Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.
In the dark woods about an hour away from Mistral, there were noises coming out of a distant inn. Furniture was being destroyed, and lights were shaking, sending rays of light from the windows which made it hard to look at from the outside. There was already havoc. As the noises were slowly getting quieter and sudden darkness engulfed the interior, things went from bad to worse.
Someone was thrown out of the second floor with unimaginable force until they landed on the ground not too far from the building. He looked severely beaten, almost hard to believe that he was still breathing. He had a black eye, busted lips and a plethora of other injuries. No one went easy on him, that's for sure.
Two more people went flying from the windows too, but they fell from the first floor this time and didn't look as bad as the one before them, who fell from the second floor. They tried to get back on their feet but were barely able to stand upright. They were terrified. As soon as they looked back at the Inn, they couldn't see their attackers. They just grabbed their weapons from the ground as fast as they could, but before they knew it, someone lunged a flying kick at one of them.
The person beside him tried to defend himself by using his sword. As soon as he gathered enough strength to pick it up, someone shot at his hand and made him drop it. He drew out another smaller gun from his back, but someone behind him struck him with a powerful headbutt, bludgeoning half of his skull. He got knocked out and presumably suffered a concussion.
The guy who received a flying kick climbed on the ground trying to reach his friend's pistol, but someone stepped on his arm and kicked the gun away from him. The person looked up to see his attackers, four of them surrounded him in a circle with fierce eyes. They looked at the beaten guy, breathing in and out while trying to beg for mercy. It was apparent he couldn't speak. It was silent despair. The attackers looked at each other, going over what they were about to do to him.
After they were done discussing among themselves, the attackers settled on an agreement. The leader walked away, leaving the other three with devilish smiles. The big guy with the scar stomped the poor guy's face, knocking him out. An audible crunch could be heard that probably shattered his skull. Everything went black with nothing but noises from the four attackers' fading away into the woods.
Two hours ago, 7:44 pm that same day, back at Haven Academy a group of people stood inside the Headmaster's office. There was silence, the clock on the wall was the only thing making noise by ticking on each second. Three teenage girls, a boy sitting in the Headmaster's chair and an adult man standing next to the boy remained silent. The three girls were members of Team RWBY. They finally reunited after several months. The last time they saw each other was during the Fall of Beacon. Sadly, there was a very sour feeling in the air rather than that of a heartwarming reunion.
Blake Belladonna, a cat Faunus in the group was just informed about everything that happened while she was gone. Things about Salem and her group, the Maidens, Relics and how all this led to the recent attack at Haven. "So, it is true?" She was the first one to break the silence.
"I'm afraid so, Miss Belladonna. I know it's a lot to handle, but it was for the best to catch you up to speed." Professor Ozpin, the former headmaster of Beacon and currently possessing the body of a farm boy, Oscar Pine, spoke with an apologetic tone.
"And that's probably as far as they got. We were lucky my sister didn't want to fight Yang when she reached the vault. Could have turned out a lot worse. " The man standing next to Ozpin was Qrow Branwen, professional Huntsman, commenting on the outcome.
"Indeed, our victory was nothing but a stroke of luck in our favor. If I'm honest with all of you, our performance was questionable at best. While we have the upper hand now, I can say that no one, including myself, is in any shape to fight against Salem and her group." Ozpin's voice spoke as he facepalmed out of sheer embarrassment.
"What about the Relic? Can we put it back to the vault?" Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY asked the former headmaster with a confused expression.
"Without the Spring Maiden, it's impossible to seal it again. Although, our victory ensures that they won't bother us for a short while at least. The best solution, for now, is to keep it in the house until we can think of a better place to put it." Qrow explained as he held up the weird-looking lamp in his left hand.
"You can do whatever you want with it. I'll go see how Weiss and the others are doing." Yang Xiao Long, the strongest member of Team RWBY, stood up and walked towards the door.
"Wait, Yang!" Blake went after the blonde girl. She didn't stop and simply slammed the door shut right in front of the Faunus' face. "She's still mad at me, huh?" She remarked in a moody tone.
"Yeah, I thought the group hug from last night would have made her mellow down, but I guess she just didn't want to ruin the mood." Ruby tried to cheer up her teammate, without much result.
"I can't blame her…it was my fault to begin with. And after she found out I let Adam get away, she just started ignoring me entirely."
