Abillioncats

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Guess Who Hands off the cookie jar!

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

did anyone else

Just totally see what happened to torchwick coming or was that just me?

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Well next part of the team CODE collab is up, are we fucked or what?

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Cobalt Chideta & Diamond Frost

No good. Either this was Remnant’s way of saying it hated the four of them by openly stacking the deck of coincidences against them, or this was a trap. As if the lack of communications wasn’t enough, Diamond’s attention was drawn to a deafening boom and an eruption of smoke from the forest. She could only hope it was their teammates causing it rather than falling victim to it.

“Alright. Gizmos don’t work, then it’s time to fall back to more prehistoric means of drawing attention. I was hoping to save these for the night, but given the situation...” she shrugged as she reached behind her, fetching one of the boxes of flares. “Noise and fireworks, this oughta draw attention.” she said as she lobbed the whole box to the air, assisted by a push from her dust. When it reached the apex point, the ex-thief focused her aura and set all of the flares off, creating a big white flash in the sky accompanied by a screeching whistle of a sound.

A few minutes after Diamond had fired the flare, whether she was paying attention to the screen on the turret’s control panel or not, the machine began to hum with life. Powering on, its vulcan barrel slowly raised itself. On the panel, it read:

Connection re-established.
Defensive parameter reboot, complete.
Priority; Wall Security.
Secondary; All Hostile Targets
Warning! Unidentified incoming aerial craft detected!
Engaging all targets as Hostile!

But, it wasn’t the only turret powering back on by themselves. In fact, all of them were. Of the ones nearest Cobalt and Diamond, all of them were focused on one thing. The airship that had taken them there. The very same airship that was to be their reinforcements in the instance of an emergency. The very same airship that thought they were in trouble and were coming to their aid.

It didn’t take long. Once they were remotely powered on and warmed up, their turrets began to spin up as they auto-loaded their destructive ammunition. In a short few-second bursts, the turrets fired upon the airship with a skull-shattering and air-igniting…

BRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Slicing the airship into flaming pieces with their laser-like stream of bullets.
And just like that, the turrets ceased. It was over in a matter of seconds.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oswald Connoly & Emerald Felicia

Witnessing the bright explosion of Diamond's flare box, Oswald’s heart dropped. “Emerald….we have to go. And go fast.” Pointing up at the light, Oswald cursed. “That looks bad.”

Emerald was already running, though she looked pretty winded as she did so.

As Oswald and Emerald chased after the source of bright light in the sky, a single creature that had been stalking them since collapsing the cave lunged from behind a tree and straight at the feline faunus. Whatever it was, it attempted to slam its large body into her and rake her with its claws before rolling away and ‘fleeing’. Disappearing once again into the surrounding forests just as quickly and quietly as it came.

Emerald, already in a weaken state and focused on where she was going, noticed the creature little too late. She turned to face the creature and gasped in surprise just as it was upon her. She’d barely had time to raise her arms up in defense as the creature raked her. She let out a cry as the claws tore through her arms and torso, falling onto her side. She opened fire with a shotgun as the creature retreated but she was hardly aiming properly.

“Nghhh!” It stung, it stung really bad. She hugged her chest and clucked her arms together but it wasn’t doing much to help, she was bleeding from her arms and lower torso. “O-Oswald!”

Teleporting to Emerald’s side as she fell, Oswald rapidly grabbed her and pulled the girl into his chest. “I got you. I got you, kitten, don’t worry.” Cradling Emerald, Oswald made a beeline towards Diamond and Cobalt, ignoring everything but the bleeding girl in his arms and his destination.

“It’s just a...scratch.” Emerald squeaked out with a painful expression. Truth was she was starting to feel a little dizzy, but she wanted to look tough so she didn’t mention it. “Just stings a lot...I’m sure it’s not as bad as it...looks.” She was in fact trying not to look down at her arms which were probably now covered in her blood. She didn’t like seeing her own blood.

Oswald sent an unworried smile down at his teammate. “Oh, yeah. It’s nothing serious, I’m sure. Just wanna get out of the forest before I get you all wrapped up. You’ll be fine.” Inside, however, Oswald’s mind was screaming, his mental condition was rapidly deteriorating, and the floodgates were about to open. All it would take was one or two more mishaps on this godforsaken mission, and he’d blow a gasket.

“Diamond is gonna throw a fit when she sees me.” Emerald smirked for a moment before going back to her pained expression.

“Oh boy, I’m probably fucked then.” Sighing as he remembered Diamond’s threat, Oswald decided to pick up the pace a little. His facade wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Haha...yeah you’re definitely…” Emerald’s voice trailed off as she closed her eyes...just for a second. So dizzy.

Stopping short as Emerald’s voice trailed and her eyes closed, Oswald looked down at her before cursing. “Dammit, Emerald, don’t stop talking. Just...keep yourself awake, alright?” Setting the girl down in his lap as he took a seat, Oswald quickly ripped a large chunk of his sleeve off before looking between his makeshift rag and the wound. This isn’t gonna be nearly enough. Fucking Grimm stealing our shit. “Emerald, you wouldn’t happen to have any medical supplies on you, do you? I noticed you managed to keep most of your stuff when those Ratatosk got us.”

Emerald grimaced before looking at Oswald. She’d blacked out for a moment, either from the blood loss, or the pain, or probably both. “I do have a few things in my pack yeah…”

Impatiently grabbing Emerald’s pack and opening it, Oswald found the aforementioned supplies rather quickly. Bandages immediately presented themselves to the swordsman, and Oswald grabbed his blade, grimacing. “You might not like what I’m about to do. Sorry.” Quickly and carefully drawing his sword through Emerald’s shirt, he separated the clothes from her body before cutting them away to the side and leaving her back bare.

“This is gonna hurt, by the way.” Using the piece of his shirt and Emerald’s clothes to dab away some of the blood not near the wound, Oswald grabbed the bandages and began wrapping them around her back, careful not to leave much space open to the air.

After treating the cuts to her back, even if in a rough and imperfect manner, Oswald repeated the process for the damage her arms had suffered. Lifting Emerald once more, this time keeping her torso nearly vertical in the bridal carry, Oswald started to run once more. Almost as an afterthought, he activated the distress beacon on his headset. His mind wasn’t in the right place, but they needed to get back, and quickly.

With her wounds no longer exposed to the open air, the pain Emerald felt had lessened, it didn’t sting as much as before.. “I feel a little better now…”

“Good. Now we really have to get back.” Oswald gave a curt nod as his face slowly hardened. His resolve was breaking, especially now that Emerald was feeling better.

It was only then that Oswald’s mind was able to focus on what had happened. The crashing, flaming airship was the perfect icing on the sewage cake that was this mission. However, he couldn’t say that he was particularly surprised. After the events of the previous week, Oswald had been in a near-permanent state of dread, even if his extracurricular activities had managed to stave off some of the after-effects of the massacre.

“You know...this really wasn’t how I thought this mission was gonna go at all…” Emerald said as Oswald carried her through the forest. “I thought we’d be the ones doing the hunting, not the Grimm.” She laughed.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Oswald responded tersely. “I seem to have a habit of drawing bad luck to everybody but myfuckinself. If this shit keeps up, I might just drop out and go rogue, do shit on my own.”

“No you can’t give up...who would have your back if you were all alone!?” Emerald protested.

Oswald could only shake his head in protest as he thought out his response. “You’re kinda missing the point there, Emm.”

Echoing in the forest was the slow straining of wood. It was clear from the splintering and snapping sounds that something was delimbing a tree branch. Ripping it off of a random poor tree. There was a loud crack, and then silence.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. More of this shit?!” Looking in the direction of the noise, Oswald groaned.

Emerald’s ears twitched. “That doesn’t sound friendly…”

After the few minutes of silence, there was a sudden loud crash near their position. Something had clearly tore off a tree branch and tried to hit them with it, but missed by a wide margin.

“God fucking damnit! I’m gonna raze this fucking forest to the ground when I get my hands on some fucking Dust!” Screaming in anger, Oswald held more tightly onto Emerald and forced himself to move even faster. No matter how much his body tried to protest, he couldn’t stop. Not now.
Something was pleased. Something was happy. The human was becoming more and more rage-filled. It could smell it. It could taste it. Feed off of it, thrive off of it. The emotion the human was exuding was glorious indeed. But it couldn’t stop, it had to keep going. Follow after them, shh quietly. Silently. Watch them. See how they react. It wanted revenge but it had to do it right. Wait for the perfect moment. Now!

