IX
The large Grimm slowly paced back and forth just twenty meters ahead of Ruby and Silver. Black ooze dripped from its mouth and bubbled on the ground. Its body pulsated as large muscles twitched beneath the skin, waiting to lunge towards its prey. After a few moments, the beast lowered its head and let out a loud hiss as it bared its large teeth.
Across the way from the Basilisk, Silver and Ruby stood at the ready to do battle. Silver's trigger finger twitched as he awaited his chance to open fire. Meanwhile, Ruby stood at the ready to lunge forward with her scythe. Once the Grimm hissed at the pair, Silver grinned and hissed back. Ruby glanced at her partner with a shocked expression, stunned that he would challenge the creature in such a way.
"Do you think it's smart to piss it off more?" Ruby asked.
Silver tilted his head to the side, not taking his eyes off the Grimm, and chuckled a little.
"I don't think it could hurt. The more frustrated it becomes then the more enraged it becomes. The more enraged it becomes then the better chances of it making a mistake. You wouldn't understand, it's an animal thing." He replied jokingly.
The Basilisk's upper lip became to tremble violently as anger flowed through it due to Silver's challenge. It roared loudly as it stamped its front feet, showing no fear of the young faunus. Silver however, simply responded with a loud hiss and snapped his rifle up to his shoulder before unloading a burst into the creature's face. The rounds tore into the snout of the reptilian like Grimm, causing it to shake its head violently from the pain. Afterwards it lunged forward, making a beeline straight for Silver.
"Ruby, break left and dash in for a quick strike while it's focused on me!" Silver commanded quickly as he shot two more bursts into the charging monster.
Ruby dashed quickly to the side of the beast before kicking her semblance into gear and speed forward, slashing her scythe into the armored hide of her target. She cursed under her breath as she saw that her blade only left shallow wounds. She landed gracefully before slamming the blade of Crescent Rose II into the ground to launch a laser attack. She held down the trigger to charge her shot but before she had enough time she was knocked backwards by the Basilisk's tail.
Silver cursed aloud as he saw Ruby fly through the air, just inches off of the ground. Within a blink of an eye he dashed to her position, her limp body slamming into his chest and knocking them both to the ground. As he was checking her over to ensure her aura was not broken, Ruby sat up and winched.
"Oof, he packs a hell of a punch." She growled through gritted teeth. "My scythe only made small wounds and I'll need more time to launch an attack from Crescent Rose's laser shot." She continued as she faced Silver, who gave her a sly grin.
"Do you think you can distract it long enough for me to slow him down for you? It'll be risky but if we pull it off you'll have plenty of time to land a good shot." Silver replied, helping Ruby up as the Basilisk squared itself with the pair to charge again.
"Sure, but a Grimm that size will need to be hit in the head for an instant kill. Otherwise I'll have to hit it several times." Ruby answered before dusting her cape off.
"Anyone ever tell you that your weapon is highly impractical?" The young faunus asked with a slightly annoyed tone.
Ruby quickly turned to Silver and stamped her foot down with frustration. She raised a finger at her partner with a scowl before replying.
"Firstly, it's for long range engagements. Secondly, that's a lot of lip coming from the guy who uses a glorified spear that turns into an assault rifle." She replied with a smirk.
"Oh?" Silver raised an eyebrow as he shifted his gaze from his partner to the lumbering beast. "Well I sure hope you've got enough venom in you for him as much as you do for me, because we're going to need it."
After a brief explanation of his plan, Silver and Ruby rushed into action. Silver aligned himself slightly behind Ruby as she knelt down to get ready for the signal to start. The Basilisk's lip quivered with rage as it starred down its challengers. The massive Grimm let out a loud roar before charging the pair. As soon as it jolted forward, Silver tapped Ruby's shoulder and she kicked her semblance into overdrive. As she darted forward, leaving petals in her wake, Silver vanished from sight before running forward as well.
Ruby sped towards the beast and as she got closer she started to zigzag. When she was close enough she started to lash out with her scythe, cutting shallow gashes into the sides and arms of the Basilisk. The beast roared with frustration from the small wounds, distracted by the small annoyance just enough to not notice what Silver was doing. With every cut Ruby made, Silver gracefully made the cuts slightly larger by striking the Grimm with his war scythe. While Ruby sped around the beast, Silver was on keeping up with her as best he could by keeping invisible and running as fast as he could while trying to not draw attention to himself. With each cut his Chimera's venom entered the wounds and quickly began to take its toll.
