Yo Peeps, GMG here and welcome to chapter 7 of Converging Paths. I hope you enjoy this weeks chapter and we apologize if any parts seem rushed. Read on!
Disclaimer: We do not own RWBY. We do own the OCs, not including Sitruuna Yellow.
Blake wanted to shoot herself. Maybe slit her own throat. Anything to get away from this madman who called himself a detective.
All he did was rant about the most useless of topics, ranging from his asinine stunts in previous cases and going so far as to speculate if fish were smarter than a preschooler. It didn't matter to her, or anyone for that matter; she was desperate for a way out of this hell.
She even tried kicking him in the face, but that didn't work… He was as persistent as toddler, yet much more annoying.
Compounding the situation and her misery, was the earthquake or whatever it was that had almost dropped the ceiling down on their heads. And now Topaz and Blake were separated from their respective groups within the tunnels far beneath Vale.
A few more tremors kicked up another cloud of dust which made trying to see in the dark much harder. Blake lost track of the detective for a moment. But she soon heard his racking coughs from somewhere near her, and it didn't take long to find the man, who sounded like his lungs were trying to escape his chest. Blake grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the tunnel where the air was clearer and the detective almost immediately continued on with his ranting almost like nothing had happened,
"Thank you, madam," He said. Blake could at least appreciate his politeness, even if the rest of his personality was beyond grating. "I see your other ears are far more useful and sensitive than mine own at the moment."
She moaned in near disgust. "Can't you see we have other things to worry about now?"
"Well of course, my girl. Or rather this may be fortuitous."
"Excuse me?"
"Why yes, now I can do my work without any hanger ons and nuisances of the sort."
"What?" She asked, utterly confused.
"I find my skills shine when I have the most amount of concentration to focus on them."
"And you couldn't have just asked whoever brought you down here to give you a moment."
"... I suppose," Topaz admitted after a brief pause to scratch his chin "Forgive me, the glass is always half-full at my dinner table." He said with a crooked smile.
Blake sighed again "Good to know, mister?"
"Oh yes!" The man removed his hat and made a swift bow to Blake, "I am detective Topaz of the Vale police force. Although you may call me Bill if you wish."
"I'd rather not, at the moment."
"Very well."
The two of them stood there silently for a moment, neither making any moves or speaking. Topaz turned a few times surveying his environment. While Blake twitched her ears trying to zero in on some other noises she thought were getting closer.
Her suspicions turned out to be true, after the sound of screeching metal shattered the silence further back in the direction of the city.
"Is that help?" Blake asked the older man, only to be interrupted by the distinct sound of bullets being cycled into the firing chamber of several guns.
In a fraction of a second, the two of them were suddenly under attack.
"Stay down my dear, I will handle these ruffians!" Topaz shouted over the gunfire. Before Blake could stop him, he span around clumsily and cracked off a shot with his revolver, then froze after hearing a cry of pain. "By jove!" he exclaimed.
Blake reached up and pulled him behind the rubble. "What?"
"I dare say that I've actually shot a man!" he returned, his face beaming.
She blinked. "So, how often do you shoot people?" she asked with her eyes now narrowed.
"Well, one could say that I put in the optimal effort when attempting to take down armed criminals. So far I believe he is my seventh successful kill…"
"You've only killed seven people?" she asked sceptically before firing a few shots off with Gambol Shroud. Before the Detective could answer she asked him another question. "Ignore that. How long have you been with the Vale Police?"
"Well, my lady…"
"Don't call me that," she growled out, piercing yellow eyes narrowing with anger.
"Oh, well, if you insist… I have been a detective for seven years now and, if memory serves me correctly, this is my nine hundred and forty... fifth case?" Blake stared at him in disbelief. "No, you're right, this is my nine hundred and forty sixth case." Blake was unsure what to say next. Thankfully, a dust round whizzed past her ears making her flinch lower behind cover, eliminating the need to comment. Topaz spotted the shooter, retaliated with another bullet and followed up with: "Take that, you heathen!"
After that, he burst out with laughter as he dropped back to the floor, freaking out the timid Faunus beside him. "What are you laughing at?" she asked, slightly disturbed by this point.
"You wouldn't believe it old girl, but I've only gone and done it again! It appears that you are somewhat of a good luck charm!"
"Um…" She was rather unsure of how to respond to that line.
