[h3]Esther, Emerald & Diamond - Battered but alive[/h3]
[hider]There was a bit of inner dialogue going on in Diamond’s head. The thing was apparently human. She didn’t kill people. But was it? It looked more like a grimm. What [i]was[/i] she intending to do with it if it didn’t talk? She couldn’t well let it roam free. “No? Oh well. You aren’t human. Maybe you were once, but no more.” [i]But you ruined my hat. You deserve something special.[/i] she thought bitterly. Her aura flared up as Diamond funneled all of her anger into it. The black tendrils lashed out towards the creature, enveloping it and sinking into its skin to tear it from the inside out.

Grunting, she shut her eyes as Diamond’s shadow attack connected and started its work. For the moment, it appeared to wither her and drain her of her energy. But the moment didn’t last long, as her reaction was only a bluff. Opening her eyes and staring down Diamond, her red irises began to glow and she started to laugh an odd electronic cackle.

[b]”Good. Very good. But, might I add...Your rage could be deeper.”[/b]
Instead of tearing down the creature from the inside, the opposite effect was true.
It fed off of Diamond’s negative emotion, becoming empowered by it.
Tensing its imprisoned body and flexing its strength, it shattered its icy prison and freed itself.
Sending shards of ice and powdery dust out to obscure its next move.

Ducking low, the creature powered forward until it was almost right on top of her. Pulling the slack from its chains out, it tossed them to where they would surround Diamond. Forcing its arms outward, it immediately attempted to bind her within the chains and had pulled with enough increased strength to simultaneously free its embedded sawblades. Recalling them and activating them in mid flight, the two headed on a straight path with Diamond’s body. Grinding loudly and menacingly as they drew ever closer.

Emerald’s eyes widened as the creature or whatever it was lunged at Diamond and it’s sawblades flew toward her. There wasn’t any time to think, so Emerald outstretched her hands and attempted to use her semblance to create a sudden gust of air strong enough to knock the sawblades off their trajectory and head straight toward the creature instead. She didn’t know if she had enough strength to do it but she tried anyway.  

[i]Not a grimm my left foot! I should have remembered your info is garbage, Teach![/i] Diamond snarled mentally as apparently what should have been an attack that would shatter a building did little else but make her situation worse. To top it all off, she was now being ensnared by those gods forsaken chains. The buzzing sound did little to ease her mind. If only she could reach - [i]Wait a sec![/i] Dropping the ethereal sword, she tried to send it around the creature and bury it into its head.

Moving to lunge at Diamond to embrace her to further seal her impending fate, the creature stopped at the last second as Diamond’s sword flew towards it and swung around its head. Turning just in time for the blade’s point to impact with its forehead and again stunning it.

Esther wasn’t going to wait around and let the creature complete its surely devastating attack on her student and refused to see what the effect her student’s attack did to it. Slinging her rifle behind her, she ran as she withdrew her ‘knife’ and activated her Semblance. Utilizing it in a larger degree than what was demonstrated, her pupils became trapped by the telltale starlit triangle symbol as she touched her knife mid-sprint and ‘pulled’ numerous copies of it out. Splitting the phantasmal blades into three large groups, she sent two to greet the incoming sawblades to jam them between whatever mechanisms they could lodge themselves into to stall and weaken them. The last set of blades flew towards Diamond and inserted themselves safely between small gaps in the binding chains. Now standing right behind her student, she grabbed at the spectral blades and twisted with as much strength that she could muster, her knife copies mimicking her actions.

The chain links strained before the connections between them shattered and they fell to the ground in a metallic clinking mess. But Esther had little time to celebrate as the sawblades were milliseconds away from bashing into both of them. Her timing had to be perfect, but using a technique she mostly taught to upperclassman at Beacon, she focused her aura to two points on the backs of her fists and slammed them into the sawblades at just the right moment to counter/reflect them away from her and Diamond.

With nothing to prevent them from flying away freely, the sawblades once again embedded themselves into the walls of a few nearby houses, disconnected from their user. She made eye contact with Diamond, getting ready to run at the creature once more.

[b]”Now’s our chance, let’s go!”[/b]
[i]”Together.”[/i]
Running past Diamond with the intention of her following right after, Esther prepared a nasty right elbow to knock the daylights out of the beast.

Emerald collapsed from behind the table, panting heavily. Maybe using her semblance hadn’t been the greatest of ideas...she felt really tired and exhausted. She didn’t hurt anywhere thanks to the pain meds, but she just couldn’t move anymore. “So tired…” She mumbled.

