I have officially hit two mile stones in one chapter: the tenth chapter and this story has officially hit over 50,000 words. Enjoy! Thank you for the views, follows, favs, and reviews!
I don't own Star Wars or RWBY. Star Wars belongs to Disney and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 10: Enemy Within
"What do you mean, 'he wasn't in your room'?! You should've been keeping a closer eye on him!" Taddrei yelled at Soltrev and Renbra.
"How were we supposed to know that he'd just sneak out once we fell asleep? He was the first one in bed after we told him to!" Soltrev snapped.
"To be fair, he did say that sleep was for the weak a few minutes before he went to bed himself. I just figured it was irony, to be honest." Renbra said, trying not to shrink from the former Private. Taddrei may be the youngest in the squad, but he sure could yell.
"Well you should've done a better job at keeping him here!" Taddrei said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Brenver noticed the looks coming their way and said, "A hotel lobby is not the place to be talking about this. Yes, Quinn and Onyx could've been a little more cautious with Ro; but I think we all know that if he had his mind on it, he would've run off anyway."
Taddrei quietly sighed and said, "…You're right. I'm sorry guys, I-I shouldn't be getting so mad. If he really wanted to sneak out, he would've done it."
Katlin was silent the entire argument, but spoke up. "We should go find Jonquil. Perhaps he would know where Ro went."
"Viola's right. Ro isn't the only that hasn't shown up yet. Jonquil will probably be easier to find." Brenver said, his voice still freaking Taddrei out a bit now he knew the man was a clone trooper.
"Excuse me, but did you mention a Mister Ro?" a voice asked the group. They looked at the voice to see a Faunus.
"Yes. You've met him?" Taddrei asked.
"No, but I just heard that name on the news." The Faunus said, pointing to a TV screen before walking back over to his family. The Imperials looked at the TV to see a news report with those weird letters that were not Basic. Fortunately, a woman was speaking about the events the video was showing.
"Late last night, a man named Ro was found heavily burned and in critical condition. When paramedics arrived, they asked the man who found the burn victim and he reported that this was not an accident. Instead, this burn was the handiwork of Roman Torchwick, a renowned criminal that escaped imprisonment from an Atlas military base earlier today. It seems that Roman is adamant on continuing his criminal career. The victim, is in no condition to speak right now according to the hospital staff, but we will update as soon as more information is released. In other news, the White Fang has once again attempted an attack on the Schnee Dust Company. After the massive Dust shipment that was stolen a few months ago, the company has been set back; but the terrorist group does not seem content with just setting the Schnee Dust Company back a few weeks. Last night, the group set its sights on the heiress of the company, Weiss Schnee. Fortunately for Miss Schnee, Jonquil Saffron, a famed Hunter shrouded in mystery, was the one responsible for foiling the assassination attempt on the Schnee heiress."
"Ro was attacked by Torchwick? And here I thought he just spent all night stealing stuff."
"He probably tried to steal from Torchwick and got in a fight over it." Katlin scoffed.
"I don't know. Maybe Ro was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had the impression that Roman was a bit of a classy gangster, but this…the man's nothing but deranged scum." Renbra whispered.
"We should see if Ro's okay." Taddrei said.
"Did you not hear the reporter? He's in critical condition, so he's probably in no position to be getting visitors right now. Besides, we don't even know if it's our Ro." Soltrev replied.
"Jonquil saved him, so it must be. Besides, how many Ro's do you know that are night-owls?" Taddrei reasoned.
"…"
"Exactly. Now let's go see if we can at least make sure it's him."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Katlin said.
"Just because we don't like him, doesn't mean we should abandon him." Taddrei said, feeling disgusted that his squad would theoretically leave a comrade behind.
"The hospital has medical records. More than likely, they'll look through them to see if he has anything that could complicate surgery such as birth defects, allergies to certain treatments, and the like…Records that don't exist here."
"We don't know if they even do that."
"Look around you. This place is not as…held back as I think you all want to believe. A man that has no medical records, and a group of five others showing up with a similar story would look too suspicious. We don't want to be discovered so soon." Katlin whispered.
"She's got a point. We should look for Jonquil first, then see if he knows anything."
"That will not be necessary." a familiar voice said.
"Speak of the devil." Taddrei muttered.
