Chapter 26: Meeting of the Minds.
(Adam Taurus-POV)
His forces were in position, in thirty minutes or so and then more SDC bodies would be added to his kill count.
"And three Bullheads…" he whispered to himself, none of his twenty grunts heard him and his second in command was in the process of setting up on the other side of the landing zone with half that number. Observing the occasional truck delivering and listening to the busy workplace was what they'd watch for the past hour, after they sorted out the perfect positions to set up at, Adam was glad about this mission really. Missions where he would be able to gut them SDC member's and bloody his weapon were his favorite.
The place where they were at had got busier after twenty-three minute's patiently waiting for the VTOL transports to arrive, he was surprised when another Bullhead had parked up, with the Beacon Academy's logo embedded on the side.
"Boss, are we taking that one as well. It belongs to those huntsmen so it might be risky taking it." his lieutenant radioed him on their short-wave radios they have.
"Yes, keep off the radio." He ordered, Atlas Bullheads were more advanced, and some had the ability to intercept foreign radio signals, he didn't want to spook the SDC before it's too late.
"You two, keep an eye on that van, the driver hasn't yet left." he ordered the grunts who quickly went to do just that. a few minutes later the van driver got back into his vehicle and left. False alarm, but Adam didn't want nothing to interrupt his mission, and the blood he was to shed.
In the waning hours of the afternoon, finally was when he had confirmation of an approach of three airships, those being labeled SDC and so prepared to announce the attack. Two touched down first in almost sync, while the third circled around before landing nearby, within the crosshairs of everyone one of his troops. Reaching for the binoculars on a drum nearby, he wanted to check that before attacking, but held in a gasp when he confirmed a high-profile target, the CEO himself.
"Confirmed target, Jacques Schnee." checking once more, he couldn't believe it, there also was another Schnee and the general… of Atlas too, way to gift-wrap everything. Although the mission difficulty had risen up as more Atlas soldiers left the bullheads.
"On my signal… all teams attack." Adam ordered through his mic, the sudden ringing of rounds began ringing in his ears, he switched his weapon into its rifle-form and began closing in on the targets, absorbing some of the damage inflicted upon him. When He got into range of one of the Atlas soldiers, he began attacking in melee, first by smacking the butt of his rifle into the man in front before quickly switching his weapon into its blade-form before slashing the man's throat.
From what he saw, his troops under his lieutenant were being pushed back into between the hangar sheds where they attacked from, but his forces were slowly taking out the Atlas forces and advancing on them under cover. As the battlefield fought in was A yard with pallets, empty drums and the like, there were a lot of places to find cover, not that Adam needed it. His aura had peaked with the inflicted damage absorbed, and thankfully there was an outlet he could use it on.
The daughter Schnee, her focus was on him then as he came closer. They clashed, sword to sword, strike to strike. The clang of their blades sung across the battlefield and each swing to the other was expertly evaded or blocked. He used his semblance and unleashed it mid-swing, usually he'd have some time to prepare and focus the attack, but the Schnee bitch was already upon him, another move to try and decapitate him. Seeing as he was activating his semblance 'Moonslice' without preparation, the attack came out, A red blade manifested shrouded by A red fog that struck towards his target. The blade that manifested wasn't perfect, where malformed there was clouds of red energy breaking off from the attack, striking out and off in random directions.
She in turn, called forth what he thought were five Beowolves but made of ice which took the brunt of the attack, she was still hit though, and a smirk appeared on his face as her aura was on the brunt of collapsing from his critical hit, judging by the shimmer of her form which looked to be weakening. She was blown backwards and smacked into one of the bullheads but not knocked out cold, instead struggling to get back onto her feet.
"Boss w-where being pushed back, these Atlas soldiers are overwhelming us-" irritated that his attack didn't kill the woman Schnee, his eye glanced towards the main 'Schnee' and he smirked, a feral look appeared on his face before he charged. The man was cowering near to one of the Atlas soldiers who was busy with his troops. He did glance towards the other fire-team north from him and confirmed with his eye's that they are indeed still being pushed back. He even saw the general fighting along with his men, that man would be next but first… Adam attacked the soldier first, piercing him where he was aiming behind cover, the penetration of his sword to flesh, even though the man's aura was what snapped the CEO cowering nearby to the now dead soldier. Removing his blade from the corpse, he turned and with A swift strike he took the man's head clean off.
"That… was satisfying." he murmured, his ears were filled with a vengeful howl from the Schnee girl but now in the moment, he finally gutted one of his oppressors, an oppressor of his people and everything felt surreal to him, even on the battlefield where there was still fighting to be had. The girl had gotten her bearings and was howling, a furious war cry as she charged, summoning more of those ice Grimm which he had to break through, she was too far from his last attack against her and had a lot of ground to cover to be able to try round two with him. She was just an accessory to another piece he could sweep from the board, the faunas in Atlas would then rise up against those in the flying city and-
An explosive destructive wave was blown around an individual who had landed onto the concrete, creating A creator in circumference around them. The fighting continued while the man he knew to be Kron had arrived.
