[hider=Team OD/Lucius Cypher collab- Finally finishing the fucking mission]

Turning to Diamond, Oswald frowned. "Looks like you were right, Rice really screwed these people over. There's some...ancient Grimm here. It's what controls those damned bugs, apparently. Spoke to the Faunus' leader, she wants us to kill it, and the jammer goes off. Then we can talk about how we settle this. You wanna go after Rice?"

Dissolving the shadow wrench she's been using to tighten the replacement tire on, Diamond turned around. "Damn straight I want to go after the fatso, but this is more important." she shrugged, "It's a danger to both the people here and gods know how many others if we leave it and it goes loose. Or follows us home."

"Besides, the man is a coward. He would have gone straight to the local Schnee HQ or the docks to offload the cargo, depending on whether he's more afraid of us or his boss. Either way, he can't hide in the city form [i]me[/i]." Diamond thought out loud, popping her fingers nastily. "Any idea where that thing is, or what's it look like for that matter?"

Letting out a sigh, Oswald hopped off of the [i]Unsubtle[/i] and handed Diamond the map he'd gotten. "I think Marcus has gone haywire again. Here, they gave me a map. Said the thing has no real shape or form. It's some kind of liquid-like creature. They're not certain of where it is, but they put down a few places it might be."

"And you're probably right about Rice. This thing's the bigger threat right now. That jackass ain't going anywhere any time soon. We kill this thing, get this hellhouse sorted out, and we can find him later. Maybe Schnee will give us a bonus for exposing a corrupt executive. They're not exactly good people, but I doubt they'll just let something like this go."

"Marcus needs to hold the fort down here anyway. It's not the Faunus I'm worried about, but the guards looked ready to kill everything that moves. And Aurelius should probably go slap some sense into the truckies and drive outside of the jamming and radio for backup too." Diamond said, not feeling really comfortable making any decision.

"Liquid like? Well that's great. I suppose these could come in handy then..." she said, fishing one of the ice dust capsules she picked up earlier form her pocket and tossing one over to Oswald, keeping the other. "No clue how to set those off but I vaguely remember one chick doing so by sneezing, so it doesn't seem to need that much. Let's go find the thing first."

Carefully catching the dust capsule, Oswald frowned again. "Damn. Powder dust always makes me nervous. Too fragile, too unstable. For this thing, though...I'll take that risk. Whatever it takes. Guess Marcus can hold the fort. You think the two of us can handle a horde of those bugs? Worst comes to worst, I can try and find that Grimm and kill it before we get reduced to pulp." Turning to the [i]Unsubtle[/i], Oswald shook his head. "Sorry, Marcus, think you can hold down the fort here, while we take care of that thing? Much as I'd love to have that tank along for the ride...I can't trust these people. You, I do trust. Make sure they stay put."

"We don't have much choice. It's still bugs though. I saw some makeshift torches over there-" she pointed to a remnant of a supply shed, "-Fire gotta keep them at arms length." [i]I bloody hope so.[/i] she added for herself.

Oswald nodded to Diamond before making his way over to the shed. "I'll grab the torches, then." As he walked, Oswald checked over his equipment, making sure everything was affixed properly. Now that things were about to heat up, it would be disastrous for some of his armor to fall off halfway through the fight. After seeing what the bugs were capable of, he wasn't sure how much protection his armor would offer, but it was better than nothing. 

Returning from the shed with a few "torches", Oswald handed one to Diamond, keeping a pair of torches for himself. "Strategy? How are we gonna tackle this thing?"

"I'd try to stay hidden until we find it - avoid any bugs as much as possible. If we get the drop on it let's try to hit it without it knowing we're even there. Failing that, improvise. The first week of classes wasn't exactly clear on how to fight something that isn't made of solids. So unless you have an idea, shall we move out?" the thug thought out loud, fishing the lighter from under her hat and lighting the torch.

Following the map given to him by the elder fauna, Oswald and Diamond set out into the plains. Most of the grass near the camp had been flattened or obliterated from the recent explosion, with nothing but insignificant bug life scurrying about. Stealth largely consisted of being able to lay low and not disturb the grass, at least not too much to send all the insects flying. And there were many insects, not all of them freakish mutants, but there were a few. The first flew locations marked off on the map showed no signs of life; too close to the camp. There were other locations further out, but the crudely drawn map had no accurate indicator of distance and only vague land marks in the form of some sort of quartz formation. It only took the two about ten minutes of walking to find one of the possible locations of the BB.

The grass was still tall, all the way up to Diamond's chest. The ground was damp and some parts muddy, and there were five quartz crystals sticking out of the ground. One of them had strange branch-like protrusions making it look something like a tree, which was the landmark on Oswald's map. Initially there was nothing. And then there were buzzing.

