Falling Cinders, Chapter 31: Nightmare

From the darkness rose a light, bright and pure, ever-constant and unchanging. It folded outward, blooming like a flower, a dash of blue and pale white, and slowly everything became clearer. Yang's eyes opened from where she lay on the ground, her golden hair spilling about her, a puddle of fire, a gilded cloth. It took a few moments before sounds crept into her ears, she could hear voices, she could hear violence, she heard the screams and the gunfire again. Her body didn't respond to her right away, it took a few moments before she could prop herself up and slowly drag herself to sit, her head spinning, a wave of nausea rising in her gut. She clutched one gauntlet to her stomach, and pressed her other fist to the ground, standing slowly, shaking, until finally she stumbled to her feet.

All about her the winds of change had leapt to life, a cacophony so immense that her brain struggled to make sense of any one part of it, her ears ringing with the familiar laughter of unimaginable chaos. When she'd collected herself enough to begin the arduous task of processing where she was, the sheer horror of her situation became clear and indisputable.

In every direction was a scene straight out of a bad horror film, only this one was ever so real.

Creatures of all shapes and sizes traipsed or galloped or dragged their way about, black masses formless in any true nature but each one carrying some remnant of what it had been before all of this had started. She could see among the beasts pieces of Atlas armor, the protruding butt of a rifle, or even a human hand swallowed and sentenced to some uncertain fate. There were no more soldiers. These were the soldiers.

No sooner than she had began to trot toward the cover of an overturned vehicle, they descended upon her, perhaps attracted to the motions her limping form made or the heavy breath that fell from her chest. A large, oily beast that looked not unlike both a dog and a spider had set its sights on her and with an inhuman screech made right for her, and in a panic she silenced it with an explosive shell from one of her gauntlets. Whether that would work on the others was questionable, but for now she took refuge from the others that had begun to perceive her new, threatening presence.

The moment of respite she'd earned herself gave her time to look about the facility, now partially aflame, other pillars of smoke and fire rising from beyond the wall that surrounded the compound. She thought of all those protesters in the streets, she could only hope they hadn't been trapped like pigs in a pen out there between the buildings. She checked her gauntlets, taking inventory of the shells she still hadn't expended, by her count she had enough to defend herself, but not for long. She was alone out here, and she felt it, for inside the nearby building she'd been so unceremoniously tossed from she could see the seeping darkness of the Cinder-beast as its tentacles spewed forth in a blackened mass, reminding her that if pain had a face, this was certainly it. After a few more desperate breaths, she popped up and set her arm along the front of the armored car she'd ducked behind, cracking off two shots that wheezed their way through the hot air and landed among the gathering creatures crawling her way. The explosions sent a few of them careening away, and the rest scattered for now, though she was certain they would be back sooner than she wanted.

Yang collected herself again, she knew she couldn't stay here, she had to move. Finally and with growing courage, she dashed forth from her cover and across the courtyard toward the sound of gunfire that she could only hope were some sorry souls who'd survived the sudden and terrible uprising of anger incarnate. She'd made it maybe halfway through her perilous journey when an elongated roar issued forth from the bubbling maw of a large, elephant-like Grimm-thing that wasted no time in bowling over a part of the wall, it brought her pause enough that she covered her ears for fear of them bursting. The thing was tremendously loud and equally tremendous in size, and no sooner than the wall falling to rubble beneath its legs, it began a stampede down the street, toward a mass of screaming citizens beyond. She knew she had to do something, but the what was beyond her.

From here she could see several White Fang men firing at approaching hostiles, forming a semi-circle behind a barricade that provided them only a bit of cover from the horrendous creatures that were coming for them. Like a swarm of ants, though thousands of times the size, they crawled along walls and leapt from the heights, only to be cut down by a barrage of bullets that the surprisingly disciplined men seemed to keep pouring on them. Yang's Aura flared to life, and she came to there defense in a blinding flash of gold and fire, her fists flying in disorienting speed as she levied blow after blow on the mass of creatures around them. Her Semblance still charged, her aching head only adding to her power, she made short work of the relatively small squadron of Grimm that had surrounded the men, her presence alone allowing them a much-needed sigh of relief.

"Thank anything you're here," one of them called, they numbered only four but from the markings one of them wore, he held some rank in their organization, likely the only reason they'd held together long enough to be rescued.

