Party Hardy (4)

"A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him." – John Wayne

The world was pure chaos. And I liked it now better than before.

Everything was just simpler. It made sense in an easier way. I had a gun, I had to shoot bad things. Humans good, Grimm bad. Kill the Grimm, win the day. I could almost chuckle at how quickly I had zoned out from my nervous state and dipped deep within my 'murderous' instincts.

It was all a mechanism that strayed from when I used to play competitively with various FPS that had the action, the blood-pumping sensation of adrenaline, as the main core of their titles. Call of Duty, Battlefield- Doom was the 'newest' title that got me giddy at the opportunity of delving in the lore of that world while shattering through the Infernal Wave of Demons.

And while this excitement in brutally butchering the attackers of Mantle should've warranted confusion to any humane onlookers over my brazen rush through the horde of Grimm, a mix of Beowolves and Ursas, before I started to obliterate group in a couple of shots from my laser shotgun, the fact that I was channeling my inner frustrations out by exterminating Grimm made it more like a much-needed quality from my part.

Ironwood didn't look fazed by my behavior, but I saw 03 appearing quite tense over my swift assaults. 04 was still humming happily while she continued to snipe down the various Ravagers that were trying to swarm onto the column of soldiers and huntsmen. I had to take a shot at those bat-like fiends more than once, shredding through entire groups with a single blast thanks to the scattering effect of the laser.

The eager sniper was offering as much support as possible, but there were way too many of those to target those all out without causing any distractions to the main column. The run to reach the warehouse section was incredibly slow, and it would be outright stopped by the presence of large numbers of Grimm blocking our way.

But with the large quantity of armed people deployed within the humongous military force, there wasn't even a single casualty in that operation. Various people were brought to the rear lines and to the area assigned to medical works, but none looked to have been hurt beyond repair. Ironwood was keeping his voice loud and clear, ordering both at the battalion and at our task force regarding the threats reaching for us all.

The path was sure a 'muddy' and bloody one, but the it didn't take much for us to finally reach where the few possible warehouses which Tyrian and Hazel were using as hideouts. I was among those that was spearheading the lengthy line of armored soldiers. The first line that was facing the brunt of the Grimm's resistance.

With her saber burning in preparation, 03 kept a steady pace, her helmet scanning around and regarding any spots where sneaky fiends might've prepared an ambush. 04 had jumped closer, running by the roofs of the buildings nearby, the young woman was still shooting flawlessly through her movements. Which was absurd considering the power her sniper was packing.

Adrenaline had long seeped in my bones and muscles. I was starting to feel the drain on my body after twenty intense minutes of dodging, running and retaliating against the monstrous horde lurking about.

The intensity just made things even more close to what I could compare to the quintessential Doom-guy experience, which in turn made my mind mirthfully push my tiring body even further than what I could do at the moment.

It certainly helped that somehow Sally had found about my 'repertoire' of half-songs within my head and she was giddily playing the gruesome game's soundtrack non-stop. Ozpin had taken 'refuge' a couple of meters away from the incredibly loud 'noises' coming from the orb his former wife was playing with. The blonde was just lulling herself with imagery and music, making me worry a little bit that she was getting too much… happy about the slaughtering happening on the 'real world'.

But then again, she had mentioned how killing Grimm now sounded like the best idea of get back at her darker self. I wasn't really tempted to take a moment to inquire about her current state of mind, especially with how vehement she was with her encouraging words and how creative she was over with her advices.

I made a couple of 'glory kills' during the blitz to reach the warehouses, with a couple being 'improved' by the woman's suggestions over 'making things funnier'. Admittedly, while I was delving in my own murderous side, I still had some uneasiness while listening to the blonde's ruthless thoughts over the situation.

Still, Ozpin didn't sound particularly shocked by this tone from his wife, and in fact, he was mirroring a few of the advises with a more moderate tone. Perhaps it was the fact it was the Grimm that was getting to receive the combined homicidal tendencies born from within my spacious mind.