"I'm sure she'll get over it. She isn't the type of person to hold grudges against anyone. For the most part. I think." There was doubt in Ruby's voice. She tried to change the topic to lighten Blake's mood. "So where are Sun and Ilia right now?"
"Sun is at Mistral's main gate waiting for his team to get back. They've come across some inconveniences on their way here early today. Ilia is with my parents helping around, as a way to atone for all the trouble she caused at Menagerie." Even with the change of topic, the Cat Faunus was still far from happy and with even more things on her mind. She opened the door and left the room as well.
"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.
"I need to see my parents, we're trying to organize a party for the New White Fang. I'll meet you later at the house, whenever I have time. See you around." The Faunus left the room without much to say, leaving Ruby alone in the room with Ozpin and Qrow.
They noticed the team leader was in an awkward position that her team wasn't fully reunited yet. Ruby let out a weak chuckle, but it was easy to see that not everything was back to normal. She tried to think about how to make her sister and her friend get along again. "Not easy to be a leader, huh?" Qrow said to his niece.
"Yeah. It's hard. I bet stuff like this happened all the time in your team, right Uncle Qrow?"
"Well, Summer tried her best to keep us in high spirits. Hasn't always worked but at the end of the day we somehow managed to work together like always."
"Although I suggest you go see them and talk. I'm sure all of you'll get back on track in no time." Ozpin's voice of assurance inspired the young Huntress to not give up.
"Thank you, Professor, I guess I'll go back home and check up on the team. I'm sure we'll work it out in no time." Ruby left in high spirits, trying to keep a smile as she left the office. Ozpin and Qrow were the only ones inside now. They flipped their smiles into grimaces. Qrow sighed as he looked at the floor.
"So, what do you think?"
"About what?" Ozpin replied.
"About Lionheart, with him dead we can't leave Mistral until the council chooses a new Headmaster."
"Even if it's unlikely for Salem to attack again in such a short amount of time, our problems here aren't over yet."
"No kidding, Oz, a lot of good Huntsmen died cause of Lionheart's actions, but a lot of them are still MIA."
"Yeah, we can't leave until we find them. Even if there aren't any missing students, it still isn't enough to keep Haven safe." Ozpin said while inspecting a list of all the Haven students on it.
"And that's not all, I heard rumors that civilians are going missing while exploring the city." Both men sighed at how exhausting the situation was, especially after the thwarted invasion from the previous day.
"Well, I'll inform both teams and try to make it discreet for the rest of Haven's Students. We have to get as much help as possible. As for the Relic, we could leave it at the house, but someone has to always stay and guard it."
"I was thinking we could hide it in the outer limits of the city. Maybe like a cave or something." Qrow tried to make a suggestion, only to have Ozpin reply by shaking his head.
"Sorry, but I wouldn't advise it. We don't know if any of them are still in Mistral. Although, we should try to get a safe, just for starters." Qrow nodded. He started walking out of the office while looking at his Scroll for any more news. "One more thing. It isn't much to ask but could you please try to put those teenagers back into shape. We can't continue our journey until everyone is doing their best, physically and mentally."
"I agreed, luck won't be on our side the next time we fight Salem's people. Luck was never on my side anyway…" Qrow said with a grim look on his face. He left Ozpin alone in the office. His eyes stopped glowing as he handed back the controls to Oscar. They discussed some things in their mind.
"I guess I will have to train too, huh?" Oscar said with an unconfident tone.
"We can't afford to take any more lucky shots. From now on, we have greater responsibilities, now that you know the dangers her group is capable of. " Ozpin's voice spoke to the young farmer. Both tried to reflect on the situation. "Consider yourself fortunate that you are in a capable company. You'll learn it a lot faster."
"I guess, I didn't have many friends back home…"
"You would be surprised by the kind of people I met over the years," Ozpin said sarcastically.
Not too far from Haven Academy, in a big and comfortable house inhabited by team RWBY and JNR as well as Qrow and Oscar, Ruby entered the house to see her sister Yang. An inseparable couple of Ren and Nora were sitting in the living room while watching the Mistral News Network hosted by the local reporter Kira Kikyo. She was covering the battle at Haven from last night. Between that and the Faunus crowd led by Ghira Belladonna, it made everyone tired. It was the only thing they showed that whole day.
Ruby walked towards her friends. They noticed some sort of turmoil in her eyes. "So, how is Weiss doing? Is she fine?" The hooded girl asked as casually as she knew how.
