Chapter Nine
He was watching the girls play a board game. He had not interest in it, so he stayed in the sidelines and just watched. He could have took advantage of the moment to study or something, but he liked just watching them play. It was nice. Seeing them like this, it was easy to forget that they, first at foremost, were soldiers. He though about taking a picture, for a moment. But then they would ask why, and even if he didn't tell the truth, it would be embarrassing anyway. So he didn't.
"What's up, losers?" That voice. He remembered that voice. He turned, and saw that monkey Faunus coming towards them, holding his fingers in a peace sign. There was another boy at his side, which was not a Faunus. Or at least, not as far as he could see. But that didn't matter. Peace... like hell.
"Why did you do it?" Shirou asked. Ruby turned towards him, then to the Faunus. She frowned a little, but didn't say anything. She got back to the game.
"What?"
"I saw you. Don't try to play dumb. I'm not about to ask you again. If you had a good reason for it, I won't do a thing. I even help you, if you need my help. But if you say something like 'I did it because I could', then you're coming with me."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Headmaster already sold me out. So I had to pay the fee and everything."
"Oh, that's good. But I didn't heard your reason."
"Because I could."
"...You're really infuriating, you know that? What gives you the right to do whatever you want?"
"You're talking like I killed somebody."
"Don't change the argument. You did something bad for no good reason.. I understand that the law is not justice most of the time, but it this one, you have no grounds to stand on. I'm letting it go because you've already paid for it, if you're to be believed. Which I'm not sure..."
"He did." the boy said, cutting him off.
"Fine." Shirou rolled his eyes. "He did. Doesn't change his attitude is a serious problem."
"Oh, come on." Ruby protested. "Let it go. We're trying to play over here."
For an instant, Shirou considered going ahead with it, anyway. The monkey Faunus had to understand that he couldn't do those kinds of things. He had enough Lin to pay the fine, so he could have payed his ride without trouble. Which meant that he did such a thing for his own excitement, and that... that made him felt sick. He turned towards Ruby, and looked at those silver eyes. He let out a breath.
"Okay." he gave up, and extended his hand to the Faunus. "My name is Shirou Emiya. Pleased to meet you."
The other boy took his hand, and shook it.
"My name is Sun Wukong." he said. "I hope this will be the last time we been at each others throat."
"Yeah, I hope so too." he said, and let go of his had. Well. He seemed like kind of a douche, but as long as he didn't actually hurt people, he could tolerate him just fine. He couldn't get along with somebody who did something like that so casually, but tolerate, sure. Shouldn't been too hard. Sun looked straight at Blake.
"Never took you as the board game playing type."
"Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later." she stood up, and left the room. Okay. Maybe it would actually been hard to tolerate him. Ruby watched her go, her expression unchanged, then she shrugged.
"Do you want to play, Shirou?" she asked him.
"Nope, sorry."
"Spoilsport."
He watched the rest of the game. They would have still played, even with only three people, but the other guy, Neptune, volunteered for it. He ended up winning, and Yang whining for all it was worth. They got back to their room. They almost forgot the board game, but he reminded them of it, and he ended up carrying it. Blake was there, sitting on the bed with her back against the wall. When they entered, she got out of the bed and went towards the door. He dropped the board game in the top of the desk.
"Stop." Weiss said, pointing at her, before he could say anything. "Lately you've been quiet, antisocial and moody! Which I get is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual! So, what's wrong?"
"I just... I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."
"I'm not calm, Blake. I'm pissed off, and worried. Roman Torchwick has been a torn in the government's side for a quite some time. Same with the White Fang. Them joining forces spells out nothing good. I agree with you on that. I planned to go out patrolling at night, but you're up for it..."
"Wait, wait." Ruby protested. "You wanted to go patrolling alone?"
"Yes. But that's not the important part here. "
"I agree." Weiss said. "The important part is that we're students. We're not ready to handle this kind of situation."
"Well, yeah, but..." Ruby said.
