Chapter 23: Lighting a Fire - II
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"You just… Decided to lure a Grimm Leviathan, that you knew could easily crush you, away from the city with the Relic." Ironwood murmured once the tale was spun to him, in all the detail he could have wanted. Thel merely nodded and Ironwood asked, quietly, "Why? Miss Rose could have done it on her own. She probably would have been even faster without you with her as well."
"Most certainly." He nodded, pursing his mandibles for a moment as he looked at the young warrior. She felt it, doubtless, looking to him with a confused, raised eyebrow, and he sighed wearily. "But… I knew that she would not abandon the settlement, or the Relic, and flee. My hope was that she would leave the Relic with me, if it came to such an end, and she could escape while I continued on."
"Thel-"
"I know, Ruby. I know." He chuckled, more than merely warmed by his companion's sudden, oh so expected glare for his plan. Which, in truth, was exactly what he had expected from her when she knew for certain what he had planned. "You may scold me later for such a plan, but for now, please. Have peace and focus on the matter at hand."
"...Fine." She sighed, "But I swear to the Grimm, next time you get all suicidal like that, I'll kill you."
"I think that would defeat the purpose…" He laughed, shaking his great head when she only turned to stick her tongue out at him. Turning back to the Atlesian, who was watching with a single quirked brow, he concluded, "The culmination of that plan was when the Demon arrived, and laid waste to the Grimm. And saved my life, for which I am in his debt."
"You saved my planet." The Master Chief answered simply, "Consider it squared."
"That was to repay a different debt, though…"
"You owe me? I get to decide what constitutes payment." The Spartan answered concisely, folding his arms over his armored chest and shrugging the matter off.
"Indeed, my friend. Indeed." He knew better than to push after that, when the Spartan was so clearly done considering his words. So, he turned back to Ironwood and asked, "Will that be enough for you then, General?"
"Or do you need footage to believe him?" Jaune asked quietly, leaning back and to the side to ask, "Chief, your guns have cameras like Atlas' soldiers and drones are supposed to, right?"
"Are you implying they don't have them, Arc?"
"Why yes, General, I am." The knight smiled and cocked a hip, his arms folded over his chest in what looked very much to be his best impersonation of Qrow. In any other situation, it might have been endearing.
Now, though, it seemed ready to set the oil alight…
"Mister Arc, I have tolerated more than enough insults from-"
"They do have cameras." The Spartan interjected loudly and purposefully, turning the smallest look on the young Arc when the blonde turned to him. Nodding simply, he turned back to Ironwood and went on. "I just ordered Roland to forward footage to go along with the data package. Moving on?"
"Moving on." Ironwood agreed, pinching the bridge of his nose and turning to Jorge. "Thoughts?"
"Everything lines up with what we know already, Sir." The Spartan answered simply, "All of it, right in line with what I found out and the preliminary reports we've received from Argus and neighboring regions."
"Um, in English…?"
"Intel's on our side, Rose." Chief answered quietly, "Their intel. Which means arguing against what we've said is just doubting their own intelligence."
"An unenviable position, to be sure." Thel rumbled, "And so you must make your decision, General. What do you do?"
"Exonerated by the UNSC, savior of the Human race and the galaxy, at least in part, and as far as the public can know, a hero to Atlas… And if I revealed the truth, a panic that would have the Grimm in a feeding frenzy." Ironwood sighed, a deep and frustrated sound, and reclined in his chair. Drumming his fingers on the surface of his desk, he mused quietly, "What am I meant to do about this, then?"
"As we all deal with things that come before us and bear down so heavily upon us." The Arbiter answered quietly, "What you think you must. And what you think is just."
"And if I think shooting you is just, Arbiter?" Ironwood asked simply and quietly, resting his chin on top of his fist and raising his eyebrows. "What then?"
"You deal with us." Ruby answered simply, stepping in front of him before he could answer. After a moment, the Demon actually joined her, arms still crossed, and Ruby took that as a cue to add. "And we kinda sorta have an orbital cannon… And it's on a spaceship. So, you know, not a very fair fight."
"And any action against the Arbiter would also bring the Sangheili down with a vengeance." The master Chief added simply, "Along with the UNSC itself."