"We don't have any time, we have to help the people outside!" Yang shouted back, and broke into a jog away from them, thankful to see them follow her. Her jog turned into a run and then a sprint, she made for the hole in the wall that the largest of the Grimm had created. She could see through it that the crowd that had been aggressive before was no less aggressive now, the small gang of former Beacon students had used their supplies to create a fire big enough to hold some of the nasty things back. She stopped at the wall and waved her hand, signalling the men to get into position, and together they created a small firing line and began to unleash all the hell they could on the backs of the creatures.

One thing was certain, it got their attention.

Cutting down a number of lesser beasts, the men's gunfire had little effect on the few larger ones in the center, the one that looked like an elephant, another like a massive rhinoceros but with a pair of claws like that of a crab, and still more creatures too varied to easily identify. Their shapes didn't matter so much to her, all that mattered was that they died! Placing one hand on the back of her gauntlet to steady it, she fired shells at them while they turned to face her, and with one more trumpeting roar, the largest of the beasts began to charge.

"SHIT!" she cried, and immediately shoved the man nearest to her hard and out of the way. She stood alone, a minuscule smear of yellow and brown and pale flesh against the backdrop tide of darkness that was now seething toward her in a fury unlike any other, and she braced for impact, mustering her Aura to her defense as she prepared to take the blow head-on. The men around her saw this, though they knew not if it was valor or unchecked stupidity. To them, she was either incredibly brave or incredibly daft.

The thing collided with her with such force that her feet immediately left the ground, and she rocketed backward, skipping like a stone along concrete ground, a shock of dust erupting around her with each painful bounce until she caught herself and slid to one knee a whole field away. Her nostrils flared, and with that a puff of hot breath, her Aura was still burning and it burned now even brighter. With a cry of rage she threw herself forward, running headlong back into the charging behemoth's jaws, and she leapt from the ground just before it would hit her again, delivering a shattering blow right between its many red eyes, giving every ounce of force it had brought against her right back to it. In a shower of sticky ichor its head erupted like she'd just punched a watermelon, and its huge form crashed to the ground before her and melted slowly down into a pile of disgusting muck. It was here her feet landed, and she drew her eyes up to the men who were fighting valiantly in an attempt to stave off the creatures. One had already fallen, he was being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the mouth of a nightmarish scorpion, complete with wings, the inhuman hiss it made while its limbs morphed and changed struck her as perhaps more of a reason to scream than the pain it likely caused while it devoured him whole. She grimaced, but nothing could be done for him... More were still coming.

She realized then that this was a hopeless fight. Her Aura was running thin, her Semblance carried her only so far, and she knew what relying on it would do. Their numbers were just as great as every Atlas man that had been brought here to foreign soil, if not moreso, and indeed among them walked the simple Grimm that she'd known before this pointless war, the static and unchanging ones which normally elicited more than enough fear of their own. The street outside was seething, a sea of darkened bodies and people being swallowed, torn, or bludgeoned to death... Her heart ached for them.

"Fall back!" she commanded to the three remaining men, who issued a fighting retreat that she was sure would haunt their memories for years to come. Yang laid down as much fire as she could, but as soon as the men reached her and began running past her, the frightening click from each of her gauntlets signaled her dire fate; she was out of ammo, and now she had only her fists to stand between her and a certain and painful death. She turned on one heel and ran with the others back toward the buildings behind them, though the ravenous swarm was in pursuit, and she watched as one of the men's legs gave out on him and he tripped, tumbling to a halt. She had to listen to the gutteral cries when the horde reached him, she tried her best to steel her heart. With only two men left, and her own ammo depleted, she found herself right back to where she'd started, crowding up behind the overturned armored car while the two Fang men cracked off as many shots as they could.

She looked down at her hands, they looked as tired as she felt. Her knuckles were bleeding and bruised, the only outcome possible when one ran their body into the dirt like this, she felt as though any more Aura could potentially drain her completely... And then she'd surely be dead. This situation was hopeless... It was so very wrong... What had they done to deserve this? Who could have known this would happen? Why-?