"At this rather hasty rate, I may even run out of ammunition!"
Then it dawned on her. "How much ammo did you actually bring?" she asked, hoping for reassurance.
He looked at her as if the answer was obvious. "Why, enough to fill ol' Spitfire here," he said, shaking the gun at eye level.
"And how many times is that…?"
"Oh, just the one time is plenty."
She blinked again, her face growing dark. "You only brought six bullets with you?"
"Yes."
"Six bullets?"
"Once again, yes."
She was almost angry at his incompetence now. "Six?"
"For the third time, yes. I must say, for a Faunus your hearing is quite poor…"
"You brought SIX BULLETS into a dark tunnel system that was potentially hostile?!"
He considered the idea for a moment. "Well, I did come down with some capable looking fellows..." he said, "But when you word it in that manner, it does sound rather silly, doesn't it? That said, the most bullets I have ever used in one gunfight is four, and that was a particularly gruesome affair…"
She sighed; Topaz had completely stripped her of her anger, leaving nothing but a confused expression and a small headache. "Let's just kill these guys and get out of here…"
"Yes, that might be for the best. I shall continue the story another time, if it pleases you?"
After all the fighting in Mount Glenn, on the train and at the square, Blake thought she'd never feel more tired in her life. Now she realised that she was wrong; talking to Topaz had just blew that idea out of the water. She turned to him, her eyes begging for mercy. "No."
"But I must say, it is a…"
"Just… No, thank you." He slumped his shoulders like a disappointed child; he always enjoyed the chance to share his legend with people. For a little moment, Blake even started to feel sorry for turning down the madman, whom she had met not ten minutes ago. But after that moment, she returned to their current predicament: the men attacking them. She rose over the rubble and fired in an arch, dropping two more who had attempted to move forward during their cease fire. Then gunfire filled the tunnels once more, this time accompanied by the roar of a heavy machine gun, making matters much harder for them.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Topaz said, as if making some mental calculations.
"You are talking about the machine gun, right?" Blake asked, just to be sure.
"Indeed I am. Now, I have an idea that probably won't work under normal circumstances. Now that you are here to assist me however, I do believe that our chances of success are-"
That's when Blake saw a man appear from behind the rubble, his sabre ready to strike the Detective. "Topaz! Behind you!" His reactions were surprisingly quick, but his timing was terrible. He shot too early, his bullet ricocheting around the tunnel with a series of popping sounds. He did manage to keep the blade away from his throat though, making his attacker collapse in a heap on top of him.
Blake could only watch as Topaz struggled against the man's weight; she couldn't risk a shot and couldn't attempt to pull him off without moving from cover. Despite this, she noticed something. His arms were limp and he wasn't moving on his own accord at all. By this point, Topaz had gotten his arms free from the man's submission, and had placed his hands around his head to try and go for the man's eyes. Then he stopped.
"Ah…"
"What is it?" Blake asked, keeping an eye on the shooters down the tunnel.
He looked back at her. "It would appear that my forefinger is touching this man's brain…"
She span around to him. "Wha…? Seriously?"
"Unfortunately, yes." He pulled himself away from the body, followed by a sick, wet sound as he removed his finger from the hole on the man's skull.
Blake nearly heaved due to the horrific smell that had wafted it's way to her shortly afterwards. "That's disgusting…"
"I am inclined to agree with you on that one…" Topaz agreed, crawling over to her and pulling out his trusty handkerchief. After a quick scrub, his previously pristine piece of fabric was no longer white, and his finger was as clean as it would get. The smell still wasn't gone though. "You don't happen to have some hand sanitizer on your person, do you?" The look on her face said it all. "I presume that is a no then…"
"I doubt that hand sanitizer would help completely," she replied.
"On the contrary, my dear, the things that I have witnessed with the assistance of hand sanitizer are quite remarkable…"
She shook her head lightly, turning to look around. "Where do you think we should head next, Detective? We need to find my team and your friend." She ducked and paused as she heard the fire of the machine gun. "After we take care of the large gun, of course." She mulled it over before an idea hit her. "I think I know how to handle it. How far do you think that gun is, roughly?"
The detective held up his finger, then lifted it just above the top of the rubble. After a few moments, he retracted it. "I make it roughly fifty metres at the least."