The resulting aftermath of that madness was that I was slightly winded after thirty more minutes had passed. My current killstreak was increasing each second, with 39 Beowolves, 12 Ursa Majors, 3 Geists, a fuck-ton of Ravagers and… I think I killed two Beringels. The bloody daze shrouding my brain from making complicated thoughts had deprived me of the chance of spotting a couple of those monsters as I slayed them down.

I was pretty sure that our eyes from afar was second with her own list, and that was quite impressive since she was supposedly focusing mostly on the 'distractions' trying to attack us than the howling bastards those on the first few rows were facing against.

03 and Ironwood were tying much to my inner shock. While I had seen the saber-wielding lady cutting through all of her attackers, I had failed to notice how the General wasn't slacking off by taking charge of large groups himself.

A second revolver had occupied the leader's free hand, doubling his capacity of decimating through his own assailants. The dark-colored short gun looked to be focused on shooting only Gravity Dust bullets. The sight I had about a few Beowolves being lifted off from the ground only to explode moments after by good-aimed sniper-shots was enough to crack a wider smile on my face.

Humming quietly, we finally stopped by a small crossroad with two streets that led to the epicenter of what looked to be dark smoke covering quite the suspicious building. The very sign was a good and bad omen. It was good because we knew where both scumbags were… but also bad because I had a clue about whom had infiltrated Mantle during the chaos.

I thought she would've strong-armed an invasion. Why is she even here?!

Because she sensed you- or better- your current magical capacity.

[And with two of her minions and an opportunity to snatch a magic-user, the Queen will make use of this chances of getting a full victory.]

That ain't happening on my watch!

But still, I couldn't really tell Ironwood that the Queen of Grimm was lurking inside that building without getting some more questions… and attention from Ozpin 2. Still, I could see that the General was looking legitimately tense at the sight.

…

Enough for me to elaborate a ploy to offer a fair warning over the situation and perhaps avoid utter demolition by Queen of all Grimm.

"General," I called quietly, drawing the man attention shortly after as he concluded a discussion with other officers. "I don't think I need to point out that whatever is inside that… it might be way beyond our current capacities."

He stared at me intensely for a little while, but then he glanced back at the building much longer than he did with me. Finally, James nodded quietly as he recognized that this was 'beyond' a high-threat level monster within the place and returned to the officers, relaying new orders about setting up a perimeter around the warehouse.

I waited patiently as my stance eased at the lack of imminent problems. The Grimm had retreated away from the area and back within the building, making the place a dangerous big trap that was just waiting to be sprung. 03 stared silently at the building, while 04 descended from her spot and right back to the street, walking up to us.

"What… could be causing this much smoke?" The saber-wielding woman inquired calmly, glancing both at me and the fellow girl. "There's no smell of fire… nor something that can be caused by Dust."

"Something worth a fright or two, and probably worse than standard Grimm," I suggested, getting a nod from 04.

"I bet my baby girl can tear it apart," The girl commented confidently, starting to hug her rifle close and lovingly. "She can do it and much more~."

I frowned. "I think this is the first time I'm in the presence of an armaphile."

"That sounds incredibly wrong. She is just… affectionate to it," 03 rebuked politely before bestowing me with a 'long look'. I couldn't exactly tell from her helmet. "By the way, aren't you hugging your gun too?"

"I'm… carrying it."

You're giving it a hug.

[The kind of hug that you would only give to a close friend.]

...I didn't know that I was harboring Brutus and Cassius inside my brain.

What?

[Is that a reference to… wait, I found it. You're a jerk, I hope you know that.]

Et tu, Sally.

[...Shut up.]

"With the battalion forming a perimeter around the building, we shall enter inside and retrieve both fugitives on our own," Ironwood briefed with an orderly tone. A small hologram of the building appeared by some device by his palm and two yellow dots on the blue map highlighted the entrance points. "Misfit-04 and I shall enter through the main gates, while Misfit-03 and -02 will make their way inside by the rear entrance."

Nodding at the order, we soon split in the two planned groups. 03 took the lead, slightly walking faster than me as we rushed around the building and towards the ruined staircase that led inside it. The place looked fairly haunted, but the complexity of the area made it stand out compared to older warehouses. It wasn't the classic 'big central room with smaller rooms on the sides' kind of building.

