241Felt motivated and cranked this one out pretty fast. Don't get used to it.
Chapter 29: Abandon ship
Shipyard- east gate
"Where are my comms, Corporal!?" Captain Vert shouted.
"There's too much interference! We can try- "A stray bullet found its way into the corporal's neck, killing him instantly. Captain Vert silently cursed before popping out from behind his cover and shooting his pistol towards the enemy positions to no avail.
Everything went to hell when his first wave entered the compound. The improvised explosives crippled the initial attack, and the small arms fire that followed up completely wiped them out. Not wanting to chance losing more men, he moved the few armored units he had at his command to provided cover and heavy fire towards the enemy. But the enemy must've been prepared because the next thing Vert knew, they were taking RPG fire. One of the IFVs was already destroyed while the other two were heavily damaged and unable to move. With their armor support down, the Atlesians lost any momentum to push for an attack. Then there was the call from Marrow about how the Ace Ops were down. With the heavy casualties they're taking, his men were demoralized and at the breaking point. Now the comms were down, and enemy RPGs and machine gun fire were whittling away at their position. With his options expended, Vert was just about ready to call for a full retreat.
That was until he heard a grenade go off in the distance. There was more machine gun fire, but it wasn't directed towards his position. Vert popped up to see that the enemy shifting fire in another direction. More grenades went off and several enemies fell. Seeing an opportunity, Vert turned to rally his troops.
"Take advantage of this moment! Charge!" He called out before leaping out of cover and heading straight into the danger. The few dozen men left, inspired by their commander, followed his lead. They too, ran out from behind cover, screaming a war cry towards the distracted enemy. With attacks coming in from two directions, the enemy forces loss focus and began to panic. In mere seconds, the tide of the battle turned in favor for the Atlesians, who were now right on top of the enemy. Several Atlesians fell, but with no opportunity to reload, the enemies were falling left and right, until the few stragglers ran away. When the dust cleared, Nick and Ivan stepped out.
"You saved our asses." Vert said with a smile. However, he could tell that the two Russians had urgent news.
"Captain, Rojas is getting away on a submarine! He's using those tanker ships as a distraction while his subs bypass the blockade." Ivan explained. This did not sit well with Vert.
"Submarines? Dammit! I can't call the blockade or additional forces with our comms down." Vert replied, frustration evident.
"Greg's been tasked with restoring comms. We can assist him by clearing the shipyard of remaining hostiles." Ivan explained.
"I'm with you, but my men are still fucked up by the initial attack against them. We got torn to shreds." Vert commented.
"The enemy was using Aura piecing ammunition, the same kind we use." Nick answered. Vert went wide eyed.
"What? But how?"
"There's no time, Captain. Have your men grab the enemy weapons and ammo. It'll even the odds and give them a fighting chance." Nick explained, pointing the pile of fallen enemies and their weapons. Nodding in agreement, Vert relayed the order to utilize the enemy's weapons to his men, who were quick to follow. With the new weapons in hand, the Atlesians turned to Vert for their new orders.
"Search and destroy." Vert simply ordered.
Greg
Making his way back to Rojas' control room, Greg did a more in-depth search of the room, looking to see if he can take down the radio jammers. The room was already picked clean, so he was currently sifting through the computers to see if there was any kind of remote control he missed. But like the rest of the room, the computers were also scrubbed clean. The camera feeds showed that Nick and Ivan were leading the Atlesians in clearing out the shipyard, giving Greg more freedom in taking down the jammers without enemy intervention. He also saw that Marrow was still alive, but in danger of being overrun.
"Hang on Marrow." Greg quietly said out loud. Time was running out. Rojas' subs were getting away, Marrow was fighting for survival, and now Alex and Winter were nowhere to be found. They should have been able to take down Neo and be back up here by now, but she must be giving them trouble. Greg knows Neo is dangerous, but so is Winter. He knew restoring comms was of utmost importance right now. Just when things seemed bleak, he managed to find the remote access for the jammer controls…only to find that they were locked down.