Grunting with effort, Diamond followed Esther. She tried to clear her head, focus on the fight and not give whatever it was they were fighting any more fuel. The thing took considerable damage and is she was to believe her eyes, it was at least somewhat human. It seemed to have an aura at least. And once that was depleted, it was just a bag of flesh. So what they needed was a couple of solid hits to bring that down. Opting to sacrifice the extra weapon, Diamond reshaped her own into a hammer. Once more it came out nothing like she envisioned, but she counted on that this time. The haft was curved and a bit harder to grip, but the head was covered in spiked and bumps. “Fore!” She yelled as she swung the blunt instrument at the creature’s chest.

Diamond’s attack connected first, slamming into the creature’s chest with a thunderous metallic clanging that one could swear they heard ribs cracking. Her perception of time slowed slightly as her body lifted off of the ground with the force of the blow and every bit of air was forced from her lungs. Wetly coughing out saliva with a brilliantly shocked expression. The creature could only mentally brace herself as she saw Esther’s elbow on a fast track to dock with her face. Neck twisting and head snapping back, the creature actually spun and was sent flying backwards and through the wall of a building.

Diamond’s spectral sword had lost its source material and became unstable, ‘shattering’ with the sound of glass and its fragments clinked against the ground. However, Esther still had her plethora of blades and wasn’t going to let the creature off that easily. With a wave of her hand, the blades neatly fell into formation above her head and behind her. Sharply pointing at the hole the two of them created with the monster’s body, the blades obeyed and sliced through the air to fill in the hole left by the beast impaling whatever they could as deeply as they could. Motioning with her hand once more, what sounded like a glass house collapsing in on itself could be heard as the blades were dismissed and Esther raised her rifle, unsure if that was enough to finish the demon.

Panting somewhat heavily from the adrenaline, Esther eventually steadied her breath. Hawk-like eyes waiting for the dust to clear. If she saw a body and it still moved, she had more than enough ammunition to tenderize the creature into a fleshy pulp. Really, only one magazine was all she needed, but she believed in over-reacting and over-kill.

Only…

[i]”What? Where the fuck did it go!?”[/i]
Esther blinked to try and clear her vision.
How could it still be moving after that combination?
Nostrils flared and she snapped to the left and right with her rifle, seeking out where the creature could’ve possibly gone.
[b]”Diamond. Stay close. Eyes and ears open.”[/b]

A sound to her left.
Motion.
Esther whirled to find that one of the sawblades that was stuck in a wall had gone.
A sound to her right.
Motion.
She turned to and the other was also gone.
[i]”Fuck.”[/i]
[b]”FUCK!”[/b]

~

Tony’s head swiveled rapidly, searching just as Esther was.
[b]”Shit! That should’ve done a number on the bitch and she’s still moving around like it didn’t even tickle! Gods damn it all! I’ve always hated those assholes!”[/b]
Tony brought his fingers up to his helmet and tapped a button.
[b]”Switching to FLIR!”[/b]
Within his helmet, the landscape became blurs of blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and reds. He at least had the technical advantage over all of the Huntresses. But, all of it was for naught. At that moment, Emerald’s instincts would’ve alerted her to impending danger.

There was a crash just above the two.
Tony’s head looked up at the ceiling.
The sound of grinding and spinning saw blades made a trickle of cold fear travel down his spine.
The roof seemed to collapse in on the two, but not before Tony spartan kicked Emerald’s body away.
Buried under debris and rubble, Tony was stuck in a bad place. Struggling and straining to free himself, he stopped when he saw the doll-like face of the ‘Grimm’.

He sighed.
[b]”Hello darkness, my old friend.”[/b]
The creature looked at the knocked away Emerald before returning its gaze to Tony’s helmeted head.
[b]”Y’know, if I didn’t have this bucket on, I’d spit in your eye.”[/b]
Raising its sawblades, it slammed them down on the pile of rubble and began to chew away, though it had a bit of trouble.
Tony craned his head to look Emerald and shouted above the din.
[b]”Kid! Get the hell out of here! Whatever you do, don’t look back! And tell Vanessa that it’s been real!”[/b]
Tony turned back to egg on the beast-woman.
[b]”Yeah! Come on, fucking she-witch! I’d call you a cunt but you probably neither have the depth nor warmth!”[/b]
The creature grinned as its body glowed with the same aura-like light from before, its sawblades doing the same.