"You." he snarled out, preparing to kill him and avenge their last bout when an berserk and snarling bitch had come upon him, one sword becoming two as she viciously attacked him. Of course, with her being mad, he was able to skillfully avoid and use her hits against her and slash her with some of his own. Smirking, an opening in her defense would allow him to gut the bitch and add another Schnee to his belt when…
In A bout of speed, Kron, who was standing where he impacted the ground had suddenly appeared behind the pissed off Schnee and in one quick hit, she was knocked out. Kron had taken the girl in his arms and what looked like was him supporting her head when, he disappeared, the girl's weapons were also gone.
Adam saw the man Kron reappear on the other side, his tail wrapped around one of the blades while the other was held in the man's right hand. He placed the girl down carefully and turned to him and glared at him then glanced across the battlefield. The atlas soldiers had retreated and took position nearby to where the general was now, which was near to the unconscious girl and the body of her father he killed. Adam could see, even from where he was, that there was some tension between Kron and the general as when they had glanced at each other, the human scowled at his fellow faunas named Kron before nodding grimly at him. An unusual comradeship or something, he didn't care.
"Surrender the general and the Schnee girl, the rest of you can walk away from here. As you can see, my forces are much more plentiful than yours even with that traitor in your midst." he nodded to his lieutenant who began advancing with his dwindling numbers and getting into position. Kron suddenly raised his hand and flexed towards his northern battlegroup, and A blinding purple light, blinded him and what looked like the rest of the people here. An explosion was heard amongst the light that Adam realized was an attack.
"hahyaa!" Kron's voice was heard and when the light had died down, well, his northern battlegroup was nowhere to be found, instead there was a creator shaped in A wave that formed from where Kron stood and ended in a larger wave at the end which demolished half of one of the hanger's. His ear with the earpiece heard static as he tried to communicate with his lieutenant... just static. Gritting his teeth, half of his remaining men had started hesitating, and even his fight or flight instincts which Faunas felt more in-tune with was screaming at him.
"One chance, surrender. Weapons down, if you try to run well, my energy blasts run much faster than you as you no doubt know" the man sneered at them. The general said something to the man, it was the perfect time to attack. His aura was already building up while Kron had yelled towards them, and he had enough preparation in forming another 'Moonslice' with the remaining energy he had absorbed.
Adam smirked then, this would be the end of that traitorous dog, he would use every ounce of his aura and eradicate Kron and Atlas's general in one fell swoop. His attack was unleashed, he swung his blade and A proper 'moonslice' was unleashed. Before his semblance hit Kron, Adam smiled in glee and watched as his enemy was swallowed in his blood-red strike. Adam ordered his men to retreat and he too left quickly, on his last reserves of aura which was greatly diminished. Emboldened by their leader, the White Fang grunts begun to head for the Bull Faunas location, and all had fell back, their original mission had failed but the successful elimination of their most hated of their enemies brought smiles and smirks of triumph to their faces.
(Kron-POV)
Adam's attack came suddenly, but ultimately it was a failure before it could even hit. I took on the brunt of the attack to the surprise of Ironwood and the remaining soldiers huddled behind their make-shift barricades. I held onto the attack as it tried to move on closer to the other's and in response it exploded. The explosion engulfed me, and I could sense that Adam had used this opportunity to retreat. I wouldn't chase him though, no. Winter seemed hellbent on killing Adam and I won't begrudge her of her rightful vengeance. Maybe I was being foolish? I turned my scouter on and searched for Adam's reading.
"He's definitely gotten stronger, a reading of 96 from...46." Adam must have been getting stronger too. I turned towards winter, who was knocked out but i wouldn't get A good reading of her's.
"Kron… thanks for your assistance, seeing as you're here, would you be the one Jacques was to be meeting with?" James came into view, fatigue worn on his face. "Jacques... what A mess…" he added, looking to the body of the Schnee patriarch. He was most certainly dead, what would this mean for Weiss?
"Yeah, he wanted to hire me on seeing as Weiss was to start attending Beacon. But yeah, that's not going to happen now…" I didn't like the man not at first, but he did hire me and gave me A chance at earning an income on this planet, for that I'd be thankful.
"I don't know what you think you want from me by the way, you coming here in force. But as you witnessed before, Winter took Adam's semblance and barely survived. You and your men saw what happened when I took the attack, yeah. You won't be learning nothing from me-" I was interrupted, and the Atlas soldier were torn between looking at each other and the general whose voice was raised.
"You'll speak if you don't want to be arrested. And don't think the Schnee family will back you up, there's Jacques Schnee there, lying in his own blood, Weiss is a minor, and Winter is A soldier of Atlas… ah, what A mess… Soldier, check on Winter would you." This guy, so hyper-focused on getting something for me, Ironwood sighed as he shook his head at the body of Jacques Schnee.
"Are we going to Beacon then, I'd like to do some more training sometime today. Let's get this shit-show on the road. Atlas soldiers uh... guard this area…" the looks on the soldier's faces as I awkwardly ordered them to do something, they instead turned to Ironwood who wasn't impressed, I didn't wait for him to retort though, instead I grabbed the man whose surprise was nothing new to me today and blasted off towards Beacon Academy.
