[IC] Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

[Guess Who]

The Dragon's Den

If Luke and Jack were to begin drill their way out, they'd be met with several hundred feet of hard concrete as they were underground. Most likely, they'd be attacked by an onslaught of White Fang and Dragon's Den guards before even making much of a dent. They'd also discover the owner of the Dragon's Den's strange, but immense, hatred for drills. Drilling is obviously not the best plan for escape. The best plan would to possibly defeat the owner in combat and interrogate him on how best to disable the advanced security system.

Meanwhile, out on the main floor, Ciel is not in the best of situations. As several White Fang search the belongings of the Dragon's Den customers, the one that the masked owner had referred to as Morgan noticed the young girl in the crowd. "Hey, you! Aren't you a bit young to be here, girl?" she said as she approached. She was close enough that Ciel could very easily see that Morgan was a snake faunus with scales covering several random spots of skin and a completely scaled tail. She also had a pair of hidden fangs and snake-like eyes, but those were hidden either by her mask or her mouth being closed. Morgan also carried no visible weapon.

Across the street from the Dragon's Den, Murphy watches as the underground casino goes into lock down. "Team? Hello? You there?" he calls out on the radio, not knowing that all communication inside and out has been jammed. He switches channel's to call his department. "This is Murphy, I need a SWAT team at my location now... with explosives. The heavy stuff. We got a big barricade to blast through."

Several blocks away from the Dragon's Den, a lone man walking home from work casually strides down the street. "Oh boy, I just got a promotion at work, my wife is pregnant, and all of my family has their health. Nothing could possibly ruin this day," he says cheerfully as he passes a very dark alley that a very hungry cannibal could easily be hiding in to grab her next victim, if she so wanted to. But what's the likelihood of something like that happening? Not like there's some crazy fox girl running around the city who might have said cannibalistic tendencies and is already thinking of trying to find her next meal. Right?

[Sho Minazuki]

Jack Orpheus | Dragon's Den

As Jack and Luke searched the back area, they were constantly met with dead ends and areas locked down by the security system... So far, the only route was back to the party floor. There was no alternate route out. As the two came up to around that floor, they scanned the situation... White Fang members were searching through the crowd, one of their team mates Ciel was within the crowd as they remembered. They can't see her at the moment, there was no high point to survey from, but there was a way around the sides. It looks like it was just going to be them three, as Mokuren was outside and locked out... Jack volunteered to survey the situation and told Luke to stay put and prepare a plan while he observed the room layout and enemy positions.

He's managed to figure out the general positions of the White Fang members, and spotted the White Fang's leader here... The mask was a real give-away. On the other hand there appeared to be two more major officers so to speak, based on the commands they were giving. He caught their names, Morgan and Mordred... A plan of combat may be difficult with this many people, but he has enough information, including Ciel's position, so he returned to Luke with the information.

"Ten enemies, seven of which are mooks, two seem to be officers, and there is one leader, it's possible there are more, but those are the ones I see now. I've found Ciel in the far corner..."

"Hey, you! Aren't you a bit young to be here, girl?"

Jack heard this over the crowd... It looks like they've spotted Ciel.

"If we're going to act, we'll have to act fast...", he stated. So what can they do? What can Ciel do? Jack was a little glad Mokuren wasn't here, she didn't really have a mind to keep civilians out of combat... So what was the priority? Was it to win this battle as efficiently as possible? If only they can get the rest of the civilians out of the area, this would be far easier to approach. Radio communications were jammed unfortunately, so they couldn't count on help from outside...

There was no good chance to act yet, so he waited for the moment...

[HereComesTheSnow]

Lucas Schwarze--Desperate times...

Luke's face hardened, also hearing Ciel come under scrutiny of the forces patrolling the now locked-down nightclub. This situation had gone to hell in a handbasket quickly, and their search for a good place to tunnel out of had come up alarmingly empty for a nightclub in the middle of a city.

Really, how did this place turn into Fort Knox?

Shaking the train of thought away, Luke glanced out of the corner of his eye to Jack, who was currently doing an amazingly accurate impromptu impression of a loaded spring, waiting for the perfect moment to act.

He needed a moment, huh?

That gave Luke an idea.

"If you need a distraction, I've got you covered." he said lowly, switching down from drills, to gauntlets, and finally back to watches. Crouching low, he practically assumed a runner's pose straight off of a track meet, a curiously mischievous fire in his gray eyes.

"Just give the word."

[KabenSaal]

Mokuren Sabella| Nowhere in particular

The fox girl wandered down an alleyway after casually disengaging from the man who had been given far to many stats to place when he started the game. If she had stayed around, it would have become even more boring that in already was, so she left. And now, she was being treated to the exclamations of pride from a man who had gotten all the right cards this morning. But then, something hit her nose. A rather, stabbing smell. Having been eating people for quite some time, she was well attuned to the smells of people's blood, so she could avoid those who had the nasty illnesses, even if they didn't know it yet. She was no doctor, so she had no name for it, but she was certain that she didn't want to eat him.

"You should go see the doctor. There is something wrong with your blood" She told him, ignoring the confused look he gave her as she walked past. Sure, she was a homicidal faunus bitch - Cannibalism would not be the accurate term, since she ate humans and was not fully human - but she had her standards. So, instead she followed her ears to yet another dark alley - there were a lot of dark alleys - and stuck her sword though the chest of a man with a woman pinned against the wall.
"You'll do" She cooed, as the woman took the opportunity to run away screaming.

[Sho Minazuki]

Jack Orpheus | Dragon's Den

"No, we can't get the... Wait...", his eyes darted all across the floor, as the one called Morgan began to scrutinize poor little Ciel, the other White Fang members began to move around their superior... The amount of civilians between each one became smaller and smaller. The main problem was going to be what came after the move he had in mind, it appears Luke has an idea too. A moment's distraction was all he needed, and that was what Luke was offering.

"A distraction then...?", if they can clean up the several standard mooks, then they can create a more controlled battlefield. Neither Luke nor Ciel can tackle that many weak targets in an instant. On the other hand, if he had the space, Jack could. This came down to how well he can make use of what precious moments Luke can get him. The look in Luke's eyes told him he was pretty gung-ho for this. The White Fang members were moving into a formation in case Ciel turned out to be dangerous... Well in her current state, she wasn't quite, but...