Same as before, the large creature pounced at Oswald but this time indirectly. Going at him from an angle to try to take out his legs to throw him off balance and to the ground. Whether it connected or not, it didn’t allow itself to be seen and promptly vanished into the familiar territory of the forests around.

Oswald felt something strike him near the neck as he ran, knocking him off balance and forcing him into a controlled fall onto his back. The handles of his shield dug painfully into his back, but Oswald was more concerned about Emerald than the pain he was suffering. “Emerald, you...you alright?” Wincing as he spoke, Oswald forced himself to sit up a bit, but even he couldn’t do it immediately with that amount of suffering he was enduring.

Emerald oofed as they fell over, “I’m fine...what about you?” Emerald, despite being injured was now more alert and listening intently for movement around them. They were being stalked and they needed to take care of it before it picked them off. Despite the stinging protest of her right arm she grasped one of her weapons.

“Can you even shoot those damned things without Aura?” Frustration evident in his voice, Oswald slowly moved Emerald off of his body and stood, drawing his weapons with a grimace. “Also, you might want to invest in some kind of protective armor or clothing, if draining your Aura is going to happen frequently.”

Emerald stood up slowly, resisting the urge to cry out in pain from doing so. “The shotguns use regular ammo or dust...so I can shoot…” Her arms didn’t want to move much though, it was gonna hurt to use them. Not to mention the rest of her body. “That doesn’t sound like a bad investment...I just need the money to do it...maybe upgrade my cannon to not be so...greedy with my Aura too.”

“Just talk to Diamond, she’ll hook you up.” Looking around cautiously, Oswald’s mouth disappeared into a thin line. “Come on out, fuckers. I’ll give you something to eat!” Only now did he notice the tendrils of darkness completely enveloping his body, radiating outwards as if trying to free themselves from his body. For Oswald, at the very least, his Aura was very representative of his soul’s energy, and this visible expression was a warning to him as much as it was to the Grimm he was calling out.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Esther Vanhomrigh

Carnal yawned, lazily leaning against his machine gun as he stared down at the forests below. Ski was a bit more professional as he dutifully focused his attention where it needed to be. Stovetop still wordlessly sat across from Esther whose eyes were still glued to her Scroll. Duckie and Gorilla were simply doing their job, responsible for the control of the whole flight when something caught her eye that caused her to look down at her console. Some blip on the radar briefly appeared before vanishing. Aggravated, she tapped at the screen. Gorilla sat up and looked at the same radar.

”What’s up, Duckie?”
The pilot made a short growling sound.
”I don’t know. Something just popped up for a moment. It wasn’t real big but it was large enough to have our instruments pick up on a heat signature. Lost it though…”
Gorilla hmmed before turning in his seat to call out to the two gunners.
”Ski! Carnal! You two see anything out your gun ports?”
The two gunners looked at him then each other, before turning to peer out of their open windows.
Ski shook his head. ”Negative. Nothing on my side.”
Carnal almost leapt out and over his gun when he spotted it, the bright ball of light in the sky.
The flare Diamond fired.
”Hey! Got a possible signal flare on my side! Starburst pattern!”
Esther practically flew to Carnal’s side and shoved him out of the way to look through his assigned gun port to see. Stovetop at her heels.
Esther turned to bark at the pilots in the cockpit, ”What does the Eye see?!”
Gorilla pulled up the feed from the spherical camera located on the underside of the bird.
”There’s too much interference, I can’t get a clear read on the ground!”
Esther stormed her way into the cockpit.
”Get us in closer!”
Duckie protested.
”We don’t know what that is! We didn’t give them any flares to-”
Esther brought her face closer to the female pilot’s.
”You. Heard. Me.”

Duckie froze for a moment, glancing at Gorilla on the other side of Esther.
”Aye.”
As she obeyed and turned the airship in a straight path towards the flare, Esther whirled out of the cockpit and got to the back. As she walked, she issued more orders to the others. ”Chase, Michael! I want eyes and ears open, Condition 1 your weapon systems! Antonio, drop the back ramp!”
Carnal and Ski nodded at her and loudly shouted ”Aye, ma’am!” as they turned and got to looking over their machine guns.
Stovetop walked to the back with Esther and palmed the controls to drop the back ramp of the airship.
”Vanessa!”
Esther turned to face Stovetop as the ramp was slowly being lowered.
”I know what you’re thinking! I know you’re worried about them, but we didn’t give them a flare to use! That could be something else, that could be anything! What if it’s some sort of trap, think about this for a moment!” Stovetop yelled over increasingly loud roars and howls of the whipping winds.
Esther just slowly put her gloved hands to her ear as she stared at him, her hands hovering over a headset of the same make that she gave to the team of students. Pressing and holding a button on the headset, she tried one more time to hail the team on the ground.
”Team CODE this is Vanhomrigh, radio check! I say again, Team CODE this is Vanhomrigh, radio check! What is your current situation and position, report in! I say again, what is your current situation and position!”
She removed her hand and waited for a response. Nothing. Not even static.
Stovetop finished lowering the ramp and walked over to Esther, placing a hand on her shoulder.
”Vanessa, listen to me! This isn’t like you to just act the way you are acting!”
Esther reached up and gently removed his hand. Speaking, her voice was clear but soft. Yet, it still retained its stern tone.
”Antonio. Get me a pack.”
”Vanessa, but-”
”Antonio.”
The two of them stood still for a moment, in silence.
Esther begged her comrade, something she rarely ever did.
”Please.”
Stovetop backed away from her, lingering as the airship got ever closer to Cobalt’s and Diamond’s location.
”...Aye.”
Going into the belly of the ship, he walked away as Esther looked over herself to make sure her weapons were secured to her.

Gorilla was growling, smacking the damned camera feed in a futile attempt to get it to work right.
”What in the hell is going on with the Eye? Fucking thing just never wants to-...”
Bringing his face closer to the screen, his heart sank.
Shooting out of his chair, he hit the harness release for Duckie and ripped the surprised pilot from her own seat as he yelled out at the top of his lungs. ”EGRESS! EGRESS! EGR-”
Gorilla didn’t quite get the third repeat of what he was saying out, as the airship was cut in half starting from the cockpit toward the back.

Stovetop only needed to hear the first one as he spear-tackled Esther out the back of the ship, the two of them hurtling towards the earth below as the two halves of the ship fell apart. On a collision course toward Diamond and Cobalt.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CODE

The shiver that ran down Diamond’s spine as she heard the turrets move had nothing to do with the dust fused with it. She got ready to grab Cobalt and pull them under the construct where she hoped it would have a blind spot, but when she saw it, she saw that wouldn’t be necessary.

That, however, didn’t help with the bad feeling. As she followed the length of the barrel, she realized what its target was. She thought of sending another signal, but it was too late as the turret roared to life and scuttled the airship in seconds before coming to a still again.

If there was time to, Diamond would have probably wondered how a craft designed with combat in mind could be taken down so easily, but she had more on her hands. Too much, in fact. “Just so you know, not knowing what to do here - perfectly adequate reaction!” she hollered over to Cobalt, her ears still ringing a little from the cannon fire.

Taking a few breaths to try and calm down, she tried to get her priorities straight. But fates didn’t even allow her that, as she noticed a large chunk of flaming metal heading towards them. She tapped Cobalt’s shoulder, pointed at it and yelled at him to run, as did she, whispering a prayer. She didn’t know any prayer against being crushed, so she opted for one of long life:

“I am an indestructible stronghold.
I am an unshakable rock.
I am a precious stone.
I am the luck of the week.
May I live a hundred times a hundred years,
Each hundred of them apart,
as I summon their boons to me.
May the grace of the Divine be upon me!”

Cobalt's jaw dropped as everything went to hell in a handbasket and their only way out was torn apart by rogue turrets. Time slowed down for him as his Semblance activated involuntarily. He watched the ship explode in a bright ball of flames and saw the bullets slowly tear through metal. Then time resumed its normal flow, his ears were ringing, Diamond was motioning to run, he decided to oblige her with little hesitation. He grabbed her arm, that way they wouldn't get separated, and he ran the hardest he's run in the past five years. He wasn't one for religion, but if he was he would be praying to every god in existence.

The gates of hell had opened and Cobalt and Diamond were staring into Satan's soul.