"Jaune is with her in her room applying for some medicine the doctors gave her," Yang replied to her younger sister.
"Medicine? Can't Jaune just use his Semblance to patch her up?"
"While Jaune's new Semblance may have saved Weiss from that injury, it was necessary to apply for some medicine just in case she suffered any more damage to her internal organs." The ever-quiet Ren explained the situation. Ruby found it rather interesting.
"Really? I didn't know there was medicine for that!"
"We were supposed to learn that back at Beacon. It was supposed to be our first class right after the Vytal Festival was over." As Ren mentioned it, everyone drew a distinct expression and not a very happy one. It's been a long time since that fateful day.
"Oh-Reeeeeenn~, could you change channels? This is getting booooring!" Nora was yawning in front of her boyfriend. He complied and put on something else. A boring soap opera but still better than nothing.
"As I was saying, while Aura can heal surface injuries like bruises or cuts that aren't deep, if you've been impaled or stabbed in a vital organ you need medical attention, no matter how much Aura you use. Jaune just awakened his Semblance, so we can't be as relieved as we thought we could."
"That applies to amputations as well…" Yang added to the explanation. "…Even if my Aura stopped the bleeding, it doesn't mean I didn't need to wrap it with bandages before it could get infected."
"By the way, where's Blake?" Ren asked.
"She told me that she needs to help her parents prepare for a party, do you think we're invited? Sounds like we could have some fun after our victory."
"Define 'victory'. We didn't stop them for good, Ruby." Yang said with a bitter look.
"I know we didn't do well but we're all still alive, aren't we?" Ruby tried to bring some positivity into their lives, but there was some awkward silence in the room. "I…I'll go upstairs and see how Weiss and Jaune are doing." She walked slowly toward the stairs as everyone focused their gazes on the show. As soon the hooded girl left, Yang's left hand started to shake uncontrollably. She was getting annoyed by it.
"Are the shakes coming back?" Nora asked Yang.
"Yeah, I thought I've had it under control."
"Have you considered seeing a therapist after coming to Mistral?" Ren asked.
"No, I didn't think I'd need one." She tried to stop her left arm from shaking by holding it with her right. "Do you know anyone?"
"Not really, but I'm sure you can find one around."
"I'll try to find one tomorrow, thanks for the tip, Ren." Yang started to look for a therapist in the city through her Scroll. From all the results, she found one not too far from the house. He was located close to the Market District. Good results and recommendations convinced the blonde girl to go seek him out. "Dr. Lawrence Carmine, huh? I hope he's as good as they say." She mumbled as she continued to watch the show.
Ruby was opening the bedroom without making any noise. She saw Jaune sitting in a chair while using a wet stone to sharpen his sword. Weiss was on the bed reading a magazine. Not the most productive thing to do, Ruby thought. "How are you feeling?" She asked her partner.
"I feel like a spear just went through me… oh wait, it really did." The former heiress said with her usual snarky tone. Still, for her to even make such jokes so early was a good sign that she was doing well. "The doctors said the medicine should be enough. I'll probably be able to walk tomorrow. Another battle scar, I guess."
"That's good to hear. I guess Jaune finally became your knight in shiny armor, right?" Ruby tried to bring in a more positive mood, but Jaune wasn't paying attention. He was lost in thought as he sharpened his sword repeatedly. "Um, Jaune? Are you alright?" Ruby tried to talk to him, but he didn't reply.
"Hey, Vomit Boy!" Weiss raised her voice at him and he finally reacted.
"Huh? What…? What's up?" The blond guy responded.
"Is everything fine? You were spacing out for a moment."
"It's… uh, nothing…" He mumbled, the girls exchanged worried glances to one another.
"You know you can talk to us if something is bothering you, right?"
"I'm fine, I'll be down with the others if you need me." Jaune stood up from his chair and left the room. He was in a pretty downer mood. Ruby was alarmed. He's been like this since last night.
"Him too, huh…?"
"Him too?" Weiss asked.
"He, Blake, and Yang have been like this the whole day. That can't be a good sign. I thought that now that we're all together, we'd all be happy." Ruby said with a long face.
"It's been a long day, we're just tired and exhausted. I think if we just got some sleep, then maybe, just maybe we would stop being so mean to one another." Weiss tried to lift Ruby's morale in her own way, the Ice Queen Way. She leaned towards the hooded girl and firmly hugged her.