[i]”Semblance: Reinforce”[/i]

The teeth of the sawblades appeared to grow stronger, chewing through the junk like butter with a speed and ferocity that they hadn’t before. It didn’t take long before the blades made contact with Tony’s body armor, but how much longer would it be before its weapons made quick work of him too? When Emerald had shot at it earlier in the battle, it had looked up at just the right moment in just the right direction to determine where the two of them had hidden. It counted on them not moving from their position and was going to draw blood one way or another, focusing on attacking what it perceived to be the team’s “weakest 
chainlinks.”
Emerald groaned as she recovered from Tony’s kick, her vision slowly clearing from it’s blur as her mind tried to process what was happening. As she looked up her eyes widened in horror at what she saw.

“NO!” Emerald yelled as a new rush of adrenaline pushed through her veins. Her lack of strength suddenly gone, she stood up faster than one would think possible for someone in her condition, probably reopening her wounds as she did, not that she could feel it or care. With a single shotgun in her hand she rushed toward the creature, crying out as she opened fire on the monster at near point blank range. The house was filled with boom after boom as she unloaded her weapon, not stopping till her weapon was out of ammo. 

~

[i]What, here? Right now?[/i] Diamond thought, but before she could vocalize the crack, her eyes followed after the teachers. [i]Fuck, indeed.[/i] She was frozen for a second by the sight of the creature attacking Emerald and Tony, panic slowly taking root in her. And then, something in her snapped, took the panic and hammered it into determination. Raising her right arm, she focused her power. Not into an attack, that wouldn’t help Tony whatsoever with how well that thing could sink damage. Instead, Diamond let the fingers of her telekinetic spells wrap around the creature’s sawblades. Diamond waited, waited until the last possible moment, channeling as much force into the spell as she could. And then, she yanked her arm up and behind, hoping to just throw the weapon so far away it wouldn’t be able to recover it again.

Surprised that Emerald still had enough fight in her to continue to struggle against it, each shot visibly rattled the creature and pounded away at its body. However, it still held its sawblades fast against Tony’s arms, sparks flying off of his armor as they gouged deep cuts into the metal alloy, millimeters away before they ate into his flesh. 

Just as thin spurts of warm red blood began to splatter about and Tony let out furious roars of pain, something caught the teeth of the sawblades and seized them. Metal groaning, sobbing after getting so close to being bathed in the sweet vital body fluids only to be teased, the creature gritted her teeth as she looked at her weapons still in hand. The air around them seemed to be warped and distorted by some invisible force, and could only imagine that the shadow weaving Huntress was to be held responsible. Try as it might, it couldn’t force the sawblades any further to do any more damage, the blades and gears of its equipment stopped up.

Looking at the faunus Huntress just as her shotgun gave out that telltale ‘click’ of a hammer falling home to an empty chamber, the creature still had other weapons with which it could kill. A little disappointed it had to discard its gruesome and vulgar butcher tools, the creature let go and the sawblades were immediately shot backwards by Diamond’s telekinetic spells. The weapons ripping and tearing clean through the building, flung high into the star-lit night skies to disappear out of sight.

Taking a few long strides towards Emerald, it formed a ‘knife-like’ hand as the same glowing light from before wrapped around its claw gauntlets. The claws being reinforced just as its sawblades were, the creature swiftly threw its hand forward. Intent on goring and gouging out Emerald’s stomach, a manic and wide grin gleaming across her face.

Esther may have been a few seconds too late, but she couldn’t know. Slinging her rifle to her side, she drew her blade and sidearm and formed a single spectral copy of each. Summoning them and calling them to aide Emerald, Esther made a motion with her arm and sent them flying into the house for whomever to take. She could only hope and pray that Emerald was in a position to take them in time to defend herself.. 

Emerald took a step back, her eyes widening as the creature approached her. Her shotgun was empty, and her other weapon was on the ground behind her...there was no way she could reach it in time. This was bad...she didn’t think she could get away from this monster. It was then she saw Esther’s spectral weapons flying in, she just needed to grab the gun…

With a grunt she chucked her empty shotgun at the monster, hoping that would distract it long enough as she grabbed for the sidearm.

“Over my dead body.” Diamond huffed, beads of sweat running down her forehead, “Might have just met them but they’re [i]my[/i] people now and you can’t have them!” She growled, happy that blasted weapon was out of reach. Looking at Emerald though, it wasn’t over just yet. “Let’s punch her ticket!” She hollered over to Esther, forcing her legs to carry her forward.

