Weiss stood alone in the elevator. The silence around her was dark and oppressive. Machinery worked in the background, but the sound faded in Weiss's ears. If she was honest with herself, she was scared.
Her hand tightened around the hilt of Myrtenaster. Last night, Ozpin had been stormy and intense. What exactly had she gotten into? The question plagued her mind as she paced back and forth across the surface of the lift, eyebrows drawn together. All that had happened was she learned about some kind of leader. She mused to herself what could be so important about that.
The elevator dinged it's arrival, and Weiss snapped to face the door, hands clasped behind her back, hands straight. As the doors opened, Weiss surveyed the room. Ozpin sat at his desk, eyes fixed on the doorway in which Weiss stood, hands on the desk in front of him. His drink was nowhere to be seen. That, more than anything, unnerved Weiss.
Qrow leaned against a nearby pillar, grinning out of the side of his mouth.
Clearing her face of emotion, Weiss strode towards the desk, where a chair sat in front of Ozpin. Unconsciously, she imitated Ironwood's generals walks that she had observed as a child. When she sat down, Qrow rolled his eyes.
"This one thinks she's military. Figures." He took a long pull from his canteen. That, at least was the same as it always was. Ozpin sighed.
"Qrow, please, she is about to go through a lot. Leave off." His gaze never left Weiss's eyes, which widened slightly. "What do I have to experience?" She asked haltingly. Ozpin looked down. After a moment, he tilted his eyes to meet Weiss.
"You are now vulnerable to all sorts of... Unfavorable things. Simply learning of her exposes you to that." Her tapped the desk absently. "I suppose I should explain. Long ago, there was a golden age for humanity. One where we nearly had the Grimm wiped out." His hand clenched into a fist. "Remnant prospered. People could move freely. The world was united as one nation, not four disparate kingdoms. But the leadership… got a little too ambitious. They instituted programs… that were questionable ethically. Experiments on Grimm. One went horribly wrong. It created what was in essence a demon."
Qrow made a slight noise. Both Weiss and Ozpin turned to face him. He stood, eyes accusing, mouth slightly open. "Why'd you never tell me this? He gestured angrily with his canteen. "Wasn't the right time?" His voice was accusatory.
Ozpin nodded. "Yes," he said simply, then turned back to Weiss, then sighing at the look of anger on Qrow's face.
"No one needed to know. Until now. So listen." He cast a stern look at Qrow, who backed down, resentment in the lines of his face. Ozpin continued to talk. "As I was saying, there was a... mistake. She is the master Cinder spoke of. Preserved by darkness for thousands of years, powering the grimm to destroy everything. So the leaders made a decision. They decided to wipe all of what had caused the problem out in the first place. Their civilization. Everything erased from history, buried so deep down you couldn't find it if you looked for decades."
Weiss raised a finger. Hesitantly, she asked, "This is all very interesting, but how can we trust this is real. Forgive me, but you could just be a rambling old man." Ozpin nodded sagely.
"I suspected you would ask that. So I have a demonstration, a little trinket left from their era." He pulled a small cube out of his pocket, and tossed into the center of the room. He gestured at Qrow, accompanying the gesture with an odd crossing of fingers.
He nodded at Qrow. "Think of someone you would like to see." Qrow nodded, then narrowed his eyes. Almost immediately, a lifelike rendition of a young woman in a white cloak appeared above the cube. Her hood covered most of her face, but what Weiss could see of her features reminded her of Ruby.
"Hey Qrow," the apparition said, nodding at a Qrow that leaned against a pillar in shock. He looked at Ozpin. "How does it know what I'm thinking?" His gaze slowly shifted back to the apparition in wonder, closely followed by Weiss's. With a gesture of Ozpin's fingers, the cube shut off. Both Weiss and Qrow's gaze snapped back to Ozpin.
"Why'd you do that?" Qrow's voice was more slurred than usual. He took a pull of his canteen. Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ozpin.
"Where did you get that? I get that this is history, but why do you have it?"
Ozpin sighed. "Because I am the last remnant of that civilization. I may look old, but trust me, I am far older than I seem. I was… preserved, so that the knowledge of my people did not die with them."
Qrow leaned lazily on the wall of the elevator, watching the floors tick down on the display. Weiss stood uncomfortably beside him.