"We're not ready!" she answered, cutting Ruby off.
"We may never be ready!" Blake yelled. "They aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day. If we're going to do something about this, it has to be now."
"Okay, all in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses-and Huntsmen- to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye."
"Aye." Shirou said, rolling his eyes.
"Fine." Weiss grumbled beneath her breath.
"Alright then, we're in this together!" Blake said.
"Only Shirou said aye." Ruby said, deflating. In the next instant, though, she looked as happy as ever. "Oh, well, whatever. Let's start planning."
"...That's surprisingly serious, coming from you. " Weiss said.
"You only say that because you're jealous of the vigor of young."
"I'm only two years older that you!"
"Sometimes it seems like you're thirty years older that me." she said, shrugging. "Anyway. Does anyone have suggestions?"
"Well, to start with," Weiss said. "I go check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies."
"That's a good idea."
"Also," Blake said. "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."
"How do you even know that?"
"I was a member, back when it was an organization dedicated to being the voice of the Faunus, and peaceful." Blake confessed. Shirou was midly surprised, but he wasn't affected.
"...Okay. You should really have said that last time, but okay." she sounded put off, but calm. That was really strange, coming from Weiss. "Do you have any more surprises in store, or something?"
"No."
"That's good."
"I can go patrolling, like I was thinking." Shirou said. "See if I can dig something out. Also, my legal guardian, Taiga Fujimura, is the granddaughter of the boss of a Yakuza group in Japan. I call her and ask for help."
The three were staring at him like he had grow a second head. Though Ruby's expression was more interested that anything else, really.
"What?"
"You go about an Ally Of Justice this, Ally Of Justice that and your legal guardian is the granddaughter of a criminal?" Weiss asked, with an incredulous expression.
"His position is a problem, but Kiritsugu asked him to manage the estate after his death, so he can't be a bad person."
"You are... a little bit too trusting." Blake said. She shook her head. "Ah, well. Doesn't matter. That can be really helpful."
"I just try to ignore it, for the sake of my sanity." Weiss grumbled, putting a hand to her head.
"Shirou!" Ruby whined. "Why didn't you tell me that? I meant, why didn't you tell us that?"
"Nobody asked."
There was an awkward pause.
"So..." Ruby muttered, then raised her voice slightly: "Now than that's cleared out, we split out tomorrow and meet back here."
"What you're going to do?" Weiss asked.
"Coming with Shirou, of course." Ruby said, like it was only natural. He knew she didn't meant it like that, but it made him felt good, anyway. "He's gonna get himself killed if I'm not there to get his ass out of the... well, you know."
"Do you really thing I have such thin skin?" Shirou jokingly asked. "Its only an expression, Ruby."
"Yeah, but... its a bit awkward to say that."
"Honestly." he let out a breath. "You're too kind for your own good."
Then, surprising even himself, he lifted a hand and warmly tussled her hair. She had opened her mouth to say something, but the retort died on her lips. She blushed a little, but didn't pull away. He didn't know what had possessed him to do something like that, but now he was glad. He liked her, and she did, too. That sense of solidarity wasn't a bad thing. Not at all.
He never once thought about the fact that both Blake and Weiss were watching.
Tomorrow, after classes, they prepared their weapons carefully and got into their civilian clothes. Ruby looked really nice. It was the first time he had seen her anything but her uniform and, to be honest, he liked what he saw. That sounded kind of dirty, but he didn't meant it that way. Really. It just... he couldn't put it to words. Those clothes made Ruby seem more like herself. Maybe he was being stupid, but he liked seeing her like that, like a normal girl. Almost an image of what she would have been, without having to carry the burden of her mother's death along with her distant dream. She was bound to this path because of her death.
