Gratia would arrive at an empty parking garage. As she pulled into the empty concrete cave she would notice that it perhaps wasn’t completely empty. Two people stood awaiting the vehicle. Sonny Dodici and his assistant from before. Her name was Marissa. She stood there on the phone, seemingly confirming something – the presence of the SUV seemed to catch her attention and she said goodbye, hanging up the phone. She looked confused at Sonny when she saw that Gratia was the one piloting the SUV.
Sonny took a step towards the vehicle and waited for Gratia to make her move. His intentions were unclear to the young huntress.
Sonny Dodici. There was a threatening, foreboding air to the man, a tangible sense of danger that oozed from beneath his fancy suit. A wolf in the guise of man, noted Gratia dispassionately, pushing the door to the SUV close with an almost final thud. Onyx eyes glanced towards the gangster, acknowledging his presence. Of the two Dodici's she had encountered, this one was far more fascinating. A wild animal barely restrained by the supposed "civilisation" of his clothing. A snarling beast playing at humanity like the rest of his criminal compatriots, but with the slightest hints of intelligence.
"Delivery successful," she reported, tone devoid of feeling, cold and flat. Just two simple words, uncaringly thrown to the wind.
She wondered if he would see through her facade, if he would provide her with an opportunity to enjoy herself. It was irksome, being forced to remain an infiltrator, to hide her desire to rip their puny organisation apart beneath an impenetrable mask of emptiness. Letting loose one more time would be cathartic.
But she would wait. Let the animal make the first move.
Marissa took a desperate step forward but was stopped by Sonny’s arm. “She’s safe then, right?” He said in a hushed tone, keeping his fists balled up. He seemed to be trusting Gratia, but that trust was tenuous at best. Should she step out of line he would put on a repeat performance of what he had showed of his strength from before.
But before he could think about it, even before Gratia would be able to respond Marissa walked out in front of Sonny. “Sonny barely touched Bianca and he’s the entire reason you were able to get out of here. And we have something you want.” Marissa said producing a dossier from her purse. “This is who pulled this whole operation together. It’s no coincidence that Bianca Nuit was kidnapped by this Cosca. All we want is to get out of this unscathed.”
She held the dossier in front of her, as if it was a handshake at the end of a business conference. The dossier did not shake and Marissa’s determined gaze did not falter. Sonny stood to her side, Gratia would get the feeling that she wouldn’t be able to lay a single hand on Marissa before killing him.
Gratia plucked the dossier from Marissa's hands, her cold, onyx eyes never leaving the figures of the two Dodici Cosca members before her. It appeared that the insects had some use to her, after all. Nuit had informed her of the woman's involvement in bringing Vignoble down upon the organisation, but Sonny Dodici himself ... that truly was a surprise. The disgusting and bestial scion of the same criminal family that she would soon exterminate from the face of Remnant ... a cowardly traitor. Backstabbing his own blood in order to ensure the safety of her teammate.
She didn't know whether to be repulsed or amused.
He was no obstacle to her desire, but he was still utter scum. Scum that she would, if he dared to do her wrong, enjoy letting loose her wrath upon. Fighting him ... him and his immense strength ... it would be QuItE fuN.
"How unScATheD do you want?" The huntress' voice seemed to crackle with danger despite her dispassioned tones, elongated canines glinting in the dull light with every motion of her mouth. "What ... how many hands did you lay upon her? HOW dID yOuT̠̲̖ͨ̓̓͟O͓᷂̓ͦ᷇̓͟u̢̓̈̓ͮ̕͟c̶̻̓̓ͨ͘͟Ḫ̰᷊̠̫̓̓̋̍̃̓͐̓͟͟ H͉̗̮̓ͪ̓͟e̴͕̓᷆̓͜͟r̖̘̘̓ͧ̓͗̓ͧ̓͗͟͟?!"
She dared Sonny to answer wrong.
To stare into the ice of her dark, unhinged eyes and tell her what she wanted to hear.
Funny thing about combat. Moving, retreating, attacking--everything you do opens you up to the right opponent, if they've got the means and knowledge to take advantage of it. Of course... That gets a lot easier if the opposition can see everything you do in high definition slow motion. The Manticore was moving its ponderous mass off of the roof, tail sweeping... And the Huntress was already in motion. Regardless of what Ben was doing, she'd seen an opening. While the creature was spinning and repositioning itself, she was already running toward it, aiming-and stabbing the spear's butt at the ground near the Manticore's left paw, using the end to vault onto the appendage and land with something approaching grace, if not action movie swagger. She could already hear a "girl knows how to work the pole" jab emanating from Lauren's general direction. The faunus wasn't entirely sure there wasn't a joke about her slightly above knee length boots coming on the ether as well, but she could tolerate that one, seeing as the thick leather was shielding her skin from the poison coating the Manticore's fur. Before the creature could react--as the normally quadrupedal animal would have to balance before it could swipe at her--she was in motion again, running up the limb and right at the creature's face, looking for all intents and purposes like she was going to strike at it, despite the bone plating... Only to dodge to the size, the spikes of the creature's mane too big to impale her as she made a run for the massive spines coming from the Manticore's back, finally reaching one and getting a clear shot behind her-- Now, it would have time to react, only to find the Fury launched at maximum power toward the unarmored back of its head at maximum power and velocity, only 10-15 feet away for a powering mechanism used to firing at stone at over 40.
“It was so no one knew anything.” Sonny said unballing his fists and keeping his arms in Gratia’s view. “I think I broke two ribs, she knew about what had to happen to get her out of there, but it’s not really an excuse is it?” Sonny asked, less to Gratia or Marissa and more to himself. His arms dropped, going slightly limp as he sighed and looked at the ground.
“I guess we both suffered some losses today. I only ask you don’t let Marissa lose much more, alright? You gonna do something you do it out back not in front’a her.” He somehow did the impossible and met Gratia’s eyes. His own were a dull fire, one that had embers still lit but it seemed there was an external force controlling the blaze of passion that was once in his eyes.
Marissa stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve not been a saint either, if you have to do what you’re going to do, we’ll go together.” She seemed at peace with herself and her situation. She noticed that Gratia seemed to remind her of herself when she was a young girl. It was how loyal Marissa was to Sonny, her best friend in the whole world that reached out and pulled her into the Cosca.
The only response was silence. Gratia did not move a single inch, her eyes icily boring deep into Sonny with an eerie, frighteningly intense gaze that seemed almost inhuman in nature. Her pale hands rested lightly upon her weapons, ready to spring into action if that was her wish. And that truly was her wish. She could strike here and now. She could inflict hundredfold the pain they had had themselves brought upon Bianca. For daring to harm her teammate, they could be punished. The desire to do so was strong inside her, a cold, unsettling fury that was barely being held in check.
"nEvER an ExcUSE," she snarled out finally. "Filthy scum like you can fucking rot in hell."
In less than a blink of the eye, her carbine was already in her hand, the barrel pointing away from Marissa and directly at the Dodici scion. The underlying threat behind the action was quite obvious, and the wild scowl on the teenaged Huntress' face was growing increasingly monstrous. The very air had thickened, her anger and bloodlust spilling into the world as Bibere Vinum activated itself.