Mentally cursing as the buzzing started, Diamond ducked in the grass. The mud on the ground didn't make moving silently any easier, especially in shoes meant for pavement. The girl made a mental note that there would be shopping to do once - if - they returned from here.

Taking her hat off, she carefully poked her head above the grass to get a look at what was heading for them, hoping for their target rather than a cloud of random insects. [i]Hah. Wishing for a grimm to find us. Oh sweet Irony.[/i] she thought bitterly.

Ducking down next to Diamond, Oswald took a slow, deep breath, and held it for a few moments before releasing it. He wasn't going to let his own breathing get them caught, not after they'd come this far. If the bugs attacked them, they might be able to fend them off with Dust, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn't be seriously weakened or wounded. 

Trying to look between blades of grass, Oswald rolled his eyes when he realized that it was still too thick for him to see through. Trying to ignore the buzzing, Oswald decided to rely on Diamond to tell him if anything happened. There was no point in both of them sticking their heads out and risking detection.

The buzzing intensified. Soon an entire swarm of mutant insects were flying above Diamond and Oswald, searching for them. It wasn't particularly hard since Oswald's black/red armor meshed poorly to the beige colored grass stalks. There was little warning as the swarm began to spread out, and than converge into the grass to latch onto the two hunters. Stingers, claws, pincers, mandibles, all sorts of small yet powerful jaws and limbs tore at the hunters, latching onto any exposed flesh, trying to undo the latches and buttons of their armor and clothing to create more exposed flesh to attack. Individually it was slow work, but thousands upon thousands worked together to consume their foe.

Cursing loudly, Oswald stood up and drew his sword, slashing in front of him as he advanced, his Aura defenses trying to repel the insects from his body. Grabbing a yellow Dust crystal from his pouch and quickly putting it into his blade, Oswald transformed his blade into katar form and continued slashing, trying to move forward. "Diamond, anything you can do with that shadow of yours? Maybe make a big-ass flyswatter?!"

Answering with a feral growl, Diamond continued to seemingly flail her arms around. Closer inspection would have revealed the ice dust capsule with the lid opened ever so slightly spewing it's contents evenly around the duo. When she thought the amount of dust in the air was just about right to encase the insects in ice but leave them more or less intact, Diamond reached for her lighter again and stuck it, the sparks setting the dust off.

The dust exploded, causing the swarm around Diamond and Oswald to freeze solid. but that was just thousands out of hundred thousands, and it didn't even stop them. They simply came in at greater force now that they knew were Diamond and Oswald were. Oswald's swiped killed a few droves, but not nearly enough to do any meaningful damage, and after his first few attacks the insects were able to dodge out of the way of his swings. That wasn't the worse of it; as the swarm continued to cover Oswald and Diamond, one of the quartz formation was getting shifted. And slowly, lifted.

"WHAT" was all Oswald could say as I saw the quartz slowly lifting from the ground. Turning to Diamond, he pointed at it. "Run, there. The dust didn't help. We have to find that Grimm and end this before these bugs end us. Take the map, you're faster than me." Grunting as he felt his Aura diminishing, Oswald reached into his pouch and pulled out a red Dust crystal. "I'll see what this does." Activating the crystal, Oswald grunted and pitched it into a group of the bugs, hoping that it would at least thin the herd.

"I'm not in the business of noble sacrifices, mine or anyone else's!" diamond grinned back as she thought of a slightly crazy course of action, seeing what just happened. A bit of a firestorm surrounded her teammate and briefly cleared the area around him. Well, if he wasn't coming, he could at least get behind cover. And cover she could provide.

Making a quick circle around Oswald before the bugs could get back in, she left a trail of the ice dust behind her. With a flick of the lighter she set it off, erecting a wall of ice around Oswald. "Plug the top yourself!" she hollered over, noticing her own supply was down to third of the capsule.

With any luck the swarm would be busy trying to break through to Oswald for a while and less bugs would focus on her as she ran towards the hovering structure, her shadow flowing over her, slashing at anything close to her skin. The constant shift was tiring her somewhat, but the adrenaline rush was helping a great deal.

Grunting angrily, Oswald pulled out the ice dust capsule and worked to form a ceiling for his little shelter. He wasn't sure exactly how to do it, since he was unfamiliar with powder dust, but he poured some on the edges of the wall, trying to direct the dust to form a top over him before he was overwhelmed with bugs again. "Diamond, if you get more than fifty feet from me, I can't get out of here without busting out. If you've got any more ideas, now's the time!"

"You'll thaw out eventually, as long as you left a hole for air!" Diamond laughed of all things. Combat high, that was a new feeling. She picked up the pace, charging towards the hovering quartz block to cut the distance in shortest time.