It wasn't the same thing as him. Kiritsugu's death had caused the same thing to him, but it wasn't the same at all. Emiya Shirou had died and was rebirth in the fire. It wasn't a metaphor, but pretty close to the truth. He didn't have anything left in him. Kiritsugu's smile gave him life, purpose. A reason to live on. The empty shell had been filled by those ideals. Even if Kiritsugu hadn't died, he would have followed on this path. He knew it. He knew it even though it was starting to brother him than it was everything to him. So, no, it wasn't the same thing.
Weiss and Blake went on their separate ways, and he and Ruby went together. While walking through the streets of Vale, he pulled out his scroll and called Fuji-nee. It was a good thing that scrolls could not only communicate with each other but with plain old telephones. If that wasn't so, they would have to lose quite a bit of time so he could buy one. She picked it up immediately.
"Shirou. Its rare for you to call me at this hour." that was right. He called Fuji-nee once a week up to catch up, and normally he did so after classes ended. Oh, well. "Has something happened?"
She was impulsive and bubbly on the outside, but she was also really sharp.
"I need Raiga's help." Shirou answered. "Please, get in contact with him. Like, right now. Its urgent."
"What do you want, Shirou?"
"I need for him to look into the White Fang's activities. Have him give priority to Dust Robberies. Also, please, tell him to look for inconsistencies and other such things. We need all the help we can get."
"The White Fang, uh?" she bitterly muttered, low enough that he was sure she hadn't meant for him to heard it. Then, more loudly: "You never change, do you?" she laughed. "Oh, well."
"No, sorry. I am who I am." Shirou said. A small pause. "Listen. I know you're worried enough already, but this is something we need to do."
"We?" she sounded surprised, and a little happy.
"Yes. Me and my team. I've already told you about them. Or have you forgot?"
"I'm not that old." she chuckled. "So are they all with you?"
"No, just Ruby."
"Ruby... Shirou, I know you said is urgent. I'm going to inform Raiga right now, but could you pass the scroll to her? I want to talk."
"Uh?" he said, a bit hesitantly. He didn't see why not. "Sure." he held out his scroll to Ruby. She took it without question, and put it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Oh, you definitively sound like a cutie!" Fuji-nee fawned. Shirou blushed. He couldn't disagree with that, but still, she should have had tack. This was a serious situation.
"Thanks." she answered, after a moment, and blushing a little bit. It seemed like she wasn't used to being told how cute she was, except by her sister. Or that Fuji-nee had caught her off guard.
"You mind moving away a little so Shirou doesn't overhead?" she asked. Shirou frowned. He usually trusted Fuji-nee, but the tone in her voice spelled nothing good. He hoped she didn't say anything outrageous.
"...Sure." Ruby said, a bit confused. She moved a few meters to the left, but with reinforcing hearing, he could hear both of them. He should listening, so he could intervene if Fuji-nee said seemed about to say something outrageous. She had asked for privacy. It didn't felt right, so he didn't. He undid the reinforcement in his hearing, and, sighing, kept on walking. It would take him about a minute to apply it again.
The conversation lasted a few minutes. Every once in a while, he looked to the side, curious about what Fuji-nee was telling her. He still heard Ruby's voice, but what she responded never gave anything away. It was strange. He could even think what Fuji-nee wanted with Ruby, to begin with. Ruby's expression was growing more serious as the conversation went on. It wasn't much of an indication, but still, it was there. The only problem was that he couldn't honestly say if that was a good or a bad thing. When it finished, Ruby got at his side again-which, to be honest, relieved him more that anything else- and handed his scroll back to him.
"What did she say?" he asked, after a few instants, even though he knew it was surely futile. She was good people, after all. She wouldn't betray a promise like that.
"Its a secret." she said, turning to him with a small smile.
Oh, well.
Figures.
He felt his smile grow wider.
The patrolling didn't bear any results. Not what they wanted, anyway. They stopped a pair crimes. A man who stole who stole a woman's purse when they were passing by, and group of men who attempted to rob a store. He was glad to have helped, of course he was, but none of the criminals were related to the White Fang. It was night by the time they were finished.
