RWBY: Just A COG In The Machine

Isaac and the Lambent Stalk

AN: Dear god this was a big one. I had a bit of writers block for a bit, I finally came home from Korea, work kicked me every which way, IT WAS CHAOS! This might be a bit messy as I didn't edit this as my usual process went to I could push it out a bit sooner. But its out now so I how you can forgive me. Now please enjoy.

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Outside was a mess.
Coco and Yatsuhashi had been defending the entrance to the mine for the past couple hours and had been sent on the back foot from the constant waves of glowing yellow Grimm that leaked a liquid of the same substance. The remaining two Atlasian Knights were scrapped by a mutated Ursa, their metal chassis crunching under the power of the glowing Ursa's jaw and claws.
What confused the teammates also was the fact the bodies didn't dissolve like normal Grimm. Instead they exploded, leaving behind a few splashes of that yellow fluid.
Coco eventually called Ozpin, her aura exhausting her as she had constantly used her aura to rip through the legions of Lambent that had attempted to escape to the outside world.
"Hello Coco. What can I-"
"We have a problem Headmaster."
"What kind of problem?"
"Whatever is here it's not the Grimm. Something changed these Grimm. They were glowing yellow and were more...savage. They also sounded different too. It sounded like they were-"
"Yelling and screaming with yellow glowing fluid dripping from their jaws?"
Coco was silent with shock for a moment before looking to Yatsuhashi for an explanation only to receive a shrug in confusion.
"Yes. How did you-"
"Where is Sergeant Carver?"
Ozpin asked seriously.
"He went into the mine with Velvet and Fox after he turned cold as ice. He sounded angry but dead inside when he talked."
"I'm on my way with teams JNPR and RWBY. I want you to listen to me very carefully."

The trio had walked carefully through the tunnels, occasionally running into more roaming hordes of Lambent. They later came to a small mining outpost made from sheet metal, scattered tools and carts laying around the rocky area. This outpost had even more tunnels branching out however.
Isaac groaned in frustration.
There was a corpse of a miner in the corner, who looked to have been eviscerated, the rough overalls he wore doing nothing to stop the claws of the Lambent from ripping the soft tissue of the stomach open, spilling gore all across the floor, with hints of imulsion around the corpse.
Velvet gasped at the sight of the dead man, her hand covering her mouth in shock while Fox was in a similar state, both trying to keep their meals from leaving their stomachs. 
Isaac crouched down beside the body and inspected it. He found the dead miner had a bloodstained piece of parchment in his hand. Isaac carefully uncurled the frozen fingers from the paper as CVFY looked on with morbid curiosity.
He, with a bit of difficulty due to the dried blood, unrolled the paper to see it was a drawn out map of the mines.
"Must have been trying to get out."
Velvet guessed, her ears folded down in sadness for the dead man.
"Whatever the reason his death here wasn't in vain."
Isaac said, studying the map.
He laid the paper out for his teammates to see. On one specific path it read 'Danger! Glowing Grimm!' with a large X drawn over the passage.
"There."
Isaac said tapping the location.
"That's the source of the Lambent. The sooner we get there the better."
He said, folding up the map and storing it in his armor.
"How far are we?"
Fox asked.
"We are about 200 meters from the entry point. Should get there if we take the path to the right."
Isaac gestured to the tunnel on the right.
Velvet crouched down and closed the dead man's eye before, shakily, standing up.
"Ok then lets-"
Isaac raised a arm to signal for silence.
"What's wro-"
"Hush!"
Isaac interrupted Fox as he listened carefully. He carefully removed his helmet so that he could listen better and use his senses to a greater effect.
He heard the faintest sound of a human yell, mixed with a animalistic scream.
"Fuck."
He muttered as he placed his helmet on his head and backed away from the tunnel, his Gnasher raised and ready.
"What is it?"
Fox asked, clearly hearing the sounds, his blades ready.
"More Lambent?"
Velvet asked, deploying a copy of Coco's minigun.
