43 Temple Turmoil - III

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The command deck of Ironwood's personal ship was an expected, but no less impressive, display of stark engineering in silver and white. Several rows of blocky consoles lined it, and Jaune knew exactly what each of them were. Radar, ladar, radio communications at the front, engine control, several monitoring squites. Back and the day, she'd had the chance to play hell with more than a few-

He pinched himself until he was back under his own power and sighed, shaking his head.

"More aftershocks?" Ironwood asked lowly, standing beside him at the front of the room and watching him warily.

"Mhm." He nodded and sighed, and forced himself to turn to look out the wide, curving window that made up the fore of the deck. "A small one, already passed. Being in familiar places might be bad for me, right now…"

"And which of the three are familiar with the inside of an Atlesian capital warship, exactly?" Ironwood murmured and then raised a hand and sighed, "Forget I asked, I... Probably don't want to know."

"No." He sighed, rubbing the spot on his arm he'd pinched to bruising. "You don't."

"Hmph…" Ironwood sighed and gestured at the viewing window with his gloved hand. "We'll be there in a moment. Grimm are thinner around the area than anticipated, but I've ordered the bombing and strafing campaign ahead of us regardless."

"And I suppose I'm not here to watch…"

"Actually, I thought you would enjoy the display." Ironwood chuckled darkly, or something approaching it at least, "After what you did to the Vault, I mean."

"You disapprove?"

"On the contrary, actually." Ironwood shook his head, turning and pointing out one of the massive, multi-barreled cannons on the 'wings' of the ship. "Atlas has an… Old kind of respect for shock and awe tactics, Arc. Artillery was old Mantle's art der eroberung. Bombard, suppress, advance under fire. An effective doctrine."

"I suppose…"

"Regardless, no, that isn't actually why I asked you to be here." Ironwood sighed wearily, his face almost… Flattening, in a way, as he turned back to business. "I want you to… Do what you do. Sense, or however you phrase it. Make sure nothing untoward is coming."

"I'm not exactly in the best shape…" Ironwood only turned a glare on him, one demanding obedience, and Jaune sighed wearily. "But fine. I'll do what I can. But so you're aware, even if I do sense something stirring in the Force, it will be up to you and your forces to deal with it."

"All I ask of any soldier is the best they can do." Ironwood nodded in what Jaune was certain was meant to be a reassuring gesture. It fell short, though, when Jaune realized Ironwood was lumping him in with his soldiers. Turning back to the wide window, Ironwood said, "Once you give the clear on your own, special end, I'll send my wings in."

He wasn't exactly sure what Ironwood was expecting, but then again, he supposed the man just wanted to be sure. Or as sure as possible, at any rate…

With a tired sigh, Jaune closed his eyes and let his head hang back, mind opening up to the tempest around him as readily as ever. The first thing she felt were the soldiers around him, all buzzing with anxiety, fear and tension held back by chains of experience, discipline and expectation. Like a thousand little rain-storms, all held back somehow by something, but thundering nonetheless. An interesting, but old, contradiction he'd felt from more than a few people ever since he'd started dealing with Atlas. Expanding beyond them, he felt yet more soldiers, all tied tempests of anxiety and duty. Duty caused the anxiety but restrained it, too, in a paradox that made his head throb.

He hated being so open near soldiers...

Beyond even that, though, he sensed… Nothing, really, except the throbbing in his head and an undercurrent of wrong that had been there since he'd woken up. It made sense, as high as they were and as fast as they were moving, that he couldn't sense anything. What could even survive up there after all? Birds, maybe, but they wouldn't want to get near a roaring Atlesian battleship.

He could only sense three strange things across the ship… One of them was dark, malignant and angry and nestled in the warship's belly. It was surrounded by what he knew were guards from their easily recognized sensations. Taurus, probably, he supposed as he moved on. The other two were bright and warm to the proverbial touch, one of them in a familiar way.

"Ruby…" And the other strange person with her, echoing bright warmth and a certain strange… Something, old and cold, had to be, "And her new friend. Back towards the rear of the ship and down, near the belly."

"Penny is checking her systems before we deploy." Ironwood answered, "Engineering is down there. Impressive, Arc. Very impressive."