"If you're wondering if this Ro is yours…yes it is him. I found him near the end of his fight with Torchwick and chased him off. If Ro wasn't so heavily burned, I would've gone after him, but he would've died had I left him." Ral stated.
The Imperials sighed in relief to know that it was Ral who found Manrica, but they were now fully worried about the dire state that the thief was in.
"Wait, what about his records?" Katlin asked.
"…We'll just have to hope that he can play it off." Ral admitted.
"What about Torchwick? Did you see where he went?" Taddrei asked.
For the first time since he showed up, Ral smile a genuine smile. "Better. I can track him."
"…How?"
"This isn't the place, but all you need to know is that I can follow him wherever he goes now." Ral said, closing his eyes for a few seconds. When his eyes opened, his smile grew bigger. "He's on the outskirts of Vale. A perfect place for a little…exercise."
Knowing exactly what Ral was referring to, Taddrei said, "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's get back to your home so we can gear up."
Speaking of the shuttle, Tray found himself in a precarious situation. Who knew that trying to be the mediator between a violent heavy trooper and a pissed off Zabrak would be difficult?
"Alright, that's enough! Both of you!" Tray yelled, stepping between Trio and Shejas.
"He started it!" Shejas protested, trying to reach around Tray to get to Trio, who was also attempting the same thing.
Tray seemed to almost flare in anger and pushed both of them away from each other. "Stand down! That's an order!" he bellowed.
Shejas and Trio scowled at each other, but made no moves.
"Now…Tell me what got you two so worked up."
"Well Private Jackass here decided that making fun of Zabraks to my face was a good idea." Shejas growled, baring his teeth at the heavy trooper.
"I was just saying that he was pretty unaggressive for his kind." Trio spat back. "And I was a Sergeant before we deserted, thank you very much." he added.
"Yeah, and then you went on to say that I must be weak, especially since my dad was a Mandalorian, yet I prefer to not fight." Shejas replied.
"Up yours!" Trio shouted. "Mandalorians live for battle! Zabraks are an aggressive race, and you're the son of a Mandalorian so you clearly do not have what it takes to be a real warrior!"
"Says the guy lugging a heavy blaster and a staff around all day! This isn't the front-lines! You don't need to carry that crap around all day, ya faker! It's like you're compensating for something!"
Tray listened to the two argue and then stopped them both. "Shut up! Both of you! If you can't handle this like adults, both of you are staying on opposite ends of the shuttle until you calm down enough to be civil."
"Pfft. Like that's gonna happen with a Zabrak."
"Shejas, Trio…Stop." Tray warned on seeing Shejas' jaw tense.
Shejas let out a low growl before slowly relaxing. "…You're right. Little faker's not worth it. He couldn't tell the difference between a real Mandalorian and a fake like him." he said.
Before Trio could pitch another insult, Tray sent him a look. "Trio, you're staying in the medbay; Shejas, you're staying in the cockpit—just like last night." Trio snorted and started walking away until Tray added to his orders. "Without your weapons."
Trio growled, but shouldered his heavy blaster and set it on the ground, his staff following it. Shejas sighed and pulled his modified blaster out of its hiding place and handed it over to Tray. Trio and Shejas glared at each other one last time before begrudgingly going to their assigned rooms.
Tray slumped down on the nearest chair and rested his face in his hands.
"Hey there," Tray looked up to see a woman holding out a cup of water. "You look like you could use some." Tray thanked her and accepted the cup, taking a small sip, feeling the cool liquid go down his throat.
"Those two are a piece of work, aren't they?" the engineer asked, sitting next to Tray.
"No kidding. I'm starting to regret letting Trio stay here. First arguing over pazaak, now racism…I should've sent him with the others."
The woman lightly laughed and said, "That man lives to fight. He would more than likely cause a problem if he went with the others."
Tray nodded wordlessly, taking another sip of the water.
"Oh. Uh, I'm Elize by the way. I'm the head of the engineers here. I never really found a good time to speak with you, but I figured now's as good a time as any to introduce myself to you, Lieutenant." the woman said.
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Elize. And please, just call me Tray. We aren't in the military anymore."
Elize smiled and stood up. "I just thought that since you're going to be stuck here for a while, you may as well know someone other than Trio and Shejas."
"True enough. Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Tray suggested.
Elize shrugged. "There's not much to say. I was born on Corulag and when I was old enough, I started taking engineering classes. When I graduated at the top of my class, the Empire offered me a decently high-up job in its engineering divisions. Who was I to refuse?"