"Hard to imagine, right?" Qrow's tone indicated that there was no need to explain what he was talking about. Weiss nodded absently. "I mean, the whole maidens thing was bad, but this?" He gestured with one hand helplessly. "Learning there's a whole history you never knew about."
Weiss focused on him. "It's not really that hard to believe." She looked at the ground and began to count with her fingers. "Our civilization has so much technology, but the precursors aren't there. Haven't you ever noticed there was no progression in our history?"
Qrow looked at her curiously. "I was never much for history. What do you mean?" Weiss looked up at him.
"When I was growing up in Atlas, I would always have a lot of time on my hands. And I would read. My father wasn't one for novels, he wouldn't even let us keep any around the house. Now, my sister and I loved to read. So we would sneak novels in for each other, and go through them like lightning." She sighed. "That was rarely. Mostly, we had to read stuff my father approved. So we read history. And while I did it, the technology was always the same. Now, there were different models, but there were always androids. Always scrolls. And if you talk to an engineer, they never know how what they do works. Just that it does. I should know, father always had someone in."
Weiss jerked in surprise as the elevator doors slid open. Looking side to side, she walked forward quickly. "Good day," she cast behind herself to Qrow.
Weiss, Blake, and Ruby sat in seats far from the stage in Glynda's classroom. Ruby was talking animatedly to Blake about some movie she had seen recently, no matter that Blake said nothing back. Weiss leaned lazily into her seat, hands resting on the sides. On the wooden stage, Yang stretched.
It was her first practice match, first fight, since the incident with her arm, and from the fierce look on her face, she did not intend to lose. Opposite her stood Ren, standing still, with his weapons in hand at his sides. He rolled his neck, and gave a respectful half bow to Yang, who said something Weiss' couldn't hear from where she sat.
The stage darkened, and gauges measuring each combatant's aura appeared on either side of the stage. Talking that ran through the auditorium slowly ground to a halt, with Ruby being no exception. If there was one thing that kids at Beacon loved, it was a good fight, and they were certainly about to get that.
The instant the signal rang, Yang was flipping in the air, bringing her leg down with a crack on the ground where Ren had stood a second before. Firing as he went, Ren swung one of his blades in an overhead slash at Yang, the other raised protectively.
Yang made as if to punch high with one arm, and, when Ren raised his blade up, taking the bait, punched him in the gut, ducking gracefully under his attack. Ren flew back but flipped quickly and landed on his feet.
"Like a cat," Ruby whispered to Blake, who glared at her. Weiss smiled, and steepled her fingers.
Yang was swinging her robotic arm at Ren in a wide arc, a savage grin plastered across her face. Ren ducked, sweeping his leg under Yangs and knocking her off her feet in one huge movement. Yang, a small noise leaving her lips, fired Ember Celica straight down, flipping backwards with its momentum. She landed one foot in front of the other, hands poised to strike. She raised her robot arm to block follow-up fire spewing from Ren's guns, swinging the other at him. He ducked, taking a swipe with his blade at Yang, who grabbed the weapon. She threw it behind her, then brought Ember Celica around and fired a shot at Ren, bypassing his hasty guard with ease.
Weiss glanced lazily at the Aura screen. As she looked, Ren's dropped beneath the threshold. Smiling out of the corner of her mouth, Weiss turned to watch Yang walking down the aisle, who was nodding to friends in seats near as she walked.
She plopped down in the seat next to Ruby, and stretched her arms comically wide.
"Nice job, sis," she said, then rubbed her hands together gleefully. "You arm works well, it would seem." Yang gave her a thumbs up with said arm.
"It's perfect. Better than my old one!" She exclaimed, then frowned. "But it looks awful. Who likes a piece of metal, anyway?" She sighed, and shifted the thing a little away from her. Weiss looked down.
"It's a shame your real one had to go." Blake placed a hand on Yang's flesh arm. "But it's not how it looks that matters. It's how you use it." Ruby nodded, and Yang smiled.
"Yeah. Thanks, I guess. I just… don't really feel whole." The smile faded as she looked back at her arm.
Weiss tried to make herself as small as possible.
Across the table from Weiss, Winter took a small sip from her elaborate tea cup. She placed it on the ornate holder with a soft click. She leaned in, a somewhat warm smile on her face. She gestured with one hand as she spoke to Weiss.