"You two wanted to know what happens if a human gets infected? You're about to get a close look."
Isaac said coldly, his grip tightening on the Gnasher.
As the yelling got closer the Beacon students started to unconsciously back away in fear.
The first former human rounded the corner of the cave and shocked the Beacon students.
Like the Grimm, the humans were mutated and developed a small bit of unnatural armor on their bodies and mutated claws on their hands. What was left of their faces was glowing with imulsion and left nothing to the imagination what looking at the face to see the skull of the victim, scraps of their SDC uniforms still clinging to the body or overgrown by the armor the imulsion had grown from the victim's flesh.
The lead Former yelled as it's fellows past him by to get to their fleshy enemies.
Isaac fired his Gnasher without hesitation into the coming horde, the pellets ripping through the first former, turning it into ash, and wounding those that were beside it but doing nothing to slow them down.
"They aren't as volatile as the Grimm! Cut these glowie fuckers down!"
Issac yelled at his team as he punched one Former, fracturing it's skull, while firing a shell at a few more, the spread of the pellets shredding them, all turning to ash with small hints of imulsion that quickly faded into the air.
Not hampered by the volatile nature of the bigger Lambent, Velvet and Fox let themselves go to their full potential.
Fox slashed at everything glowing and moving. His blades were perfect for this type of combat, taking down Formers by the dozens. Velvet was very much the same, she utilized Ruby's scythe once more and cut the former humans down like crops. The Beacon students were not in their usual combat mindset when targeting Grimm however.
When looking at the formers and their torn uniforms, some with ID tags still hanging by a thread from the remains of their uniforms, the thought of these people once having lives of their own came up frequently before the two were forced to kill their imulsion ridden bodies. In a morbid sense of justice, it sounded like the formers still had a small semblance of themselves still trapped inside their own bodies when the Lambent humans yelled and screamed as they ran toward the warriors. Hence they rationalized that this was a way of ending their suffering.
Isaac swapped to his snub for maneuverability and threw the formers as if they were rag dolls with the strength he had built up over years of warfare.
He threw one former over his shoulder before stomping on it's head, ashen imulsion covering the soles of his boot, which another charged at the Gear from behind.
Isaac quickly spun around and pistol whipped the former before putting two rounds into its chest. He drew his combat knife and slashed the throat of one and stabbed another in the temple. They wouldn't stop coming.
His breathing hitched as the Lambent kept coming and he kept killing.
Bullets rained and magazines were replaced with practiced efficiency.
Arms turned ashy from the infected bodies of the Lambent humans and the blade that did the work started to glow from the built up imulsion. 
A former ran for Isaac as he finished off another former by snapping its neck with a wet snap. He turned behind him too late as a former leaped, its teeth poised and ready to sink into its newest victim.
A large caliber round suddenly slammed into the former and turned it into ash.
Isaac looked at the source and saw a exhausted Velvet with a copy of Crescent Rose and Fox watching her back, both covered in ashen imulsion.
"Hell of a shot Amy."
Isaac complemented as he reloaded his weapons, not noticing what he said.
Velvet stored the holographic copy back into her box and stumbled toward Isaac, the mental and physical toll of fighting the Lambent finally taking effect.
"Isaac."
Velvet struggled to say as her legs gave out. The Gear quickly turned toward Velvet and caught her almost as she hit the ground.
His tone quickly changed from cold and uncaring to the complete opposite as he saw Velvet finally give out.
"Hey. Hey. Velvet."
"I'm ok. I just need a little bit of rest."
Velvet said as Isaac positioned her on his back in a piggyback position so he could carry her.
"Fox. Sheet metal building. Clear it out for us. We'll recuperate there for an hour then start moving again."
Isaac ordered.
He did this more so for his team's benefit. While Isaac himself could keep pressing on for a good long while and while the Lambent was a pressing concern, they couldn't hit the parasite with a worn and tired team. The Lambent were sure to make a break for the exit however, but with CVFY's heavy hitters guarding the only way in or out, it was highly unlikely that a few pockets of resistance could get through. However a large concentrated force could work in the Lambent's favor. Strength and bullets could only do so much until it eventually waivers.
