Episode 3: Chapter 10: Initial Strike

Chapter 10 of Episode 3 of Order of Seasons

General Ironwood stood above the control panel on the command bridge, placing a com link in his ear and linking it to his scroll.

            “All teams sound off.”

            “Stealth squad standing by” Christy said with determination in her voice.

            “Ground squad standing by” Ty said as the sound of his sword unsheathing could be heard through the coms.

            “Air squad standing by” an Atlas airman said.

            “Cannon squad standing by” another soldier said as the cannons moved into position.

            “Strike team standing by” Natalie said as the wind from the cargo doors flew into the hold. General Ironwood took a deep breath then pushed a button and launched a small airship carrying the stealth team towards the large fleet of enemy airships.

            “Good luck everybody,” he said as he watched them fly off. “We’re going to need it.”

 

 

 

 

The airship glided along towards the large fleet, trying desperately to not look out of place. General Ironwood had taken a deactivated Atlesian Knight and programed it according to some codes that Christy managed to capture back at the Order’s base. It was programed to deliver cargo to one of the airships and then leave; all the while the stealth team would sneak off and begin their mission. The problem was, they had no idea which airship the knight was taking them to. As they flew into the main collection of airships, they began descending towards what looked like the flagship of the enemy armada. There wasn’t any time for quiet whispers of annoyance, the team simply got ready in the loading dock and waited for the airship to land.

 

 

 

 

As the world leaders walked in to the center room, they saw that they were alone except for Lord Mortem standing right in the middle. They all took their seats, and Lord Aeris and Adam lead the guards and escorts out of the room. The doors closed, and the leader from Vacuo was the first to stand up and yell,

            “What is the meaning of this? I demand to know….” Before he could finish his sentence, Lord Mortem was standing right in front of him, and started choking him and carried him up ten feet into the air.

            “Know your place.” After saying this, he dropped the leader of Vacuo back down to his seat. The rest of the world leaders immediately got far more on edge, but not to the point that they were willing to speak out against their new oppressor.

            “Now that I have your attention,” Lord Mortem said as he floated down to the ground, “I shall tell you how this world is now and forever going to function.”

 

 

 

 

A couple of Order Troopers walked towards the transport that had just landed in their hanger, not sure why it was here. There had been no forewarning about any deliveries of troops or inventory, so their weapons were loaded and ready for whatever was in there. As the cargo door opened, they saw an Atlesian Knight bringing down three different crates labeled by different types of Dust.

            “What is all this?” One of the guards asked.

            “DUST TRANSFER FROM SECTOR 2814 TO COMMAND SHIP.” The knight said. The other guard then pulled out his scroll and scanned the slips of paper on the boxes.

            “Checks out. All right then, move out. Here’s the instructions on how to get to the storage facility.” The guard then placed his Scroll over the face of the Knight, the screen blinked, and the knight began moving forward towards its destination. As they cleared the hangar, Evan dropped the illusion space and everybody checked the immediate area for security cameras and nearby guards. Christy then pulled up the map that they got from the guards and tried to figure out where they needed to go.

            “Okay” Christy said as she zoomed in. “The command deck is up there. From the looks of things, it will be heavily guarded. So we should all head up there as quickly as possible and get ready to input…”

            “Get down!” Jacob hissed as he pulled everybody into one of the corners. As they peered out, they saw two guards carrying the weapons of the rest of Team JNPR.

            “Where does the boss want these weapons again?” one of the guards asked as he punched a code into the door.

            “He want’s them on the airship that’s taking the prisoners down to the meeting to try and intimidate the world leaders more than he already is.” The other said, as he made sure not to accidentally drop Ren’s weapons. As the door opened, they moved through and deeper into the ship.

            “They’ve got our friends trapped here!” Nora said worriedly. “We need to bust them out!”

            “What about the mission?” Jacob asked. “If we go too far off book, we then risk the danger of being discovered! And we don’t have much time before the main attack starts!”

            “Any suggestions?” Christy asked as she re-activated the holo-map. “I mean, you are the leader of Team JCTB.”

            “Ironwood placed you in charge of this op since you’re our lead stealth member.” Evan said as he created another illusion space as more guards approached.

            “It’s your call.”  Jacob said placing his hand on his weapon.  Christy looked over the map one last time, and zoomed in on the brig.

            “Okay, here’s the plan.”

