Chapter 70: The Siege of Atlas
The front lines were stagnant but chaotic. Grimm arrived in droves even though Atlas was supposed to be a nation best suited to combat them on their home turf.
Whether by normal means or from the conniving schemes of Salem, it was sure that Atlas was facing one of its greatest upheavals. Right before the Vytal Festival nonetheless.
The first wave of Grimm took out a lot of armed bullheads for Atlas. Dozens of transports to take drones were also affected since Hanns' group purposefully made them constantly wreck into one another while hijacking the control center.
What was going to be a celebration of peace between the nations turned disastrous when the entirety of Atlas was undergoing a massive siege right after a previous fight.
This siege - among the winter, freezing winds, and the hellscape of ice stood the small contingent of Hanns' newly equipped and trained army.
It wasn't a massive one unlike Atlas' already established force, but what separated the Wehrmacht from the Atlesians was their undying loyalty and superior aircraft in terms of speed and armaments which had the power of gunpowder that reacted with dust.
Plus, the rest of Hanns' Army was spread out over the south of Vale fighting with handheld guns and resupplied via bullheads, all of which were being used. Though, Hanns already notified the entire Wehrmacht to stand by - apart from the expeditionary force of 1000.
It was primitive for now considering the lack of a functional high command since only 3 majors were keeping together the entire army which was promoted fairly through merit. All of the majors are part of the Heer, the army. The Luftwaffe, otherwise known as the airforce, didn't even have anyone with a high rank assigned to it yet.
~
A black armored soldier cocks his RWI StG-44, the Ruby tweaked version of the well-known firearm late into WW2, he eyes the next target. A group of ice-covered Beowolves tearing droids that held the front line.
Torn apart and left into rubble, the Beowolves seek their next target before golfball sizes holes cave in their skull masks adorning their face.
The soldier pauses before a pat on his back caught his attention. He turns his head but keeps his weapon pointed at the front.
"Ryker, the sergeant needs us. The Megoliaths are coalescing and the Stukas are still resupplying. We need to punch through and separate them before they mess up the defensive lines."
It was a dangerous problem, even the droids could do so little against the beasts. The sure effective way was to hit their unarmored sides but even then it was hell for the Pz. IV F-2s to try and move up without getting attacked and potentially destroyed by Sabyrs or other minor Grimm.
Ryker nods and follows his fellow enlisted soldier, a man with a cat's tail. Ryker himself had cheetah's ears which were snugged into his helmet, protecting it without making it too uncomfortable. Though, he still takes his helmet off when he could.
They jog and met up with the others in their squad, the rattling of their various equipment sounded as they heard more numerous gunfire and dust shots from the Atlesians they were aiding.
For now, Hanns had arranged the entirety of his army to have 10 in a squad, 50 in a platoon, and 500 in a company, excluding the supports like bullhead transport, medical personnel, and basically anyone not directly involved in the fighting.
Hanns wasn't sure if it needed to be adjusted since fighting Grimm needed different tactics and organization, so Hanns winged it when organizing them.
The 1st Company was the one with Hanns in the expedition to Atlas, within that Company was the 4th Platoon which this soldier was a part of.
The sergeant sees his squad organizing, with 8 of them being issued the RWI StG-44 which included himself while the machine gun team had the RWI MG-42 and a sidearm for the ammo carrier.
He walks to his superior, the 2nd lieutenant that held command over the platoon and finally could launch the attack. The sergeant gets the go-ahead as he turns to his squad.
"Right, what we have here is two platoons of tanks, 10 tanks in total. We are to work with them in advancing and fending off smaller Grimm until we could let the tanks to their positions. Am I clear?"
"Yes!"
The squad moves along with their fellow soldiers from the same platoon. They fended off Beowolves and Sabyrs as they crept toward the Megoliaths slowly making their way toward the defensive line behind them.
*BOOM!*
The tanks open fire as they weave through the Megoliath's underside or posted further away - taking shots at their legs or aiming through their sides. The infantry meanwhile was supporting them by keeping the lesser Grimm from interfering.
Ryker reloads another magazine, his 5th one today. He was efficient in saving his ammo but he needed to wait for the Bullheads to arrive and resupply them again when they come back.
*SNAP!*
Ryker hears a distinct snapping of metal, his hearing enhanced by his Faunus heritage. He turns to the tank behind him before realizing what was about to happen.
"One of our tanks is going to be disabled!" he yelled out. A second later, the transmission fully breaks down under the stress of going through rough snow a few meters later.