"THank you, Sir, but… I don't sense anything." He finally reported as his eyes opened, looking down on the rolling hills of forests and, drawing closer, the mountain that hid the Archive under its great form. Quietly, he added, "We're too high up for me to reach the forest, though, General. I'd only be able to feel the kinds of things that we'd already know were there."

"That's foreboding…" Ironwood murmured, "And less than I'd hoped… But I suppose you can at least rule out any saboteurs?"

"I felt someone dark and malignant in the ship, but…"

"Taurus." Ironwood nodded, "I didn't trust anywhere else to hold him, so he's locked in the brig under heavy guard."

"Yeah." That sounded like what he'd sensed, at least. A prisoner and his guards. "Then no, I didn't feel anyone threatening. Or, well, not threatening towards you, at least."

"Good enough." Ironwood nodded and turned, ordering over his shoulder, "Commence final reconnaissance and preparatory bombing routines, on my order!"

"Yes, Sir!" An officer at the back of the deck called, "Scout wings moving now. Ground attack craft half-paced behind them!"

As if they'd been hovering just out of sight, a quartet of small, Bullhead-like air-ships suddenly rocketed ahead of the great battleship. They shot forward until they looked barely as big as his thumb and then swept down suddenly in tight, coordinated circles that came so close at times Jaune was surprised they didn't slam into each other and fall, burning, to the ground so far below. They didn't, though, and once they were about a hundred feet above the distant mountain they curved back up and out to the side, circling like busy, zipping little bees.

"Sir." Another officer called from the back of the room, her voice sharp and clear, "Scout vessels detecting minimal Grimm activity. No direction, unlike prior reports."

"No direction…" He growled, and then shook his head. Raising his voice he said, "Whatever was directing the Grimm may still be there, regardless. Send the suppression craft."

"Yes, General."

The 'suppression craft' were heavy, block craft twice the size of a normal Bullhead that lumbered along on four heavy engines set into as many long, wide wings. Each engine was as wide as Jaune's arms could reach out to either side, and a head taller than his head. The turbines tilted further forward as the heavy craft accelerated and, if not for the windows, Jaune was sure he'd have felt their heavy engines' roars in his bones. On the tops of each of the four were round, glass-fronted and metal reinforced ball turrets with quad-guns that could cover every direction. On the bottom were two more, set to either side of wide, armored, reinforced bay doors.

They listed forward slowly and then descended evenly, so unlike their lighter counter-parts, until they were at the same altitude as the scout-craft. He couldn't hear it, but he could see the Grimm reacting as the bombs began to fall on the entrance to the Archive Temple, and the already decimated forest around it. Nevermore, and other, smaller airborne Grimm he couldn't pick out from so far away, swarmed up out of the trees in reaction. But their numbers were thin, probably eaten through when they'd taken the mountain, and the defensive guns were more than enough to keep them at bay.

"Damn it…"

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked, eyeing the larger man warily, "Everything is going well."

"Too well." Ironwood answered lowly, "The Grimm took the fort. My soldiers should have held out against this kind of thing. Would have, in fact…"

"Unless something more powerful helped them." Jaune nodded, suddenly feeling the man's anxiety matched in his own stomach, cold and agitated. After a moment, he asked, "Should we go, then?"

"Go…?" Ironwood blinked, "Not until the bombardment is over. We can't be too safe."

"If whatever brought the fort down is gone, we should be safe enough already." And Jaune suddenly had a bad feeling bubbling up in his chest, too, courtesy of the General. "And besides, we don't want to-"

"Once the bombardment is done, Arc." Ironwood cut him off with a near-snarl, turning to meet his eyes with a steely gaze. Then he sighed and waved him off, "But if you'd like, feel free to head to the arming bay. Rose and Polendina are there already, with Clover and Qrow."

"I'll do that then-"

"Corporal," Ironwood grunted, cutting him off and waving at an armed man beside the door, "take Arc to the arming bay."

"Yes, General." The heavily armored soldier nodded, turning, "Whenever you're ready, Sir."

With a shrug, Jaune waved for the soldier to lead the way. And with a nod, and a parting salute for Ironwood, the soldier did just that.