It seemed like they avoided the worst of it, although a few sharp bits landed on Diamond’s neck, splintered when what was left of the aircraft crashed to the ground. She briefly worried about what happened to the crew, but they seemed to be geared up on the roboteching level. Surely they got out. If not…

Her thoughts were interrupted though at the spectacle before them. The rest of their team seemed to have trouble of their own. The ex-thief wanted to ask whether the hastily made bandages on Emerald are Oswald’s definition of taking care, but seeing their defensive stance opted to join them in it instead. “What’s the holdup?”

“Grimm, in the forest. Got Emerald after she drained her Aura destroying a cave that appeared to be their primary refuge. We’d have run more, but I got knocked on my ass. As it turns out, 400 pounds of person running on two legs is remarkably easy to trip.” Oswald gave Diamond a nod as his head continued to twitch around, not unlike a meerkat’s.

“My question is, how the hell did that happen?” Jerking his head towards the direction of the crashed airship, Oswald snarled his question, only half-focused on the conversation at hand.

“Remember Davis, the guy who got us the lay of the land? FUCK THAT GUY! The turrets were set to target everything in the area - and no, I didn’t turn them on - but they came in for a short while on their own. Oh yeah, and our phones don’t work! Next week, recon mission, please!” Diamond growled, her eyes joining on the lookout. “I assume you didn’t have time to disinfect those?” she asked, nodding towards Emerald.

“Unfortunately not. Stopping the bleeding was my first priority. Cuts aren’t too bad, but they were a little deep. She’ll need proper medical attention at the very least. First, we need to find out how to get communications back online. Which I’m sure will require going back to the town. God dammit, this whole job is NOT what any of us signed up for!” Stopping to look at Emerald, Oswald frowned. She’d be fine, as long as they got back to Beacon quickly enough. Heads would roll, that was for sure. The only question was whose head.

“Comms can wait a little. How about you and Cobalt keep an eye out while I haul Emmy back. Then you two comb the debris for survivors, bodies and blackbox while I pick a few locks to see if some of the houses have half a decent medkit, agreed?”

Only giving a vaguely agreeable grunt and a look at Cobalt in response, Oswald nodded.

Cobalt had a few cuts on him as well, but nothing incredibly serious. He was absolutely fuming at how this mission had turned out, a simple extermination has turned into the biggest clusterfuck he has ever been in and they were going up against an enemy on par with lower level human intelligence. “You do that Diamond. Try to find out where Davis is if you can as well. He's got hell to pay if he gave us bullshit intelligence.” Cobalt straightened up and looked out at the debris all over. “I hope those guys survived. I liked them. Move out.”

“Lead the way, Cobalt. I’ll be right behind ya.” Oswald’s face could only be described as feral at this point. This mission was already shaping up to be a repeat of last week’s, but this time with a Beacon professor and their only means of egress as casualties...not to mention how much worse Emerald’s injuries could become without proper treatment.

Emerald had her weapon still trained at the trees, she had a gut feeling that the Grimm was still watching them. Eventually she lowered her gun, she was too tired to hold it up anymore. “I think it’s still out there…” She sounded pretty out of it.

Loading the Kitten on her back, Diamond looked at their path. Not that far, but through still flaming debris. Well, at least no Grimm would have lived in the impact zone. She cursed herself for not being able to heal others with her aura - she wondered if that was because of her past, it did seem like something ‘pure’ people had an affinity for. “Ready when you are.”

Cobalt watched Diamond and Emerald wander off and turned back to the carnage before him. “All right Oswald, first priority Is finding survivors. Second priority is medicine and first aid supplies, anything else is lowest on the scale of priorities. Let's move out.” Cobalt walked to the wreckage and began looking for survivors.

Oswald gave another grunt in response to Cobalt, falling in behind him.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From within the burning wreckage..

Coughcoughcough!

An arm wrapped in protective armor and clothing shot out from a pile of refuse and debris. The large hand belonging to Gorilla clutched and grabbed at the nearest stable object to pull his hulking frame out from under large sections of the shredded airship. Once freed, he grabbed at his neck and pressed a button. With a pneumatic hiss his damaged helmet unlocked and released itself from him. Gorilla pulling it off to discard it and taking in large gulps of fresh air as he wiped his watery eyes on his forearm. Looking up and around the wreckage, he called out to his brethren.

”Michael!”
Another coughing fit.
”Chase!”
He struggled to his feet, bits and pieces of his gear falling off of him.
An annoyed voice replied.
”Hey! Alex! I’m over here!”
Gorilla, his true name Alexander, breathed a sigh of relief. At least one was alive.
Shouldering past large burning sections of the ship, he rounded a corner and found Carnal struggling in his gunner’s harness. Softly chuckling, Alex shook his head and made his way over to the entangled machine gunner.
”Damned! Fucking! Harness! Gaaaah!”
Alex grabbed Carnal and promptly backhanded him.
”Ow! Hey! -The shit was that for?”
Carnal rubbed the side of his face.
”Stay fucking still or you’ll make it worse.”
Alex pressed the switch that was the emergency release for Carnal’s harness and down the gunner went.
”Oof! Awgh…”
Helmet also damaged from the crash, the gunner did the same as his friend and removed his helmet. Taking in deep breaths, Carnal - true name Chase, checked himself over.
They both seemed to be okay, save for a few scratches here and there.
”Woo! What a ride, huh Alex? Hey, have you seen Duckie or Sk-...”
Looking up at his dark-skinned friend, he immediately knew something was wrong. He was staring straight ahead, as still as a statue. Peering to the side of Alex’s legs, he saw that a bit further away was the section of the ship that was previously the cockpit. Falling silent, Chase looked away and up at something that caused his own eyes to grow wide. A dark understanding then draining any expression on the blonde-haired and blue-eyed Chase as he sat there on the ground. The two stayed there for a while, in solemn silence. As the wreckage of the ship continued to burn and smolder around them. Chase made an angry face as he placed a hand to his forehead.

”Gods damn it…”
Across from Chase, sat Ski or rather Michael.
Michael was sitting in his harness, caught in it just like Chase was.
His back was to him, but his head peered straight back at Chase.
Tilted in a curious way that almost asked ‘What’s wrong’?
During the crash, it was clear what had happened.
One of the straps of the harness ended up wrapping around Ski’s neck in such away that upon impact, his neck was snapped. Severing the vertebrae connecting his head to the rest of his body.

Alex didn’t need to investigate what used to be the cockpit as he could see from where he stood, the body that was slumped over the sparking control panels. He hadn’t noticed at the time, but when the first burst of gunfire tore through the ship, Duckie had been its first target. It explained how the airship crashed in the way that it did. Had she been alive during the first few volleys of turret fire, they may have ended up in a better position. Though, it was clear that wasn’t the case here. Even with all of their tech and armor, they were nothing without a Hunter’s protective aura. The turret fire made mincemeat of their pilot. Parts of her lay about, scattered and essentially ‘mush’.

---

There were more of them. More Hunters. More problems. More troubles. It couldn’t take them all on alone, it knew that. It hadn’t even gotten started to learn the feline faunus and the human with the sword and shield. Now these two? No, it couldn’t do this. It was smarter than that. It needed help. The creature that had been antagonizing Emerald and Oswald then decided to make its swift and silent retreat. It would be back later with more of its brethren. When night falls, that is when they would return. When night falls, that is when everything will happen. It needed to return home and rest. To sleep and regain its energy. With no fanfare or further action, the mysterious Grimm vanished. Bothering the team of Huntsmen no longer.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

So yeah Oswald and Emerald blow up a cave because that's how we deal with TRAPS.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Well sure but, Thor is literally his name.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

So uh, what's wrong with just taking our time and getting the missions done at our own pace again?

I think we all need to take a chill pill here and relax.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Posted the next part of Team CODE's mission

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Team CODE collab

Looking down at his expected drop point, Oswald started humming casually. It'd only be a short while now before their chutes activated. Eventually, it did, and he slowly drifted to the ground, landing in the middle of a park.

As the chute unfolded, Diamond let out a surprised yelp. The deceleration was stronger than she expected. At least she was used to being in the air through her own abilities, but it still didn't feel great not to have any ground under her feet.

Landing with the grace of a brick, the thug shed the parachute, brushed some dirt off of her coat and went to look for the rest of the team.