"Someone with no choice." Tray quipped.
"Heh…Too right. Not many people say 'no' to the Empire and live." Elize said sadly.
"Except the Rebels." Tray pointed out.
Elize stiffened a bit. "…I'm only going to say this once. All the lives lost in the war, and it's finally come to an end. I'm just glad it's over. I just hope the Alliance will not make the same mistakes as the old Republic, or just become another Empire."
After a few moments of silence, Elize shifted her weight to her other leg and said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, Lieutenant. Do let me know if your squad comes back with any…interesting weapons. Anyway, I gotta see how the other engineers are doing. Talk to ya later."
Tray lifted his head to say something, but the head engineer was already gone. "Yeah…"
Manrica was not sure where he was, but on being nearly blinded by a bright light right above him, he started to make assumptions. He squeezed his eyes shut to block out the obnoxiously bright light, and focused on his surroundings.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Okay, abduction is out of the way… he thought.
"Doctor, he's coming to." a voice announced in relief.
Doctor? Definitely a medbay. Manrica thought. The light dimmed, and he could finally start looking around. Well, he would have if he could, but something seemed to be keeping his head from turning. Unable to turn his head, he decided to try sitting up, but the doctor quickly moved toward him
"Ah, you don't want to do that." the man that Manrica assumed to be the doctor said, gently pushing him back down.
With the doctor finally in sight, Manrica saw a middle-aged man wearing hospital scrubs. On a closer look, they were definitely not like those on the Equinox.
Manrica opened his mouth to speak, but he suddenly became very aware of how dry his throat was.
"Get him something to drink." the doctor ordered.
Manrica soon found a cup being put to his lips and slowly tipped, pouring down pure water. It wasn't the coldest thing he had ever had, but it sure helped with his parched throat.
"Thank you." Manrica said with a scratchy voice.
"You're very lucky to be alive, Mister Ro. Had you not been found when you did, you likely wouldn't have made it." the doctor said.
Manrica let the nurse give him another sip of the water and said, "Well, I'm glad it didn't come to that."
"As are we. Life is a precious thing." the doctor replied.
Too right. Manrica thought. He tried to crane his neck to look down at himself, but he kept getting the feeling of something keeping him from doing so.
"You were heavily injured in that fight. You also received some nasty burns. We were able to remove most of the burned tissue, but you will have to stay here until the new skin tissue can grow back. If we didn't give it a chance to grow back, your skin will be extremely sensitive, and you probably don't want to deal with that."
"Uh…How long will that take?" Manrica asked.
"We're not sure. We tried to look up your medical records to see if there were any issues we needed to be aware of but…well…it's as if you don't exist."
Were it not for his years of experience of lying his way out of trouble, Manrica's eyebrows would've shot to the ceiling.
"I was born outside of the kingdoms. Normally, I wouldn't even be here in Vale, but something came up so a group of us were sent here." Manrica said, following the story that he and Taddrei came up with.
"Born outside of the kingdoms or not, there would still be something indicating you exist, yet there is nothing in any sort of database regarding you. No birth certificates, no medial records, no Scroll data usage…nothing."
"I don't have a Scroll, and my parents didn't exactly have the luxury of recording my birth." Manrica stated.
The doctor paused for a bit, with Manrica slowly growing tenser and tenser. Had anyone been paying attention to the heart monitor, they would've seen that his heart was beating a little bit faster.
"Fair enough, I suppose. Your family lives outside of the kingdoms, so it would make sense that survival is more important than something like records." the doctor finally said, with Manrica slowly relaxing to hide his relief.
"Tell me, is there anyone that can verify your story? A friend perhaps?" the doctor asked. "We can't be too careful, you know."
"Doctor, we shouldn't interrogate the patient. He's been severely burned, so he needs to give himself some rest. Now, I believe that Doctor Luxana asked for you to meet with her." one of the nurses said.
The doctor nodded and looked at Manrica. "I apologize. It's just…odd to find absolutely no records about someone, so my curiosity got the better of me."
The doctor and some of the nurses left the room with the exception of the one that gave Manrica the water. The woman smiled at Manrica and picked up a small device, putting it close to Manrica's relatively unburned arm. "If you need anything, just press that button and I'll be here shortly." she said, walking out of the room.