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"Intriguing indeed…" The mechanized puppet said as Cinder watched it pace slowly around the Beowolf she'd brought in. It waved a hand and the creature lifted a paw for it to inspect, cocking its head to one side. "Very intriguing… It has a skeletal structure, veins, the like, but they don't need to even eat or sleep. A body perfected, efficient-"

"And stupid." Cinder growled, tapping her inhuman hand anxiously on the table she was sitting on. Glaring at the puppet she asked, "And you're still not coming out?"

"Would it bother you?"

"Not in the least, Puppet." She shrugged, lifting her other hand and letting fire dance along her fingers. It hurt, in the deep way that using the incomplete Maiden powers always did, but she pushed on regardless. "Why should your being a coward hurt me?"

"Amusing…" It sighed, the sound washed out and synthetic, almost warbling. Turning back to the Grimm it waved for it to leave and added, as tremors rocked the Archives yet again, "And while I will happily admit the Grimm do lack for intelligence, that doesn't mean that they aren't perfect in a purely biological sense."

"I'm afraid I don't follow..."

"I'm sure someone like you doesn't." The machine answered simply, turning a cold look on her and then turning away to look over its shelves and aimlessly straighten things on them. As it worked, it went on, "You need food, water, rest… You have needs and wants. These beasts, though? No such failings."

"They are fairly useful as far as dumb, disposable animals go." Cinder admitted with a small sigh. "But to the matter at hand… Preferably before I have unwanted guests to entertain."

"Oh, I suppose we can get back to the matter at hand if you want…" It sighed, pacing down one of the aisles as if it were looking for something. When it finally did, it hummed and picked up a little box before returning to her. "Your reward for the information you traded to me."

"I'm… Not sure what this is." It was a box, of some kind, with little glass segments patterned around four of its sides. She took it, though, turning it over in her hands a few times. "And besides, I'm not certain this is what I was sent for."

"Oh, it very likely isn't, Ma'am." The machine answered crisply, clasping its hands in front of its waist and meeting her gaze impassively. "But, presuming your mistress knows enough to use it, it will offer her something of import."

"I-"

"And besides," it cut her off, raising a hand, "the closest thing to what she could want isn't something a mere woman can handle."

"If you only knew her, you wouldn't dare to call her that." Hell, Cinder had half a mind to step away from it, lest she get caught in the explosion she half-expected to swallow the snide machine. "But I don't suppose I should expect much more from you…"

"Oh, I know plenty about Salem." The machine chuckled, turning and marching away as the door opened and a quartet of the same machines as the ones she'd burned through not half an hour past stepped through. "These will see you safely out of the Temple. Once you're gone, you aren't my problem any longer, but I've a responsibility to safeguard those coming and going from the Archive."

"Could have fooled me." Cinder murmured with a frown, "Several of those nearly shot me."

"I said I had a responsibility to those coming and going from the Archive, Madame." The machine responded sharply, "Not from the Temple around it. Now do get going, I've notes and the like to compile and process."

Quietly, Cinder turned to leave, acutely aware of the machines closing in around her. She could annihilate them all, of course, but… That didn't mean she liked them being so close, though.

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The 'arming bay' was little more than a wide, square room ringed by tool benches and weapon racks that adjoined to the much larger docking bay for the Atlesian warship's troop transports and strike craft. There were a couple rows of seats, too, near the back of the room. And even a crate in one corner marked out for medical care. The Ace Ops were back in that corner with the medical crates, checking their supplies over and talking amongst themselves.

The youngest, Specialist Amin, saw him at the door and waved.

"Hello there!" Jaune heard a bright, energetic voice call out as soon as the soldier nodded and turned to leave. He blinked and looked up as a beaming ginger girl bounced towards him, tugging a smiling Ruby along behind her. She came to a stop a foot short of slamming into him and held out both hands, one for him to shake and the other to catch Ruby as she stumbled by. "I'm Penny! Penny Polendina!"

"...Jaune." And the moment he took her head, he felt the off he'd sensed earlier redouble and resonate around him.

It was thick, and strange, but at the same time laced with something… Less so, in a way that was hard to describe. More natural, and just sensible enough to be even weirded for it. Like he'd picked up a water bottle and tasted it only to find salty brine. The Force moved in her like something alive, but at the same time, it didn't. It made him flinch and yank his hand away from the surprised ginger before he could even think about it.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked worriedly, slipping between the two of them while he stood there, silent as the grave. He met her wary silver eyes and she cocked her head to the side, face grim, "Are you… Okay?"