When Silver designed his weapon he made it with the intentions of it being an extremely effective tool for killing Grimm. The main body of the war scythe was fitted with a hollowed out section that could be outfitted with a bottle of customized poison. The mixture was a deadly combination of Dust, poisonous fungus, and venom from several different insects and snakes. The mix could then be applied to the blade by squeezing a leaver near the base of the blade which fed to a short hose which applied the mix via a spray. The poison itself would first cause a burning sensation at the area of the wound. Within seconds it would then cause confusion, blurred vision, and hallucinations. In high doses it would eventually cause the brain of the victim to swell to the point of death.
The Basilisk started to stumble as the poison began to take effect. However, the beast slowly began to grow more enraged as the confusion set in. Just as Ruby dashed towards the beast, it raised up on its hind legs and slammed down into the ground with all its might. Ruby was unable to stop herself from being caught in the shockwave and flying debris and thus was thrown backwards violently. She flew through the air so quickly that Silver, who was just barely outside of the range of the attack, couldn't catch her in time before she slammed into a tree. Her Aura shattered around her like a vase falling from a shelf before her limp body fell to the ground. Silver reemerged from his semblance as he ran to Ruby's side. She was unconscious and barely breathing but was somehow alive without any major injuries. He clenched his fists as he held the barely alive young woman in his arms, cursing to himself as the Grimm approached the duo. As the Basilisk approached them, shaking its head from the poison that ran through its veins, Silver started to give up hope and wondered if there was any hope of besting such a powerful and legendary Grimm.
As the Basilisk made what seemed like it would be its last charge against the pair, a sudden turn in the tide of battle took place. Almost out of thin air a decently sized spiked iron ball on a chain wrapped around the creature's neck. As soon as the chain with taut, an unseen force slammed the chain downward to force the head of the Basilisk towards the ground. Almost immediately, a large slab of rock rose quickly from the ground and slammed into the chin of the beast. The impact was so rough that Silver could make out a ripple move through the facial tissues of the Basilisk.
The large Grimm flipped head over heels onto its back, exposing the weaker underside of the creature. Before Silver could react with an attack of his own he noticed the chained weapon retracted from around the creature's neck as a stone ramp suddenly rise from the ground just moments before a mysterious figure came sliding down it on a box shield. The figure hit the end of the ramp and soured high above the Basilisk before spinning itself to face downward. Out of nowhere the figure hurtled the chained weapon, this time one in each hand, down into the ground on each side of the Basilisk. The shadowy figure kicked away from the shield and sped downward, glowing dark green as it sped through the air, into the chest of the large Grimm. The human missile slammed into the Basilisk with so much force that debris from the surrounding ground was kicked up in a large cloud. A loud roar echoed out from the cloud of dust moments before a bright flash of dark green light shown its body. The creature screamed out in pain as its entire body grew engulfed in a mysterious fire, just to grow silent as its life quickly ended. Silver's mouth hung open in disbelief at what he just saw. As the crackling carcass of the Basilisk melted away due to the green fire, the mysterious figure walked out into the open towards Silver and Ruby. As the shadow approached him, Silver felt his adrenaline levels fall sharply before collapsing from exhaustion.
Several hours later, Silver awoke to the gentle sway of a boat and the smell of the sea. It was night by the time he awoke from his post battle sleep and it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness around him. He quickly noticed a gentle green light coming from the corner of the fishing vessel. He noticed that Ruby sat next to the light, her head resting gently on the shoulder of the shadowy figure. The figure wore a simple gray hooded tunic, the hood of which covered most of its face, and held a glowing green orb of fire in between its hands.
As Silver stirred to get a better look at the pair he felt a heavy hand clasp his shoulder. He quickly spun around to see an oddly familiar looking young man standing next to where Silver was resting. The young man was tall, well built, and had wavy black hair and red eyes. The man raised a finger up to his lips as a gesture to tell Silver to remain silent before pointing at the pair at the corner of the boat. As Silver paid closer attention to the figure and Ruby, he noticed that soft singing came from the mysterious figure. Silver tried to make out the lyrics of the gentle song but noticed it was in a language he did not understand.
