*Flip*
William flipped a coin in his hand while his scroll buzzed with notifications. He had been getting them nonstop the entire day. Ever since that stream, he had found himself in deep trouble. As for why? It was evident. Those who saw the stream saw Ryuko and her crew mopping up the Atlesians before more joined in, reinforced by a Grimm.
*Click*
"Hello William~." Carmilla's silky voice answered as the call finally went through. He had no doubt she was enjoying seeing him squirm like this.
"Carmilla.." William growled, his fist clenching around the coin he was flipping, reducing it to bent scrap metal.
"Now now~ Is taking that tone with me really what you want to do in your situation?" Carmilla casually replied, silencing William.
"After all~ I'm the only friend you have left, William. Your bribed police contacts? Bailed. Your collaborator Councilman? Won't return your messages. Your dear Uncle? Breathing down your neck. If only you prioritized that 'random civilian' huh? I thought you were smarter than that."
*SLAM!*
"DON'T YOU DARE BLAME ME FOR THAT!" William shouted in fury, his teeth gnashed.
"If you hadn't pushed your fucking Grimm onto me.. If MERCURY had-" "William." Carmilla's voice was frigid, instantly cooling William's fury by several magnitudes.
"You ordered Mercury not to bother. You didn't exactly object to having some extra muscle when it came to killing Ryuko and her associates. Be honest here. This? It's all on you. You were too greedy to secure what your family never could. So eager to impress your dear Uncle that you took the risk. Your gamble failed and you and your people have been branded as enemies of mankind." Carmilla informed, seeming to delight in putting William in his place.
"But now that you've come this far, why not go all the way? The Kingdoms do not tolerate those who work alongside Grimm. And those who work with us Demigods? It's even worse for you. They won't stop pursuing you until you're dead, William. So come on.. ask me. I might consider it if you're nice about it." Carmilla teased.
William gripped the edge of his desk and nearly threw his scroll to the floor. But deep down, he knew she was right. There was very little support for him now. If he wanted to take over Vale, he'd need to contend with the criminal families and the Huntsmen coming for him. He'd have no reinforcements, no supplies to send from Atlas, nothing. Even keeping his men from deserting was a challenge.
He needed to solidify his power in Vale, fast. To kill off the criminal families here and destroy the Huntsmen teams coming for his head.
And the only way to do that, it seemed, was to shake hands with the mortal enemy of Human and Faunuskind. Otherwise? He might as well just kill himself now or flee to Vacuo.
"...Very well." William said after a long pause.
"I didn't hear you properly. What kind of begging is that? Let me remind you. You need me, not the other way around. So go on.. beg me to save you." Carmilla demanded, her cruel amusement evident in her voice.
She almost seemed aroused, even.
William grit his teeth so hard they chipped. His aura pulsing as it fixed the minor damage.
*Bang!*
"Boss! The Huntsmen! They found us!" One of his lieutenants ran into his office, slamming the door open.
William's gloved hand clenched, the dust dial within his glove changing to dark purple as the lieutenant was slammed into the floor via gravity Dust.
"Who?" William asked, his eyes conveying his rage.
"Gh...-The Branwen...! And two others!" The lieutenant answered despite the pain of having his body crushed into the floor.
"Ah~? Did he say Branwen? Oh how fortunate, William!" Carmilla spoke through his scroll's speaker, her voice syrupy sweet.
"..Lucky, you said? Wait.." William paused.
"Yes. Just the girl I'm interested in. We'll save the groveling for later. I'm bringing Mercury, Baldur and myself to this little party. I'll be coming in my 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔰𝔲𝔦𝔱.." Carmilla answered, her voice taking on an inhuman quality at the end before she hung up.
William sighed and released his lieutenant as he stood up.
"Deploy the mechs. Use everything. This place is going to become a warzone soon." William ordered, watching his lieutenant nod and quickly move out.