"Aww, I thought you wouldn't allow me to touch you~."
"Just this once. And don't try to squish me too tight, alright? My wound still hurts." Weiss warned Ruby not to ruin the moment. The mood felt a lot warmer with a hug from the coldest person in Mistral. They stopped hugging and Ruby decided to let the former heiress rest just a little while longer.
She sat in front of a desk. With a stack of paper and a pile of pens on the table, she grabbed one of each with her left hand and started writing a letter addressed to her dad. She tried to think about what to write besides what happened yesterday. Her mind was blank. She didn't want to worry him even more. It's been a while since her last letter arrived.
Ruby couldn't find the right words to write down. She sighed and put the paper and pen away. She turned off the desk lamp and gazed through the window. She saw the bright moon in the dark sky. It was facing her from the intact side. She admired it even more without the floating pieces. It made her feel strange. How something that was destroyed and torn asunder ages ago could from time to time still look so… breathtaking. As if nothing ever happened to it. She was hoping that the next day would be a brighter tomorrow for everyone.
Under the same sky not too far from Mistral, inside an Inn, a chatty concoction of noises was coming from the second floor. The four members of Team JAQK with Lucy and Saber were in the room talking about their findings and misadventures, catching up on all the things that happened between The Vytal Festival and now. Jack, the team leader, was the first to finish his story in regards the mysterious assassin Sal. The next one in line was Quinn, the bruiser, who was done explaining his bad luck after escaping Atlas and crashing in an abandoned airship with a fellow escapee. Lastly, Ace and Diamo told their side of the tale at Forever Falls, where they dealt with a crazy Anti-Faunus cult and received the help of another Huntsman team and a small White Fang group that got involved.
All crazy stories. They did their best to gather any clues, but without any success.
"Okay, I guess we've heard enough. So, none of you were able to get anything that might help us?" Jack asked his team, all of them pointed their eyes to the ceiling.
"Well, we got these documents from Copper…" Ace explained while showing a folder, it included a lot of classified crossed out info and old pictures.
"That's not enough! We can't get any concrete evidence from that. That's military grade Dust infused ink. It's so useless now you can't even use it as toilet paper!" Quinn criticized the happy-go-lucky guy.
"We retrieved some raw Silverium. What did you get? Petty revenge and getting owned by General Ironwood?" Diamo scolded Quinn's actions. Everyone considered it as a stupid idea, maybe even stupider than Ace's.
"Shut it, Four-Eyes! I gave Zinc what he deserves and brought his actions to Ironwood's attention. I bet he's now trying to investigate him and the rest of remaining scientists from the Atlas Division too! So, I was the one who did most of the work here!"
"Did you? How so?"
"I got General Tinman busy enough to focus on them rather than sending his toy soldiers after us! That's what I did!" Quinn defended his actions, no one was able to stop mentioning how bad the idea was.
"Well, you didn't do a great job, seeing as someone just tried to kill Jack on our way here!" Lucy joined the conversation. She was worried about her boyfriend.
"No, this isn't the case," Jack interjected. Everyone looked at the cowboy with confusion.
"What do you mean, bro?" Ace asked.
"I don't believe Sal was someone from the Atlas Military or even any Huntsmen organization." The Leader gave everyone his own piece of mind. It made the others wonder as well.
"So what can be the link between this assassin and Atlas?" Diamo wondered as he adjusted his glasses.
"If this guy was really from Atlas, he wouldn't go after me without a small capture unit. Odds are he'd probably just apprehend me for interrogation. Assassination doesn't seem to be Ironwood's style."
"So, you think that A-hole is part of the people who set you up back at Vale?" Quinn was in the dark too, but Diamo was shaking his head in disagreement.
"I'm not so sure, if he was one of their people, then they wouldn't need to blame you in the first place. That would raise more questions than answers."
"Dude, this is such a mess. Why is it so hard to figure out who's after us!?" Ace took off his bandana and scratched his head. "Are we at least safe from Mr. 'Coming-for-your-life'?"
"We don't know where he could be, but he won't bother us for a while. Seriously, that guy was creeping me out." Lucy said while petting Saber under the table, the husky reacted with a whine.
"If he is no longer pestering us, that should give us enough time to ditch this place and hide in the city like rats," Quinn commented as he chugged more liquor down his throat.