 

 

 

 

Lord Hibernis stood tall on the bridge of his ship, looking over as one of the smaller ships flew towards another. He was completely bored, sick and tired of just simply watching over the military preparing for its grand display for the world leaders.

            “I’m bored as well.” Lord Memoriare said as he walked next to Lord Hibernis. “After all that has happened, just simply dealing with bureaucracy is enough to drive one insane.”

            “I honestly don’t know how Lord Mortem plans on letting Lord Aeris be in charge of an entire country without burning it down.”

            “Are you kidding?” Lord Memoriare said with a smile on his face. “Vacuo was practically made for her kind of crazy! Full of people wanting to kill each other, monsters that want to eat them, or at least there used to be monsters.”

            “Yes, ever since Lord Mortem got the power of the Wizard, the number of Grimm attacks has significantly decreased.”

            “It makes sense. His power does command….” But before Lord Memoriare could finish, a light flashed on the control panel, and popped up a message. “What’s happening Firma?”

            “Somebody has taken out some of the weapons of the armory without authorization. We aren’t due to deliver the warriors from the Battle of Beacon for another half hour.” Lord Hibernis turned and started making his way towards one of the airships quick interior transports. “Keep things running up here Memoriare. I’m going to deal with this myself.” As the transport left, Lord Memoriare just stood there, dumbfounded.

            “Oh sure. I wouldn’t want to do something. Just leave me here!”

 

 

 

 

Christy quickly punched the code into the door leading to the brig and ran inside with several weapons in tow. She then started placing the weapons in front of the respective cells.

            “Christy!” Jaune exclaimed from his cell. “What are you doing here?” Christy rolled her eyes and kept moving forward.

            “Do I really need to spell it out for you Jaune? Just get ready to wreck some havoc once we open up the cell doors. All right then, who has the um…glow-stick nunchucks?”

            “That’d be me!” Christy turned around to see a cat girl faunus in the cell who looked like she was the internet personified.

            “And you are….?”

            “Neon. Yes I know I seem a little out there, but that’s what makes life fun! Hey, do you like roller blading?”

            “Okay….that’s random. Here you go. Just get ready to get moving before….”

            “I thought I left you shattered and broken back at Beacon Academy child.” Christy stopped in her tracks and turned to see Lord Hibernis standing at the opposite end of the hallway.

            “You know, what can I say?” Christy said with a smirk. “I die hard.”

            “You only survived because your protector stopped me from finishing you off at the last second. This time, I will destroy all of you.”

            “Yeah, good luck with that one. Evan! If you would be so kind?” As if on cue, all the prison doors swung open and all the prisoners rushed out and either grabbed their weapons or made a run for the exit opposite of Lord Hibernis.

            “What can we do to help?” Pyrrha asked as she picked up her weapons using her magnetism.

            “Jacob and Brooklyn are making a beeline for the bridge!” Christy said as she helped get Scarlet to his feet.  “Everybody should try to create as much chaos across the entire ship as you can! Spread the enemy thin!” Evan then pulled out an extra Scroll and handed it to Ren.

            “The map of the entire airship is on here!” Evan said as he prepared his weapon for battle. “Stick together and get moving!” Ren nodded, and was about to leave but Nora stayed behind.
            “I’m staying for this one.” Nora said as she got her weapon ready.
            “I’ll see you on the bridge.” Ren said as he gave Nora a quick hug, and then headed out with the rest of the escaped prisoners. Lord Hibernis sighed in annoyance and pulled out his whip.

            “Neither you or your protector have the power to defeat me.” He said as he began walking forward.

            “Why do you think we brought her?” Christy said as she snapped her fingers. On cue, Nora launched herself forwards and smashed her hammer right at the feet of Lord Hibernis, sending a tremor throughout the entire airship.

 

 

 

 

Lord Memoriare had to grab onto a nearby chair to keep his balance as the airship shook. He looked around not sure what was going on, but then a split second later, all the alarms started going off.

            “INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!” The computer screamed over the speakers. Soldiers immediately leapt up from their posts and rushed out the main doors and into the depths of the airship.