Aw yeah baby! You struck gold, good buddy! Manrica thought as he ever so closely looked down as the woman walk out of the room. He was tempted to just keep pushing the button so he could get on her nerves, but his rare common sense prevailed. Eh, she's probably got more than just me to attend to. But dang, that girl walks better than Katlin does; and that's sayin' something! he thought as his finger hovered over the button until he finally just set his arm down and tried to get some rest.
As the rest of the squad followed Ral to his ship, the Jedi stopped, looking almost as if he was deep in thought.
"Is something wrong?" Taddrei asked.
"…How is that possible?" Ral muttered.
"Uh, excuse me?"
"Torchwick is…moving. Very fast." Ral said, starting to walk once again.
"Okay, how are you doing that? What, do you sense him or something like that?" Taddrei asked.
"For lack of a better word, yes."
Taddrei threw his arms into the air and said, "Is there nothing the Force can't do? Because every time you mention the Force, it feels like there's another thing you can do with it. I thought you said the Force was weak here."
"The Force is weakened here, but I've been living here for almost ten years, remember? I've adapted to the subdued Force energy here. To put into terms you would understand…less is more."
Taddrei raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "I think I get it. It's weaker here, but you can somehow do more with lessened power?"
"More or less, yes."
"So what would happen if you were on a planet where the Force is strong?" Katlin asked.
Ral thought over the medic's question and finally said, "I shudder to think of it. I might be able to completely overpower the most powerful opponents, or I might lose control of myself. I don't really know." Satisfied, the medic nodded.
"Back to Torchwick. Should we go after him?" Taddrei asked.
"Yes and no. We…may need to have the shuttle covertly arrive outside of Vale, and have them drop off your equipment. We have no idea what Roman's plans are, so speed will be of the utmost importance." Ral answered.
"In case you haven't noticed, a Lambda isn't exactly suited for stealth."
"Which is why I know the perfect place for your ship to land." Ral said. "Tell me, do you have a way to contact your leader?"
"Well…Tray handed me this comm in case we need orders." Taddrei stated.
"Board my ship and contact Tray from there. You'll be less likely to be heard, and you can be more forward in asking for assistance." Ral said, pulling out his Scroll and tapping on the display, lowering the boarding ramp.
Taddrei quickly entered Ral's ship and pulled out his comm, holding it up to his face. "Tray. Tray, this is Taddrei. Do you read?"
"I hear you, Taddrei. What happened?"
"First off, Manrica's in the hospital."
"What?!"
"Hold on, sir. Let me finish. Manrica's in the hospital because he got into a fight with Roman Torchwick. The Jedi managed to save Manrica in time, but Roman got away. Apparently, Ral can now track Roman through the Force, and he knows exactly where the scumbag is."
"And…?"
"…We're going to try to take him in."
"How are you going to do that?"
Taddrei swallowed and said, "We're going to need our gear for what Ral has in mind, sir."
"Alright. Just come back to the shuttle, and your gear will be ready. Hopefully, we can find something that can help Manrica heal faster while we're at it."
"That's a negative sir. It would be too suspicious if a few people with a similar lack of any records showed up, claiming that they know him. I don't know about rules regarding possible criminals here on Remnant, but I get the feeling that they will take care of anyone with injuries like Manrica's."
"…Alright then. Come back to Ral's home and we'll make sure you gear is ready to go."
"Ral has a better idea. He knows a good place outside of Vale for the shuttle to go to. I don't know about you, sir, but I think that having the shuttle dropping off our equipment would be much quicker than having us get in Ral's ship, fly to his home, get our gear, and fly back in Ral's ship." Taddrei stated.
"What does Ral have in mind?" Tray asked.
"I don't know, sir. He just said that he has a good spot for a covert drop-off."
"Very well. Have Ral give us the coordinates, and we'll be right over."
"Yes, sir. Taddrei out." the young stormtrooper said, cutting off the link and putting his comm unit back in his pockets. He stepped out of Ral's ship and saw the girl that ran into him yesterday chatting up a storm with Ral.
"Mister Saffron, it is such an honor to meet you!" the girl said, her every movement screaming out 'fan.'
"I'm nothing special." Ral stated.
"Not everyone gets to save both of the Schnee sisters! That whole thing with that hostage crisis was sooooo cool! Well…not the whole 'people being taken hostage' part, but the part where you just showed up out of nowhere and kicked butt was totally awesome!" the girl squealed in what sounded like one breath.
