Wrapped in biting wind
Hearts will never bleed
Frozen and banished
Out of grief
In their restless dreams
They try so hard to breathe
Pulses flutter and sting
Within this bleakness
[ X ]
This was the worst day of her life.
Until she had stepped off the rail, it had been a typical day so far. She had been running late from her daily commute at Starhead Industries for clerical office work. Her boss wouldn't be pleased, but he always seemed disappointed with her performance in general. Or with her life choices for dating a Faunus...
None of that mattered as mere minutes after stepping off the airbus and out of the station. The Atlesian Knights were behaving unusually... No, erratically. It was as if they were... Malfunctioning...
As someone who worked in a tech company, she noticed something peculiar since her company attempted to compete with SDC for Atlas Military contracts. She had seen enough technical glitches to notice a potential issue was occurring with the patrolling mechs. Even if it would make her later than she already was, it was his civil duty to report the problem, so she searched for the nearest Atlesian official.
She was too late.
This wasn't a simple glitch in their operating systems. They began to fire upon civilians without cause. A failure in the OS shouldn't cause that, especially with all the safety protocols in place.
Someone had gained access to the network and turned the Knights against the citizens of Atlas.
All she could do was run. Even as the few officials in the vicinity responded and were quickly overrun by the sheer force and emotionless intent of the Knights, she knew escape was the only option. With their sensors, hiding wasn't an option.
Gasping as a stray shot grazed her thigh, she tripped and skipped face-first into the cold cement. Her cry was muffled as she desperately clawed to get back to her feet, her leg burning in agony. She had to keep moving. If she didn't...
It would be all over!
"Rasengan!"
Her eyes flickered, and she flinched at the echoing sound of rupturing metal resonated behind her. Did someone use a bomb?
"What is happening? Why are all the Knights attacking?" The sound of a young woman's voice cried out as clashes and clicks of metal echoed behind her.
"Does it matter?" A male voice responded. "Let's get everyone out of here first and ask questions second! Split up to cover more ground! Everyone can take care of these things, right?"
"Little issue." A hushed feminine voice whispered.
"These buckets of bolts are my bread and butter. Disposed of many in the past. This is nothing new. Knew these things would eventually go haywire." Another feminine voice hissed venomously.
Her heart raced as she stopped scrambling to get to her feet, listening to these voices. Were these four... Huntsman and Huntresses? Were they already rescued?
"Yeah, unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as Ilia." She turned to see a young Faunus lady respond, crossing her arms and scowling, examining the area. "Still, we should search for clues while we..."
"It's a hack!" She exclaimed, informing them what she knew, desperately trying to stand on the leg grazed with a bolt before falling back down. The young man jumped to her side so quickly that it startled her momentarily. But with panted breath, she kept speaking. "I work with Starhead Industries. I may only be a secretary, but I know a tech malfunction and a hack when they happen!"
"The Knights are being hacked!"
[ X ]
Why did this have to happen today of all days?
It was so rare for her to have a moment of peace and leave the mansion on her terms. She had to give a detailed report of precisely what she was doing and when and where... She was so thankful Klien was covering for her today and shopping in her stead.
She only wanted to visit with her sister and have lunch with her. It was rare for her to see Winter on their terms. It made it difficult to do what they wanted to do... Or train properly. Sure, there was plenty of space in the manor, but there were so many more effective spaces to do it in Atlas...
So why was it her luck that an incident had to occur the day she planned on meeting her sister?
Someone hacked the Atlesian Knights and attacked the citizens of the city. That was problematic enough, but she could handle herself. Her father may have disapproved of it, but she carried her sword, Myrtenaster, with her any time she traveled outside the manor. She was training to be a Huntress, something he also equally frowned upon.
He already had a strained relationship with Winter due to her joining the military. The idea of another daughter following the same path and disobeying the path he set for them...
Weiss Schnee scoffed as her sword sliced through an Atlesian Knight. She wasn't some delicate maiden. She was a Schnee. Their bloodline was filled with warriors. It was how they made their name and how they came into possession of the mine... Well before her father became the patriarch of their family.
Still, this situation was problematic. What happened to cause the Knights to attack the civilians randomly? Did someone launch a cyber attack against them? Weiss frowned. Atlas had the most sophisticated tech division in all of Remnant. Wouldn't an attack like that have been quickly resolved? Unless... It was someone with intimate knowledge of the inner workings and someone highly skilled...
She shook her head. There was no time to think about this. She was the first on the scene. No Huntsman or Huntress was in sight, or the military presence was scarce here. Most of it had been replaced with Knights, and the few soldiers and police officers here were pinned down or injured. She needed to get to them to...