Letting out a cackle, Emerald spread her arms out as if they were wings and glided above her teammates in circles, manipulating the air currents was child's play for her. She was tempted to glide around for a while and get a decent look at their surroundings. She decided to do so, at least until the rest of her team landed, free falling was too much fun to do otherwise. It made her wish she could truly fly.

Cobalt screamed on his way down, fighting a giant Megaladeus was one thing, falling out of the sky was another. Hell, just being in the sky made him terrified. The parachute activated and Cobalt slowly drifted to the ground, whimpering the entire time.

Emerald glided down towards Cobalt, and once she came into his line of sight she smiled and waved. "Isn't this the best!?"

"If I could open my eyes without throwing up I would so give you the evil eye!" Cobalt yelled as he finally hit the ground. He opened his eyes and gasped in awe. "Ground! How I've missed you so!" Cobalt took off his parachute and got up. He saw Diamond and walked over to her.

Noticing Diamond and Cobalt after removing his parachute, Oswald jogged over to the rest of his team and greeted them with a nod. "Wonder where our gear landed. We should probably get on that quick."

"I saw them land in that direction!" Emerald shouted, still slowly falling towards the ground. At the pace she was falling she might as well have been a leaf in the wind with how slow it was. Finally she landed softly on the ground before the team. "Boop!"

"Finally she joins us mere mortals on the ground. Hey, Cobalt, we're still alive. Guess we've got some work to do now. How we gonna play this?" Oswald looked over to the team leader for a moment

"I believe the first step is to meet up with our contact, Mr. Davis. On our way there we'll ask any townsfolk we see if they've seen or heard anything suspicious. After that we plan our next step." They needed information before acting further. For all they knew, the Grievers had completely moved on from the town. Unlikely, but anything is possible.

"Might I suggest fetching the gear first before the grimm or god forbid some children find it? There's ammo in those boxes, shouldn't just leave it lying around." Diamond said, pointing in the direction of where it landed, "We could split up, two of us can carry that just fine."

"I agree, let's grab our gear before we do anything else." Emerald waved her hand around towards yonder. "It's just up ahead thataway!"

"Yeah that's probably a good idea." Cobalt headed over to where the gear was and picked up two of the boxes for turret repair.

Following after Cobalt, Oswald grabbed the other two boxes. "Looks like you ladies might have to be fire support in case things get hairy."

"I have no problem with that!" Emerald replied cheerfully, giving her holstered weapons a look.

As the four got their bearings and decided on a course of action, they would eventually come to notice that the park was barren. Abandoned. Not a soul could be seen or heard as their eyes would scan their surroundings. Even with Emerald's enhanced Faunus senses, it would be clear that no one living was around. Eerily peaceful and serene, the only noise that could be heard was from the wind rustling through the foliage of the beautiful park. Nothing else.

As she walked Diamond realized this place was just wrong feeling. Her senses were trained to spot when someone or something was watching her - and that was the problem. All her senses were sending back nothing. "This is creepy. Where is everyone? I don't like our odds if it has the natives barricaded in their basements. I swear this is the last time I am dropping somewhere - by air no less - without checking it out first if we have to leave on thursday godsdamn evening." the redhead whispered her worries.

Oswald casually followed after Diamond, not particularly worried. "If what those guys said was right, they cleared the area for our landing. Probably just in case there was a strong wind or something. But your instincts have proven right before, so I'll be on guard just in case." True to his words, Oswald's eyes carefully scanned the area, looking for any disturbances.

Cobalt looked around and shrugged. "If anyone spots anything, call it out. Otherwise we're just going to go meet our contact and learn more from him." He headed off towards the exit of the park, wondering where their contact was.

"I don't see or hear anyone..." Emerald sniffed the air. "Nope, don't smell them either. No one's here." Emerald looked around the park with both a sense of care and curiosity.

"The Grimm feed off of negative thoughts...sooooo all we have to do is stay positive...remember this!" She nodded.

"Instincts? No need to glorify that, it's paranoia and we both know that. Doesn't mean it is a problem though." the thug said as she headed after the rest of them, her eyes ticking all over the place. "And I am perfectly positive. The citizens of the ghost town I am not so sure about."

"It's not paranoia if you're right, ya know?" Chuckling, Oswald turned his head to Emerald and kept moving forward. "They don't just feed off of negativity, remember. It's a lure to them, almost like....if somebody left a massive feast of mutton and potatoes and such for me after I'd been wandering the forest for a week. Being consumed by negativity is dangerous, but learning to harness it...that is one of the skills that allowed the hunted to become the hunters."

"Hmmmm....that makes sense I guess." Emerald said with a nod. "Could lure them into a trap even..."
"More of a beef woman myself." Diamond grunted. Great, now they made her hungry for a steak. Listening to where the discussion went, she snickered: "Trap? What are you going to do, get a bunch of kids in a hole and tell ghost stories?"

Emerald shrugged. "I don't know, I'm sure we could think of something..." Emerald tapped her chin, as if in thought. "I've got it! We tie some poor sap to a tree and scare him senseless." She put her hand into her fist, grinning. "No wait that would probably get us in trouble..."

"I was about to say that I can't imagine you scaring someone period, but now I am little unsure about sleeping in the same room." Diamond snickered, "That said, two poor saps dead ahead." she said, nodding towards Oswald and Cobalt.

"I can hear you, ya know. And you do realize that it's literally not possible to bind me so long as I have Aura, right?" Shaking his head, Oswald gave a small chuckle at his teammates' conversation.
"I don't think I would be very scared if I knew the purpose of tying me up was to scare me. Just saying." Cobalt shrugged and continued walking.

Attracted to the chatter of voices, a small drone that had been silently patrolling the streets nearby chirped with life. Hovering in the air for a moment, it dropped a sonar-like ping out as it faced the direction of their voices. Initiating a scan, its vision pierced through the surrounding buildings using a combination of powerful thermal imaging and x-rays. "Organic life forms detected. Number of detected life forms: Four. Evacuation directive currently still in effect. Initiate contact. Direct to nearest evacuation route." Its childlike electronic voice spoke aloud for no discernible purpose other than to possibly report its findings and actions. Pinpointing the location of the Hunter team, the little drone flew over to their location until it appeared right in front of the group to stop them. As it hovered in the air, it slowly panned from side to side and discovered that they were armed. Speaking to itself once more, it declared its alarm. "Organic life forms are transporting weapons. Potential looters with ill intent. Requesting backup."
A little headlight popped out of its top and began to brightly flash and strobe as a loud alarm blared.
With an amplified voice it spoke to the team.

"Armed personnel, please identify and disarm."

This, it repeated over and over as more drones flew in to surround the team and join in.
Emerald's ears twitched as the drone hovered in front of them, it made the most distracting noises. More importantly it was quickly becoming aggressive. As the alarm went off she immediately covered her cat ears with her palms.

"Hey we're not looters! We're hunters and huntresses in training! We were called in to take care of the Grimm problem around here!" She looked right at the original drone, squinting her eyes from the flashing lights. "Will you cut it out with the alarm and bright lights!? I'm getting a headache..." This was one of the few times she wished she had the dulled senses of a human.

Cobalt squinted his eyes and grunted. "I don't think they're going to listen to us. I suggest doing as they say, I don't want to get marked down for assaulting what I believe are patrol drones." Cobalt put down his boxes and unclipped The 27 Smasher from his back. He dropped it on the ground near his feet and raised his hands. "This is quite annoying though. You would think that the drones would be programmed to recognize us. The town did hire us after all."

Sighing and lowering his box to the ground, Oswald removed his sword and placed it in front of him. "They don't know who we are, Cobalt. Perhaps the fearless leader should be the one to say it?" Joking with his team leader, Oswald moved closer to Emerald, his eyes counting the drones surrounding them.
The drones that surrounded Cobalt and Oswald backed off, but instead gathered with the others to float around Emerald and Diamond to further harass them.
Repeating over and over.

"Armed personnel, please identify and disarm."
"Armed personnel, please identify and disarm."
"Armed personnel, please identify and disarm."

Getting even closer to his Faunus teammate, Oswald was forced to make an effort to suppress his chuckle. "I think you should identify and disarm, Emm."

Emerald reluctantly removed her hands from her ears and removed the belt from her pants that held her holstered weapons, letting it drop to the ground. "The name's Emerald Felicia. You happy now Sparky?" She figured the annoying drone deserved a nickname, she then went back to covering her ears and being blinded by the headlights.

