11"We're one minute from the LZ! Get ready!" Bullhead pilot 479er announced to his passengers. Inside the bullhead were an eight man squad of Atlesian soldiers-callsigns Royce, Meat, Peasant, Scarecrow, Ozone, Chemo, Archer, and Buck, and four huntsmen in training-Sky Lark, Dove Bronzewing, Russel Thrush, and Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL of Beacon Academy.
Team CRDL was assigned on a week long mission to find and destroy several Grimm nests that has been harassing a town. In addition, General Ironwood has requested to allow a squad of trainees to assist the huntsmen, as a start to a project aimed to help the soldiers get use to working with huntsmen for future missions and deployments. CRDL wouldn't be the only team, but they would be the first.
It was a success. There was friction at first, challenges in leadership between Buck and Cardin, and differences in combat strategies (ie, the Atlas squad would try a tactical approach where CRDL would try the direct approach). But those were quickly overcome and the twelve man team worked together effectively. They practically finished their mission two days early , all they have to do is destroy and clear a Creep nest. They went for drinks at a pub for a pre-celebration, when something happened.
News came from Beacon Academy: Jaune Arc and Yang Xaio Long were ambushed and kidnapped by the White Fang in Vale. There's no information about their whereabouts but they're trying to find them.
This hurt the morale of twelve man team, especially CRDL. Yang Xaio Long was one of the best and most ferocious fighters this generation of hunters had to offer. For her to be taken down means that the White Fang were getting better, stronger, better equipped, and/or larger in numbers, and they were willing to target huntsmen in training.
Jaune Arc wasn't the strongest fighter, but he was a tactician whose strategies have saved many from injury and death, and he was a kind hearted soul who believed in second chances. He even helped CRDL by showing them the error of their ways and helped them try to improve. For the White Fang to consider him a threat and target him just shows how cruel they are.
The next day after they cleared the last of the Creep nests, the White Fang publicly released a video. A video of them torturing and interrogating Yang and Jaune. Though the news stations censored and didn't show much, but what they did show was… dear God, nobody deserved that. No one.
But the worst part was, they didn't make any demands. They stated that they were doing this because they can. They were giving Remnant a message, 'we can hurt anyone, anywhere, and there's nothing you can do'.
"Fucking animals, the lot of them." Surprisingly it didn't come from CRDL, it came from Royce, though not to say CRDL didn't think the same thing. The Bullhead to pick them up came half an hour after the broadcast. As it landed, the pilot and gave them new orders.
Atlas intel has traced the broadcast. The signal originated to a position that's a 20 minute bullhead ride away deeper in the wilderness. If they wanted, they could either wait for reinforcements and join them in the assault. After remembering the last images of Jaune and Yang, the huntsmen and soldiers decided 'screw waiting for help, we know where they are and we need to get them out now!'
General Ironwood was a little displeased at their disobeying orders, but he was proud at their dedication and determination. He ordered them to be quick, find the hostages and get out, or fortify a position in the base and wait for the reinforcements to clear out the rest of the strong hold. No unnecessary risks.
"Thirty seconds!" The pilot yelled as the bullhead was illuminated by a red light. The Atlas soldiers did a final check on their guns, ammo, and armour. Cardin equipped his mace, Russel spun the dust cylinders on his daggers, Dove unfolded his sword, and Sky checked the sharpness on his halberd axe.
"Ten seconds!" Everyone got ready at the rear hatch, ready to storm out. Everyone was determined to get them out, Cardin especially. He owed Jaune a great debt, it's time to start repaying it. They felt the bullhead slow down a little. The red light turned green, everyone's grip tightened on their weapons. The ramp then quickly lowered.
"GO GO GO GO GO!" The pilot shouted quickly. Everyone ran out the rear of the bullhead. "I'm making an opening!" They all turned around to the front to see the bullhead fire two rockets and blew open a hole in the compound with a loud, rumbly explosion. "Good hunting, I'm pulling out! Radio in when you ready for pick up!" They all unleashed a battle cry as they charged in.
They entered some kind of storage room and were immediately under heavy fire from multiple directions. They took cover behind some crates and shipping containers. One Atlas Soldier pulled out a small camera on a stick and raised it above him.
"Atlesian Knights! 130 models! Several dozen! Plus mobile infantry! At least two dozen! Maybe more!" He called out over the sound of gunfire and then put away his stick-cam.
"Thanks Archer!" Shouted squad leader Buck as he equipped his dual pistols. "Cardin, we handle the tinnies while you get the rest?"
"He, sounds like a plan Buc- shit!" Cardin replied but then recoiled as a few bullets impacted too close for comfort. His aura would have protected him, but it still scared the daylight out him. "We need an opening or we'll be shot up before we can do anything."
"Scarecrow, you heard him! He needs an opening." Buck yelled to another soldier, motioning to him with one of his hands.
"Copy!" Scarecrow said as he reach into a pouch and pulled out five objects. "Grenades out!" He tossed the grenades over his box. Several White Fang grunts screamed and ran for cover as they saw the grenades approach. The grenades exploded, taking out several AK-130s and injured some of the White Fang.