"Tonight, the Dodici name will be nOtHiNG," declared the girl hatefully, voice distorting and weapon refusing to waver. "I will GrINd your shitty excuse for a dynasty into pieces and scatter its remains into the aether. Your family will be fucking broken. Your accomplishments rendered meaningless. Your pathetic riches, 'power' and influence crippled so they can represent the little, disgusting insects you are. Not even a footnote in the pages of history. The name will be ashes, and there will be nothing left for even the little vultures that stumble over your corpses."
A sudden flicker of movement, and Sonny would find that Gratia had bypassed Marissa entirely, her bestial eyes now a mere ruler's length away from his own. Her carbine was pressing against his chin, the dead coolness of the metal uncomfortable against skin. She glared at him, the blackness of her icy eyes a gaping chasm that would swallow him whole.
"And the only fucking reason both of you haven't been brutally sodomised," she hissed, her voice an audible, angry whisper, "is because Bianca wants Marissa alive."
Gratia disengaged, pulling herself away from Sonny. Yet her gaze never wavered, the hatred and rage in her eyes never dropping in intensity.
"Get out of my fucking sight," spat out the young woman, lowering her carbine. "Leave this shithole and never come back. If I ever hear the name 'Dodici' ever again, I will feed what remains of your bodies to the dogs."
Cobalt felt the Grimm crash into him full force as it collapsed. The Grimm got up and threw Oswald, sending him flying into a tree where a loud crack echoed through the clearing. Than the Grimm threw itself onto Cobalt, straddling him to prevent him from getting up. Time slowed just as the Grimm pulled back for the first punch. Cobalt grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the Grimm's face, his head pounding from so much use of his Semblance. Time resumed normal flow and Cobalt lashed out blindly with a powerful right hook.
The look of shock didn’t help its situation much. Eyes had opened wide, surprised at the underhanded tactic of the Hunter. Maybe they all weren’t so honorable after all the creature thought, ever so slightly impressed. The feeling washed the way the moment the stinging dirt clouded its vision and broke its focus, forcing its eyes shut as it angrily growled. Wiping at its face, it blinked through the momentary haze just in time to be met with a brutal right hook from Cobalt. Its head snapped to the side as stars burst in its vision and it felt something pop within its jaw.
Glaring at Cobalt, it reset its jaw and hocked back some saliva. Spitting in the Hunter’s eyes in retaliation for the dust. Now, what to do? Just pummel away until nothing remained within the Hunter’s body so much as even a tiny twitch? Or take its time to enjoy the quality intimate moment? Punching its hammer-fist weapons together, the beast decided to savor it. Lifting the massive boulder of a hammer-head high, it let gravity do most of the work as the monster gradually began to flatten Cobalt skull.
Watching the battle turn against Cobalt, Oswald’s protective instincts flared into overdrive. There had to be something he could do. Help was on the way. It had to be. Diamond and Emerald were fine, they could handle themselves. Especially if the professor had found them. If he’d survived a burst from that turret, there was no way she’d been caught off-guard enough not to survive the fall.
Not far off from him were the two mercenaries...Carnal and Gorilla? He couldn’t even remember if they’d said their actual names. He hadn’t seen them move at all since they’d been attacked by this monster, so he had to presume they were…he had to assume that they were dead. Two more deaths on his conscience.
Grunting and shaking his head to clear the thought from his mind, Oswald coughed up some blood and began slowly dragging himself towards their bodies. They had to have something he could use. Anything that could buy Cobalt even just a few seconds to get away from that thing.
Cobalt grinned as the Grimm had to pop it's jaw back into place. He was about to get the asswhupping of a life time, but at least he got one good hit in. The Grimm spat on him and he momentarily wondered how sanitary Grimm saliva was. Then he saw stars as his head was smashed on with the Grimm's hammer fists.
Eventually, Oswald reached the pair’s corpses. A fresh wave of guilt and disgust overtook him as he looked upon their mangled bodies, but he suppressed the feelings and began rummaging around in their gear. A grenade, ammo for their weapons, there had to be something. Anything that would save Cobalt.
A flare gun.
The flare gun stood out like a beacon of hope. If he could alert the others to their predicament, they might have a shot. The ships overhead could annihilate that thing, if only Cobalt could get it off of him for just a second.
He had to act. Blood was still dribbling out of his mouth, likely the result of a punctured lung or some other damage to his internal organs. Grabbing the gun, Oswald cursed as his side flared in pain, in protest of the movement.
That didn’t matter. The pain didn’t matter. Oswald forced himself to his knees, then aimed upwards. He was close enough to the fight that whoever saw the flare would surely notice what was happening.
All of his strength left him as he pulled the trigger, his body flopping to the floor as a solitary beacon flew into the sky. Once again, the colors around him began to fade into blackness. Oswald let a small smile cross his lips as he slipped once more into unconsciousness.
~~
”Hey, we got a star cluster popup!” The pilot exclaimed, calling back to the rest of the crew onboard. Sam stormed her way to the cockpit to see for herself. ”Who the hell is that? Is that one of our guys that made it from the wreckage?” she asked. ”It’s got to be. Think it’s maybe a trap?” The copilot inquired. Esther palmed the controls that lowered the back ramp and used her voice to issue an order to the pilots. ”Get us closer! That flare belongs to our own!”
The pilots were about to protest but Sam stopped them. Whatever questions they had, she already knew Esther well enough to know the answers she would give. The pilots both shrugged and brought the airship towards a clearing closer to the location of the flare shot. The powerful updraft generated by the ship’s engines kicked up clouds of dust, pushing small trees and their limbs outward as the craft’s blinding lights cut on to allow easier observation of the area.
~~~
When the flare went up, the creature paused its assault on Cobalt’s face and whipped around to glare at Oswald. How was he still able to move? The monster didn’t have much time to think before the airship it had heard earlier made its appearance, blinding it with lights forcing it to shut its eyes and bring up its arm as a shield..
~~~
Satisfied with the distance between the ship’s off ramp and the ground, Esther jumped out and immediately raised her rifle. Her eyes scanned through the darkness and dust as she advanced, the platoon of mercenaries following shortly behind her piling out in a combat formation. Tony wasn’t far behind himself, closest to Esther when one of their own sighted the beast on top of Cobalt.
”Contact!” A voice yelled.
Instantly, all of the mercenaries snapped to the nearest cover and had their rifles trained on the creature. The ones unable to find cover hit the ground and assumed a prone position. As Esther continued to advance, refusing to duck behind anything, she raised a hand and issued a baffling command. Not surprised to see another one of those creatures and seeing the state her student was in, she felt it necessary to end this herself. Taking it a bit personally.
”Hold your fire!” she bellowed, much to the confusion of the mercenaries who didn’t know her. But obey her, they did. Wary to still keep their rifles aimed true, just in case, not immediately opening fire.
Esther lowered her own rifle, instead touching at her knife and creating a copy of it. Flipping the copy in her hand, she held it by the blade’s edge as she prepared to throw it. Honestly she wished she had something bigger and heavier to hit the bitch harder, but she couldn’t risk Cobalt getting caught in the crossfire as collateral damage. Instead, she needed to simply get the demon’s attention and piss it off. Have it focus on her and maybe even have it charge at her.
