"So… now what?" Roy asked.
"Now?" Jaune said. He began to unstrap all of the weapons he had on him except for his own sword. He then unstrapped the gas mask around his face as did everyone else. "Now we focus on finding the girls and tending to Brawnz." Jaune looks at the wound on Brawnz's leg and gets squeamish. He shudders and turns to Roy who was leaning over trying to catch his breath.
"Roy, how did Brawnz get shot?"
"The bastard had aura piercing rounds," he said. Roy was pacing around nervously trying to calm himself down. He was still trying to figure out what Eric did to him.
"Okay okay," Jaune said. He looks at the other side of Brawnz's leg to look for an exit wound and finds one. "Okay the bullet went through but we need to put pressure on the wound and elevate it."
"Can't his aura take care of it?" Nolan asked. Jaune examined the wound and could see Brawnz's aura trying to reach the wound but it stopped mere inches from the skin.
"Looks like the bullet stops aura regeneration. We need to put pressure on the wound before he bleeds out."
"Bleed out?!" Brawnz repeated, wide eyed. "I'm gonna die?!"
Jaune put his hand on his friend's shoulder to try and comfort him."Brawnz relax, you're just scared."
"No shit I'm scared!" Brawnz yelling moved him a little bit, causing his wound to bleed a little bit more. Brawnz recoils and Jaune pulled his arms into his sleeves and covered both wounds to stop Brawnz from losing too much blood.
"Roy, find blankets, towels, hell even shirts or something to help with the bleeding."
"On it." The dark skinned student looks for the stuff Jaune asked for.
"Nolan, look around this shack for secret entrances, the girls are here I know it!"
"You got it," He said. The red head removes the weapons from him except for his own and began to look around for secret levers, buttons, anything. He tears pictures off the wall, and moves furniture around. Jaune removes the belt from his pants and ties it at the bend of Brawnz's knee. He tightens the belt causing Brawnz to groan.
"Do you have to keep it that tight you bastard?!" he yelled.
"It's to slow the blood flow Brawnz, can you still bend it?"
"Yeah, but still!"
Roy comes back with a pile of clothes for Brawnz's wound. They were mainly t-shirts. "Here, will these works?" he asked Jaune.
"Yeah, tie it around his leg and make sure you get both wounds. Use all of them to keep as much blood in him as possible." Roy began to roll up a shirt so it could be tied around Brawnz's leg. Once he was ready he nodded for Jaune. "Okay be quick on this. One, two, three!"
Jaune removes his sleeved hands and a little bit of blood came out, but Roy was able to react in time to tie the rolled up shirt around the wounds. Blood seeped through the shirt and Jaune put pressure on the wound again. As Roy got another piece of clothing, Jaune called out to the red head.
"Nolan, any luck?" There is a loud bang coming from another room that Nolan was searching. "Nolan what was that?"
"Nothing!" the red head yelled back. "I thought there was a door behind the closet so I threw it to the ground. Also no luck…"
"Well don't destroy the house too much, this place looks like it's on its last legs." Nolan blows a raspberry. They tie another shirt around Brawnz leg to keep soaking the blood. "All right, Can you take it from here Roy?"
"Yeah," Roy said as he nodded. Jaune stood up and Roy added one more cloth to the wound and put pressure on the wound "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to help Nolan look for the girls."
With that, Jaune began looking for any sign of the girls as well. After a few minutes of searching they found nothing. Nolan and Jaune look at each other. "I found nothing you?" Nolan asked.
"Me either," Jaune responded.
"So the girls aren't here?" Roy asked.
"Jaune you're an idiot!" Brawnz said. "Of course they wouldn't be here. The bandits obviously moved them!" This caused everyone in the room to stare in disbelief. This was the first time Brawnz attacked Jaune throughout the entire initiation. However Jaune knew it was just because he was shot but that didn't mean the impact wasn't as harsh.