The drones all ceased their incessant demands, disabling their lights at the mention of Emerald's name.
"User Name, Emerald Felicia listed within database under Authorized Users, Level 2. Please provide proof of identification. We appreciate your compliance."
The original drone lovingly nicknamed 'Sparky' floated in front of her, waiting for her input as it made a series of beeps and whir noises.

Emerald begrudgingly pulled out her wallet, taking out her ID and showing 'Sparky'. "There, good enough?"

Sparky turned to face her ID and quickly scanned it. After another series of beeps and clicks, it relayed information to the other drones and all of them backed off.
"Emerald Felicia. Huntress registered with Beacon Academy. Designated Hunter Team CODEX. Contacting security supervisor. Please stand by. We apologize for any inconvenience."
The drones all gathered and formed a neat, organized platoon of themselves with Sparky at the front. Sparky then started ringing like a telephone.
Ring-ring. Ring-ring. Click.
Sparky then displayed a holographic panel with a man's face on it.
"Heh? What is it? What did y'all fi-"
The gentleman's face on the panel wore a camouflaged ballcap and had an impressive full beard like that of a lumberjack's.
Leaning in and adjusting his glasses, he looked at the four and blinked.
"Aw, crap. Are y'all the Hunter Team dispatched by Beacon? Hell, I didn't know y'all already dropped in! How did y'all make it here without coming up on my security feeds? Ah, never mind. I'm Mr. Davis, your contact. I'll be over shortly so just hang tight for a moment. I guess these stupid bots are good for something. Ah, ignore that comment."
The panel then cut off and the drones all hovered in place, silent and unmoving in their observation of the students.
A few minutes passed and Mr. Davis arrived in a small SUV. Slamming the door of his vehicle shut, Mr. Davis limped his way over to the team and gave a cordial wave and smile. Dressed in a band T-shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots it was difficult to see how he was any sort of authority figure. It didn't help that he held a tall BEAST energy drink in his hand as he hobbled his way over to them with a cane in the other hand. Upon his arrival the drones turned to face him and started to float over. Rolling his eyes and making an aggravated grunt, he stopped his hobble to pull out his Scroll and raised it so that the drones could see.
"Security Administrator D. Davis. Authorized User, Level 1. Alpha-numeric clearance code 61612-A."
The drones scanned his Scroll and quickly backed down.
"Check the clearance levels you freakin' floating rust-buckets. Hah! You'd think with all this grand technology they'd come to recognize us by now, but noooo. Have to vocalize a freakin' code, clear view of your face, present your ID. No facial recognition as part of the package deal. Feh!"
Stopping in front of the team, he frowned and clicked his tongue as he sized them all up.
"Hmph. So y'all are it, huh?"
He took a swig of his energy drink and waved off the drones.
"Resume Patrol/Sentinel protocols and directives. Piss off, nuts and bolts!"
The drones obeyed his command and all hovered away.
"You'd think with how important this place is the Althesian military would provide us with better shit. But no, you know how they are. Love to dump and pour all sorts of Lien for all sorts of unnecessary features save for the ones that matter. No guard bots or nuffin'. Just those annoying gnats."
He hocked and snorted, turning his head to the side as he spat out a fat loogie. Wiping at his mouth after he was done.

With his energy drink in hand, he stretched his arm out as wide he could and laughed.
"Well, anyways! Enough of my bitchin' and complainin'. Welcome! Glad y'all could make it. Y'all have any questions? Would you like to have a tour or do you prefer to get straight to business?"
Pulling out what looked like a metal rod from his pocket with his energy drink hand as he leaned against his cane. Pressing a button on it as he put one end to his lips and taking a deep inhale on the one end. As he exhaled with his head turned away from the team, he let loose a ridiculously large and dense cloud of what appeared to be smoke. Apparently, the gentleman Mr. Davis used electronic cigarettes. He seemed nice enough, if out of place and odd.

Cobalt let out a sigh of relief and kicked up his gun into his hands. "Hello Mr. Davis. It's a pleasure to meet you." He greeted with a smile. "I'm Cobalt Chideta, leader of Team Codex." He would've stuck out his hand for a handshake but Mr. Davis' hands seemed a bit preoccupied. "If it's not a problem, I would prefer if we got straight to business. I don't want to waste any time, every second could mean the difference between life and death, the usual for Hunters really. We were wondering what the current status was on the Grievers? Have you discovered any nests, a general estimate of how many there are, anything you believe to be important really." Cobalt hesitated for a moment and spoke up again though. "Afterwards though, a tour would be lovely. Getting to know the environment is always helpful."
Mr. Davis chuckled and took a swig of his energy drink. Making a face and looking around, he motioned with his cane around the empty park.

"Wish I could tell you more, kid. But really, there's not much to say. Once we started getting reports from the farmers that Grimm were being spotted the town was put on alert and evacuated immediately. Myself and a few of my officers got in contact with Beacon as soon as possible and they pretty much guided us from there. We collected the information for that Ms. Van...something or other. Her name was weird. Anyways, we collected the data for her and just followed what she told us to do." He shrugged and took another puff from his electronic cigarette. "I was hoping you had some other questions for me. Like uh, how's the weather or something arbitrary like that." He laughed heartily.
"Anyone else have any questions?" Cobalt looked at everyone else.

Having gathered his gear, Oswald looked between Cobalt and Mr. Davis. "I'd like to know a few things about the situation, in detail. Recent weather patterns, expected weather for the next day or two, when the first sighting appeared, all that business and such. I'm sure that'll all be covered, but it could be vital information."

Mr. Davis made a face and tapped a finger on his cane, tapping his foot just the same. Looking up, he thought for a moment.
"Hmm...Well, those are some pretty good questions. Weather around here has always been nice. That combined with the natural protective barriers is the reason why this area was selected to become major farmland. Soil is nice and rich with nutrients, which is always a plus. It's always been real stable weather-wise around here so no worries about a coming storm or anything like that. As far as the first sighting I can't tell you specifically what day it was. It was just a few days ago though, within the week to be sure. It wasn't just one reported sighting after another however. The farmers along the border all claimed to have seen Grimm one after the other. Different farmers, different times, different days. So, we knew it wasn't some hoax. Nothing to just dismiss as some poor tired sap hallucinating late at night. Ah, but that was another common thing between them. Each reported sighting saw what looked to be Grimm late at night. It was never during the daytime if that helps any."

"Do we have a map? And could you point out the sightings in chronological order? It might help us narrow down the area we need to search. there's only four of us and I'd rather we didn't split up too much. That said though, if anyone feels like taking a look at the turrets I guess three people is safe enough. I'd go but I'm only good with the computer side of things. If something needed welding..." Diamond put out ideas. She didn't want to think about what would happen if they didn't find the nest before dark, and much less what Ms. Vanhombrigh would have to say about that.

Mr. Davis belched and nodded, pointing a finger at Diamond. "Bleugh, 'scuse me. Uh, yeah. I thought that Ms. Van-something-or-other gave y'all all the details already? No matter. Take out your Scrolls and I'll send y'all another updated map." Opening his own Scroll he pulled up the map and tapped on the parts where sightings had been reported. Swiping upwards, he sent the information to the four. As they would open their maps to look at the new information, it was apparent that each sighting lined a good section of the protective border. Practically spanning the entirety of the border in all actuality. It was a 'grim' bit of information to process and Mr. Davis knew it as he silently nodded and pursed his lips. Arching his eyebrows as he made a face that said "Yup." Scrolling over the red dots that approximated the area where the sighting took place gave a rough estimated day and time. Going from one end to the other with the lines of dots, it showed that nearly every day another Grimm sighting occurred further and further along the border.

"That....is extraordinarily helpful, actually. After last week, I...I did not expect such detailed intelligence about our Area of Operations. Well, I do believe the four of us should be able to gather a pattern from this if we put our heads together. I have no further questions, sir."

Emerald kept a respectful distance from Mr. Davis, mostly because he smelled strange. "Shall we go flush them out then?"

"That would be good. Also, in respect to your comment on the turrets Diamond, I can repair the physical aspects of the turrets. I just can't fix the programming. I propose that after we kill all the Grimm, we fix up the turrets so there's no repeat of the incident for a while." Cobalt pulled out his Scroll and nodded. "Let's head to the closest attack site and work from there."