"Of course." Greg sarcastically said. With nothing else in the control room, he quickly exited the room to see if there was some sort of physical presence of them outside. Scanning the yard, he tried to look for any significant structures or anything that indicated the presence of radio jamming equipment. Logically, he figured they'd want to keep them up high for maximum range, and to keep them out of the way of danger. His attention was drawn towards a massive tower crane near the water, no doubt used to load crates and heavy equipment onto ships. He looked through his rifle scope to scan the tower. It didn't take him long to locate a bunch of radio equipment atop the crane that clearly didn't belong there.
Now Greg had two choices: either run across the yard and climb the very high tower crane, possibly exposing himself to enemy fire and shut it down…or he could just shoot it from his position and call it a day. Lining up his crosshairs, he fired several rounds at the jammers atop the crane. Each shot found their mark, causing the jammers to spark and sputter.
"Any station, any station; radio check." Greg called out into his radio. There was a moment of silence before he got a response.
"About fucking time, Greg." Nick replied, indicating comms were back up.
"Copy, read you loud and clear." Greg humorously replied. With the comms up and running, he decided to assist the Atlesians in clearing out the shipyard.
Aboard the Atlesian Naval Ship (ANS) Liberator
Petty Officer Pinkman was bored. It was once again her turn for watch up in the crow's nest. It's not a hard duty, but not much happens when you have a schedule of inbound and outbound ships. Other than that, this "deployment" to Vale was very dull. She looked over at the other ships in the blockade for the tenth time and took count, anything to pass the time. There was the capital ship, the Avenger, a large heavy dreadnought with several heavy deck guns and other long-range weapons among other systems that can deal with any threat. You had the Retribution and Vindicator, a pair of light cruisers that were basically smaller versions of the Avenger. And then the four destroyers, Justice, Freedom, Victory¸ and her ship, the Liberator, made up part of the Atlesian fifth fleet. Smaller patrol boats and auxiliary vessels from the Vale harbor police supported the blockade as interceptor craft.
As Pinkman scanned the horizon, she noticed three ships in the distance approaching. She looked down at her logbook. There were no scheduled outbound ships at this time and those ships coming in were hauling ass. Unsure of what to do, she called it in to the bridge. It took only a couple of minutes before the message was relayed, and the entire fleet was on alert. The Liberator sounded its horn and flashed deck lights, signaling for the ships to stop. When they didn't, the harbor police vessels immediately went to intercept them. The smaller boats had their sirens blaring while the police and Atlesian auxiliaries on board were shouting on the bullhorns and readying weapons.
Pinkman could see that there was movement on the decks of the ships, yet the ships showed no sign of slowing down. Suddenly, one of the patrol boats exploded into a ball of fire, shocking the spectators. Another boat exploded, and Pinkman could see that it was hit from an RPG from the one of the tanker ships. Machine gun fire soon followed, tearing apart the smaller vessels. It wasn't long before the main ships were being targeted by those RPGs. Most of the rockets fell short and into the water, but many more also hit their marks. Both the Retribution and the Vindicator were hit, as well as the Justice and the Freedom. The damage was overall minimal, but it caught the crew's completely off guard.
The Liberator shook violently, and Pinkman almost fell off the tower but held on. RPGs continued to hit the fleet while the Atlesian ships readied gun crews to fight back. The downside was that the ships were too close for them to use any heavy weapons safely. It wouldn't have mattered either way as they were restricted from using heavy deck guns this close to the shores of Vale. Pinkman regained her composure and noticed that the personnel on the ships were removing tarps covering up hidden deck guns on the tankers. The enemy deck guns fired heavy anti-ship rounds at the Atlesian ships with deadly accuracy. The Vindicator cruiser took the brunt of the enemy salvo, causing several fires to spread all throughout the ship. Another salvo, and the Victory was hit this time. The smaller ship couldn't take as much damage as the larger cruiser and began to sink while the crew jumped into the water and abandoned ship.