Does that girl even breath? Taddrei thought on hearing the girl continue to ramble about Ral's achievements on Remnant until she became aware of Taddrei's presence.
"I-It's you!" the girl exclaimed. "I am still very sorry about running into you yesterday!" she added.
Taddrei suppressed a smile and said, "It's no problem. No harm came of it."
The girl nervously rubbed the back of her neck before holding out her hand. "Uh…I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."
Taddrei slightly cocked an eyebrow at the sudden change in the girl's attitude. First, she was extremely excited, then became bashful, then turned into someone who's just nervous. Deciding to go along with it, Taddrei took the girl's hand and shook it. "I'm Koa. Nice to meet you, Ruby."
"Yo, Rubes. What'd Dad say about talking to strangers?" a voice asked with concern. Taddrei looked to see the same blonde girl that was with Ruby.
Ruby slightly sighed and said, "'Don't talk to them, because you never know what their intentions are. I know, Yang."
Yang walked up to the group and said, "I'm sorry if my sister bothered you guys." She looked at Ral and her eyes glowed with recognition. "Wait a minute…You're Jonquil Saffron, aren't you?"
"I am." Ral said, tipping his head toward the girl.
"Neat. I guess I can understand why Ruby here got so excited and ran off. Come on, sis, let's go turn in my application to Beacon."
"Okay." Ruby said. The two turned to leave, but Ruby looked back to wave at Jonquil. "It was nice meeting you, Mister Saffron!"
"And I, you." Ral calmly replied.
As the two walked off, Yang nudged Ruby with her elbow. "So…What'd you think of that boy?" she asked teasingly.
"Ew, Yang! That boy's more around your age!" Ruby protested.
"Nah. He's too military-looking for my tastes. Might be from Atlas too, and I'm not going to go for a guy who's probably going to be somewhere else all the time."
"Those two were sisters? They don't look anything alike." Taddrei commented. "…Where's everybody else?"
"They're over at that café. You have not eaten yet, and it seems that you still need money, so I'm paying for your breakfast."
Taddrei looked at Ral in surprise. "I…Thank you."
"Once you're on your feet financially, I will be expecting my money back." Ral stated.
"We'd probably pay you for your help anyway." Taddrei replied. He walked over to the rest of his group and sat down with them. While parts of the names and the colors of the food may be different from the galaxy at large, the taste was relatively the same. Really, the biggest difference was a change from blue milk to white milk. Once the group finished eating, they left the café and found Ral walking toward them.
"Alright. Where's this secret place of yours?" Taddrei asked.
"Give me your comm and I can give your Lieutenant the coordinates." Ral answered, holding out his hand.
Taddrei hesitated, but carefully pulled out his comm and handed it to Ral. The Jedi stepped back from the group and put it to his lips. "Lieutenant, this is Ral."
A few seconds later, a confused sounding Tray responded. "What is it?"
"I have the coordinates for the place for your shuttle to land." Ral stated.
"Alright. Let's hear them."
Ral gave Tray the coordinates and Tray said, "Affirmative. I'll relay them to Shejas and we'll be there shortly. Over."
Ral cut the link and handed the comm back to Taddrei. "What do we do until the shuttle gets here, Jedi?"
"I will show you where the drop-off will be, and after that, I will go make sure that Manrica is doing fine."
"Why not us? We should go check on him too." Katlin asked.
"No. Risk of your discovery will be too great. I'm rather well-known, and I'm the one that called the hospital about him. It will make more sense that I show up instead."
"He'll at least want to hear from us." Taddrei pointed out.
"I will find a way for you to speak with him." Ral stated.
"If you say so."
"Come. Let me show you where the shuttle will land."
Three hours later, the ex-Imperials found themselves a little way out from Vale, yet they did not run into any Grimm. When Katlin pointed this out, Ral said, "This area recently had a bit of a purge from Huntsmen. The people don't know how the Grimm keep coming back, but they do. If you do see any Grimm here, they'll likely be very young and weak. Little more than an average animal here on Remnant."
"Average? Here? Nah." Brenver quipped.
"In any case, I will go make sure that Manrica is okay in the hospital." Ral said, starting to walk away.
"Hey wait! You're not leaving us here, are you?" Taddrei called out.
"Maybe I am. Maybe I am not. If you really want to stay here, you can. I won't stop you." Ral yelled back as he seemed to disappear into the forest.