"Which brings me to our second point. How's our budget?" Jack asked everyone with a grimace. All of them pulled out their wallets left them on the table where everyone can see them. Their total sum as a group combined was so low that they didn't even bother to count.
"Well…this is just pathetic," Quinn commented with a sigh.
"How exactly are we gonna to survive? No money or a place to sleep…" Diamo mumbled while rubbing his eyes.
"Partner, Lucy, don't you have people living in the city?" Ace asked the two, but they weren't completely sure about it.
"Ace, you know that my friends won't give us shelter, much less in the district they live in. And you probably wouldn't like to be in the same house with my blind uncle. He doesn't like visitors." Diamo expressed more concern for the team than his family and friends.
"Yeah, and my father's house is way too small for us. You would tear each other to shreds." Lucy remarked, cutting their options for sleep down to zero.
"No money, or roof, huh? The most we can do for now is head to the city and try to get some jobs." Jack suggested a solution, which made Ace frown.
"Do we have to? Work sounds like such a drag. " The talkative guy said while sighing in disappointment.
"No complaints, dumbass!" Quinn berated Ace, who was behaving like a spoiled child.
"Even with jobs, we wouldn't have enough Lien to even rent anything. Staying in an Inn or hotel would be expensive since we don't know how long we're staying." Diamo pointed out a few caveats of the plan. They were feeling desperate. Every option only brought more trouble and planning wasn't as simple as they thought.
Quinn was tapping his fingers on the table, making a rather annoying noise that started bothering him, so he stopped. He slowly scratched behind his left ear while he was lost in thought. He accidentally hit his earring. He finally realized something crucial. "Guys, I think I have the answer to our problem." He spoke clearly, trying to gain everyone's attention.
"What is it, Q?" Jack asked his partner. He took off his earring and put it on the center of the table. Everyone was shocked by his offer. "Your family earring? Are you sure about this?"
"Seriously, how much is it even worth?" Ace followed as well.
"I don't know, but damn enough to get us somewhere a place to stay for at least a month and maybe some supplies," Quinn explained the jewel's value. He knew that it was for the best. The team couldn't believe he would give up the most precious memento of his family.
"Even if you pawn it, do you know anyone who could accept it?" The guy with glasses curiously asked the bruiser.
"Do you remember the guy who sent me stuff back at Atlas Academy?"
"Oh yeah, that guy…what was his name again?" Ace wasn't paying attention as he was playing with the husky under the table.
"His name is Rusty, you dimwit. He owns a pawn shop in this city."
"And do you think this guy would buy it for a large sum?" Jack asked while trying to think on another important topic.
"I knew him for quite some time now. I wager he would."
"Alright, then that settles it. Now, Lucy and I got news that Haven Academy got invaded last night. Do any of you know what that's about?" Jack asked everyone as he pulled out his Scroll for more info, but the signal was rather weak.
"Oh yeah, from what I heard from that cute waitress, some criminals broke in and fought some huntsmen inside. We don't know exactly who they were, but a large mob of Faunus came to help and stop a White Fang invasion." Ace explained in quick detail the intel he recently got.
"Any casualties?" Jack asked.
"Nothing too big. The only casualty was Haven's Headmaster. He was found dead in his office. There aren't any details for the cause of death, but it's safe to assume it happened during the attack." Diamo explained as he was reading an article from his Scroll.
"And that's just the beginning of our problems. After that shit-show, security around the city has increased and now there are guards all around the main gate, checking every damn person who wants to enter." Quinn interjected.
"That would be troublesome for us. In that case, we can't go through the main gate." Jack tried to think of other possibilities while looking at Mistral's map on his Scroll.
"So far, all other entrances are very few and far apart. Another option is to fly over the walls and get in, but that could attract attention and scare a lot of people."
The leader realized as he looked at his teammate with glasses. He was the one with the most knowledge about the city.
"Diamo…" Jack called out. "…Do you know any other entrances into the city?"
"Actually, I think I do. It's been a long time, but I know a way we can get through the walls without being detected."
"That's the spirit! Where exactly is this secret passage? Come on, tell me, tell me!" Ace was getting overly excited, so much so that it annoyed Quinn just enough to dope-slap him.
"To be honest, I don't think most of you will like it."
"Just spit it out already!" Quinn was getting impatient.
