Chapter 10: Hunting a Dragon
Well, this situation's degraded Yang thought to herself as she watched Atlas forces strip search yet another Caravan heading into the Vacuo desert. These Atlesians weren't messing around either, they were partially tearing apart the caravans in their mad search, checking every crook and crevasse. If it could possibly fit a particularly cramped Yang they were looking in it. Anal jerks. Who wants me that bad?
D'Aulony's disguise was working well enough for Yang to monitor the Atlas forces from a distance without fear of being recognized but it was wearing off. Already her black hair was returning to its natural blonde in streaks of gold. The tattoos were also fading forcing her to hide in alleyways, darkened corners and wear a hood when outside. She was running out of time. She needed to leave Vacuo and as much as she'd like to simply beat her way out of it she knew she'd be screwed if she tried it.
Yang heaved out a sigh, all this had to happen because she wanted to have fun with the White Fang. Of course Sun had to show up and of course, the Fang lieutenant had to mumble the wrong thing. Of course. Of course. Of Fuckin Course.
Turning away from the caravan she headed back into the city of Vacuo and back to Junior's new bar. Junior had been kind enough to agree to harbor Yang while she waited for her extraction, for a significant price that is. Yang couldn't be mad at Junior, he was acting in the interest of his own survival and heck he hadn't sold her out, despite how lucrative that could have been. Junior understood how this world works and Yang could respect that. Besides his bar was always playing a rocking beat that Yang just loved.
As she walked back to the bar a familiar sound hit her ear. Bullheads. She looked up and saw a small contingent of the ships soaring overhead and towards Shade academy. That didn't scan and Yang knew it. Yes bullheads were excellent transport ships but they weren't the main ships that Vacuo or Atlas used, Atlas had their own transports that were heavier and with white in their design while Vacuo used things that resembled flying sand skimmers. Bullhead were mainly used by Beacon huntsmen. Which meant…
No Yang thought, feeling the twitch come back to her right hand. It could mean a whole number of things, besides that! But if it is them. What did mom say?
Willful ignorance is not anyone in our line of work can afford. All suspicions should be followed up. Your paranoia is your friend
Yang arched her back and let out an exasperated sigh. She loved Raven but this week had been nothing but work work work. And if this was what Yang suspected it was then the situation was going to get way more stressful than she'd like. Knitting her fingers together she stretched her arms above her head and smiled at the satisfying sound of her spine cracking.
If I'm going to do this I might as well be prepped for it. Well physically prepped for it at least.
In an instant she was back on the rooftops of Vacuo and jumping from roof to roof, soaring between buildings inching ever closer to Shade academy and to what she suspected was a long overdue confrontation.
The campus of Shade academy, like Vacuo, was unique among its peers, It was an open air campus with classrooms built into red rock cliffs. All of it was surrounding an oasis filled with pristine blue water. Students milled about the campus all of them tanned and beautiful. Classes were taught either on the tops of rocky outcroppings or beneath the shade of palm trees. One campus 'Building' was just an enormous tent.
Parked near the giant tent was the Bullhead Yang had spotted and now that she was closer she could see that it was from Beacon, the pilot, who'd stepped out of the vehicle, wore standard Beacon issued armor.
It's from Beacon. So what! that could mean anything…
The side door to the bullhead opened up and Yang's eyes widened at what she saw; team JN_R all armed to the teeth and loaded for bear. Yang's heart beat faster as her eyes desperately sought out Pyrrha Nikos. Only after she'd looked over the interior of the bullhead 3 times over did she allow herself to relax, Pyrrha wasn't with them.
"Thank dust" she muttered to herself, mind drifting back to the last time she had seen the invincible girl. She shivered as the memories came back to her. "That would make this a whole other ball game"
Yang had only seen Pyrrha Nikos once after her 'Ascension' and it'd not been pretty. Yang might be damaged and downright evil somedays, but Pyrrha was just monstrous. Any fight with her would end poorly for Yang and Yang knew it.
Invincible girl aside Team JN_R is looking well. Nora seems chipper as always. Yang smiled despite it all she felt an urge pulling at her to go and greet her former classmates. Just walk through shade academy and act like the past 2 years never happened. But she knew that that would never work out, she'd encountered members of team JN_R in the field before and despite their former friendship, they'd been relentless in their pursuit of her.
