Sterling Johnson

Go time.

As the Grimm made their move for him, Sterling snapped back into motion after having been caught up in the moment and trying to think instead of act. Now that he wasn't worried about which way would be best to proceed and just doing it, it was as if he, much like the massive vehicle they stood atop, was only increasing in momentum once he'd gotten going.

The most immediate threat was the serpent to his side, lunging straight towards his torso intent to probably bite him in half straightaway. For it's efforts, the Grimm was met with a stern rebuff in the form of that wonderful robotic arm of his swiping to meet it, all but smashing both the weighty and hard metal limb and the set of blades adorning the arm straight into it's snout.

And as Animal Planet taught every little boy and girl, beasts of all breeds hated getting hit in the snout.

As for the oft-mentioned ball bearings, which had been conspicuously absent from their usual role of swirling around the Hunter like a particularly shiny dervish, that was simple—

They instead did so around Estelle, battering the two lunging for the white-haired girl as she continued forcing out her semblance.

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He blinked, gears in his head going to work as they took stock of the situation before them.

"Looks empty..." he murmured as he placed a hand to his chin before stepping forward into the room, but no further than that. He wasn't keen on trusting an empty room just yet after what'd happen so far, or rather—

"Emphasis on looks, that is."

There was a clear path down towards the doors, but should they chance it? It was tough to say. Unlike the room the two teams had torn through prior to this, the generator room was well-lit enough...

Albeit, with none of the generators running. All offline, they left a palpable silence in the room that would normally be filled with a steady thrum of power as it flowed into the building.

Hrmmm.

"I think we should focus on getting at least one of those running," he said, pointing a metallic (slightly bloody) finger towards the dormant power supplies. "so the rest of the facility can have some form of power flowing into it. That could help us in the long run. The question's where we'll get power for that. Just like the door in here, actually."

He folded his arms, having long since come to terms with the fact that another of his beloved hoodies would need two or three dunks in the washing machine after this was all said and done. Pittance when compared to saved lives.

"I... feel like I've seen something that looked like a battery somewhere. Am I the only one?"

Cian Kuze

"I concur getting one of those generators running should be a top priority. Plus not to make a pun but shedding some light might make the whole situation a bit more clearer." Cian said with a sigh as she gripped her her weapon tightly to her chest a bit more looking around despite the well lit area they were in she would keep a eye out just in case. "Though I am one to agree Luke I do believe we seen something that looked similar to a battery nearby though I am unsure where." With that said Cian let out a sigh things are not going well despite everything she supposed it was just bound to happen considering how this mission has gone so far.

His eyes narrowed.

Liar.

"You totally meant to make that pun. Even now, I can see right through you."

Ha! How do you like that? A Schwarz-brand counterattack, infamously potent against the uninitiated wordsmiths found amongst common rabble!

But come to think of it, the hunches of theirs were right. If only they'd stopped to pick that thing up back there, they'd have made this portion of things so much easier...

Well. Chalk it up to a case of hindsight being 20/20, he supposed. You couldn't reasonably expect them to have figured that they'd need to haul a battery-looking thing around on the off-chance that they'd need it at some point, right?


Well putting it like that, maybe. I might do it in a game, but even now I don't expect game puzzles in real life.

Huh.

Maybe I should start.

"Say," he continued after the brief silence of his joke falling painfully, pathetically flat. "We've seen that elevator before, right? I know I've seen the tubing and all somewhere upstairs."

An idea began to emerge from the darkness.

Patrol Mission

After taking down the four gunmen, a middle age man came out, leaning against the wall. He was bloody and battered, but still alive. He wore a greasy overall and his general appearance screamed "I'm the mechanic". Though his breath was heavy and haggard he managed to speak out to the team. "Ah... Thank ya, these punks came to keep me quiet 'bout some bullshit... I'm guessin that yer the hunter kids from Beacon, eh? The one's who've been askin' around a while back about trouble in the neighborhood?" Entering a coughing fit, hacking up some blood, the mechanic went to a nearby chair and sat down. A soft glow of light surrounded his body as some of his wounds were slowly starting to heal, but this was only good enough to keep him from bleeding out, and he'd need a lot more rest and help to fully recover.

"The name's Fixit. Least what my friends call me, and the name of the shop. I'm sure yer didn't come to my humble home outta the goodness of yer hearts, but yer a better lot then these trash heaps." Fixit motioned towards the knocked out thugs Team Kiss had gathered up. "So I owe yer one. What brings yer to my shop? Business, I'm guessin."

