Chapter 25: Lighting a Fire - IV
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Kelly leapt back and turned under the force of her thruster-pack as her world turned white, her visor polarizing to protect her from the eye achingly bright crimson racing towards her. Her feet hit the ground as she came down and she let her knees buckle, turning her landing into a roll as a wave of heat not unlike a small-scale plasma bombardment washed over her back and forced her internal temperature regulation systems to kick into gear. She managed to get down a third of a second before the lance of crimson fury crashed through the air over her, making her shields flare and flicker as it slammed into the back wall, sending it up as spectacularly as any planted explosive she'd ever seen.
Wood, concrete and metal shrapnel showered her where she knelt, teeth gritted against the force and fury.
She rolled over as a red indicator on her radar lanced towards her and brought her shotgun around to bear on it, barking two shots in the vague direction of the attacker. Her reward was seeing the red signifier suddenly rocket to the side. She followed it, barking another shot ahead of it, and it leapt back and away as her visor began to depolarize again.
"You're fast, Human." The man chuckled as her vision cleared, white fading away into a strange grey field of vague shapes before her helmet's systems rapidly realigned, and the world shifted properly into view. She met his gaze as he sneered, turning his head ever so slightly and chuckling, "Faster than him, at least."
She risked stealing a glance to follow his line of sight and frowned.
Frederic was laying sprawled out on the ground, barely half a foot from where the room ended in a gaping, burnt maw from the man's attack. His rifle had been melted in half and scattered to either side of his body. His visor was cracked, too, and burnt over most of its surface. His chest was little better, melted like it had been hit by plasma and blackened in the same way, and covered in gently sparking rends in the armored plate. His vitals were stable enough, though, when she flicked a look to the squad readouts.
But to be able to do that to a Spartan in full Mjolnir…
She rose to her full height slowly, thumbing shells into Oathsworn as she did and asked, quietly, "Lin-"
"I have a bead on him." The markswoman cut her off, no doubt more than able to get a clear line into the room now it was missing an entire wall. "Center-mass, but with his Aura up…"
"I know." She said quietly, flexing her shoulders while the man turned his hip and hunkered down just a bit, his sword hand hovering over his pommel. "Wait until you have the shot."
"Understood." She answered, "Tracking."
She didn't respond as she turned back to the waiting, seemingly eager, Faunus swordsman. He was waiting for her, and for once, she wondered if his patience was actually deserved. Even just an hour back, anyone that said some man with a sword would be able to down Frederic-104 would have gotten a laugh in their face. But now, she knew better.
Remnant was ridiculous…
Her Oathsworn snapped up in less than half a second, barking a tight cone of tight shot that sparked off the man's crimson blade as he drew it and turned, spinning it through the air. A second shot followed and went wide over his shoulder as he ducked to the side and kicked off the ground, rocketing towards her faster than even a Sangheili could have done. It took almost all of her speed to bring her chest back as he thrust in for her throat. She swung Oathsworn's butt around towards his face, but the Faunus was already backing away when it passed through the air his head had occupied a heartbeat before.
Then he came back in, sword whistling through the air scant millimeters in front of her visor. She backed away a step, nestling her shotgun in the crook of her hip and snapping off a point blank shot that he spun away from. As he came back around, he thrust again, in towards her stomach to force her back another step, and then to the side in a sharp and sudden strike. She brought her shotgun up to try and save it, but the long blade caught it nonetheless, carving through the bottom and front of the weapon's frame.
The greater portion of the weapon was undamaged, but there was no telling what firing it with the forward frame compromised would do, so she grit her teeth and hurled it to the side.
The Faunus smiled, for a moment, the red of him beginning to glow ominously once again. Then she dropped her hips and lunged in, slamming her shoulder into his stomach with all the fury and fire her augmentations, and thrust-packs, could muster.
The blow drove the man's breath from his lungs, along with a strangled cry, and Kelly smiled. She let him staggered away a step and followed, planting a right hook into his jaw and then a boot into his knee. His knee snapped to the side and forced him down, but before she could follow up any further, his sword snapped around in a wild swing that forced her back and bought him space.
His sheath snapped up in the same motion and he snarled, spraying a trio of shots towards her that she took on her shields. They sparked and flared as she lunged back in, and Adam's snarl grew more feral. He took the blow on his jaw and thrust up with his sword in the same motion, slamming it into her stomach and punching through several layers of her dermal armor to prick her skin.