"The entry is through the sewers…" After Diamo said the way to go to Mistral, everyone went silent.
"Are you kidding me? Out of all the ludicrous places, it had to be the fricking sewers!" Quinn didn't like it one bit.
"It's our safest route to the city. It's usually guarded by Huntsmen, but now it's probably just abandoned. Going through it we can avoid security and then exit through the center of the city, close to the Market District." Diamo was done explaining the route, at which point Lucy recognized the location.
"The Market District? My father lives there!" She expressed with assurance which made the cowboy think even more about the situation.
"I see, if he lives there, then we can hide without issues before doing anything else." Diamo expressed in a positive manner.
"If that's the case, then our best chance to go and hide is tonight," Jack said to the team, which no one seemed to have a problem with.
"Everyone on board?" Ace asked while raising his hand. Everyone raised their hand. Even Saber raised her paw in agreement. "Alright, let's roll on!" As soon as they were done the voting, they stood up and packed their belonging to start their trip to Mistral.
"One thing, even if Lucy's dad or Diamo's friends won't let us stay for long, at least try to ask for one night until we get ourselves a house," Jack asked for one last thing before wrapping everything up.
"Don't sweat it, I'm sure we'll get something as soon as we get…" Ace was about to exit the door, only to get stopped in his tracks by a strange group of people blocking their exit. "Can we help you with anything? We were just about to leave." The chatty guy asked the people, but they didn't look friendly as they walked into the room.
Everyone felt that they looked like trouble as soon as they saw them. They were wearing purple clothes and had parts of their bodies adorned with spider tattoos. They looked as if they belonged to the same group. They looked better equipped than bandits for sure but not as good as professional Huntsmen. Three of them were blocking the door and they looked menacing, as could be expected from these types of locales.
"Of course you can help us." Said one of them. "We don't like tourists coming into our territory without paying a small entrance fee. 2,000 Lien per person, dogs cost extra." Team JAQK weren't happy that a bunch of thugs was trying to shake them for the little money they had right now.
"And who the hell are you guys? Border control? Get the hell out of our way, palooka!" Quinn yelled at the thugs, warning them in his own signature way.
"So, you're not gonna pay? I don't know how you handle things back home, but here things tend to get ugly. And I'm talking Rat Faunus levels of ugly." Two of them stepped forward to threaten the group. Quinn and Ace stepped in front of Jack while Diamo, Lucy and Saber were safe behind their leader. "So we're going with ugly, huh? Sick 'em, boys!" The third guy ordered the others and they rushed at Ace and Quinn.
Ace side-stepped and put his foot in the way to trip one of the attackers and make him fall to the floor. Quinn didn't move when he got punched in the face, but the impact dislocated the attacker's own hand. Quinn felt generous and decided to only punch the attacker in the stomach. They backed off a little. They were astonished to see what they can do.
"Huge mistake, cowboy." The third guy pulled out a gun to shoot at Jack, but he blocked swiftly it with his right palm, making the bullet ricochet into the ceiling. Peace talks have ceased and they were now engaged in a battle within the Inn. Quinn performed a quick rush attack, throwing two of them from the second floor onto the first one. Ace followed them as well to join the fight downstairs.
"Diamo, take Lucy and Saber out of here, we'll take care of this."
"Roger that." The sniper obeyed his Leader's order and they left the room. Jack started fighting the remaining gangster on the second floor. The cowboy threw a barrage right hooks at the guy with the spider tattoo, but he swiftly dodged his attacks. He tried to use a bowie knife, but Jack parried it with his left hand while countering with the other. Soon they started causing as much mayhem as the ones on the first floor.
Quinn was dealing with one that continuously tried to punch him. It started getting harder to move. His Aura was being charged by his Semblance, making him heavier in the process. He briefly deactivated it and grabbed one of his arms to throw him against a table. The table broke into pieces and fell to the ground. One tried to stab Quinn in the back, but Ace came to the rescue with a swift kick to the spider's hand to make him drop the knife.
The one on the floor stood up to drag Ace to the bar while Quinn had to the deal with the other one. The bruiser activated his Aura one second before his opponent punched him in the face again. This time the guy used a brass knuckle to avoid breaking his hand. Quinn grabbed him from by the throat and threw him at Ace. The speedster reacted quickly by kicking his opponent and making both of the goons collide into one another.