Her eyes lifted up when something caught them and demanded her attention. It wasn't long before she was forced to shield them against the sudden and holy glare which shone forth from inside the building before her. Even the two Fang men couldn't help but notice it. Before them, some five yards away the alien beasts in all their horror screeched and stopped dead in their tracks, as if assaulted by some unseen force from every direction. The sound was unbearably shrill. The light was unbearably bright. Her senses could barely take it, and her eyes watered, her ears rang, she clutched her hands to her head and curled into a ball and attempted to hide from it all.

And then, just like that, everything seemed to freeze. One of the men was cheering, yelling something about the creatures, half of them had been fried before his very eyes, just disappeared, vanished like smoke. The others were scattering, suddenly untangled from their inhumanly organized mob; beyond that they could hear the sounds of other beasts as though each one had suddenly been shot or stabbed or beaten, like a whirlwind of anguish resonating all throughout the city.

Finally, Yang opened her eyes and looked up.

The light hadn't abated, but it was coming closer. It moved toward her, she couldn't look directly at it, it breezed past them, an angelic presence that both calmed and terrified her in equal measure, it moved into the courtyard and there it seemed to stay. From inside the building crawled several familiar forms, most notably at first, a twin set of long, brown ears that appeared over the edge of the rubble, and following it was Velvet, her eyes ablaze with wonder, her tired body shuffled closer to her and collapsed near her feet. Yang was quick to help her friend and grasped both her shoulder, steadying her. She was laughing, as if delirious, and Yang still couldn't comprehend what had happened.

The Cinder-beast, though... It was gone.

A small cheer suddenly built up between the allies she now found around her, they were yelping and whooping and hollering in relief, she could see Nora and Sun, and just off to the side, Weiss stood crying. She was bent up in so much emotion that the others only seemed to ignore her, how could they, in fact, console her now? Yang hugged Velvet to her chest tightly, and squeezed her eyes shut, the smaller Faunus girl wrapped her arms around her waist and returned the favor. Whatever had happened... Whatever Ruby had done, it had worked.

...

Rending metal echoed through the halls and the darkened expanse of the warehouse, the blazing barrel of a gun spun without end, expelling bullet after bullet and drowning out the sounds of desperation that came from Coco's mouth. Raven was doing her best to keep them off of her but this was an impossible situation. They'd made for the exit the moment they could, Raven's plan in mind and the only thing standing between them and sheer destruction, but everywhere the Penny-creatures came, piling over the ones that had fallen and being torn to pieces by the hail of fire that Coco put on them in the tightened corridor.

"We've gotta get the hell out of here!" she shouted, barely audible over the sounds of grinding machines making their way at her with sickeningly happy grins on their faces, pools of black sludge gathering between them or around them whenever metal was severed from the rest of their bodies. Raven's sword joined in the noise, she moved about like a spectre, cutting down any that threatened to overrun them and carefully leading them into the line of fire that Coco's massive gun offered them. They only had so much time before the charges would detonate, only so much time before they would fall and this place would become their tomb. Raven could have taken them out of here in an instant, but the risks were too many; if they were followed through the portal even one of these things was danger enough for concern, and if they left this place unattended, they couldn't be sure that it would be destroyed entirely.

Finally, Coco reached one of the massive steel doors that were characteristic of this place, and she retreated behind it, screaming for Raven to hurry up and follow. The moment the woman had reached her she slammed at the controls and the door sealed, immediately the banging, wrenching steel piled up behind it in a flood of inorganic bodies and something entirely unfamiliar to them both. They had only a moment to catch their breath before they were off sprinting again, away from the sounds of the hinges being strained. They would surely break through in no time, but they had one more charge to place and the entrance was still a ways off.

"Which way?!" Coco questioned, her voice a mixture of fear and uncertainty, and Raven, lost in the moment, picked a direction at the four-way intersection and, after sealing yet another door behind them, they ran off down the hall. Raven, unburdened by the giant weapon that Coco carried, ran on ahead into the darkness, and it wasn't long before Coco lost sight of her.

"Raven?!" she called, she could hear her footsteps further down the corridor. Something behind her crashed and she looked back, seeing nothing but the same blackness that pervaded this place, but then she slammed headlong into the other woman, who'd halted in the middle of the hallway, and didn't budge an inch when Coco bounced off of her and scrambled up from the floor.

"What is it?" she asked, but the silent warrior merely drew her sword up before her face. She took a few steps quietly forward, and the slight laugh that followed sent a shiver of fear through even the seasoned Huntress herself.