With one destroyer down and a cruiser heavily damaged, the Atlesian fleet was in total disarray. They weren't expecting to be caught up in a situation like getting in a large naval engagement. The Atlesians ships fought back with their own machine guns and light cannons against the surprisingly heavily armed ships. The enemy tanker ships were getting pounded but kept pushing forward at full speed. Seeing that the lead ship was close to breaking past the blockade, the Retribution sped up the cut off the ship. Both ships exchanged fire trying to take the other out. Just as the tanker was literal inches from making direct contact with the cruiser…it exploded, catching the Retribution in the blast.
Rojas
"Ha! Direct hit!" Rojas called out, looking through the periscope. By this point, the subs have already dived below surface level, and Rojas had overridden the pilot systems on the tanker ships. As planned, the shaped charges he placed in the lower bows of the tankers concentrated the blasts forward, severely damaging the Atlesian cruiser. Several explosions and fires spread all across the Retribution, with several crew members jumping in the water while the cruiser began capsizing. With one cruiser down, Rojas took control of the second tanker and sent it straight towards the Vindicator.
ANS Vindicator bridge
"What the fuck was that?!" A crewmate shouted. It was bad enough that these rough ships caught them completely off guard, but they didn't expect for one of them to crash into their ships and detonate itself. The crew watched in horror as the Retribution went up in flames while the crew desperately swam away from the sinking ship.
"Incoming!" Another crewmate shouted. The bridge went wide eyed as another tanker ship was heading right for the starboard side at full speed.
"Hard to port!" The ships commander yelled to the helmsman. He turned the wheel as hard as could to the left in an attempt to avoid getting broadsided by the incoming tanker, but the ship was massive and couldn't turn in time. "Brace for impact!" The commander shouted, not realizing those were going to be his final words. Just like the Retribution, the tanker exploded right into the Vindicator's starboard side, leaving it in a similar state as its sister ship.
Rojas
"And down goes another!" Rojas exclaimed, watching as the Vindicator went up in flames and down to the bottom of the sea. All that remained was the heavy dreadnought capital ship. Now that ship could probably survive a direct blast, but it would be in no condition for any type of travel for a long time. Still, disabling one of the Atlesian Navy's capital ships would severely cripple their global strength, and Rojas only needed to slip past it before he was home free. Gaining control of the final tanker, he set his sights on the Avenger.
ANS Avenger bridge
Captain Whiteman watched with disbelief as both the Retribution and Vindicator sank to the bottom of the sea. After the second tanker rammed and detonated into the Vindicator, he realized that those tankers were suicide ships meant to disrupt the blockade.
And boy did they.
Figuring his ship was the next target, he ordered all guns to target the last tanker. The machine guns and light cannons did what they could, but that tanker kept coming. Deciding to ignore the rules of engagement, Captain Whiteman ordered the use of the heavier weapons to target the tanker. If he gets demoted for breaking protocol, then so be it. The safety of the men and women under his command were all that mattered at this point. With the Captain's green light, the gun crews readied the larger weapons and aimed at the tanker. A single shot from one of the more powerful weapons was all that was needed to obliterate the tanker ship before it made contact with theirs. The crewmates cheered out but wouldn't have long to celebrate before Whiteman ordered for a search and rescue of the other sailors. As he coordinated with the remaining ships, another crewmate got his attention.
"Sir! Emergency call from our ground forces!" The petty officer said, handing Whiteman the radio.
"Captain Whiteman." He simply said.
"Captain! Enemy forces are attempting to bypass the blockade via submarines!" The voice of Captain Vert called out. Whiteman immediately ran over to the underwater radars and saw three unknown anomalies approaching. The fighting with the tanker ships must've kept everyone's attention away from the screens.(1)
"Understood. We'll get 'em." Whiteman replied.