”Hey! Fucker!” Esther spat, malice and venom lining her few chosen words. Cocking her arm back, Esther expertly threw the phantom blade at the beast. Her aim on point, the tip of the blade embedded itself in the creature’s arm.
The creature hissed, angry that it had even more opponents to contend with. No matter, it’s masters were surely freed by now and on their way. She sensed their presence in the distance, they were getting closer as the seconds ticked by. Removing the blade from its forearm and shattered it, the creature was greeted with even more blades thrown at it which it easily knocked aside. Sufficiently pissed, the creature stood and stepped over Cobalt to square up with Esther.
Expression hard and stony, Esther stopped and took up an open and wide fighting stance. A stance that begged the creature to challenge her, imposing, cocky, and arrogant. She waited for it to make the first move, banking everything on the creature to be reckless. Eying its weapons, she figured it to fight with a rusher/beatdown style. One of the worst types to contend with her. Looking at its face, she recognized the effects of a one of those that had popped a cursed pill. In the back of her mind, she was worried she may not be able to take it down in one go. She could only hope her boys did enough work to weaken it and make her job easier.
The creature nervously looked at the company of soldiers that had Esther’s back, unsure what they would do once it decided to engage. Then there was the fact of that gunship that somehow made it through the iron curtain of antiaircraft guns. Esther whistled and snapped her fingers, drawing its focus back on her.
”Oi! I’m right here! Don’t you worry about them! Your opponent is me! What’s the matter, are you afraid? Didn’t you use one of those pills? Then what’s the matter, huh? I should be easy! Come on with it!” Esther continued to egg it on, she needed it to charge at her.
The creature was still unsure. What was this woman playing at? Sniffing at the air, it couldn’t detect any emotion that it could feed on. No fear. No anger. Just an unshakable confidence from Esther. How did she know about its pill? Had she fought its kin before and lived? If so, did that mean…?
”Yeah, that’s right! I know all about you slime bags! Your little friend with the sawblades? We took care of her back in town! If you want to go see her, I’m sure she’s still crucified to some wall somewhere!” Esther was talking too much, all she needed was one swing from the monster. What was it waiting for?
The creature growled, gritting its teeth. Reason and clarity going out the window, that was enough for it to react. Focusing its power, it dug its feet in as it steeled itself. Esther smirked, knowing what was coming. To put the icing on the cake, Esther took her thumb and slowly dragged it across her neck. Making the motion of slitting something’s neck. The creature’s rage flared and it sprinted straight at her. Still empowered by the drug’s effects, the creature practically vanished when it did so. Alas, Esther still saw through its telegraphed intentions, the creature’s right arm reared back for a assuredly powerful right hook that would never even touch her. At the last moment before the creature’s hammer fist made contact, Esther exercised her favorite technique and used her Aura to reflect and counter the creature’s swing, parrying it. Blowing its arm away and leaving the creature wide open, a look of shock on its face.
Esther had to work quickly. Throwing out a sharp left elbow across its face, followed it up with a right hook, a knee strike to its abdomen, finishing her combo with an uppercut to leave the creature reeling and buying herself a few more seconds. Unholstering her sidearm, she chose her Ice-element dust ammunition and shot at its feet point blank to freeze it in place. Leaping backwards, Esther holstered her sidearm and unslung her rifle touching her palm to it. Summoning dozens of phantom rifles, she then surrounded and entrapped the creature in a dome of her guns and opened fire at it from all sides. Within seconds, Esther emptied the magazines of her rifles into the creature’s body completely shredding its aura and depleting it.
As the smoke cleared and the last shell casing fell to the ground, Esther dismissed her phantoms. Each rifle shattering in a display little specks of glimmering lights as the creature stood a ragged bloody pulp of its former self. With no more life to support its own body weight, the creature first fell to its knees in a slump before falling forward face first with a final solid thud.
Sighing quietly, Esther slung her rifle on her back and walked over to the corpse. With the side of her boot, she turned its body over so that she could look at its face before sharply kicking it across its chin to snap its neck with a satisfying audible pop. For good measure, Esther unholstered her sidearm and shot it three times in the head. Handgun still pointed at its unmoving body, Esther stood there in silence for a few moments before issuing her orders.
”Clear the area! Secure a perimeter and tend to any wounded you find! Tell the bird it can land!” Esther shouted, still staring at the corpse.
Unsure of what just happened exactly, the mercenaries got to work and did as ordered. Sam nodded, looking up to the skies and pressing a button on the side of her helmet to radio the gunship that it was cleared for landing. Tony made his way to Esther’s side as the rest of the Abyss Walkers scoured the area and conducted their business.
Cobalt felt every blow upon his head as the Grimm pounded on him for what felt like days. His Aura had most certainly been broken and he probably had a concussion. His vision was blurry as he tried to keep himself conscious, he could've sworn that he felt the Grimm get up he was so fucked up. He tried to grab at it to keep its attention off of Oswald, but he failed miserably. Gunshots sounded off loudly as he turned his head towards where the Grimm was heading. The guns stopped and he saw Esther heading towards what appeared to be the Grimm's corpse. Cobalt smiled and started to close his eyes, attempting to fight unconsciousness, but failing as he finally passed out.
As the ramp lowered Diamond had to resist the urge to jump out and charge. Another one of those things seemed to have Cobalt in its firm grip and was giving him hell. But she would be lucky if she had enough aura left for the landing, let alone any fighting. Furthermore, this nutcase huntress looked different somehow, more defaced and downright monstrous than the other one. And just about everybody on the gunship probably knew better how to deal with it.
It didn’t seem like Cobalt was the one who shot the flare though, so Diamond’s eyes zoomed over the field. The sight she came upon made her stomach twist. Two of the mercs and a familiar black and red armor laying still without any sign of life. As soon as the ship touched down, she took off in their direction.
No, no, NO! Don’t you dare do this to me you idiots! You have no right to die, and I didn’t permit it! she thought on her way over. Skidding to a halt, she didn’t need to consult her scroll to see if Oswald’s aura has been broken. His nose and thumb were evidence enough, and who knew what other injuries he had. She hesitantly checked his pulse and breathing, and was flooded with relief. It wasn’t too late for him.
It was then though that she noticed the gashes on his neck, and realized his fight was not yet over. Standing up, she waved her arm and yelled at the top of her lungs to be louder than the aircraft’s engines. “Medic! I got another one possibly poisoned!”
She turned back and it was then when she fully noticed the remains of two of the mercs, her torsos collapsed in on themselves. Diamond has seen a lot of gore, but after all that happened today, her body had enough. Barely managing to turn away before her stomach emptied itself, the stench fully slammed into her nostrils. The fates were cruel to them. They lived past the crash, but it did them little good. Diamond hazarded a guess the other two never made it out of the airship.
It didn’t take long for the team of medics to pour out of the airship and discover the two unconscious Huntsmen. Of course, after assessing the situation and their current conditions, the medic teams injected the boys with that odd concoction that they all doped with. After having administered their own brand of medication, the teams applied first aid to the boys and prepared them to be loaded onto the gunship on stretchers similar to Emerald’s. A few of the medics tended to Diamond, to ensure she was okay.