"Alright then, let's go", he said, snatching a poker chip from the table beside them.

"This is the signal, when I throw it at one of the mooks, unleash hell", he stated. His smile returned in this moment, and before Luke can respond with proper words, like a blue shadow he darted away towards the chandeliers.

---

From above he surveyed the targets, and the path he should take if he were to get his opportunity... Yes, got it.

"Time for the main event", he smiled. He nicked a White Fang mask from the back area, so he was putting that on. Though he added a blue gash on it with his dagger while he was on the chandelier, it was still glowing. He threw the poker chip he had picked up earlier, and threw it down, hitting one of the White Fang members square in the back of the head, enough to make them groan. This was the moment. It was time for Luke to charge, as Jack watched from above for the perfect moment.

"But seriously though, these masks are really cool", he muttered to himself.

[HereComesTheSnow]

Lucas Schwarze -- Desperate Measures

Give them hell, huh?

At that, Luke's face split into a broad grin, a dark chuckle rising from his chest. Oh, if Jack wanted them to have hell, then he had the perfect thing in mind. Adjusting his stance, he eagerly awaited the go signal, keeping an eye on Ciel every few seconds. Drawing inspiration from the sight of her in such a tight spot.

He was brought back to attention by the sharp thwack and groaned "What the hell..." that was Jack's signal.

Here we go!

With a righteously furious roar, the perpetually resilient teen charged forward into the crowd, on a beeline straight towards the group surrounding his teammate. A few turned at the source of the sudden racket, but those that didn't fell prey to one universal aspect of psychology amongst all sentient beings.

"HEY!"

A loud call out to nobody in particular always gets everyone's attention.

At once, all heads turned to face him, as he stood there, huffing and puffing like a wolf looking to blow their houses down. Perfect setup for Jack to work some magic. He just had to hold their attention for a few more seconds, and luckily for all of them, Luke knew exactly how. His midnight blue team leader had no idea how on the button he was about Luke raising hell in this moment. Really, it was kind of literately perfect how this was all about to play out. Drawing from the anger he had kept in check all throughout the day, Luke became the single most hellish thing on the planet.

An irate customer.

"I'D HATE TO RAIN ON YOUR 'HARASS A LITTLE GIRL LIKE IT'S MIDDLE SCHOOL' PARADE, BUT JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW?! I TRY TO GO TO THE BATHROOM AND RELIEVE MYSELF, BUT I'M SUDDENLY LOCKED OUT BY A FUCKING ROBOT GARAGE DOOR, AND YOUR DJ DECIDES HE'S LOST ALL TASTE IN MUSIC AND PLAYS THIS GARBAGE! IF YOU'RE GONNA PLAY CRAP LIKE THIS, AT LEAST MAKE IT SANDSTORM SO I CAN HAVE A LAUGH!" he screamed, looking to be the human personification of a great volcano god blowing their top. This was actually very cathartic, and the suddenly thespian Hunter-in-training found himself on a roll.

"AND BETTER YET, I COME BACK TO ALL THE STAFF ARE WEARING MASKS LIKE IT'S SOME DUMB PARTY, AND SURROUNDING SOME POOR KID LIKE THEY WANT HER LUNCH MONEY! DO YOU THINK SCREWING WITH A MAN'S BLADDER IS A GAME?! I THOUGHT WE GREW OUT OF LOCKDOWN DRILL ONCE WE GRADUATED HIGHSCHOOL, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS PLACE'S DEAL? THIS IS BEYOND SHITTY SERVICE, THIS IS LITERALLY IMPEDING MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS! MY RIGHT TO LIBERTY! I'VE DEALT WITH SOME SUB-PAR ESTABLISHMENTS IN MY TIME, SO I WANTED TO BE NICE, BUT LOCKING DOWN THE BATHROOM IS TOO DAMN FAR! I'M WRITING THIS PLACE UP!"

Delivering an ultimatum, a rant, and most importantly, a distraction, Luke found himself needing to disguise a cheshire grin.

[Sho Minazuki]

Jack Orpheus | Dragon's Den

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA", Jack was really laughing it up from up top, this was a hilarious sight to see. The guards were moving towards Luke, trying to get him to calm down, while the two he figured out as Morgan and Mordred looked on from the far side with suspicion. Their positioning was a trouble though, Ciel was caught in the backside of them, if they realized she was with them when a fight broke out, that could be bad. Though with their backs turned... Jack fell backwards over on Ciel's position, somersaulting moments from the ground, landing square on both feet, before snatching Ciel up in a princess carry and speeding off to the side and laying her down. With little delay, he turned back to the seven mooks, who were still distracted. If he executed this properly, no one would notice that Ciel was relocated... Though Morgan and Mordred may notice something, but it didn't matter to him. A few moments were all he needed to make this a more clean engagement.

The guards approaching Luke would start falling one by one in quick succession as their backs were slashed, a blue lightning streak for each one, transpiring in a mere one and a half seconds. For dramatic effect, he stopped in front of Luke.

"Remind me to never run a store when you're around", he joked. He pulled the White Fang mask off his face, the one he stole, and turned to the clown-mask guy who he assumed was the leader.

"Oh by the way, can I keep this? Customize it? Kinda like yours but less like a clown, maybe like a bird or something? Definitely gonna make it blue and stuff", he asked. It shouldn't be too hard for Ciel to join the two, what with where he laid her down. This was likely going to come down to a 3 on 3 engagement, Mordred, Morgan and the leader, versus these three.

"Never got your name either, or are you fine with being called a clown?", he continued.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Protest Mission- Team RPGD

Three dozen people, all clad in typical White Fang attire, stood in formation in front in front of a large, muscular man wearing an altered uniformed, having metal forearm guards, a raised collar, and a full facemask with red eyes, and a red streak going from each eye to the bottom of the mask. After a few moments of silently watching the others, the man spoke up. "Alright, grunts, same plan as always: large coats, blend in, and wait until I give the signal. Then...kill any human in sight."

The speech was met with cheers from the 'grunts', which the speaker chuckled gravely at before silencing them with a hand. "Now, we have buildings on the west and north sides of the square. I want a three-man rifle team from each squad, one on each side, with the third on reserve. West side has the taller buildings, five stories. I want that team on the fourth floor. We've already rented the apartment you'll need. The North side buildings are small, only two stories, so I want the rifle team on the roof. Make sure you can set up a crossfire with the other team.