He got a call from Fuji-nee's phone not too long after, and he answered. But it was Raiga the one at the other side of the line. The man told him everything his group at learned in that time. Ruby listened in too, of course. Though Raiga was normally carefree, much like his granddaughter, he didn't give Ruby no more that a glance and didn't say much more that the information he had requested.
The information was simple. They had acquired more, but he only saw fit that he should be informed of the most important thing. Roman Torchwick had acquired Atlesian Paladin-290, a mechanized battle suit developed with the aid of the Schnee's Dust Company. Raiga thought that it was to buy his favor with the other White Fang members, since he was a human, and Shirou was inclined to think he was right.
The raid of two days ago didn't prove anything. They had helped Torchwick, but that didn't meant they did so willingly. Merrily that they had obeyed orders from the upper command. So so he would have to make them see what he could bring to the table to make them accept him. Willing allies were better that unwilling allies. Willing allies were better that unwilling allies. That man wouldn't have lasted long in the criminal underworld without understanding that.
Also, Raiga thought that Roman would most probably present the Paladin in one of the regular meetings the group had. That made him remember Blake's words. If he was right, then that meant she was walking into such a mess alone, and completely unaware of how bad it would get. He thought about calling her right now, in his blind panic, but he soon realized than that would only make things worse for her. The man send coordinates to his scroll pointing to the more likely localizations of such meetings. Four, all in all. It wouldn't take them much time to check them up.
"I understand, Raiga. Thank you."
"Shirou..." he said, hesitantly. "Please, take care of yourself."
"Don't worry, old man." Ruby said, before he could even open his mouth. "I take care of him, even if he doesn't."
"Uh." Raiga's smile widened. "You're just like Taiga said you were. Thank you, young lady. I leave him in your hands."
Then he cut off the call. It was kind of frustrating that he didn't allow him to get a word in, but also somewhat nostalgic. It had been two years since he saw any of them, but Taiga was still Taiga and Raiga was still Raiga. He felt himself smile.
"Well." he muttered, putting the scroll back in his pocket. "Let's go, Ruby."
They checked at random. The first place was empty, and so were the second and the third. The fourth one, though, clearly wasn't. Even before getting close to the door, he could heard muffled voices coming from inside. No screams, the sound of metal grinding against metal or anything like that. A fight hadn't broke up. Blake had to be there, but they couldn't just march in. They would just fuck up all her efforts. He understood that implicitly. But as he had said, Ruby was too kind for her own good. He had stop her for barreling inside.
He had replied reinforcement to his hearing a long time ago, but even with that he would barely heard what was going inside. He only managed to catch a few scattered words that confirmed that there weren't other people inside, by coincidence, and this wasn't the place either. 'What's a human doing here?!', 'Atlesian Paladin', 'Our enemy is'. Things like that. They all were clear indication that Roman Torchwick and the White Fang were inside.
"Shirou?" Ruby asked, her voice low. "How are you sure this is the place?"
Shit, of course she would ask that. She didn't heard what he was hearing. He racked his mind, trying to find a suitable lie.
"It has to been, right?" Shirou said. "This is the last place Raiga indicated, and I trust him implicitly."
"That is the last place he indicated doesn't necessarily meant he was right. I meant, I got carried away at the beginning, so maybe it sounds like a joke, but is the truth."
Shirou bit his lip. Such a thing couldn't have gone past her. Of course not. She was far for stupid. Stil, he couldn't tell her. But he couldn't find a suitable lie.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, a hint of fear in her expression.
"Sorry." he let out a breath. "I guess is time to be honest with you. But please, promise me you will kept this a secret."
"I promise."
"And from the rest of the team too, Ruby. Its really important."
"...Okay, I promise you, Shirou." she had hesitated, but in the end she had trusted his words even though he was asking her to exclude the rest of her friends. That made him felt giddy, and, most of all, guilty for asking such a thing of her. But he couldn't felt like that. It was for their own good.