She flinched in surprise, and the heartbeat that bought him cost her.
Her head snapped back as another blast slammed into her visor, blinding her for the shortest moment. Her vision cleared just in time for her to see him on his feet, sword held in both hands as he brought it around towards her neck, aiming to cleave it off in one simple, burning crimson blow. She brought her off arm up and stepped in, catching his forearm on her shoulder and snapping her other fist into his face. He snarled, and the blow forced his head aside, but he held his ground and brought his sword down and back, aiming to bury it in her stomach.
She brought her arm down to bat his sword hand aside and snapped her knee up, into his sternum. He wheezed as he staggered away and she smiled and followed. As she brought her fist back and closed with him, he smile and sank to his knee, glowing blade carving through the air between them.
And through her armored stomach, searing through multiple layers of dermal combat skin and carving into her muscled stomach beneath. She hissed and staggered away, pressing a hand to the wound while her HUD warbled warningly and her shields hummed back to life. The cut wasn't deep enough to be lethal, even over time, but it hurt. And she knew it would slow her down.
Judging from the man's smile, so did he.
"You did better than I thought you would." He chuckled lowly, sheathing his sword and working his jaw with a wince. "But it's time to end this. I have places to be, property to recover. You understand."
"We'll see." She growled, taking her hand off her stomach and plucking her Magnum from her thigh with it. She leveled it on the man's chest, but he only smiled. Still, she said, "Come and get it, then."
"Oh, happily."
He crossed the few feet between them in another great leap, sword whistling through the air. Now, though, she was too slow to dodge. Instead she turned into it, taking the cleave on her right shoulder and dropping her left hand with the magnum in it to snap shots into the man's chest. The sword sparked through her shields, carving a shallow furrow in her pauldron, and her shots sparked off his Aura. But as his sword came down off her shoulder he turned the blade in his hand and thrust up, into her bicep.
She hissed and shattered her magnum on the Faunus' face. He howled and staggered away, clutching his cracked mask while she clutched her bleeding bicep. He took his hand away to take up his sword and his mask fractured, the better part of its right side falling away to let his furious, blue-eyed glare bore into her uninhibited.
"That," he snarled, "was a mistake."
"Maybe." She growled, blinking thrice quickly when Linda pinged her to ask to take the shot. "Prove it."
"Happily."
This time, she met him halfway, ducking just under the thrust he drove towards her throat. Her bicep screamed at her as she drove her fist into his ribs, but she ignored it. His hilt slammed to the side and into the side of her helmet with enough force to knock her head to the side, and she ducked back as he again slashed for her throat. Gritting her teeth, she slammed her head forward and into his own. He bellowed and she hissed as his sheath came around and cracked her aching abdomen. Her other hand came around and he turned to catch it on the flat of his sword. Then he let it slide to the side to miss him and thrust down, into the dermal armor of her thigh as she tried to bring her knee up into his gut. This time, his sword bit deep, carving along the side of her bone as it burrowed into her flesh just to the side of her armor plate.
He wrenched it free of her leg as she staggered back and away, sinking to her wounded knee as the man sucked in breath. Smiling, he brought his sword to the side and Kelly reached for a grenade.
Then, a streak of gold suddenly slammed into him like a missile launched from a platform. Kelly blinked as the two hit the ground, Yang rolling smoothly onto her knees while the man scrabbled across the floor and up onto shaky legs. He snarled as he tried to catch his balance and began to glow, before he suddenly snapped back at the shoulder, mouth wide in a surprise 'O'. The crack of Linda's rifle reached Kelly a heartbeat later, before a black and purple streak slammed into his chest with both feet and hurled him back.
Blake's back hit the ground as Yang leapt over her, mechanical arm snapping back and then cracking the ambushed man across the jaw. As she landed she brought her other arm up, into his stomach, hurling him up and into the ceiling. As he came down, she roared and snapped her false arm around again, catching him in the head and driving him down into the floor.
"Blake." The man growled, forcing himself up onto a knee and leaning on his sword. Looking up, he smiled through bloody teeth and growled, "You look… Well."
"Better than you, Taurus." Yang growled, stepping between the two and offering through clenched teeth. "Now drop it, and maybe I won't pretty up that mug of yours 'fore the Chief hauls you off."
"It wouldn't be the first time a Human did something like that." The newly introduced Taurus said, staggering upright and shaking his head. "And why would I let that weak little creature of a man take me anywhere?"