"Neopolitan," she said, her voice low, and surprisingly soft. Coco finally looked in front of them. What was this place?

They'd surely taken a wrong turn, or maybe they hadn't, but she definitely didn't remember this room from before. In it there was a hum of energy, the characteristic drone of technology, and she could see a reflection in a mirrored surface in front of them. A short woman stood, leaning on a cane, her back to them, but the striking mismatched colors of her hair were unmistakable. So, too, was the laughter that came from somewhere nearby.

"Well well well, if it isn't the little bird and her little chocolate bunny? Oh, no wait, the little rabbit one is roadkill already," came Neo's voice, and the image in the shining metal mirror turned to face them. There was a hiss, like steam, and several pillars shot from the floor, each just as reflective as the first, and each one casting an image from a different angle of the same original source.

"Velvet...? What have you done to her?!" Coco screamed, but she received only a laugh in response.

"Don't listen to her, its just another of her mind-games," Raven cautioned, and took another few steps forward, her eyes searching the darkness.

"Ohhh, what's that? You don't want to hear it? Would you rather I be a mute?" Neo asked, and her multiple images grinned a devious little grin.

"Its over, Neo, now show yourself and perhaps I'll be merciful," said Raven, continuing her pattern in a slow walk up to the first of the metallic pillars. She slid the tip of her blade along its length, dragging a scratch into its otherwise pristine surface, then turning her back on it and looking around her.

"Oh, its far from over," she replied, "this little stunt you've pulled, finding out about my beautiful baby girls... It's but a parlor trick, dear. There are many such nurseries. Why put my eggs all in one basket?" Raven grimaced, and drew her sword arm back, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"You're lying," Raven replied, "I've done my research. This is the only one of your little doll armies. A clever mistake. What happened, run out of time?" Coco understood what she was doing. She was prodding Neo's mind, giving her a bit of her own medicine.

"Absolutely not!" came the angered reply, and each image of Neopolitan clearly indicated her sudden anger, as they all simultaneously carried an unhinged expression to Coco's eyes. This lady was bat-shit insane!

"But you'll be out of time soon. Those little bombs you planted aren't going anywhere, and neither are you," she said, laughing a maniacal laugh, when suddenly Coco felt something on her shoulder. From behind her, Neopolitan had grabbed her and spun her around, and with a fist that was tiny yet felt like a truck, crashed into her rib cage and sent her curling backward to the floor. No sooner than she had appeared was Raven on her, but when she went to strike her blade met only air, the Neopolitan that had been standing there a moment ago suddenly seemed to vanish, to become yet another reflection on the cold metal behind.

"What is this?!" Raven shouted, her head on a swivel, and as another hiss echoed throughout the chamber, more of the strange metal pillars grew from the ground until they reached the low ceiling. The whole of it now resembled a hall of mirrors, and everywhere they turned, there was another cackling image of a pink-and-white-and-brown woman, with a crazed look in her eye, with a grin wider than the sun on her face.

"You think you can defeat me?! You'll never defeat me!" she shouted at them, now her voice carried like it too were all around them, and the pair suddenly found themselves chasing a ghost when the images seemed to move in conjunction, Raven dragging Coco by the arm through the maze of mirrors in an attempt to escape. They still needed to seal the entrance. They had one bomb left, and any portal Raven would make could only lead them to someone else. Nobody else was here, nobody but them... And apparently, Neopolitan.

Raven turned one of the curving corners, and suddenly was struck across the chest, flattened by an arm that protruded from the darkness. She folded backward and Coco caught her, propping her up. Neopolitan was standing right before them. In a roar of rage, Raven leapt to attack, but again her blade found only cold metal, and she rent a massive gap in one of the images reflected along the shining pillar in front of her, provoking a second, equally angered cry of frustration.

"Quit hiding, you midget bitch!" she shouted at nothing in particular.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Such hurtful names! When did I ever use such language with you?" Neopolitan said, and the furious Raven let out her steam by unleashing a flurry of blows all around her, cutting in to each and every image of the cunning villain's face around her, though it served no purpose but to further her rage.