Fox found the door to already be half open so he kicked it the rest of the way so that anything behind would be hit with the force of the door. The blind faunus took a quick look around the one room building before waving Isaac in with Velvet.
Isaac took the rabbit eared faunus in and laid her down carefully.
He noticed this was most likely a requisitions office. Crates of tools, screws, tape, and other materials lined the back wall. A few picks and other tools, that could be lethal if used properly, lay on the floor in a drying pool of blood.
Isaac and Fox fortified the building with the crates until Isaac determined it would take a Lambent Berserker to break down the door.
Isaac slid a box over by the window and sat on it as he looked out the window with his Lancer on his lap.
"Hey Fox. I never asked but what is your semblance?"
"Telepathy. I can send people my thoughts."
Fox said, leaning under the window opposite of Isaac.
Isaac perked up.
"Can you send a message to Coco and Yatsuhashi?"
"I can give it a shot. What should I tell them?"
"Tell them to reinforce the entrance and to inform Ozpin that the Lambent are here. If he has been paying attention to the footage I gave him then he should know what to do."
Fox nodded before going silent for a small amount of time.
A group of roaming Lambent, a few Beowolves, formers, and a Ursa walked awkwardly to a tunnel that lead them into the darkness, save for their glowing features. A Beowolf stayed behind and looked toward the sheet metal building, as if considering the likelihood of someone taking refuge in the building.
"Shit."
Isaac silently cursed, as his ducked his head down and raised his Lancer, ready to use the chainsaw bayonet if the glowing Beowolf were to get any ideas. The Beowolf seemed to just sit there as it considered it's decisions until it simply wondered off to follow the rest of it's pack.
Isaac sighed in relief and leaned into the crate.
Fox sighed and took a large breath of air.
"Ok it's done. That took more effort than I thought."
"Subterranean warfare is a bitch."
Isaac chuckled, his voice echoing inside his helmet.
"How many times did you have to do this? Fight underground I mean."
"Not often ironically. There was one massive invasion we launched named Operation Hollow Storm. It was a invasion to the Locust stronghold to wipe them out on every level imaginable."
Isaac dove into the memories of the operation.
"We met stiff resistance on the surface and even worst under the ground, on their home turf. It's where I got the scars on my face from a pissed off Bloodmount."
Isaac shook his head and sighed.
"Whole op was a shit show. Locust took prisoners so they could torture them in unimaginable ways. Almost got me. But my team got me out in the nick of time."
Isaac put the Lancer against his shoulder and leaned his armored head against the weapon.
"Fox. You stay here with Velvet. I'll deal with the Lambent from here on out."
Fox's eyes widened at the thought of leaving the Gear alone.
"No we're not leaving you."
"You don't have a choice here. You both are worn out and tired from just a few fights with the Lambent. How do you think you'll fair against a whole army of them?"
"How do you think you'll do without any backup?"
"I'll do what I can. If I die then I'll die on my feet and will be able to get you and Velvet to survive."
"But you'll leave your friends behind. You'll leave her behind."
Fox said, motioning toward a sleeping Velvet.
"I know you guys are together. I also know how much she cares about you and you her. It would break her heart if you were to go out like this."
Isaac lowered his head in thought. He couldn't believe he was considering this. Did he really want them to be in the line of fire when the fighting started?
Unless.
"You two want to be useful down here and cover my back?"
Fox nodded.
"Keep Velvet safe for me. I know there is no keeping you two back from following me and keeping me alive but I can't have you running in and getting chopped to pieces by Lambent. I want you to cover Velvet while she provides support by fire with Coco's weapon."
Fox nodded with a smile, knowing he had won the small argument of staying behind.
"We'll wait for another hour. Then we move and find the flow of imulsion and cut it off, understood?"
Fox nodded.
"Good. Get some rest. You'll need it."