Chapter 29: Into the Fire - Finale
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After no small sum of time, the small Faunus led them to an alleyway so narrow the Arbiter and the Spartan both had to turn and push through at an almost sideways angle. Beyond it was a wide, open concourse ringed on all sides by the backs of the dark buildings around it. There were few doors, and at least half of them had long since been boarded up, barricaded in by dumpsters and detritus, or had walls half-built over them. The windows were similar, some barred over, some boarded up, and most of them filtering light out into the dark alleyway. A handful of long, sputtering fluorescents were ensconced below the roofs and lit the alleyway in a flickering splatter of inconsistent, pale light and dark shadows.
The perfect place for a Faunus to lay a trap…
But his eyes were keen, keen enough to see as well as he would need to in the gloom, and he knew his Spartan comrade could as well. VISR, a most useful system he'd spent some time with as part of e technological exchange with his Human allies. And he was certain Penny had similar, the green glow to her eyes had to be a sign of it. Fion was able to see as well, gifted with night sight as all of her race were. Qrow, though…
"Of course it's dark…" The old Hunter sighed, hefting his great-scythe in both hands. "Fuckin' Faunus."
"Excuse me?"
"Not bein' racist, I'm bitchin' about havin' to fight someone with night vision in a dim alleyway." Qrow argued quietly as he and Fiona stepped forward, following behind Penny and the Arbiter. "Faunus do this shit all the time. Don't get me wrong, s'pretty smart. I just hate it."
"I… Guess that's fair…"
"And for an ambush at that." The Arbiter rumbled, holding up his sword as it flared to life, lighting up the world just that bit better. "Spartan, what do you see?"
"Motion." The Demon answered quietly, standing at the Arbiter's side and turning to look over the walls of the buildings. "The buildings are full. Several dozen people. Motion tracking is useless…"
"Hmph." Predictable. Perhaps they should call on Atlas, evacuate the buildings.
"Well that sucks." Qrow grunted, "Hey, 'lil bit."
"Um, are… Are you talking to me…?"
"Mhm." Qrow nodded, asking the Faunus, "What class are you?"
"Um," She blinked, "I'm A class?"
"Class?"
"Hunter classes, Mister Scaley." The Arbiter sighed, but didn't interrupt the man. "Basically, your skill level. What you can fight. Or, well, what you should be fightin'."
"I see…"
"Anyay, 'Lil Bit," Qrow grumbled, "You oughta get out of here."
"What-"
"Callows is an X-class Hunter, Fiona, and a damn killer too." Qrow snapped, using her proper name so sharply that it shut the woman up and drew the Arbiter's full attention. The man's eyes were hard, brows furrowed and lips drawn down in a deep frown. "I've heard about him. Someone small like you, you'll be his first kill."
"But-"
"He's not wrong there, little lamb~" A voice like oil slithered down onto them from above the Arbiter himself.
The Spartan reacted before the rest of them, spinning on a heel and yanking Thel back with one hand while the other raised his rifle. He managed a single burst before Tyrian's spinning heel forced the weapon aside as he came down from the roof, peppering the Arbiter with automatic fire that had his shields flaring. He backed away on instinct and raised his sword to deflect the attacks while the man turned to show Qrow his back, metal tail snapping up to catch the down-coming scythe by the blade and the other hand flicked something at Penny.
It connected with her chest with a thump and Penny's eyes widen for a half-second before her back arched sharply and her limbs contracted. Her swords clattered limpy around her as she howled and fell, sparks trailing across her body. Fiona was beside her before she even hit the ground, reaching for the little disk on her chest. Before she could reach it Tyrian bark a laugh and twisted impossibly at the hip, folding forward and rolling away as the Spartan's rifle turned back on him.
Qrow's scythe bit deep into pavement and snow as the mad Faunus turned and leapt backward, his tail coiling under him like a wheel that let him roll as his arm-mounted guns opened fire on the Spartan. The automatic fire leached at his shields as quickly they usually did, and as they sparked and fell, the Arbiter stepped between them, shidling his friend with his own weakening shields. Unlike the Spartan, though, he had his Aura, too.