*GROWL!*
A menacing bellow sounded as a Sabyr that was larger than a tank itself by a good 5 feet saw the battle going on. The people in the squad widen their eyes at the appearance.
"Shit, it's got bone plates all over!" the sergeant exclaimed. "Alpha! It's a big Sabyr! Tell the others we need to fight it off. The lieutenant told us we need to keep the tanks safe. Let's get going people!"
They move with haste and yelled to the other squads about the massive Sabyr about to arrive. The tanks did their jobs and kept lessening the Megoliaths for the defensive line to take care of the rest.
Ryker's squad was the only one available to fight it off since the others were still preoccupied with the other Grimm in their breakthrough.
The sergeant looks back and clicks his tongue. "We need two of the other tanks to tow it back, we can't lose a tank while we are here. The Kaiser told us so."
The disabled tank fired its gun at the Alpha Sabyr but it was faster than a normal Sabyr leading it to miss. The Sabyr pounces on the tank on its front and clawed its way toward it.
The front armor groans as the men inside tried to reload as fast as they could.
Ryker's squadmates shoot at the massive Grimm before it turned its head and absorbed or bounced the shots along its exceptionally armored body.
Ryker saw his sergeant taking away most of the Grimm's attention but Ryker knew he was going to have to take its attention away as well but he wasn't sure it was enough.
*BOOM!*
The disabled tank shoots its shell toward the Grimm, but the smarter Grimm dodges with its superior speed and determines the tank to be the most prominent danger than the soldiers.
It leaps and claws at the side, enough to seriously threaten the tank's operability. It could still be fixed but once it was wrecked, they couldn't repair it for the defense of Atlas.
Ryker takes his chance and pelted the Grimm's side. "Get away from that you damn monstrosity!" his yells did nothing to persuade a mindless Grimm but his constant firing made it annoyed and turn to kill him.
"Come and get me you bitch!"
Ryker held his weapon high before it got torn away from his grasp as he crouches down in time for the Alpha Sabyr to overshoot and bite down on his gun instead.
He had its full attention, the creature spat away the ruined piece of metal as it recovered from the failed pounce. It straightened its back and prepared for another strike.
Ryker had no option but the armor on his person and a measly pistol to his belt. What he had else though was something more. The predator pounces just as he ripped his grenade out from his belt and pulled the pin with his left arm.
He straightens his right arm that held the grenade and braced before he felt his entire arm get chomped by the Alpha Sabyr. He lunged to the side just before but he felt like it wasn't going to be enough to try and dodge like before.
The Alpha Grimm was smart but not all-knowing. Ryker didn't care what was going to happen. Only he needed to get the tank safely back. He grits his teeth as the maw of the Sabyr clamped down on his arm.
"For the Kaiser!"
*BOOM!*
The Grimm's head explodes into a mist of black material. The bone protruding from its face gets shot off into the air as Ryker's arm gets devastated from the risky gamble.
The sergeant rushes to his side along with the rest of the squad. "By the Gods'... Your arm!" he points to the bloody remnants of his right arm.
Ryker collapses to the snow below before laughing. "What arm, sergeant?" he wiggles the bleeding nub on his arms.
"Crazy bastard." the sergeant yells for the other people in the platoon. "We need two tanks here pronto! We need to tow a disabled tank and get me a stretcher, this man needs to go into a medical facility in Mantle!"
He turns back to Ryker. "You're going to be all right. Don't focus on the pain so much. I didn't think we'd be able to save that tank if not for your stupid decision."
Ryker chuckles again. "What do you mean, sir? I'm not all right at all!" he wiggles the stump on his arm.
"...We need a medic for your sense of humor too."
~
Hanns had traveled as a tank being carried by the VAF-121. While being a jet was faster, he couldn't risk the population associating him with the Wehrmacht, or else it would be a disaster.
The rest of the team that was first involved also had to be careful in revealing their faces. Their faces were obscured by the masks but they still needed precaution.
They landed near the Schnee Manor since it was further away from the city while they were busy with the Grimm. Weiss also asked Winter for permission and she accepted.
"Hanns, what's next?" Weiss asked. "We aren't that sneaky despite somehow being able to land here without attracting the attention of Ironwood."
Hanns did worry, Winter was disobeying orders, though she did have an excuse by believing that they would help. "Ironwood could still have some kind of influence or way of getting information to himself. I doubt we'd stay covert."
Blake scours the land before seeing in the distance where Atlas, the city proper, was. Nearby was the massive flagship being fixed from Hanns' last attempt at taking it down.
"Do you think Ironwood is going to hole up in his command ship? He would be suppressing the dissent though, so he could be in the city itself."