The creature saw Esther’s spectral weapons at the same time Emerald did and refocused at the right moment to see the faunus girl feebly try to distract it by throwing her empty weapon at its face. With its other free hand it caught Emerald’s shotgun and chucked it back at the ghostly sidearm and knife to knock it off course. Right on top of the faunus girl the creature shoved its knife hand in an arc, forward and up. 

Esther didn’t appear to register Diamond’s actions and words, her senses narrowing and tunneling as she practically flew towards the nearest entrance into the house, namely a busted out window. Adrenaline saturating her body, time appeared to slow as she vaulted over the windowsill and into the house. Unslinging her rifle in midair as she laid eyes on the scene ready to be over with the beast. 

Emerald gasped as her shotgun flew just past her, knocking the spectral weapons away from her reach. She turned around just in time to see the creature’s hand going for her gut, her eyes widening as it pierced her left side and then ripped out of her in an upwards motion just as quickly, she collapsed onto the ground, too shocked to even scream. 

At the drop of a hat, Diamond’s charge stopped frozen as her eyes took in something that would undoubtedly feature frequently in her nightmares for days to come. She wanted to do something - anything - just as long she didn’t have to watch that anymore. But the second that it took for her brain to do anything seemed to be dragging unbearably long. And then all self-imposed restraints went away, conscious mind no longer directing her actions, instead taken over by a mix of panic, anguish, regret, anger and deep rooted subconscious need to protect as Diamond brought up her arms and let go, an angry blue glow radiating from her appendages for a split second before it flown towards the monster to bombard it with ice spears from all directions.

Alas it was too much, exactly as her conscious mind feared it would. The feeling that spiked through her right arm was easily the most agonizing one in her life, fortunately she didn’t have any breath in her to scream. And just as it came it was suddenly gone. Exhausted and drenched in sweat, Diamond fell down on all four.

Three?

No. The arm was still there at least, unless her eyes were fooling her too. Pulling on the sleeve slightly, she was glad it covered the appendage. Quickly she let it drop back to cover the skin that was now covered in a spiderweb pattern of blue and white, as if somebody cut her arm apart and then put it back together using far too much glue. She was sure going to be chewed out for this one, if not by the queen bitch here with them then by the school’s medical staff. She tried to move her fingers. Those still worked. As did the wrist and elbow. But the sense of touch was gone from it. Her eyes wide in shock, she looked up to see if that was worth something at least.

At the sight and smell of Emerald’s blood on its claws, the creature’s face flushed bright red and it dropped to its knees with a look on her face that could only be described as pure glee. As if they were a child who had done well in school and was gifted a sweet treat by their parents. Licking its lips, the creature brought its claws closer and sucked the metallic tasting liquid off as its eyes rolled back into its head. Eyelids fluttering with pure enjoyment and a deep, disturbing sense of fulfillment. Drunk in its orgasmic state of emotion, the creature turned its head just in time to be greeted by the sight of Diamond’s ice spears. Sitting there, the creature simply closed its eyes and wrapped its arms around itself in an embrace. Electing to not take any action and simply accept what was to come.

The force of the barrage of spears lifted the creature off of its knees and to its feet and for a while, the protective force surrounding it held up for just a little longer. Only having been so close to the edge to falling, a tell-tale and brief flash of light indicated that it no longer had the blessing of its protector and finally broke down. The last remaining ice spears pinned the creature to the closest wall. One through a forearm. Another through a wrist. Through an ankle. A kneecap. Its hip. One side of its chest.  A crude crucifixion to say the least. Though it was in excruciating pain, the cold ice acted to numb it. Not that it mattered, because through it all the beast still had a rapturous smile on its face. Coughing up red blood that was now quickly filling one of her punctured lungs, she began to root through her mouth with her tongue trying to fish at something.

Esther slung her rifle to the side, knowing what the monster was trying to do and stormed over to it. Her boots stomping loudly and heavily, Esther shot out a hand and caught its jaw in a vicegrip. A corner of her lips tugged into an angry sneer as she forced the creature to open its mouth who fought her attempts by shaking its head. With her other hand, she pressed the heel of her palm against the creature’s upper lip and nose. A bundle of nerves existed there that when pressure was applied to made for a good ‘key’ to open anyone’s mouth wide. Once satisfied, Esther took her other hand off of its jaw and shoved it down the creature’s throat causing it choke and gag violently as Esther located what it was it had hidden away behind its molars. More blood splattered Esther’s face and her garb as the beast continued to sputter and hack, but her fingers took hold of the tiny hidden object and she pulled her gloved hand out. Between her fingers, a tiny purple pill. Eying it with a certain familiar disgust, she crushed it in her palm and took a step back. Wheezing and coughing still, the creature looked at Emerald that lay on the ground and grinned with reddened teeth. 

