Primordial Origins

Chapter 13: The Mech & The Question

Freyer POV

This was getting nowhere. I had been fighting this giant spider mining mech for about ten minutes now and while it couldn't touch me as I was dancing around out of it's reach and climbing on its body to avoid getting hurt myself I couldn't damage this thing. It was evidently designed to dig around and fight any massive subterranean grimm that it encountered. Therefore it's armored plating was incredibly thick and even the joints were made out of incredibly tough materials so attacking them was useless. I had managed to damage it a bit by redirecting it's own attacks into it but the pilot wisened up to that pretty quickly. I skidded away after using gravity dust to block one of it's drill arms and two massive shoulder mounted spider cannons popped out and charged up ready to blast me. I activated my doppleganger at this point and we charged at him dancing through the blasts we managed to get to his feet and we jumped up landing on a knee joint each. We danced around on the machine slashing everything we could trying to find a weakness and finally I found one. A single thick pipe that went from somewhere on the interior to a tank on the back that couldn't be scratched. However, my blade did find purchase on the pipe itself evidently the pipe was made out of a weaker material to ensure it did not react with the liquid inside which I believed to be coolant. Something this huge had to have a huge engine that was producing a lot of heat. Without coolant it would blow wide open in no time at all. With this new information I grinned from ear to ear. Dancing across the surface of the mech I had to avoid a brutal assault as the only place where I could get a decent strike on the pipe was right where it came out from the mech on the side of the neck near where the pilot should be he was defending pretty well but eventually I sacrificed my doppleganger to get a bit closer. A massive blow for me as he was very good at actively diverting the pilot's attention. However with this I managed to get up to the neck and I coated my blade with all the gravity dust I had left. Pushing the button on the hilt activated the dust and I sent the heaviest blow I could directly at the pipe. This blow severed the pipe and also sent the mech listing to the side. I was sprayed with a liquid that I confirmed to be coolant from the pipe and my smirk returned. It was only a matter of time now. Unfortunately I might not have that time as one of the drill arms came up and slammed into me. Sending me flying as I felt the last of my Aura leave me to take the hit. I rolled to soften the blow of the landing and when my feet hit the floor I stabbed Flow into the ground and slowly slid to a stop about 75 yards away from the mech. When I looked up I saw the two spider cannons charged and ready to fire their barrages at me once more. I grimaced before I pulled Flow from the floor and sheathed it. Leaning down in a sprinter's starting stance I took off using my full physical strength and I flew over the ground cracking the concrete behind where I took off from. As I approached the cannons opened fire and I was forced to dodge from side to side as I ran in order to stay alive. Soon enough though I reached the melee range of the Mech and both drill arms swung at me trying to stop my approach. However I activated what little wind dust I had left in Ebb as I had used most of it for dodging this thing's blows and turned into nothing more than a blur. The next thing anyone knew I was standing atop the thing's shoulder again with my foot on the broken coolant pipe. After a few minutes of dodging I felt the metal beneath me starting to get hotter and hotter and smiled knowing the explosion was near. Then both spider cannon's powered down along with the drills on the arms as smoke erupted from the interiors of the mech right before the entire thing exploded. The area was filled with smoke and nothing could be seen within the cloud.

Yang POV

When the Spider mech exploded I cried out "FREYER!" and dropped to my knees tears in my eyes. His aura was drained, and he was standing on it when it exploded. There was no way he could have survived that. Soon though laughter was heard throughout the area. The smoke finally cleared and we saw Freyer sitting upon the pile of scrap that was once a massive mech with Flow stabbed into one of the spare plates. "Damn am I glad that worked." He said as his aura flickered back to life. I sat there stunned. Everyone did. Just how did Freyer survive that explosion? "Professor, how?" He smiled. "I was stunned at first as well. However Freyer is quite the genius. He used the mech's sturdy construction to survive. He knew if he ran the mech wouldn't explode and may very well chase after you all however if he stayed at medium range he would die in the explosion. So he got close and made a gamble. A gamble that the mech's armor plating was strong enough to survive the explosion and he won that gamble. While it did get blown off it stayed in one piece and absorbed the majority of the explosion along with blocking the flames for him. While I have to imagine he is still injured I don't think it's anything his aura and time won't heal. After his fight he walked over to the tunnel you all were in and saw the horde of grimm heading our way. Having full confidence in you all he collapsed the tunnel on his end and made his way back to the surface for evac. I have already sent Team FNKY from atlas to retrieve him. He should be back home around 8:00." I sat there crying tears of relief for a solid few minutes and Ruby knelt down and hugged me trying to comfort me. When we eventually got back to Beacon I told the team to go ahead. Although it was only just past 2:00 I was going to wait for Freyer at the landing pads. Soon enough night fell and the last bullhead landed. I stood and walked over to it as four people I didn't know or recognise walked out and past me. Just then though Freyer walked through the door and instantly locked eyes with me. He took his sweet time limping over to me. His leg was clearly hurt in that explosion. When he got to me he tried to speak but was interrupted as I slapped him breaking what little aura he had managed to build back up. "Okay I deserved that." I slapped him again. "That too." I grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled him into a heated kiss. All of my frustrations and worries melted away as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed back. I pulled away and rested my head against his chest allowing his heartbeat to calm me as I reassured myself that he was going to be okay. "I'm sorry I worried you. But i'm here now, and i'm not going anywhere." I heard him whisper in my ear. As another wave of tears came forth I felt him stroke my hair which combined with his steady heartbeat and warmth quickly calmed me down. "You are not leaving my side tonight." I said after I had calmed down. "I don't exactly like sleeping with someone, because while most people have their arua on all the time mine turns off when I'm unconscious. However. I'll make an exception just for you, Little Dragon." I looked up and finally smiled at him. "Welcome back Freyer." He smiled back at me. "I'm back Yang." With that we went back up to his dorm and fell asleep after the exhausting day we had.