"As for the third team, set up on the roof of the building team one is in. When everybody is set up, let me know. Once I give the signal, kill the humans. Taurus has finally decided to get serious."

Again, the speech was met with cheers, which the speaker allowed to continue as he hefted a large chainsaw into his arms. "I will be watching from a safe location. Do not make me join you."

---------------------------------------------------------

As the protest carried on in the plaza, unbeknownst to the hundreds of peaceful protestors, White Fang agents began to infiltrate. Each had a large jacket on that could be quickly removed, concealing their armor and weapons. The rifle teams were just starting to set up when their earpieces started alerted them that their Lieutenant was speaking. "Rifle teams, I'd like an estimate of how many people are there: Faunus and Human. Taurus wants a casaulty projection. And do please try not to kill any Faunus if possible. We have a reputation to uphold."

A few moments later, the Lieutenant's earpiece told him the response. "Estimate four hundred fifty, about a hundred and eighty of which are Human. Hunting looks good today."

Greyson was in the crowd, ready and waiting for anything to happen as he radioed the others, "All clear on the ground so far, nothing to report." Already ansty about all this, Greyson was worried something was going to happen. Despite it being a protest for the Faunus rights, Greyson was wary of all of them because he knew that the White Fang was looking for a fight, and Greyson was ready to give it to them. Greyson's semblance was literally meant for him to stand his ground and not run, so it made perfect sense for him to be on the ground in case some of them decided to jump in and start attacking. Greyson kept his eyes open and a hand on his sword handle the entire time.

"Nothing here either," Daniel reported on his radio. He sighed as he lazily scanned the crowd. Faunus rights this, Faunus rights that, it was getting tiresome. Sure, he gave his support to the Faunus, but there was only so much he could bear. Daniel began to wonder how long he had been standing around. An hour? Nah, probably half. Who knows, he didn't keep track of the time. He almost wished the White Fang would do something just so he wouldn't be so bored. For a moment, though, he thought he saw something suspicious. He scanned the area for a few seconds, then he decided that it was just a trick of the light and resumed being bored.

Robert went person-to-person, checking the contents of their pockets each time, without their knowledge of course. Whenever he thought he felt a suspicious item on them, he'd make a mental note to keep an eye on them. "All clear so far guys, but I've still got a lot of ground to cover." As Robert approached the next protestor, a small beam of light, reflecting off an object in one of the nearby buildings, got in his eyes. He raised his hand to block the light in his eyes, then tried to look closely to see what was causing it. The building was to far for him to make it out, but it did give him an interesting idea. "Hey, Priscilla. You're our resident marksman... marksgirl... markswoman... marks... whatever. How 'bout once you're done with your area you get to the roof of that building on the West? Y'know, the five-story one."

"I'll go with you if you want," Daniel added. "I could use a change of pace."

Priscilla looked around, standing there with the others trying to figure out what they were doing. Yes, the girl was lost. But whatever it was, all had to be done within time. As soon as Robert said 'all clear' her mind snapped back to reality, as she spoke to Robert tilting her head to the side while arching an eyebrow. "You want me t-- just call me a marksman, I mean... it is the proper word for it... doesn't matter if I am a female, right? I think... anyways! You want me to go.. up there?" she said looking at the building being afraid of heights. That was when Daniel decided to come a long with her, she rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hips while the other ran her fingers through her hair. "Alright. If you come with me, no jokes, no nothing. Just plain business, alright?" with that Priscilla continued scanning around.

"Yeah, yeah," Daniel said with a mischievous smile on his face that he couldn't hold back. Well, there goes his plans to make some smart remarks on the way. Oh well, perhaps another time. Making his way through the crowd, he eventually found Priscilla, giving and wave and saying, "There you are. Let's go." As they walked, he noted her hesitant behavior and was about to make a smart remark, then held his tongue and continued. It was going to be harder than he thought it would be to not make any jokes.

While the four went about their patrols, the north rifle team noticed Priscilla and Daniel starting to make their way towards the five-story building. "Hey, floor three team, you got some kids heading over your way. Armed, too. Probably some of those Beacon kids."

After a moment, their radio crackled to life. "Got it. I'll send the other two down and keep a lookout up here. Keep an eye on them for us." As soon as he'd said that, his two team mates made their way out the door and down the stairs, trying to get an eye on their interruptors before their cover was blown.

Meanwhile, the north rifle team watched on, their rifleman keeping an aim on the two as they walked towards the building. "Hey, Lieutenant, we've got some armed kids here. We think they're from Beacon."

When the booming laughter came from the radio in the communicator's hand, the spotter winced. "Ha, that's rich! They think they can send a bunch of kids to stop three dozen White Fang agents? How many are we looking at? Four, eight? They work in teams of four, so there have to be at least that many."

"Well, sir, we only see two right now. We'll let you know when we get more." The communicator was a bit shaken by the unexpected response, but managed to keep his composure. "Boss says they work in teams of four, so there have to be at least two more. Keep an eye out and get ready."

Robert continued checking the pockets of each member of the crowd. The process was taking forever, but at least it made sure that he found any White Fang member hiding in the crowd. Which he finally did. As Robert's hand slipped into the pocket of a cat faunus in a trench coat, he pulled out a mask of the White Fang. He tensed up. Robert had done it, he had found one of the White Fang. But now what? Call him out on it? Watch him and wait for him to make a move? Robert was extremely nervous, but then another thought crossed his mind. These guys, the White Fang, were the same group that took his family from him. An intense anger began to boil inside of him. "No way are these guys going to hurt another human being," he said. Robert grabbed the man by the shoulder and turned him around. "Hey! What's this! Are you with the White Fang!?" he shouted angrily at the stranger.

When he felt somebody forcibly turn him and shout about the White Fang, the grunt reached for the weapon on his back and the mask in his pocket, only to find himself devoid of the latter. "You took my mask, huh, kid? Well, I'm gonna need that back." Pulling a shotgun out from behind his back, the grunt reached out to Robert with his empty hand. "Kid, you make a scene, and I start shooting. You don't want that, do you?"