Tony stood by Esther’s side and stared down at the same corpse she was looking at. Uneasily he placed a hand on her shoulder. ”Hey.” Esther slightly moved her head in his direction, only making a soft sound in response. ”Hm.” Tony was concerned for her wellbeing. ”You alright?” ”...You already know the answer to that, Tony.” That, he did. She wasn’t alright. ”We...found the others. The other Walkers that were on our ship.” Esther was silent for a moment. ”Oh?” ”Yeah.” Tony sighed and she knew what that sigh would mean. After all, if that creature was able to do that sort of damage to the Huntsmen, it was obvious what happened to her comrades. ”...They didn’t make it.” Esther scoffed, shaking her head. ”I know.” Tony wished he could itch at his head. ”You don’t want to see them, do you?” ”Not particularly, no.” Esther’s voice monotone and devoid of emotion. ”I thought as much. I-...Ah...Y-...” Tony struggled to find the words. ”Spit it out, Tony.” ”Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” He knew they were all used to it by this point, but he couldn’t help but be a little extra concerned for his old friend. Esther suddenly drew her handgun and shot a few more holes into the corpse of the creature, startling practically everyone save for Tony. ”Oh yeah...I’ll be just fine. Just make sure my students are cared for, that’s all I ask.” Tony nodded, walking away. ”R-right.”
Consciousness briefly returning to him as he was being handled by the medics, Oswald groaned in discomfort. “Where...where’s Cobalt?” Looking around in confusion, he shook his head. “Is he...did he make it?”
Diamond shooed the medics away, directing them to attend to those that actually needed it. She went with them to check on Cobalt and then helped them haul the two back to the ship. The image was pretty gruesome. Four mercs dead, three of her people down for the count. Who did this?! was the only, angry thought rattling through her mind. Somebody set them up.
Oswald came to for a second, and brought her out of her train of thought about how to best and most painfully mutilate and maim a man. “He held on long enough. Bells are ringing in his head but he’ll be fine, so should all of you. Just take it easy, let them patch you up.” she said softly, gently bumping his unhurt arm. Remember, happy thoughts.
Chuckling for a moment before a painful cough forced him to stop, Oswald nodded his head gently. “Good...thanks, Diamond.” Letting his head sink back a little and releasing a short breath, Oswald smiled for a few moments before passing out once more.
While the team of medics tended to the injured, a separate team worked to gather the bodies of the fallen and secured them in black body bags to be loaded on the other gunship separate from Team CODE. A third team worked to recover any equipment that was salvageable, both belonging to the Abyss Walkers and Huntsmen team. Just as a few of the mercenaries were steps away from boarding the ship that harbored Team CODE, the surrounding wood erupted with the shrieks, cries, and screams of an incoming Grimm horde.
Esther looked up, eyes scanning the trees ahead of her. Turning towards the ship, she saw the two mercenaries that held Oswald and Cobalt’s weapons and began to bark orders. ”You two! Bring that gun and shield over here! Be quick about it! All other Walkers drop what you’re doing and fall back towards the bird! Form a tight security perimeter and remain on standby!” Of course, the two mercenaries looked at each other briefly before running over to Esther. The rest did as they were commanded, save for Tony who accompanied the gear-carrying duo.
Just before Esther could touch the shield and giant gun, Tony swatted her hand away. ”Whoa-whoa-whoa! Just what do you think you’re gonna do, lady?” Esther glared at Tony with an intensity that could melt through the faceplate of his helmet. ”What do you think I’m going to do?” Tony nervously looked around at the surroundings as the noises and roars of the impending swarm grew louder, closer. ”You’re not going to try and take care of them all by yourself, are you?” Esther scoffed as she placed her hands on Oswald’s shield and Cobalt’s 27-Smasher, stars brightly shining in her eyes as she prepared to weave a massive spell with her Semblance. ”That’s exactly what I’m going to do, Antonio.” Tony brought up his hands and shuffled about, flustered and confused. ”You have all of us here! You don’t always have to do this alone, y’know! We can help!” Focusing her Aura, she started to create copies of the Hunters’ weapons. ”I don’t have to, I know. But I’m going to and you won’t stop me. Fall back to the bird, Tony.” Tony threw up his arms and shook his head, slowly walking backwards with the duo. ”You’re fucking crazy. Just what will this accomplish? You gonna feel better about yourself for a little? Shit, Vanessa..” Giving up, he didn’t know why he always tried to convince her to take it easy. She always got a little carried away. Retreating back, he issued a second warning to all of the Walkers in the area over radio communications.
Esther didn’t offer him any response or reaction. Instead, she peeled off her gloves as the flames of her Aura burned fiercely on her hands. Reciting the incantation that reinforced her Semblance’s abilities over and over quietly under her breath, she tightly clasped her hands together as she continued to summon more phantasmal copies of Cobalt’s unique rifle and Oswald’s protective shield. Within seconds she easily called upon dozens, then hundreds of them. Telepathically commanding them to create a formation. With Oswald’s shields, she formed a massive dome over the clearing they were all in. Leaving nary a gap that a creature with any size could penetrate, shielding the entirety of the gunship and every ally within. Just outside of her protective dome, she had the now thousands of phantom copies of Cobalt’s rifle surrounding them with their muzzles pointed outwards a full and complete 360 degrees. Continuing to create copies until she was finally satisfied, Esther then stood and waited.
With the original source weapons from which her phantoms were birthed safe at her side, she allowed the Grimm to get as close as possible before she sprung her destructive trap. To seal the deal and ensure the maximum amount of kills, she brushed her hand against her blade and summoned four copies. Sharply pointing a finger at the corpse of the dead creature still at her feet, she had her blades impale themselves at the creature’s arms and lift its limp cadaver high and to the center of her protective dome as a sick sort of bait. To taunt and anger the Grimm further by desecrating one of their own.
Esther clasped her hands together again, tightly clutching until she could start to feel her fingernails dig into her own skin as she grit her teeth. Steeling her resolve and focusing as much Aura as she could to empower her Semblance, stretching her abilities to her near limits. She could already see the shadowy and dark bodies of the Grimm swiftly moving in the treelines, as black as the night was. Steadying her breathing, she still waited until the absolute right moment. The Grimm were baffled as to what they were witnessing, unsure of what it was that Esther had exactly created for them.
”Come on, come on, come on...You fucking bastards, bite!” Esther’s nostrils flared, sweat on her face giving her an oily sheen. Tony, back at the gunship looked at each of the Huntsmen. On one knee, he again issued a warning order to his fellow mercenaries as he tapped at his helmet with two fingers. ”All troops, all troops! Be advised, shit is about to get really fucking loud and really fucking bright! I say again, shit is about to get loud and bright!” Removing his fingers from his helmet, he quietly muttered to himself. ”I hope no one has to use the restroom right about now. Sorry kids, this is going to wake you up.” Tony felt a little remorseful for the Huntsmen. Emerald was fast asleep and the two boys had just been freshly removed from the fray.