Jaune stepped away for a minute to clear his head. He takes a deep breath. He knows the bandits are looking for them and it's only a matter of time before they are found. He took a minute to think about the time Eric had to put Roy and Brawnz in restraints and hide the girls. He could tell the bandit would put them somewhere that only he would know to keep the surprise for the others, and walking them around the camp to a secret spot wouldn't be a good idea, as others could follow them.
Not to mention Nolan and Jaune were only gone for about twenty minutes. He highly doubted that they were discovered right away, so maybe about fifteen minutes. Was that truly enough time to hide the girls away from his house while keeping Brawnz and Roy on lockdown?
"Brawnz may be right, but I need to be sure," Jaune said aloud. He goes through his head to make sure that they went through ever possibility of a secret entrance somewhere. Jaune looked over at the couch and realized one place they didn't look.
Jaune goes over to the floors on his hands and knees and looks at the legs of the couch. He then looks at the floor and notices scuff marks. "Jaune," Roy said. "What are doing?"
"Help me move this couch," Jaune said. The three of them look at each other but Roy does what he was told. "Count of three: one, two, three!"
They move the couch to the side and Jaune looks around at the floor. "Jaune!" Brawnz yelled. He looks up at his injured friend. "What the hell man?"
"We've check everywhere except under the couch it has to be around here. There were scuff marks on the floor so the door had to be underneath the couch."
"Jaune maybe he remodeled or something," Nolan said.
"I know they're here!"
"Dude, the girls aren't here they have to be somewhere else."
Jaune was knocking on the wood floor and BRNZ minus May huddled around the couch. "What the hell is going on with him?" Nolan asked.
"I don't know," Brawnz said. "Look guys I'm not going to lie, maybe bringing Jaune to Shade wasn't a good idea."
"What?" Roy said in a whisper. "Why are you thinking that now?"
"He got me shot! The girls are captured as part of his plan and we lost them!"
The three continued to discuss unaware that Jaune was hearing everything. Of course that was just because they weren't really whispering. The thing is, he knew they were right. Everything that happened was because of his carelessness. But he couldn't get caught up in it he had to find the girls and he knew Eric would be someone who wanted them as close as possible.
Eventually Jaune's knocking lead to something. A piece of the wood sounded hollow. He knocked it few times and knew there was something there. "Guys, listen to this," Jaune said. The three of them turn to jaunt who knocked on the separate pieces of wood.
"One sounds hollow," Roy concluded.
"Right so there has to be something there right?"
"Okay so the lever has to be somewhere nearby," Roy said. As Roy and Jaune looked for another lever, Nolan went over and picked up May's sniper rifle.
"You finding anything Roy?" Jaune asked
"No you?"
Jaune wouldn't be able to answer because Nolan yelled and slammed May's sniper rifle axe first into the wooden area. The wood breaks to reveal a ladder that leads down to a basement. He takes out the sniper and sets it down to the side. Meanwhile everyone just stares at Nolan, who shrugged.
"I uh… found the switch," Nolan commented. Everyone gives him an are-you-serious look.
They shake it off and Jaune took command again. "Okay Nolan, stay here and help Brawnz, Roy you're with me."
"Jaune, how do we know they are down there?" Roy asked. Jaune thought about it for a minute. It could be a trap.
"We don't, but we have to make sure." Roy sighed and nodded. "I'll take point."
Jaune knocks some of the splintered wood out of the way and began to climb the ladder down. Roy follows behind him as Nolan keeps tending to Brawnz.
Jaune feels the solid floor. He turns around and takes out his sword. Roy followed Jaune and got his saws ready. They see the Nebula and Octavia sitting in the middle of a room and begin running towards them. "Girls!" Jaune yelled. He reached the end of the hallway only to be met with an object hitting him the face.
Roy stopped and got into a fighting stance as Jaune hit the ground. The person who hit Jaune turned the corner and was going to whip a chain at Roy. That was until they noticed who it was.
"Roy?" the familiar voice of May called out.
"May?" Roy called out.
"Wait, it's the guys?" the voice of Dew said. Dew and Gwen come from the circular room to see Roy and Jaune.
"Oops," May said as she looked down at Jaune. "My bad."