Normally, Robert would have panicked and try to avoid the man's shotgun, but not this time. Robert was furious at the sight of the White Fang member. He lunged at the man, tackling him to the ground and grabbing for his weapon. "You're not getting away with this!" he shouted. Past and present seemed to collide together in his mind as he struggled with the White Fang member. Robert couldn't help but confuse the man he was fighting now with one of the White Fang from his childhood. Eventually, he slipped the weapon away from his enemy's grasp and threw it behind him, landing somewhere in the crowd. Now that that problem was handled, Robert rose to his feet and aimed his weapons at him. Suddenly, Robert came back to the present. "Hey, guys. I caught one."

Priscilla was still standing there waiting for Daniel to hurry his ass up and meet up with her. A couple of seconds later, he was finally here. "Huh, finally you are here and remember.. do not ask me questions.. because you won't get it out of me, alright?" she smiled at him before walking to the building that Robert told them to head too. "Oh, another thing. One perveted joke coming out of your mouth is a slap on the face." and she was serious about this too, basically Prisclla was tired of Daniel being himself, his perveted mind and now that he knows about herself and Robert it was just going to get worse. Priscilla quickly went to the stairs, going all the way to the top, to the rooftop. "Alright.. I'm here, I repeat.. the most beautiful marksman on the rooftop, with her sidekick by her side." she said referring to Daniel with a giggle, even if he was a pervert he was still her friend and team member.

"Oh, and I'm not allowed to make jokes?" Daniel asked indignantly. "That's just cruel."

When the door to the rooftop opened up, the third rifle team turned and looked on in slack-jawed horror as a pair of teens walked out onto the roof they were set up on. "Uh....boss.....I think they just found us..."

"THEN KILL THEM! EVERYBODY, WE HAVE HUNSTMEN IN THE AREA. Open Season."

"OPEN FIRE!" As the communicator screamed over the radio, the members of the White Fang hidden throughout the crowd grabbed their masks and weapons, their attention now solely on the four Beacon students, easily identified by their weaponry. The two rooftop rifle teams opened fire on Priscilla and Daniel, while the members on the ground focused on Robert and Greyson, the former of which had already subdued one of their own.

Greyson laughed a little after hearing Pricilla call Daniel her sidekick, which wasn't too far off. As he looked around, feeling tense and really anxious, knowing that something was going to happen soon, if not now. Greyson quickly took a survey around the area, and soon he heard Robert call out that he got one of them down. Greyson soon ran over to him, but then he heard gunshots near the building that Priscilla and Daniel were in, so that meant that their attack had already started! Greyson ran over to Robert and stood back to back with him. "They started their attack, Robert," and no sooner after he said that, there were White Fang getting ready to charge him...

Greyson quickly used his Semblance and made them freeze mid-attack. Then, once they hit him, he quickly slashed them with his sword and started shooting them with his shotgun. Greyson made sure his targets were down before moving onto the next group of enemies, making sure to guard Robert's back as he did so...

"Thanks Greyson," Robert thanked his teammate. He looked up to the building he had sent Priscilla and Daniel to and immediately began sprinting to their position. A sudden blood curdling scream stopped him in his tracks though. The White Fang were attacking the civilians, and no matter how much he wanted to save his teammates, the innocent civilians came first. Robert just had to hope Daniel and Priscilla could handle themselves on their own.

Robert immediately turned to the nearest White Fang member and moved in to attack. Transforming his weapons to ballistics mode, Robert shot at the Faunus terrorist's legs, hoping to put him out of action. Robert was purposefully shooting to wound. Even if he was a hunter; he wasn't judge, jury, and executioner. Robert wasn't going to take another man's life, no matter how much they might have deserved it.

Screaming as his calf took a bullet, the White Fang Robert shot groaned in pain before passing out from the pain. As he lost consciousness, four Fang made their way towards Greyson and Robert, trying to encircle them while their allies continued attacking the civilians, albeit to little effect. They had to be careful not to harm any Faunus in the crowd, which would have been a PR disaster for the terrorist group.

"Watch out!" Daniel shouted as he grabbed Priscilla by the shoulders and dragged her away from the incoming fire while ducking to avoid it. Grabbing the door and slamming it shut, Daniel drew his sword to prepare for the attack. Daniel grinned, excited to finally get some action.

[HereComesTheSnow]

Luke Schwarze -- Gambit Success!

"I worked fast food a couple summers ago. Seen things you'd never believe." Luke replied with a smirk. Within seconds, the wristwatches were gauntlets once more and he turned to face the two leader-types left standing. He liked these odds much better than before. Much, much better.

Stepping his right foot back but not quite bringing his guard up just yet, he scrutinized the two further. Not much to tell besides "White Fang Member a step above the fodder".

Hm.

So I don't know anything 'till they show me.

With that in mind...

"Mind if I ask what the odds of us coming to a peaceful resolution here are? I'd rather we have a chat than get our hands dirty."

Two parts bravado, one part actual truth. It ended up coming out sounding much cooler than the fact of the matter. He wasn't too enthused about fighting somebody he knew nothing about.

They didn't need to know, though.

[Agent B52]

Marcus Goldstein - Convoy Escort

“Go around? Dude you have a giant gun can't you just blow it up?” truck driver 3 complained. The tall wiry man Marcus privately dubbed 'captain hook' given the unfortunate shape of his nose and his tendency to assume he was in charge.

“Negative three. Might as well ring a giant dinner bell that we're here. I don't want to attract the attention.” Macus replied coolly. His gun remained pointed at the fallen pile regardless. Optics zoomed in at the base of the quartz pillar, searching for the signs of the work of men. Pickaxes, high explosives, water cutters and their like all left highly tell-tale marks, if one knew what to look for. The thing that stood out in this case was the honeycomb of small tunnels cut through the rock at the base.

Marcus chuckled when the answer struck him.

“People, it was the bugs themselves that did it. I took a closer look at the pillar, they made so many tunnels at it's base that it became unable to support itself and just fell over.” he said over the radio. He chuckled again, sitting up straighter. Stupid bugs got him all excited for nothing.

“Mister Rice I make up only a quarter of this team. Be assured that Oswald, Diamond and Aurellius are very capable in combat as well. Anyway Oswald the basic plan for the trucks is to make a run for it should something happen, remember?” Marcus said. Had he not been clear enough in his briefing? Whatever the case, it could wait, truck two spotted something ahead of them.