It was… It looked like an office. An abandoned office that was infested with numerous dangerous monsters trying to get an easy kill by hiding around and waiting for some preys to jump.

My stance hardened again as our pace slowed down the moment we stepped inside. We started to look around, knowing that there wasn't going to be any reprieve now that we were back in the danger zone. The light of the woman's saber glowed brightly. The shining beacon of doom cleared some of the shadows away, and leaving just the 'truth' for us to judge.

The first critter that decided to attack was a Sabyr, or just like I've started to call it from the first time I saw it: A big-ass saber-tooth tiger!

Imagine my surprise when I saw the dark-furred bastard rushing like a blur towards us and jumping in an effort to pounce. The shotgun blast tore it down without much issue, but the problem came when the following few Sabyrs decided to become martyrs for their queen. This entire situation that smaller Grimm were patrolling around was actually bringing me to a state of uneasiness over the place.

The halls were good enough to accommodate two to four people, but the capacity to move away from large problems was limited by the very space available for us. Our respective reaction-times were put to a test as Grimm started to rush at us through our stroll, and we were pretty aimless as to where to go and search for the two criminals.

"Should we try and get to the next floor or should we just keep walking around until we get some hints where they might be hiding?" 03 inquired as we found ourselves stopping by a staircase that led above.

I blinked, thinking about if it would be convenient to proceed to the upper grounds already. But then again, I wasn't expecting the two to hide by the first floor and… Salem was one that would enjoy a 'higher' seat to monitor the entire situation.

"We go up and… keep your guard up for any jumps."

She nodded, but just as I took the first step forward, I heard something creaking… above. I stopped, instantly realizing that something was indeed wrong with the seemingly-untouched staircase.

While the Warehouse seemed to be fairly odd, the structure was made with solid cement, and to make anything in there creak with that sound… there had to be some hefty weight pressing onto it.

I didn't linger any further on that pause, taking a few more steps to avoid any suspicions from our ambusher. 03 seemed to notice my current state of tension as we proceeded up, but she didn't speak even though I carefully 'eased up' my guard by settling the shotgun by my shoulder and aimed up.

"I swear, this place is haunted. And I'm not referring about the Grimm," I quickly mentioned, faking my tone and voice as to lull our watcher in a false state of victory and eagerness.

Just as the woman regarded me with a confused tilt of head, I saw something purple starting to appear by… the back of her helmet. I didn't hesitate, my index finger pressing the trigger of my gun as I aimed it just up enough to where I predicted the bastard to be.

The neon-like purple disappeared instantly, and the noise of someone coming falling down behind us forced us to turn around. Tyrian howled in agony as he stared at his legs- or what was left of the mangled mess created by the blast of my shotgun. Aura had failed to keep up with the power of the scattershot, and now the Scorpion Faunus was incapacitated from moving away from us.

"That's..."

"Joker. Restrain him before he can react."

03 didn't hesitate for more than just a second, rushing quickly at the distracted crazy man and slamming on his arm what looked to be a needle. So that's what Ironwood had prepared for the occasion, some anesthetic.

With his aura gone, Tyrian went down without much of a fight. But before he was completely unconscious, his lips let out a content half-chuckle and… a muffled word. I frowned at the strange reaction, and the sudden lack of fear at getting captured.

We need to go.

I didn't even inquire about the quick comment from Ozpin as I knew that we were screwed the very moment I felt a chill trailing down my spine. I heard a soft footstep take my entire attention away from the unconscious Tyrian and right at a couple of steps up by the stairs.

She was there, staring down at me with an impassive stare. Looking as calm and confident as she had back when she was first introduced. Her pale skin almost matching with her lighter shade of white that was her hairs. A dark half-sleeved robe with red decorations… it fit well with the dark scleras and the daunting red eyes that were now fixed at my frame.

Despite my early silence, I couldn't keep this standoff going for so long. Especially since we needed to get Tyrian out of the building with the extent of his injuries. If he was left like this, he was going to bleed out and… the chances of helping Sienna would be nullified. Our efforts rendered vain.