"Why is it always me?" Jaune moaned out. Roy helped the blonde up and both of them enter the room. It had chains on the walls and what looked like a chem lab at the end of it, obviously where Eric makes his drugs.
As Jaune recovered he shook his head and looked at the girls. "How'd you girls break out?"
"Well…" Dew started.
Dew woke up to feel someone strapping her arms above her head. She clears her head of the cobwebs to see Nebula doing the work, still in her stripper gear. "Neb?" Dew said. Nebula doesn't respond. "Why are you doing this?" Again, no response from her.
"She's doing it because I said so," a voice said. Dew looks past Nebula and saw Eric spinning a revolver around his finger. Dew glared at the bandit who just chuckled. "Go ahead and glare at me. After I'm done dealing with your friends, I'm going to make sure you're going to staring at me very differently." He chuckles and stops spinning the revolver. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Shade student's I need to make into corpses." He has a wicked smile on his face as he said that. The smile made the girls' skin crawl. He begins to leave the room. "When you're done chaining them up guard the hallway."
"Yes sir," Nebula and Octavia said. Dew looked to where Octavia's voice was coming from to notice she was hanging Gwen the same way Dew was being hung. She looks to her right to see May already hung up.
"I'll see you all in a little bit!" Eric said. He climbs up the ladder and leaves the room. Once Octavia and Nebula were done chaining the girls up, they went to the end of the hallway.
"Why are you guys doing this? We're your team!" Gwen asked.
"Because Eric said so," Nebula said.
"What the hell did he do to you two?" May asked. The two are silent to this.
"Guys come on!" Gwen pleaded. Again silence.
This goes on for a minute, but they eventually realize they won't get any information. The three of them just hang in silence. After a few minutes went by, Gwen decided she wouldn't be a damsel in distress.
She looked over to May and Dew's chains and noticed a flaw in them, the locks were near their wrists. This gave Gwen an idea. She made sure Nebula and Octavia weren't watching them and she lifted herself up a little to her hands. Once she was within reach she began picking through her hair until she found what she was looking for.
May and Dew watched with confused looks until Gwen pulled something out of her hair. It was a few bobby pins and they realized what she was doing. Gwen began to pick the lock of her chains. It took a good minute or two given the restraints but eventually she was able to pick the lock. She fell to the floor as did the chains that held her legs. Everyone looks at their friends to miraculously realize they didn't hear her. Gwen sighs in relief and begins lockpicking her leg chains. The lock comes loose and Gwen looks over to see Nebula and Octavia not even moving.
She slowly stalks over to Dew and begins picking her locks. The same amount of noise when Gwen fell is made when Dew falls to the ground. Again, it seemed that Nebula and Octavia had no reaction. Gwen unlocks Dew's leg locks and the two of them go over to May. Again Gwen unlocks her chains and Nebula and Octavia don't hear a thing. The three of them gather and talk in a hushed tone.
"What the hell is going on?" Dew asked. "What happened to Oct and Neb?"
"I don't know," Gwen said. "But something's off, they should have heard the chains. Nebula and Octavia would have been on us the second the chains hit the floor."
"Maybe whatever the bastard did to them weakens their senses?" May suggested. "Whatever it was we have to knock them out."
"You think we'll be able to sneak up on them?" Dew questioned.
"Well if their senses are dulled then yeah." May turned the raven haired girl next to her. "Gwen, you think we can do this?"
"What choice do we have?" Gwen asked. "Dew, you take Nebula and I'll take Octavia?" The blonde nodded and Gwen nodded back.
"I'll be right behind you guys in case anything happens."
Everyone gets into position and takes a deep breath. Gwen looks at Dew who has three fingers up. She slowly counts down with her fingers and once they were all down, Gwen and Dew attacked. They put their friends in a choke hold and began to knock them out, but noticed that they weren't even struggling. Not only that, May looked into Nebula and Octavia's eyes and noticed something.
"Girls wait!" May shouted. Gwen and Dew stop for a second but keep Nebula and Octavia in holds. "What's wrong with their eyes?"