"One of the subs contains a High Value Target that General Ironwood wants captured alive."
"Copy. We'll leave them in one piece." Whiteman immediately began relaying orders to the crew, who in turn relayed them to the three destroyers.
"Captain! Periscopes off the starboard side!" A petty officer called out. Whiteman took the petty officer's binoculars and scanned the water. Sure enough, three periscopes were jutting out just above the water.
"Relay coordinates to the destroyers and have them ready their depth charges!" Whiteman ordered. The radiomen on the bridge called out coordinates to the destroyers while search lights and alarms blared out, indicating to Rojas that they see his subs. The three destroyers were quick to reach the submarines and released their deadly payloads of depth charges into the water.
Rojas
"Oh shit!" Rojas yelled out. The submarine shook violently, and Rojas and his men were thrown all over the place. More charges went off, not giving the sub crews a moment to orient themselves. Red lights came on and the alarms were going crazy, indicating that there was hull damage and water was getting into the sub. There seemed to be an endless number of depth charges going off around them as they were offered no rest from the constant bombardment. Another charge went off and water began flooding the bridge.
"Rojas! We have to surface, or we'll go under!" A mercenary called out before he was cut off from another water breach. This was not supposed to happen. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place: either die in a watery grave or get captured by the Atlesians. Reluctantly, he gave the order for his sub to surface. When they broke through, they saw that the other two subs were already surfaced and were surrounded by the remaining Atlesian ships with their guns fixed at them. Knowing he was beaten, Rojas climbed out the hatch with his hands raised.
This day will be remembered as the end of his career.
Shipyards
"Hang in there, Vine." Ivan said as he wrapped the gauze around his leg. The man simply nodded in reply.
"Alright, she's stable for now." Nick said to a medic looking over Elm.
"Corporal Stepanov! We're losing her!" A pair of medics looking over Harriet called out. Nick ran over and saw that the bleeding wasn't stopping, and she was beginning to go into shock. The medics were doing everything in their power to stabilize Harriet, but nothing was working.
"Give her some morphine." Nick solemnly said. The medics, realizing there's nothing they can do for her, complied to at least ease the pain for her. Harriet's breathing began to slow until it stopped completely.(2)
Now that the shipyard was clear of hostiles, the Atlesians had many wounded that needed medical attention. Air support was called in to help evac and secure the area. Greg watched as more and more wounded were loaded up into airships and felt a twang of pity in his stomach. This day in the history of Remnant will mark the day that warfare was forever changed. With the introduction of these 'Aura Piercers', or just regular ammo for the Russians, the age of Huntsmen and Aura is over. It won't be long before this new technology becomes the norm, and life on Remnant becomes more Earth-like in terms of modern warfare. He then saw Marrow assist a pair of soldiers in loading Clover's body onto a transport. The Faunus looked as if the spark of life in his eyes died out. Greg could sympathize. However, his somber thoughts were interrupted by Captain Vert.
"Have you seen Specialist Schnee or Sgt. Volkov?" He asked.
"They're not here?" Greg replied with a hint of concern. Surely, they should've subdued Neopolitan by now.
"I thought they were with you." Vert replied, also with concern rising in his voice.
"Shit. Nick! Ivan! Have you seen Alex or Winter?" Both of them shook their heads. "God dammit!" He immediately readied his weapon and ran back towards the submarine bay, hopefully running into the two before he got there.
Alex and Winter
Winter narrowly dodged another attack from Crucifix's flail. It slammed into the ground with great force followed by a devastating explosion upon impact. The ANTIFA leaders flails also had the benefit of acting as a ranged weapon, with the chains that held the spiked ball extending far beyond its initial appearance. Because of the nature of his weapons, Winter couldn't get close. He worked them in perfect sync, sending one towards Winter, then following up with the other while returning the first one for a never-ending barrage of explosive strikes. This gave Winter no chance to recover or set up her more powerful attacks as they took time ready. Even with the speed boosts from her Semblance, Crucifix was able to keep up his attacks no problem. Winter couldn't just dodge him forever though and needed to do something to break his defense. Another attack from him caused her to roll out of the way, then quickly recover to evade the follow up attack. She quickly glanced over and saw Alex doing what he could against Neo.