Nora's jaw seems to have fixed itself though. She thought allowing herself a slight smirk, that'd been a fun as hell fight! Well for Yang that is, Nora seemed to have enjoyed it significantly less. Yang scanned the sky and the rest of the campus, being sure to keep team JN_R always in the corner of her vision. She smiled when she saw the absence of other Bullheads or Atlas flyers in the air. Thank dust for that at least she's not here.
Then a rose petal slowly fell from the sky right into Yang's field of view.
"Oh no"
A red flash shot through the crowd of shade student's, faster than most eyes, even the average huntsmen's eyes could track. Yang focused her aura to her eyes and followed the red blur as it tore through the campus right to Jaune. Jaune was barely able to turn in time to see Ruby jumping through the air to tackle him right in the chest. The tackle knocked Jaune to the ground with Ruby sat on his chest. Jaune looked like he got the wind knocked out of him and Ruby was hoisting her arms up in a sign of victory before turning to look at Jaune with a smug grin.
"She's here," Yang said nostalgia leaving her being replaced by something more rotten. "The situation has devolved from bad to worse" Yang could feel her heart hammering on the inside of her chest, red-hot anger building inside her and need to unleash that anger on everyone present.
Mom wouldn't like us getting arrested.
Yang gave ruby one last glare before turning away from her and walking towards the edge of campus. There was something inside of her which wanted to roar and scream tear into Ruby and team JN_R but Yang wasn't going to let her fury cloud her judgment this time. If Ruby's here than the rest of the team must be as well. Oh, joy a big reunion.
Ruby
"Jaunnnnneeeeee!" Ruby shouted as she soared through the air into the leader of Team JN_R. they fell to the ground in a heap and Ruby ended-up atop her friend. Lifting her arms in mock triumph she smiled down Jaune who lifted his own arms in mock surrender. "and the undisputed champion remains Ruby Rose! What's up Jaune?"
"Just got off the bullhead actually…Uh, Ruby, would you mind getting off my chest?"
The redhead obliged her friend but not before sticking her tongue out at her defeated opponent. She'd been happy to finally be back amongst friends, Vacuo for all its beauty and inclusivity was a city that was less than welcoming to her. Yang's actions at the Vytal festival had not shown her team in a favorable light and had damaged her own reputation as a leader.
What kind of leader can't control her own sister! She's too young for this line of work! Some leader, couldn't spot a psychopath on her own team.
They said it at Beacon too, but never to Ruby's face and usually in hushed tones and not at all when Weiss was in a room. They even had a nickname for team RWB_ now they called team Rube, it had taken Weiss a long time to stamp that one out. Ever since the incident, Weiss had become the team's de-facto bruiser and Ruby's steadfast guardian. No one insulted team RWBY or Ruby herself anywhere near Weiss and any who did quickly learned not to. But team JN_R were different than the rest of Beacon, they never had to have Weiss set on them. Ever since what happened to Pyrrha they've sort of been in the same boat. Only they got congratulations for their loss, not mockery.
Ruby extended Jaune her hand and helped the older boy up. He gave her the small weak smile he always had, he was really incapable of anything happier. He glanced around the rest of the campus searching, gaze briefly stopping on some far off image before shaking his head.
"Nothing" he muttered to himself, Ruby gave him a worried look, he'd been doing that more and more lately and it was getting harder and harder to pull him out of it. She gently rested her hand on his shoulder and he seemed to snap out of his trance looking back at the Redhead. "Sorry Ruby, uh where's the rest of your team?"
"Blake's in the dirt and Weiss's with the atlas fellows and I'm with students," she said trying to pour her positive energy into Jaune as she did, the boy needed the boost. "So I guess we're back to where we all were 3 years ago."
"Guess so," he said with forced enthusiasm that would have to do for now Ruby decided. "What are we doing here then?"
"Apparently a student here saw Yang" Ruby answered flicking through her scroll till she came upon the witness's file, she did this to update team JN_R rather than remind herself. "Norn Mjol, she almost caught Yang"
"Everyone almost catches Yang" Nora chirped in with only the faintest hint of bitterness "What happened when she found Yang?"
"Yang apparently kicked her so hard her voice broke" Nora rubbed at her chin remembering the last time she saw the Sun Dragon.
"Yeah that sounds about right," she said chipper tone dying slightly. The air seemed to blow colder for an instant as a cloud moved between them and the sun overhead.
That's not a good sign. Ruby thought as she and team JN_R walked through campus. I hope Weiss and Blake are alright.