@Eklispe@Ryonara@SevenStormStyle@Pyrodash888

Capture the Fort

Robert's shots echoed into the forest, and for a moment, it seemed like his plan was working. The Beowolves stalking the team stayed with Robert as he ran into the forest alone, leaving Grane and Trad the chance to run to the fort unnoticed. But the horde was coming, and they would need to be careful to avoid it if they wanted to survive. As for Robert, even as he ran into the forest he would see no grimm, though he would hear their roaring footsteps as they were charging through the forest. Though most of the horde made up of the light-footed beowolves, their sheer size made it impossible for them to hide their presence. Perhaps it was on purpose, because their cacophony made it hard to hear anything really.

Sand would be able to follow the grimm horde fairly easily, but she wouldn't go unnoticed. While the horde had a fairly single-minded pursuit for the hunters in the forest, if she ventured too close they will spot her, and they will swarm her. Sand would be able to see what the horde's numbers consisted of however; beowolves made up a large pack, but there was also a sizable amount of boartusk in an almost disciplined formation. Creeps were also scattered about through the horde, though most were at the front as they were faster than the beowolves. Some were glowing a sickly green hue for some reason. While the sheer size of the horde made their movements chaotic at times, there was a general direction they were heading, and it was towards Roberts.

@Guess Who@Lazo@Nytem4re@Awesomoman64

Sticky Situation

It's unknown if the grimm feel emotions. They are attracted to loneliness, anger, sadness, and the like, but even the most educated scholars have yet to discover what level of emotional ability grimms are capable of having. But if they were able to feel any emotions, this Nevermore would be both surprised and regretful. For so long it has survived by sheer power and animistic cunning. Never underestimating it's opponents and using it's full power even against the weakest of humans. But this hunter was far more powerful than what the Nevermore had faced in the past. And because of it, the nevermore's future ended right then and there, as Taidan's etheral arms took on a physical form and halted the nevermore's attack. His spear entered the Nevermore's mouth, pouring it's hot substance down it's throat. The nevermore squirmed and struggled, but soon it simply stopped. It's body went limp as it went numb, burning from the inside out. The creature vanished in a burst of darkness before it could have even hit the ground.

After the nevermore's defeat the forest did not seem to stir any further, though that's not to say nothing was watching. In the distances more Grimm had seen the battle in the skies, and seemed to retreat to their dens. Perhaps they do not want to engage the hunters, knowing their deaths is coming. Or maybe they wish to warn their kin and prepare defenses. Whatever their reasons, no further grimm came to meet Team Canvas. So for the moment they have time to catch their breaths, formulate a plan, and whatever else they need to do. The forest was quiet. And it waited for the prey to enter it's clutches.

@Onarax@Savato@Sho Minazuki@Crimmy

"There would be spares to power these things laying around... Although I don't think turning them on is a good idea yet", he responded. The idea of turning on the generators was what he had in mind at first, getting more light was a good thing too, but with a big facility like this, it would make an incredible amount of noise. He felt like the lights were all off for a reason, nothing seemed damaged, the Grimm didn't go after the lights, or anything like that, they had to have been turned off by the survivors. He felt that turning on the lights would be tantamount to unleashing hell. The Grimm avoided the lantern because of the light, but if there was no light to hide in, what would happen? They would become berserk, not to mention, he felt the ones from before weren't the only Grimm they could be facing in here.

"It would make a lot of noise, I feel like we'll get swarmed by Grimm the moment the lights are turned on, not to mention if they're afraid of light, imagine how unpredictable they would be when they're overcome with it, with no shadows to hide in", he noted.

"We should definitely turn the generator and lights on though, just not yet. We need to gather up survivors first and meet up with Pris", turning the lights on would be what they want if they needed to clear the facility, but all things considered right now, the survivors would be in danger if the Grimm were on a random rampage throughout the whole facility. Their hiding places would be swarmed by Grimm trying to find a place to take cover also.

"Well, you're both leader and the one in Grimm Studies." Luke said with a cooperative nod, choosing to defer to Jack's broader experience and knowledge base for the moment. That, however, left them with a simple question.

"What next, then? On to the Decontamination room?" he asked, looking to the door. It'd be simple to walk across and fling it open, but even in a room as calm as this, he felt much safer if they moved as a unit without anyone rushing ahead, potentially straight into an ambush.

Then again, we've made our presence pretty clear just by talking like this.
Would they have attacked by now if there were any?

Well, this was where the Grimm-Animal comparison got tricky, as the former was much more aggressive on the whole towards humanity, while the latter depended greatly between the myriad circumstances involved.

In any case, even he knew that acting without warning was a recipe to get everyone into trouble.

Lilac Drakon

The battles behind her faded from Lilac's mind as she focused. She had to take care of the enemy she faced before she went to help the others, but she knew it wouldn't give her much trouble. After all, this fight was probably halfway over by now.