[b][i]”Welcome...to the family…”[/i][/b]
Esther drew her ‘knife’ and made sure she had a tight grip on it.
[b]”She doesn’t want any part of your ‘family’, witch.”[/b]
Esther turned to look at Diamond, then to Emerald.
Making sure neither of them could see what she was about to do clearly, she took a step forward and stuck the point of her blade into the wall centimeters from the demon’s neck.
Locking eye contact for just another second, invisible flames burned behind Esther’s pupils.
[b][i]”I-In...D...death...we...are…”[/i][/b]
With a dramatic pull of her arm, Esther brought her blade across and through, silencing the beast.

Wiping her knife on the creature’s body, Esther sheathed her weapon and quickly made her way over to Tony who was still buried under debris.
Cocking an eyebrow as she looked down at him, she cleared away the biggest and heaviest pieces.
[b]”Good?”[/b]
Tony groaned.
[b]”Tis but a flesh wound, milady.”[/b]
[b]”I didn’t ask for a dumbass comment.”[/b]
Locking arms, Esther dragged Tony out of the junk with a dusty clatter.
[b]”Gah, easy! Easy lady!”[/b]
[b]”You already know I’m not the ‘gentle’ type, Tony.”[/b]
Tony stood and immediately got to Emerald’s side.
Quietly, he muttered under his breath.
[b]”Ain’t that the truth…”[/b]
Esther kneeled at Tony’s side and removed a part of his armor, the medkit.
[b]”Tend to Diamond. I’ll care for Emerald here.”[/b]
[b]”Aye, ma’am.”[/b]
Tony stood and began to move away and to Diamond.

Esther took out what looked to be a fat syringe and and not-so-gently inserted it into Emerald’s open wound. Pushing down on the plunger, a thick white foam began to fill the cavity and seal it. Peeling open patches of cloth sealed in plastic wrapping, she expertly covered and dressed Emerald’s injury before pulling out another syringe. Sighing, Esther shook her head and stuck the faunus girl in the neck, injecting her with yet another dose of what she had before.

[b]”Gods above, I hope we don’t turn you into a drug addict.”[/b] Esther murmured to herself.
Gingerly placing her hand on Emerald’s neck, she craned over to look into the girl’s eyes and leaned in to see if she was still breathing.
[b]”You alright, sweetheart? You still with us?”[/b]

The past few minutes had been a rather painful blur for Emerald, her ears rang and her vision had faded in and out as she reeled in shock. Then there had been a sudden sharp pain in her side, and then her neck too. After that things started to feel a bit better. She groaned in response to Esther, her eyes fluttering open. She tried looking directly at Esther but her vision was incredibly unfocused. 
“Wha….what happened?” The Faunus said in a weak voice.

[b]”You did good, girl. Try not to think much more on that. Help is coming, so get some rest while you can.”[/b] Esther said softly, smiling ever so slightly.

“We won? “That...that’s good…” Emerald paused, then her eyes widened a little as she remembered something. “T-Tony! Is he…” Her voice trailed off. 

[b]”Shh-shh-shh...Antonio is fine. Unfortunately. It’s not quite over yet, but it will be soon.”[/b] Esther caressed the top of Emerald’s head, brushing over her ears.

Esther straightened up slightly and scooped up the contents of Tony’s medikit, tossing it outside for him to pick up. [b]”Tony! Time check!”[/b]