And it does its work, protecting him from all but the sting of landing rounds.
As Tyrian's head came down to the floor, his tail extended suddenly, hurling him into the air. He curled into a tight ball and let momentum turn him as he went up, landing in a crouch on the fallen automaton's far side. Fiona heard him land and turn, holding up her odd polearm with a hand to catch the first set of blades coming for her throat. Tyrian turned his hand at the last moment, laughing as he caught the pole between the blades and then yanking the weapon up while the second set came in.
For the second time that night, a woman's scream cracked the air as she scrambled away, clutching at a breast like it was on fire. Tyrian's boot caught her jaw as he hurled her weapon behind him and followed, his other hand snapping back as she turned her back on him. This time, the Arbiter could see the violet ensorcelling his blades, and the ragged tear in her Aura that it left behind as it cleaved along her spine.
The Spartan's thrust-pack roared fire as he rocketed by the Arbiter's side, slamming shoulder first into the Faunus as he stood. The fiend collapsed over his armored shoulder and the Spartan stepped into the blow and stood tall, trying to bowl the Faunus down to the ground. Tyrian slammed into the concrete and cackled, bringing both sets of blades into the Spartan's sides with enough force that one chipped on his still-weak shield and then burst through and broke off of his armor.
Then his tail snapped up and down, stinger aimed for the Spartan's back, and Thel was moving again.
The tail glanced off the wall that springs to life scant inches from the Spartan's back. But Tyrian only laughed as the Arbiter's other hand snagged his tail and the Spartan rose, resting a boot on his downed opponent's sternum and leveling his assault rifle on his throat.
"Told ya, kid…" Qrow growled as the Arbiter turned and watched the man help the girl sit up. She was still clutching at her chest, her thin shoulders heaving as she sucked in air, but Qrow was almost eerily calm and patient with her. "It's a shock, yeah. Just breathe, you're fine."
"B-But he- My- I felt-"
"He didn't hurt ya." Qrow reassured her, and then hesitated before pressing a hand to her chest. She stiffened but he ignored it, sliding the hand down across her stomach and then along her side before he held it up to show her his clean palm. "Look. No blood. You're alright, Fiona, so breathe."
While the Huntsman saw to the woman, he turned and knelt beside Penny, wrenching the little disk off of her and inspecting it.
It was palm wide but only as thick as a knife, with a set of spikes on one side that still had scraps of cloth and artificial skin hanging off of them from where he'd torn them. The top and sides were dark blue and curved in a half-circle, topped by a dark, maroon colored button that blinked dully. All he could glean was that it was not apparently Atlesian. It was too smooth, and lacked the blocky whites and blacks he'd seen thus far.
It was no matter, though, he decided, crushing it in his fist and hurling the pieces away.
"Are you alright?" He asked as Penny rolled over and pushed herself up on her hands and knees.
"I'm alright." She assured him quietly, flicking a look at the pile of debris. "Where did he get an electronic pulser though…"
"I do not know." He answered frankly, "What is it?"
"Father designed it years ago, ahead of the Knight program and alongside another development program." Penny explained as she stood, shaking her head to clear the last of the fog and frowning, "It sends controlled pulses of electricity through mechanized entities, causing them to seize up. It's… Quite uncomf-"
A gunshot cut the woman's answer off and drew all their attention further up the alleyway.
"Arbiter!" He turned as the Spartan toppled back and to the side, arms and legs locked into the same position as when he'd pinned Callows, while electricity arced along the length of his armor.