"Uh…Anyone know the way back?" Taddrei asked.
"Sorry man. A forest is a bit out of my element. All the trees look the same to me." Renbra admitted.
As the other Imperials began to say that they don't know in different ways, Soltrev spoke up.
"I could probably take us back."
"Do you think or do you know?" Katlin asked.
"Somewhere in between."
"Alright, Soltrev. Lead the way." Taddrei said.
"Hold on." Soltrev said, seemingly looking for something.
"Uh…Soltrev?"
"Hold on."
"…Any day now."
"I said. Hold. On." the stormtrooper growled in annoyance. He walked up to a tree and seemed to look for something. "Hello," he said victoriously. "It's this way."
Soltrev started walking, with the Imperials following him. He would occasionally stop and look around, but would soon start walking again.
"Soltrev…be honest. Are we lost?" Brenver asked.
"No. We're heading the way we came."
"Do you know for sure?"
"Yes."
Brenver frowned and said, "How are you doing it? I highly doubt you remember certain trees as landmarks."
"It's not the trees I'm following. It's my mark."
Taddrei perked up, but looked confused. "Your…mark?"
Soltrev flippantly pulled out a small vibroknife, flipped it around in his fingers, and sheathed it. "I put special marks along the trees as we went."
"I get what you're doing, but how do we know you haven't been mistaking other marks on the trees for yours?" Katlin asked.
"I made this knife myself with a few modifications." Soltrev said, putting his hand along one of the trees. "See this burn mark? That's the knife's work."
"You have a burning vibroknife? Weren't those kind of mods illegal?" Taddrei asked.
"Maybe where you come from, but where I lived, survival took priority over the law getting worked up over illegal weapons modifications." Soltrev said.
"Where did you live? Even Kessel enforced rules like that."
Soltrev stopped and looked away, growing tense. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Suit yourself."
Soltrev continued to lead the Imperials out of the forest in silence, with the rest wondering a few things. "Was Manrica okay? Why did Ral leave us behind like that? What's with Soltrev?"
As Ral came into the outskirts of Vale, he sensed a disturbance. He slightly looked to his left to see a few men sparing suspicious looks at him. Using the Force, Ral could tell that their intentions were definitely not friendly ones. Preparing for a fight, Ral kept walking, ready for anything. One of the men waved him over and said, "Hey! Hey you!"
The man got in front of Ral, who acted like he was surprised by the man's actions. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, stop walking. This is Torchwick's territory, old man."
"So arrogant." Ral mumbled.
"Excuse me? I don't think I heard you right. You mind repeating yourself, old man?"
"So much anger."
"Well who wouldn't be mad at having to deal with an old coot like you?!" the man angrily yelled.
Ral shook his head and walked around the criminal. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stop walking!" the man warned, pressing a gun into Ral's back.
"So…weak." Ral said as he spun around and wrenched the gun out of the man's hand, quickly ejecting the magazine and racking the pistol to eject the bullet in the chamber. With the man disarmed, Ral quickly changed his grip on the pistol and bashed the back of the man's head with the grip, knocking him out.
"Anyone else?" Ral taunted the group of men that slowly began to surround him. "So rude, attacking your elders, you know."
"Shut it old man! Torchwick wants your head for putting him in the clink!" one of the men roared as he charged the Jedi, only for Ral to flip the man onto his back and stomp on his head.
"Does he? I'm honored that he thinks so highly of me. Tell him I send my regards." Ral replied.
"Get 'im!" one of Torchwick's men shouted, with the entire group rushing at Ral.
"If the White Fang can't take me down that way, what hope do you have?" Ral muttered. He reached out to the Force and unleashed the pent-up power just before the first criminal could touch him, sending the entire entourage flying in different directions.
"What the?!"
"Get back up, you idiots! Shoot him!"
Ral's Jedi senses warned him of a volley of gun fire and quickly set up a Force shield, suspending all of the bullets in midair.
"It's gotta be his Semblance! Be careful!" one of the men yelled.
Ral smirked and thought, It is so much more. You wouldn't understand.
Another man with a rather antiquated, yet classic, gangster weapon raised it and aimed at Ral, firing a spray of bullets. Due to Ral's shield, the bullets all stopped inches away from him.
"Stop firing, you buffoon!"