Gwen and Dew look at their eyes and realize May is right. Their eyes are dull and their mouths are slightly hanging open. They realize that Nebula and Octavia weren't reacting to being put in a hold so they let them go and take a closer look at them.
Dew snaps her fingers in front of their faces to see if they react, with the same results. "What the hell is this?" Dew muttered. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to think as all of them heard muffle explosions coming from above.
"What the?" May yelled out. Another barrage of explosions is heard. As the barrage continued, a couple of stones crumbled down from the ceilings and walls. Once the barrage was done the girls looked at each other.
"Can this day get any worse?" Dew said. All of a sudden all of them heard the sound of a door being kicked in above them. The sound of a bunch of feet entering and the door slamming caused all of them to freeze in their spots.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?" May said sarcastically.
"Shut up," Dew whispered. "Look for all we know, those are bandits tryng to get us, so place Nebula and Octavia in the middle of the room and we'll ambush them when they come down here.
"And uh… you can guess what happened next," Dew finished.
Jaune rubbed his head a little bit. "Yeah, thanks for that by the way," He commented.
"Bite me," May said.
"Wait, so Nebula and Octavia were still unresponsive?" Roy asked. Gwen nodded her head and Jaune and Roy head over to them. They kneel down next to Nebula and Octavia and see that their eyes were exactly as they described: Dull and lifeless. "Hmm…"
"So, can anyone think about what's wrong with them?" Jaune asked the room. He snapped his fingers in Octavia's face and shook her to come up with zero results.
"It has to be the drugs right?" May said.
"The thing is," Roy started. "Brawnz and I got drugged too not to mention all of you, so why aren't we affected?" This caused everyone to think of another reason why.
"I have a theory," Gwen said meekly. Everyone turns to her, startling her a little bit.
"Go ahead," Jaune said. "We're all ears."
Gwen swallowed her nervousness and took a deep breath. "Maybe the Eric guy has a mind control semblance?" Everyone took a minute to think about it.
"It does make the most sense," May thought aloud. "It explains Octavia and Nebula's behavior."
"I don't think so," Roy said standing up. "Because when Brawnz and I were fighting Eric, he made me see these nightmarish things. Can mind control do that?"
"Maybe, but even so why aren't Neb and Oct affected now?" Dew asked.
"Jaune, Roy!" the familiar voice of Nolan came from above. "What's going on down there? Are the girls there?"
"Yeah they are!" Roy called back.
"Shit, really? In that case send Dew up to fix up Brawnz."
"What's wrong with Brawnz?" Dew asked. Roy pointed at his leg as he lifted it up.
"Got shot right here," he said. "Aura penetration."
"Ouch." Dew began walking toward the ladder. "I'll be right up Nolan! Give me a minute."
"Oh yeah, bring down our weapons if we aren't up there soon," Roy called out. Dew gave a thumbs up and climbed the ladder. Meanwhile the rest of them continued discussing what Eric's semblance is.
"Where were we?" Gwen questioned.
"About how Nebula and Octavia aren't affected right now," May said.
"Well… what if they still are?" Jaune asked. Everyone turned toward him, questioned looks on their face.
"How so?" Gwen asked.
"Well look at them." Jaune motioned at Nebula and Octavia. "Unresponsive, dulled eyes, practically in a hypnotic state."
"What if that's just the drugs?" May asked.
"No it wouldn't be," Roy answered. He began pacing around as he explained. "If it were the drugs how were you girls able to wake up so early, including me and Brawnz. Not to mention how we weren't in their state. But at the same time why didn't he take over your minds? Or how was I able to snap out of it?" Roy's voice slowly lowered until he was mumbling to himself.
"Well he's gone," May said.
Jaune scratched his head and asked "What's up with Roy?"
"He sometimes gets too wrapped up in questions," Gwen said. "But some of them are right, why weren't we affected? And how do we know if our friends are?"
That question echoed through Jaune's head each time it was brought up, as if the answer was staring him in the face. "How do we know they are affected by his semblance still?" He knew he had some way of knowing.