"Threats aren't exactly helping your case, here…" Ironwood murmured, exasperated. When Ruby started to say something, he held up a hand for silence and shot her a look until she gave it, backing up with a shrug. "For now, at least, I have no choice but to respect the UNSC's decision. You're right that they have jurisdiction here."
"So you believe us…?"
"I believe the facts you've presented, yes." The General answered simply, sounding pained as he went on, "Beyond that? I don't believe any of this, but for now, I will refrain from incarcerating him and recognize his status as a diplomat."
"So… That's it?" Jaune asked confusedly, "All this back and forth and… That's it?"
"Beyond the security concern, which is my purview, it's a decision for the Council. So-" An alert suddenly flickered to life at the end of his desk, a little exclamation mark hovering and slowly spinning until the man frowned and drew his Scroll out of his pocket. It vanished as he opened it and a heartbeat passed before he snarled and was on his feet. "Adel, get your section back together for rapid deployment."
"Aye, Sir." The large man nodded, trundling off as he tugged his helmet on. He paused for a moment, as he passed his Spartan brother and visor met visor. Whatever was communicated between the two was silent, and ended when the Atlesian nodded and left.
"Spartan…"
"There's action coming." He answered simply, rolling his shoulders and letting his hand drift to the heavy sidearm on his thigh.
"Clover," Ironwood said, speaking into his Scroll and turning to look out his window, "get the Ace-Ops together and get to Mantle. Sectors one through four. I'm deploying Adel's sections to five through ten. Sweep and clear as quickly as you can, and move on in case they're spreading."
"General Ironwood?" Ruby asked quietly, drawing the general's attention to her. "I can tell something's happening. So what's going on?"
"Grimm incursions." He answered after a moment, turning a short look on Thel and adding, quietly, "Probably because someone decided to deploy a warship no one recognized over the Kingdom. I put out an announcement to explain as much as I could, but…"
"The people are anxious." Thel filled in gravely, "And anxiety has brought dark attention."
"How bad is it?" Jaune asked, frowning when Ironwood only grimaced, a vein working in his jaw that did not inspire confidence in anyone in the room. Turning to Ruby he sighed and cocked his head, "We got a bit of rest up on the Black Sun…"
"Yeah." She sighed and nodded, a small and knowing smile spreading along her lips as she did. "We did. Arbiter? Chief?"
"I go where he goes." The Spartan answered simply, bobbing his head at the Elite. "He's the objective."
"If Humans are in danger from these beasts, then my sword is more than ready to cut them down." He said by way of answer, turning a long look on the General and adding quietly, and as respectfully as he could manage, "Presuming, of course, that you do not mind one such as I risking life and limb in your streets, General."
"...I don't have a choice." He sighed quietly, pointing a finger at Ruby and ordering crisply, as though she were but another of his soldiers. "Get your team together and take care of sectors eleven and twelve. I'll have you provided with a Scroll with the designations included."
"Got it." She nodded, turning to message her friends while Jaune stepped forward.
"Arc, I'd like your team on sectors thirteen and fourteen." The General went on, turning at last to the Spartan and Thel himself. Frowning, he sighed and said, "And… I'd appreciate you two joining with Branwen to take sector fifteen."
"That is all you want from us?" Thel asked, "A single sector?"
"It will cover the last sector under threat right now, and you're down a man as far as normal team compositions are concerned, so yes. I'm also unaware of your third's capabilities in the field, and don't want to overtax you and need to divert support later." He answered simply, almost certainly brushing over the 'and I don't trust a third of you' aspect. No one called him on it, though, even if Ruby muttered something under her breath, and he went on plainly. "Adel and Ebi both know, but I understand you won't understand the order of battle. You'll be front-lining while my troopers clear apartments and evacuate behind you. Hold where you're positioned, they'll be entrenching and providing fire support as well."
"Defense in depth." Chief nodded, "Understood."
"I'm also giving you a single sector because as I understand it, Spartans are best on the offense." Ironwood added, "Hold as best you can, support will be available as soon as I can free it. If everything is clear, you're dismissed. A drone will escort you to a bay where a dropship will be waiting to ferry you."
And just like that, their meeting was over, and fortunately ended in a different kind of blood-shed than he'd expected. At least, it was a far more tolerable kind...
