Destiny No More

Chapter 98

Pyrrha shifted her weight from one foot to the other, having to force herself to take deep breaths as the Bullhead slowly rose from the landing pads of Beacon. The engines had already been warmed up by the time they made it to the Bullhead, meaning all that they had been waiting for was the go ahead; something that only took a few minutes but felt like an eternity.

The roar of the engines as they quickly picked up speed was deafening and, to those without Aura, potentially damaging. The pilots and crew wore specially made helmets to block out the noise and allow them to communicate to one another over the noise. The door finally closed, cutting off much of the noise and allowing them to hear each other if needed. It was far from quiet, but it was manageable. An Atlesian Flight Officer moved back from the cockpit before tapping a few buttons on a control panel on the wall.

The lights quickly dimmed as a holographic representation of the city was displayed in front of them.

"We have a confirmed attack by the White Fang on City Hall!" The woman had to yell in order to be heard, and even then it was only possible because they had already closed the door. "The Council was in session when the attack started, so the target is fairly obvious!"

An attack on the Council? That wasn't what Pyrrha had expected, and it probably showed on her face as Coco nudged her elbow with her own in silent support.

"Orders from General Ironwood are to deliver your fireteam to the Mistralian Officer in Charge of the cordon, you'll get your orders from him!"

"How many White Fang have been sighted?" Pyrrha was forced to ask again when it was clear the officer hadn't heard her the first time.

"Unconfirmed at this time!"

"Has Taurus been sighted?" Pyrrha was confident in her ability to at least keep him busy, but she wasn't going to be blindsided, not again. Not after how it went last time. She wasn't going to lose anyone else.

"Unconfirmed at this time!"

Pyrrha cursed softly to herself. It wasn't the officer's fault, that did little for the anger at the lack of information, however. There were too many unknowns, too many changes. Her hand fell to Allos' hilt, and she took a small comfort in the familiar leather.

The officer held a hand up to them, before looking back over her shoulder for a few seconds before turning back to look at them. "T-minus five for drop!" The woman quickly moved back over to the cockpit but left the projection of the city up for them to review.

City hall was located fairly close to the center of the city, though not directly in the middle. A red dot indicated the tall building for what it was, while a thin green line surrounded it a few blocks away. There were few buildings or large obstacles between the perimeter and the building, the display showing the area surrounded by a part of the Vale Central park. What that meant for civilian casualties was difficult to say however, there wouldn't be any buildings that needed to be cleared or homes in between the terrorists and the first responders, but there had probably been people enjoying the park when the attack started. Part of the draw of the park was the lights that came on as the sun went down. It was fairly romantic, from what Pyrrha had been told, and that meant people had likely been out enjoying it.

The Bullhead lurched suddenly as the speeds quickly slowed enough to allow a landing. The hologram disappeared as the door opened. The pilots hovered the craft over the street but didn't attempt a landing due to the numerous cars that had been left abandoned in the street. That wasn't an issue however, as part of a Hunter's training was developing a landing strategy. You couldn't always take the time to land properly in a crisis after all, sometimes you just had to do it yourself.