Who Are We Anyway?
Chapter 5
It's Now or Never
Note: I hope the last chapter wasn't too gruesome for you guys. Anyway, here comes another one and all I can say now, from here on out, is prepare yourself. Enjoy!
Blake ran around Vale all night. She was lost. She didn't know where to go. She couldn't go to the cafe. It was too early and no one would be there. Wait a second, Ruby's house. I'll go there, she thought. She ran as fast as she could to get to Ruby's house. She banged on the door and screamed for Ruby to open the door. Ruby opened the door slowly and with her pajamas still on.
"Blake, what's wrong with you? It's too early for this."
"Sun's dead. We need to get Yang now." Ruby woke up from that comment. She was going to ask how and why, but Yang was more important. She grabbed her clothes and ran out with Blake to the police station. They slammed open the door and ran to the warden's window.
"Release my sister right now. Yang Xiao Long."
"That's not up to my discretion at this point." Ruby grew furious. His dumb face and his careless tone drove her nuts.
"Yang, get your ass out of there right now!" The prison door buzzed and Yang emerged from her hell hole. Yang yawned.
"What's up Ruby?" Ruby grabbed her collar and slammed her against the wall.
"Shut up Yang. You need to come with us now!"
"Alright, chill. I'm already out, see?" Ruby roughly let go of her collar and left without another word. They ran to the cafe that was just opening. Some of the gang was wandering through the streets when they saw the 3 run into the cafe. They immediately followed.
"Hey, you guys are early today. Glad I woke up early."
"It's urgent."
"Hey Ruby, what's up? You usually don't here for another hour or so. It's good to see Yang with you again."
"Sit down guys. We need to talk." Everyone grabbed a chair a prepared for the conversation, which they knew was going to be very different than what they usually talk about.
...
Meanwhile at Roman's lab, he was still clueless about his discovery. His eyes were glued to the crystal he found inside Sun's heart. He's never seen anything like it. The door opened loudly and Penny, with her assistants, came through.
"Excuse me, how's your research coming along?" he was at his desk. His face was buried in his hands and the crystal was right below his face.
"I've hit a wall Penny."
"I don't comprehend." He turned slowly. His eyes were red, as if he hadn't slept for days.
"Do you know what this is?" Penny's eyes turned red and a sensor shot from them. Roman remained motionless as Penny completed her scan.
"Object is unknown sir. No information about this object has been stored into my databanks. My services won't be of any help in this situation." He sighed and turned back towards his desk.
"I don't think anyone will be of any help right now."
"Is that all sir?" He brought his head up from his desk once more. An idea popped up in his head. He totally forgot that he was on his own now. No one was going to stop him. He already had the approval of the council to continue his research.
"I need more of them now. Bring me that group of low-lives at once."
"Of course." Penny bowed to him and took off with her assistants. Roman was starting to feel better. He snickered to himself for he was planning something big.
...
"Wait, hold on a second. What do you mean they're hunting us?"
"I found Sun's body in the dumpster last night and his Aura wasn't there."
"What does that mean?"
"His chest was cut open and I couldn't see his Aura." Blake looked around the group and they were all confused. She sighed. "Huntsmen and Huntresses are born with an ability called Aura. This special aspect is found inside of our hearts and it takes the form of a crystal. Whoever killed him apparently took his Aura."
"So does that mean our hopes for a better future are gone?"
"I think so." Everybody sighed and bowed their heads. This was the day they were afraid of. The day humanity finally decides to act against the Huntsmen and Huntresses. They were just surprised that it had to come so quickly.
"Attention Huntsmen and Huntresses, we have the building surrounded. Please relinquish your arms and step outside at once!" Ruby turned to Yang.
"What do we do now?"
"I think I have an idea. Follow me." Yang led the group outside where Penny was waiting with her assistants.
"It appears you misunderstood my instructions. I asked you to give up your arms. Your group is becoming a threat to the people of Vale." Yang stepped out in front of the group and spoke out.
"I've seen you around and it appears that you're a smart piece of machinery. How about we do a bet?" Penny turned her head in confusion.
"I apologize for not understanding the language of humans."
"I'll put it simple. You put something on the line and I'll do the same. Whoever wins gets to take it all."
"Understood. Name the game."
"It'll be a duel. First to surrender under a finishing strike takes all."
"Your character has sparked my interest. What will you bet?"
"If I win, you will leave us alone. No more experiments, hot pursuits. We will no longer appear on your radar."
"And if you lose, everything will remain the same. However, I get to take you back to my master's lab." Ruby couldn't believe it.
"Yang! What are you doing?! You can't do this! Anything, but that!" she jumped into her arms and started to cry.
"I have to. This is the only way to bring peace to our way of life. Don't worry, I still got the moves." She turned to Penny and stuck out her hand. "Agreed."
"What is this motion?"
"It's a sign of agreement. We shake indicating that we'll live up to our word."
"Mmm." Penny stuck out her hand and shook Yang's. "Well, shall we begin?"
"Let's." Yang and Penny walked to opposite ends of the square, facing away from each other. Penny had a serious face. She wasn't going to let a mere human defeat her. Ever since her creation, her record has been perfect. Yang, on the other hand, psyched herself differently. She closed her eyes and took slow, deep breaths. She was finally getting to fight. After all these days of hiding, she can finally reveal her true self. She opened her eyes as she reached the end of the square and noticed that Ruby was trying to tell her something. It seemed that she mouthing the word, "twelve." Yang didn't know what this meant, but kept in memory. She stopped walking and took one more deep breath.