Jack was getting exhausted with dealing with the opponent. He wasn't really in fighting shape at the moment. In the heat of the moment, the thug managed to get past the cowboy's defenses and get close enough to grab his revolver. After getting some distance between them, he tried to fire a round at the exhausted cowboy. As he pulled the trigger with all his strength, he felt that it refused to move. No matter how much force he applied, the trigger wouldn't even budge. In frustration, he threw the entire gun at the exhausted cowboy, only to miss and send it flying through the window.
Jack tried his best to avoid every single attack but felt that his Aura couldn't withstand much more damage. As the guy with the spider tattoo kicked him against the table, Jack grabbed it by the edge and smacked him with at full force. It made the thug lose focus as the cowboy tried to approach him.
The spider tried to punch Jack in his concussed state. The cowboy used his Semblance to move behind the spider and hastily grabbing him to perform a painful suplex. Dizzy and in awe from the guy with the robotic arm, the thug tried to stand up and use a chair to attack him. Jack rushed towards him with a megaton punch. Time seemed to slow down as the robotic fist was getting closer and closer, breaking the chair into pieces while going through the thug's guard.
The cowboy delivered a powerful strike to the spider's face which sent him flying through the window, falling to the ground of the second floor. Jack dispatched one of them. He was now trying to catch his breath. He decided to leave the room and see how well the others were doing on the first floor.
Quinn grabbed a barrel full of grog and lunged it at one of the thugs while he was still on the ground. Ace used his Semblance to cover his Aura in a white glow and began sliding on the floor, dodging another thug's punches as if he was skating on ice. "Hey Quinn, shouldn't you finish those guys outside?" Ace yelled to the bruiser across the place.
"Bring it on! I was starting to get bored of these clowns!" Quinn got into position and pushed his opponent at Ace and the other goon close to the door. With liquor spilled all over the floor, Ace took the chance and shot an ice projectile from his main weapon, freezing the grog and making a slippery surface for the thugs. They took the opportunity and both fugitives charged against them.
Ace went in with a lateral kick while Quinn ramped at one of them with a tackle. Both of their strengths combined were enough to throw the thugs out of the Inn through the windows. Everything went dark inside as the lights went out. Lucy was the one who took out the fuses from outside, hoping to give the team a combat advantage. It was a little too late for that.
"Guys…" Jack called out for his brother and partner. "Let's get out of this place, check whatever those guys have in their pockets and let's head to the main entrance, ASAP!" They nodded to their team Leader as they left the Inn in the cover of darkness.
Ace noticed one of the thugs outside was trying to get up, he reacted quickly and delivered the thug a flying kick. The other thug tried to use his sword, but Diamo saw him just in time and used his service pistol to disarm him. It wasn't enough as the same thug had a holstered gun on his back. Quinn had enough of this nonsense, so he grabbed that guy and headbutted him out of commission.
The last conscious thug who Ace kicked was crawling on the ground, trying to reach the other thug's gun but was caught by the cowboy. Jack stomped on his hand and kicked the gun away from him. "Huge mistake, little spider…" Jack said to the thug on the ground. The rest of the team surrounded him, instilling fear into his very soul. "If you try to get near us ever again, I'll throw you into the Grimm-infested woods and you'll end up in itsy bitsy pieces. Understood?" The thug nodded in terror while the cowboy looked at the bruiser and walked away.
"Goodnight, sucker…" Quinn proceeded to kick the thug in the face, leaving him unconscious. With no other enemies in the area, team JAQK started looting their defeated enemies for some extra Lien. Jack went to retrieve his revolver that the thug threw out of the window. He was relieved to find it in a good shape. Atlas engineering at it's finest. Diamo walked towards the door and left some money for the drinks and snacks. It was a polite thing to do, although he wasn't sure it would cover the expenses for the busted windows and all the holes they left on the floor.
In the dark woods, the group walked closely along the road heading to Mistral, the city known all over Remnant as the 'Paradise of Vice'. They weren't sure what they might encounter, but soon they came to learn that this was only the beginning of their problems.
Hello everyone, you may wonder how this story is all about. To put it simply, this takes on a gap between Volumes 5 and 6 with everything in the main show's continuity. This is going to be longer than previous stories since it is a longer cast with different situations. I waited so long for this and I hope you enjoy it as much I did writing it.
Also, I do have Twitter for future updates. It is TheTragicNoir, just the same.