"Oh, it looks like she's just as fun as the Doctor and I thought!" Tyrian cackled madly as he scrabbled away on all fours like an animal with his tail held high over his back in an obvious, primal sort of threat. "Now as much as I do enjoy having fun four on one, I suppose I should let you know, the little Rose is very unarmed~"
"Shit…" Qrow growled, "She can't fight without a weapon. Her hand to hand is trash…"
"Go." The Arbiter grunted before he could overthink it, stepping forward to stand over his fallen friend. "Polendina and I shall see to this filth. Fiona-"
"I'll get the pulser off of him." She promised, standing behind the Arbiter and the android. "Without my weapon, I'm… Not great. I'm not good in hand to hand either. And against a close quarters specialist like him-"
"You might want to hurrrrry~" Tyrian cackled, backing up a couple more steps and leaving them a wide, open path to the apartment. "Without me around to contain him, I don't know what the good Doctor will do, all alone with her."
"Mother-fucker…"
Qrow turned and ran for the sound of gunfire and the Arbiter sighed. Three on one would do, once the Spartan was freed.
"It's locked onto the plating." Fiona hissed and, when the Arbiter turned, he could see her struggling to remove it from the man's breastplate. Growling, she pressed her hand to it and her Aura flared before she screamed, falling onto her back and clutching at her wrist. "M-My Semblance!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention it?" Tyrian cackled, slapping his forehead and laughing brightly, "Silly me, silly me! A good hit or two with my Semblance, and your Aura… Well, it just doesn't work as well as it ought! Not for a whale, at least. Why, one more hit on you, little lamb, and you won't have any Aura at all!"
"N-None?"
"None at all!" He laughed, standing taller on straight legs, his chest and arms hanging low in front of them in a disgusting display of flexibility. "Why, once that happens, I wonder… Would you prefer I carve your heart out in front of you, or your intestines? I'm in a good mood, so just let me have your preferences!"
"Fall back." The Arbiter commanded, "Or if you cannot conscience that, then protect the Spartan until we can free him."
"Oh, no, no, noooo!" Tyrian cackled, "We can't have that! If you even try, then I'll make it my mission to make a lambchop or three out of her! And I'm sure you don't want that, hmmm?"
"Monster…" There were two of them, but Tyrian was less a man and more a creature. He would be able to get by, if only for a moment. And if he did...
"We can handle Callows without him." Penny asserted powerfully, exchanging a brief look with him and adding, quietly, "Do not worry."
"Alright." Fiona nodded, standing firmly behind them, "I'll be the last line then, I guess. Damn it, Robyn owes me a night off…"
"I'll vouch for that, when all is done." The Arbiter chuffed, sliding into a sword stance with a long breath.
"Thanks." She sighed, "Here's hoping I can find someone tall and broody, then, huh?"
"Here's hoping, yes." He sighed, focusing entirely on the Faunus in front of him. "Polendina, take to the air. Look for your chance. I will engage him otherwise."
"Got it." She nodded, green fire flaring as she rose up and drifted behind him, weapons spinning behind her idly.
"Oh, here it cooooomes!" Tyrian cackled, crossing his arms, palms toward them in a strange fighting pose of his own. "Let's have some fuuuuun~!"
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Ruby felt herself break apart as the man's gun came around, using her Semblance to dodge to the side. The bullet was packed with Dust, apparently, because it ripped a just about Ruby sized hole in the wall where it hit. He cursed under his breath and pivoted, holding his weapon out like Atlesian marksmen she'd watched growing up, turning at the hips with a hand on his elbow and sliding his forward foot as he turned and advanced, tracking her around the room while he moved away from the walls.
Every time he fired, she broke apart and moved with her Semblance, and the shot ripped the floor, wall or ceiling apart. She backed up, jumped high, ducked down low, swapped sides again and again, always forcing her petals to burst in her wake to mask her moving ball thing's path- Everything she could think of, everything she'd learned to do over a decade of training.
But every time she reappeared, tried to get close to him, he was already aiming for her. Already shooting.
Like he knew where she was heading…
But how?
She had no idea, but she knew that her Aura wouldn't last forever. Especially not if she kept burning it on dodging. And with the fighting still on outside, she couldn't count on help, either. She had to try something different. Something clever…
Something Weissy...