"Anything else interesting to talk about? Ozpin told me you were up to something interesting," she added, raising one eyebrow suggestively. "Care to tell me what that's about?" The two chuckled.
Weiss opened her palm, moving slightly as she spoke. "Nothing so very interesting. I'd love to tell you, but I'm afraid I'm sworn not to say anything. Sorry." She picked up her own tea and took a sip, gazing into it's depths.
Winter and her had met about an hour ago for tea, because she was in the area. They were in a nice enough private restaurant, Weiss supposed, looking around herself. Unlike her previous visit, however, there was no greenery in sight. The place was marble, with few windows, flickering candlelight covering the hesitation in Weiss's eyes.
"What have you been up to, Winter?" She folded her hands on the table in front of her and gazed at her sister curiously.
Winter's smile widened. "One or two things. Most of them were boring, though. Politics. Atlas has to show off its agents." The last part was sarcastic, and Weiss rolled her eyes at it.
"Of course. Standard military. So tell me about what was interesting." Weiss leaned forward, tracing one finger along the tip of her tea cup. Winter tapped her fingers on the table.
"Well, I suppose the reason I'm here is interesting. I'm not supposed to tell you about it, but," she said, looking around, then bringing her head closer to Weiss's, "I'm sure you can be... discreet." Weiss nodded eagerly at her sister.
"So I'm here to investigate…" she stopped suddenly as a waiter arrived, taking a plate that had had fruit away from the two. They remained silent, looking everywhere but at the Waiter. Winter's fingers beat a little faster on the table.
As soon as the man left, Winter continued. "As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted," she said, casting a glare in the direction of the waiter, "I'm here to investigate rumors. Apparently, authorities found an anomaly in a nearby prison. Little holes in the roof. I can't possibly imagine their significance." She accompanied this with a soft chuckle. Weiss's throat dried up. She nodded, eyes roaming Winter's face. "Yeah," she said, weakly. If Winter found her out, without knowing her motives, it would spell her end. Yet Winter was not loyal to her. She couldn't trust her with a secret.
Winter looked on interestedly at Weiss. The candles cast a pattern of ever-shifting shadows across her face, eyes intense blue orbs radiating from her face.
"Oh? Something interesting sounding about that?" She folded her hands across the table calmly. "You know you can tell me."
Weiss put her head in her hands. She looked up at Winter helplessly after a moment. "It's just that… look, can we talk tomorrow. It isn't safe here." She looked around nervously to emphasize her point.
Winter sighed, and placed a hand on Weiss's. "Whatever you want," she said, and her face tightened. This time, the shadows did nothing to cover her intense gaze. "But you will tell me." Weiss nodded. "Of course," she said, voice somewhat confident. Then she jumped in her seat slightly. "Oh!" She exclaimed, sounding abashed. "Can you get something for me? You have military connections, and well…. I'll explain why I need it later. You trust me, right?" She smiled apologetically. Winter's eyes narrowed. "What is it," she asked, suspicion evident in her tone.
It was seven o'clock at night. Team RWBY lounged in their room, preparing for the strike on the warehouse. Weiss had decided that actually letting Cinder help the prisoners escape was not worth keeping her cover. This would be the end of her short career as a double agent, as there was no way her cover wouldn't be blown.
The thought made her look down. It was sad, really. The spy work had made her feel like something else. And it was about to be over. She frowned.
Such thoughts were not welcome. This was the culmination of that work. There would be no mourning, she told herself as she pushed herself out of the chair she had been lounging in. The others looked up at her.
"Time? I thought we had an hour," Blake said, looking up from yet another book. Weiss didn't know what it was and at that moment, frankly didn't care. She shrugged.
"Not really. But I thought it would do us best to get in position early. Have time to prepare." Blake nodded, and returned to her book. Weiss walked over to the room's desk, where she picked up a large satchel. She picked it up, hefting it to feel it's weight. The leather strap pulled on her hand. She slipped the bag over her shoulder. She already knew the contents.
"What's in the bag?" Yang called from where she lay in bed, playing with her robot arm. "Got anything cool in there?" She shifted herself so she faced Weiss, head propped up on her real arm.