So I sighed, tiredness swelling behind my mask.

"03," I muttered, having some trouble keeping down my panic in my tone. The woman glanced up, freezing in surprise at the demonic appearance that was still looking at me. "Pick up Joker, get to Ironwood and… get reinforcements."

The agent hesitated for a moment, but I was completely attentive of Salem's silent glance.

"Now." The stern word seemed to finally get the masked specialist to move with the captured Tyrian on her hold. Once we were alone, I sighed. "You're not going to win."

"I will catch up to her once I'm done with you," Salem hummed quietly, her voice filled with confidence and certainty. "You should just accept the offer. And perhaps I can see for your friend to be healed without much conflict needed."

"You were the one that ordered Tyrian to harm Sienna and the members of the Schnee family," I rebuked, my calm easily disrupted by the eerie atmosphere created by the Queen's presence. "You're a monster, Salem."

"A monster? But why? Because I look like this? Because I lead a horde of creatures that seek destruction of everything that lives?" She inquired swiftly and without hesitation. "Or could it be because my mere existence is symbol of grief and dishonesty? I'm an example of… true evilness."

"You tried to kill someone I care for. You aimed to do the same with others too," I replied, gritting my teeth at her attempt to deflect my hatred away. "You seriously hope to paint yourself as a misunderstood woman? Do you really think that I would genuinely believe this degree of bullshittery?"

The woman frowned at the foul word, but didn't seem willing to rebuke from that secondary point.

"Reasonably speaking, you're far from the simple-minded individual that can be bought with the realization of some material wish. Yet threats can lead you around for so long, I suppose," Salem commented. "But… I still think that my real offer can perhaps garner your interest."

"There's hardly anything you can offer."

"Truly? How about peace for you and humanity as a whole?" She offered lightly, appearing incredibly genuine about it. "What about the chance of killing me, the opportunity to slay the head to the Grimm horde? What if… I can end this ruthless war that consumes young lives on a daily basis?"

...What?

She has to be lying.

[…]

She has to, there's no way that-

[She is telling the truth.]

Are you sure-

There's no way that she is being honest! It has to be a trick. A ploy to lower your guard and-

"What's the price?"

Her smile widened a little more.

"Your children's and Sienna Khan's lives-"

I didn't let her finish that sentence. The shotgun swiftly aimed at her as I let out a quick blast. The conflagration tore through Salem, and the woman's upper body was obliterated without resistance from the distracted Queen.

I stared at her corpse recoil and stumble backwards. Dark mud had replaced her blood, but the thing that got me to flinch was the messy amount of tendrils carefully reconstructing the woman up to her former state of self.

It was a slow process. Slow enough to allow me to leave the premises of this area without getting attacked by the recovering Grimm leader. Tension erupted from within my chest as my heartbeat picked up at the realization of what had just happened mere moments ago.

What was that.

It wasn't a question, it was a demand. I wasn't in the mood for deflecting or convoluted answers and it was Ozpin that decided to speak up first.

She wasn't asking for servitude. It was a genuine partnership from her part. But to see how devoted you're about your ideals, she put you through a simple test to… to gauge your willingness to embrace the same monstrous personality that led her to this current state.

You mean that… she literally gave me the capacity to end this madness… but only if I killed my family?!

[I think it's more… complicated than that. I can't be sure about it but I feel like there is a logical sense to her request.]

Indeed. She needs someone that is capable, loyal, but, most of it all, willing to move around to prevent any issues from that possible peace scenario. She needs someone that can 'understand' her about the pain she is going through even now.

She… she thinks that Sienna and I are a couple?!

Yes. And the Atlesian Gossip is surely going far and wide with theories with how things had gone in the last few days.

That's… that's not possible.

Didn't you keep to Sienna's hospital room for several hours? Didn't Sienna go out of her way to 'buy you something'?

Yes- I mean, she did buy me that blasted watch and… I had to be there. She put her life on the line to protect me and-

[Stop it.]

What?

I find myself agreeing with her. You're being incredibly foolish by considering yourself the sole responsible for Ms. Khan's conditions.

