abel accompanied Sapphire to the infirmary. Helping her when she'd let him, he walked at the somber girl's side, listening to the ragged state of her breathing even now, thirty minutes after the fingers of Dr. Pops had left her throat for good. Though the mission had been finished on Fallow's airship, he'd been unable to relax aboard the airborne vehicle, and only now were his excitement and adrenaline finally leaving him. By the time that the two members of Swansong arrived at the school's medical bay, Abel felt almost like slumping into a bed himself.
The revelation that the infirmary currently hosted other tenants, however, helped to dissuade him. To his surprise -as he'd expected that his team was the first to return- he found the entirety of team RPGD in a single, spacious room, one unlike the smaller, single-occupant chamber where Sapphire had lodged the night of the naming ceremony. Abel recognized Robert instantly, and knew the other three by appearance if not by exact name. The green-cloaked one, now cloak-deprived, lay in a bed on the road to recovery, though more than a few miles awaited him before he reached that destination. Daniel, fiery-looking as ever, reclined in a bed nearby, though it was more difficult to tell if he was seriously wounded or just resting uncomfortably—perhaps even he didn't know. Robert and Priscilla stood nearby, and though it seemed to the guardian that something was wrong with the latter, he couldn't quite place it. The pink-haired girl simply seemed...withdrawn, as if something was keeping her from maintaining her usual, perky presence. Abel waved a greeting to Robert when the sound of his footsteps garnered the bespectacled boy's attention, but thenafter focused his attention on getting Sapphire to a bed of her own. In a couple of moments a nurse would be by to determine the exact extent of the girl's injuries, and start plotting a course to remedy them.
Abel approached the members of team Rampaged. “Hey. You all seem pretty roughed up.” He glanced at Priscilla. “Specially her....I think? Is she alright?” After the response, most of which he spent looked at Sapphire to make sure she was in good shape, he asked, “How'd your job go? Ours was weird. I think we encountered a moral dilemma. Not fun. Though we did find this horrible, wonderful ferret thing.”
Gratia Mindaro - "Dei Tour" (Fuck it, I'll use your shitty pun Fiordilatte)
A fucking joke book. A fucking. Joke. Book.
"Daddy didn't give you ten thousand lien of pocket money for a new pillow, Fiordilatte?" she shot back, dropping her slice of pizza back down on the plate to prevent it from being blown away by the sudden gust of wind. "Was your Grimm fur, silver-lined one ruined when you decided to wank off to it?"
Priceless piece of art her arse. It was probably fucking terrible like every other creative piece the cheese-eater shat out on a weekly basis, like that one painting he sold for a hundred because it was supposedly 'abstract'. It had been a goddamned crap-tier drawing of a dairy cow on a skewer. Maybe it'd entertain Nuit for a bit though. Her teammate liked to do all that weird shit. It wasn't really her thing though, but if Gratia's Faunus compatriot wanted to give feathers to the creepy shithead, then it wasn't her problem.
She picked up her pizza again and bit into it, chewing away at the pastry and cheesy toppings. Her mind had already wandered away from her "compatriot" and his attempts at aggravation. Right now, what was important was dealing with the logistical matters of their arrival here at Beacon Academy: when the tour was complete, they would have to suffix their luggage in whatever housing was assigned (the young huntress remembered that it was boarding situation here).
As well as room arrangements.
But that would be something she could discuss with the others later. For now, ignoring her need to mock her "teammate" any further, Gratia quietly ate at her food, seemingly unfrazzled despite the fact that the wind had been blowing her long hair from side to side.
Ebon gave his signature sigh as the anchor girl was pulled out from getting wasted. Calling his R-Types back into The Kingdom Ebon turned towards the leader of the group of girls. "Hmph. Keep your dog on a leash. C'mon. This is a waste of our time." Briefly Ebon did consider questioning these girls about the attacks recently but decided against it. As crass as they seemed, it was fairly obvious to him that they wouldn't need pipes or chains to break into the stores if they had anchors to swing around. And he doubt this random street gang would know or care anything about it. And they still needed to investigate the Horn of Plenty since it doesn't seem like the ComShops had any clues to the attacks. Without another word Ebon left and headed towards the Horn of Plenty district.
"We don't need to solve the problem, in fact we hardly have the arms to do that. But we have them in one place, maybe we can collapse the entrance and trap them long enough for reinforcements to get here, they can sort out who is 'fang and who isn't later!" Diamond suggested, not really wanting to go on more murdering spree. How did she managed to be a criminal for years without having to take a single life and the first time she's hunting they almost wipe out a camp? "They won't be able to blast themselves out even if they have any mining charges left, the shockwave in the closed space would kill them all. It'll take them two days to dig themselves out, that gives us plenty of time."