That was when he realized something. He looked over to Nebula and Octavia. He goes over to them and crouched down in front of them. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated on focusing his aura, specifically more around his head. If what he was seeing was what he thought it was, it could help. Jaune thinks back to all the time he spent training to unlock his semblance, all the countless hours of meditating with Ren, training with Pyrrha, and his own private sessions.
His head starts to hurt and he opens his eyes and sees the red tint in his eyes. It then switched to the purple tint, and then to a blue one. It felt like his head was on fire and would burst at any moment. He begins to breathe heavily.
Meanwhile, May Gwen and Roy see that Jaune is glowing. "What the heck?" Gwen said. Roy stopped mumbling to himself and went over to Jaune. He looks at his eyes to see they're changing colors.
Roy shook the blonde. It had no effect on him. His eyes turn purple for a minute and he stares at Nebula and Octavia. He then groans and grabs his head. He stops glowing and his breathing slowly turns to normal. Meanwhile May and Gwen try and figure out what the heck just happened.
"Did he do something to Nebula and Octavia?" May asked in a hostile tone. Jaune groans and gets up and Roy steps away from him. "Hey, what did you do to them?"
Jaune blinks and looks around the room, trying to rub out his headache as he did. "What?" Jaune mumbled.
"I said what did you do to them?" May grabbed his sweatshirt and shook him. Roy and Gwen grab May and drag her away before she does anything else irrational.
"I didn't do anything to them," Jaune said as he rubbed his temples. "At least I don't think so."
"You don't think so?" Gwen repeated.
Jaune sighs. "Look I've been having some major headaches ever since we got captured." Jaune pointed to his eyes. "Whenever I did my sight changed color. I would see the entire room turn a certain color and sometimes see text. Another time I think I saw actual aura, which is what I was trying to do this time. Not to mention both times it happened it didn't seem to affect anyone in the room. So… I thought maybe I could do it again but actually control it."
Everyone stares at him for a second. Roy then has an idea what was happening. But he had to be sure of one thing. "Jaune," he said. "Do you even know what your semblance is?"
The blonde looked over at Roy to see him staring t him. It was a stare that said 'Don't lie,' which caused Jaune to sigh. "No I don't know my semblance," he admitted. This caused Gwen to let out a slight gasp and May to scoff.
"Why am I not surprised?" May muttered.
"Well if that's the case," Roy said walking over to Jaune. He put a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I think you finally discovered it." This caused Jaune to look at Roy who was smiling, Jaune let out a chuckle.
"As much as I love to ruin this," May said. "We got bigger problems than this guy figuring out his semblance." Jaune frowned and nodded his head.
"May's right," he said. Jaune began pacing around. "We can discuss this later. Right now, we need to snap Nebula and Octavia out of Eric's influence, grab our gear and get out of here."
"So they are under the influence?" Gwen asked. Jaune nodded. "How do you know?"
Jaune motioned to everyone in the room. "Every living thing has aura right?" May, Gwen, and Roy nod their heads. "Well I think part of my semblance is being able to the aura even when it isn't visible to the naked eye. Nebula has a light blue aura while Octavia has a reddish orange aura." Jaune looked over to Gwen for confirmation. She flinched a little from being put on the spot but nodded her head. "Well, I found a blood red aura circling around their heads."
"That sounds like the aura Eric had around his arm when he was controlling me," Roy stated.
"Wait how does he have control over the girls but not Roy?" May asked.
"Roy must have broken out of it somehow," Jaune theorized. "And maybe they aren't doing anything right now is because Eric has to be near them for his semblance to be at full effect. He leaves a little bit behind so it's easier for him to take control again." He turned to Roy and asked a question. "How were you able to break out? What made you escape the nightmare Eric made you experience?"
Roy put his hand to his chin and thought about it. "Well…" he started. "I was experiencing the hellish nightmare for a while. I then heard a big explosion but it was muffled, and I could barely hear it past my screaming. And then all of a sudden there was a bright light and a ringing in my ears. Next thing I knew I saw the bandit that captured us through the smoke and kicked him off the stage. I helped up Brawnz and that's when you and Nolan showed up."