Taking the final swig of his energy drink, Mr. Davis crushed the can and tossed it aside as he turned and hobbled back to his vehicle. Beckoning them all to follow. "Ah, don't worry about that trash. The drones will get it. Anyways, sounds like y'all have some sort of plan in order so come on and let's get a move on. I'll be taking y'all to the edge of the city limits but from there, Ms. Van instructed me to force y'all to walk the rest of the way for some reason. Don't know why, but I wasn't about to question a woman like her. She sounded scary." It was indeed a sight as the gentleman limp/walked his way back slowly as massive clouds of obnoxious vaporized smoke puffed from him like he was a steamboat on its last legs.
"No point in fixing it afterwards, there's a repair crew scheduled to arrive after us, remember?" Diamond noted, "Let's see how much ground we can cover before it starts getting dark. I'd say then we can decide if we go get the defenses online or hope we find the nest before they all wake up." the thug put the suggestion out there.

Giving the area a look, she wondered what they would do if they neither found the nest nor got the turrets up in time. Usually she would have pulled back to the urban area where she was used to moving and had plenty of lights to give her a few extra shadows to work with. However this time they needed to protect the fields rather than the people and buildings. I hope I brought enough flares.

Mr. Davis poked his head out of the open window of his vehicle, motioning with his hand for them to all hurry up. "Hey, did you kids want a ride or what? Put some pepper in your steppers! Come on!"
Emerald was reluctant to get into the vehicle, not because she had something against automobiles. It was mostly because she was concerned on what it would smell like on the inside. She didn't want to walk all the way to the city limits however, so she hopped onboard.

Cobalt climbed aboard as well, wondering how long it would take to get to the city limits. On one hand, it would be better to get there faster, on the other hand, going slower allows him more time to think. He pulled out the scroll and looked at the map once more. Perplexing.