            “Let’s move!” Lord Memoriare said as he pulled out his chains. He pointed at a few soldiers still in the room and barked, “You three! On me!” But before he could leave the room, a few of the last group of soldiers heading out the door were suddenly blasted back into the room. As the dust settled, Jacob and Brooklyn rushed in and started taking out everybody who was still standing. Before Lord Memoriare could respond to what was happening, he had to block an incoming attack from Brooklyn that ended up knocking him a few steps back. Gathering himself, he realized that he was the only one still standing on his side, as Jacob had dispatched of the remaining soldiers rather quickly. He then got a good look at Brooklyn and Jacob who were now standing before him.  As he studied his opponents, he stared intently at Brooklyn.

            “You’re Angela’s kid, aren’t you?”

            “How do you know her?” Brooklyn asked as she pointed her weapon at his throat, her anger clearly growing.

            “We worked together. She was the one who came to me to make sure that you had no memories of her. It was so that you could stay alive and the Order would continue to operate in secrecy.” Now completely enraged, Brooklyn rushed forward and started fighting Memoriare. Jacob was about to rush in, but Brooklyn yelled,

            “Get the program installed! I’ll keep this guy busy!” Jacob was about to interject, but decided to do as she said and ran over to the nearest control console and plugged in the Scroll. As he did so, a series of codes and text boxes appeared on the screen. Not wasting any time, he immediately started typing away.

            “How much time do we need Jacob?” Brooklyn asked as she blocked a ranged attack from Memoriare with her shield.

            “Give me a few minutes!” Jacob said continuing to type away. “I just hope this gets uploaded in time for the ground attack.”

 

 

 

 

Christy jumped off Evan’s back and unleashed a series of strikes on Lord Hibernis’ body that caused him to fall back a few feet. This proved to be problematic though as he stumbled right into the path of Nora’s hammer. As he went skyrocketing forward, he was met with Evan’s gauntlet clenched in a fist which hit him so hard that his entire body flashed for a split second, then collapsed to the ground, having been completely drained of Aura. He was gasping for breath. His entire body was practically numb, he even felt like he might have been bleeding internally just slightly. He looked up at Christy with a look of pure anger on his face.

            “You…. coward….” he said slowly crawling forward. “You couldn’t beat me before so you went crawling back to your pathetic friends for help….” Christy stomped up to him and smacked him across his face with the handle of one of her axes.

            “You broke me in two!” She exclaimed. “You almost took me away from everybody! Well, these guys are who you tried to take me away from. And they aren’t too happy about that.” Lord Hibernis laughed at her statement.

            “Spare me…. the childhood drivel. You don’t even have the guts to kill me.”

            “Who said anything about killing you?” Christy said with a smirk. “Nora? Do the thing.” Nora smiled evilly, walked over to the frail body of Lord Hibernis, knocked him flat on his back, and slammed her hammer down with all her might on his legs. He screamed in pain, as his legs were now almost literally flat as a pancake.

            “I’ve always wanted to do that!” Nora said as she placed her weapon on her shoulder.

 

 

 

 

Brooklyn and Lord Memoriare continued to trade blows, neither one of them giving an inch. Jacob continued to type away on the control panel, trying desperately not to panic with time running out.

            “I could really use some good news right now!” Brooklyn yelled as the next attack from Memoriare almost sent her flying across the room. Before she could gather herself, Memoriare had already launched one of his hooks towards her as a sort of pseudo ranged attack. Her scimitar couldn’t morph back into a shield in time and the attack landed squarely in her gut, which sent her flying towards the front of the airship. Jacob was about three clicks away from finishing inputting the code, but was dragged away from it by one of Lord Memoriare’s chains. He couldn’t even react, he was instantly dragged to the ground.

            “Sorry kid.” Lord Memoriare said raising on of his hooks up for the kill. “Maybe in the next life.” But as he brought his weapon down, it was knocked back by a golden shield. As Pyrrha retrieved her shield having thrown it to save Jacob, she rushed forward to continue her attack on Lord Memoriare. Meanwhile, Jaune ran over to Jacob and helped him up while Ren rushed in to make sure that Brooklyn was all right.

            “You okay Jacob?” Jaune asked as he helped Jacob get to his feet. Before Jacob could answer however, an alarm went off in his pocket. Not wasting any time, he ran back over to the control panel and immediately started typing away like a madman.

 

 

 

 

General Ironwood looked at his clock, and motioned for his airship to move forward. As they did so, they hoped that nobody would recognize that something was wrong until it was too late for the enemy.

            “Any word from stealth squad yet?” General Ironwood asked.

            “No sir” the communications officer said. “They haven’t broken their radio silence.”

            “Well they better hurry up. The cannons are going off soon and we won’t have the upper hand unless we get our androids back.”

