Attack

The bandits moved swiftly and silently, fixated on taking out the gun turrets before anyone had any idea what was happening. They scattered through the night, pairing into teams of two. Each pair went directly to their desired target and started ascending the wall. The guards had no chance. All of their attention was focused on stoping grimm attacks, so they had no idea that a threat had just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the city.

It was over in mere seconds. One by one, the bandits slit the throat of every guard. The city was now completely undefended. Raven approached the Inn. She had her tribes undivided attention as she spun the dust chamber in her katana's sheath and pulled out the great, red sword. She then plunged the dust-infused blade into the inn door, engulfing the building in flames. Following their leader's example, the tribe let out a cheerful war cry and got to work igniting the rest of the city.

The thunderous voice of the tribe was enough to wake the lightest of sleepers. The first citizens climbed out of bed, smelling smoke and realizing what was happening. Unfortunately, for them, there was nothing anyone could do to save the city. Now, the only hope was for some sort of miracle, and the only goal was to escape with their lives.

As the villagers tried to escape from their burning houses, the bandits attacked mercilessly. Not wanting to leave anyone alive, they sliced through the scared citizens on sight. Some victims barely made it outside the door before blood splattered the the walls of their now burning home.

Yang woke up suddenly. The defining cries of panic had been enough to rouse her. She climbed out of bed and took a look out the window to see the citizens of Herot running in fear as the bandits hunted them down like dogs. Yang quickly put on her jacket and reached inside her bag. She pulled out the left gauntlet of Ember Celica. After arming herself, Yang took another look out the window and saw a bandit closing in on a small girl. He was laughing maliciously as he prepared to end the child's life. Yang dove out the window and flew right at the man. In a second, it was over. She fell right on top of the bandit and connected a left hook strait to his face while blasting a shotgun shell from Ember Celica. The blast sent the man flying into the wall. As he tried to get up, his aura flickered and died. The next moment, Yang was firing another shot into the bandits face, killing him.

Yang ran to the little girl and held her in a comforting embrace to try and calm her. "Do you have a name kid?" Yang asked, trying to smile while still realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"B Blossom," the child whimpered back.

"Ok Blossom. You need to get out of here. I'll get you to the gate and find someone to take you out of the city. After that, I need to get back to help the others, ok?"

"O o ok." At this point Blossom was scared beyond all rational thought when suddenly, a friendly voice came calling out.

"Yang is that you?"

"Ben? Yeah it's me."

"Yang, we gotta get outta here now."

"No, I'm going to stay and fight. I know I can save some of these people."

"What are you crazy? We're going to die out here."

"Look, take her. Her name is Blossom. Get her out of the city." Yang's eyes had turned a bright red as she got up and faced the ensuing battle.

Realizing that there was no dissuading her, Ben picked up the girl and sighed, "Alright, just stay safe."

"Don't worry about me. Get her to safety." Yang closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and charged into the fray.

"Alright. Good luck Yang." Ben turned towards the gate and ran as fast as he could with Blossom in his arms.

The city was in total chaos by this point. There were bandits seemingly everywhere, and the citizens could only scream and run as they were chased down. Yang just started firing off blasts of dust toward every bandit she saw. Attracting their attention, five of the masked assailants grouped up to face her.

"Well, well, well, it looks like this one has some fight. This should be fun," one of them laughed. He was short and fat with scars decorating his entire body. He hung back as the other four pounced. Yang paired their attacks with shotgun blasts form her left arm and powerful jabs from her robotic right. She caught one of them in the face with a shotgun shell and another in the throat with her gold-painted cybernetic, knocking the wind out of him and nearly breaking his jugular. The other two managed to go connect some blows with their swords and axes, but Yang's aura was too tough. All they managed to do was make her stronger. Absorbing the hits, Yang charged back and unleashed a barrage of gun fire that sent them flying and killed the two who were already stunned. She stared menacingly into the final man's eyes, ready to beat him down with her fists. Before she could do so, the fat man turned tail and ran further into the fray to seek help, disappearing behind a thick, black cloud of smoke.

The scene had quieted down considerably. Most of the citizens had either escaped or died by this point. The bandits were scavenging the wreckage throughout the city in search of loot that would be useful to the tribe. Yang took another deep breath to slow herself. Remembering her father's advice, she tried to calm herself down in order to be more aware of her surroundings and think about what may happen next. She then walked into the smoke in search of more bandits.

Raven looked down at the four bodies that lay dead at her feet. Fools, but brave fools. She took a look around what was left of city, preparing to call her tribe back to her when suddenly, she heard a voice calling to her.

"Raven! Raven!" he cried out, running towards her.

"Sloth? What is it this time?" Raven was rolling her eyes from beneath her mask. Sloth was a coward, and he irritated Raven to the highest degree.

"There's a girl. She took out four of us by herself. She's too strong for me. We need your help!"

She sighed at Sloth's weakness. "Then you should have died. I'm not going to clean up your mess."

"Please Raven! You are the only one strong enough!"

"Fine, but know that I will remember this act of cowardice. Next time, I kill you myself."

She spoke softly, but the tone of her voice and the fire in her eyes sent a chill down Sloth's spine. He could barely contain his on fear as he stood there shaking.

"Get out of my sight" Raven spat. She hated cowards, and he was the worst of all.

"Y y yes Raven." The man stumbled over himself as he ran back into the rubble.

Pathetic. We never should have spared him.

Raven looked out in the direction that Sloth had come from. After a brief moment, she could finally make out a tall girl with long blond hair and a robotic arm. What is she doing here?

As Yang made her way through the village, a red and black figure slowly came into view. Wondering if it might be the person behind the attack, she sped up her pace until she could finally make out what it was. When she finally realized what she was seeing, she stopped dead in her tracks. In the middle of the street, a masked figure was standing over four dead bodies. Yang recognized the bodies as Ben's friends from the bar. She also realized the masked warrior was none other than Raven Branwen, her mother. Raven walked forward, stopping a few feet in front of her daughter. She then pulled off her mask, allowing Yang to see her face. "Yang? What are you doing here?"