This time, when she turned to roses she wasn't just dodging. Instead she aimed, up and over the man, under his desk. There wasn't enough space for her down there as it was, and she grit her teeth and focused to come back feet-first. Between her expanding mass and her feet kicking up, the desk were hurled towards the man standing in the middle of the room. It made it a third of the way and detonated when the man shot it.
Ruby burst through the breaking wood, tucked her knees to roll, and slammed into his chest with both feet.
The air left his lungs in a woosh as it was forced out and he fell, and Ruby used him as a springboard to leap back and away, towards where the terminals had been. She landed and stumbled on the bits of broken wood, but she'd managed to land a hit-
Watts' arm snapped up and, without even looking, he let off a pair of shots. Surprised, and kind of falling already, Ruby managed to duck under the first shot. But the second caught her on the shoulder and spun her around as she fell. She landed on hands and knees and scrambled away on instinct before she started to stand again.
And then, pain.
White hot, searing and arcing out from her shoulder and down her arm, spine, and into her guts. It ended there in a whte-hot ball like fire, burning in her intestines as if she'd taken a shot of lava. She screamed and spasmed as she fell, off hand pawing at the air as her muscles seized up.
"That-," Watts hacked as he stood up, pressing a finger on his gun-hand to one of the rings on his free hand while it massaged the spot she'd kicked. Smiling, he paid her a nod, "That was a neat trick, little girl."
"W-What the f-f-fuck-"
"Ah, right." He laughed as he took the finger off his ring and the pain ended. While Ruby heaved for breath on the floor, he warned her, "If you try and remove the power-node, it will electrocute you again, and even I can't stop it for sixty seconds."
"M-My stomach-" She groaned, curling into a ball while the man watched her, head cocking to the side as his eyes roved up her legs and over the curve of her hip. What he was looking for, she wasn't sure.
But he didn't seem to find what he was looking for and scowled.
"Ah, yes, that." He smirked when he met her eyes, his aggravation of a moment before all but forgotten, apparently. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're a smart one, or at least, so I was told."
"Figure…" She blinked and pushed herself up on an arm. It only took a moment before she scowled, "The food. But… Not poison."
"Poison is so base. And a woman's weapon besides." Watts waved the idea off with a hand but smiled nonetheless, reaching down to cup her chin with a hand. Bringing her head up he loomed closer, filling her vision, and laughed. "But close enough for you to guess, I suppose."
"No, not poison." Watts confirmed, letting her chin go and standing to loom over her. Smiling down on her, he explained, "Your food was laced with a metal filament of my own design. It adhered to your stomach lining and will persist for a couple of days. Alone, it's entirely harmless. But the metal is highly conductive, so if one introduces an electrical charge…"
"It would be attracted to it." Her eyes flicked to the little cylinder hanging onto her shoulder, affixed by a splatter of dull silver putty.
"Ah, so very clever." Watts complimented, sinking to a knee in front of her again. "Just like your files suggested."
"My file…" She blinked, "D-Did you do a background check on me?"
"Of course!" He laughed, reaching out to trail a hand along her shoulder. "A little bit of tutoring and… A few likely supplemental matters of education, and you'll be an out-standing assistant."
"Assistant?!"
"Oh yes, something will need to be done about Cinder, but…" He shrugged, "But at the very least, I could find somewhere to hide-"
The door exploded and cut the deranged man off suddenly. Ruby squeaked as the man stormed through, his scythe whistling as it cut the air and forced Watts away from her. Standing over her, and between her and the enraged looking doctor, her uncle laid his great-scythe across his shoulders, took one look at her on the ground and snarled.
"The fuck are you doing to my kid?!"
"Uncle Qrow?!"
"Nothing that concerns you, Branwen." Watts answered quietly, holding his hand over the ring that would set the electricity rushing through her again. "Make a move and I'll fry her, though. Which would be a shame, in my opinion."
"Sensitive electronics?" Qrow scoffed, "With my Semblance? You're liable to blow your finger off rather 'n get your ring to work."