"To begin with, do you remember what I told you about my Semblance?" she nodded. "Well, that was only a half-truth. It does work like that, and its name is Projection, but its not my Semblance. I haven't discovered my Semblance, to begin with."
"W-what? Then did you do all of that?
"That was magic. Magecraft."
"A-are you... Are you being serious? Because it would be mean of you, to lie at at time like this."
"I'm not lying. I'm a magus, Ruby, as well as at Huntsmen. Kiritsugu was the one who taught me everything I know about magecraft... as for projection, I picked it up on instinct the two times I used it. The two times I really used it, anyway." now that he thought about it, that last sentence wouldn't make sense to her. Reinforcement was only a byproduct of Projection, so it could be said he had been using it even back then. In a sense.
"So... Magic is real. Then why aren't the magus helping us?"
"Why are you assuming that they aren't helping? They are the reason humanity retained so many on their lands against the Grimm."
"Why are they hiding?"
"Because spells grow weaker the more people that know them. They are not an infinite resource."
"So what? You're hiding it because of that, too? Because it would cause you problems?" she whispered back, harshly. He couldn't stand that look in her eyes. It clearly told him 'some hero you turned up to be'. She was probably holding herself back for saying that, too. But that didn't meant she didn't think it.
"Its not by choice. Listen, Ruby. Those people are monsters. They would send their Enforcers to wipe their memories off. In the past, they would have just killed them. But reducing humans would be bad idea for them, since the Grimm are a potential threat even to them."
"...I see. Sorry for jumping to conclusions."
"It really doesn't matter. That what I first thought when Kiritsugu told me about it, so you don't have to apologize. Still... you're taking this strangely well. You're not even questioning my sanity, or something like that. Why?"
"You told me, so of course it is the truth." she sincerely said, like it was only natural. He blushed brightly, and looked away. Those words. She trusted him so implicitly that she would even accept a wild story like that, because of course Shirou wouldn't lead her wrong. His vision blurred a little with unshed tears.
"Shirou?"
He opened his mouth to say something, he didn't know what. And then he heard the lights go out from inside, shoots and not long after a window shattering. Then the whole fucking wall, and those mechanized noises that allowed him to draw the whole picture. Something had gone wrong. Blake had cut off the lights, somehow and threw herself through the window and Roman or some other pilot was following after her with the Atlesian Paladin. And in an instant, he saw that he had been right.
Blake turned the corner, with the Paladin hot on her heels. The pilot inside of it was Torchwick, without a doubt. Shirou took off his sword, without really thinking about it. Ruby had already prepared Crescent Rose and whirled past him using her Semblance to meet the war-machine head on. However, he wasn't worried about her chances. That weapon was made to kill Grimm. What could kill Grimm would kill Ruby if her Aura went down, but still, what was required to fight Grimm and what was required to fight a Huntress were different things entirely.
Ruby struck the Paladin right on the cockpit, but the scythe's sharp blade merely slid off the glass, and she had to propel herself over it by shooting backwards. The robots hands came to swipe at her, and she only narrowly managed to avoid it. It had happened in an instant, but to him it was eternity. His heart had almost burst out of his chest. After that scare, he looked. His reinforced vision left no room for doubt. The attack hadn't left even a scratch on the cockpit. Well. It was more durable that it looked, that was for fucking sure.
The streets were empty, for now, but still they couldn't fight here. He turned, and ran for it. Even if he realized he was trying to lead him into a more suitable environment for fighting, Roman would follow. That Shirou was so sure of it didn't have anything to do with enemy's confidence. It was just that, if he wanted his plan to succeed, he had to eliminate all three of them. Because they were witness.
Neither Blake nor Ruby needed to be told what he was doing. They turned, and ran for it, too. Ruby caught with him first, despite his head start. She would already been too far away for him to see her clearly even with his reinforced vision, but she choose to kept pace with Blake and him instead of going past them. Roman followed. The heavy footsteps of the robot shook the ground with great force. Shirou kept looking forward, and looked around, just in case an innocent bystander would stumbled into the scene. They came near a highway, and he looked down. Nearly twenty meters below, more or less, there was an expense of ground without anything it. That would be perfect for fighting that thing.