Shrugging, Oswald made his way over to the SUV and got on board with the others, ready to get to the mission area.

~~~

Slowing the vehicle to a stop, Mr. Davis unlocked the doors to let them all out and popped the trunk to allow the team to gather their equipment. Opening his door, he decided to get a bit of fresh air and to stretch before making the trip back himself.
"Well, here we are kiddos. You'll have to hike the rest of the way before you hit the border fence. Whenever I sent y'all that map I also gave you each a temporary access code that'll allow you through. the feeling of the wind in her hair as they walked. Despite the fact that they were walking straight into danger she was rather enjoying herself. It was certainly better than Mr. Davis' smelly vehicle.
Of course, that didn't mean she would let her guard down. She was on high alert for Grimm, as that was why they were there in the first place. Emerald also realised that she was more likely to detect any nearby Y'all need anything else or will that be it?"
As he stood leaning against his cane puffing away with his electronic pipe, the wind picked up strength. Blowing moderately as it made its leisurely passage through the massive expanse of green farmlands. Various different types of crops were being grown in large divided sections as the eye scanned the horizon. It was rather quiet and peaceful, oddly beautiful even. With the peculiar sound of the crops' motion in the breeze oh-so similar to the ocean's waves, all seemed right with the world out here in the country. Bright blue, clear skies with nary a cloud. Warm sunny rays beating down on them all. It seemed like just another day. Though, a sharper mind would know that was not the case. Not in the least bit.
"No that'll be all. Thank you Mr Davis." Cobalt nodded and began hiking towards the gate. Now for the mission to really start.

Emerald followed just behind Cobalt, taking in the beautiful countryside with her wide eyes. She enjoyed Grimm before her human teammates even noticed. She sometimes wondered how humans managed to survive with their duller senses.

"Nice chum. A bit rural and his cigs smell terrible - and I say that as a smoker - but al least he doesn't raise red flags. Maybe because he's not working for Schnee." Diamond commented as the car and Mr. Davis departed, checking once more over her gear. The boxes with spare flares felt heavy on her back and they would do her pathetic little good while the sun as still up, but after the last mission she intended to be more thorough with her preparation. "Well, lads and lass, now what?" she said, looking once more at the map. "My gut says to begin near the first sighting, but who knows if the Grimm would take the shortest path. Maybe they are smart enough to take a paved road." she mused, trying to pin the location of the nest before they had to search every square meter.

"At least he didn't try to make awkward jokes with us the whole way. Frankly, that's about as bad as what crazy teacher was pulling before, if ya ask me." Oswald commented, somewhat preoccupied with the gear he had. "We should probably try to see if there's any pattern in the location and timing of the sightings, then work off of that."

Cobalt looked at his Scroll and carefully analyzed the pattern of attacks and when they attacked. It looked obvious, but he needed to look deeper. He couldn't afford to fail his first mission, not if he wanted to amount to anything in life. This town depended on them and how well they did. "I say we start... here." Cobalt highlighted the most recent attack point and nodded. "Going to the first sighting doesn't make sense to me, I don't think they would go to somewhere they've already been. Not only that, but going here would yield the freshest and most reliable clues. Any objections?" Cobalt sent the coordinates to everyone else's Scrolls and closed his own.

As the group stood talking, a small Ratatosk crawled from out from the vegetation. It was sniffing along the ground, seemingly unaware of the group's presence as it appeared to be searching for something. As the little mouse Grimm sniffed and crawled around, one could see that something was tied around its neck. Something along the lines of a grass necklace or collar.

Emerald's eyes darted straight toward the mouse-like Grimm as it scurried in front of them. She proceeded to pounce at the creature in what could only be described as cat-like before grabbing it by the tail and lifting it straight up. "Nyahahahahah! Got ya."

The Ratatosk freaked out from the sudden attack, flailing and squealing as it attempted to grab at Emerald to bite at her.

Diamond saw the creature emerge, but people took action before her brain spewed out her strategy. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she spared the angry creature a look. "Well, now it's too spooked to lead us to its nest. Back to the grid search." she couldn't really be mad at Emerald for that, but her lazy side was cringing.

Emerald hissed at the Ratatosk as it tried to bite her and smacked it in the face.

The Ratatosk was getting more and more desperate, wanting to be freed. It increasingly grew more and more savage in its attempts to claw, scratch, and viciously bite at her. Desiring nothing more but to draw the blood of the Faunus girl.

"Um, Emerald? I think you should let it go. For mission purposes." Cobalt had a strange look on his face, comparable to authoritative mixed with amusement. He decided to give her a second before he stepped in.

Emerald watched the Ratatosk's pathetic attempts at harming her, she was holding the creature as far away from her body as possible, and even if it did manage to scratch her, her aura would protect her. It took a moment for the Faunus to realise that she was being spoken too. Her eyes unfocused and she shook her head as she dropped the tiny creature of Grimm.
"Sorry...I had a...compulsion I couldn't resist." Emerald stated sheepishly.

Sighing as he watched Emerald embrace the inner kitten, Oswald simply watched on, waiting until something happened. He'd be ready, alright.

As the Ratatosk dropped to the ground, it regained its bearings and decided that it had a personal vendetta against Emerald. Refusing to run away or give up, it scurried over to her ankles and tried its damnedest to sink its teeth into her to tear away whatever it could.

Emerald responded with a swift kick to it's head. Aura or not, she didn't like being bitten into. "Get away you stupid rodent!"

Squeaking after being kicked, the rodent got back up and shook it off. Scurrying back at Emerald, it again Cobalt sighed and pulled out the 27 Smasher. He slowed time and aimed at the rodent carefully. He fired one bullet to its left and let time resume it's normal flow. "Maybe it understands what a warning shot is."
After being blown away by Emerald's Semblance, the Ratatosk was more than a little dazed. Getting back on its feet it shook its head before a shot narrowly missed it by a few centimeters. Turning to train its beady little eyes at Cobalt, it was obvious the little Grimm was scared. But, for some reason it harbored a deep drive and scurried after Cobalt this time. It wanted to hurt someone, anyone really, as best it could.refused to give up in its new quest for blood. It wasn't going to stop.
Emerald raised an arm as a powerful blast of air flew against the rodent, sending it even farther than her kick had previously. "Stupid Grimm rodent thing."

Oswald couldn't help but let out a chuckle as the Ratatosk fought on, despite being clearly outnumbered and outmatched. "It either doesn't understand the concept of a warning, or doesn't care. Should I?"
"Well either we beat it into submission, or kill it. I don't really care which." Emerald said with a shrug.
Cobalt sighed and kicked it away when it approached him. He rolled his eyes and fired a bullet directly at it this time. It obviously wasn't going to back down.

As the large caliber bullet ripped through its body, the little rodent Grimm fell over on its side and let out a loud, shrill shriek as it died. Louder than was thought possible for such a tiny creature. Its body burning away and fading into ashes, the grass necklace it had around its neck was the only remnant of its existence. If the four young Huntsmen thought its cry was to raise the alarm of their presence, no such thing occurred. No other Grimm appeared from the fields, no other ambush or surprise attack was launched. The lone Ratatosk died alone with no further fanfare. The grass necklace lay still on the dirt, undisturbed if only slightly from the winds.

Walking over to where the Grimm had perished, Oswald bent down and picked up the grass necklace delicately. "Why the hell was a Grimm wearing a necklace.."

"Thank you for minding the fingerprints and not damaging them. I guarantee you that if there are clothes on a grimm, man put it on it." Diamond said as once again she was too slow to act. Amateurs! The whole lot of them. she sighed it out, hoping not to strangle someone in a fit of frustrated anger by the end of the day.

"It's fine. We just take the fingerprints off of a part that Oswald didn't touch." Cobalt took off his backpack and pulled out a pair of gloves and a plastic baggie. He put on the gloves and took the necklace from Oswald, carefully putting it into the bag afterwards. "Anyone want to take this? I fear it might get crushed in my bag." Cobalt closed the bag and held it out for someone to take.

"Why would anyone put a collar on a Grimm? Was it actually someone's pet?" Emerald shook her head. "Who would want an ugly rodent like that as a pet?" She subconsciously rubbed her leg with her foot where the creature had attempted to bite her. "Vicious bastard."

Ignoring Diamond’s snark, Oswald put a hand to his chin in thought. “I’ve encountered….some very strange people. Including one lunatic who worshipped Grimm as the next phase of Human evolution. If somebody else like him exists….these people are in a lot more danger than we thought.” Frowning, Oswald shook his head and sighed. “If we’re lucky, it was some stupid kid or a hippie or something. Regardless, I suppose Diamond should look at it. She seems to know something about this, anyway. Sorry my giant meat slabs lack the finesse required to pick locks.” Chuckling, Oswald looked down at his gauntlets and shook his head. What a shitshow this team is. At least Cobalt’s trying to defuse this.

“The better question is, who was able to get a grass necklace on a Grimm? They're not exactly the most docile creatures in existence. And grass necklaces are pretty fragile.” Cobalt shook his head and thought about this. “Something is definitely off with this mission… Whatever. We need to move on if we want to find this nest.” Cobalt walked past Diamond and handed the bag with the necklace to her. “Here you go.” He then pulled out his Scroll and looked at the map. “Let's head to the point I marked.”

“The easiest explanation I have is that the necklace comes from a victim, or at least someone who ran away and the grim just walked right into it.” Diamond theorized, glad to have had something to think about otherwise she might have blinked at Oswald’s remark. Taking a closer look, she shook her head: “No blood as far as I can see. The person could have just dropped it or something. I don’t see a grimm being friendly to any human or faunus for long enough to get this around it’s neck and not lose a finger.” the redhead gone on as she followed, stowing the plastic bag under her hat.

Diamond was willing to bet the thing would be of no use whatsoever in the end, but her problem was the principle of the thing: She was used to careful approach, observing and evaluating options, not taking the first action she could think of. It made her uncomfortable to say the least - that was the way for someone to end up dead. If that dying screech summoned a swarm of more grimm, what would they have done? She felt like growling in frustration, but instead shook her head to calm down. But she could only bottle her worries up for so long.

Emerald meanwhile had taken this time to load her weapons before putting them back in their holsters, she didn’t want to be caught unprepared if they were suddenly attacked by the Grimm that was for sure. The closer they got to their destination the more likely they would encounter them after all.

Making sure his load was secure, Oswald began following his team once more, implicitly trusting them to lead the way. He could have checked his scroll, without a doubt, but to do so would be overly cumbersome at the moment. “I suppose the simplest explanation is likely the truth. It’s just a bit odd that we’d find the one Grimm to have a grass necklace. Emerald, Diamond, I’d appreciate it if you two kept yourselves on the highest alert from here on out. We’ve officially encountered Grimm, now, so I’m trusting you two to have our backs in case shit hits the fan before we can get ourselves prepared for combat.”

“That goes without saying.” Diamond grunted with a nod. Looking around she wasn’t too fond of the area. Could be on the ground, could be below ground, could be at any height in the trees. I miss the city. Paved road can’t be burrowed through and you only have to watch the rooftops and sky unless you’re in bad neighborhood. she thought, not quite sure from which direction to guard herself first.

Cobalt looked around and admired the scenery. It was a really pretty day out actually. The wind was nice, not many clouds, it almost made him forget how he was on a dangerous mission. Not pretty enough for that. He looked at his Scroll and smiled, they were almost at their first stop. Time to enter investigative mode.

