My team and I met up with RWBY at the main gate. I cloaked and sprinted back to the warehouse before they noticed I was gone. I opened the warehouse to find Kane screwing around with Scorch and Viper reading a book. "Kane! Stop screwing around. You're a fire hazard!" I shouted.
He flipped me off and almost threw a firestar at my face. I sat down next to Scavenger and picked up my book. I opened it to where I last left off and started reading. My helmet started beeping rapidly and a video appeared on my visor. "Hello, young Wreckage." The mechanical voice was unmistakable.
I shot up to my feet. "Ash! How the hell did you get this network?"
"I have my ways. I would like you to come meet with me. Come with Viper and Kane. Bring your Titans as well."
"Ash, I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing, but I've had enough. Cut the bullshit and tell me what you're doing."
"I have your friends captive, young Wreckage. Meet me at the coordinates I am giving you to win them back."
"You're bluffing."
Ash shifted the camera to point at my team and team RWBY. They were bound at the wrists and locked up in a massive vault. They were surrounded by spectres that held sticks. The sticks were electrified and the spectres were shocking their captives. All I could hear were screams of agony. "Do you believe me now?" Ash questioned.
"You... you sadist! Fine, Ash. I'll play your twisted game. We'll be there. You're living on borrowed time."
Richter walked into the frame. "He will not come, Ash. Er wird wegrennen wie ein kleines Kind."
"Don't count on it, Richter. Wreckage out." I cut the comm.
"Hell was that?" Kane asked from across the room.
"It was... Ash. She's here. She and Richter have my friends captive. She says we can win them back by going to those coordinates she sent," I answered. I sent Kane and Viper the coordinates. Their helmet visors flashed, showing me that they received the coordinates.
"This place is not far. It is just outside Vale. We can make the walk with our Titans," Viper informed.
"Easy for you to say! Northstar can fly!" Kane argued.
"Both of you, shut up! We leave now! And remember, this operation follows the same unspoken rule as everything else: don't tell Ozpin. Thundercracker, Foxtrot, Wildfire: you guys are holding down the fort. I'm sorry, but you'll have to sit this one out," I said. They managed to look sad and disappointed.
I embarked Scavenger as the other Predators embarked their Titans. The hatch closed and we opened the door leading out of the warehouse. We were about exit and begin a dead sprint to the coordinates, but because nothing can go my way today, Oscar and Qrow were standing in front of the warehouse. "What, pray tell, are you doing?" Ozpin asked.
"I'm not fighting for this one, Professor. This is important, and no, Atlas cannot handle it. Teams RWBY and MMEI have been captured by an old... acquaintance of mine and we are going to save them," I said.
"No, you will not. Even though your team is your responsibility, team RWBY is not and you are a student."
"I'm also a highly trained and modified super soldier. I respect you very much, Ozpin, but you can't stop me. You will not stop me."
"I know. No matter what I say or do you and your friends will still find a way to go, so all I can do is wish you luck."
"Thank you, Professor Ozpin." Scavenger walked passed him, beckoning for Kane and Viper to follow in their Titans. Viper and Northstar flew ahead of Kane and I. Because of the stakes, I didn't care if we were seen, but night's cover mostly shielded our Titans from prying eyes. We ran for what seemed like eternity, our Titans never slowing down. We reached the coordinates given to us by Ash and our Titans skidded to a halt.
A fissure opened in the ground and it began to split in a perfectly straight line. Underground it looked the same is Vale's residential area. Grass, houses, cars, trees, all of it a simulation.
"Well done, Predators," Ash came in through our helmets again. "You have made it to the coordinates. Please, jump down into the training dome." We did as we were told.
Ash came on through a PA this time. "Your friends are stashed away in one of these houses. All you have to do is find them."
Scavenger started looking around, scanning for heat. "Scav, stop. The frequency in this chamber disrupts all kinds of sonar and infrared. It's no use," I said.
"There are hundreds of houses here. How the hell are we supposed to know which one it is?" Kane asked, angered.
"Start searching. Tear off the roofs or something."
We started searching the houses with no luck. Soon after, the PA went off: "IMC squad Tango Zulu, prepare for dome breach."
A door that led deeper into the underground IMC base opened and squad Tango Zulu which consisted of seven Titans: two Tones, three Vangaurds, a Stryder, and a Legion, engaged us. How the IMC got Vanguards, I'll never know. I think I heard a story that Vinson Dynamics was trying to reverse-engineer a Vanguard they are calling the Monarch class, but I'm not sure if that is fact or fiction. It was now when I saw the IMC's desperation to get new resources and win the war, as they resorted to creating new Titans and are putting the old ones back into use. Kane and Scorch pushed Scavenger and I out of the way and unleashed a Flame Core, destroying the two Tones and a Vanguard. Scavenger ripped the Atlas's arm off and put it on its knees. She shoved her Splitter Rifle's barrel into the Atlas's cockpit and open fired, killing the pilot and Titan. I saw Viper tring to snipe the Vangaurds from the other side of the dome. Northstar attached her railgun to her back and rained a salvo of rockets down on the remaining Vangaurds. Scavenger opened her Vortex Shield in the Legion's direction, who subsequently unloaded two Power Shots into it. I fired back the unrelenting hail of bullets, the onslaught never ending. We fired a Laser Core at the Legion and he took the brunt of it. Your Gun Shield can't save you from a Laser Core, I thought to myself and to Scavenger. The Legion was doomed, its armor gone and chassis on fire. Scavenger knocked the Legion down and fired a Laser Core, melting the Legion's reactor and destroying it.