"I'll take that risk." Watts assured him, "One setting and the voltage will be quite lethal. Her intestines will look like sausages by the time it runs out of charge."
Qrow growled and turned his hip to get ready to fight, and Watts' eyes narrowed. Unsure of what else to do, Ruby staggered to her feet and raised her fists, as ready as she could be to fight.
Then the world shook around them, and the Kingdom's alarms began to scream. It was almost lost, though, in the great tremors of a roar that shook Ruby's very bones.
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For the briefest moment, the world was still and silent, beside the crackling energy of the young maiden hovering just above and behind him.
Finally, after the longest heartbeat of the Arbiter's life, Tyrian moved, forward and to the side just barely an inch. Penny reacted like lightning, fire roaring from her boot-thrusters as she rocketed past him and turned, arms spread to either side over spinning blade formations. The energy lanced down and slammed into the Faunus' shoulder, and Tyrian turned with it, slipping to the side and half-turning to each of them, peppering them in automatic fire.
Penny dodged back and up to save her Aura, but the Arbiter didn't bother with conservation. Instead, he shot forward, closing the distance in two great leaps and cutting for the monster's throat. Tyrian bent back at the waist, cackling madly, and rolled back on his tail, peppering the Arbiter at point blank range. Thel snarled and brought his free hand down in a backhand that surprised the Faunus enough to land, slamming into his ribs with a force that would have - and had - killed a Marine if they had taken it.
Tyrian only rolled across the snowy concrete, coming up on all fours and crackling, "Yes! Such a good strike!"
"Try this, then!" Penny snapped from over the Arbiter's head, energy lancing down behind the Faunus and carving forward.
Tyrian leapt forward and rose in the same measure, blades flashing in the dim light, angled for the Arbiter's face. He stepped back and to the side of one and turned to catch the other on his armored shoulder. The blow glanced off, and Tyrian followed it, leaping and planting his feet on his armored chest and then kicking off, wheeling through the air and snapping the ball of his stinger across the Arbiter's face as he went.
He landed and knelt, peppering the Arbiter's chest in the brief second it took to recover from his surprise. It was enough to drain his shields, which sparked as they died, but his Aura held, rounds bouncing off in dull sparks of violet and red. He was not trained, but he could feel the drain, slipping away like water drunk from a cup, the apex always descending.
Only, to a more fatal end.
He brought his sword between them as a shield and backed away, bellowing, "Polendina!"
She didn't hesitate, slamming down with rocket-powered force in between them and closing with the Faunus in a truly vicious brawl.
Her foot slammed into his face and he spun, tail catching her on the chin as he lunged. She backed away and then leapt, roaring over him with rocket power, and Thel stepped back to avoid the fire that peppered his thighs as the Faunus turned to face her again. Penny closed and turned on a heel, cocking a hip and bringing her hands through the air between them as if in a dance.
Her blades followed, spinning around her like the frills of a dress and carving across the man's forearms when he blocked.
Again, Tyrian only laughed, bending at the waist and dropping flat to the ground. Then he rose, holding himself up on his shoulders, and kicked his leg to spin, his weapons spraying fire all around him as he did. Penny ignored the ammunition flancing off her flanks and brought her hands up, snarling as her swords answered, spinning into a cone with a narrow, lethal point. She brought it down, and Tyrian rolled to the side, standing faster than lightning and lashing out with a glowing, violet blade.
Penny screamed and backpedaled as her swords, cut free, scattered across the concrete.
"Penny!" Thel bellowed, stepping in and thrusting dishonorably for the Faunus' back.
Tyrian took it with a laugh and a shriek in the same breath, spinning and carving that same violet hued blade across the Arbiter's face.
He bellowed and backed pedaled, clutching at the side of his face and trying to see past the stars in his vision. Tyrian followed, slamming a foot into the side of his knee to force him down, and then he turned and leapt.