"Because it's over, Adam." Blake said, standing beside her partner and in front of Kelly, shielding her with the broad of her machete-sheath. Ears pressed flat to the top of her head, Blake said, "Just… Let it go."
"Let it go? Let it go?!" The man scoffed and cut the air between them with a snarl. "No, this will never be over. Not until you're back where you belong and every single Human on this planet has paid for what they've done, or I'm dead."
"You sure about that?" Kelly asked, forcing herself onto her feet and hissing through the fire that seared up her thigh for it. "Really, really sure?"
"As sure as I am that I need to breathe." Taurus smiled, spinning his sword in his hand and grinning that bloody grin of his. "And I think I'll start with you and your pathetic little friend on the floor over there, too."
"Well, if you're so sure…" Kelly shrugged, "Linda?"
"Lin-" Adam's words cut off in a snarl as his shoulder snapped back, Aura flaring and fading in a flash of falling particles. As the crack of the first shot reached them, a second slammed into his chest, directly center of mass. It punched all the way through and carved into the wall beyond the man as he fell, limp and very obviously already dead.
"What the hell was that?!" Yang bellowed, rounding on her with wide, blood red eyes. "Who said you got to do that?!"
"Yang-"
"He said he wouldn't stop." Kelly explained simply, shrugging and turning to limp to Fred's side. "I did what I needed to."
"I get that, but- Fuck!" Yang snarled, turning and staring down at the man. "I wasn't… Damn it! I wasn't done, you fucking-"
"Yang!" Blake snapped, stepping between her and the downed man and grabbing both sides of her face. Yanking her down, she pressed their foreheads together and said, "It's over, you don't need it. Okay? Just focus on me, breathe, it's all fine."
"Yeah, yeah, I just…" Kelly heard her let out a shaky breath as she seemed to relax, and started to tune it all out. "I just wanted to… After what he did to you, you know?"
"Oh, Yang…"
Ignoring the fawning teenagers, Kelly knelt to check Frederic over and ordered Linda, "Get over here, and get the Chieftain's men in. Alright?"
"Affirmative."
"And… Get them to call in some heavy lift gear." She sighed, "We'll need to move him to the Pelican and head to the Black Sun to get this armor off."
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"Hold her down, please!" The nurse said as the young woman, half-dressed in her armor but naked from the waist down, screamed and seized.
Oscar and another young man a few years older than him, and much more time, surged forward to grab at her thighs to hold her down while the nurse went to work further down, slowly extracting nasty, hooked quills from her shin and knees. A droid had her by the shoulders, pinning her down under mechanical might while a doctor tried to work an intravenous line meant to get the anti-venom into the soldier. As the quills came out, they shredded her muscles and dragged on her bones, working with the venom to drive her mad and wild.
They wouldn't be able to save her legs, he was sure, even if he wasn't quite sure how he knew that.
Ozpin, probably… Either helping him or, well, consuming him. And there wasn't really a way to tell which it was, either. And right now, trying desperately to hold a woman's leg down by the thigh, he couldn't find it in him to care which it was. Finally, though, the doctor managed to get the anti-venom in her along with a powerful narcotic and the wounded woman started to still until she sighed and finally lost consciousness.
"Trip-Knettle venom." The other aide sighed as he let the woman's other leg go. Smiling, he met Oscar's gaze and chuckled, "Nasty stuff… Until you get the anti in, it won't even let you pass out."
"Yeah…" That explained why she'd been such a handful, at least. The nurse from earlier shuffled by, shoving a rag and sanitizer into his hand, and Oscar asked. "Who's next?"
"No one for you." The doctor said, watching the woman sleep warily. The man was an older gentleman, with dark red hair and dull green eyes, but a warm smile that he turned on Oscar when he opened his mouth to argue. "You saved lives, Oscar, but the fighting is done. And we have the wounded here handled. So we don't need any volunteers."
"But…" Oscar sighed, and nodded tiredly. "Alright, then, I guess. Happy I could, uh, help a little bit."
"Oscar, I did say that you saved lives, right?" Oscar nodded and the doctor returned the gesture, turning back to the woman and drawing a sheet up over her bare bottom half. He turned and laid a hand on his shoulders while a pair of nurses got to work on her armor, now that she wasn't trying to kill everyone in reach. As they walked through the crowded infirmary, the man said, "I meant what I said. You were surprisingly adept at the job, my boy."
