Alex grunted and scratched at his head, making an odd face. ”Sorry, you may not know me as I was the co-pilot. I’m call sign ‘Gorilla’.” The giant brute smacked Chase on the shoulder, startling the guy but ‘waking’ him up. Chase cleared his throat and flashed an awkward grin. ”You guys already know me. I was one of the machine gunners. Call sign ‘Carnal’. Alex shook his head as the two conversed with Oswald and Cobalt. ”No dice. Whatever is up with this area, communications are down. When we were shot out of the sky, we all got separated. But, knowing the two of them, they’ll be fine. Next question, is why did your team divide yourselves, and what was with that flare we saw?” Chase spat to the side at the ground and added another question. ”And what’s the status of the Grimm nest? Did you guys take it out?”
“No unfortunately. Not only have we not taken it out, but all of our Intel is completely and utterly wrong. There's no guarantee that there even are any Grievers.” Cobalt replied sadly as he shook his head in annoyance. “Our team divided so we could accomplish two tasks at once. We were running on limited time and tensions were running high. The flare was to get your attention, too little too late though. At least you guys are still alive. All comms are down and we need as much help as we can get. Did Ms. Vanhomrigh make it?”
Alex and Chase looked at one enough and shared a knowing look. Both of them shook their heads and made a ‘Hmph’ noise. Alex spoke again, ”You can say that again. Intel is never good, even if Vanessa was the one that collected it. Shit’s gone south real quick. What needs to happen now though, is we need to confirm whether or not there is a nest. We find it, we burn it to the ground and we get the fuck out of here and link back up with the rest of your team.” Chase furrowed his brows and looked at Alex, the next to speak. ”Whoa, whoa, whoa! What? Alex, we need to get everyone together first! We never separate! You know this!” Alex looked at him and locked eye contact, ”Look, under any normal circumstances I’m with you. But if the success of their mission determines whether or not scores of innocent people starve or live, we have to move forward with the mission. Vanessa and Tony will be okay. If anything they’re on their way to us right now, or are maybe looking for the other half of their team. We don’t know, but we can’t waste time trying to find out. You know what happens at night fall, especially if Grievers are potentially involved. “ Chase sighed and turned away, walking off a few feet and muttering to himself under his breath. But, Alex was right.
Alex turned back to Oswald and Cobalt, ”Again, as I mentioned earlier we don’t have any good contact or communication with Vanessa and Tony. But we can’t worry about that right now. Do any of you have an idea as to where the nest may be? We’ll try there first.”
Frowning as the pair before them spoke, Oswald simply waited until he found an opportune moment to speak. “Emerald and I found a cave that was being used as their nest. At the cost of her entire supply of Aura, Emerald destroyed the mouth of the cave, and presumably trapped or killed the Grimm inside. We were coming back when she was wounded, likely by a Griever. Diamond went with her to retrieve medical supplies while the two of us looked for you. I take it...the crash didn’t end very well.” It wasn’t a question. Oswald could feel the death in the air, the loss that the two in front of them had suffered.
Cobalt looked at the two and his eyes widened a fraction. He hadn't even realized until Oswald had said something, but there definitely was an atmosphere of… “I'm sorry to hear about the rest of the team. Are you guys going to be okay?” Cobalt asked as he finally lowered his gun and relaxed slightly. He then looked at Oswald. “We should probably go find Diamond and Emerald now. They're right, we need to regroup ASAP.”
“The flare up in the sky would suggest that, as well.” His eyes narrowing, Oswald’s shield disappeared behind his back as he took off in a sprint towards the flare hanging in the sky, signalling Diamond’s call assistance.
Cobalt turned to the flare and his mind began racing. He followed after Oswald in a sprint of his own and quickly looked back at Chase and Alex. “Follow us if you feel like you can contribute! Otherwise, rest up and prepare for the coming shit storm!” He shouted as he ran off with Oswald. ’Please let us get there in time…’
Alex was going to question if they had confirmed any bodies. He was going to question them as to why they thought it was a good idea for them to separate when he was certain Esther was good about telling them not to. Both he and Chase were going to ignore their questions as to their well-being because they were beyond used to it at this point in their lives. Alex was going to ask if Cobalt was stupid because regrouping was not what he was trying to suggest, but all of that went out the window when another suspicious flare was shot into the sky a few miles away and the two boys decided to run off.
”Great.” They both thought. They both called out to Cobalt and Oswald to stop and return. ”Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” ”Hey, we didn’t say you fuckheads should run off to go find your friends!” ”Get your dumb asses back here!
But of course, as fate would have it Alex and Chase wouldn’t be able to take but a few steps to run after the two Huntsmen before something flew from within the treelines and slammed into Alex’s chest. Sending his body flying through a few trees before the object retracted on the chain it was attached to to knock the living daylights out of Chase. Quite literally knocking him straight into the air before having him land against a nearby section of the shot down airship.
“GOD DAMMIT!” Skidding to a halt at whatever crashed into Chase, Oswald turned and looked around before teleporting next to Cobalt to get closer, then appearing a few feet away from Chase. “What the hell was that…?” Oswald asked as he bent down to help the armored soldier up.
Cobalt stopped as well and turned around. He rushed over to Chase, somewhat startled by Oswald’s sudden teleportation next to him and then away, and began looking around for the unknown object. “I think I saw a chain.”