Weiss
"What a mess" Weiss stepped around a set of teeth that had pooled together on the warehouse floor. "Dust there's teeth everywhere"
She wasn't wrong, though the Vacuo huntsmen and huntresses had retrieved all the unconscious White fang members present in the warehouse they'd neglected to pick up all their… 'leftover bits'. A broken antler here, a pile of teeth there and of course blood staining every inch.
"This was a massacre" one of the atlas specialists present grunted back to her. She hadn't intended that to be a question but the atlas forces rarely cared what Weiss wanted. The Warehouse had about 6 Atlas grunts milling about and 2 specialists scanning the warehouse with an assortment of equipment. One of the specialists was the stereotypical soldier, grizzled to hell with scars running all along his body barely taking time to grunt in response while the other was dressed dapper as hell and Weiss was already acquainted with him, Flynt Coal. She hadn't seen the Trumpet player since the doubles round of the Vytal festival.
That'll serve as my in
Weiss marched towards the well-dressed Atlasian, her boots disturbing a piled up set of Faunus teeth sending them all scattering across the floor like dice. Were this 2 years ago Weiss would have tip-toed around these teeth too disgusted to even touch them, but two years was a long time and she had become much less squeamish since then. By the time she'd approached Flynt her boots were stained with brown blood and a Faunus canine was stuck to her heel.
"Flynt Coal" he turned towards Weiss as she called his name, he looked down his sunglasses at her and for the briefest of moments, he didn't recognize her. When he did his face changed exactly how Weiss expected it would.
"Weiss Schnee the Heiress" there was only mockery in his voice and it was without comradery. He and the rest of atlas had already declared her a failure and to some, she was a traitor as well. "What are you doing here Schnee?"
She scoffed at him, she couldn't help it, it was in her blood. "It's just Weiss Schnee now actually"
"Oh yeah, your brother's the Heir now isn't he. Apparently, a failure of a daughter doesn't make a good Heir" he pulled out his trumpet and played a short sad toon Whomp Whomp. Though she really wanted to roll her eyes she resisted the urge, she needed his help despite his imperfect attitude. He kept his trumpet out, Weiss knew how dangerous that instrument could be, it was worse than a loaded gun. "What are you doing here Schnee?"
"Hunting," she said it simply, bending down and retrieving a cracked antler. She rolled the severed antler between her fingers and examined it like a particularly interesting dust crystal. "What do you have?"
Flynt sent the other specialist an incredulous glance, the soldier didn't look up from the tooth on the ground he was examining. "Are you serious? Why should I give you anything?"
"Well I can see this going 1 of 3 ways" she lifted up 1 finger. "1 you guy help me in my investigation, we pool resources and we find Long a lot quicker" she lifted the 2nd finger "2 you keep all the information to yourselves and I investigate alone unimpeded. Which will mean we both will race to find -Long" the Atlas grunts seemed to laugh at the 2nd proposal.
"Something funny?" she asked turning the mock naiveté up to eleven. Flynt himself had to chuckle.
"Yeah" he answered "we're all wondering what this third option was since those 2 are out of the question"
Weiss gave Flynt a smile as she extended her third finger and a Glyph appeared at her feet. "3 if you don't allow me to investigate properly I beat you and your men into a pulp and wring the information I need from your broken bodies, then I find Long while you all are recovering in some hospital bed"
The tension in the room became palpable and the air took on an icy chill. The Atlas grunts were unsure how to react, Flynt put on a carefree smile but Weiss could tell it was forced.
"Really Schnee you want to join your friend on an atlas wanted poster?" Weiss gave a flick of her wrist as if she was swatting away an annoying fly. A glowing blue boarbatusk climbed out of the glyph at Weiss' feet, she reached down and gave the small creature a pet not bothering to look at the Atlas forces.
"Last I checked atlas doesn't have jurisdiction over this case, you've no right to keep me from the investigation and Vacuo courts don't exactly love the Atlas military" metal armor started to crawl up from the glyph, followed by a brutish looking White Fang member covered in spines who was followed by an alpha Beowulf. More and more things poured from the Glyph at Weiss' feet. "but I think cooler heads might prevail today"
Flynt fingered his trumpet like a gunslinger fiddling with his six-shooter. The Atlas forces were looking at all the creatures Weiss had slain in her life each more horrifying than the last and they shuddered to see that a number of them weren't Grimm.