"Y-Yeah." Oscar chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I, uh, didn't know I had it in me?"
"Few do." The doctor chuckled, stopping just outside the door and giving his shoulder a firm pat. "I'll be mentioning you in my after-duty report. You should be paid for your help."
"P-Paid?"
"Atlas rewards excellence." The doctor nodded, "And if you want, feel free to come by tomorrow."
"What for?"
"I have a spot or three open for an apprentice." The doctor answered frankly, pointing at him and smiling. "I believe you'd do well. So just take some time and think on it. Door will be open if you decide to take it."
"Right." He smiled, tired even after only a couple hours of the work. "I'll, uh, consider it. Sir."
"Doctor." The man corrected, "Doctor Brass. Good evening, my boy."
"Same to you, Si-" He coughed to cut himself off and corrected his wording, "Doctor, I mean. Same to you, doctor."
It had been a hard day, he decided as he left. A hard, long couple of hours after a long, hard couple of days. But he was… Surprisingly happy, after it all. He couldn't fight like the others even with Ozpin's experience filtering in, and even if he could hold his own. So maybe he would come back to see the Doctor…
If only for a way he could help.
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Thel sat in the back of the Bullhead, head in his hands and heart hammering in his breast. The shuttle shifted, buffeted by gale-force winds on their way to Atlas, but he ignored it. Instead, he turned to Penny, standing steadily in front of him, and asked, "You let him take her?"
"I… Did, yes." She nodded, hands clasped tightly in front of her. "I… Failed. I am sorry."
"Indeed you did, and indeed you are." He growled, "Why would you allow such a thing, and how do you dare stand here unharmed?"
"Hey, she couldn't have-"
"I would hear her words from her, Branwen. Not from you." The Arbiter growled, flicking a look to the man and then turning back to the small woman. "What is your answer?"
"Weiss was wounded." She answered quietly, eyes steady and mouth drawn down in a thin frown. "The assailant could bypass Aura, and threatened to… Finish her, if I or Ruby posed any form of resistance."
"Indeed." The Schnee was beyond the woman, at the front, bandaged and unconscious while Arc worked on her, pushing his Aura into her in an attempt to heal her. Sighing, he let his eyes close and asked, "Then there was nothing you could do?"
"No." Penny answered, "I… Hoped to track him through Mantle's camera grid."
"I was thinkin' the same." Qrow rumbled, suddenly sounding more worried. He folded his arms and leaned against the hull behind the Arbiter. "I don't like how ya said it, though."
"The security grid doesn't have him on-camera at any point." Penny said worriedly, chewing her lip as she thought, "I suspect tampering. But… Regardless, and more importantly, it means I cannot track Tyrian Callows."
"Demon." He called, grabbing the Spartan at the front of the shuttle's attention. "Can your construct aid us?"
"With Ironwood's permission, probably." He nodded, "We'll have to wait to ask him, though."
"Very well." He sighed, forcing himself to relax and calm himself. Panic and rage would not serve either him or Ruby well right now. Later, they would, but for now, calm was his best asset. "Very well…"
"I'm sorry…"
"You did all you could, child." The Arbiter rumbled, "Redeem yourself in saving her after we find her."
"R-Right." She nodded, "I will."
He nodded as the shuttle shuddered and the doors hissed open. There was much to do, it seemed… This Tyrian would learn the full extent of his folly soon enough. No one crossed Thel Vadam in such a manner and lived to tell the tale.
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Bit of a non Thel chapter, but eh, had stuff I wanted to get running in this. And fuck me but that starting fight… Yeesh, lol.
Anyway, I thought it was a good one. I figure if Adam can delete a massive war machine like he did, then a hard hit from his attack should be able to at least down a Spartan. And Kell isn't used to fighting enemies that a solid Spartan punch to the face doesn't kill. Even a Brute would go down to that! Thus the damage she took. Linda couldn't shoot freely for the same reason. He'd know she was there before it counted, and her rounds would only eat Aura.
Also, wrote this while four kids were over so… Yeah.
Have a good one~!
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The Baz :
I'm legitimately listening to an audiobook where Fred is doing more or less what, at the time, is a random cop from some random planet. Spartans listen and weigh what you say.
Razmire :
Yeah, but he's a fanatic, so I doubt he'd care if they had the ruddy Shadow of Intent looming over Atlas. He'd still buck up.
Althyrios :
Good! Muahaha!
Sebine :
Indeed he do~!
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