Despite Neo being physically exhausted from evading the authorities for several weeks, Alex was having a hard time dealing with her. She is far nimbler and more acrobatic than he could ever dream of being, not to mention more skilled in close quarter combat. She easily blocked, deflected, or simply dodged his strikes with a bunch of impressive flips, and when he did land a blow, it was followed up by a counterattack that hit a lot harder than what someone with her physique should be capable of producing. Alex opted for forward aggression by lunging right at her with his knife. However, she easily grabbed hold of his wrist, stopping his attack, then followed up with a hard kick to his midsection that sent him across the bay. Alex took a moment to orient himself and saw Neo charging at him. He fired his pistol right at her, but she shattered like glass, indicating it was another one of her mirror image illusions. He then felt the blow of her parasol across his face, throwing him back down to the ground. Alex felt the pressure of a boot heel on his chest and looked up to see Neo standing over him with a hand on her hip, parasol lazily held over her shoulder, and the smuggest grin he's even seen on a person. He tried to aim his pistol at her, but she simply stepped on his hand with her other foot, forcing him to release it.
"Roman wasn't lying when he said you could take care of yourself." Alex commented, despite Neo literally crushing his ribcage. At the mention of Roman's name, Neo once again looked surprised and shocked, but then her face quickly snarled into anger. The hidden blade from her parasol extended, and Neo was prepared to skewer him right there and then. "He's alive!" Alex shouted, holding his free hand up and going for broke on the assumption that she and Torchwick must be close somehow. Neo stopped her attack but still had an angry and vengeful demeanor. She keep the blade pointed at his neck and gave him a motion to continue. "He believes you're in danger from those people Cinder was working with. That weird video call you two got before the breach, right? Roman thinks those guys are going to clean house and wanted to get you to safety in Atlesian custody." Alex thought for a moment. "I know being detained by the military seems to be the opposite of safe, but he sounded sincere about keeping you safe and thought it was the best option." Alex explained. He knew he was outmatched against her, so he opted for a little physiological manipulation, hoping that the mention of Roman Torchwick would at least throw off her focus. Guess he is doing Roman that favor of capturing Neo after all.
"He has to be lying! Just kill him and get out of here!" Neo screamed in her mind. "…but what if he's telling the truth and Roman is alive?" A calmer voice said in her head. "He might be your only way to see him again." Alex could see that Neo was once again conflicted on what to do. It seemed that mentioning Roman did disrupt her focus, and Alex was willing to take advantage of that.
With his free hand still up, he reached and grabbed hold of her parasol, then pulled it towards him. The surprise move knocked Neo off balance and sent her falling forward, face first into Alex's helmet. With Neo's weight off of him, Alex shot up and tackled her into a nearby wall, slamming his weight into her. She attempted to break free, but Alex had a firm hold on her, refusing to let Neo break free. The two continued to grapple with Neo clawing at Alex, and he in turn punching and throwing himself into any object to pummel the small woman. Alex then wrapped his arm around her neck, putting Neo in a headlock, and using his other hand to repeatedly punch her midsection. As he continued sending blows to Neo, he suddenly stopped when he felt a pain between his legs.
Normally, when a woman has her hand on a man's…most valuable assets, it's either that she's a doctor performing a routine checkup, or it's for pleasure. Neo however, had hold of his family jewels in an ironclad death grip that continued to tighten. Alex did his best to fight through the pain, but even he has a limit, especially when it concerned the contents of his pants. His hold on Neo faltered slightly, and she was able to break free. She turned to face Alex, and gave a playful, yet sadistic smirk, as he recovered from the pain.