"Aight, we'll go with option 2 Schnee" Flynt finally relented to Weiss and with a flick, the summonings vanished like smoke on the wind. She gave Flynt a smile though there was little joy in it she was grateful to see some manners still prevailed in her homeland.
The place was a mess, there were dents in crates and even the ceiling. The whole scene rebuilt itself in Weiss's mind every strike, every block, and every step. It looked like a Beowulf released into a pre-school only with fewer casualties.
She was never one for half measures anyway Weiss mused as she found Yang's footprints in on the ground, be they blood stains or cracks in the cement. She placed her feet in Yang's footfalls and began walking through the steps Yang took, rebuilding her assault through the compound. It had been 2 years since she had last seen Yang and she knew her fighting style would likely have changed in that time. Learning her new style would be crucial to subduing her non-lethally Weiss knew as she danced through the battlefield and rubble.
She's much more aggressive than before Weiss thought as she made a palm strike on an invisible enemy. But each strike is purposeful, meant to elicit certain reactions, her technique has become more precise.
Weiss saw a dent in a shipping container and reasoned that Yang had slammed a white fang member's head into it at some point.
Precise despite rage
The Atlasians were giving her odd looks as she moved through the battlefield mimicking the movements of her former teammate. Even though she was on a job Weiss had to face the facts, this was the closest she'd been to Yang in over 2 years and she couldn't help a smile spread across her face as she realized Yang had maintained an excellent form throughout the battle.
She's better than ever. We can't afford to take her lightly. Better tell Ruby about my findings.
Blake
The interview with the Lieutenant had gone as well as Blake had expected it to go; he threw curses, insults, and racial slurs while she stood there and took the abuse. Once she revealed her Faunus heritage he actually calmed down and became more cooperative, operating under the assumption that she was an undercover White fang agent.
Which is not entirely untrue
From him she learned that Yang had apparently ripped through the white fang like tissue paper and fought like a berserker, unleashing random violence wherever she could.
"She wore an Ursa mask," he said when she'd asked him what gear she had. There was terror in his words as he spoke. Though his wrist was chained to the hospital bed he still managed to reach out and grab Blake's wrist. His hand was trembling not out of anger but out of an anxiety that this Grimm masked face would find him again. "She was an Ursa! A Grimm wearing human meat! A new monster made by Atlas sent here to wipe us out"
Blake had to ignore the pleading in his voice, he needed comfort that she neither could nor would grant him. This man was child killing scum and if he had a heart attack right then and there from fear that Yang would get him in the middle of the night, Blake wouldn't be able to muster the ability to care. But she didn't lash out at him for grabbing her.
"Where can I find her?" she asked hoping he might make her search just a little bit easier.
"No idea" he answered "But I know a guy who might have an idea"
The Club Blake had been sent too was very different from those usually found in Vacuo. Open air, pools and starry skies were replaced with enclosed space a bunch of glass and a heavy rocking beat. The place reminded Blake of a bar that used to be in Vale in fact. This was a place she'd expect Yang to be hiding, the music, the lights and the booze, it all screamed of a place Yang would love to be. A large man with greying black hair and a facial scar stopped Blake as she tried to walk to the dance floor.
"Hey I don't know you" his voice was gruff as he gestured to the open scroll in his hand. Blake locked eyes with the larger man, he didn't turn away or show any weakness.
Tougher than your average bear
"What do you want?" he asked like a businessman rather than someone looking to start a fight.
"I'm looking for someone"
"Who?"
"Yang Xiao Long" the large man's face deflated at that as if that was the last thing he wanted to hear today. So he had seen her, good then he might know where she is.
"Welp you've found her" the voice cut through the noise, clear as day, it emanated from the bar. Junior messaged his temples as Blake turned towards the direction of the voice and saw her former partner sat at the bar gazing at her with Crimson eyes.
She looked different, her hair was straighter and tied in a ponytail, she had a Grimm pattern kimono hanging from the belt at her waist, her gauntlets looked like Grimm bone plates. The strangest change was the visage of an Ursa sat atop her head. She was slumped against the bar with a look of boredom on her face.
"It's been a while, Blake," she said as Ember Celica unfurled.
Author's Notes
I gotta stop promising to be late I keep meeting my own deadlines damn it. Everyone just expect me to be late one of these days. To the guest who has disdain towards Blake well my friend expect some fun things next chapter. As always keep spreading this around and keep sending the criticism. Thank you all!