"A flashbang…" Jaune mumbled. "I wish we had some more."
There was the sound of the door to Eric's shack opening followed by a yell. "There you are!" the raspy voice said. "You won't escape!" Everyone in the dungeon heard the sound of a scuffle, and ran to the ladder. As they reached it they heard a scream and a bandit hit the floor on their level, causing all of them to stop. The bandit looks over to them and Jaune reacted. He went up to the down bandit and then kicked him in the face which caused him to be knocked out.
"Come on, let's go!" Jaune commanded. He began to climb the ladder and everyone else followed behind them. When Jaune reached the top he saw that another bandit was knocked out but three more were still harassing Brawnz Dew and Nolan. He climbed up and took out his sword and shield and charged the group of bandits.
One of them turned around once they heard Jaune only to be met with a shield bash to the face, knocking him out instantly. The other two turned to Jaune, giving an opening for Dew and Nolan to attack one. Nolan tased one of them causing him to scream in pain and then Dew slapped him with the pole of her spear. Brawnz tackled the last guy and then battered his face in, which took down all of the bandits that showed up.
Gwen, Roy and May finally climbed the ladder only to miss the action. They sigh, a little disappointed, but May and Gwen smile when they see their weapons. May grabs her sniper and looks down the scope, adjusting the sights. Meanwhile Gwen grabbed the only bag in the pile and ripped it open to reveal her knives. She smiles and begins putting her knives back in her battle dress.
"You okay Brawnz?" Jaune asked.
"I just beat the dude's face in and you worry about me?" Brawnz said with a smile. He pats Jaune on the back. "I'm fine, don't worry." Jaune nods at Brawnz and then grabs everyone's attention in the room.
"Everyone, listen up," he started. Everyone turned to him and waited for his command. "The plan right now is to get food and water for the road, snap Nebula and Octavia from their trance, and get out of here. There should be a map somewhere around here or at the garage. Nolan and I got keys to rides that will help us. We're on a time limit here before more bandits come, so do what we need to do and hurry. Is that clear?"
There was something different in Jaune's voice and everyone heard it. Perhaps it was because he didn't ask if his plan was the right plan, perhaps it was because he wasn't faking confidence. Whatever it was, it inspired all of them. All of them nodded and got to work.
A few minutes later:
"Are you sure this will work?" Nolan asked as Jaune placed the flashbangs in front of Octavia and Nebula.
"It should," Jaune said. "I hope."
"'He hopes,' he says," Dew said as she placed a hand on her hip.
"Just hold their clothes and look away when I pull the pins." Nolan and Dew nodded. The plan was to sit Octavia and Nebula upright and have a flashbang go off in their face to hopefully snap them out of their trance. They were lucky that some of the bandits had a few so they looted the bodies and were getting the girls ready. Gwen and Brawnz even found their clothes so they had something to change into.
Jaune took a deep breath and pulled the pin on the flashbang, turned away and covered his ears. Dew and Nolan do the same and wait for a few seconds they hear the muffled explosion and turn back toward their friends, who seem to be moving a little bit. Jaune goes over and crouches in front of Nebula and Dew goes over to Octavia to see if it worked.
The darkness that Nebula was in seemed to be permanent. She had been in this state for so long that she had to wonder, was this death? What was weird was that she could still feel herself move and say stuff, but all of it was numbed and muffled. So, when a bright flash and loud bang are the best things she hears and sees you can guess why she gets a little surprised.
As the ringing in her ears died down, and the blinding light slowly faded, Nebula begins to come to her senses. She looks around to see that she was in a circular room with chains on the walls. She then looks down to reveal her lowcut shirt. She takes a closer look at her apparel and is disgusted by it. Sure, at times she likes to wear clothing that showed of her curves, but this was practically nothing. However all of that changed when she looked to her right to see blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Nebula," Jaune said as he leaned in to get a closer look. "Are you all right? How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay I think," Nebula said. She rubs her temple with her hand. "Just a bit of a headache."