Too late. Ral thought when he collapsed his shield and sent all of the bullets flying back at various angles that either hit or grazed all of Torchwick's minions. The ones that did not have an Aura fell to the ground in pain, more than a few bullets having firmly lodged themselves in them, while the ones that were lucky enough to have their Aura unlocked shrugged off the tiny pieces of lead.
All of the remaining gangsters raised their weapons and aimed at Ral.
Blast. That's going to hurt. Ral thought, as he quickly reached for his belt, only to find it wasn't there. Shocked, he instantly leaped into the air before the criminals fired. He landed on a rooftop and rolled to absorb the impact and took off.
"Where'd he go?!"
"Find him! He can't have gone far!"
Ral kept running until he no longer heard the crazed criminals. Even when he was certain that they were gone, he kept running until he reached the CCTS. Back in action or not, Torchwick's gang did not have the men or the guns to attack someone in such a public place. Taking a few seconds to catch his breath, Ral looked around him for any signs of Torchwick's gang. After seeing no one, he reached out to the Force to sense malicious intentions. Sensing nothing, he finally relaxed.
"Mister Saffron, are you alright?" a voice asked.
Ral took a second before answering. "Yes…I'm fine, Ozpin. Now leave me alone."
"You're not breathing too well. Finally meet your match?" Ozpin joked.
"Pfft. As if. I got caught without my weapon against some of Torchwick's cronies. That's all."
"As long as you are alright."
"I'm fine, Ozpin. Quit asking. I'm still younger than you, you know." Ral joked back.
Ozpin lightly smiled and took a small sip of coffee from his nearly infamous mug. "Indeed. Your old age will come, Mister Saffron."
"We're not around them, Ozpin. I decided to take a little break from them for a bit and check on their injured comrade."
Ozpin nodded and said, "Very well, Ral…How are they doing?"
"Well…They're doing fine. Except for one of their own getting heavily wounded by Torchwick, they're doing fine. If I didn't know any better, I'd probably think they were normal people."
"I see. Well, you should probably get back to it." Ozpin said, taking yet another sip from his mug.
Ral cocked an eyebrow as his head slightly tilted up. "You might want to get a refill soon from the looks of it."
"No need." Ozpin said as Ral walked away.
Manrica woke up with a crick in his neck. He tried to sit up, but his casts reminded him that he couldn't move very much. He pressed the button that the nurse gave him and waited. A few minutes later the nurse walked in.
"Hey, uh, I'm sure you have more important things to do, but my neck's killing me. Is there anything you can do about that?" Manrica asked.
The nurse silently stared at Manrica until she smiled and left the room, coming back in with a small pillow. The nurse gently lifted up the stormtrooper's head and pushed his old pillow a little bit down his back, while putting the new pillow where the old one once rested. Feeling the change in his posture, Manrica smiled and said, "Thanks, nurse."
"No problem. Just let me know if you need anything."
Manrica found himself passing the time by trying to make a kind of beat out of the clock, but with only one hand to work with, his options were more limited than he was expecting. I guess I should be glad that I can finally move my head around now. he thought as his head fell back onto his pillow and he stared at the ceiling for who knows how long.
After a good amount of time passed, Manrica looked at the clock in confusion. Hm…The nurse usually checks on me every fifteen to thirty minutes…She's probably busy. he thought just as the door opened.
The nurse walked in with all the glory that Manrica's mind could muster. He could've sworn that he even saw rays of sunshine come into the room as well.
"Well, there's my light in the darkness." he joked.
"…" The nurse lightly smiled but didn't say anything, seemingly working on something in the room.
"Uh…Hello?"
"…"
"Say something please?" Manrica asked. "You've got a very pretty voice, has anyone ever told you that?"
"…"
Something's not right with her… Manrica thought. "Was it the 'light in the darkness' thing? It was totally that, wasn't it?"
"…"
Say something dammit! You're freaking me out!" Manrica thought.
Before Manrica could ask the nurse what was wrong, the nurse pulled out an umbrella from seemingly out of no where.
"Uh…Nurse? There's kind of a roof over our head. I know that umbrellas can be romantic, but it's usually the guy that offers it to the lady."
"…" The nurse winked, and pulled on the handle of the umbrella, revealing an all too sharp metal point.
Manrica nervously swallowed and said, "Uh…I'm not into that stuff. Besides, I'm too young for a colonoscopy."