She could see the twin heads closing in on her, one from each side, but to her their movements were sluggish. She grinned as she reached out her hands to either side, her enhanced strength coupled with the protection her aura provided making it a simple matter to grasp the lethal fangs like she was plucking fruit, twisting her wrists until both snapped off in her hands. Not only did the Taiju recoil from the pain, but she now had two shiny new weapons to use against it. She tossed them aside, however, as her battlerush goaded her into finishing the fight with her own two hands. She leaped into the air directly at one of the two heads, a disturbing glee in her eyes as she reached out to beat the life out of her opponent.

"You got it." Ben said easily, flipping Lawnslot around to hand the weapon to Lauren butt first. Then he switched Artorius to his left hand, freeing up his throwing arm for what was to come. Amy could use her weapons to climb up, but Sangue and Lauren would need a boost. He could work with that. "Amy, you want to grapple up or get tossed? I'll send Sangue up after, then Lauren, then you can use Unchained Fury to pull me up."

"What's your preference?"

@Kaithas

"Yeah, onto the decontamination room. We should above all else try and meet up with Priscilla and the survivors she was with. Although, before we went into the last room we didn't have a light, so they attacked us, since we were enveloped in their element. The light should keep us safe", honestly he wasn't sure, as he had absolutely no idea what kind of Grimm they were dealing with. Although he had a point. The Grimm stepped right the hell off the moment they entered the lit room. Though while his observation seemed to be correct, he had the feeling that numerous Grimm lurked the shadows around them. Though they acted as if this facility was a home to them, so their little trip through the rooms were equal to walking through a Grimm infested forest, except they had means of keeping Grimm away from them without fighting... Hopefully.

"That being said, I would prefer to deal with an ambush than constant waves of them", he was a bit more serious this mission. He could feel the pressure of this place too. He hoped Priscilla didn't do anything stupid though before they reached her. She was quite excitable.

Fixit hm? Not the most original name, albeit accurate. "Mr.Fixit, you're right on both accounts. I'm Krysthane, and this is my team, Ebon, Skyra and Sephia."[/color] She explained as she pointed at each of them in turn. " Can one of you guys please call Officer Midori to get over here and help get rid of these thugs? Anyway Mr.Fixit, we can here because we got word from a friend that you might now some things that could help us in our investigation. Specifically do you know anything about W.A.R? Anything you can tell us would be helpful."" Krysthane asked, eager to get some more answers about this mysterious deal. At least she knew they were heading in the right direction, obviously Fixit knew something if thugs had been sent to take care of him and anyone who was looking for him.

Sangue Naga - Brewing Storm

At the notion that Sangue needed to get a brief elevation with the help of Ben, the red-haired woman sheathed her blade, though her hands remained gripping the sheath and the sword handle tightly. With her usual silence, the swordswoman walked up to Ben. As soon as Amy made her decision, she would be thrown by her team leader.

That sounded neat.

If anything were to go a bit shakily, she always had her claw and blade to adjust to situations. The huntress-in-training turned to Amy and Ben with a blank look.

"Sounds fair" Cian said as she continued to let her eyes sweep the room it was at times like this she wished she had finished her one project for class at least those goggles would help greatly at the moment. Still she supposed all things considered that Jack's idea had merit it was best to face ambush rather than a horde of grimm. "This place unsettles me I say we hurry and get our part of the job done the sooner we are done with place the better." She added as she shivered lightly the nature and feel she was getting from here was starting to get to her the only reason she hasn't started firing at every noise was due to training rather than any restraint on her part.

Shuai Taidan - Sticky Situation

Taidan pulled his spear away, watching calmly from behind his gas mask as the Nevermore's black carcass slumped and dissipated into wispy nothingness, much like so many other Grimm had in the past upon succumbing to his weapons. It was always so strange, so curious, that the creatures of night would simply ... blink out of existence when they died. Were they truly even alive, then? Their status was as much of a mystery as their presence, but it did provide quite a fodder for discussion. Interesting discussion, as well, but it was totally not the time for that right now. The others were waiting on him, and you always had to avoid keeping your friends waiting!

None of the Grimm's friends were coming to fight him either, so the sky was probably clear for now.

That was good work!

With renewed cheer, the pretty boy extraordinaire of Team KNVS descended from the heavens, the flames on his wind and fire wheels burning hot as they controlled his fall towards the woods that his fellows had decided to land within. The clearing within the trees was easily visible, even from so far up, and so Shuai Taidan slowed as he neared it, dropping on the soil with a quiet tap. It was good to be with the others again.

"Bird's gone," he declared happily.

Amaranth Desire, Far above the World

"No disrespect, but I got this." She lifted her arm, aiming Fury's right sleeve up at the ceiling of the hallway and launching the spear head at maximum velocity. Trying to grapple into the wall or the floor would be foolhardy--both were meant to take stress. The ceiling, on the other hand, was only meant to cover the rafters behind it, which--with any luck--she would hit. And with a chunk, the Fury grabbed hold, immediately retracting to become taut. Amy smirked and saluted. "Periscope up, cap!" she exclaimed, jumping into space, the Fury's engine taking hold as her initial upward momentum diminished, pulling her up to the hall.