"What?!" Her eyes flickered as a black blur dashed through the Knights, pinning the soldiers and officers down. The Knights were dismembered and fell apart effortlessly as a Faunus girl holding dual swords scowled at the situation.
"You've got to be kidding me! Why hasn't the Altesian tech division regained control yet?" She hissed while Weiss narrowed her eyes at her. She was very familiar. Why was she... Her eyes slitted. She was the one that seemingly agitated Winter at the opera house with the blonde guy the other day?
She repressed a snarl. Whatever. Given the circumstances, she would take the help if she was capable.
"I don't know." Weiss strolled hesitantly next to the Faunus girl. She didn't have the most incredible relationship with Faunus and knew there could be issues given who she was... "By all means, they should have. We have the best tech division in the world... Regaining control should be easy... Nonetheless, we need to evacuate the area as quickly as possible."
"What do you think I'm out here doing?!" The Faunus hissed as her gaze fell onto her, causing her to stumble at the venom in her tone as their eyes met. What was that for? Her features softened as the Faunus took a breath and shook her head, her eyes scanning the area. "Apologies... That was uncalled for. We're doing the same thing."
"Yes, it was." Weiss frowned. She understood the dislike... But it wasn't like it was her fault. After all, she had just as much of a reason to distrust her. If she was one of them...
She scrunched her brow. They were already evacuating the area? Wouldn't that mean... "Excuse me... Are you... And your friend Huntsman?"
"No." The Faunus shook her head. "I was just accepted into Beacon, so I am only a Huntress-in-training."
Weiss' eyes widened. This Faunus girl was accepted into Beacon as well? What were the odds of that?! No... Seriously, what were the odds?!
Suddenly, her ears flattened on the top of her head, and Weiss stumbled as an explosion nearby ripped through the streets. Blake hissed, and Weiss narrowed her eyes. "What was that? What could have caused that?"
"Don't know... Enough talk." She hissed, and without further discussion, she dashed forward. Toward the explosion.
"What are you doing?!" Weiss wailed, seeing the Faunus girl run directly at the explosion. Neither of them was adequately prepared for such an event. If what she said was true, they were about to be students! This was beyond them!
Yes, they were training for such situations and to fight Grimm... But there was an entire military here in Atlas. They would be here soon enough to handle the situation with Huntsman and Huntresses of their own...
But what if they weren't?
"Ugh!" Weiss groaned, darting behind the Faunus girl to see if she could help. The girl glared back at her. Weiss scowled. "Don't think you can leave me behind! If people are in danger and the military isn't here yet..."
"I can't just sit back and let something bad happen!"
[ X ]
He hated being right. That lousy feeling had turned horrendous.
People were injured left and right on the streets. The hunks of metal meant to protect everyone on the roads had turned against everyone and were shooting them. It was straight up out of those sci-fi movies! Master could have written something like this!
Naruto scowled. Getting rid of them and healing them was only half the problem. His clones and splitting everyone up was enough to take care of them. They weren't much of a threat to any of them. Blake, Ilia, and Neo could all handle the scrap. It allowed him to focus on using Yin-Yang release on those injured while the problem was being corralled.
But now everything just became worse. He couldn't sense the stupid things as they didn't have souls, so he relied solely on his other senses. Not a problem... But when an explosion caught his two new allies in it... It was a problem!
And in the middle of it...
"Penny?!" Naruto exclaimed, seeing Penny standing in the middle of the fire and Ilia panting behind Neo, holding out her parcel, using it as a shield from the explosion.
How it tanked an explosion was something beyond him... That fabric was tough! He was gonna have to ask her about it later...
Something was as he took in the circumstance. The way the girl moved was robotic. The turn of her head caused him to shiver. It was like she broke her neck! And the glint of her eyes... Why were they red?
Kid, focus! I think she's like the scrap heaps! Hacked, just like the rest of them!
"What?!" Naruto bit his tongue before his eyes widened at what he was witnessing. It was like Penny's back exploded open, and swords flew out of it and hung momentarily around her, much like his Truth-Seeking Balls.
And, like them, the blades shot toward him with blurring speed. Side-stepping them, noticing the strings connecting each of them, he severed them with a slice of a kunai. His intent focused back onto Penny, who was now rushing toward him.
He knew she was a strange girl before, but to think she was a robot like them? He knew he struggled to sense her without focusing on her presence, and he couldn't feel the Knights, but to think she was... Are you sure, Kurama?