Tony grabbed the medikit and dusted it off as he got close to Diamond’s side. Opening it, he sighed as he saw he only had one of the ‘special’ needles left. [b]”Damn it, out already? Man..”[/b]
Esther focused her voice louder.
[b]”TONY!”[/b]
Tony tapped on his left forearm as a holographic clock of sorts was displayed.
[b]”Last radio check was approximately one hour ago! Skyhawk-2 and Skyhawk-3 and more than likely en route to our POS now!”[/b]
Tony pulled out the needle and looked at Diamond, leaning over to meet face-to-helmet.
[b]”I’d worry about this having bad side effects, but for some reason I get the feeling you’re a tough gal and can handle it. Excuse me.”[/b]
Quickly sticking Diamond with the same concoction Emerald got a double-dipping of, Tony disposed of the syringe by tossing it aside and recollected his medkit. Reattaching it to his armor, the man stood.
[b]”Tony! Red Star Cluster when you hear them coming!”[/b]
[b]”Aye, standing watch now!”[/b]
An object whooshed through the air and hit Tony in the back of the head, causing him to jump with a start and clamber about to grab hold of whatever it was Esther tossed at him.
[b]”Lose your rifle again and I’ll have your ass reduced with docked pay! Can’t fucking stand watch without a weapon, now can you?!”[/b]
Tony begrudgingly slung his rifle that he had lost momentarily in the fray and just muttered obscenities to himself.

Esther shook her head and turned back to Emerald.
[b]”We’re going to move you now, okay girl? We need to be outside when they come.”[/b]

Emerald nodded slowly, she’d been trying to focus on Esther and Tony’s conversation but it had proved difficult to keep up. She was tired and felt all sorts of weird. “Okay…” 

“OW! What the hell man?” Diamond hissed, rubbing her neck where the syringe was applied. “I was just catching a breath!” Her eyes got a worried look as she took in the shouting back and forth between Tony and Esther. “What’s Skyhawk two and three? Please tell me those aren’t more airships because in case you didn’t notice there’s a bunch of angry guns we didn’t turn off yet!”

Getting up to her feet, she looked in emerald’S direction. IT seemed she wasn’T entirely too late, which didn’T make her feel any better though. Yet somehow she did, along with feeling her heart thumping a bit faster than it should. And was her eyesight sharper somehow? “Hey. HEY! Mister! The hell did you dope me with?”

Tony glanced over his shoulder at Diamond and cursed to himself once more. Finally turning round he said in a as-a-matter-of-factly tone.
[b]”A painkiller.”[/b]

“Yeah tell that to someone with a couple dozen less IQ points. I don’t know what you junkies are on but I’d appreciate not getting buzzed with stims or whatever that shit was without my knowledge or approval. The last two guys that failed to understand a ‘no’ didn’t end too well!” she vented, fantasizing about smashing that helmet off of his face so they could talk face to face. “Ugh! Whatever, that can wait.” she sighed, nodding towards Esther and Emerald, “How is she?”

Tony looked forward and absently kicked at some nearby pebbles, whistling nonchalantly which sounded odd coming from the filters of his helmet. He knew the consequences of what could happen to Esther if Beacon discovered she and her old comrades were doping students to keep them alive and fighting. Of course, this meant that Esther knew as well and had probably already gotten one or two private meetings with Ozpin with accompanying write-ups. Oh, if only the student body knew Esther wasn’t a complete straight shooting paragon of justice she made herself appear to be. More than likely, she didn’t care, which was obvious seeing how she condoned a double dosage for Emerald and had Tony do the same to Diamond without consent. Ah, well.

Esther had picked up Emerald and was slowly making her way outside to join up with Tony and Diamond, holding the faunus girl in a princess carry.
[b]”Gods above, girl. You need to eat more. My dog weighs more than you.”[/b] Esther said dismissively. 
Esther looked up as Diamond approached and asked of her teammate’s condition.
[b]”She’s alive and breathing. She’ll be better once they arrive with full medical complement.”[/b]

Looking up at the star-lit night skies, her and Tony scanned about for some sign of the incoming calvary. Moments later, a distant roaring sound could be heard. Tony prepped another one of the many tools he carried that resembled innocuous metal tubes.
Esther simply nodded at her friend, [b]”Tony.”[/b]
Tony returned the nod and pointed the tube at the sky.
[b]”Aye, ma’am.”[/b]
With hollow [i]thock/thump![/i] a ball of light was shot into the clouds above before blossoming out in a bright red fiery flower.
Tony tossed aside the tube and continued to wait. Hardly another moment passed before the roaring engines of two gunships was right on top of them, with two spotlights suddenly illuminating the group as they circled above. The winds whipping and whirling underneath their power, the two gunships circled to ensure the area was safe for their landing. 

Once they determined an area sizeable enough, the two gunships touched down and powered down their engines but left them running for a speedy takeoff. As their back gates dropped, a handful of soldiers in equipment just like Tony poured out. Some immediately surrounded them and set up a security perimeter, others made their way over to the four.