Pulling out the katana portion of her blade, she held both portions of her weapon and inched towards the edge of their cover. "With my semblance, I should be able to make it. I'll be right back."
Taking a steadying breath, she tensed before sprinting out from cover, immediately substituting with a shadow, the phantom of her semblance being torn to shreds in an instant. Despite this, she didn't even flinch, she just started running towards the truck where the gun was stationed. She watched as the gunner shifted his fire towards her and shifted to the side, using another shadow to avoid the gunfire.
The gunner grew frustrated as Blake zigzagged through his attempts to fire. Every time he thought he would get her, she would jump to the side, using a clone to psyche him out. His three comrades fell back, preparing to confront the fast approaching faunus. Blake smirked lightly as she got right up in the face of the closest one, bringing up both blades of Gambol Shroud, slicing in a brutal cross against the man's chest, sending him flying.
The other two shifted to face her, swinging their weapons. She ducked under the first swipe and substituting with a shadow to avoid the second, closing in on the second assailant, dropping him with a quick strike to the back of his neck with the handle of her katana. Instinctively, she brought up her other blade behind her, the cleaver-like sheath clanging with the third White Fang's sword. With a quick turn, she sliced him across the chest and kicked him in the groin. Not the most honorable of attacks, but it served her purpose, the man dropping to his knees.
She knocked him out with a quick strike to the top of his cranium, watching him fall over before turning to the last man. The gunner had pulled out his own pistol, training it on her. Blake feigned a dash to the side, reversing her direction and sprinting to his left while his gun shifted to the right. It was too late to correct himself, Blake was already behind him, wrapping her ribbon around his throat and pulling him to his knees. He struggled to try to pull the cloth from his neck, but he soon subcumbed to lack of oxygen and fell unconcsious.
Blake turned towards the rubble to see Topaz peeking out. She motioned him over. "All taken care of, Detective. Now let's get a move on."
Topaz went pale when looked behind him to where their assailants had come from, "I'm afraid not yet..."
XXXCONVERGEXXX
With the rest of Team RWBY…
The impromptu rescue force was driving back to the collapse site quite a bit slower than when when the Hunters had come rushing for help. The tank and two other transports weren't nearly as fast and were in front, so Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were once again stuck in the back of the truck, with Artemis and Sergeant Tangelo, who was driving once again.
The girls were lucky to be there and furious at their speed. Weiss was most vocal about their predicament "I would think information about a possible traitor would have caused a bigger reaction from these people."
"The Colonel is a down to business man," the sergeant replied. "If something is wrong, he'll go and get it to run it's course as soon as possible and get everything back to normal."
Artemis nodded and turned his gaze to the tunnels ahead. "How close are we at the moment?"
Tangelo silently pointed her right arm forward, the flood lights on the lead vehicles were reflecting light back at the convoy from the wall of debris separating Blake and Topaz along with who knew what from the soldiers and their new passengers.
The five of them disembarked and made their way along the right side of the tunnel up to the collapse, watching the infantry company organize itself. Seventy-five riflemen lined up behind their officers and a group of twenty-five melee troopers pulled out their spears and stood ready
Bistre was up front looking over the shoulder of the army engineer scanning the blockage and pointing his arms up to indicate things to his commander.
Artemis walked up to the two of them. "What have you found?"
The engineer spoke, "There is a huge void above this crap, somebody must have destabilised this bit and then." He mimed a fall with his right fist.
The agent thought on it. "Perhaps a slight tremor of the whole system, yes?" The engineer nodded. "Thought so."
"Either that or something digging through hit a bit they shouldn't have and wham."
"Can we use explosives?" Bistre asked
"Yes, the rest of the walls seem to be stable and, if we're careful, we'll be good."
Ruby spoke up in panic, "But we don't know if our friends are trapped right behind this. You could kill them!"
"If I may," spoke Artemis. "Ruby, would you, in your right mind, stay near the rubble or search for a way around it? With the two of them being as smart as they are, they probably figured they could find an alternate route."
"But just to be safe," Yang countered. "In case they were hit by some debris and couldn't move. We-" she said waving her arm at the rest of her team. "Should find a way through and have a look."
Artemis turned to the engineer. "You said there was a vacuum above it, right?" At his nod of confirmation Artemis outlined his idea. "If we could get to that empty space, making a small entryway, we could in theory check on the other side. It wouldn't require us to blow the whole formation without knowing if the two are on the other side."