Thel rose to see the man latched onto Penny like some kind of Gremlin, heels resting on her hips and one hand fisted in her hair. She thrashed and soared into the sky. Spun and lanced into a wall, slamming him into stone with all the force in her body. And then she shot back across the alley, high enough above him that Thel could do nothing but watch.
Then she screamed again and Tyrian leapt off her.
He hit the ground while she spun, pawing at her face and drifting side to side confusedly.
"Uh oh." Tyrian laughed, turning to the Arbiter and holding something up to him. "I think I made a mistake~! Hahahahahaaaaa!"
He threw it at the Arbiter's feet and Thel looked down on it. Pale and smooth, and disgustingly familiar.
"Tyrian…" Penny snarled, turning to him with one brow knit down over the side of her face that was smooth flesh and drawn frown. The other, a dull steel skeleton, crossed by green lines of power and threaded by impossibly thin metal fibers like muscle, betrayed nothing but automaton fury.
"I will kill you."
"Oh ho ho ho…" Tyrian laughed, "It speaks!"
Thel roared in fury borne of sympathy and stepped in, turning at the hip and thrusting at his back once again, completely ambivalent to the dishonor of it. Tyrian slipped away again, curving to the side, but the Arbiter anticipated this and brought his left hand up and across to catch him. Tyrian buckled over his fist and the Arbiter yanked his hand back and took the moment to snap his hand up and take him by the throat, hosting him high.
"Haha…" He wheezed, clutching at the Arbiter's hands like so many Humans had before him. Grinning widely, he said, "That was… Fun…"
"Oh? Then how about this?" He snarled, pressing his blade to the man's stomach and relishing in his howls of agony until he sparked purple.
Then he took it away, dropped the man, and backhanded him to shatter his Aura. His tail lashed out but the Arbiter leaned back and then caught it, severing it with a flick of his sword and then slamming a derisive boot into his ribs and throwing him onto his side. He dropped the tail beside him and chuffed, then spat on him.
"Beast… I would kill you, but another is owed that." He looked up to the maimed woman as she advanced, holding a green sword that trailed a string along behind her.
"Tyrian Callows." She said, voice distorted ever so slightly by the damage to her face. He cackled and did not look, so the Arbiter took him by his head and lifted him up, forcing him to face her while his legs dangled. "By order of General Ironwood of Atlas, the Councils of Vale, Mistral and Atlas, and by your action of assault of an officer, I sentence you to death. How do you plead?"
"Plead?" He laughed, "I only plead with her! Not some false- Hrk!"
"Acknowledged." Penny murmured, withdrawing a sword stained in red from the man's chest.
"Ah…" He babbled as the Arbiter dropped him, kneeling on the ground. He pressed a hand to his chest and looked at the red, grinning, "Aha… So beautiful…"
He toppled and, as he fell, he met Penny's eyes and nodded.
She returned it, looked at her sword, and then hurled it away and bent to retrieve another. Turning for the sounds of fighting, she said, "Come. We must see to Ruby."
"Indeed we-"
He was cut off by a great bestial roar that set his vision swimming. As it faded, he could hear the sound of alarms, ringing out across the Kingdom around them. He heard cackling and turned, watching Tyrian roll over, spread eagle on the ground and reaching up with a trembling hand to the sky.
"She's… Here…" He rasped, "To see me… Off…"
Roaring, he strode across the scant foot between them and brought his heel down on the man's skull. It shattered like a melon, splattering crimson across the ground, and he snarled. Then, he looked up…
And wished for gods to pray to.
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General Ironwood rose slowly as the black clouds that filled the eastern sky broke apart, impossibly, to let the greatest Grimm he had ever laid eyes on drift down from the sky towards Atlas. Two of his patrol ships moved to intercept and, shocked, he did nothing but watch as their mass accelerators and particle lasers glanced almost uselessly off of the beast. It writhed and bellowed, and lances of black fury carved out, ripping his frigates apart and sending them careening towards the surface, a fiery iron tomb for a thousand naval officers apiece burying themselves in the snow.