Hanns got to thinking. 'Hmmm... It's possible for those things. Ironwood has a lot on his mind right now. If I were him what kind of goal would I have? Stop the Grimm? Catch me? Stop the citizens? There's so much to think about, maybe this is why he keeps doing hard decisions.'
"We can split up but that would mean I won't be with you in case of something goes wrong. Now, I don't doubt your ability to fight but an entire airship should be hard to take down."
Torchwick suddenly feels something crawling up his back, not a cold sensation but more akin to a massage. Like the complete opposite of a chill in his spine. 'Why do I have the urge to tell Lunchbox I could take an entire airship?'
"Anyways, I'll be going with you. I'm not sure how the people would react to a Reichscopter once we get it back up to the air but hopefully, it won't be too intimidating, right?"
The group looks behind Hanns to see the very much intimidating-looking Reichscopter that had machine guns and a cannon plus its overall aggressive-looking black-painted surface.
'Yeah, nope. It's definitely aggressive looking.' some of them thought.
Torchwick was not one to keep his thoughts. "Lunchbox, It's as non-intimidating as a panther waiting to snap a person's neck. This is to say, it's going to scare people the moment we show up."
Hanns was kept positive about it. "Pshh... sure we may be intimidating but not in the, we are the bad guy way. More like, we are here to help you even though you didn't ask for it kind of way."
"Sure, whatever makes you happy. I for one want to know how we are going to even introduce ourselves."
Hanns tried quirking an eyebrow but only the sound of metal creaking was heard. "Torchwick? Have you forgotten you are going to do that? That's kind of the job of the Minister of Propaganda that I assigned to you."
"...Forgot about that. Well, if that's what the mighty Lunchbox needs then I'll try. Though, I need a spokesperson for that. Everyone will recognize me when I remove this mask, it's better if someone that has a public face were to endorse us."
Torchwick scanned the people in the group before stopping his gaze over Weiss. "You will do, Ice Queen. I have something in mind to boost our reputation. Hopefully, once this blows over, Atlas would eat up our image as being saviors."
"What?!"
"Shh... I know you fantasize about speaking for yourself against daddy dearest. Now that he's 6 feet under, you could. Don't you want this, Ice Queen?"
"I mean-"
"-Good. Enough moping about, we have a job to do and it ain't gonna be easy. Neo, let us get our A-game up. It's been a long time since I got this excited. Maybe I could kick the General down a peg too."
Neo nodded enthusiastically before urging the others to follow into the Reichscopter. The driver of course being Ruby since she was the one who spent most of the time designing it.
Weiss had gotten over the shock that she was going to address people for the first time without being forced by her father to do so. "Alright. Hanns, we'll be going ahead of you, once we get to the flagship, we could-"
"-Weiss?" Everyone turned to the noise before noticing a white-haired woman in her middle age.
"...Mom?" Weiss replied in surprise.
They didn't even notice the mother's presence nearby as she crept to the source of the talking. She was wandering as always along the Schnee Manor. She carried with her a bottle of wine to drown her sorrows while mindlessly walking.
No one even batted an eye in the now chaotic Schnee household. The military barging in and saying that they were under control made them lax in their duties, purely out of the confusion of who they were supposed to follow now that Jacques was dead.
At first, they waited for Winter but she was busy, and so without orders - no one had anything to follow. Willow did her usual routine so she wasn't even present in the mansion at times.
Though she did have something in her mind the whole time. "Darling… We have much to talk about-"
Torchwick interrupts. "-Lookie here Miss Milf. We are kind of in a hurry to either mortally wound, murder in cold blood, put Ironwood in a cage, or tossed into the masses of people waiting to tear him a new one."
He turns to the Reichcopter and taps his cane inside it. "So please, leave the family reunion as I told you back at the Reichscopter- aaaaannndd, she's already talking to her isn't she?"
"Weiss, I need to know something before you leave us again," Willow spoke with a gentle but weary tone. "Did you…?"
"Yes, mother." Her eyes hardened into a strong stare. The amount of determination and non-denial surprised Willow. Reminding her how her daughter had changed so much.
"I cannot blame you for taking action. In fact, as your mother - I'm still going to support you despite what you've done. Whether it was right or wrong only you can decide, darling."
"Yes, mom. I should've known that before. Even when I left you and Whitley, I still had a lingering regret. Now that I had taken Jacques to where he belongs, I feel like I should compensate you for the suffering he inflicted."
"No, don't be. It's partly my fault, I should've known I was going to get thrown away after your father declared his lack of affection in favor of the Schnee name rather than his marriage and kids."