Ruby cocked her head to the side in question. "Like a peephole?"
Bistre nodded "Just find a way through, call back and we'll blow the wall. Lieutenant, find a way."
He looked back at the glowing tablet strapped to his left arm. "There are a few spaces the girls should fit through."
Yang slammed her fists together and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. This might get a bit rocky."
Weiss scowled. "Damnit Yang."
"What about me?" Artemis asked.
The engineer looked him up and down once. "Try your best."
The agent nodded and, along with the three girls, moved up to find a gap they could fit through without too much trouble or embarrassment and moved across the rubble to look for a way to the other side.
XXXCONVERGEXXX
(Topaz and Blake meanwhile)
Blake slid across the top of a ruined train car. Trying to put some distance between herself and a new wave of attackers spilling out from a small side tunnel.
Three shots rang out from further back in the tunnel. The first two bullets went wild but the man at the head of this latest group grunted and fell forward, curling on the ground, breathless but alive thanks to a bullet proof vest.
"Ms. Belladonna!" The detective started calling to her. "Quickly, come back here!"
Blake couldn't see him, more bullets whizzed by her, she tucked and rolled over a large rock slab and tried to get her bearings.
"Find them!" A voice rang out from an unknown aggressor, "Kill that fool and get the girl!"
Blake's blood froze, somehow one of them had recognized her,
Topaz taunted the gunmen, "Come now, we can talk can we not?"
His answer came from another blast of gunfire, voices and boot steps closed in on the detective, out of ammo and directly in the sights of the White Fang.
Topaz dropped his gun and began looking for any suitable blunt object he could use for protection. "Thats' fine! Or we could shoot some more, if you'd rather."
Blake tucked her head around the corner of her hiding place, She saw Topaz trying to move away from their attackers who were practically within arms reach of him. He held his hands up and frantically turned his head trying find an escape.
Rocks crumbled further up the tunnel toward the collapse, Blake's ears beneath her bow flicked at the sounds of her teammates calling for her.
"Excellent timing my dears!" Topaz said, "Do be careful there are..."
He was silenced with a gunstock to the face, there was an audible crack and Topaz fell backwards, clutching his face, with blood streaking down between his fingers from his now broken nose.
Ruby, Weiss and Yang slid down into the field of rocks and metal torn from the roof. Trying to get a sense of what had happened in their absence The White Fang didn't charge immediately, their leader held them together while he evaluated their situation. The various Faunus clutched their blades and firearms, waiting for the order to go.
At a flurry of hand signals, those with guns stood and cut loose, forcing the girls to keep their heads down. Other faunus with swords, dove to the sides of the tunnel and began making their way to the collapse and their newly acquired targets.
Weiss stood, pointing her sword and holding her empty hand up parallel with the blade. Bright blue bolts of Dust flew from the point and a wall of ice erupted from the ground in front of the gunmen.
Blake jumped up, flipping, with feline grace, through the air, swapping out with shadow clones until she landed down next to Ruby and Yang
"Nice to see you kitty kat." Yang said with a wink before pulling the cat faunus into a hug.
The darkness in the tunnel became a little less overwhelming with the glow of the ice.
Artemis drew his bow and shot an arrow at the sword bearing figure closest to the girls, who yelped and fell backwards, the glowing shaft of the arrow having pierced through his right arm.
The huntsman tried to call to Topaz "Detective! Are you alright?!"
"Back off now or he dies!"
"Now, now don't be hasty. There's a whole army company behind this wall getting ready to bust through any second. Please, throw down your weapons and none of you will be harmed."
Ruby's shrill call of warning cut through the momentarily silent air. "Artemis!"
The sudden source of light was not only a benefit to the humans down in the dark, several faunus already comfortable with their nightvision had even better views of their targets now. A few had gotten dangerously close to the now five of them. In front, one brought an arm back and threw a razor fighting knife at the agent's head.
Artemis felt the steel brush through his hair and almost knock his sunglasses from his head when he ducked. His reflexes kicked in and in one fluid motion he drew, stood, and shot an arrow right through the heart of the knife thrower. His target barely had time to register the fact he had been shot, when he fell face first into the concrete.
The four girls rushed their attackers, these however having more skill than those they had faced before, who confidently engaged each huntress in turn.