And then, suddenly, Weiss landed in a crouch between them and the robot, who was already closing it on them. He saw Roman smile in satisfaction. Weiss plunged Myrtenaster into the ground, summoning a circle of ice across the pavement that caused the Paladin to slip and crash. The momentum took it over the railing, and down, down below. Shirou jumped after it, and the rest soon followed. He landed in a crouch. Ruby and Weiss landed on his right, and Blake on his left side. They took positions as Roman got the robot to its feet.
It was huge, and bulky, but it was also quite fast. Ruby could still run circles around it any day of the week, figuratively as well as literally, but the rest of them weren't quite so lucky. One wrong move and they could and would be seriously hurt. He remembered the Emerald Forest. That strange sense of calm that had enveloped, the smell and felt of his own blood. He remembered the charging Nevermore, coming to end their life. His hands clenched around the handle of the sword so hard his knuckles turned white. No. This was different. They were a lot stronger now and, most importantly, a team. Roman Torchwick was finished.
They exploded into action. They were a team, that much was true, but this wasn't a book. They knew and understood each other to a certain extend, as far as personality went, and in fighting most of all, but they couldn't anticipate what the other was thinking or some bullshit like that, as if they were synchronized. So they had developed names from combination attacks, simple, easy to remember and fast to say, based on the colors they wore. Except for him. Since red and white were taken already, golden-brown was the color that represented him.
Ruby had been the one to come up with the names of all the combination attacks. As the leader, he kind of felt guilty about that. Those kinds of things were supposed to be his responsibility, but still, he had to admit he had no sense for that kind of thing. Coming up with a combination attack, sure, but not christen it.
The Paladin was fast, but not fast enough. Though that probably had more to do with the pilot that the machine. Either way, it didn't change than that alone, at least, was in their favor. They could avoid its attacks and slowly wear it down, no matter how durable it might be. The odds were in their favor.
Weiss moved forward, and he projected Myrtenaster in his free hand. He had discovered that, like all the weapons that used Dust, he wasn't actually using Dust for the attacks but activating the attacks the weapon had once performed using his magical energy as compensation. Not too long ago, that would have posed a problem. He wasn't even sure he would have had enough magical energy to perform even one of those attacks. But since the events at his old school, he had felt an influx of magical energy that left him bewildered. It had slowly build up until after the exam, but it had come. He had not idea why, but the point was that it was working.
"Freezer Burn!" He shouted. It was kind of embarrassing to say, even more in actual combat situation, but he just thought of them as peculiar Aria's. That made it easier. Not less embarrassing, but easier.
Weiss plunged her weapon into the ground, and he jumped over her, using the memory of the Red Dust to hit the epicenter of it. The destruction created a wave of mist that surrounded the war-machine, taking away his line of sight. That wold be really effective against Grimm, but since the opponent was riding that machine, he had not illusions that it would last long. He had to have something to circumvent that. But that was fine, too. In the end, like he had said, Roman wasn't fast enough.
"Checkmate!" Shirou called out, seeing the opportunity.
Weiss and Blake went at it, this time. They attacked the Paladin's legs, but didn't do visible damage. Weiss launched herself into the air with one of her white glyphs, and launched Blake an instant later. Missiles shot off from the machine towards them, but they managed to dodge them. They landed safely. Weiss casted a beam of light from her weapon under Blake's feet. The energy was adsorbed into her, and she sliced every missile that came at her without problem. It hadn't gone that well, but it didn't really matter
"Ladybug!" he yelled, trying to make himself heard.