Once the IMC Titans were destoryed, the other Predators and I continued ripping apart houses. We soon discovered that Ash lied to us. RWBY and the rest of my team were not in any of the houses. They were somewhere else in this base. "That was every house, Hunter. They aren't here." Northstar's hatch opened and Viper poked his head out. "We could try pulse blades."
"No. Sonar and infrared don't work in this God-forsaken place, remember?" I said.
"Then what should we do?"
"Fight our way through the base."
Before this could be done, one more challenge presented itself to us: Richter. He entered the dome with his decked-out Tone Titan. The hatch opened and Richter revealed himself to us. "Long time, no see, Apex Predators. Welcome."
"Cut the crap, Richter. Where are my friends!?" I shouted.
"Ah... dem verdanke ich das Vergnügen. Your friends are here. Finde sie. If you live through this, that is." Richter embarked his Tone and reloaded his 40 MM Tracker Cannon.
Kane and Viper readied their weapons, but I stopped them. "This is my fight," I said. "I dragged you into this. I'll get us out of it."
Kane and Viper stood back while Richter laughed. "Wie ehrenhaft. Now, enough talk!" Richer put up a particle wall and started firing his 40 Mil. He was not expecting Scavenger to grab her scythe and rush him. We dashed through the particle wall and slashed at his Tone's armor. This surprised him, but recovered quickly and started using his 40 Mil as a makeshift bludgeon. He swung the cannon in Scavenger's general direction, causing damage to the hull. While we were disoriented, Tone and Richter kicked Scavenger and I away and fired a Salvo Core into the sky, trying to get me in the open before the rockets hit. Using his strategy to my advantage, we dashed next him and pushed him away, using his still-active particle wall as cover from the Salvo Core. The rockets connected with the wall, decimating it. Scavenger caught the remaining rockets in her Vortex Shield and fired them at Richter and Tone, finally bringing the duo to their knees.
Richter disembarked his smouldering Titan, saying "Dieser Kampf geht weiter aus dem Cockpit!" Knowing how bound by honor I became since my leaving of the Frontier, he challenged me to a one-on-one fistfight. I disembarked Scavenger and landed perfectly on my feet. He approached me, helmet off with eyes that wanted to see blood spray. Richter, as far as I know, did not upgrade himself, but he no doubt knows how to deal with mine. We looked each other in the eye, acknowledging and understanding the other's intentions. I took up a battle ready pose and and took a deep breath.
I faked him out with a jab and immediately followed up with a roundhouse to the side of his head. That got him mad. He fell on his knees, his head turned away from me. Catching me off guard, he pivoted on his knees and threw an uppercut to my stomach. I was knocked back, feeling immense pain. There was one thing Richter did not account for: I had unlocked my Aura and semblance. I regained my bearings and sprinted up to him, landing a flurry of kicks to him. He tried to punch me, but I cloaked and got away from him. After I caught my breath, I rushed him once more and landed an uppercut that sent him flying. His airtime not lasting long, I shot my grappling hook at him and brought him to the ground at breakneck speed. He was breathy heavy, in immense pain. I kneeled over him and removed my helmet. Before we could talk, Richter tried one more thing. He unsheathed his data knife and tried to stab me, but I activated my Aura and caught the blade. I wrestled it out of his hand and tossed it away. It was clear he was dying, so I held his back up in my arms. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Richter," I said.
"It needed to," he said weakly. "Dieser Kampf geht in den dunklen Tiefen der Hölle weiter. I will hunt you like a dog when you get there. Ich verspreche." Richter died in my arms.
My mind flooded with memories of him with the Apex Predators, both good and bad. I shed a single tear and hugged tightly his corpse, like I would my own brother before he turned on me. I had just killed one of my best friends. "I look forward to our fight in hell, mein Bruder in den Armen." I ripped off his dog tag, keeping it as a reminder. I left his necklace of human ears on him. Sick bastard, as Blisk would call him. I placed a firestar on his chest and let him burn. Burn... burn... burn.
Beckoning Kane and Viper who were still in their Titans, we went through the door that led us out of simulation dome, but deeper into the abyss.
A/N:
German translations in order:
He will run away like a little child.
To that I owe the pleasure.
Find them.
How honorable.
This fight continues out of the cockpit!
This fight continues in the dark depths of hell.
I promise.
My brother in arms.