As the grenades exploded Cardin nodded to his team and they charged out to engage the enemy. One unlucky grunt was knocked forward towards Cardin and was then sent flying into another grunt when Cardin swung his mace upwards and impacted his jaw and then downwards on a 130 droid, smashing it to pieces. With Cardin drawing agro, Russel spun the cylinder on his daggers and equipped ice dust. He then closed his eyes and used his semblance.
He calls it hunter vision, and when he concentrates it allows him to see any human, faunus, or grimm within a certain distance despite what they're hiding in or behind. He saw a 130 and four Fang grunts stacked up behind a crate around the corner, getting ready to move up and engage them. He turned to his partner, Sky, and made a swinging motion with his hands and pointed to the crate.
Sky nodded and grinned in understanding, and lifted up his halberd and swung. The Fang grunts screamed and recoiled back as a axe blade appeared out of nowhere and decapitated the droid in front of them. Russel then yelled as he jumped over the container and jabbed his daggers into the ground. A shockwave of ice shot out, encasing their legs of the grunts, the floor around them, and part of the crates in ice. They panicked and could offer little resistance as they became easy pickings for the two huntsmen.
Three other Fang grunts took cover and loaded a rocket launcher as they watched as the blue hair and spiky haired hunters took out their comrades. The one with the launcher took aim and grinned. "Say go'ight humans." she said to himself. Right as she put his finger on the trigger, she and the rest of her friends were violently thrown back. They quickly looked up to see the blond haired hunter slice the rocket launcher in half mid air.
Dove didn't have an official name for his semblance, but it allowed him to do two things. First, he could pick a target up to fifty meters away and use his aura to charge mid-air and slam into them while passing through thin objects. Second, with the aura energy still flowing through him, he could discharge it, creating a shockwave that spreads around him and sends almost everything around him flying. He simply calls his abilities 'charge' and 'nova'.
Immediately after slicing the rocket launcher, Dove roared as he lept from atop the crate towards the three grunts. With his hand engulfed in aura he slammed into the ground unleashing a nova. The grunts were sent flying high into the air, one impacting and getting shocked from a hanging light befalling to the ground. Dove then immediately sliced a 130 droid in half and cut the arms of another that tried to charge him.
Meanwhile, Buck and his team were spread out in teams of two, engaging the majority of the 130 droids in a tactical shoot out. Buck couldn't help but smile at how effective they were fighting and communicating.
"Claker down!" Peasant called out as a 130 in front of him fell to the ground, riddled with holes.
"Ozone, 130 behind the open crate, 9 o'clock!" Meat called out as he opened fire on a group of droids.
"I see him!" Ozone said as he opened fire and shot through the crate, and grinned as he heard metal impact concrete. "Target down!"
"Out! Swapping mag!" Royce said crouching behind cover has he put in a new clip.
"Ha, I'm a freaking one man army!" Meat gloated as he took down a fifth droid in a row with a headshot.
"You got the mouth of one to-Woah! Shit, shit, shit, ah fuck!" Ozone yelped as he cowered behind a crate hiding from the tremendous amount of fire he was receiving "Take too much fire! I need some help!"
"I see'em! Large group clumped up!" Chemo called out as he dodged incoming fire before returning fire. "Scarecrow, they're at your 2 o'clock, otherside of those heavy crates! I don't got line of sight!"
"Copy!" Scarecrow said as he took another grenade from his belt. "Tossing frag!" He pulled the pin and let it cook before tossing it. The grenade exploded, also igniting an ammo crate, creating a large fireball, knocking over several containers and raining mechanical parts all over the area.
"Ha ha. That's the stuff!" Archer celebrated as he tore the head of a 130 that had it's legs blown off.
"Thanks!" Ozone said. "I'm moving up!" he said as he crouched walked behind another crate up ahead.
"Copy, covering fire!" Archer called out as he shot down another droid near Ozone.
"Yeah that's it! Take 'em down! Take 'em down!" Royce celebrated as another group of 130s got annihilated.
"Gun jammed!" Meat called out as he tried to fix the jam. "I'm good!" he said seconds later, signaling he was back in the fight
"Chemo, Royce, watch your right! Possible droids behind the red shipping container!" Buck warned his comrades as he reloaded his pistols.
"Copy! Moving to flank!" Chemo said as he moved up to intercept the 130s while Royce covered him.
"There can't be much more of them left! Push forward!" Buck barked out.
"Hoorah!" the rest of the squad sounded off.
In truth, the AK-130's were designed for general security against smaller Grimm and an occasional intruder. The only reason to really fear them was because of their quantity. But even then they were no match for a well armed squad of soldiers, let alone four trainee huntsmen. Buck took down another droid when he spotted another squad droids coming into the room from a wide stair case. His eyes widened when he realized what they were.
The AK-200s were the newer model of Atlesian Knight were faster and smarter than the 130s and could use standard issue and special ordnance weapons They could cause a lot more damage than the 130s. Even worse, all of the droids had a rocket launcher. "FUCK! 5 AK-200s with RPGs! Take cov-"
Immediately five explosions shook the room. Four were aimed at CRDL but thanks to their auras they were able to dodge direct impacts and be protected from the explosions and the shockwaves. Buck and his men took cover as the fifth rocket impacted. The rocket fired short and missed, but following the explosion multiple smaller round objects emerged and bounced around.