At that moment, the horde of Grievers probed Esther’s creation by rushing at it. Throwing their bodies at the glowing and flaming shields and guns. With a wide sweep of her arms like an Umpire declaring a baseball player who had just slid to home base as ‘safe’, Esther activated her trap. Drowning out the roars of the Grimm, each phantom copy of Cobalt’s rifle opened up with a continuous blast of gunfire. The sound and look of which closely akin to hundreds of localized lighting and thunderstorms raging all at once. The earthshaking symphony threatened to deafen anyone without any protection or shielding and blind anyone curious enough to witness exactly what Esther could do when enraged. One could hardly tell it was night, each gunshot’s flash like that of a million photographers trying to capture that one memorable moment of a star athlete's title match of their career. The orchestra of destruction immediately ravaged the surrounding environment. Cobalt’s weapon being loaded with armor piercing ammunition aiding the iron curtain of fire, instantly ripping apart fully-grown trees like they were wet paper. Anyone could say with confidence that anything living within the wooded area ceased to exist, Esther sustaining the cleansing gunfire as long as she could. It appeared that the hellish firestorm Esther was unleashing lasted for an eternity, when in reality it was only for a few mere minutes. That was all that was needed.
The flashing lights of gunfire died down, an eerie calm and silence came upon the lands as Esther’s phantoms ran dry of ammunition. Not a Grimm could be seen or heard within the crater of death Esther carved into the land. The wind howled loudly in their place, no tree left standing to muffle their passage. The Abyss Walkers who didn’t know Esther stared at her in silent reverence, the stories they had heard proven true before their very eyes. The Walkers who already knew her, were unsurprised but concerned. Tony got to his feet and looked up at the phantoms, waiting for the beauty that came after each major usage of Esther’s special abilities.
Esther was spent, but she refused to relent and show it. Lowering her arms, she fought to regain control of her labored breathing. Quietly wiping away at her face to remove as much slick sweat as she could as her entire body trembled with restrained emotion. Clearing her throat a few times to herself, she slightly glanced over her shoulder at her ‘bait’. Sniffling, she snapped her fingers and dismissed her phantoms. The signature sound of shattering glass signalled the end of her Semblance, the fragments of which fell to the earth as little glittering shards of light. The entire scene a starkly contrasting but gorgeous view. It was as if the stars themselves floated about, bringing peace with them. All the while the land around them all had been decimated. Desolate and made barren from an unreasonable amount of mass destruction and carnage. If one squinted, you could see the border of the woods off in the distance to one end and the perimeter wall to the other.
Tony took his cue and ran towards Esther. Sam, seeing Tony decided to do the same and ran out of the gunship. The two of them stood at her side and each took a shoulder to steady her in case she should fall. She wouldn’t fall of course, and angrily shrugged away their hands. Sam was the first to ask, ”Vanessa, you alright?” To which Esther replied, ”Just give me a damn cigarette…!” Sam and Tony looked at each other sharing a look. Tony shrugged. Sam sighed and searched herself for her packet of smokes, fishing one out along with her lighter to hand to Esther. She was even about to light it for her before Esther snatched both from her and snarled, ”I have hands, I can fucking use them myself! Gods above, you would think all you mercenaries are titty-baby guidance counselors or some shit! Fuck!” Esther lit her cigarette and put it to her lips, taking a moment to herself as she pulled drags from it. Exhaling clouds of smoke, she looked to the two of them. ”Hail Skyhawk-2. Prepare to evac. This mission is over with.” Esther declared, her voice as clear and firm as ever. Tony and Sam again looked to each other and slowly turned, walking away from her to carry out her orders. Sam stopped mid-way and turned to face Esther but her voice caught in her throat before she could again ask if she was alright, Esther’s raised middle finger her only response.
”Fuck off.” It said.
Sam about-faced and activated her comms with a touch of her helmet, calling for a full evacuation. They were all going home. Esther looked up at the little fragments of light left over from her Semblance, smoking her cigarette as she recovered and regained her composure gradually. Oddly reinvigorated from her half-finished cigarette, Esther turned and strided towards the gunship. In her path lay the body of the creature she slayed and instead of simply stepping over the corpse, she walked right on it. Taking care to even grind the bottom of her boots as she stepped off of the splattered remains. Taking one last drag from her cigarette, she removed it from her lips and flicked it over her shoulder. The smoldering butt landing on the corpse as a final act of disrespect and rebellion as Esther neared the lowered ramp of the gunship where everyone were making final preparations for the ordered evacuation.
With her hand gripping the handle of her blade, the red-haired Huntress continued to determine the source of the noise. Her team leader had gone up earlier with Amy only, and it was highly likely that they needed all the assistance they could get. A powerful Grimm popping up nearby a group of survivors was not only dangerous for failing their objective, but also for the conditions of her team members.
"The survivors," she spoke with a more urgent tone than before. "They must leave... for a safer place."
Though Sangue preferred the idea of going up to hack apart some monster with her comrades, the lives of the survivors they tried to save were not any less important than their own. If Amy were to call her, she would answer as soon as possible.
His peaceful unconsciousness interrupted yet again, Oswald awoke with a groan as a massive gun battle raged outside. A gun battle….with what sounded like a thousand guns? How was that even possible, there was no way so many mercenaries had descended upon the area to combat the Grimm threat. Was there even a Grimm threat left, though? That thing had been killed, and Emerald had destroyed the cave the resident monsters had called home.
All of these thoughts vanished when Oswald remembered that Emerald had been wounded, as well as Cobalt. Both under his watch. He was supposed to protect them, dammit, not let them get torn apart by Grimm! Sitting up, he looked around in worry.
Aaaaaand, that explained the sounds. What looked like a strange, cosmological event was happening just outside the ship they were on, hundreds if not thousands of little stars twinkling amid a veritable maelstrom. It looked like a massive bomb had gone off, somehow leaving only a relatively small area with obscene levels of destruction.
“Wuuuhhhhh…?”
Cobalt's eyes snapped open as a storm of bullets sounded off outside wherever he was. He tilted his head to face something and winced as his head roared in protest. He slowly pushed himself up after a second and groaned. Looking out the window, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw what appeared to be hundreds of stars outside the ship.
“Oh man, I am so fucked in the head right now.” Cobalt whispered to nobody as he looked around the ship. He was in a ship, probably to the nearest hospital judging by his massive migraine. He saw Oswald and weakly waved at him. “Sorry. For the gun thing that is.” He smiled weakly and sighed. “God I'm awful at this.”
Chuckling before a bloody cough wracked his body, Oswald replied to his team leader softly. “Fire control...is key, my friend. But so is keeping your ass off the range when someone’s firing…”
“Would you two shut up and lie still until you’re in a shape to move so that the medics don’t have to do even more work on you? I have enough nightmare fuel as is with the prospect of having to copy my notes three times before you can get your hides to class.” Diamond scolded the cripples for their socializing. There was time and place for everything, and now was the time maybe for passing out, not for talking.
“I’ve survived worse...probably.” Pausing for a moment in thought, Oswald shrugged and let his head rest. “Actually, maybe not. That gun was pretty big.” Looking down at his body, he whistled before another bloody cough came. “Hey, doc, can I get something for my bleeding lung? Cuz this...this kinda hurts.”
Emerald woke up to the sound of gunfire, panic immediately setting in as her eyes shot open and her breathing accelerated nearly to hyperventilation. Unlike the rest of her team instead of a pair of human ears she had a pair of cat ears, which served to make the gunfire all the louder.
As the gunfire ceased and Emerald slowly began to remember where she was and what had happened she calmed down before passing out once again, far too weak to stay conscious...