Weiss did not turn to face Yang. "Not really. Just giving this to a friend." She made to leave, pulling open the door when she heard Ruby shouting behind her. Sighing, she turned around.
"I didn't know that was your glass of water!" Ruby glared at Yang, hands gesturing wildly. "You shouldn't have put it there!" Weiss's gaze drifted to Yang, who lay on her bed with an upturned glass, water on her bed around her mechanical arm. Little sparks flew from the arm.
"Well, maybe you should be more careful - oh no," she said, turning suddenly to look at her new arm. Her face contorted with strain, then fell into a look of resignation.
"You broke it!" she yanked the arm with her human one, moving it a couple of inches. Ruby was watching, hand covering her mouth.
"It brakes if you get water on it? You'd think they make those things better," she said, then started laughing. She tried to stifle her laughter, in vain. Weiss noticed that Blake was on the verge of laughter as well. She cast her an agonized look.
Weiss's eyes turned to Ruby and Yang. Yang was talking rapidly and angrily to Ruby, who was laughing openly, having given up all attempt to cover it up.
"We should leave." Blake nodded, and placed her book on the nightstand next to where she sat, closing it and folding the tip of the page in one smooth motion. She stood up, walking quickly to where Weiss stood, and the two left the room. Neither of the quarreling sisters noticed them leave.
As soon as they were down the hallway, Blake stopped. She placed a hand on her hip, and pointed at Weiss's bag. "I know you," she said, and raised an eyebrow. "What's really in the bag." Weiss grinned sheepishly.
She lifted the flap, and displayed the contents for Blake to see. Her eyes widened slightly. She leaned down, poking the contents hesitantly. "Is this what I think it is?" Blake's voice dreaded the answer.
Weiss nodded, and closed the bag quickly. She moved closer to Blake. "Atlas military-grade explosives. But keep it quiet. I really shouldn't have them here." Blake smiled in disbelief. "How did you get your hands on those? Wait, don't tell me." Weiss chuckled.
"You do know me too well." The two began to walk again.
"Since you won't tell me who you got those from, why don't you tell me why you got them. What's the plan?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
Weiss smiled confidently. "I may not trust our team, but I trust you. We're going to the warehouse early. Why? To blow the supplies to smithereens before Ruby and Yang even know where the warehouse is."
Weiss stopped, cold air hitting her face in a wave. She smiled. Before her lay that old warehouse, inconspicuous against the other run-down buildings that surrounded the area. Blake's footsteps ground to halt next to where she stood.
She looked at Weiss with concern. "Why are we stopped?" Her voice was terse and businesslike. Weiss didn't bother to look at her, instead placing a hand on Myrtenaster's hilt.
"No reason. Just making sure we don't run into any kind of guards." As she said this, she scanned the area, eyes brushing over buildings and ground in turn. "Although I suspect they would be inside."
Blake rolled her shoulders. "Well, there's no one there. We may as well move in. It's not like we have forever." Without waiting for a response, she flipped up in the air off of the roof they were standing on, gun's ribbon trailing behind her as she gracefully turned in the air, then landed running on her feet. Weiss placed a glyph under her, triggering it so she catapulted towards Blake.
Weiss ran at Blake's side, the two a blur as they crashed through the side door that Weiss had saw on her last visit to the place. Weiss flipped to regain her balance, landing and drawing Myrtenaster on one smooth motion. Blade poised to strike in front of her, her head whipped back and forth, scanning the room for any kind of threats. Blake had stopped about a foot in front of her, and stood tensed.
After a moment, Weiss brought her blade down to her side. Blake relaxed, and twisted her head to Weiss. "Looks like there's no one here," she said, turning fully and walking towards where Weiss stood. "But I doubt that will last long. You said the meeting was at, what, ten o'clock, and we have about an hour till then. But Cinder will likely be here sooner." She turned away and began to walk towards a stack of crates near the two of them.
When she reached it, she tapped it softly, the noise echoing through the silent building. She cast a look at Weiss. "This some of the supplies?" Weiss frowned.
"I'm not entirely sure," she said, striding quickly over to where Blake stood. "Come to think of it, I'm not sure we can figure it out without looking in every box. And we don't have time for that."