Willow pauses before letting down the bottle of wine she keeps lugging around daily. "Weiss, all of this conflict scares me. I don't want to lose both you and your older sister. Promise me you would return here. I know your..."
Willow looks to see Hanns watching her with a gun barrel and nodding along. "...friends? are with you but can I at least know before you leave again that we could maybe be together as a family again?"
Weiss started to smile. "Yes! Of course, I'd like to try it again." the willingness of Willow to even leave a bottle of Wine on the ground was a sign Weiss picked up on. "Though..." she looks at the group. "I can't say I can stay longer."
"That's fine, I can finally see you enjoy something for once, Weiss. I've never seen you like this before, on the count of your father making everything seem so abusive to you and your sister. Good luck on your journey Weiss, I'm still sorry I couldn't support you. I wish I didn't have to let a daughter kill their father."
"Yes, I'm sorry too - mother." she embraces her mother for what seemed like minutes before they let go and board the Reichscopter and waved as it started flying to the skies.
"Sheesh, I didn't think it'd take that long for something so simple as a hug. We could've lost more time if she was going to eat dinner, maybe take you out for a walk, or maybe tour the whole damn place just as we were about to leave."
Neo had a devious smile forming as she heard Torchwick say the first sentence. She smacks head first into Torcheick's back and wraps her arms tightly, making Torchwick confused, then angry, then somehow embarrassed.
"Wha- Hey! If you're going to do that in front of the kiddies I swear I have to put you on parole one of these days." He panicked and wrestled her away.
"Oya Oya? Well, I've never seen you like this Torchwick. Maybe Old Man still has some actual human emotion behind all that eyeliner." Yang quipped.
"It's nothing deeper than the surface Blondie. Let's just leave all that sappy stuff behind and focus on the true objective." he dusts himself off and lights a cigar, forgetting he had a mask on.
"We're ready!" Blake shouted to Hanns below. Hanns saw the Reichscopter flying forward at half the speed of the Bf-109 which was slow by our standards but it traveled almost at the same speed as a bullhead.
Being in a comparable speed could be seen as a negative but the VAF-121 could do so much more than a bullhead's once in combat.
Not needing to tilt massive and cumbersome thrusters meant it could accelerate faster than a bullhead both vertically and horizontally.
Considering that the Reichscopter, specifically the Harpyie, could also carry twice as many people with almost a third of the dust requirements. It was safe to say the Harpyie was superior.
Hanns followed the VAF-121 while they headed to the docking center where the flagship was held. It was a gamble since no one knew where Ironwood went. Even going so far as to stay media silent.
~
To the citizens of Atlas, it was a situation waiting to turn to the worst. The front that received constant updates told them to be reassured but the sounds of creeping barrages getting closer to the walls of Mantle made them realize they were getting pushed back.
The people were scared, angry, and hopeful. Any semblance of good news they craved, Ironwood was not saying anything to them while the entire nation was being watched by soldiers meant to defend them.
Then, they heard some surprising news. Seemingly, another army had come to aid them in their plight. The people asked around, who was the third party. A single word was uttered as a response.
"The Wehrmacht."
It was a massive surprise, the information being fed by the General was shattered. Why would a terrorist organization go out of its way to bleed, sweat, and cry over the defense of another nation?
An army almost fully made up of Faunus, the same Faunus that were part of an old White Fang. An ideology that now lay to rest for a new foreign policy. The Atlesians had doubt but others vocalized their thoughts.
1000 people were small to earth in comparison but for Remnant where most of the Grimm culled the population and prevented human expansion, it was a sizeable force especially since they were people and not robots.
They called out Ironwood's false lies and began to fully support a joint command. Though, a majority of the population still abstained on the issue or outright denied receiving help from, quote, animals.
Though it only needed one broadcast, one video on the internet, just a single kind of news reaching the world - everyone knew who was aiding Atlas. The Faunus population began to cheer for the success of the defense.
Hanns and the gang started traveling on the outskirts of the city of Atlas before nearing the vicinity of the location of the flagship being repaired.
"So, how do we get through this place anyways?"
Large gates were towering over the repairs. Flanked by turrets that were firing upon the Grimm while guards of droids were patrolling the perimeter.
"Huh... I would've thought they would have those on the front lines rather than guarding a repair station." Hanns replied to Blake.
Hanns thought about it. 'I wonder if I could use Neo's semblance to disguise the VAF-121 as an Atlesian dropship, an armed bullhead, or maybe an airship.'
After a long thorough judgment. Hanns had the perfect plan, trying to break through a well-guarded area is always tricky but Hanns was experienced. And so he came to a totally well-thought-up decision.