-----
When Emerald cracked her eyes open again, she didn't feel the sensation of motion from the skyranger, the roaring of it's engines, the chatter of its personnel, or gunfire. It was wonderfully quiet, and as her vision cleared up she could see that she was looking at was a room that was clearly part of a hospital...or more specifically the medical wing of Beacon. She was home.
She sighed, more relief flowing through her body than she thought possible. As she thought back to the mission, memories flashed in her mind. She flinched visibly as she remembered when that monster had stabbed through her. She bit her lip, trying not to think about it.
To distract herself she looked herself over, she was in bed as suspected, IVs hooked up to her right arm. Her arms and torso were bandaged up, especially her left side where she'd been basically run through. A memory flashed again...almost as if she was back there again for a moment...she wished that would stop.
She let out a whimper as she tried to move a bit, it hurt really bad so she decided not to do that again. Her eyes welled up as she thought back on the mission. She knew the life of a huntress wasn't gonna be easy, but that had totally and completely fucking sucked. She'd never dreamed that her first mission would have nearly costed her life...or worse becoming one of...those things...
Emerald felt tears falling down her face...those things had once been people...hunters and huntresses like her...and they had been tortured and turned into monsters against their will...and it could have happened to her...it almost did happen to her. Their poison had been in her veins. She'd seen how terrified Esther had looked, and if someone like Esther was that terrified of them, then how could she not be?
With his questions aired by both himself and his teammates, Luke had found himself to once more be in the position he had taken before their minor breakdown.
Field Medic.
That's me.
And he had next to nothing to be one with. The supplies the Professor had mentioned would be useful...
But not worth the detour or splitting of the party to get, especially knowing what else was lurking about where they were.
Sending any of them off was a critical blow to everyone's chances of survival, and they all knew that. Even with Jack's speed, there was no way he would be able to avoid a fight if Goodwitch herself as leery of poking whatever hornet's nest awaited.
If it can ward her off, I'm not sure if even all three of us would stand a chance in a flat-out battle.
All the more reason that it was out of the question. Seriously, who was he?
Tantalus?
...He'd spent enough time dwelling on that. Probably twice over now, if he had to be honest. The best he could do for her now was to make use of what he did have, however paltry it might be.
Hmm.
There wasn't a lot of time at this point. Nearly twenty scared people would be sniffed out in minutes if they stayed in one place. They would need to mobilize as soon as they possibly could, meaning that he needed to have Priscilla ready to go immediately after Jack came up with a plan, whatever it was.
Meaning it needed to be work he could do while the survivors briefed them on whatever useful bits of information or skill they had.
...No pressure!
With a deep, controlled breath outward, he set himself into motion.
First things first...
I sacrifice my jacket to summon my Hunter Reborn!
...He didn't think it worked like that, even in the show. But, at least it wasn't using Thunder as armor, right?
Not that this was the time or place to be joking like that. He had after all just finished describing in no uncertain terms that this was a tense situation.
However, removing that particular article of clothing wasn't just for show. Actually, it was probably just about the only thing he could do for Priscilla given the circumstances.
...No, not like that. He had a shirt on under it. Who wears just a hoodie outside of some sort of boy band?
What she needed was, as Jack had put it so perfectly, was to be patched up. That meant she needed bandages, and bandages he needed meant cloth.
Or, as it happened, spare clothing.
Now then, to get this into a little more of a helpful form.
Trying to drill cloth means either tearing it up uselessly, or a stuck drill. ...Or both. Can't use that.
Putting his fist down, his eyes caught the next-most prominent bit of metal in his field of view.
"Hey, Cian!" he said, catching the diminutive gunslinger's eye. "I'm gonna need to borrow your bayonet for a sec."
After a moment's consideration, she nodded and stood it on it's stock. "Sure you can Luke just be careful"
"Of course, of course. Just cutting something real quick." he reassured her, before going to work at tearing his own clothing to ribbons. A phrase he never quite believed he'd enact.
Long was key here. He needed these pieces to be long enough to wrap up wounds, possibly multiple times, and tie them off at the end.
...Bandage, though. Not torniquet.
Torniquets had once been described to him as "overkill in every sense of the word". There was good reason for that.
If I stop blood flow completely, especially at the extremities, tissue could begin to die.
She would have to sacrifice her arm.
Torniquets were a last resort option...
But then again, what time would qualify as "last resort" if not now, when the odds were stacking against them, like bricks in a wall?
Especially with that Grimm threatening to bring the whole building down on their heads like that, wouldn't that count as even more reason to call this time for a "last reso—"
"!!" he said with a wince.
Ow...
He had a bad habit of doing that these days.
Not paying enough attention. Getting mixed up in what-ifs and questions that didn't pertain to the matter at hand.
Hell, even telling himself how he kept doing so felt like something he was doing every half-second now. Going all meta lost its luster if you did it all the time. At double-speed if you didn't even reach some big breakthrough or insight for your trouble.
Instead, he just nicked his thumb. It'd be gone in but a few seconds...
Otherwise satisfied with his handiwork, he nodded his thanks to Cian before turning back to the pink-haired girl currently very much more in need of his attention than idle thoughts or a disappearing scratch.
Can't even serve as a reminder, really. Nothing to pay attention to.
There wasn't any way I could have known or expected it. At the time, I hadn't realized anything out of the ordinary had happened.
A guy who wasn't paying attention scratched himself because he wasn't minding a blade.
Moreover, said guy's nicks and scratches heal at an accelerated rate in a way that defied any laws of thermodynamics. It was his semblance, after all. Aura was there to take care of the difficult things like those.
Yep, just Aura.
Just another tiny drop of aura that had to be burned automatically. That was the sum of my feelings, on the impact of that moment of carelessness.
As I began to tie in the first bandage I must have done it. It's the point where it makes sense for it to happen.
It couldn't have been more than a drop, cast against enough of hers for me to have never noticed it.
My blood touched her wound.
Only one, and only a drop at most.
It's kind of funny, in a way, that such a tiny event could start the chain that set me on my path. Towards my fate, or at least what became of me.
It's the sort of thing you'd never imagine would ripple out like that, you know?
"Butterfly effects were only that excessive in some crazy adventure story."
That's what you always tell yourself. It's what I always told MYself.
But—and this is in no way any form of pretention or preaching— I was wrong.
Because this infinitesimally tiny coincidence, my life was thrown onto a new course. I had grabbed hold of a new chain of events.
That's honestly what I believe.
I may not know for sure where this chain ends—if it even has yet—or, for that matter, if it truly begins here.
After all, weren't some of the things that lead to this turning point things that happened because I was me?
The semblance is the reflection of the self. That's the accepted theory.
If so, wouldn't this have found another way to come to pass if this particular instance hadn't heppened?
Maybe.
If so, wouldn't this chain have been linked by nobody else who could have possibly been in my position?
I doubt it.
Not due to the fact that semblances are each in some way unique, because if someone with my exact skillset took my place, I still think they would walk a different path.
This was an event that would change my life, sure.
But how it was changed, ultimately, probably came down to me.
The kind of guy I am.
So, you could say it was just as much my fault as it was this event's.
Or, that this event gave me the capacity to meet the fate I did.