"So what do we do?" Blake's voice was calm. Weiss looked down, and wrung her hands together for a moment, thinking intensely. Blake's bright orange eyes scanned the room as she did so.
After a moment, Weiss spoke up. "I guess we should just destroy everything. That should get rid of all the supplies in the process." Blake looked dubiously around the room.
"Do we have enough explosives for that?" Blake asked doubtfully, one hand on the hilt of her own weapon. Weiss sighed.
"Probably not. But what we can do is blow up the entire building," she said, a plan forming in her mind as she spoke. The words caught Blake's attention.
"Is that safe?" Her eyes bored into Weiss's, demanding a response from her. After a moment, Weiss shrugged.
"It should be. We just have to make sure to get out of here before I detonate the bombs." With that, she opened up the duffel bag. She talked to Blake as she did. "We have more than enough explosives for that. One per pillar should be enough. Can you count the pillars for me?" Blake turned around and started, rolling numbers off her tongue. As she did, Weiss started pulling out some charges. They were so small, for the power her sister had promised they wielded.
"There are seven," Blake said, and Weiss beckoned her over. Kneeling down, she placed seven charges on the ground in front of her. Blake raised an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to carry all that at once?" she asked sarcastically.
Weiss shook her head. "Don't," she said, then pushed herself off the ground. 'Take two or three at a time, and come back for more.
Blake nodded, then gestured at the bag. "What are you going to do with the rest of those?" she asked. Weiss responded without hesitation.
"I'm going to blow up the biggest clusters of crates. We can be extra sure we get most of the supplies that way." Blake nodded, then scooped a couple of explosives off the ground, turning on her heel and padding over to the nearest pillar.
"No point in delaying," she cast over her shoulder as she walked. Weiss nodded.
"Remember to prime the charges," she said, and Blake turned to her. "How do I do that?" she asked matter-of-factly, turning over an explosive in her hand as she spoke. Weiss pointed to a switch.
"Pull this, then press this button here," she said, holding a charge and demonstrating what she meant. "After you do that, I can detonate them at any time with the detonator." Blake nodded, then turned around and walked softly over to the nearest pillar.
Weiss sighed, then turned to the stack of crates next to where she stood. She pulled a charge out of her pocket and primed it, gently sliding it on top of crate about the height of Weiss. Frowning, she surveyed the crates. She wasn't entirely sure that one would be enough, so she pulled out a second, priming it as she walked around the stack to the other side. She put the charge down softly at the base of the stack.
As she straightened her back, her gaze swept across the room, taking in the sizes of various stacks of boxes and the crates themselves. She glanced down at the bag. Weiss had four charges left, and she didn't mean to waste any of them.
There was a big pile of crates in the very center of the warehouse. A huge light hung above the boxes, off, but Weiss could see the wires running along the ceiling from it. She figured she could ensure its destruction with three charges. Flipping an explosive idly in her hand, she padded over to it, squinting up and down the stack as she went for the best places to plant it.
As she looked, she thought she saw a flash of orange near the ceiling. Startled, she ran her eyes along the catwalk that crisscrossed the ceiling of the old building. She squinted against the darkness that shadowed everything not within a couple of feet, but saw nothing. She shrugged.
Weiss supposed she was getting paranoid. Shaking her head to herself, Weiss shoved an explosive in between the gap of two crates. They were about chest height. Weiss kneeled, and slid one under the whole pile. She looked over at Blake to check her progress.
No more explosives lay where Weiss had left them for Blake, who was walking towards the pillars in the back of the building, Gambol Shroud unsheathed and swinging at her side. Weiss turned back to her own task.
Grunting slightly with exertion, she tossed another explosive onto the top of the massive pile of boxes, then brushed off her sleeves. Glancing quickly into the bag, she confirmed there was one charge left.
She looked around the room. She figured that if she found a small stack and -
"Hello? You two miss us?" Rang out from the main entrance of the warehouse. Weiss turned angrily to see Yang, walking without a care in the world, into the building, Ruby close on her heels, scythe drawn and scanning the room.
Weiss glanced quickly to confirm Blake had placed her last charge. She had. Weiss breathed out a silent breath of relief that they would not have to risk telling Ruby and Yang what they were really doing. Even though it was inefficient, she took her last one and tossed it casually onto the crates behind her after priming it. Then she tossed the bag onto the boxes, too. There was no point in keeping it. Not when the detonator was snug in her pocket.