[b]”Echo-Six-Victor? Shit, I thought I recognized you!”[/b] A female soldier that led the pack said as she neared, slinging her rifle aside.
Esther smirked slightly before looking down at Emerald in her arms.
[b]”We have more pressing matters to tend to before we can talk.”[/b]
The soldier looked at Emerald and Diamond and nodded.
[b]”Shit, yeah. If you’re carrying someone, they’ve gotta be in bad shape.”[/b]
Turning back towards the gunships, she made a hand signal and called out.
[b]”Docs up! Bring a stretcher!”[/b]
And sure enough, a small team of more soldiers poured out the back of the docked gunships, each of them with black crosses on their chests and backs to designate their positions. Two of them neared Diamond, four of them stopped in front of Esther and Emerald. Setting up a stretcher upon which Esther carefully laid the faunus girl on before they carried her off and into the back of the nearest gunship. The medic team swiftly moving her as someone on ship could be seen preparing an oxygen mask and IV drip.

The same female soldier turned round and presented her hand for Esther to shake. Which Esther promptly took.
[b]”Damn good to see you again, lady. So? What’s the SITREP?”[/b]
Esther sighed, [b]”Short and sweet, what was supposed to be a simple kill mission went south for my students. Possible intervention by…”[/b] Esther’s eyes flitted over to Diamond before she stopped. [b]”Never mind. You’ll get all those details later in my mission debriefing. Our troop transport ship, Skyhawk-1, was shot down by the town’s automated Grimm defenses. Team was separated, those of us you see here and the others in the nearby forest. Communications are dead so no contact with the other half.”[/b]
The female soldier reached up and unlocked her helmet, pulling it off and cradling it in her arm. Fair skin, blond hair with blue eyes.
[b]”Shit. Yeah, we noticed COMMS got a little spotty the closer we got. Detected ECMs but we were good with our own countermeasures. You mentioned automated defenses?”[/b] The female reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Esther which she took.
[b]”Yeah, dividing the farmlands and grimm-infested woods is a defensive perimeter wall. On the other side 20mm automated turrets line the wall. Intel reported them as offline and/or damaged by our contact. But of course, intel was fucked. Unknown if we took any casualties.”[/b]
The blonde blinked and shook her head, lighting Esther’s before starting to light her own and noticing a palm stretched out to her. Following the palm up, she looked at Tony’s helmeted face.
[b]”Come on, Sam. You gonna do me dirty like that and not offer me one?”[/b]
The female soldier’s expression immediately soured.
[b]”Tony, is that fucking you? You cocksucker, how many times were you a stingy little shit in the past, huh? Tables have turned, dickhead!”[/b]
Tony threw his arms up in exasperation.
[b]”Are you serious! Come on, I’m feening here! I lost my pack somewhere’s else!”[/b]

Wordlessly, Diamond reached into her pocket and passed Tony her own pack. “Knock yourself out.” Usually she would have liked to keep watching the exchange, but the fact she didn’t know how Oswald and Cobalt were doing didn’t let her just take it easy. “You almost done? I’ve got two guys out there somewhere and I want to know if they still draw breath.”

Tony fumbled a bit but caught the pack, expressing his silent gratitude with a nod before his excitement wore off. Esther’s brow twitched up and down as she nodded and made a face, in complete agreement with Diamond’s words. [b]”Lady’s right.”[/b] exhaling her last drag, she flicked the butt at Tony’s face and walked towards the gunship which held Emerald on it. Projecting her voice, Esther immediately took command. [b]”We’re spinning up! Load up!”[/b] motioning with a hand signal. The blonde gave Diamond a look, as if asking “who the fuck are you to talk like that?” but she kept her mouth shut and donned her helmet, walking after Esther. Tony looked at the pack in his hand and back at the ladies walking off. Sighing, he felt like an ass and pocketed the smokes before following after. Perimeter security peeled back and returned to their respective gunships, back gates closing up as engines roared with reinvigorated life. If Emerald was conscious enough to notice and Diamond were attentive, they would see that not only were these gunships different in armament and appearance, but that they also had emblems emblazoned on their sides. The finer details such as its color were lost to the darkness, but what could be made out was a wolf’s head in a medieval knight’s helmet. A massive shield in its foreground with three different swords crossed behind the shield. The phrase “In Tenebris, Simul” lined its outer edges, underneath the group’s name was revealed. [i]Abyss walkers.[/i][/hider]