"What is this song?" Silver asked the man who stood with him, only to receive a silent shrug.
"Don't fret about Robin." Silver jumped as a soft voice of a woman came from the hooded figure. "He's a mute so don't expect to hold much of a conversation with him." The figure continued before raising its head to allow the hood to slip from her head.
The shadowy figure was a beautiful young woman who couldn't had been more than twenty-five years old. Her skin was a slight tan in color while her hair was a pure silvery white and her eyes were a deep golden. She gave Silver a confident smile before snuffing out the green flame that floated between her hands.
"Hello, Silver. It's nice to finally meet you." The figure said to the young faunus.
"I'm…sorry. It appears you know me but I don't know who you are." Silver replied.
"Oh, where are my manners. My name is Erika. Erika Drake. Robin, the young man behind you, and myself are members of the Crimson Talon Corps." The young woman answered with a nod to the man, Robin, who stood behind Silver.
"Crimson Talon Corps?" Silver's eyes widened with excitement at the words. "You mean to tell me that you two are a part of the Atlas black ops unit that went rogue shortly before the war?" He asked, barely able to contain himself.
"Yes, yes. Try to keep your voice down, Silver. Ruby has to get her rest for the coming operation." Erika said with a small pat on Ruby's head.
Silver nodded at his young partner before giving Erika a serious glare.
"Is she hurt?" He asked with slight anger in his voice.
"Not at all. She's just tired from the fight. You two are lucky we came along when we did." The woman replied.
"Yeah, about that. How the hell did you two manage to kill that Basilisk so quickly?" Silver asked, embarrassed that he had to be rescued.
"It wasn't a big deal. Wasn't the first Basilisk we've fought." Erika shrugged proudly before smirking at Silver.
"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow at the woman. "Well I am of course grateful for the backup. However, I should probably report to Qrow that you got us." He continued as he pulled out his scroll.
"No need." Erika waved her hand at Silver. "I gave Jay a call as soon as we got on the boat. He's probably talking to his old man as we speak about our little audible to his plan." She said softly.
"Jay?" Silver asked with a confused tilt of his head.
Erika chuckled gently as she realized she had gotten ahead of herself before gently moving Ruby onto her side so she could stand. Afterwards she strode over to Robin and leaned onto her companion.
"Jay is our leader and Robin's twin brother. Jay and Robin Branwen are their full names." She said with a point of her thumb.
"Branwen!?" Came a shocked shout from Ruby as her eyes snapped open.
Erika chuckled as Ruby awoke from her slumber at the most convenient of times. Ruby quickly snapped to Robin's side and looked the young man over closely before nodding proudly.
"He…looks just like a tall, young version of my uncle." She said while narrowing her eyes at the mute man who just smiled awkwardly at her.
"Well, he is his son. Jay and Robin are your cousins, Ruby." Erika laughed a little harder this time at the shocked look on Ruby's face. "Please, forgive me for my laughter. It's just I didn't think the subject of Ruby being related to Jay and Robin would be this entertaining." She continued.
"Wow! I can't believe Uncle Qrow actually had any kids!" Ruby said with excitement as she hugged Robin tightly. "I can't wait to tell Yang all about this!" She exclaimed.
"I'm sure she's close to finding out for herself soon enough. Jay is due to meet one of the resistance's spies tonight at your sister's bar." Erika shrugged again as she found her seat again. "But we can talk about this more in due time. We have to go over the mission before we get to Vale. So, any questions before we get started?" She asked the pair with a smile.
"I have one." Silver replied with a slight raise of his robotic hand. "Your name, Erika. I've only heard of one other name to be as strange as yours." He tilted his head again.
"Oh, the color thing? Well that's simple, Silver. My name is not color based because, like Roland Egle, I am a Dust Eater." She answered with a sly grin. "In fact I doubt that Nina nor Roland know that there is another surviving member of our old clan." Erika continued with a wink.
"You're a Dust Eater?" Ruby said with an astonished gaze at the young woman. To which Erika nodded proudly.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm actually related to the Egle siblings. And I would guess that it's safe to assume that neither one of my cousins know the hell that is coming for Roland." Erika replied, her sly grin turning cruel as she clinched her fist so tightly that a green flame appeared around it.