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"We've formed a perimeter of my most trusted guards, backed up by a couple of Hunters that were in the neighborhood, on the other side of the streets surrounding the building like you instructed." Ghira explained quickly as they rounded a corner onto the street the White Fang were holed up on. Waving at its empty length, capped by a handful of hastily erected wooden barricades manned by the Chieftain's personal guards, and added, "I thought to evacuate the buildings and the street up to a block back, too."
"It'll make it that much harder for them to try and escape." Fred nodded, "We'll notice them in empty streets and buildings with or without their masks."
"My thoughts exactly." The Chieftain answered, setting hands on his hips as they reached the barricades and nodding at the building in question. "It's fairly large, considering. We don't know how many are holed up inside."
"Not enough." Kelly assured him smugly, rucking her shotgun against her chest and asking. "Entrances?"
"Only the front needs to be worried about." He answered, waving a hand at an alley that ran between the building and its neighbor. "There are two side-doors, but I have my daughter and her partner watching them. The kind of people in here won't pose a threat to either of them at all."
"Understood." He'd seen enough by now to believe they could hold their own. Nodding to the Chieftain, he said, "We'll breach in five."
"I'll warn my men." The Chieftain nodded, his face grim and set in a mask that showed every single one of his years, but none of whatever he was feeling. A familiar mask, one that Fred had seen on hundreds of faces. "That way they can be ready to snag anyone that runs."
"No one will." He noted simply, "Is there anything else?"
"No." Ghira shook his head and nodded at the corner of the building, where a door had been built. A sign hung over it naming it 'Seagrave's Storage and Shipping', but other than that, it was entirely unremarkable. "That's the front entrance. They're probably waiting for you."
"Mhm." He flicked a look up, eyes tracing along the dozens of dark windows that spanned the building's upper floors. The ground floor's windows had been boarded off, but apparently they hadn't seen the need for the upper floors. "We're on our way, stay on alert."
"Always." Ghira nodded, turning and raising a hand in a silent, if so visible as to make silence nearly worthless, signal to his guards.
As the two of them walked he cut off his external comms and pinged their markswoman with the simple, familiar question. "Linda, status?"
"Raised position, good sight-line." She answered immediately, "Approximately zero-point five second predicted on rounds incoming."
"Understood." He nodded, shouldering the DMR and sincerely wishing he had something better for the indoor environment aside from his sidearm. It would do, though. Instead of dwelling on it, he clipped, "Kelly?"
She didn't answer, instead striding ahead of him and rolling her shoulders in what was probably the best he was going to get for the moment.
The door was made of solid looking wood and recessed slightly at the top of a trio of small, concrete stairs. He leveled his rifle on it while the front-woman approached, first pressing an ear against the door and then running a gentle finger all along its outer edges, looking for any tell of a trap laid by their terrorist quarry. While she did that he ran an electronics ping, searching for any strong electrical signals that might hint at anything untoward planted on the old door.
He spotted a moving something producing electricity to the side of the door and pinged it. Kelly's little green indicator light blipped once and then again as she stood, signalling the door was clear and she'd received his ping. He eyed the hinge and pinged again for each of them; it would swing open and offer the Faunus behind cover as it swung open.
Again, her little light blinked green. Then she blinked it again, three more times in quick success. 'On three.'
'Understood, standing by.' He answered with a few blinks, setting his light flashing yellow three times.
Instead of raising a hand, she leaned almost against the door and leveled the weapon at the bottom hinge. Then she tapped her foot slowly. One, two, three-
The shotgun cracked the air like thunder, shattering the wood around the hinge like so much paper and she surged forward, slamming her shoulder into the door's center. Under the force of her impact, and thanks to the missing bottom hinge, the door shot in and up, shearing free of the wood entirely as it was hurled down the hall. She used her shoulder-thruster to turn her to the side as the lunge that had shattered the door carried her into the hall, and her shotgun barked once again.
He watched through their linked cameras as the woman slammed back into the corner in a spray of red and slumped over, but he paid her no mind as he swept into the hallway. A small Faunus with a sort of bullpup looking rifle was a few feet away, weapon trained on the door. A pair of rounds sparked of Frederic's shields and one answered in kind, taking the man in the center of his chest. As he fell Frederic moved to the side, letting Kelly turn and bark a shot at a third Faunus as she came out of a door carrying a massive axe. The cluster caught her above the knee and sheared her leg off entirely, leaving her to fall with a scream that Frederic's second shot silenced.