The nurse faltered a bit, surprised at the rather brash insinuation, but scowled at the stormtrooper. Her glare turned into a wicked smile as she pulled the handle out and revealed a sharp, pointed sword. Her wicked smile grew as her uniform disappeared, being replaced by a very short woman with multicolored hair and eyes—one brown eye, one pink eye. The wicked smile went up to her eyes as she was seemingly consumed by bloodlust until the door opened, and the umbrella instantly disappeared.
The would-be assassin turned around and smiled sweetly at whoever came in, but her eyes widened on seeing who walked in.
"Get away from him!" Ral yelled, charging at the assassin.
The woman's umbrella reappeared and she held it out in front of her. Ral got under her guard and rammed his shoulder into the woman.
The woman said nothing as she avoided Ral's attacks with surprising grace in such a small room. Ral unleashed a flurry of punches, kicks, and charges at the woman, but she easily dodged all of them. Seeing an opening, the woman jammed her umbrella into Ral's gut, keeling him over before swinging her weapon down on the back of his head.
Ral was knocked down, but he was barely holding onto his consciousness.
"Ral! Here!" Manrica yelled, holding out the Jedi's missing lightsaber.
Not even bothering to ask how the man got it, Ral was brought back to full alert and shoved the woman off of him, reaching out to the Force to bring his lightsaber to him.
The lightsaber flew out of Manrica's good hand and into Ral's much more capable hands. The Jedi's weapon light up, casting a yellow glow on the room. The woman's eyes flashed white and she instantly backed away from the deadly weapon, seemingly disappearing in a flash of light.
Ral stood his ground, waiting for the assassin to try anything. Not seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary, Ral cautiously searched for the woman through the Force. Not sensing the blind rage and fear of the woman, Ral relaxed and retracted his lightsaber as some of the hospital staff hastily entered the room.
"What happened in here?"
"This man was nearly killed by an assassin."
"What?! That's preposterous!" one of the staff said in shock.
"It's true, doctors. I was attacked." Manrica announced.
"How? No one has left the room."
"The woman seemed to turn herself invisible. Perhaps she can teleport. I do not know. Just know that she is gone now."
"How are you so sure?"
"Is the word of a Huntsman not good enough for you?" Ral asked.
"Huntsman? Oh! You're the man that saved the Schnee heiress last night!"
"This man is fine, but I think he needs to be put under armed guard." Ral said.
"Are you sure that's wise? Such a thing is uncommon in Vale. What would happen if the media got a hold of this 'special treatment'?" the doctor asked.
"They won't find out. I know a safe place where he'll be in good hands." Ral answered.
"…Very well. Tell me, what's the name of this hospital?" the doctor said.
"It's not a hospital per se, but they do have medical facilities. All he needs to do is rest, no?"
"Er…Well, with such heavy burns, we'll have to make sure that the skin tissue grows back correctly, especially with the likelihood of some of the damage burning into his muscles. There's also the dislocated shoulder to take into account. Seeing that his burned arm is the dislocated one, we should let the skin grow back to the point that it won't hurt him when we set his shoulder."
"The place I have in mind has more than adequate medical care. I dare say he'll be in better hands there than he will be in here; especially considering your…security breach." Ral casually said.
"What is this place you speak of?"
"I'm not at liberty to say, but they will be able to take good care of him." Ral said, slightly annoyed at the doctor's curiosity.
"Unless I have a name, I'm afraid I cannot clear the patient." the doctor stated as the rest of the staff left the room.
Ral sighed and slowly waved his hand. "You will clear the patient for transfer."
"…I will clear the patient for transfer."
Manrica looked between Ral and the doctor in confusion. Wha…How…Wha…? he thought.
The doctor looked over a clipboard and signed his name at the bottom. "He is cleared for a transfer."
"Thank you very much." Ral said.
A few minutes later, some of the hospital staff came into the room and prepared to move Manrica. One of the staff looked at Ral and asked, "Where are you taking him?"
"First off, he's going to my ship, so I can take him where he needs to go. The rest is none of your business." Ral answered.
"Where's your ship?"
"It's at landing strip 42C. It should be the only ship there, but if there's another one, look for the Ascendant Light."
The man nodded and typed the ship's name into his Scroll. "That's all we need, sir. Your friend will be taken to your ship within the hour."
"Thank you."
I suppose that's a wrap. See you guys next week!