"Stop struggling man, will be there soon" I said, the man in question was struggling still, although it was with less than before.
"This is degrading… Kron, never… never do this again." Ironwood yelled out against the wind so I could hear. I laughed out loud and begun descending as Beacon Academy was reached, I landed in an area where were around, it was getting late and I believe the students, including Weiss and Blake would be in the ball room where they'll be getting ready for bed.
James dusted himself off, finding his feet and glared towards me before sighing, he knew where to go better than me and I followed his lead. Walking towards the academy was a quiet affair, coming upon the halls for a few minutes, I noted I knew where we were heading to now as the hallway was familiar and thought rightly that around the corner was where the headmaster's office elevator would be. I followed Ironwood into it, and we waited for it to reach the top.
Once we both reached the top, the two men at the elevator entrance were indeed huntsmen, both got into the elevator and waited for us to step out before the elevator was locked down, by the sound of the elevator locking and the numbers on top's lights dimmed to black. Ozpin was at his desk, Glynda behind him and I could see no-one else, besides an actual 'crow' perched on top of one the lights which was turned off. Qrow would have been stealthy if I hadn't known it was him and sensed his presence.
"Alright, so where all here, let's get started. Oh, and someone better tell Weiss her old man is dead." I blurted out, the silence was getting to me. James Ironwood grit his teeth but nodded along and spoke up.
"Suffice to say, Kron speaks the truth. A major White Fang operation was awaiting us, I believe they were after either the dust or VTOL transports. I will need to head back to Atlas quickly, Ozpin the council must be addressed. Kron and his business can wait, he was instrumental in helping Atlas personal from being overwhelmed, in that... I'll hold back my suspicions, for now..."
"Things have changed James, some not for the better. Glynda, would you please, no, it would ruin her chances for tomorrow. After the initiation, we will inform miss Schnee that her father has been killed." Ozpin spoke, stopping Glynda from walking off at the mention of Jacques death.
"Thats all well and all but let's get to the reason as to why you people want this meeting and be quick about it." I sneered at the room's occupants, Ozpin sighed and then spoke while Ironwood glared.
"We all wanted to know how your able to wield your abilities when medically, it seems impossible for you to do so at least for our perspective. Perhaps you can enlighten all of us here." Well now, do I tell or not. Maybe I should tell them, but it might not be believable, so no I'll say I'm a mutant from a nomadic tribe of mutants or something. Yeah nah, still unbelievable sounding.
"Tell me, do you believe in magic." I blurted out, gazing around the room. "So, from what I gather, most of you do, even that crow on that light up there." The crow in question squawked and dived down towards me, dodging me it went behind and circled the room before landing on Ozpin's desk. Qrow must be pretending he was just a normal crow or something as he hadn't transformed back into his original form.
"What do you know about it, magic?" Ozpin had my attention, he looked very interested in what I was going to say, he hadn't confirmed nothing yet though. Qrow squarked and walked along the desk, still pretending, I was supposed to know nothing of his transformation ability, I'll keep it to myself until they tell me, if they do.
"Well, I know nothing of magic. What I use is called KI which isn't magic and no I won't explain about it further, at least not now. I'm entitled to my secrets or... if you want to make something of it, you can try and force me, that was why you've called on your huntsmen wasn't it, Ozpin?" I said to him, watching Glynda twitch as if readying for something. I forgot about the woman sitting over there, Amber looked to be hiding for some reason. Leaning against her chair, I approached her which got her to look up at me. She looked tired but alert.
"Do you… know me, or remember anything" I asked her, she scrunched her face in thought and nodded 'no'. I thought memories would be transferred or something, guess I was wrong in that assumption… unless she was lying but not my business really, I didn't know how to break the ice to her and so asked the first thing that came to mind.
"We thank you for bringing Amber back to us, and yes this is she-"
"Hey, I heard that you're the one who helped me, I also feel… complete... uh, so to speak." she reached for me, an handshake and I accepted. She was pretty in person, I turned away from her and addressed the room.
"Is there anything else then, Oh and I should have proven by now that I'm not an enemy of anyone in this room, well except the secrets we keep from each other yeah? I have A low tolerance for those trying to intimidate me or butting into my business. Well, anything else?" waiting for anybody to speak up, Ironwood turned and walked towards the elevator, he hesitated before calling it to open. I knew Ironwood would understand, seeing as he witnessed a taste of my power. Ozpin stood and came closer to me and nodded.
"I believe you. You are welcome to stay at my school for as long as you want to, I hope you'll come to trust us and tell us about, Key? I'd caution you though to keep out of trouble while here. I also want to know about, those who had attacked Amber, did you…" he left the line hanging and I nodded no, knowing what he was asking.
"No, I know what they look like if you want me to identify them otherwise if they show their face again, I'll let you know. So, I'm off for an bit. Going to train." I spoke.
No body stopped me, although Amber had looked disappointed for some reason. Qrow too, now that I looked at the bird-guy properly.