...In any case, this is what I feel about it. It may seem janky, twisted, and not at all coherent in my words, but it's what I have.
The truth is something you'll never get out of me. Not by design, but by human nature.
I can't objectively tell you anything about this. I just have my own viewpoint and circumstances to view this through.
The truth is something clean, solid, and unchanging, no matter who says it. It remains what it is no matter the viewpoint, or circumstances.
You need water to live. The sun shines.
Things like that are the truth. I could be from Vacuo but speak Rough Mistralian, and still be able to agree with that.
The truth is something for everyone. Understanding is the lens we view things through, never cut-and-dry between two people.
I have no truth for this matter.
Only my own understanding. My janky, twisted, incoherent, and unique understanding.
And sometimes, that's all we can offer. Perhaps it'll be enough.
Blinking twice and pausing, Luke held the current bandage aloft above her midsection. He'd already managed to get some work done on the largest wounds he could find, that wasn't the issue here.
But wasn't there something just below this one?
He could have sworn...
Shaking his head, he continued applying the former piece of clothing to the long cut he had been focusing on before. It might have just been him panicking and mistaking blood from it for another wound, right?
...
"It's not perfect, but this is the best I can do." he murmured in apology, as he tied the last strip of cloth around her limp frame.
The best he could do.
If only it was more.
Gingerly, he rose with her in his arms, slow and steady. He was handling something not only fragile, but already broken. A clean and jerk wouldn't help her any more for the whole second and a half it would have saved.
Esther sat by her lonesome on her side of the cargo bay of the gunship. Her gloved hands clasped into a tight ball in front of her lips as she stared at the five black body bags that lay on the deck before her. The fifth bag separated as far as possible from the others, biohazard markings plastered over it. Her eyes as cold and dead as the corpses that were sealed within as she painfully recalled every fond memory and moment she ever shared with their inhabitants. Emotionally numb for the time being, Esther's hollow state had her sitting quietly and motionless.
Sam, or 'Samantha' as was her full first name, sat across from her. Helmet-less and nervously biting at her lips as she stared at Esther. She too, knew how the woman was feeling. All too familiar with the loss herself. It gave her an anxiety to know that she had to inform her of even worse news. She wished Tony was present, but he had to ride on the other aircraft to keep an eye on Esther's students. The information couldn't wait however. As it was time-sensitive and needed to immediately be brought up the chain of command. A report was being written as they sat, to be routed to the Abyss Walkers' intelligence division. Sam looked to the left and right of her, nothing but mercenaries that never served with Esther and would be unfamiliar to her. No support for Sam. Sighing, Sam leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. Interlocking her fingers and twiddling her thumbs, she dryly swallowed and mustered up the courage to speak to the Huntress.
"E-..Esther." Sam waited for a response. "..." She received none.
Instead, having been the first person to say anything in the time that they'd been airborne en route to Beacon, she was rewarded with the attention of the other mercenaries who sat alongside her. Curious as to their 'conversation'. Much to Sam's annoyance.
"The recovery team discovered a...few things that you need to know about. It's...important." The mercenaries who sat alongside her were all part the very same recovery team. But, they knew it'd be best to have Sam break the news. Esther still didn't offer a response or reaction, still staring at the black body bags. Sam knew she was still among them, listening, so she continued. "First and foremost, the recovery team...When they arrived on location of where the first H.K. was killed, there was no body to recover. The team scoured the town and could not recover the creature's equipment either..." Esther blinked, that was about all Sam was going to get out of her. "Secondly, as the team searched the town they couldn't locate any of the townspeople or their whereabouts." Sam looked at the other mercenaries briefly before continuing. "And on the flight over to evac yourself and the other Huntsmen, they did a pass over the farmlands. None of the crops or farm equipment appear to be damaged in any way or tampered with." Esther looked up at Sam, startling her. "...What do you mean you can't locate the townspeople?" Sam stuttered, blinking furiously as she fought to find words.
It was at this point that one of the male Abyss Walkers spoke up, continuing the impromptu 'briefing'. "Ma'am, pardon my interruption but as we did our sweeps through the town, we found evidence the townspeople weren't simply evacuated before your team's arrival. Many if not all residential areas appear to have been allegedly broken into. Signs of struggle indicate that the civilians were forced from their homes." Esther's eyes turned to look at the mercenary speaking, but he didn't falter in his speech. "At the end of our sweeps we infiltrated the main security office in search of more information. We searched record books, manifests, security footage, anything and everything. We found nothing. No record of any land vehicles coming in and out of the town with the civilians. No flight records of aircraft flying in or out. Nothing. All of the civilians just...vanished." Esther stared at him, absorbing his words and processing what they could possibly mean in the larger scheme of things. "We...also discovered something in the main office of the security building." Esther eyes traveled from the Abyss Walker speaking and to Sam, waiting. Sam tapped at the holographic control panel located in her armor's left forearm, pulling up the recorded footage and photo stills. "It's better if we show you."
After pulling up the relevant information, Sam swiped at the screen to have the display enlarged and projected on the wall behind Esther's head. Esther turned her head and what she saw drove her to stand to fully take in the scene. Sam displayed a few more holographic screens as Esther watched the footage of the mercenary team entering the main office. Her eyes looking at each new display Sam brought up. In the video recording, the team came upon the grisly scene of a beheaded body. Strung up and hanging from the ceiling to allow all of the blood within the person's body to drain freely onto the floor. Upon closer inspection of the body, the head had been severed with near surgical precision as if someone just snipped it off. The mercenary who had been recording the footage searched the person's body and discovered a security badge in a pocket. Pulling it, the Walker wiped off the blood and zoomed in to snap a front-and-back image.
"One Security administrator. A Mr. D. Davis. Poor guy. At least he didn't feel anything." The Walker returned the ID to the hanged man. A voice off camera called over to the Walker. "Hey. What do you make of this?" The view moved, panning down to look at the pool of blood collected on the ground before up at his comrade. The other Walker jabbed his thumb at a message that was painted on the wall with the very same blood. "In Death we are One. In Death we are Whole. You shall make us Whole, again. This is not the end Huntsmen." The Walker recording the footage read aloud, snapping an image of the blood writing. Another Walker whistled. "Hey, I think I found the rest of this guy." The camera view turned just as the third Walker spun around a swivel chair where the body's original head sat. The cameraman shook his head, "Yeesh. Alright, rip out the drives of those security cameras. We're Oscar Mike to the rally point." The collective said their 'Ayes' and the footage ended.
Esther sighed heavily, turning back around to plant her rear-end back in her seat. Covering her face with her hands, she remained like that for the rest of the flight.
~~~
Removing her hands from her face and looking up, Esther sat in the infirmary where the entirety of Team CODE was busy recuperating. Still in her battle dress with all of her equipment and weaponry, sans hat. Her hair a bit of a mess, she looked like Death itself. She appeared paler than she actually was, and dark circles were beginning to form underneath her eyes. The mission had drained even a lot out of her, especially after extensive usage of her Semblance. She had been piecing together the puzzle in her head for hours now, quietly thinking and planning out future courses of action. She would have to speak with Ozpin. Another mission had to be assigned.
A quick scan of the area revealed no other hostiles outside the warehouse as Beryl approached. She had texted the rest of the team a quick status update on her way to Napoli's location and was now behind one of the cars in the parking lot.