After Bianca had stop Emerald, she sighed and looked at Napoli. “I don’t want to put myself out there by using flyers on why you should date me this early on. It makes you look desperate for love and companionship which I am not looking for right now. Perhaps in the future.”
Vega finished with eating pizzas then decided to start eating her salad, which was quite tasty. Vega then noticed that Emerald was not really part of the…conversation going on. Sure she was an annoying freshmen but she was a freshmen once. Needless to say she would have to go with her own group eventually as she was sitting at a table with all seniors. “Hey Emerald, tell me, what kind activities do you like to do.” Vega felt awkward asking that question simply because she was talking with a freshman and at the same time, she didn’t want her to be left out in the table. She could tell from her Smart Glasses that she was bored and wanted someone to talk to.
Then she saw Sarina stand up. “Where are you going Sarina?”
“I need to meet up with this new student from Haven. I asked her to meet me in the dining hall so I’m going to wait outside near the hall for her. Anyway the tour is almost finished so sit tight and enjoy the food.” Sarina then left the table as she walked to the entrance of dining hall and relaxed on a wall waiting for the new student.
The boat ride and airship back to Beacon were uneventful. Her throat felt like there was an iron clamp around it and despite the time that had passed since Pop's attempted strangulation it still pulsed with pain, her breath was also a little ragged but she controlled it as best she could so the others would not hear. The bruises weren't Sapphire's only wounds. Those dealt to her back felt no better and one of them even seemed to have opened up again. Sapphire may have dozed off briefly. It had been a long mission.
When they landed Sapphire's eyes shot open. She could sleep virtually anywhere but she was also a very light sleeper. When they disembarked Shiro proclaimed he was going to stay at the loading dock for the moment. Something Sapphire considered odd as he could easily take apart, lubricate and clean his weapons in the dorms or the armory where they would be much safer.
Sapphire walked to the edge of the cliff right where the airship doors touched the ground. It was now leaving and Sapphire could see all the way down to the lake below. Her daggers had fallen on this ground. Yet they were no where to be seen. Sapphire kicked the ground and a plum of dust rose from her foot as the loose dirt shifted.
This ground wasn't stable, the most likely scenario was that the launch or return of the airship had shifted the ground and her weapons had fallen into the lake below. Of course it was possible that they were caught among the rocks of the cliff part way down, or perhaps picked up by a bird or Grimm looking to make it's nest, maybe even some student had found them and taken them to lost and found. Something in Sapphire seemed to doubt it. They were gone, the last remnants of her mother. Maybe she'd go home and find a picture of her instead.
Sapphire shook her head and sighed. They were good weapons but designs could always be improved. As she walked away from the loading area Gren inquired as to whether she needed any help procuring a secondary weapons set to replace Morpheus and Phobator. "Thank you Gren but no. The armory has anelaces similar in design to my lost weapons. They'll do for the short term. I still have the original blueprints so in a weeks time I should be able to recreate what I lost." Sapphire nodded at Gren before she and Abel made there way to the infirmary.
Abel guided Sapphire to a bed before splitting off to talk to Team Rampage who were all currently various states of injury. Some looked at deaths door while others apart from seeming more somber than usual must simply be there to lend support. A nurse with brown hair pulled back in a bun approached Sapphire and looked her up and down, this was the same woman that had treated her after the initiation trials.
"What have we done to ourselves this time?" she said in a patronizing tone. Sapphire didn't much like the woman but she couldn't deny that she was skilled at her job. Her semblance was something akin to omnipotence. She was aware of everything in a small area of space. This meant that she could diagnose a patient completely without the need of a physical examination.
"Two lacerations to the back, one to the side, a bruised larynx and you haven't been doing that rib of yours any favors. The bruises will start to show up on your neck within the next couple of hours, I can't say with certainty but they'll be there about a week. Come on, let's get you patched up."
The nurse pulled one of the privacy curtains closed. "Alright shirt off, we've got to get those stitched up before you do anymore damage to yourself." Rolling her eyes at the last comment Sapphire removed her jacket, her tank top and pulled the straps of her bra down over her shoulders to allow easy access to the upper wound.