"Cluster rounds!" Archer yelled. He and everyone near him turned to run from the incoming cluster bombs. The cluster bombs exploded, shooting out white hot shrapnel. Most of the shrapnel landed on the floor or into shipping containers, but some pieces tore through Archer's left thigh and an unlucky 130 droid. Archer collapsed clutching his leg, screaming in agony.
"Archer is hit! Archer is down! ARCHER IS DOWN!" Ozone called out as he took aim at a AK-200 only for his gun to click empty. The 200 droid he was aiming at finished reloading it's launcher and took aim at Ozone. The droid and the one next to it were suddenly forced back when Dove seemingly materialized in his aura charge, and then used his nova to take out the other three droids.
Peasant, the squad's medic, rushed towards Archer and dragged him behind cover while the rest of his comrades and CRDL drew away the agro and provided covering fire. "Sky!" Peasant called out. Sky was by his side almost instantly. "Check him," He said as he drew a vial of morphine from his bag.
Sky nodded and closed his eyes to concentrate as he put his hands on Archer. Sky Lark's semblance was a medical one. When he makes physical contact, he can 'read' a person's body like a child book, and he can more effectively use his aura to heal the wounds of the person. Sky could see everything. How has his blood was pumping, his lungs expand and collapse with each breath, the blood flowing through each of his veins, the four tears in skin and flesh made by the shrapnel, the needle entering the body and releasing the morphine.
"His thigh is messed up but nothing that won't recover," Sky said as he opened his eyes and poured some of his aura to help seal the interior of the wound, then he took his hands off Archer. In truth, his semblance can allow him to fully heal the wounds in mere seconds, but it would take away a chunk of his aura, and he still needed to search the complex for Jaune and Yang. "All the shrapnel went clean through, none of the pieces are stuck in him."
"Hear that man," Peasant said giving archer a reassuring pat on the soldier. "Nothing to bad. Just gonna patch you up, take you home, maybe spent some time with some lovely nurses and you'll be fi-WOAH!" He and Sky dusked as a 130 droid head slammed into the crate between them.
"Sorry!" Russel called out.
"That all of them?" Cardin asked.
"Got nothing over here but scrap metal." Dove acknowledged.
"Everyone's down over here." Russel responded.
"Clear!" rang out Buck and rest of the Atlas squad minus Archer and Peasant. "Form up and make a perimeter around Peasant and Sky incase reinforcements show up.!" he commanded. His squad did as such as he and the rest of the huntsmen ran up to the medics and their downed friend. "How bad is he?" he asked as he crouched down next to them.
"Sky found no bits of shrapnel in him, they all went clean through." Peasant said as he and Sky finished finished applying the field dressings. "We disinfected the wounds and patched him up. A day or two in the infirmary and he'll be fine but he can't walk on his leg until this heals. We'll have to carry him."
"Not good," Buck said standing up. "We can't carry a wounded soldier around with us when we search the base."
"We have to leave him here, but not alone." Cardin said giving his thoughts. He cupped his chin. "I'm thinking… we split into three teams. First team will stay here and guard Archer and stand guard incase the White Fang send reinforcements this way or when any Grimm decide to show up, and they will. The other 2 teams will split up and search the ground floor and basement level."
"Quick thinking. How do we divide us up?"
While this was happening, Russel and Meat were conversating.
"You think he's going to be fine?" Meat asked, referring to Archer.
"Sky literally read his body, he said he'll be fine." Russel responded.
"I know but… just can't help but worry, you know?"
"Hey, I know. Trust me, I was panicking when Dove got too friendly with a Nevermore a while back and was bedridden for a week. But I also learned to never question Sky on anything related to health and injury." Russel saw that Meat eased up a little, but not enough to his liking. "Wait a sec." He stood up and began walking to Archer.
"What are you….?" Meat questioned but stopped mid way.
"Hey Archer." Russel called out. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He held up three fingers. Archer studied his hand for a few seconds.
"I don't know, how many am I?" he replied while raising his middle finger up at Russel.
"See Meat, he's fine." Most of the Squad started chuckling, including Meat.
"Alright ladies listen up!" Buck yelled grabbing everyone's attention. "Dove, Meat, Peasant, and Chemo. You guys will stay here and guard Archer and our exit." The people in question nodded in acknowledgement and Buck turned to Cardin.
"As far as we know, this place only has a ground floor and a basement." Cardin said as he pointed towards the wide staircase the AK-200s came from. "Ozone, Scarecrow, and Royce will come with me and clear the lower floor. Sky and Russel with go with Buck and search the ground floor."
"Any questions?" Buck asked. No one spoke up. "Alright, MOVE OUT!" Everyone divided into their teams. Dove, Meat, Peasant, and Chemo hid Archer behind some larger crates and moved to ambush positions. Buck, kicked down a door and charged in as the 2 huntsmen followed. Cardin lead the rest and charged downstairs where two more AK-130s met an unfortunate fate.
Their objective still stands: Find Yang and Jaune and get them out.