"…Bitch!" Alex managed to wheeze out. Even though she was mute, the expression on her face and body movements indicated that she was laughing. While Neo amused herself with Alex's pain, he looked over to see that Winter was struggling against that Crucifix guy.
The long, drawn-out fight was taking its toll on Winter, and she found her reactions were slowing. Or maybe his attacks were getting faster. Either way, Crucifix landed a direct blow that sent Winter flying across the bay. She slammed into a wall and crumpled to the ground, dropping her main sword. Her Aura flashed signaling that it was dangerously low. How embarrassing. She barely managed to land a blow against Crucifix, who was obviously a dangerous opponent. She wanted to protect Alex, but now she couldn't protect herself. Winter struggled to get up, but a gloved hand found its way around her neck. Crucifix lifted her off the ground with his left arm and brought her to his eye level. There, she stared into the mismatched blue and red eyes behind the steel mask.
"I expected more from a Schnee. Is this the best that Atlas has to offer?' He sneered at her. "Pathetic. No wonder your kingdom can't keep the White Fang in line." Winter refused to acknowledge him. Refusing to go down without fighting, she attempted for a stab with her dagger still in her left hand. Crucifix however, simply grabbed hold of her wrist with his free hand, stopping her attack. He then tightened his grip around her wrist and after one fluid upward motion, there was a sickening crack followed by Winter's cry of pain. Crucifix had literally, broken her wrist singlehandedly, forcing her to drop her dagger. Satisfied that Winter couldn't fight anymore, he threw her to the other side of the bay. Winter slid across the ground just short of falling into the water. She looked up to see Crucifix casually walking over towards her with her sword in his hand.
"This is fine blade, Schnee. It'll make a nice decoration after you're killed by your own sword." He yelled out, still making his way to her.
"This is how it ends? Killed off by a vengeful terrorist leader? I expected better." Winter thought.
Alex and Neo were once again in a locked stalemate, with Neo trying to stab Alex with her bladed parasol, and Alex holding it back with all his might. At the same time, Alex's knife was poised to stab Neo in the face, but she held it back with her other hand. It was only a matter of time before one of them gave in, and despite his effort, Neo was clearly the better fighter. If anything, she was probably toying with him this entire time. Still, Alex wasn't one to just give up, especially after all he's been through so far. As he continued to struggle against Neo, he saw Winter's crumpled from near the waterfront, and that maniac Crucifix marching towards her with her sword in his hand.
"No!" He was in no position to assist her. Neo smiled, realizing that she had the upper hand. Alex frantically tried to think of something, but nothing came up. Neo doubled her efforts and thrusted forward, causing Alex to step back. He momentarily lost his footing when he almost slipped on something on the ground…his pistol. The opportunity arrived.
"Winter!" He yelled out. She looked towards his direction and saw him use his foot to send something sliding towards her. Hope filled her eyes when she saw that it was his pistol making its way towards her. She reached forward with her good arm and caught it. Crucifix was only a few feet away. He let out a primal growl, ready to kill the eldest Schnee child.
Only instead, he felt the sensation of a full pistol magazine emptied into his body.
The ANTIFA leader's Aura had shattered, and he stumbled his way forward, walking past Winter and eyes filled with surprise. He collapsed to his knees just short of the water and turned to face Winter with shallow breaths. Mustering all her strength, Winter forced herself to her feet. She stepped in front of Crucifix and retrieved her sword. With one final look, she reeled her arm back and swung. Crucifix's head rolled into the water, his body following shortly after Winter kicked it in.
Alex thanked God that Winter was safe, but that stunt to save her cost him. It gave Neo the opportunity to thrust her blade forward into Alex's torso. Despite wearing armored plates, Neo was incredibly strong, and armor plates aren't really that great at stopping stabbing attacks contrary to popular belief.(3) She continued to push forward, forcing Alex to back up into a console station used to control the loading cranes in the bay. When he stopped struggling, Neo pulled the blade out. Alex stumbled a bit before falling back onto the console. Satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere Neo turned, ready to get out of there before more reinforcements arrived.