“The hell?” Marcus muttered as he zoomed in on their destination. The camp was surrounded by the wrecks of the previous convoys, fortified to hell and back. One convenient bottleneck remained as a pseudo entrance. This wasn't good. He counted at least seven different weapon traces in the battered transports. A fuzz entered his mind as the tank crossed some invisible threshold.

“Fuckblaarghaaddam.” he snarled and threw a specific switch. Instantly nearly a full half of his sensors dropped dead. There was only so much military surplus a teenager could get his mitts on even with his parents helping out with paperwork. So by necessity a lot of the after-market electronics he'd strapped on where not rated against this level of jamming.

He blinked as he absorbed what Diamond yelled at him up on the turret. Okay, get a grip now Goldstein.

“To sum up: Radio's gone, a lot of my sensors are shot, and the camp is a write-off. That jamming means the ambush is already started. By the time reinforcements get here either we're dead or they're gone. Instead, Oswald, Aurell and me are going to attack them from the left. You sneak around and shut down that jammer. If you can grab paperwork or anything else that points to who is behind this and how they worked.” he half shouted. These orders needed to be crystal clear, no pun intended. That done he slowed down to let Diamond off if she wanted to.

Further forward Oswald had the common sense to stop the trucks instead of run forward into an obvious choke-point. Marcus just prayed the drivers kept their engines idle. Breaks squealed as the tank came to a halt next to the lead truck.

“Trucks, back to Vale! We are clearing the camp and we'll radio you when we're done. Oswald, Aurellius on me, we are going to bust a wall down and sweep this place clean.” the young officer ordered. Implied was the order that if no word was received from MODA the truckers were supposed to keep running all the way back and get them reinforcements. Or at least arrange a nice funeral. Once the two hunters had joined Marcus he went into a bit more detail. As he spoke he drove away from the entrance, going around the camp in a wide arc.

“Diamond's off to look for the radio jammer, we are the distraction. The enemy is a humanoid rebel group of some description. Check your targets! Could be prisoners or Diamond in there. For the rest, make some noise. We want all of their attention on us!” Marcus outlined.

“Can do!” Aurellius replied with an eager grin. The whine of his minigun spinning up underlined his words.

[Forsythe]

Diamond Frost - Convoy Escort

Nodding at the instructions, Diamond shed her coat and put it somewhere where the tank seemed the least greased and muddied. Unlike her usual blouse, she had a black turtleneck below that was much better for moving around. And around her neck was a scarf that she now pulled over her face, praying her teammates wouldn’t ask why she was carrying gear that made her look like a crook.

As the tank slowed down, Diamond jumped off and headed in the opposide direction, sticking to cover where she could. Her gear was designed for the night and was quite obvious against the grass and quartz all around, but the undergrowth was high enough to hide her on the last stretched as she crept closer to the improvised wall, flattened against the ground.

So far it looked like she remained undetected, judging by the lack of alarm ringing and guns shooting in her general direction. The girl slid along the wall towards one of the points where it wasn’t as high. Listening in for a second to hear whether there was a watch on the other side, she used her semblance to summon a few platforms which she used to leap over the barricade.

Landing on all four, Diamond quickly glanced around and found a shady spot to hide in. She recited her objectives in her head to remind herself of her task. Find and disable the jammer. Look for intelligence. Where would those be? Right, the jammer would need a big aerial. A quick glance around the compound told her exactly where to look. Intel would most likely be located in an HQ of sorts, which Diamond guessed would be too heavily guarded to access without a fight. However, where there was an antenna, there was also a communications station. Perhaps she could pull some logs off of there.

Taking a breath she looked around for guards before waving between the buildings, doing her best to stay out of sight. The thundering bang as the rest of her team got to work only helped somewhat. true, some guards left their postings to go help deal with the threat, but the rest was now perfectly vigilant.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald Connolly- Convoy Escort

Alright, this was it. The good ol' boys of MODA were ready to tear these guys a structurally superfluous new behind. Sitting on the hull of the Unsubtle as the aptly named war machine chugged forward, Oswald put his hand over his heart, which was beating more and more rapidly in preparation for the upcoming battle. He flexed his newly healed wrist, itching to get the battle on with. He could only hope that the trucks listened to Marcus and stayed the hell away from it all.

As the bulk of team MODA approached the enemy, Oswald covered his ears so that he wouldn't go deaf when the cannon fired. He was glad to have such gross power on his side, but it was way too loud for this kind of thing. Their enemy had yet to be positively identified, but that was hardly an issue. Their job was to get this dust shipment moving, and these folks were stopping them. Thus, they had to be defeated.

[Lugubrious]

-=-=Gren=-=-

Always a medical facility, of one sort or another, and never a fortress despite Pop's haste in hiring on security guards, the Shelter's barracks resembled neither a bunker nor a military-style security station. But with Gren newly arrived on the scene, it at least resembled a warzone. Not prepared for a fully-armored giant wielding a flamethrower, rocket-launcher, chainsaw, and minigun all rolled up into one highly improbable but undeniably devastating machine of destruction, the guards had initially crumbled under Gren's assault, and with ease he had broken into the barracks.

Now, with bunks and tables made into crude cover, shelves and desks reduced to kindling, and a third of the eighteen guards already subdued or oblivious, nobody was keen on fighting the hunter further. Fortunately, a back door provided some method of retreat, and half of the remaining guards had fled through it while the other half still endeavored to put the hurt on the cyborg faunus, using batons, pistols, tranquilizers, and nets; police and kennel equipment both came into play, but in terms of effectiveness they were lacking. Still, the majority of the guards were no pushovers. At the very least they were well-trained, and toughly built.

Those who had fled, however, had a course of action very different from combat in mind. Melding with the crowd of doctors and spectators rushing in the general opposite direction from the operating room in which Pop and Sapphire stood as opponents, the guards ascended toward the upper levels, though not without making one important detour. Nestled in the back rooms of the Shelter were the enclosures where the more volatile high-aura animals were cared for, and believing the Shelter itself to be on the verge of ruin thanks to the intruders, the guards had no qualms about letting the animals free. Whether committed out of a desire to give the animals a chance to save themselves should the Shelter catch fire, or in order to provide an obstacle to keep the Beacon team off the guard's backs, this act unleashed a couple of very dangerous animals onto the premises.