His underground complex, renovated in secret for over five years from a failed train station came alive with a loud alarm that made it clear they were under attack. William silently cursed, wondering how exactly he had been found. The Huntsmen often had strange methods they used when tracking priority targets down, so he wasn't too surprised. They may have found the place while it was still under construction a year or two back.
*BOOOOM!!*
The ground shook and the converted train station came alive with gunfire and explosions.
-Noire Arc-
Noire was one of the most perceptive Huntresses on Remnant. It was why her weapon was a sniper rifle. She had to admit, she was happy to get such an important mission. Taking out traitors? She was all too eager to do so.
She was even excited when Qrow Branwen himself was working with her. But then he brought his nieces along on a supposedly serious mission. She met the sisters back when they stayed in Domremy not too long ago. To her, they seemed capable enough as students but as elite Huntresses? She had her reservations.
*BOOOOM!!*
Reservations which were blown away after seeing Yin and Yang blow straight through a large, reinforced steel wall below with colorful blue and golden flames.
She had taken to a platform sitting above much of the station with her scope trained on the now smoking and pulverized steel door. As soon as the door was blown apart, the gunfire began.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Noire's rifle held steady as she shot two grunts with some kind of hardlight Dust melee weaponry who charged through the breached door, then shot the head of a gangster with aura who was wielding two mechashift sabers.
The shot took him down before Qrow strolled past him, his bad luck Semblanxe ensuring a piece of heavy concrete fell and crushed the gangster's head. As for Yin and Yang? Noire could see them both demolishing an entire battalion's worth of Atlesians. Two had gotten into mechs, which the twins were dealing with.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
And four more kills denied more Atlesians from getting into four more Mechs. Noire leapt off the platform after it had come under fire, ducking the swing of a polearm's blade coming at her as soon as she landed.
"Get in the fucking MECHS! I'll-" The man swinging at her barked orders, but before he could finish, Noire mechashifted her rifle into two short spears and thrust the tips into his open jaw before pulling the triggers and blowing his head off and scaring the shit out of the gangsters nearby.
Before they could regain their composure, she dashed forth and cut them down before getting into cover and reloading.
"Mister Branwen." Noire called out to Qrow, who was ripping out the lightning Dust batteries from the nearby inactive Mechs.
"Just call me Qrow, kid." Qrow replied, backhanding a gangster with aura, easily taking on three of them at once while talking to her.
"Qrow. There should be more here. By my count, there's about three hundred combatants here. Only about fifteen possess some manner of passable skill and aura. This is their main stronghold. I was under the assumption they had at least five hundred men here and stationed five hundred more in nearby hideouts." Noir said, shooting the kneecap of one unlucky gangster fighting Qrow with a twinblade.
*FSSSH!*
"Ghhk..."
An opportunity Qrow took to shatter the goon's aura and cut his throat with Harbinger before moving onto the other two.
"We aren't the only ones here. Yin's got backup of her own. That rabbit Faunus girlfriend and that kid with the illusions. She called 'em in while Yang was talking to you." Qrow replied, parrying, slashing and shooting the two goons attacking him like he was juggling them both.
*BANG!*
"I suppose I was wrong. Those two are the real monsters here." Noir muttered as she hoisted the rifle on her shoulder and shot the head of the goon trying to sneak up on her.
Seeing Yin and Yang open up a mech with just their hands, Qrow had to agree.
*Whoooosh!*
Feeling a sudden chilling wind, Qrow quickly moved back as a large area was frozen into a sharp mass of ice.
"Tch.. Good reflexes." William's voice echoed out, near a particularly large train tunnel.
One that was supposed to connect with the Mountain Glenn settlement. It had never been properly finished, thanks to the Lupine Mythic Class Grimm who brought the burgeoning town to ruin in one night.
He stood there, next to a huge advanced mech designed to resemble a Manticore Grimm. Its serpent tail controlled by a second pilot, while it's main body was controlled by the first.