Ruby speed up forward, using her Semblance, hit the robot's legs, came to the other side and immediately turned. Blake and her both dashed forward and attacked at the same time, over and over again, circling each other around its legs. They jumped, and it its shoulder at the same time, sending its arm flying. It the ground, and stopped when it hit a column of the highway. He held his breath. It cracked, but it didn't break. Thankfully. He didn't even want to think the mess that would have been made if he did. So many lives would be lost... he was starting to regret fighting under the highways, of all places, with so many cars there. But the truth was that there really wasn't any other place more suitable for fighting without serious risk of somebody getting hurt or worse. Not a place close enough to not be a problem, at least.
The Paladin swung at them with its remaining hand. Blake avoided it in the air, but Ruby got hit head on. She went flying, giving out a startled yelp, and hit the ground hard with Crescent Rose still firmly clenched between her hands. He was just surprised and glad that, even though she was definitively feeling the hit, she hadn't been knocked out of cold. Still. He gritted his teeth so hard he felt one of his back teeth crack. She wasn't badly hurt, but he was so enraged he would have killed Roman in he had got is hands on him in that instant. Fortunately, he didn't have him in his hands, so he would calm down and not do something stupid. The better punishment for that would be to capture, so he could be throw in jail for the rest of his life.
The war-machine stepped forward, and raised its foot, intending to crush Ruby under it. Shirou got between them, threw away his sword and then projected Crescent Rose just in time to intercept the mechanical appendage with both weapons. His arms strained under the weight, but didn't give it. With a strained yelp, he somehow managed to push the foot back. The war-machine staggered, trying hard to rebalance itself. He jumped, shooting at the cockpit with the sniper-scythe at the same time. By the time he got close to the cockpit, ten shoots had already been discharged against it. He hit it with the sniper-scythe and the rapier and the same time, using the dark blue Dust. The cockpit was covered in a sheet of ice. He propeller himself up using Crescent Rose's massive recoil, and hit the ice at his center with the two weapons. This time, he used the Red Dust.
The ice shattered, breaking the cockpit with it. Roman went flying out of it, and hit the ground hard. The war-machine, now without a pilot, went spinning out of control and stopped about twenty meters away. It had nearly reached a nearby building, but now it was just there, in the middle of the street. It was still a bit of danger, but that would be taken care off later. He approached the cornered, defenseless thief. The other three did to, intending to surround him in a circle. That smile. It didn't fit at all. Shirou tensed, preparing for anything.
A woman suddenly dropped in front of the thief, without warning. He hadn't barely saw her before she landed. She was short, shorter that all of them, even Ruby. Her hair was black in the right side, and pink in the left with a little bit of white, which was just plain bizarre. One of her eyes was brown, and the other pink. She bowed, clearly mocked them, a self satisfied smile on her face.
"Neo," Roman barked. ", do it!"
Ruby dashed past them in a whirl of roses, and struck. But even so, it came a moment too late. Neo unfolded her weapon, an umbrella, and stopped her attack in its tracks. He hardly believed his eyes, but he couldn't deny what was in front of him. Ruby, startled, couldn't react in time. So Neo punched her in the gut. There was a sickening crack. Her bones. That was clearly the sound of when bones break. Ruby hands went to her stomach. She gagged, gasping for air, and went down.
"What are you doing, you stupid bitch?!" Roman screamed. "This is not the time for that! Lets go!"
The words washed over him. He didn't care. He didn't care what he had to say about it, nor that bitch. A roar. He ran for them, propelling himself forward using Crescent Rose's massive recoil. He was already in front of his enemy by the time he realized that animalistic roar had come out his mouth. Neo's smile widened, just a little bit. He roared again, and struck. The thing in front of him managed to block his attack. He broke through the barrier, and struck true... the two people in front of him shattered as if made of glass. He froze. He turned, just in time to see a Bullhead in the sky. Roman was there, sitting inside and Neo was in front, at the edge, one hand gripping the side of it to support herself. She waved at him.
"We will meet again, little magus." he heard her words clearly, even over the roar of the aircraft.
The Bullhead went away. They disappeared as quickly as they came, leaving him cold, shaking, and pondering her words... and what would that meant for all of them.