Over the next twenty minutes the nurse disinfected, stitched and bandaged each of the wounds with precision. She'd clearly been doing this a long time. Being a nurse at a hunter's school likely afforded her a lot of practice. When she was finished Sapphire pulled her cloths back on. "Alright dear. I realize at this school it's unlikely to happen but I recommend taking it easy for the next two days, give those injuries the proper time to heal. As for your neck, try to speak as little as possible, if you must then do not do so loudly. I'm going to fetch you a notepad that you can write on."
The nurse left and Sapphire pulled the curtains of her bed open so she could listen to the conversation Abel was having with Team Rampage.
While he towed truck Two back to camp, Marcus fiddled with his radio to try and pinpoint the location of the jammer. The momentary quiet was the ideal time to narrow it down a bit from 'inside the camp somewhere'. To his not so great surprise, the signal appeared to come from below. Of course. The whole reason the miners started their uprising was because of the edge that jammer gave them.
Once back in the camp it became clear the head guard was running on the last bit of his patience and highly likely sleep. The man was racist as well given how he referred to the miners, though Marcus could hardly fault him for his grievances under the circumstances. As for Diamond's plan, it had it's merits, but a glance at the mine entrance revealed a bit of a problem.
"Diamond, a good idea but if I see this correctly the mine entrance is even now only barely large enough to supply them with air. Blocking them off will choke them. However we don't need to make a physical barrier. One second." Marcus said and dissappeared back down the hatch. Some soft clanks later he appeared again with a note and pen in hand. Copmletely unhurried he penned down a note in neat, curved handwriting.
The letter read thus:
To: The man/woman in charge
Dear Sir/Madam,
You are currently surrounded by some very upset and very heavily armed people. I, as officer in command of these people, wish to inform you of the following:
There is a radio jammer within the mine you currently occupy. I require that you shut it down as soon as possible. Second, you appear to be somehow in command of a rather large quantity of insects and possibly intend to use them to gnaw off our faces. Call them off.
Should you not comply with these demands then I am forced to fire an incediary explosive at your current hiding place. In case you are not aware of the effects of such a device, not only will it incinerate a large portion of the mine, the resultant inferno will also devour all oxygen inside, thus suffocating anyone that survived the fire. The end result is that everyone inside has a thoroughly unpleasant day.
I shall allow you to get your worst wounded out immediately, and I will personally see to it that they will receive proper medical attention. Leave them by the entrance and we shall pick them up. Furthermore you may send out one (1) messenger, preferably with some form of white flag, in order to send back a reply. An attack with your pet insects is also permitted as a form of response however it will result in your untimely demise as outlined earlier.
Respectfully,
Tm. Ldr. Marcus Goldstein
"Oswald, please go in there and deliver this. Do not take risks, teleport out if you have to." Marcus said. He then turned to the guards.
"There is a chance this can be settled without further bloodshed. I want to take it. However should-"
"What? Wait are you seriously giving those animals a chance to surrender?" Aurellius piped up. Marcus glared at him.
"Haven't you killed enough people today already?" he bit. Aurellius looked at Marcus, then at his minigun, then back to Marcus.
"No?" the suited boy offered. Marcus resisted the urge to slap him and turned back to the guards. Still Aurellius did remind him of the fact most of the guards would not want to show any mercy to those still inside. Rather than try and play hippy, the tanker took another approach.
"Regardless. Our team currently has control over the situation. You can stand down and rest for the moment." he said. He prayed this would work and the guards would just go to sleep or at the very least let his team handle the situation from here on out. Too many had died today already.
"I'll go see if I can get the truck rolling and uncoupled. If we can't get the jammer down, we might have to drive out of it's range to call for help and since the tank is keeping the rebs at bay, we'll need another set of wheels." Diamond noticed, heading for the truck.
She wouldn't give the feeling that has been nagging on her a rest though, so on her way she took a good long look around to see if she could find anything that would suggest a foul play.
"It has a busted drive shaft. It is a clean break though so replacement should be fairly simple, just unbolt it and install a new one. One of the wrecks here should have one that's still good. Those bent wheels are mostly a similar story, looks a lot harder to fix than it is. Just have an angle grinder ready to get rid of really stubborn bolts." Marcus called out. One of the features of the transport trucks was how easy they were to fix. Marcus could do it in his sleep and he doubted Diamond would have much more trouble.
Taking the letter, Oswald took a look around the camp. Moving towards the mine, he made sure to sketch a mental map and take note of how many steps he took. Going too far would leave him without a paddle, so to speak.
As he entered the mine, Oswald felt at least one set of eyes on him. Rather, he assumed that he was being watched. Even with as little faith in the White Fang's capabilities as he had, there was no way he wasn't being watched at this moment.