Oswald's fiery explosion caused the bugs to scatter, giving them just a few seconds of reprieve. But as the swarm rallied, the two hunters might have noticed that some of the insects who were caught flame were still flying. Like the bugs from before, these insects were highly resistant to fire, but very flammable. They rallied together with similar bugs and turned into a mass of flame, charging strait towards Oswald right after the wall of ice was erected around him. They used a combination of their mandibles and flaming bodies to chew through the ice, and would get through in less than a minute with their combined efforts. The rest of the swarm hung near by, getting ready to charge through the opening when it was made.

Mean while the quartz rose into the air a good five feet, and showed no signs of stopping. not only that but it was moving towards Oswald to. But Diamond's movements weren't missed either. As she was charging towards the quartz, something grabbed both her feet and gripped tightly. If she could see through the grass that would cover her face, she may see skeletal hands. More of them began to rise out from the ground, latching onto Diamond. Underneath her were a murky black substance, and not too far from her, a white mask...

Groaning as he saw the ice above him thinning, Oswald turned to the side of his shelter and reached back into his pouch, pulling out his last red dust crystal. "I'm gonna need to stock up on more than two of each type...I'm almost empty as is." Removing the unused yellow crystal from his weapon, he replaced it with the red crystal, then pointed the blade of his sword at the wall, pulling its trigger.

Within seconds, the layer of ice had a hole melted through it, and the edges were still in excess of a hundred degrees, quickly melting the ice at the edge of the hole. Jumping through the hole, Oswald cursed yet again as he saw the quartz crystal flying towards, him. "Diamond, where the HELL did you go?!"

[i]Splat![/i] Diamond went face first into the mud. She'd never clean that off of the coat again. That made her as livid as she could get. Getting up to a crouch, she noticed the mud didn't exactly stick. In fact, it was the mud that grabbed her by the ankles.

[i]Wait, the heck?[/i]

Gears spun in her head and finally clicked into place. Right, fluid grimm. She already had a plan of attack in mind, but attack where? She needed to see dammit!

Taking a hold of her shadow, she turned it into a bigass scythe and spun around, mowing the grass around her. As she spun around, she caught a glimpse of a speck of white. Turning, she spotted it.

There, a grimm mask.

Turning the scythe into a dagger, she cut through the hands holding her legs. Plopping the case of dust open she tossed it towards the mask. The container left a trail behind it, serving as a fuze cord to the container that landed near the mask. With a sadistic smile, Diamond set it off and followed.

Aside from the ice, she didn't really have any idea how to tackle this thing. It was a risky bet, but she put faith in putting her aura on the offensive. During the initiation, several people were able to severely damage large grimm with aura alone at the very least. If she could just grab a hold of the Grimm's head, then she could try to blow it clean off.

The  creature, the Black Beast, recoiled as Diamond cut the hands from her.  It didn't hurt him so much as make him weary, as she managed to escape his grasp. It beat a hasty retreat, hiding back in the tall grass. Mean  while the quartz crystal diverted it's path from Oswald to Diamond,  since she was closer. The ground beneath her gave her very little  traction as the mixture of slick mud and loose grass threaten to make  her slip, and if she fell the quartz was ready to fall on top of her.  The rest of the swarm went after Oswald as soon as he emerged from his  icy prison and resumed their tireless assault. 

Diamond's ice dust did do something however. It froze a part of the black beast, forcing him to shrink down towards the base of the ice. Still, thanks to it's naturally fluid body, it was able to become miniscule, and work it's way to free itself from the ice. The bugs continued to attack the two hunters, with the quartz moving in to crush Diamond.

Diamond didn't spot the approaching quartz until it eclipsed the sun, it's shadow looming over her ominously. Just how powerful was this thing? Were they dealing with [i]yet another[/i] bloody riesen here? Well, at least it didn't seem capable of taking over her mind or body.

Well, she could hardly do anything other than dodge it. The only way she saw herself being safe from it was to stay close to the monochromatic bastard and hope it wouldn't crush itself. It wasn't like she didn't intend on doing that anyhow.

The ice slowed it down for long enough for her to get close. Her aura flared up, covering her person in a foul looking black tendrils. "Let us see who's dark side is greater, shall we?" the thief grinned. Using her shadow to get some traction on the strange surface, she made a jump and grab for the mask.

As Oswald sprinted towards Diamond, he sheathed his sword and replaced his shield on his back, reaching into his pouch to grab his second, and last, freeze dust crystal. Grinning as he reached the point at which his Semblance was usable, he suddenly appeared next to Diamond and turned towards the strange Grimm, realizing what Diamond was doing. Appearing behind it, Oswald's similarly dark Aura surrounded him as he dove into the shadowy creature's body to distract it.

"Kill it, quick! I can handle the beating, but a multi-ton crystal is where I end up a splatter on the ground!"