Then, there was only silence in the long hallway.
Aside from feet on the wooden floor above them, but they weren't his problem yet. And much as he wanted to ping the sounds for Linda's support, they hadn't identified the enemy combatants yet.
The hallway was long and dark, the lights smashed out most likely by the Faunus, who didn't need them. He didn't either, of course, with his helmet's systems and his own somewhat less than terrible night vision, but that they had thought of it at all spoke of at least some tactical forethought at play.
Which made him more than a little uneasy.
The woman that had come into the hallway had come through one of three doors, each of which let into a wide and mostly empty warehouse floor of sorts. He said 'mostly' because tents and crates had been erected in loose squares to make pseudo-rooms and work areas, themselves filled with cots, eating areas and work-tables. Work-tables that even now were covered in vials, canisters, wires and cases of various easily concealable sizes.
So the bombing had been a first step, then.
He took a step forward to push the door open a bit more while Kelly watched the hall and heard a quiet, "Now!"
Four more Faunus stood from where they had to have been laying on the floor behind some of the heavier, metal crates. They were a motley bunch, armed with a smattering of small arms that cracked against his shields about a third as much as they bit into the wood round him. Silently, he raised his DMR and fired four simple shots, each into their chests. They all fell, and he could hear one hacking, but he paid them no mind.
Instead, he slipped to the side and kept an eye out while Kelly slipped past him into the warehouse. Slowly, meticulously, she moved between the randomly assembled pseudo-rooms the Faunus had erected until she reached the four ambushers. Then she hesitated and his gaze flicked to her vid-feed. A man was on the ground in front of her, wounded and clutching his chest but very alive.
"Missed his heart." She explained, more than aware he'd be seeing what she saw. "Treat him?"
"Stabilise." He answered simply, "Neutralize."
Her light blinked green and she knelt, pulling a small canister the size of her hand from an armored storage section on her armor. The Faunus resisted, not knowing what she intended, but Kelly simply slammed a fist into his jaw to knock him out and slid the nozzle into his wound regardless. The Bio-Foam was a precious resource, but it stabilized the downed man and guaranteed at least one survivor for the Chieftain's conscience.
Aside from the foursome, the warehouse floor was clear of threats, and they moved out without hesitation. There were two floors to go, and he reloaded as they made their way to the stairs at the end of the hallway. The second floor, judging from the overhanging section he saw in the warehouse, would have a few offices to hide some surprises in, but he was fairly certain the third would be where the issues started.
And where the leadership would be, and they were sure to be valuable.
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Simply Christian :
It's all perspective. But as argued repeatedly by Ruby and Jaune, Ironwood doesn't actually have legal jurisdiction to have an opinion on him beyond a security question. And as Irondaddy states above, if he can't justify ranking the Arbiter as a threat to Atlas right now based on his information, he can't do anything.
But again, perspective is the big theme with this back and forth.
Gamma Chief :
Just glad you're okay and enjoying!
Also, no, Jorge doesn't know Thel was involved with Reach yet.
Golden Nova :
They aren't! Many hold a lot of animosity towards them. But the UNSC didn't, and still really doesn't, have a choice. They were crippled at the time, and even now are much weaker than you might imagine.
It was simple pragmatism.
Sansman :
I don't have ships planned for this ahead of time, as it ain't romance. But I do low-key ship Lancaster about as hard as I do Nuts-'n-Dolts.
Wacko 12 :
Yes.
KPMH2001 :
As I said to Simply Christian, it's all perspective. Everyone is right in this argument. That's what makes it fun!
As for shipping, many would disagree with you on the idea that I'm avoiding it. XD
Khajit of Lordran :
Author is glad Khajit enjoyed chapter and story. If eager for more from author, then this one recommends you check author page. Author has many works. Until next time, author hops you enjoy. *tips invisible hat*
Razmire :
To be fair and clear- Ilia was exaggerating a bit. Mainly, her point was 'Three Humans can't beat an entire Fang cell on their own'.
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