Stepping forward, he held the note out and spoke, loudly and clearly. "My name is Oswald Connolly of Team MODA. We are from Beacon, and we are here to investigate why this area went dark recently. We've been informed of the situation, and I come bearing our terms. And I warn you. If you spite us, this is what you face."
At that, he placed the note on the ground and disappeared from their sight, appearing outside the mine next to one of the guards.
Robert sat in the infirmary with the rest of his team, staring at the corner of the room and sulking about the results of his last mission. The sound of approaching footsteps derailed his train of thought and he looked to see Abel helping his team leader get to one of the beds. Realizing that he wasn't the only person in the world, Robert tried his best to appear more like his normal self. Nodding at Abel's comment about the rest of his team's injury status, Robert replied, "Yeah, our mission was definitely not a walk in the park." When Abel commented on Priscilla, Robert turned to his girlfriend to see what he was talking about. "I... think she's alright. I'm not the most observant person in the world. That's probably an understatement, actually." Robert turned back to Abel as he mentioned his mission. "I... think we succeeded. I don't know. Think we saved all the civilians, though it certainly didn't feel like much of a win when that many of the White Fang get away. Anyway, tell me more about this ferret."
Jack vs Clown
Once Jack would find the switch to open the secret entrance, he would be met with more gunfire from more clones as well as the real Clown. Contrary to his belief, this wasn’t a secret passage to an escape route. It was more of a panic room, with only one way in or out. Getting past four heavily armed and armoured foes all trained solely in his direction and in close to midrange would most likely take some ingenuity on Jack’s part rather than just his speed semblance.
Luke vs Ciel vs Morgan
Morgan, still sure of a victory over the Beacon students, smiled as Mordred fell to Luke’s attack. She’d be sure to make fun of her mute partner later. As Luke dodged around the casino floor, trying his best to avoid Ciel’s attacks, Morgan shouted over to the huntress-in-training. “That thing killed Luke, kill it already Ciel.” If she were to look in Morgan’s direction, she would appear to look like Mokuren and the unconscious Mordred would appear like a butchered Luke.
This was too much! Making him look like an enemy was one thing, but blaming him for his own fictional death and telling her to kill him for it?
Ignoring the dull ache on his arm as the burns receded in both coverage and severity, the outermost regions now little more than an angry red, he clenched an inflamed fist.
"Don't you listen to her! There's no way I could kill me that easily!" he roared, pointing an accusatory finger at Morgan with this non-injured hand. "She's a liar! You're being deceived, Ciel! Snap out of it!"
Punctuating the sentence with a grabbed barstool flung at the space a few feet above Ciel's head, and not Ciel herself, Luke used the momentary distraction for every drop that it was worth, charging Morgan directly.
"Oshi-", Jack made the most wide-eyed expression of surprise before darting to the side, and out of the line of fire. While the gunfire was dying down, he looked down to his coat and saw a few holes in it...
"And that was my favourite coat...", as the gunfire died down, he peeked over the side for a moment, only to be met with gunfire, forcing him back into cover.
"Can't flank them, can't go straight ahead... I guess I should try smoking them out...", he thought to himself. He couldn't do a Lightning Rod thing, that took setup, setup that would take longer than it took a bullet to meet him... Maybe if he had numerous of daggers with similar properties to his, he could, or if there were a lot of poles inside the room, he could... But neither were available to him, so he had to try a different approach. He couldn't count how many clones there were, but there were upward 4 from the glimpse and gunfire.
It looked like this was a panic room or something, instead of an escape route like he had thought. What with all the running, he figured his opponent would run, but it was more like he sought a better vantage point to fight from. Though, this room appeared to have no exit, other than the one he was standing beside... This meant, an explosive or a way to smoke them out, was their worst enemy, something he didn't have in his semblance, so he couldn't rely on it.
He surveyed the room... Let's see... It was mostly bare, and the only other cover seemed to be a bar and stools. There appeared to be shelves of alcohol stacked there... Alcohol. On it's own, the only thing it was useful for was forgetting things. He needed to make sure though... He grabbed his dagger and imbued it, then scraped it across the ground once, sparks flew.
"Well, let's see how this turns out...".