The girls fought with prodigious skill and bravery, but they were outnumbered three-to-one and could barely focus on one opponent long enough to send them out of the fight.
The tunnel shook once more, the soldiers blasting the first part of the wreckage away and preparing to go on the second. Sergeant Tangelo called down from the flat area in the void in the ceiling where all this stone was previously."Hunters, are you clear?!"
"Yes! Hurry up! Bad men are shooting at us!" Ruby yelled, fending off another strike from her foe.
"Heads down, ten seconds."
Artemis looked back to the White Fang "Last chance!"
A bullet ricocheted off a metal bar next to his head. Taking advantage of the distraction, Artemis dashed to the side. "Girls! Cover, Now!"
Yang blocked another wild swing from her opponent. With her left arm high, she spun, reached forward, and grabbed him by the back of the neck, then turned and threw him to the floor before she planted her fist into the temple of the man fighting her sister.
Weiss conjured a shield around herself and Blake, the swords of the other Faunus bouncing off in a shower of blinding sparks, disorienting them. While they were stunned, the two girls quickly ran past and crouched behind an old safety rail.
Thunder roared through the tunnel as the wall exploded out in a shower of broken rock and dust, flashlights cut through the haze of particles and the sound of running boots filled the air when the deafening echo faded. The debris that hadn't been forcefully flung about the tunnel settled down into a convenient ramp to get down from the still sizeable pile of wreckage.
A majority of the attackers had been ironically saved by the wall of ice Weiss had trapped them behind, a few of them figured what was coming and had an idea and were busy smashing the ice down into a useful bit of cover. Pointing their guns at the approaching soldiers, a few uncoordinated bursts of gunfire flew out and smacked against their body armor..
The spearmen at the front ran and slid down onto their stomachs into the tunnel, lacking any way to return fire at range, leaving it to the others to sort out the hostiles.
A line of rifles formed just at the top of the new ramp, the first soldiers crouched in front and the rest formed up standing behind them searching for targets.
A volley of stun grenades sailed out and detonated in the faces of the Faunus in the middle of the tunnel, No other warnings were given and the soldiers opened fire.
Ones on the tunnels sides tried to rush the prone melee troopers, who were getting to their feet and leveling their spears at chest height, only to be mercilessly gunned down by the soldiers before they took three steps.
Behind the ice wall Topaz, who was momentarily forgotten, began to wisely crawl away out of the danger.
Shot's began to fly back and forth between the two forces, but in a much greater volume from the Vale army who advanced surprisingly calmly. The lighter bullets of their enemies couldn't penetrate their heavy armor at this range. Troopers who were injured fell to the ground and tried to get out of the way of their comrades marching forward.
The noise of dozens of automatic weapons quickly drowned out everything else, Artemis and RWBY barely able to even hear their own thoughts.
Faunus were plucked off their feet as they tried to stand and shoot. In mere moments the soldiers stood at the front of the makeshift barricade of ice and the White Fang that still lived raised their hands in surrender.
Bistre pushed to the front of his troops, pistol in his right hand as he spoke to his new captives. "Anyone else?"
No one spoke up, they all raised their empty hands and awaited what came next.
The colonel spoke swiftly, "You are all being detained, The only right you have at this moment is to know that if you try any more crap, I will kill you. Be peaceable and you will live, understood?
He looked past them searching for the detective, who walked back from his hiding place, wiping the grime off his face. He paused at the looks he felt he was getting beneath the faceless helmets of the soldiers. "Well, gentlemen thank you for…"
"Are you alright, you idiot?" Bistre asked with no small amount of venom in his voice as he moved forward up close to the detective.
"Yes, good sir." Topaz blinked in confusion. "I don't quite understand what you are implying?"
"I'm implying that we've wasted too much time now," The colonel laid his empty hand on the detective's shoulder, "Here we are, get to whatever it is you're supposed to be doing."
End…
A majority of this chapter was written by Darkerpaths and De4thStopper.
Edits, Blake, Artemis- GateMasterGreen
Bistre- Darkerpaths
Topaz- De4thStopper
So, this is truly one of those last minute ordeals. I myself was a bit busy during the second week of production, having been sick and then having to host a party and some other things. While half of the chapter had been ready for quite some time, Darkerpaths hauled some serious ass and got it finished up for today. Thanks to him, you have a chapter 7. We'll see you in a couple of weeks.