"Probably from the drugs and mind control," Jaune mumbled.
"Jaune I'm glad you're worried and all, but could you maybe back up a little bit?" Jaune and Nebula locked eyes for a second and Jaune got a slight blush on his face.
"Uh… sorry." He backs up and clears his throat.
"Smooth move lady killer," Nolan said. Jaune glared at Nolan who just gave a smug smile to him and then looked over to Nebula. "Hey Neb, I got your regular clothes right here."
"Where did you get that?" Nebula asked.
"Gwen and Brawnz found your clothes in the dude's closet." Nebula shuddered at the thought of what he was going to do with her clothes.
As Nolan handed Nebula her regular clothing Dew was tending to Octavia. She had the same reaction as Nebula at her clothes but Dew handed Oct her regular clothes, which cheered her up. "Do you remember anything?" Dew asked.
Octavia rubs her forehead trying to remember. "I remember the guys coming and taking me," She said. "Then me fighting back and then blackness for who knows how long, and then the sudden bright and deafening flash."
Dew nodded. "Thanks Oct," she said. Dew stands up and walks over to Jaune and drags him over to Nolan. She explains to them what Octavia said.
"All right thanks," Jaune said. "But why drag us away?"
Nebula turns Nolan and Jaune and slowly pushes them to the ladder. "We just handed them their clothes, do you really think I'd allow you to stay here for what comes next?"
"Understandable, see you in little bit." Jaune began to climb the ladder and Nolan looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Come on Jaune you're giving up too easily!" Nolan said. "What are you gay?"
Jaune stopped climbing and looked down at Nolan and Dew. "No, but my sisters said if they ever caught me peeping, even by accident, they'd castrate me, put them in a sack, send the sack down a river, and send the river hurling to space." Dew and Nolan just stare at Jaune wide eyed that he made that comment and he just shrugged.
"Well even so, I'm not giving up that easy." Nolan was going to try and get past Dew but she points her spear at his throat and raises an eyebrow. This caused Nolan to lift his hands up in mock surrender and climb the ladder.
Back at the top the defeated bandits were piled onto each other and tied to each other. The others practically ransacked the place for anything that wasn't bolted down. "What do we have?' Jaune asked as he looked around.
"Well, the guy had a case of water left which is about thirty bottles, so that's a good thing," Roy said. "We also raided his food and he has a lot of it, we should be good for food and water."
"I found some Sniper ammo for myself so I'll be able to protect us for a little bit," May called out.
"Other than that we haven't found anything else useful," Brawnz said. "No map or anything."
"All right, well Nebula and Octavia are awake so we'll be moving out in a little bit," Jaune said. "Grab everything you can!"
"Right!" Everyone called out. A minute passes and the three girls come up from the basement. Gwen looks at them and runs over to hug her two teammates.
"I'm so glad you girls are okay!" She said in the hug.
"Don't choke us!" Octavia said. Gwen stops the hug.
"Sorry…" Gwen looks down at the ground a little disappointed but Nebula and Octavia smile and hug her.
"Team NDGO's back," Nebula said.
"Let's kick some ass," Dew said getting fired up. Jaune looked over to NDGO to see them all taking out their weapons. Dew and Gwen handed Nebula and Octavia their weapons. Nebula put hers in sword mode and smiled. Octavia sent a surge of aura through her short sword causing a bit of fire to come out. She chuckles. Dew grabbed two knives from her dress and reverse gripped them and got a smile on her face. Dew got her spear out and placed a hand on her hip, she gains a confident smile.
"All right, NDGO's ready," Jaune called out. "BRNZ, you all ready?"
Jaune looked over his shoulder to see BRNZ. Brawnz tossed a quiver of arrows at Nebula which she thanked him for. He then smashed both of his fists together and let out a low growl. Roy spun his saw blades in their holders to make sure they were still operational. May cocked her sniper back and Nolan made his baton spark a little bit.
"All right then," Jaune said he took out Crocea Mors and put it in sword and shield mode. "Let's get out of here."
To be continued
Beta Reader: TheShadowOfZama