It's not-

[If you truly care for her, even as a friend, then you shouldn't be even think that Tyrian attacked with the intentions of harming you. So please… stop this. Do it for her.]

Before I had the chance of continuing this conversation, I found myself finally reaching to the other side of the building, right near to where the other entrance was. I wandered a little more, hoping to quickly find out where Ironwood, 03 and 04 were.

The stroll lasted a little while longer than I had expected, with me stopping and dealing with some Grimm still patrolling the area I had run into. The growling of the Sabyrs hardly messing with my mind now that I had a case of impending doom currently coming close to regain her full body back through resurrection magic BS.

I finally found the trio (five if I considered the two criminals) by the central work-room. Ironwood was holstering his gun as he continued to stare at Hazel's unmoving corpse. 04 noticed that I had arrived, the girl gasping and drawing everyone's attention at me.

"You survived the scary ghost lady!"

...What the fuck?

In a general situation, I would've inquired a little more about this situation, but then again, time wasn't something I could afford to lose like that. So I turned to the General, ignoring the odd exclamation from the gun-loving girl.

"Sir, we need to leave the area quickly."

"Provide an explanation, Misfit-04," He rebuked quickly, which meant more time wasted there.

"Grimm, black scleras, red eyes. Someone we mutually despise."

The last bit seemed to finally break into James' mind as the officer realized what the heck was wrong with the entire situation.

He turned to 03 and nodded. "Bring Joker to the nearby helipad. We need to-"

"Plan a way to deal with me?"

The tense silence became a deadly one as Salem emerged from the upper floors, slowly descending thanks to the use of a pair of wings appearing behind her back.

"As expected from an excellent military mind, James Ironwood, but sadly enough...there's no way to deal with me," The woman muttered before turning back at me. "That was quite the rude way to deliver a farewell."

I blinked. "Really?"

At my sudden query, she raised a confused eyebrow. Her confusion persisted through I had my shotgun aimed at her and-

BLAM!

Differently from before, something odd happened with the blast I had aimed at her. In a normal situation, the laser pellets should've erased her body right where the shot was aimed at… but instead of continuing to soar mid-air towards Salem, the pellets were actually stopped by a shield.

I blinked, surprise swelling at first at such a development. Then I heard the warning.

Move!

I blinked again, this time rolling away as the blast was returned to the sender. And while the pellets slammed well-away from where I was, the following conflagrations still found me engulfed in fire and pain.

I saw the helmet's visor flickering at the powerful explosion blast teared down some of its connectors. My chest felt sore while my arms were burning a little bit as I fell on the ground. The pushback had been strong enough to trip me back, and I expected some more retaliation from the woman… except there wasn't any as someone else moved in.

"Trying to protect him? You're throwing your life away so that he can life?"

The mocking set of fake questions got a snort out of… 04? I couldn't see anything clear with the kind of visor I was bestowed with at the moment. I would've removed the headpiece if I hadn't to deal with the limitation of keeping my identity a secret and actually protection to attacks aimed at my head.

"I think that's enough. You've… harmed way beyond you should've allowed to, Salem."

I felt shock renewed at that revelation, especially since that name wasn't meant to be known by anyone outside of Ozpin's and Salem's respective circles.

But just as I digested this discovery, I soon learned that 04 wasn't done with the surprises. Her helmet slowly came off, revealing her face from behind as she was facing the opposite direction as mine. Still, I could recognize something familiar in that semi-spiky style used to comb her short brown-red hair.

The sight was momentary as the world was soon coated in a white light, and the silence was shattered by the Queen's loud screeches as whatever was happening, it was really working on her.

But for me? I was… tired. Maybe it was my body finally feeling the need to rest, or maybe it was the fall had left me with an annoying concussion that was… slowly driving me to… unconsciousness.

My brain shut down moments later, depriving me to know whenever or not Salem was pushed back or not, if Sienna was alright or not. And why 04's hair looked so familiar… just like that blinding light actually damaging the Queen of Grimm.

But for now, I slumbered. And in that silent orchestra, I braced for what was going to be a tumultuous wake up.