William initially was confident. After all, it was just one Huntsman team. Qrow and Yin were capable enough to take care of the Executor gang singlehandedly but so what? He had more men and better equipment here.
Then he saw how efficient they were in killing his men and dismantling the mechs. Loathe as he was to admit, he needed Carmilla's help. Even more so given his hideout was facing two more simultaneous attacks that just so happened to seal all avenues of escape. The Branwen team, the absurdly strong rabbit Faunus girl's team and Ryuko's team were all attacking him at once.
Even with his best mech and pilots here, he wasn't sure he'd make it out alive.
*BANG!*
His attack on Qrow hadn't gone unnoticed. Noire had immediately opened fire on him, forcing him to create hardlight Dust barriers with his Dust gloves to block the gunfire. He had a plan to draw the two absurdly powerful twins in and deal with the sniper and Qrow with the help of his mech. Then, after he killed them, he'd secure an exit and get out of Vale and make new plans.
"Hey sis, is that the guy? Kinda looks like a twink, doesn't he?" Yang's voice snapped William out of his thoughts.
The sisters were walking toward him, one punching her yellow gauntleted fists together while the other sheathed her katana and rolled her sleeves up, showing off her compact yet muscular arms.
"Yup. Looks like he's thinking of a way to get outta here too. What's the matter, Gele? Wasn't expecting company? It's kinda rude trying to freeze an old man like that." Yin called out, her voice oozing mockery.
"Damn.. catching strays over here." Though he complained, Qrow laughed, seeing William's barely concealed frown.
William leapt onto the mech's shoulder and stretched out his hand, creating an ice block over twenty meters in diameter before the Manticore mech's tail snapped out like a whip and struck it, sending huge ice shards at them that battered the walls and floor like buckshot. Qrow and Noire were forced into cover but both sisters moved straight ahead, both hands opening as a blue and yellow fireball shot through the hail of dense ice shards flying at them.
*BOOOOM!!*
The fireball smashed into the hardlight wall William erected in front of him and the mech, breaking through three layers and forcing both him and the metal beast back into the tunnel. William's pristine white suit and fur collar overcoat was singed along with his black and white hair, frazzled and steaming.
"Go!" William slammed his hand against the mech's head, prompting the pilots to get up and make it run into the tunnel while more and more gangsters flooded the station, armed to the teeth.
"Crap.. Firecrackers! Go get him. This'll end when he bites it." Qrow grunted, stepping out of cover to face the incoming wave with Noire.
Yang and Yin looked at each other for a moment before nodding and sprinting down the tunnel.
"How much you wanna bet there's a trap?" Yang asked playfully, keeping up with her twin.
Yin rolled her eyes, "The way he positioned himself with that exit? Of course there's a trap. Then that flood of goons? It's clear he wants us."
After thirty seconds of chasing William, they ended up within a large round room where trains were rotated on a platform and stored. William and the mech backed up as two figured stepped out of the darkness of the tunnel that led toward the supposedly unfinished Mountain Glenn tunnel.
One the bipedal wolf Grimm Yin already knew was Baldur. The other was something she'd only faced once. A Grimm in the form of a three meter tall woman in a black and white armored dress. Her face obscured by a white mask that resembled the face of a beautiful woman, while her long, blood red hair flowed down her back like liquid fire.
*Clap-Clap*
"Good job, William. Only.. it seems there's an extra here. Baldur, try your best. I'll kill the pretty blonde~" The female Grimm ordered, stepping forward gracefully while Baldur practically salivated at the thought of skewering Yin.
"Yang. That one's a Mythic." Yin warned, sending her sister a glance out of concern.
"Yeah, I got it. I can feel how strong that one is.. Nothing held back." Yang answered, raising her right arm as her golden bracelet lit up the tunnel.
When the light vanished, even Yin was stunned. Yang confidently strut toward the Mythic Grimm, confidently clad in the Witchblade's golden armor.
As for Yin? All she could think was:
'Holy shit.. how am I supposed to focus on the fight with all that in front of me?'