Among them was Porridge's only surviving brother—the oldest, the biggest, and the most ill-tempered. While Porridge had been able to make small plants grow, and the late middle brother had been able to make spikes grow out of solid surfaces, the hippo-sized eldest iguana could control its own size at will. It headed toward the sounds of commotion emanating from the barracks. Not far from this iguana was a horse with an ice semblance, who, while more interested in the larder than combat, would not hesitate to chill and kick any humans dumb enough to get in its way.

Other animals milled or ran about. Utter pandemonium had seized the Shelter, for now only on one of its sides, but quickly spreading.

-=-=Ozpin's Office=-=-

Fresh and rejuvenated after a jog and a cup of coffee, Ozpin bustled into his office and found the three students waiting. With a decidedly amicable air he shook the hand of each one, voicing his hopes that all had a pleasant day and requesting their names. Once the introductions had been taken care of, the green-clad man took his customary position at his desk and bid the three sit.

“So! Napoli Fiordilatte, Gratia Mindaro, and Emerald Felicia. I hope I've gotten all that right. It is a privilege for Beacon to be participating in this year's exchange student program; I expect, in fact, we may see more of you in the future. Perhaps you met the students from Beacon in passing? Hopefully team JRVR -Jayden, Rayna, Victor, and Rakim- will enjoy their time at your academy as much as you do here. For now, though, let us focus on you. Emerald, you have come alone, but never fret! You'll find the majority of our student body accommodating and our teachers more than willing to admit a fresh face into their classes. Napoli and Gratia, though you've left half of your team behind for now, I can already see you making a bigger splash here than many of our four-man teams. I trust you'll adapt well. Of course, I will need all four of you to visit the official Beacon site via your scrolls and enroll in your classes on our official Conference Document, but that should be a cinch. Today, you'll find most of the school empty, for on Fridays the teams are sent away to perform missions. Take a tour of our academy and get to know the place; if you like, I'll send for Sarina Tala Dei, one of our seniors who often helps the freshmen.”

Ozpin removed three Vale scrolls from the desk and pushed them across the table to the exchange students. “Know that we will permit you no special favors despite being exchange students in our teachings—but then, I doubt you three would have settled for anything less than the full Beacon experience. Farewell.”

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren Orchid

Fighting his way to the securty station was tedious, but fortunately these guardsmen never knew what was coming. Bullets pinged harmlessly off Gren's armor, and anyone fool enough to actually get close to him, whether from the front of from behind, was either rooted to the ground or knocked out cold. He did his best to hold back to not give them serious brain damage, but a blow to the head was still a blow to the head. He'll deal with the later. Those who he didn't knock out he bound their hands and feet together using their own shirts, quickly and expertly keeping them bound. As less guards came to stop him, either he was culling their numbers or something worse was going to happen. He needed to be quick.

Then came Sapphire's and Abel's message. First was Sapphires, messy and hard to decipher at first. She worried about the guards, but either Gren took care of that or his job wasn't done. But than was Abel's message, which was a bit more distressing. He wanted them to pull out. No doubt he, like Shiro, have been moved by the faunas plea. Desperate souls looking for an out to the curse they were born with. It angered Gren... It hit too close to home. Perhaps there was a way to stop this. One that doesn't involve repeating the same mistakes from his past.

But before he could go very far, he noticed animals running through the halls. "Curses. The guardsmen released the beasts!" Rightfully worried Gren quicken his pace, only to run into the only opponent who could pose a threat to him: An Ingunna larger than he was. There was a brief stand-off between the gargantuan amphibian and the rather large hunter. He was hopping to perhaps subdue it quickly, but before he could even speak a large spike emerged from the ground. Gren only had enough time to activate his aura to provide a protective barrier over himself, which he was fortunate he did. The spike rammed him hard enough to knock him into the ceiling. Landing back on his feet Gren knew that he was going to have to take down the beast by force. He opened fire on the large animal figuring that he could easily hit it in the narrow halls, but than it shrank. Whether or not he hit the beast he wasn't sure, as the bullets filled the hall with dust and debris.

Switching to an Infrared vision Gren switched The God Eater into the Terror Mode. He braced himself for more random spikes. "It must be the creature's semblance. Also one of Porridge's older brothers, if what that little bear said was true." Gren was searching for the iguana when another spike emerged from below him. Prepared for it this time he was able to dodge the spike, only to find more forming beneath his feet. Activating his semblance he jumped onto the wall to avoid the floor spikes, but also kept moving to avoid any more spikes that might form on the walls. Sure enough as he ran more spikes started to pop out after him, and Gren was barely able to dodge them. Most of the time he just rammed right through them. That's when the iguana emerged once again, this time full sized and right in Gren's path. He stopped himself just in time to not run into the beast, but than it lunged out with one of it's claws. It grabbed Gren and formed a spike on the ground below Gren, likely with the intent to slam him onto it. But Gren was steadfast, his feet rooted onto the side of the wall. He began to tear into the iguana's clawed hand with The God Eater, releasing Gren only to send more spikes to impale him. Gren dropped onto the floor to avoid them, than used his Semblance to put distance between him and the iguana.

Despite getting a decent shredding from The God Eater, the iguana's claw was fine. It's aura likely protected it from any serious harm. Likewise Gren himself wasn't harmed too badly. Shaken, but not hurt. He knew he couldn't stay and fight for long, but he couldn't go anywhere with this iguana after him. He needed to figure out a way to escape before it was too late. Looking behind him and at the spikes he avoided/broke through, he had an idea.

Caravan Escort

As Team MODA moved in, the truckers reluctantly did as ordered. Despite Rice's protest that they must get these shipment in, the truckers ignored him and drove back the way they came. They weren't about to walk into an ambush even if Rice ordered them too.

However inside was hardly an ambush. More like a warzone. The fire came from various shacks and mining vehicles wrecked and on fire. As Team MODA would be shooting into an empty, dusty field, already filled with plenty of bullets and bodies. Their attacks did, however, cause a lot of structural damage on some fortifications within the camp. And out from them came either faunas or humans; neither together, but as their shelter were shelled, they were forced to scramble for their lives. A most of the faunas ran towards the cave if they didn't get cut down, and the humans returned fire at the hunters. Notably, the humans firing at them were wearing Schnee-dust company uniforms, albeit highly damaged and torn up.