She landed gracefully, the Fury's chain releasing and retreating into her sleeve. "Pass the first one up, Ben." Amy wasn't terribly strong, but with Ben's strength and the "cargo" helping she could manage to bring them up.

Ben nodded, watching Amy pull herself up the gap to the next floor and waiting for her to signal that she was ready. He didn't want to leave her up there by herself for long, but he didn't want to start tossing people until she was ready, either. The gap wasn't too large, and both Amy and Sangue could probably land on their feet, but best to have that safety net. Speaking of, Sangue had already stepped up for the pass off. As serious as the situation was, Ben was still Ben. Resisting every quip was a little too difficult for him.

"Thank you for choosing Lloyd Elevators," He began, slipping Artorius into its holder and scooping Sangue up with one hand. He used the other to steady her, and had her almost resting on his shoulder like a pitcher winding up to throw. And as soon as he was ready, Deinamig sent Aura rushing to his arms and he sent Sangue rushing up towards the second floor. "Second floor, Grimm, survivors, and fashion accessories!"

Sarina Tala Dei - Team JESS with an L – Defending a Caravan

ESTELLE as Sarina noticed the Taijutu around her, though battered by Sterling. She finished of them off with several blast from her hand took note to Lilac who fell down to the canyon ground. So without even the Taijutus noticing her, she dashed in front of them in mid-air launching successive Iaijutsu attacks that diced them up to pieces from Arbiter. She moved herself near Estelle as she needed someone to protect her while using her abilities.

Lauren Negasi

"Oho. I get it - save the hottest girl for last so that the others can't see you getting grabby. Devious. That's why you're the cap, Cap." Lauren tilted her head over her shoulder to look down on Ben with an open-mouthed grin that could almost be described as jubilant, were it under less serious circumstances. The boxer stretched her legs outward and mimed cocking Lawnslot with a distinct chk-chk sound that crackled from the corner of her mouth. "Hey, come to think of it, wasn't Lancelot the one that ended up nailin' the qu-wheeeeeeee!"

Ben sent Lauren soaring (stopping her train of thought so hard that her brain could have used an SDC logo) up after Sangue, and she landed with an oomph! in a semi-sitting position. She kicked her feet over the gap for a second, savoring the swish of cool air on her legs, before she scooted back and hefted herself to her feet. Lawnslot was tucked under her right arm, in case she needed an excuse to spin around on her feet and glack something as it approached.

"Alright, Cap, coast is clear. Grab a hold of Fury and swing on up. Never thought I'd say it, but there's too many holes and not enough pegs up here."

Sangue Naga - Brewing Storm

Lauren stated something beyond Sangue's comprehension of life.

As the swordswoman wondered what the boxer meant, she soon found herself flying in the air, her eyes wide in surprise. She forgot that Lauren was going after her. She quickly regained control of her own self-consciousness as her idle expression returned all-too-quickly. The red-haired huntress landed, Lauren following up shortly after her.

Ben was pretty strong to throw people around like he just did. As expected of a leader.

Sangue stood near Amaranth, looking around the place she had just arrived in. She did not want to take any chances and relax at the moment.

As soon as Lauren was in the air, something certainly not timed for the middle of her comment, Artorius was back in Ben's right hand. He had turned in the same movement to scan the environment behind him, looking to make sure that nothing crept up on him while he was alone. Which, frankly, he almost expected. Things had been too peaceful since the swarm in the first hall, and their adversaries seemed just opportunistic enough to wait for one of them to be isolated. He didn't see any, but he could still hear the pervasive sound of their movements from all around. The sound had a way of getting under his skin, making him feel a little edgy. He was more than happy enough to ignore Lauren's remarks when she spoke up, since it meant he didn't have to linger on the stairs alone.

It did raise another problem, though.

"Just saying," He commented, slipping Artorius back into its holster and getting a grip on the lowered chain. "That I'd really appreciate not being dropped. Good to go when you guys are."

Ebon took out his scroll and gave Officer Midori a message about the thug attack. All the while he kept a close eye on the thugs, his R-Types surrounding them ready to (Non-lethally) open fire if they try to make a run for it. While he waited, the cat that he took from the Cat Nap came up to him. Nonchalantly Ebon picked up the kitty and started petting it, but never took his eyes off the thugs. Now that he thought about it, this would be a good time to try to find out who these guys were. So Ebon had one of his R-Type Claws to search through the thug's pockets. Wallet, notes, receipts, anything that they can use to figure out who these guys belong to. Ebon took a seat on a nearby chair and stroke the kitty as if he was an evil villain. He was almost tempted to chuckle darkly, but refrained against it. It wasn't that funny.