"Before we start, I couldn't help but analyze your motives and heart beat. It appears that you're not doing this to kill. You want to prove a point." Yang turned around and nodded to her. "Well, if that's the case, I shall do the same." Penny crouched into her battle stance and 12 swords appeared from behind her. Yang focused on Penny and noticed that she had 12 swords. That was what Ruby meant. She smiled and readied her gauntlets.
A small gust of wind brushed against their faces as the duel started. Penny made the first move by shooting one of her sword at Yang. Yang easily shot it out of the air and took one step towards her. Another one was shot and Yang dodged it while taking another step forward. Yang noticed Penny's eyes started to focus and decided it was time. She ran at her and Penny shot two more sword at her. One was shot close to the ground and the other flew a couple feet above it. Yang took evasive action. She hopped in the air and spun her body horizontally, avoiding the swords. When she landed, she punched and fired a shot, missing Penny's head by inches. Penny rolled out of the way. Yang fired two more shots at her and she leapt out of the way, avoiding the explosion of her guns. After she regained her ground, she threw two more swords at Yang. Yang slammed the ground, creating a wall of fire in front of her and the swords were incinerated.
"Six," Yang said under her breath.
Yang continued to run at Penny with full force. Swords constantly flew in her direction, but she managed to dodge every single one of them. The last sword had a different behavior. It flew at her, but with a spinning motion. Yang moved her body to the left and her left arm swung around to catch the sword in midair. Everyone was stunned. With the sword in hand, she threw it at Penny, who wasn't quick enough to dodge. The sword grazed by her neck and when she looked up, she saw Yang ready to finish the duel.
"That's 12." Her body was on a collision course with Penny's. the dust from the ground rose to the sky as Yang returned to Earth. When the dust dissipated, the crowds were shocked. Yang had Penny pinned up against a wall with her gauntlets pressed against her cheek. Yang had a little grin on her face as she said, "It appears I won." Penny started to chuckle.
"Oh the arrogance of the human kind. If you would be so kind as to check over your shoulder." Yang didn't understand. Why was she asking this of her? She turned around to see one of her swords pointed at the back of Yang's neck. Yang gasped and her eyes shot wide open. "Now, judging by your finishing move, you tried to count the number of weapons I had. Usually I carry 12 swords, but in your situation, I was forced to call upon my 13th sword. Also, while you were in the air, I analyzed your weapon and noticed that it was not loaded to fire. In this situation, I have the upper hand. The time it takes for you to cock your gun, my sword will already be through your neck. I win." The crowds went nuts. She had defeated another Huntress. Yang fell back onto her butt and was still processing the event. She couldn't believe she had lost. She had everything mapped out. Although her speed was better, Yang's strength would have easily subdued her. What went wrong? Ruby and the rest of the group ran to Yang who was still on the ground.
"Yang, are you okay?"
"I'm so sorry. I-I let you guys down."
"Don't think that. You fought valiently."
"But that's not enough Nora. Now, I'm their lab rat."
"I won't let them."
"Ruby..."
"Well, it's time to hold your end of the bargain. As expected, your coming with me."
"I don't think so. If you want my sister, you'll have to go through me." Blake came up from behind her.
"You'll have to go through all of us." Ruby looked back and everyone was ready to fight. Weapons were out and the faces of warriors could be seen on everyone's faces.
Penny sighed. "Well, this complicates things."
"No!" A familiar voice broke out from the crowd. "Take me. Let them go." It was Jaune.
"Ah, this is an interesting turn of events. You are a Huntsmen, yes." Penny scanned his body and it didn't lie. He was a Huntsmen.
"You can do whatever you want with me. Just let them live." Penny had to contemplate on this. This was getting interesting. Almost too interesting for her to handle.
"Alright. If what you say is true, my master will be more than happy to take you instead. However, through this change, I will make one myself. As of today, these Huntsmen and Huntresses are now enemies of the capital. This message will be sent to every city and every human on the planet. I banish them to the Untouchable Land where they may do as they please. Caught inside the cities and our punishment will be met with brute force. You have until nightfall to leave. Pray I never find you again." The other two machines grabbed Jaune by the arm and took him away. Pyrrha ran over to him.
"What are you doing?"
"I thought it over and you were right. Change happens out here, not in there. I'm sorry I doubted you."
"Step aside." One of the robots broke the two apart and pushed Pyrrha to the ground. The group ran over to Pyrrha and picked her up off the ground.
"Pyrrha, we need to go. It's not safe here anymore." She wiped the tears from her face as she took one more look at Jaune as he was dragged away.
The group gathered their things and headed out. The city gate opened up and they walked out with shame. As the last person made it out, the gate slammed shut and the guards locked it up. There was no return. Before they got out of reach, Weiss stopped to turn towards the city.
"You'll regret this! All of you! You'll soon realize the plague you've brought upon yourself!" From the wall, Roman heard every word and sipped his coffee. The city was his and there was no one to stop him.
The trip was long and perilous. It took three days for them to reach the Untouchable Land and when they got there, they were greeted by a menacing sign.
"Turn back for death is ahead." None of them have ever seen this place. There were no pictures, no records for them to reference to. They were flying blind. They set up camp by and rather large tree and relaxed.
"I know it sounds bad, but we all knew this day was coming."
"Come on Ren, you can't be serious? We all were hoping for the day humanity welcomes us back into society, not cast us out like animals."
"I'm sorry. I knew it'd be too soon."
"So what do we do now?"
"Stick together and stay alive. That's all we can do." Yang looked around the group and everyone had sad faces. All of them, except for Ruby. She had her head looking towards the tops of the trees. Where a ray of sunlight breached the branches of the trees and hit her on the face. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yang sat down and leaned back against a tree. In her head, she told herself,
"This can't be the end. It just can't."
End of Chapter 5