Unaware of the identity of the hunters, the Schnee guardsmen continued to fight back as best as they could, however even with their assault rifles that meant very little against a tank. At the same time as the trucks were heading back, something stirred in the bushes. And out came not Grimm, human, or faunas. But bugs. Millions of bugs. And they were heading strait towards the trucks.

Patrol Mission

The anchor girl just snarled and attacked, while her friends stood back and watched. "You wanna see angry? I'll show you angry!" Dodging out of the way of Ebon's drones the anchor girl tossed one of her anchors at Ebon's shield, hooking onto it. She jerked her anchor back sharply, causing the chain to shrink. Either she was going to be pulled towards Ebon or he was going to be pulled to her, and Anchor Girl used her other anchor to anchor herself (Obviously) to the ground. As the chain shorten she pulled it towards Skyra, with the intent of pulling the two hunters together.

Meanwhile at the Cat Nap the head honcho was more than willing to talk about himself. "Me? Well aside from helping my old man I patrol the streets, ya know? me and my boys here make sure no one comes around and causes trouble or anything for me and my cats. Sure it's not 'official' or anything like that, but the cops never make rounds over in this part of the Red Asphalt district, so it's up to people like me and my boys to protect the streets." That's when the guy with the cat Mohawk chimed up. "Oh! That's right boss, I found a lead on those raids!"

The lead thug looked over to his underling, shooting him a glare. The other one backed down, but spoke quietly about his findings. "Yeah... Uh, well, mostly I heard that the Mitakihara family were looking into it, so they told us to back off..." The head cat sucked air through his teeth and and rested his face into his palm. The cats meowed lightly at the sudden shift in movement. "Well isn't that just swell. Stores getting hit in my turf, and they're tell me to chill out? Can you believe that? Might as well rob my neighbor and tell me not to worry!" Soon the owner of the shop came by with a tray of tea, causing the head delinquent to quiet down.

"Now now son. I know you just want to take care of your community, but you have to let the right people do their jobs. Isn't that why you brought these huntresses with you?"

That's when the leader of the little gang went pale. He never realized that Krystanthe and Sephia. His father sighed at his son's foolishness and set out the tea for everyone. "Son, why don't you tell these fine young women what you know about what's been going on? You shouldn't waste their time after all." Than the old man opened up a can of cat food, causing the cats that covered the boy's head and body to leap out to get some food. The old man's cats however stayed in place as he fed them by hand. He returned to the kitchen to let his son answer any questions the girls had.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald Connolly- Convoy Escort

As the bullets started flying towards the Unsubtle, Oswald angrily turned to their attackers, who he noticed were wearing a...similar uniform. A Schnee uniform, much like the ones the truck drivers were wearing.

Then everything made sense. The fallen crystal, Marcus's report that the bugs had done it, the disappearing convoys, the fortified camp. Of course, since they were prepared for a fight with other people, they'd come to a faulty conclusion about an ambush. But this wasn't an ambush-it was a funnel for a bunch of dumb bugs.

Ducking behind the turret, Oswald banged his sword against the hatch and started screaming as loudly as he could. "MARCUS, IT'S THEM! IT'S THE TRUCK DRIVERS! THEY WERE ATTACKED BY THE BUGS, NOT OTHER PEOPLE! THE DAMAGE WAS FROM THEM FIGHTING THE BUGS! THERE'S NO JAMMER, IT'S THE BUGS! IT'S THE BUGS, THEY WANT THE DUST OR SOMETHING!" Each round fired between the groups was another chance that somebody died, that time would be wasted.

Looking back to make sure the trucks were getting away, Oswald nearly dropped his sword. Bugs. Millions of bugs, crawling towards the trucks. "MARCUS, YOU HAVE TO GO BACK! TAKE AURELLIUS AND GO BACK! DIAMOND AND I WILL WORK THIS OUT, JUST GO DAMMIT! I CAN'T HELP THEM, BUT YOU TWO! YOU CAN DO THIS!"

Jumping off the tank, Oswald ran in front of the main gun, waving his arms and pointing back to the trucks, just to be sure Marcus got the message. As the bullets kept flying around, Oswald sheathed his sword and ran towards the camp, waving his arms frantically, while keeping his Aura up and strong to protect him from incoming fire. "EVERYBODY STOP SHOOTING! WE'RE HERE TO HELP!"

[Ookawa]

Skyra Dawn- Patrol Mission

The world seemed to slow to a crawl for Skyra as her combat mind kicked in to analyse the situation she was in. She realized the potential damage the anchor could do to her by knocking her into Ebon.
With her incredible agility, she disappeared from the spot she just stood at and ran towards the buildings on the side doing her wall-dash bringing her right behind the anchor girl.
Before anchor-girl could react to her, Skyra rushed forward and transformed one of her blades into a gun, the other one was still a sword pointed at the girl's back.

"Now... I don't necessarily like to spill blood, but if you don't leave me any other choice, I might have to. I also hope your friends stay out of this. We are authorized by the VPD to use lethal force."
To be honest, Skyra didn't really know if the latter was actually true. She just supposed it was so.
Another thought that went to her head was the question if she maybe was a bit too naive to assume the assailants would just cede their assault.

[Suku]

Ciel - A saved rabbit

It was a stroke of luck that she was saved by her teammates once they started to question her. With that said she was kind of mad with herself she failed she hesitated and caused her teammates to have to come rescue her. Her grip tightened on the weapon in her bag before withdrawing her weapon and flipping a switch on her weapon she turned into it's long barrel form. Jumping over to where Luke was standing she took aim her barrel trained on the people below she would redeem herself she would swear it.

[harinezumikouken]

Abel having left, Shiro sighed once he was sure the guardian was out of earshot. An invisible weight that he bore being lifted as his body relaxed and seemed to 'lighten'. Pulling back the hood of his cowl, Shiro fell backward and plopped onto his behind. Settling into his usual sit/squat position, he itched at his ears before taking his tail and stuffing part of it into his mouth. Just another one of his peculiar nervous habits. To be honest, Shiro was conflicted. At first, he earnestly thought that this facility and mission was bad news from the get-go. Something about the whole situation just never settled right with him. After having spoken to some of the Faunus 'patients', he got it in his head that illegal medical experiments were being conducted and was raring to go stop the entire operation. But after having listened to the two Faunus girls that stood before him, now he wasn't so certain. If what was taking place was a potential 'fix' or 'cure' for some unhappy Faunus, who was he to deny that option to the world? Who was he and his teammates to refuse that freedom of choice to those who wanted it? He and his kin were denied many basic rights throughout history. He couldn't bar them from yet another opportunity.