“A chain, huh? Points to a trap. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but something tells me the Grimm were just an excuse to get us out here, alone and without backup.” Oswald scowled angrily, the tendrils of darkness once more covering his body, slowly worming their way over to Chase where the two were connected.
Not far from the boys, the sounds of chains clinking and clicking were heard. After a brief stillness, a shadowy figure shot out from the treelines and straight at Oswald. With a massive tombstone/epitaph warhammer in its hands, it reared back for a powerful crushing blow. Fully intent on plastering the Huntsmen into the dirt as it made an overhead vertical swing.
”More! Feed us! Make Us Whole again, heretics! Your bones shall be the tinder for the fires of resurrection!”
The figure hissed out as it swung downward with its gargantuan warhammer.
Well. Fuck. Oswald didn’t have much time to react- not long enough to arm himself, for sure. With Chase next to him and this...creature...coming straight for him, Oswald knew he only had one way to win this: raw power.
Lifting his arms, Oswald stepped forward, aiming to grab the hammer during its descent. With as much time as he had, he summoned his willpower, causing the shadowy tendrils to surround his arms as he met the attack head-on, as only he would. Between the power of his sizeable, unrelenting soul, his gauntlets and his impressive physical state, Oswald was sure he could stop this plow from hurting Chase- as for himself, he’d live long enough to give back more than he got.
Cobalt turned towards the massive… thing, and time slowed again. He was beginning to get a headache from using his Semblance so much, but that didn't matter now. Cobalt saw Oswald try and grab the giant warhammer and so he in turn decided to try and weaken the warhammer. Cobalt pulled his gun up and began firing at the massive thing's arms in an attempt to weaken its grip. Hopefully Oswald could disarm the thing, then we could go from there. Time resumed its normal flow and Cobalt got a massive headache.
The creature didn’t expect the foolish Huntsman to take its attack head on, disappointed that some power was cut. It could only hope it did a significant amount of damage before the other Huntsmen blasted its arms. Letting go of its weapon temporarily, at the last second it regained its grip on the handle and distanced itself from the group, jumping away and hunching over to nurse its new wounds. Huddled next to its massive hammer, it appeared to some feathered creature. A pile of fur and feathers in some odd inhumanly mound. Sticking its arms out, the creature’s red eyes examined itself as wisps of smoke curled and danced off the areas it was shot at. It was seemingly unharmed. Slowly standing, it revealed its antlered head with its bone-white skull mask and glowing red eyes. Grabbing at its weapon, it remained still. Watching the Huntsmen from the corner of its eyes.
Forced to a knee as the blow connected, Oswald smirked as the creature retreated, standing up himself. Still watching his opponent, he drew his sword and shield with haste. “Get your friend out of here. Cobalt, try to keep up.”
Seventy to eighty feet. That was how far it had gone. That meant Oswald only needed to move thirty, tops. Good. The fact that the Grimm had spoken hadn’t even registered at this point, Oswald was too focused on killing it. As he rushed forward, Oswald kept an eye on the creature, ready to react.
Once he closed the gap to being around fifty feet, Oswald focused on the Grimm, suddenly vanishing from view. Instantly, he appeared to the side of the creature, sword lashing out towards its form.
The creature squared up with Oswald the moment he started his charge, bracing itself to counter whatever he had to throw at it. But, when he vanished it certainly threw it for a surprise. At the last second, it turned its head just in time to the side to see Oswald swing his sword and raised its arm to take the hit. Clashing with the blackened claw gauntlet, the creature hardly budged. Its ‘feet’ digging into the ground slightly from the strength of Oswald’s attack. Breathing out a single heavy breath, as if it relished combat, the creature quietly hissed out a few words for him to hear. Face to face, it was clear what it was saying was truly important, that Oswald had to understand.
”Heed our words, heretic. In Death we are One. In Death we are Whole. You shall make us Whole, again!”
With its other hand, it grabbed at its warhammer as the head clicked and split apart. Releasing the shaft of the weapon to be used as a pole weapon to attempt a strike at Oswald’s head.
What the fuck?! Why is a fucking Grimm TALKING?! Taken aback by the unexpected revelation that this Grimm could speak, Oswald jumped back and raised his shield. “What the hell are you?”
Cobalt stared at Grimm when he finally processed the fact that it was talking. He was stunned by this revelation, not stunned enough to drop his guard though. As Oswald kept it’s attention, he moved to flank the Grimm from behind and began firing once more. ’This mission has officially shattered everything I know about Grimm. I hate my job sometimes.’ He bemoaned mentally as he shot at the Grimm’s legs, attempting to slow it down.
A big batch of icons that should finish off the rest of the characters! This includes CODE, VGNB, the Seniors, along with a fixed Sapphire and a Lucas Package! If there's anything weird lemme know!
CODE
UNIMPORTANT SHIT WAS HERE BUT TOOK UP TOO MUCH SPACE GET REKT PEOPLE
On another, less tense topic, contest reviews and results should be up in the next hour or so depending on how quickly I am able to summarize my notes. Cheers, you've all submitted a great entry.
You are a scoundrel and a liar, nothing I write can be considered 'great.'
Yankee,
TruthHurts,
princess,
Plank Sinatra,
flat lovenote,
abc