Meanwhile within the panic room, the Clown would notice that there hasn't been activity for a fair bit of time... Before he could decide on a new plan of action, one of the clones was suddenly splattered with his favourite beverage and glass, and soon many more types followed. Glass flew everywhere as Jack darted around the outside, lobbing bottles of alcohol into the panic room, the clones would attempt to fire, but they would miss. With the space he had out there, no amount of bullet-based firepower would catch him. Maybe explosives, but not bullets. After awhile, he would disappear, and in a satisfying straight cascade, a trail of alcohol and shattered glass was made, leading out, before a violent blue flash scraped the ground, causing sparks to fly into the trail of alcohol. Rapidly, the fire would spread, and soon the room was an inferno, with the clown panicking and coming out with fire all over his clothes and mask.
As the clown stumbled out of the furnace that Jack had created, he was met with a punch from one hand, while the other ripped the mask off. Though Jack wasn't without mercy. He did a rapid spinning double kick, tripping him, and then the last strike sending him rolling across the ground and into a wall, dousing the fire essentially with a forced stop drop and roll.
When Oswald came in, there were indeed eyes on him. Men armed with pick axes, in various states of tattered. Beyond them was pitch black. The fear in their eyes were evident however, and they knew they were trapped. But for the short while that Oswald was there, he would hear something. Voices. Words. In an entirely different language.
"Fru ec ra? Fryd tuac ra fyhd?"
"Rana'c hud rana du gemm ic, ec ra?"
"Tytto, bmayca cyja sa!"
There was a started shout when he vanished, leaving only the note. One of the men crept forward and looked at the note, unfamiliar with the words written on it. There was some hushed chatting amongst the men to try to figure out who amongst them knew the language. An elderly woman stepped forward and took the note in her hand. Electrical sparks jumped from her fingers and burned the paper. "Hmph. Hunters. Damned fools don't even have half the story..."
Meanwhile topside, the head guardsman still looked stern and ready for violence, though the rest of his guards seemed rather revealed that for once, no one was trying to kill them. There wasn't really anywhere to rest however, and the best they could do was find a shaded area tn sit down. The head guardsman went up to Marcus. "Do you really think those animals are going to listen? No matter how this ends up, they're as good as dead. It was because of them that this camp is in this sorry state! If we don't kill them, they'll be executed or imprisoned for siding with the fang. You trap a animal in a corner and it will die fighting. And I don't know about you, but I rather not give them the chance to bear their claws."
Eventually however someone does come up. It was only one, but a female faunas arrived with a piece of paper. But as soon as she saw the tank she couldn't take another step forward. She just fell to her knees and started crying, clutching the paper tightly. Before anyone else could come out an older man came from the cave and put his arms around her, trying to both comfort the crying girl and shield her from Team MODA and the others, despite how fruitless such an endeavor would be. The guardsmen were stirred back and the head guardsman was thinking about taking a shot, but looked over to Marcus.
"I don't know what you sent to them, but I seriously doubt that a show of force is suppose to make them comply. It certainly didn't when we tried."
"Fryd yna oui fyedehk vun, oui pycdyntc! Lusa yht gemm ic ev oui ryda ic cu silr, un nayt drec yht cyja ic! Lusa uh, zicd tu ed!"
The man at the entrance of the mine started shouting at the others in his language, seeming quite angry and passionate. He took the paper from the girl's hand and waved it in the air. There was some sort of writing on it.
On a piece of cloth scratchily written with what seems to be coal as the following written:
I am the radio jamer. I not stop until we saved. We know that you wil kill us ifw leave. We do not control bugs. They kill us to.
There was a message on the other side of the note as well.
Fat human said he help and this hapen. We do not trust you do right thing. All you humans kill like monsters. Is that you will do anyways?
"You assholes! You don't care about this city at all, just want to flaunt your dick and stick your head up your ass!" The anchor girl shouted at Ebon and Skyra. The leader of the gang placed a hand on the Anchor girl, who quickly than began to heal from her injuries. "Shush. Let them do what they want. We still have work to do ourselves. Don't worry, I doubt they could help even if they did know what's going on." The leader said quietly. The gang of girls departed shortly after, vanishing around the corner.
At the Horn of Plenty district, things were just as bustling before, but without merchants trying to get in everyone's way. Instead various food kiosk stood at each corner and on the side of the room, trying to sell their wares. Dango in sweet sauce, grilled meat on sticks, there was one stall selling burgers that used hand-man doughnuts instead of buns, watermelons, and even one selling a strange blue drink, claiming that it can give you nightvision. There were also robots moving around, picking up trash, offering directions, and cleaning messes. Not too far away from the entrance of the Horn of plenty however was a crime scene; there was police tape blocking the area around a gas station, with a bunch of broken windows scattered about. A human officer was on standby and when she noticed Skyra and Ebon she waved them down.