Golden-brown eyes flitting from the two girls and back down to the ground, he scratched at the ground with a single gloved finger. Nomming away on his white tail, he was unsure of what to say. He was unsure of what to even do about all this. Gren more than likely ran into trouble or started some trouble, cutting his way through whatever dared to challenge him. Abel had run off to relay a call for a withdrawal. Sapphire?...He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Who even knows?"
He opened his eyes, sighing again.
Shiro hated this whole ordeal.
"So excited for our first mission. Why does it have to be so troublesome.."
He shrugged to himself.
"I guess this is what some Hunters run into from time to time. Tch. Moral dilemmas. Not really my saucer of cream."
An ear perked and he looked up at the ceiling, chewing softly on his tail.
"I wonder what Gren and Sapphire think about all this, if they knew. Abel seems to be on my side...Heh, a human too."
Shiro's eyes trailed around him as he hummed a quiet tune to no one in particular. Eyes settling back on the other two Faunus girls, he realized that he'd been sitting there for some time in an awkward silence. His wandering thoughts having distracted him. Blinking, he stopped and released his now slightly damp tail from his mouth and laughed nervously. He scratched at his ears.
"Ah! Sorry, I...kind of forgot where I am. I tend to get lost in my own head sometimes."

Shiro adjusted his belt of Dust Shotshells, fidgeting. "Someone once told me that if I didn't have my head attached to me, I would've lost it a long time ago, ha ha!" He grinned brightly, laughing. Shiro tapped at his chin, trying to think of how he should proceed. Gren had probably taken care of the other Faunus patients by now. Though where he would have lead them to safety, he couldn't know. He couldn't just well and leave the two girls alone in the facility, that would be unsafe and not to mention rude. "Hey, I know!" Shiro snapped his fingers. "Why don't you two tell me a little about yourselves? So I can get to know you better." Shiro placed a hand on his chest. "I'll tell you about myself first in exchange. My name is Kuhaku Shiro and I'm a Tiger Faunus/Hunter-In-Training at Beacon Academy." Shiro briefly considered sharing more, to help the two relax and get more comfortable. He wasn't out to hurt anyone, after all. Though, he already spilled his life story and in front of Gren no less. Embarassing. Sighing, Shiro decided to paraphrase some. He had enough of his own blabbering sometimes."I-uh...I was orphaned at a young age. Never knew my own parents. Lived in a bunch of...sort of co-species orphanages. Humans and Faunus together, stuff like that. As you can imagine, my youth was rather...'rough'. I-uh...I don't really want to get into much detail because when I get to talking sometimes my mouth just runs off..." Shiro cleared his throat.

Rubbing at his concealed forearms, he continued. "A-anyways...I thought about a lot of ways I could...escape. End it. But, somewhere along the way I found the courage to keep my chin up. I kept telling myself that...things would get better if I made them to be. I had aspirations to become a Hunter, to help make the world a better place for everyone. To kind of become one of those legendary Faunus Hunters that you would read about in children's books. So, as soon as I could I enrolled into Signal. After Signal I came to Beacon, and...I can't prove anything to you but...My life got better. I made tons of friends, both human and Faunus alike." Shiro leaned back and laid out on the ground, staring up at the bleak ceiling.

Shiro laughed, snorting in between. "Ah..Abel, that big human from earlier? He's one of them. My teammate actually." Shiro shot back up into a sitting position and waved his hands at the Squirrel Faunus girl. "Oh, and sorry about how he treated you! He means well, I promise!" He lowered his hands and as he spoke, his ears swiveled and moved to match the emotion he felt at each moment. "There's another friend of mine, he's a Faunus. I think..." He tapped at his chin with a finger, scanning the ceiling for the correct answer. "Some sort of Pig Faunus. I don't know, I barely see him without his armor. He's HUGE, though!" He spread out his arms to demonstrate how large Gren was in his eyes. His arms weren't big or long enough to. "And there's this girl, she's actually the leader of our Hunting Team. She's umm...Ni-...She's got long hair. She's human, too." Shiro chuckled and scratched at his head again, cheeks tinged a slight pink. "S-sorry, I'm not normally like this. It's just..." His words died off, he didn't know what else to say.

He sighed heavily.
"Again, I'm sure I can't convince you two of anything. But, trust me when I say that things can get better in life. They will. I promise you that. I'll personally make sure of that and not just for you two. But for everyone I meet. Human and Faunus." Shiro suddenly ruffled his hair furiously, aggravated at himself. He wasn't feeling particularly articulate. "Y-you know what? I'm just gonna shut my trap for once. You two talk and tell me about yourselves?"

[HereComesTheSnow]

Luke Schwarze--Failing at Diplomacy.

Or we could just skip that entirely.

His shoulders sagged a little as a muted sigh escaped his lungs. On one hand, he was glad Ciel was fired up in the event his token attempt at negotiations fell through, but on the other?

Well, jumping in and pointing a weapon at them after the offer probably put them on the fast track to reaching that very same conclusion. Seriously, how could they try to claim to be looking for a peaceful way out with a rifle aimed at them?
...
And Jack's knives?
...
A-And his own armored fists?

...I'm not a clever man, am I.

Doomed from the start to fail, the Eldest of the young Schwarzes resigned himself to the conclusion he'd ran himself into long before even making his (admittedly half-hearted) attempt at turning another direction.

"You alright, Ciel?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the two in front of them.

[Eklispe]

Krysthane started in surprise when one of the group piped up about finding info on the raids. Here she thought they were the ones behind, well good thing she hadn't been reckless about it. She dropped out of her falsetto voice and spoke normally in a business tone, "Your gramps is right, one of the reasons we're here," well the only reason but she didn't have to be rude about it, "is to find out who is behind those attacks, tell us everything you know about it. Most importantly if you have any idea when or where the next attack is coming that would be of great use." Krysthane said quickly, eager to get to the point, they said something about the Mitakihara family, if nothing else she could follow up on that. Her eyeball twitched slightly when the cats left to get food, that was just... strange on so many levels even if they were so adorable that she had to resist the urge to run over and-FOCUS._{so cute though...} Reluctantly she managed to distract herself from the kittens with a sip of tea.