First step, remove the obstical between them and the warehouse.
The otter Faunus reached out with her hand and her semblance for the woman before them. People, Human or Faunus were made up of mostly the same stuff. Bones, muscles, lesser tissues...blood.
It was to this last segment of Marissa that Beryl reached out to. Specifically the blood flowing to her brain. The effects would be felt immediately. Within five seconds, more like four, the woman would pass out. Almost before she had a chance to gasp a breath that she only thought would help.
The plan after that called for Beryl to gently puppeteer the woman's body between two parked cars before laying it on the ground. Extremely distasteful actions to be sure, but it would remove her target from the line of fire and remove the main obstical currently blocking their progress forward.
Eyes opening to the sound of crying, Oswald tried to sit up, only for excruciating pain to wrack his body. He winced as his head fell backwards onto the pillow once more, trying to draw upon his willpower for another attempt. After a few moments, he tried again, using his right arm to prop himself up.
Emerald. The sight of the girl left Oswald with an overwhelming feeling of disgust at himself. I couldn't even protect an adorable little girl like her from a Griever. This is my fault. A sigh escaped his lips as he tried to find the words.
However, seeing Professor Vanhomrigh there broke his concentration. "Professor..?" His confusion was evident in his voice and his face, even while throbbing pain left his side feeling as though he'd been hit by a truck. Right, that...that thing. What was that? "What...what happened, ma'am?"
Like that, Gratia was alone in the parking garage. Sonny and Marissa were gone and whatever Gratia’s plans were free to be enacted. The Cosca’s buildings were truly, her oyster. Sonny put an empathetic head on Marissa’s chin as the last remaining scion sped off into the cold Mistralian night.
Speaking of cold Mistralian’s – Gratia stood in front of her oyster, it seemed to be waiting for her to tear it apart. To light the whole bloody building on fire. Who cared about innocence or innocents? They took her birdbrain.
Napoli Fiordilatte & Beryl Harken – A Basic Infiltration
As soon as Marissa hit the floor her form began to change, as if she was liquefying. The visage of a sad young man took her place as Beryl moved him between two parked cars. Her path was clear and all that remained were the hostages. VGNB’s calculated destruction of the Dodici Cosca was nearing its completion. Bianca was secure, each Cosca member eliminated or otherwise accounted for.
Things were looking up.
The clamor in the warehouse grew quiet since they no could no longer hear ‘Marissa’ speaking. The Faunus inside waited as patiently as they could, given their circumstances.
Cobalt slowly opened his eyes and listened to Emerald cry about something. He wanted to sit up but could already tell that would be a no go judging by the dull pain in his head. Instead he turned his head towards Emerald and cringed.
'Do I deserve to be the leader? First mission and over half of my team is hospitalized and two mercenaries are killed because of my inability to lead.' Thoughts like this ran through Cobalt's concussed head as he considered his worth.
Then he noticed Ms. Vanhomrigh. Oswald was there too, sitting up and asking Esther questions. "Oswald, lie back down please. You don't want to be in a wheelchair for a week right?" Cobalt frowned at Oswald lightly and sighed. "But yeah, what happened? Those were not Grievers."
Her hood was down, hair let loose for once, dirty armor reverted to its normal, non-camouflaged dark brown as her combat boots clunked against the floor of Beacon's halls, on the way toward the too-often full infirmary. The Sting was holstered in her room, assorted combat knives, explosives, and everything else in the armory. All she had was the Scroll built into the plating of her right forearm, which she was currently using to look over the summary of CODE's mission.
Despite herself, she chuckled slightly. Leave it to her to feel naked while wearing full combat armor. Traipsing around a school with a platoon's worth of weaponry was hardly appropriate behavior, especially given what the team had been through. Her lips spread into a slight frown of sympathy, but she still had to fight against going stony-faced when she entered the ward where Team Code had been ensconced. They're just kids, Rowan, not soldiers. She slid her gloves off, slowly, sticking them in her belt and sighing as she walked up to the cat Faunus and gently put her hand on her head, all of her movements slow and soft, looking into the girl's eyes. They were big, and green... And still trembled with fear. She smiled slightly, making a slight shhing sound. "It's okay," Rowan said softly, "you're safe now. I'm Rowan, Miss Vanhomrigh's..." she paused for a moment, thinking, then continued. "Boss, I guess. I'll be here until you actually feel that way. So... If you need me in any way, just call."
As Oswald and Cobalt spoke, she stayed still. Only her hand was in motion, just stroking Emerald's hair slightly before she finally turned away when he was finished. "Stay down," she said authoritatively, moving one step toward the reclining Hunter, even as her voice softened. "Your friend is right. You've been badly beaten and shot, so please... Rest. There'll be time for questions and talking later, but for now, you need to recover. They weren't grievers, but... we'll discuss them when you're closer to being on your feet."
She took a seat next to Esther, putting her arm around her and whispering "here for you too, Essie. So... Slow down, okay?"
Diamond tried to take a nap on their way back, but her mind refused to let her body rest. Her thoughts were a turmoil. There was some guilt - she was calling the shots when emerald got nearly killed. It was her idiotic call - to leave two people without aura out of their range while she and Esther ran up to lose the thing in a cloud of smoke so it could go after the two of them and it nearly got them both. She should have had them split up, leave the grimm doll to Esther and Tony and take care of her teammate. Why didn't she?! Was she worried about a credit drop if she didn't take part? Hardly. No, she was pissed off, and careless. That one was on her and no one else.
Then there was anger. Again they were set up to fail. Two out of two missions, they weren't really fighting the grimm, oh no - this was human garbage that did this to them. She didn't think to follow any leads up until now, but she was in no shape to do so anyway, and besides if she suggested that, she had the feeling she would just get stonewalled again and this seemed much too big for even her to tackle on its own. She was an expert on committing crimes, not solving them.
By the time they landed and got to the infirmary, all of the above has turned into rage. She should have been feeling angsty. Worried. Defeated. But all she felt was a searing knot in her chest and the need to clench her fists and just scream into the sky until her throat was too sore to yell anymore. The shadows she cast were flickering, their edges rippling and as if clawing on any surface they fell on.
She calmed down once she was called up for an exam. The doctor told her what she already suspected: That her arm could go fuck right off, all sensation in it lost until the end of time. There was a silver lining on the cloud, as the doc also told her that with the damage already done, she could now cast on somewhat greater level without any further damage.
She signed herself out right away, but pulled up one of the chairs in the room that housed the rest of her wrecked teammates. One by one they slowly woke up, easing her worries somewhat. They would recover, and then perhaps they could get to the bottom of all this. When she heard Emerald crying, the pang of guilt came back, armed with a stabbing knife. Diamond pulled up a chair and sat on her side, gently stroking the faunus' palm and hoping to provide at least some degree of comfort.
It was certainly an odd occurrence, maybe one to be looked into later. Right now though Beryl had more important things to deal with. Quick determined steps brought her to door of the warehouse.
She looked at it and the surrounding walls. Sturdy, enough so to using the normal entrance the best option, even if it was a choke point. Stream in hand she opened the door wide.
"My name is Beryl Harken and I'm here to rescue you."