Given the circumstances, I'm pretty sure about that. Given what we know so far and the odd sensation she puts off... Not to mention, is this in her character?
Well, I don't want to say it is, but... Naruto grimaced, weaving out of Penny's hand-to-hand attacks. They were relatively basic, and for him, they were easy to maneuver around. He simply maneuvered away from the wreckage, carefully gauging her actions. Her movements.
Observing how stiff they were. How robotic... She wasn't moving anything like he thought she would. Even her standard movements felt... Wrong.
It was almost as if someone else was controlling her body and directing it to what she wanted to do as if she were a puppet. Yet he saw no strings but in this world... That wasn't necessary if she was indeed like the Knights...
"Penny, what are you doing?!" Naruto heard Blake's voice. His attention shifted slightly to see she arrived with the opera singer from the other day, looking bewildered. He then noted her eyes turned as the sound of live rounds echoed in the distance, hearing their whistling through the air. "Naruto! Watch out..."
"I am more than aware!" Naruto deflected the gunfire with his kunai as more Knights approached the area. They were scattered into parts in a motion blur as he stood behind them, firmly annoyed. "Give me a second, would ya! Something's wrong with her!"
"What is there to think about?" Ilia snapped at him, her eyes widening as Penny chanted targets, and two more blades popped out of her back, targeting Blake and the girl she knew was a Schnee. "She's attacking you! She attacked us! What more is there? She's clearly involved in this incident!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she's at fault!" Naruto snapped back, landing beside Ilia and Neo, allowing Blake and Weiss to handle themselves, his eyes turning gold as he placed his hand on Neo's shoulder. "She's just like the others, so we should try and disable her. And maybe if she recovers, we can figure out what happened, ya know?"
Ilia scowled as Neo nodded and looked grateful, feeling a familiar presence washing over her body. She approved of the logic. After seeing this... She did want to know what happened. Just for curiosity's sake. If that woman was involved...
Was a collision course in order?
After two quick deflects with Gambol Shroud, Blake went on the offense as Weiss flashed Myrtenaster at Penny's midsection to force her back. Penny backpedaled after each swing. But she quickly lost ground at Blake's superior speed until two more blades popped from her back section. They shot back, embedded high into a building behind her, and with a ratcheting sound, she vaulted away from Blake before her next swing.
"Okay, what?" Blake was genuinely surprised at the maneuver at first. However, that shock lasted only a quick second. It was much like how she would escape with Shadow...
And two could play it that way.
Her body melted into shadows as she burst forward, bouncing off her duplicate, and straight for Penny latched onto the building, Gambol Shroud drawn to strike and quickly end the encounter. "Don't think you can get away..."
Her eyes flickered. Penny almost had a cruel smirk on her face. Her two free blades were aimed precisely and shot forward directly to where she had bounced off her shadow. Using shadow twice in succession was possible, however... It was almost as if she anticipated this kind of attack and was forcing her to play into her hand...
Only for what seemed to be a seal of white ice formed before her, intercepting the blades and allowing them to clatter uselessly against them. Meanwhile, she flipped a full one-eighty degrees, pushed herself off, landed on the street, and stared back up at Penny.
"You shouldn't brazenly attack someone so straightforwardly when you don't know what they are capable of." Weiss arrogantly flipped her ponytail as she stepped beside Blake, holding her saber toward Penny. "And we have her outnumbered. Don't go in alone without a plan. Hey, you!"
"Yeah!" Naruto, taking his hand from Ilia, a light glow shimmering around her as she looked far more rejuvenated, yet bizarrely staring at him, glanced over at Weiss.
"You said you wanted to disable her! Do you have a plan for that?!"
"My plans are always on the fly!" Naruto chirped, causing Weiss to stutter in place, and then he shot him in a shaded glare. He only smirked as he strolled over, intently focusing on Penny. "It's better that way, honestly. Most people who like to think about their plans... Don't expect what I'm about to do."
Awkwardly gapping at Naruto, gobstopped, Weiss blanked several times. She could hardly fathom this guy, and her face vividly expressed that as she screwed her nose and glared at him. "Of all the things... Ugh, amateurs! All of you!"
"Nope! I've done this many times before!" Naruto grinned, cocking his fist, his eyes gleaming, causing Weiss to stumble once more and Ilia to glare a hole in the back of his head after throwing a nasty snarl at Weiss. "This isn't anything new for me!"
"So let's go wild!"
[ X ]
The only warmth remains
In hands clasped so tight
The only fire exists
In brave hearts
Seasons that refuse
To change over the years
Will find their way back
Back on track