Was he… She was worried he was going to snap, like he had at the hospital.

"I'm… Fine, Ruby." He waved her off, shaking his head and forcing himself to smile. It felt awkward, to say the least, but he hoped it did the job. "Your friend just, uh… Felt weird. You should know what I mean, Ruby."

"Oh." She blinked and then sheepishly stepped to the side and looked at the woman and then back to him. And then back to her, again. "Penny is, uh, well… Special."

"Do I feel weird to you in the Force, Jaune?" Penny asked honestly, blinking and smiling when he flinched and Ruby started stammering that she hadn't told Penny anything about him. "I have access to classified materials and filings. As such, I know about the Force."

"Ah…" Well, that was… kind of annoying. "Why do you have that kind of clearance, exactly, again?"

"Because I am a classified-"

"Polendina, what do you think you're doing?" The smallest of the Ace Ops snarled as she rocketed over, trailing actual electricity as she went. Glaring at the young ginger, she hissed, "You aren't allowed to talk about that!"

"Actually, she is allowed to talk about it, Harriet. As long as it's with those granted access, or with information classified at a similar level." Clover Ebi, head of the unit called over as he joined them, Amin trailing behind while the other two lingered at the crate and continued to talk to each other. "And as you know, he has plenty at that level. Hope you're doing well, Arc."

"I am, yes." He nodded, "Or, well… Better than I was a few days ago."

"I'll bet." Clover chuckled jovially, crossing his arms and turning to the smaller woman. "Specialist Bree, please go check our transport. We leave shortly, and I want your eyes on it before we take it anywhere."

The woman frowned but didn't argue, turning to leave with a simple, "Yes, Sir."

"I get the feeling she doesn't like me much…"

"She doesn't like anyone much, Arc, if they aren't from Atlas. Bit of a problem, sure, but she's a damn fine soldier." Clover sighed, waving a hand at Penny and adding, "The General said you could know about Penny if you asked, or if she 'felt off' to you. Dunno what he meant, but…"

"It's complicated." He informed the larger man, turning back to the silent woman and paying her a nod. "And I won't press it. She can choose to tell me if she so chooses. Until she does, I'm content to leave it lying."

"...You are a good person." Penny smiled, "Thank you. I will… Consider it, unless it becomes important somehow."

"Of course." Jaune nodded, though he wanted to contest the 'good person' bit. Turning to Ruby, he found her smiling warmly and asked, "So, you ready for this? First big operation, right?"

"Oh, I'm.. Super nervous." She shrugged, bouncing from one heel to another anxiously but smiling regardless. "But I'm sure we'll be fine. Between your… Uh, super powers, and my baby, which I tuned up nice and fresh this morning, we can handle plenty. Plus, Penny can fire lasers!"

"Which are accurate up to four hundred meters." The girl added with a smile, "And capable of melting Grimm plating efficiently throughout!"

"Good, because it's time to get going, and I have a bad feeling about this." Ebi sighed, turning and bobbing his head towards the crates, "If you need any gear…"

"I'm fine." He answered sharply, drawing his saber and spinning it in his hand. The weight offered him some comfort, at least, even if something felt a bit off to him, too, now that Ebi had mentioned it. "Let's just get this done already. I have a redhead to get back to."

"Well," Ebi chuckled, "We can't keep a lady waiting, now can we?"

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Apologies for any lack of quality. Been ill all week, so while I like this all, sooooome of it is kind of stiff for my liking. Regardless, hope you enjoyed!

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Blaze 1992 :

To be fair, she wrecked part of the temple. Most of which was centered around Atlas' entrenchments, which are irrelevant to the Archive on a strictly technical level, and the combat zones which see damage as their job. The Archive itself wasn't harmed through the attack, so… Yeah.

Also, yeah, I'm leaning into the same concept since… Well, Irondaddy super clearly isn't all about law and regulation.

Thanatos 2018 :

They beat Mister Boop my weight of numbers and highly explosive fireballs, mainly. Blaster/saber resistance doesn't mean explosive resistant.

Argus 456 :

Such is the Curator's wont, yes.

Smokey Panda :

*sniffles* My shiiiiip~!