Finally, he felt a cool rush of Aura through him and turned, pressing a broad command channel on his desk and ordering, "All ships, this is General Ironwood speaking. I am ordering you to fall back, withdraw behind Atlas. Emergency shields, full power."
"But sir!" A comms officer from the Adamant Atlesian dared to counter, "that would mean abandoning Mantle! I'm already registering Grimm coming in!"
"I know." He sighed, quashing the fury at her dissent. "Abandon sectors lost to the Grimm, evacuate our forces and any civilians. Prioritize Atlesians and Dust. Withdraw in one wave- No return shuttles. That is all."
He closed the line, took a breath, and pressed another, "Winter."
"General." The woman's voice cracked over the personal connection. "I heard your orders, and I'm moving to assist with-"
"Negative." He sighed, "Get to Fria and… And stand by."
"I…" She paused, "Yes, General."
Closing that channel, he again opened another, this time to the Councilors in their office. They'd been meeting about tax relief ahead of the election, which was typical, and he hadn't cared. Now, though, he was happy they'd been vote hunting.
It made this easier…
"I am invoking emergency powers under Article One Eighty Five." He spoke simply, calmly, over the outraged shouts that followed, "Martial law is in effect. Officers on deck, take the Council into protective custody. Force is authorised."
This time, when he ended the call, he didn't open a new channel. He just turned and watched the apocalypse come.
"Finally…" He sighed, "Salem."
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Oscar sprinted through the halls towards the medical wing, rounded a corner and nearly slammed headlong into Doctor Brass. The man sighed, but stopped long enough to meet his eyes and asked, quietly, "You want help?"
"I do."
"We're going to lose people this time." He warned, "That has broken doctors. You're only a child."
If he only knew…
"I'll be fine." Oscar promised, "Please, trust me."
"...Damn it." The doctor stepped past him, waving for him to follow. "Come along then. I'll assign you to assessment with the nursing staff. Just… Do what you're told."
"Yes, Sir."
"Doct-"
"Yes, Doctor Brass."
"Hmph." The man growled, shoving a security mech aside. "Good boy."
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So, for the record-
No, the timing on the fights doesn't match up.
Sorry, I, uh, kinda ran away with Tyrian's death.
And yeah, I killed Tyrian off. He fucked around and found out, when it came to Penny and Thel. So he came down with a rather rough case of 'crushed head' syndrome'. I also toyed around with how the Arbiter would finish him off, or if he should, and ended up on the two of them sharing the kill. Like some kinda fucked up bonding exercise from hell.
Penny's face is basically a Terminator. I thought 'Fuck it, Imma take some o' your face' was a very Tyrian thing to do.
Moving on~
Now, I'm gonna explain here since I can't easily do so elsewhere and kinda wanna avoid reviews asking about it-
The Pulser Tyrian has is based loosely on the armor restraint system Spartan Locke was attempting to use on the Master Chief in Halo 5. It was designed in tandem with the Knight program in this fic, as Penny said, which itself is related in ways I won't get into to Jorge and his salvaged gear.
Basically, it works as Penny said. In Chief's case, it's electrifying the gel layer of his armor and causing it to 'armor lock' the way he did in Halo 3 when he crashed down to Earth. It protects him from impacts, sure, but it also inhibits his movement, which makes it a decent tap. This is how I interpret the Armor Restraint system to function, since other ways I theorized it could work would require rebooting the Mjolnir entirely, and when it's removed, Locke and Buck can move normally.
Also, before anyone says anything-
No, I will not ignore Halo 5. I like that game. I like Halo. Sorry, I guess?
Also, lastly, she's heeeeeere~
…
I think I over fucking did it on this chapter, it's basically two-
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Tpoynt :
Yes!
Scrub Lord :
That was the reference!
Sebine :
XD
Nantono :
'Strange' is one word for it, yeah.
Smokey Panda :
I'm glad you can see where I'm coming from. :D
Aqwordovic :
Yes!
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