 

 

 

 

            “Jacob, what’s going on?” Jaune asked as Jacob continued to type away.

            “Explain later!” he yelled as he punched a few more buttons. Then, as if on cue, he hit the final button just as the cannons from General Ironwood’s ship started going off. With a smile on his face, he pulled out his Scroll, pressed a button and exclaimed, “General Ironwood! The code is in! Give the order for the ground crew to attack! We’ll finish up in here!”

            “Good to hear from you Mr. Strohl.” General Ironwood said. “See you on the ground.” With that, he cut himself off, and Jacob could see the hangar doors on their airship open up and a bunch of troop transports started flying out. The Atlesian Knights were still under the control of the Order, but in a split second, Jacob could just make out that there face plates went from glowing red to glowing green. The instant they did so, they turned on the Order’s troops and immediately opened fire. With a smile on his face, he turned his attention to the control panel.

            “What’s the plan Jacob?” Pyrrha asked as she put her weapons away.

            “We are going to crash this airship into some of the other enemy airships.” Jacob said as he punched in a set of commands. “Give our guys a better fighting chance.”

            “All right then, we should probably get off this thing!” Jaune said as he made a bolt for the door. Everybody else agreed and made their way out. Jacob stayed behind and grabbed the microphone for the ships speaker.

            “All those who fight for the Kingdoms, find friends and make your way to the hangar. We will have an airship waiting to take us down to the ground.” He hung up the microphone and started to leave before he noticed that Brooklyn was still on the bridge, standing over the body of Lord Memoriare.

            “Brooklyn! We don’t have time for this! We have to go!” Brooklyn ignored him and continued to stand over the body of Memoriare. He smiled and evil grin and looked right into Brooklyn’s eyes.

            “Do it. Avenge your mother. Take action for all I’ve done against your family.” Brooklyn raised her scimitar to his neck, but then returned it to bracelet form.

            “I won’t kill you.” She said as she walked away. “But that doesn’t mean I have to save you.” As she and Jacob left, Lord Memoriare slowly got up and moved towards a nearby elevator.

            “I hate it when people use quotes as their finishing line.”

 

 

 

 

Natalie looked out the doors of the airship and saw the entire army of her friends rushing in to battle. She took a deep breath and moved in closer to the center of the airship. Miles placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

            “You got this. I mean, you’ve already died once. Is there really anything left for you to fear?”

            “Losing you guys.” She said lowering her head. “I can’t imagine my life without you all.” Ruby smiled at Natalie’s comment, walked over and placed her hand on Natalie's free shoulder.

            “Don’t worry,” Ruby said with a smile. “This time around, we’ll do it together.” Natalie looked around and saw the smiles of everybody confirming that they were behind her all the way. Natalie took comfort in this, but could still tell they were all nervous.

            “Any suggestions for taking him down kid?” Yang asked as she moved her robot arm in a circle. Natalie fell silent. Then she looked up and said,

            “All I know is that we need to weaken him to the point where some random mumbo jumbo can happen and we destroy the foundation of his power.”

            “Seems easy enough.” Blake said drawing her weapon. “How tough is he?”

            “Beats me.” Natalie said looking out the doors again. “When I fought him, he was still mortal. Now, he’s pretty much a god.” Everybody fell silent again and didn’t say anything again until they got closer to their target.

 

 

 

 

            “….and with that said gentlemen, you will effective immediately hand over the control of your nations to the Order of the Four Seasons.” Lord Mortem said. The leader of Atlas slammed his fist on the table.

            “That’s absurd! How do you expect the rest of the world to respond to such outrageous demands?!”

            “I can assure you, the Order of the Four Seasons is more than capable of….” But before he could finish, there was an explosion right outside the building. He looked over, then back at the world leaders.

            “You see?” the leader of Atlas said standing up. “Just because you command great power doesn’t mean that they will listen to it. There will always be people who will fight back!”

            “Save me your pathetic drivel of resistance.” Lord Mortem said with a snarl. “I’ll show you and the rest of this world what true power is!”

Author's Note

Please read/review/enjoy!

Reviews

[Shep]

time for him to die... love it, the battle is just getting started right on schedule and I am dying to see how you kill Lord Mortem as well as open another bag of chips and cold soda to see me through now let's get back to work nock some heads loose. Moving on ot the next chapter please be kind and return the love.