"Fuck it. Let's go through the front door. Maybe do some showmanship so that they won't shoot us down instantly." he turns to his team. "Make the VAF-121 invisible, Neo. Keep yourselves far, I don't think rotors would be an appreciative noise."
They all knew Hanns was the kind of person to try something as bombastic as walking up to an enemy base and announcing your presence. Though behind that foolhardy plan, there was some kind of genuine reason for it.
For one, everybody was out to get Ironwood booted out of office or even arrested. The council seemed to agree since he would be way too powerful knowing that he controlled both the SDC and the military if things were left alone.
Hanns trusted that he could somehow speak some sense into the soldiers enlisted in Atlas. There was a lot of negativity, and that negativity doesn't just come from citizens. There could be dissenters in the ranks, he wasn't 100% sure.
Not to mention, no one but the closest of Ironwood knows who Hanns is. For everyone else, it could be that people are speaking inside the tank Hanns was in.
Going straight for the flagship with the people's will behind it could falter the discipline of the common soldier. Which Hanns thought would be enough to make them kick Ironwood out.
"Here goes..." Hanns slowly traversed the road connecting the facility to the city.
The soldiers immediately noticed and pointed their guns toward Hanns. Though, it couldn't be intimidating since Hanns knew he had thick armor, a hard-light shield, and even an aura by now.
"Identify yourselves! You are entering private Atlesian military property! Turn back now or we will turn you in!" the speakers announced.
Hanns prepped himself for a ton of bullshitting to try and crack their resolve. "We're here to ask Ironwood why he would risk the lives of millions of people for the selfish reason of controlling them."
The gun in the hands of the humans in the ranks shook. 'Good, I guess Ironwood still has people that doubted him. This shouldn't be hard.'
"Let us through, Ironwood has gone from being the benevolent man you all thought he was before to a crazed lunatic trying to keep his power on hold after he fumbled a defense he was in charge of."
'Though we were the ones who caused it, they don't need to know that.'
"What did you promise yourselves when you entered the military?" Hanns simply asked, their guns still pointed but they started looking at each other.
A soldier decided to break the silence and answer back. "We... promised to protect Atlas and the citizens. I joined because I didn't want the Grimm to affect any of us."
"And what is Ironwood prioritizing? What are you here for? The boots on the ground inside the city suppressing the same people, what are they for? Grimm? Terrorist? No, they were there to silence the same citizens you were supposed to protect."
The droids still followed command and protocol but the soldiers fully understood their position. Not fully laying down their arms but they saw some sense of what Hanns was talking about.
It was true, instead of doing their best to kill Grimm, Ironwood had focused on a single goal and that was to curb Hanns' potential power.
The arguably simple task of planting a false flag attack on Jacques made the people pin the death on Ironwood himself after the disaster of the first defense came.
Thinking it was a way to control the people from ousting Ironwood, the citizens of Atlas and the Council could only come to one conclusion - a power play.
Without the knowledge Hanns was behind it, no one could find any other evidence that would point to Hanns and his team. What could a group of teenagers do to kill Jacques? Certainly not much in the eyes of the people.
Hanns was hopeful as soon as the soldiers relaxed their stances and looked around amongst themselves. They tilted their heads or had a questioning look, doubt had started to take hold.
"Stay!"
Hanns felt his tracks stop, the engine being uncontrollable and his generators unable to turn off or on inside his hard-light armor. 'Bollocks!'
The Ace-Ops arrived. Marrow shouted his command, leading to Hanns being frozen under his command as long as Marrow kept his stare and finger pointed to whoever he wanted to stop.
Hanns still somehow could talk, considering his voice doesn't really have a throat like a human's. "Well, I never would've thought that the famous Ace-Ops would go out of their way to follow Ironwood."
Harriet held her breath before speaking. "We all know you planned all this. The CEO's death, the amount of Grimm here, you are the one responsible for the suffering."
"Oh? And please tell the citizens what you think. What was it your General kept saying? Ah! That I'm a thing and not a person. Shouldn't it stay that way? Would Atlas accept that reasoning?"
Harriet shouted. "If you won't shut up, I'll have the scientists figure out how you speak and rip it away-"
"Harriet, don't converse with him too much. We are here to follow orders, not talk. Marrow, how long will your semblance hold?" Clover commanded.
Marrow felt his aura depleting, deciding to check his aura levels through his scroll he suddenly yells out. "I can handle it probably until we get him to Ironwood."
'Well, I didn't think the Ace-Ops Weiss told me about would actually show up instead of contributing to the fight.'
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