"Neo." Alex called. She turned to see the Russian weakly supporting himself on the control console and wondered what he had to say. However, Alex pulled a lever on the console. She turned to her left and her eyes went wide at the sight of a shipping container heading right for her. Neo suddenly found herself swept off her feet and slammed into a wall with the large metal crate sandwiching her to the wall. Alex pulled the lever again to retract the crane and saw Neo literally imprinted into the wall. After stepping out of the wall, Neo's Aura shattered, and she had a dazed look on her face. She stumbled for a few more seconds before finally collapsing to the ground.
Alex sighed in relief seeing that Neo was out cold. Of course, now he had to deal with the fact he just got stabbed. He managed to standup briefly before falling back down. His breathing was quickening, and he felt dizzy, but he kept trying to get up. The sound of Winter approaching got his attention.
"Alex!" Despite her own injuries, she helped him to his feet and used her body to support his. He was badly injured and needed to get him medical attention. They only made it a few feet before Alex pulled down his mask and began to cough up blood. "Stay with me Alex!" Winter cried.
"Ugh…shit." Alex weakly said. His body had finally given up and he fell out of Winter's grasp and onto his knees. He coughed one more time before falling face first into the ground, leaving Winter with a horrified look.
"Alex?" She shook him. "Alex?" No response. "Alex?!" Tears were beginning to form. "Alex?!" Winter gently flipped him over and grabbed hold of his hand as she continued to frantically shake him awake. "Please wake up!" She desperately cried out. "…Please don't leave me!" Winter whispered.
No response.
A/N:
(1) In case you're wondering, a Navy Captain is the equivalent of an Army full bird Colonel. Very high rank.
(2)Yes, Harriet dies. I'm not sorry.
(3)Ironically, ballistic plates offer very little protection from stabbing attacks. They can stop slashes though. There are plates that are stab proof, but offer no ballistic protection. And of course there are plates that protect against both, but are really fucking expensive.
Sorry, I'm not the best when it comes to writing action fight scenes mostly because it's hard to describe every single action and movement without it becoming to wordy. And if they seem a little...exaggerated or very convenient, well yeah.
******Volume 14 spoilers(?)******
So Jaune popped his killing cherry with Penny, who was human for like 5 minutes.
Winter becomes the maiden. But I feel like if she continued her attack against Cinder, she could've prevented Weiss from getting blown off the edge. You know, interrupt Cinder's attack which I'm pretty sure requires her focus.
Sucks that Watts got killed off. And Vine. I really wish Qrow just pushed Harriet out of that ship. That bitch just needs to die. "Oh muh emotions made me follow orders and blah blah." Also, what happened to Maria and Pietro? Dead I guess.
Weird that there were no other Huntsmen or soldiers in Vacuo. Was everyone on the front lines fighting off the Grimm? FNKI? Guess it doesn't matter. Atlas and Mantle are destroyed, and Ironwood went down with the ship...so to speak.
And of course, RWBY, Jaune, and Neo are alive in what people are saying is the God of Life's realm or whatever. You guys hear that? It's the sound of FanFiction writers preparing for a Jaune other realm harem story with RWBY and Neo.
Certainly a lot of twists to the volume end. But also a lot of cleaning house with characters. Overall it wasn't terrible, but I still feel like they're dragging this out. I'm predicting a volume or two in Vacuo/ RWBY alternate realm, and the last volume will take place in Vale, where it all started. Or maybe they end it in Vacuo as a nod to the last battle that ended their great war? Either way, I hope they wrap things up soon and don't follow the pattern of shows that drag on forever and get shittier over time.
******End******
Not much else to say other than I got offered a job that starts after I graduate, so I guess I got that going for me. I'll still keep this going because I've invested a lot of time into this and want to see it through. When the series end, I'll be able to have definitive endpoint.
Till then
Hawk out