"Hey! You're the hunters, right?"
Over at the Land of Walt the manager of the Ursa game seemed unsurprised that Krysthane tried to kick the target herself. Her attack did cause a bit of damage, knocking over a table from the force of her blow... And got to 77%. The Ursa did bend at the force of her attack, but it did not break. The manager simply sighed and spoke out. "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you need the right tools for the job! That was an impressive kick young lady, but unfortunately it just didn't cut it. Points for trying though! Here, have a sundae."
Two knights arrived on the scene expecting a fight, but when they saw it was just Krysthane trying to hit the ursa they relaxed. "Another hunter huh? You'd think they would know how to hit an ursa for maximum damage!" One of the knights said. The other knight just laughed and noticed Sepia. There was a nudge between the two, a couple of hand motions, and one of the knights approached the absent-minded huntress. He leaned in closely and whispered something into Sepia's ears.
"Psst, hey. The sweet spot on the ursa isn't on it's head. Well, not on it's face. It's actually right underneath it's chin. Most people do an overhead smash, but what you actually need to do it do an underhand swing. That'll give you at least 50%, so if you put some power into it you can hit a hundred easy."
Emerald's ears perked up as Vega addressed her. She was actually talking to her! Yay! She sat up straight in her chair a bounced in it a bit, as if there was something inside her that made it impossible to hold still.
"Well, I like to eat ice cream...watch movies...play games...get into foodfights...jump off cliffs...catch bugs...climb trees...snowball fights...avoid yellow snow...practice with my weapons...practice with my weapons on grimm...see how long I can hold my breath...stare at fish in aquariums..." She paused. "There's a lot more, but I'm getting tired of talking."
Daniel was relaxing on one of the hospital beds, having been dragged here due to his wound. Apparently, the bullet had gone through his body, so there wasn't any need for surgery to extract any bullets. However, the wound was still quite severe, so he had been forced to stay at the infirmary. Needless to say, Daniel was not pleased, but there was nothing he could do about it. The recovery time was not given to him, which made waiting even worse for him.
Robert and Priscilla were uninjured, but Greyson took even worse of a hit than Daniel did. It wasn't pretty at all. Daniel looked at everyone, then realized how silent the group was at the moment. Daniel was considering which joke to use in the current atmosphere, and was about to say something, when Abel and Sapphire came in. Guess a few of the others were returning from their missions too.
Then the small talk began. "An understatement for sure," Daniel agreed with Robert. "Especially considering what Ms. Popular's going through," referring to Priscilla. "As for the mission, lemme tell ya, getting shot is not fun." Then came a mention of a ferret. Daniel decided to shut up for once and listen to this story. It wasn't every day you'd hear about a ferret, after all.
Grunting as he realized that the Faunus workers were speaking a language that he didn't recognize, Oswald watched the entrance to the mine, sighing in relief as a woman came out. When he got a better look at her, however, he nearly crushed the palm of his gauntlet, he was squeezing his hands so hard. Hearing the guardsman speak didn't help, either, and it was in the moment that he saw one of the guards aiming at the unarmed, mutilated, sobbing woman that he snapped.
"You're right. A show of force won't work. So I'm going to try something different."
First, he reached to his belt and detached his sword's scabbard, the weapon and its sheathe falling to the ground. Next, he undid his gauntlets, dropping the armor as well. After that, he lowered his shield to the ground and started unlacing his brigandine. After his weapons and armor were removed, Oswald took his cloak from his back and folded it over his arm, taking slow steps forward before turning back to face some of the guards.
"Do not, under any circumstance, fire on these people. Marcus, as team leader, I will defer to you, but I do not think these people are a threat. I'm going to talk to them, and I'm going to fix this." It was obvious in his voice, his lifeless eyes, and his posture that he was both one hundred percent serious, and one hundred percent confident that he could, and would, keep that promise.
Taking a deep breath, Oswald stepped forward, holding his arms out widely. Now, he was only wearing a white collared shirt, his pants, the greaves covering his legs, and a pair of boots. As he neared the two Faunus, he carefully took the note and sat down before reading it.
So Diamond was right. That bastard set us up. More blood to shed...at least it will be the right blood this time.
Lowering his head so that the pair could only see the top of his skull, Oswald spoke, slowly and loudly. "I'm sorry for what we've done to you. Had I known what was going on, I'd have put a stop to it much sooner. But I need to know something." Frowning as he raised his head, Oswald looked the man in the eyes. "What happened here? Is there anybody who can speak our language?"