"Raven, stop...! We need to get out of here! Let her be buried in this place with the rest, but we have to GO!" She shoved the other woman by the shoulder through the pillars, though with each twist and turn they took, they found no progress, only fresh an laughing pictures of the one who was now haunting them. They came under attack from every angle, like Neo could truly be in many places at once, and finally, the thought hit Coco's mind, and she suddenly pulled up her weapon, letting the barrels spin up.

"What are you doing? You'll kill us both shooting in here!" Raven cried, but Coco grinned at her.

"Yeah, and maybe her too," she said, dropping her barrels in line with her hips, then pulling the trigger. The sudden burst of close-range shots deafened them both as the loud gun roared, and the bullets ricocheted in every direction from where they didn't penetrate the reflective metal, bouncing between the pillars and all around them, and after a short burst they both threw themselves to the floor, the chaotic bits of flying death whizzing in every direction. Somewhere nearby there came a sound of a bullet striking something different, and Neopolitan's voice let out a shrill cry of pain, which had them both confused. Surely one bullet wouldn't have so easily penetrated her Aura? Unless...

Raven finally realized just how brilliant Coco truly was. When she got to her feet she pulled the other girl with her and they both set off running, trying their best not to be hit by the dazzling trails of sparks that still traced through the maze. The images of Neopolitan were huddled over and seething with rage, and when they finally had moved to what seemed to be a different part of this place, Raven looked back at the various pictures synchronized around them. The Neopolitans turned to face them, and where one of her eyes had been, was now an oozing, black pool that poured down one side of her face, the obvious bent metal warping her skull and lending a terrifying appearance to an already terrifying woman.

"Y-you B-b-B-bitch!" she screamed, her voice cracking and tainted by an obviously robotic undertone, and in a whine of machines and a grinding of gears, each of the pillars suddenly dropped back to the floor, revealing the robotic copy of the psychopath in question. Her remaining eye was red, and a vicious sneer had replaced her haughty smirk, she ran at them with inhuman speed and threw herself into Coco, tackling her with a strength that knocked the wind right out of her lungs and bruised her back the moment they toppled to the floor. She was clawing at Coco's flesh, her face, her fingers inside her mouth, pulling at her cheeks, her thumb in her eye, trying to tear her very flesh from her body. Raven grabbed her by the back of the collar, pulled her away, and drove the point of her blade straight through the back of her head, and then down, splitting her metallic mouth in two and exposing the circuitry inside of her neck. Coco scrambled away the moment her hands and arms curled backward toward her face, and the thing gurgled that thick black liquid from her mouth. Raven placed one heavy boot on her back and kicked her off of her blade and to the floor, where she drove her blade in once more to the center of her robotic heart. The thick liquid had begun to form yet another one of those things, but as soon as it was removed from its source of power, it boiled out into a dreadful puddle all around the copy, and Raven stepped over it and offered a hand to the younger woman, pulling her to her feet.

"Th-thanks," she said shakily, Coco now felt rather dirty, and she hoped soon they'd be out of this place, so she might take several showers and think about her life and the choices she'd made to get herself caught up in this mess.

"We're running out of time," Raven said simply, and together they made their way further down the hall, and to the entrance. By the time they'd arrived, the Penny-things were starting to seep from the woodwork of the long hallways inside the bunker, their cheerful declarations of war echoing throughout the structure of the place. The moment she saw red hair, Coco had opened fire, and they retreated until they found the small crack of light left by the slightly-ajar bulkhead door that marked the entrance to the clandestine fortress. Raven placed the last of the explosives behind it along the rock of the wall, intent on collapsing the entrance as best they could, and they squeezed out into the air and the sunlight in time for Coco to drop her weapon and immediately work on forcing the door closed with all of her might. Steel ground along the somewhat rusted rails, but as soon as she'd shut it, she dropped to her knees, panting.

"Remind me... To never take a field trip with you again," she said to Raven, who merely laughed a single, solitary laugh, though she was smiling down at her.

"Oh, this was just a normal Tuesday for me. You'll get used to it," she said, as if promising her more of these "exotic adventures" that Coco was clearly so very fond of. The look of disgust that twisted her face made Raven laugh once more. When she was ready, Coco picked up her gun, and reverted it back into its suitcase form, and together they walked along the dusty trail that led down the mountain, ignoring the ground as it shook beneath their feet.

Coco pulled a pack of cigarettes from her coat, removed one, stuck it between her lips, and lit it. That shower was starting to sound better and better.