The Black Beast was not going to go out without a fight. The bug swarm went to it's aid, converging onto Diamond and Oswald. At the same time it produced bone-like appendages to flail and smash the two hunters with great strength. It would very well knock them off their feet and into the ground if they weren't careful. And lastly, the flying quartz crystal was merely seconds away from touching down, like a four ton guided missile. The Black Beast screeched loudly, it's defiant and possibly last war cry.

"Kill it quick - HOW THE FUCK?" Diamond barked back after third unsuccessful attempt to get close enough to strike with her aura. She never fought on long range and lacked the ability to project it too far. It looked like the only option was the most risky one, and even then - could the fluid bastard even be crushed?

It wasn't like anyone was giving her any better ideas though. It better work then. the crawlers that were starting to swarm her again now that Oswald was no longer providing distraction were adding extra difficulties. This needed to end fast. Fortunately the large quartz mass seemed only couple dozen seconds away, and it showed no signs of slowing down, even though it was headed for them and by proxy to the head of the grimm itself, being well in the range of the impact.

"No other way, stick around until the last possible moment, then jump away and hope it's caught under the thing and we aren't!"

Sighing, Oswald turned to Diamond, grabbing at one of the Grimm's bone appendages with his hand not holding the dust crystal, which was starting to become awkward. "Diamond, just run. Stay about forty feet away, if you could, please?" Confident that as long as he kept an eye on his teammate, he'd be able to get the hell out of dodge.

"Done!" Diamond said, bolting without hesitation. She had an idea of what Oswald had in mind and made for the area where she cleared the grass to be seen more easily. while her own aura was lashing againsst the bugs swarming her, the girl put her hand on the ground and sent her shadow towards Oswald, surrounding him with a sheet of shadow as thick as she could manage to make the bugs travel around, hoping to buy a little bit of time.

Smirking as Diamond's shadow covered her, Oswald awkwardly put the dust crystal he was carrying back in his pouch, grabbing for another one of the bone appendages with his hands, and pulled as hard as he could, trying to snap the limbs with brute force as the crystal barreled onwards.

As the massive crystal closed in on Oswald and the Black Beast, one of the Grimm's boney appendages snapped in Oswald's hand, causing the monster to let out a shrill, pained scream as it thrashed about in agony. 

Making sure to get a good look at Diamond, Oswald willed himself away from where he was, appearing near Diamond, his breath heavy. Backing away, he watched as the multi-ton crystal crashed into the bellowing Grimm, annihilating the beast under its immense mass as the quartz shattered into thousands upon thousands of pieces at the impact.

The rampaging, infuriated bugs stopped their stampede as the Black Beast perished, returning to a more normal behavioral pattern, swarming down into the grass to feed. 

"Diamond....let's get the fuck out of here. I'm done with this bullshit."

Nodding weakly and brushing the sweat away form her forehead, Diamond agreed in part. "Yeah. Let's gather our pieces and call for backup, let someone else handle this. But I still have a corrupt coward to catch. Not particularly mission specific, but it would make me feel reaaaaaal nice on the inside." she said with a frown.

"Agreed. I'd like to talk to the Faunus again before I leave, though. You think you can take care of Rice on your own?" Oswald was deadset on making good on his word to the Faunus' leader. Whatever had happened through all this, he had to make sure the responsible parties suffered for their crimes. "But first...let's get back to the camp."

In the end, Rice ended up hiding exactly where Diamond predicted. Getting into the building took some shouting and photographic evidence, but once the thug threatened to send the pictures of the maimed Faunus right next to the SDC logo to the media, suddenly the desk clerk was very accommodating in showing her to Mr. Rice's office. After reciting what Marcus told her before - specifically about how leaving fellow humans and faunus to the Grimm was a valid ground for capital punishment in the field - the man was all too happy to 'just' accompany her to the Vale PD station. Diamond was happy to leave the rest to them.

As he returned to the base camp, the guards had rushed up to Oswald, the [i]Unsubtle's[/i] turret pivoting to ensure they kept a respectable distance. The first words the huntsman-in-training uttered were, "You are all under arrest. Any attempt to resist will be met with an extreme over-reaction, limbs potentially being broken, and lots of pain. Do not forget that I can teleport."

Pushing through the stunned guards, Oswald entered the mine once again, accepting the escort to the leader of the Faunus. "The Black Beast...is dead. It wasn't easy, and I'm fairly certain that I'm running on less than a fifth of my Aura reserves after what those bugs did, but...it's done. We've got the guards on a temporary arrest until someone figures this out, my teammate is hunting down that fat bastard, Rice, and on the off chance that you'd like...we're willing to escort you to Vale. But I have a feeling that you'd prefer to stay on your own land, now that you won't be threatened again."

Sighing, Oswald moved onto the most important topic. "As for the Schnee Dust Company at large, you won't be seeing them again. We'll be taking evidence of what happened her. They'll back off."

[/hider]