After an uneventful hike, the four arrived at the protective fence that bordered the farmlands. Spanning as far as the eye could see, the so-called ‘fence’ was of rather impressive construction. To simply call it a ‘fence’ was a severe understatement. It more closely resembled the over engineered walls of an olden castle. The height of the walls was an easy thirty feet tall and at the top edge were nasty coils of electrified razor wire. Every couple of yards were little round orbs that resemble eyeballs that lined the top edge of the border wall that acted as the security cameras for the wall itself. The material of the walls appeared to be a sort of thick reinforced concrete. Nothing short of a missile or tank shell would even begin to put a dent into the border walls. The exact composition of the wall, its depth, and its thickness were kept somewhat secret. All in all, it was a pretty serious defensive measure. It could’ve been improved by slapping automated turrets along the top, but for some reason that was the one feature it didn’t have. Reasons unknown, save for the people responsible for the wall’s construction.

At a brief glance, there was no apparent disturbance along the wall. It didn’t look as though anything could climb over it or even damage it. The wall just sat in near-silent guard for potentially the next few thousand years, the razor-wire at the top humming ominously as electrical current surged through it. Along spots on the wall were groups of signs that warned of the dangers of attempting to climb or breach the wall, and stated that only authorized users at certain access points were allowed through.

Looking at the wall, Diamond wondered how long it stood there. There was certainly enough moss on it to make it difficult to climb even without electrified wire on the top. “Long time, no siege.” she grunted, looking at the map they were given. “Ah, nearest gate is… too far. We wanna make good time, right?” Well, a wall had yet to be invented that could stop Diamond Frost. “Gather ‘round, kids. We’re hopping over.” she said, molding her shadow into a platform under her feet and expanding it to accommodate the four of them.

Cobalt observed the wall and noted the lack of automatic turrets. It was very interesting that the designer would choose not to place the best possible finishing touch, as it was now Cobalt could imagine digging under the wall to get through. Turrets would help deter that line of thinking. He noticed Diamond making a shadow platform and frowned. “Are you sure you can carry us all? Oswald and I aren't exactly lightweights.” It wasn't that he was worried about tiring Diamond out, although that was a concern, he didn't want her to drop them all onto the electrified wire because she overestimated her own abilities.

“Understatement of the century there, Cobalt. I’m 300 pounds plus fully kitted, even more with everything we need for the mission.” Oswald chuckled, also skeptical of Diamond’s ability to lift what was likely near a thousand pounds of people with her shadow. “This wall, though. Impressive. Not like the wall from home, but electric razor wire? That’s a new one….”

“Ye of weak faith can walk. And here I thought I would have earned trust at least in my abilities at this point. No wonder we suck working together. I might be the one most vocal about it but hardly the only problem.” Diamond said as she rolled her eyes. I had to boost heavier loot than that. she added for herself, but didn’t say that out loud. Pointing an inquisitive look at Emerald, she offered a hand.

“Ye of little faith, but I can live with that. As for teamwork, it’s been two weeks, for us. A week for CODE. My last team had people I’d worked with since I was twelve, so I think a bit of an adjustment period is fair. We’ll figure it out, Diamond, just...it takes time to learn to really trust new people. You fight pretty well, and you helped me last week, but don’t hold it against me if we’re not the bestest of friends just yet.” Looking over to each side for an access point, Oswald noticed one a short while away. “Cobalt, there’s a point there if you wanna walk. I don’t want to risk all this gear just yet.”

Cobalt shook his head in the negative and smiled. “There's no need. If you say you can do it then I'll believe you Diamond. I will reserve the right to say I told you so if I get electrified.” He said jokingly as he stepped onto the platform. “I don't want to seem as if I don't trust you, because I do. But there's a difference between distrust and caution.”

Grinning as she took some of the gear off of Cobalt and slung it over her shoulder - just to be sure nothing would accidently fall off - Diamond couldn’t resist making a jab. “The soles on those boots are rubber right?” she semi-whispered with a smirk, hooking her arm to him. Launching them was easy, but if they separated in the air, things could get a bit more dramatic than any of them wanted where landing was concerned.

Emerald took Diamond’s hand without hesitation, she certainly wasn’t worried about being too heavy. “Come on guys this will be a fun team activity! Getting over the wall!”

Grunting as he got a better grip on his gear, Oswald shrugged. “Still going around. See you on the other side, I guess.”

“Metal actually. Why do you ask… oh.” Cobalt grimaced as the thought if his highly conductive boots. ’There's no need to worry. She has this handled. Hopefully.’. Cobalt plastered a sms on his face and shrugged. “A few volts never killed anyone.”

“Off we go, hoping our ground-bound comrade won’t get dismembered and eaten one pace out of the gate!” Diamond winked, tightened her grip on the other two and without warning they were shoved into the air, clearing the wire easily by their body height. It nagged at her though - splitting up begged to go bad. So before they begun to fall out of sight, Diamond risked the strain and summoned the platform under them again. “Oswald! Teleport! Now!” she barked. If she recalled the first day, she could hold a platform under her own feet for over a minute that one time she demonstrated the technique in the cafeteria. And she had two weeks to train. Looks like some of it paid off, this is easier than the last time. Still, better hurry and decide, infidel.

Cobalt flew through the air quite suddenly, which was surprising for him, but he wasn't worried at all. It was when they suddenly stopped that he felt worried. He quickly looked back to make sure nobody got snagged on the wire and relaxed when he realized it was just Diamond trying to help out Oswald.

Sighing as he heard Diamond barking at him, Oswald shrugged and quickly made his way towards the platform, utilizing his Semblance to appear near his teammates. “There.”

“That’s right. Follow the leader.” she grunted for herself. “Happier than if you got torn apart looking for the rest of us, although with your current attitude I just might get over it with a few drinks.” Diamond blown a raspberry in Oswald’s direction before bringing them to the ground. She nearly stumbled afterwards, but quickly regained her composure with a shake of her head and fell into walk next to Oswald. “Do we have a problem?” she whispered barely audibly to try and avoid Emerald overhearing.

Rolling his eyes with a chuckle, Oswald cocked an eyebrow at Diamond when she asked if they had a problem. “Only problem we got is a truckload of Dust, Diamond. You’re talkative when you’re drunk, ya know. But now isn’t exactly the time to start throwing around accusations, I just want to get this job done, and prefer walking as compared to your...Semblance.”

“Hey what are you two talking about?” Emerald could totally hear what they were talking about.

“Our last mission. Had to protect a convoy of Dust trucks. It didn’t go well for the folks we were looking after. Had to scuttle one of the trucks...driver was still inside, but likely...well, not among the living anymore. As you can imagine, it left a bad taste in our mouths.” Seamlessly covering up their conversation, Oswald gave Emerald a small nod. “I wouldn’t stress it too much, we’ll manage to work it out between ourselves, right Diamond?”

Diamond blinked long, rubbing her eyes. So much for the earlier remark being accidental. Well, at least she wasn’t the only one with a skilled tongue. “They were definitely gone by the time. You were so inebriated with melancholy after you had to deliver a coup de grace your mind might have made up things.” Diamond said, giving the ever so subtle emphasis on certain words to deliver her reply trying to play it to an out as talking out of her ass while drunk.

“And even if they could have been saved, what was I supposed to do? We had no other option left. All of us would have died.” she managed to add. It was the same logic she used over and over whenever a doubt wormed itself into her mind about her past. It wasn’t far from truth - it was how it begun. But she couldn’t stop even once she was doing OK. “Eheh… I do wonder… Did I mention anything else?” she said with a nervous grin, tugging on her collar.

“I’m well aware that there was nothing we could do. I’m just...frustrated. That wasn’t a situation to send a bunch of kids into. For all we knew, there could’ve been an entire White Fang battalion there, lying in wait. That was a job for a team more experienced than us, and whoever organized it should have realized that. You don’t send your least experienced teams into a completely unknown situation unless you have no other choice.” Shaking his head, Oswald locked onto what Diamond said last, a devious smirk crossing his face.

“You also mentioned...well, how truly fond of your teammates you are, Diamond. It was sweet.” Holding back his laughter, Oswald looked over to Emerald for a second before closing his eyes in a desperate effort not to die of laughter.

In a second, the previous conversation was forgotten as the tone of Diamond’s cheeks rapidly approached the color of her hair. “Wipe that shit eating grin off of your face! And one more word about this anywhere and there won’t be enough of you left to run a residual aura identification!” she said, trying to sound angry and threatening and failing miserably. Shoving her hat closer to her face, Diamond picked up the pace and distanced herself from the grinning chump, her walk having an angered stomp to it.

Emerald’s ears perked straight up as Diamond hid herself in her hat with embarrassment. Emerald cocked her head, looking towards Oswald. “I feel like I’m missing something…”

“You are. It’s not important at the moment. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of time to talk about it over the weekend. But don’t worry, I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing.” Chuckling a little, Oswald turned to Cobalt and gave a small nod. “Sorry about that, bossman.”

Cobalt blinked as he thought about the conversation. This was obviously something they wanted to cover up. “It's cool. Just make sure it doesn't affect team dynamics and we're solid.” He wanted to ask about this further, but decided not to pry. ’I recall Diamond being pretty drunk a few nights ago. Maybe I shouldn't have ignored her drunken ramblings.’

---

On the other side of the wall, back within the fields of the crops little red beady eyes peered out from the vegetation. Determining that it was now safe, a small group of Ratatosks slowly crawled out and began to inspect the area that the team of Huntsmen had traveled down. Sniffing at the ground, they combed the ground for trace scents. Looking up at the skies, the rodents looked at one another and figured that one of their own had fallen. Of particular note, each Ratatosk wore an identical grass necklace. One exceptional Ratatosk made a quick headcount of its comrades. One was definitely missing, that death cry they had heard earlier was not an illusion. Immediately, all of them went on high alert. As per their instinctual drive, the group of Ratatosks made for a mad dash towards the wall.

Within minutes, the scouting pack was right at the massive wall. Splitting up along the wall, the Ratatosks brushed aside cleverly hidden holes that were covered with innocuous patches of straw and grass. Holes that had been dug long prior. Holes that went deep, deep into the ground and underneath the walls. Regrouping on the other side, the small pack stopped for a moment to again sniff around for the scents of the Huntsmen. Once a clear idea of where the team was located, the group of Grimm made it a point to avoid them. Moving as quietly and quickly as they could, they frantically made their way deep into the forests in search of a particular tree.

Deep within the forest, there was a singular dead tree that was aged and scarred. Something had delimbed most of its branches and stripped it clean of its leaves, even going so far to cut into the hollow to empty out its contents to create a sad husk or shell of a formerly glorious tall tree. Approaching the tree, the group of Ratatosks lined up in front of the hollow and bowed their heads. Doing an odd little wiggle, they all removed their grass necklaces in an orderly line in front of them. Apparently, there was a specific order they each laid down their adornments. The line of necklaces continued unbroken until near the end. The second to last necklace was missing. The very same one that the team of Huntsmen had in their possession. Backing away from the hollowed out husk-tree, the group of Ratatosks apprehensively looked to one another. The Ratatosk with a slightly higher level of intelligence stepped forward and made to scratch softly at the side of the hollowed out tree. Within the hollow, something that slumbered stirred. The eye of the Grimm within slowly opened to peer out of the husk-tree to see the line of Ratatosks and their laid out grass necklaces. Scanning from one end of the grass necklaces, its eye froze on the empty spot where another Ratatosk and necklace should’ve been. Waking up more and more, an intense and deep-seated rage boiled the slumbering Grimm’s blood. Forcing a very odd rumbling growl out of it, a combination of a series of clicks and hissing. The Ratatosks then knew the message was passed on, and moved forward with the next plan of action. Scattering, the Ratatosks then sought out the Huntsmen somewhere within the forest.