Weiss strode confidently over to where the two stood. Frowning, she placed a finger over Yang's mouth. "Shhh" she whispered urgently. "There could be people here at any moment," Weiss added, hand clenching into a fist at her side. Behind her, Blake had arrived, and looked similarly angry at Yang.
Yang shrugged, rolling her shoulders as her irrepressible smile broke through her face. "Sorry guys," she said in the same tone. The sound rolled through the warehouse, and Weiss flinched. Blake leaned forward, hostile, hissing "keep quiet!"
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Hey, it's not like I was too loud," she began, voice raised slightly, when the four of them heard a call from the other side of the warehouse.
"And who could possibly be here?" Cinder's voice rang out through the halls, slow and clearly laced with pleasure. Weiss, Ruby, and Blake all turned burning eyes to Yang. Weiss's fingernails dug into her palms.
"Look what you've done," she explained through slitted teeth, voice ablaze, before turning to face the back of the room. She made sure Myrtenaster was ready for use. "Since Yang gave us away, you may as well prepare for combat," she drawled to her teammates, voice sarcastic and bitter.
Yang let out an uncertain chuckle. "Forgive me?" She asked, eyes pleading. Her voice was now, belatedly, quiet. Weiss let out a frustrated sigh, and cast a glare in Yang's direction.
"No," she hissed coldly. "Maybe that'll help you learn next time. If there even is a next time," she added sadly as she turned to face forward. For a few dreadful heartbeats, the only noise the four heard was Cinder's footsteps echoing ominously around the room.
She slowly emerged from the dark corners of the building, fire alight in her eyes and in one of her hands. Her blood red dress swayed slightly in the wind as she stopped about a quarter of the warehouse away from them.
She tilted her head and smiled with mock sadness. "Oh, such a shame." She drew out the words with precision, making it clear she thought this was anything but. She waved a finger teasingly.
"And I had such high hopes for you, Weiss," she said, striding arrogantly over to the nearest stack of crates. Stopping, she snapped her fingers, the sound echoing through the building.
After a couple of seconds, White Fang members began to appear all around the four. They came out of side doors, jumped off the catwalk, and all manner of places. There must have been dozens of them, and they were all armed with guns. Not a single sword in sight, which, Weiss reasoned, was probably smart.
The team closed together, forming a circle back to back. Their footsteps merged with the clatter of the soldiers. The White Fang formed a large circle around them, each raising their weapon to their shoulders. Movement stopped. For a minute, a deadly silence engulfed the room, one that none dared break.
It was Ruby who spoke first. "What do you want," she called out, glancing nervously around the circle, hands constantly shifting on her weapon. Cinder laughed, a humorless sound that filled Weiss with dread. She felt herself beginning to sweat. Cinder climbed onto the boxes.
She sat back, crossing her legs lazily over one another. She stared at Ruby, then shifted her gaze to Weiss. "You could have been a good agent, Weiss. Could have won so much," she drawled, face morphing into a mask of false pity. "Remember what you told me? You wanted to join the winning side. I guess you're nobility got in the way of that." She extinguished the fire in her palm, and let it drop to her side. Her gaze turned cold.
"But unfortunately for you, I have other agents. Ones with less… morals." she laced her fingers together, turning to face the ceiling and closing her eyes. Weiss felt a strange burning sensation at her neck.
Suddenly, there was a blast. Weiss and Blake spun around in shock to see Ruby on the ground, weapon a foot away from her. She had her hands in the air, pleading with her eyes. Yang towered over her, expression cold, eyes burning red, with hints of orange drifting around the pupils. Heartlessly, she brought her fist down, striking Ruby, who cried out pitifully,
Weiss's heart was in her throat. She had had no idea this would happen, and was frozen with shock. No such affliction claimed Blake, who, snarling, dove at Yang, who was raising her fist for another blow. Cinder had not stirred.
Gunfire erupted from a few points in the circle, knocking Blake onto her back. She scrambled to regain her footing, but not before Yang brought her weapon down a second time. Ruby's aura went, and blood started to stream from her nose. Her pleas started to get weaker, and the circle began to close in.
Galvanized into action, Weiss grabbed Blake by the arm. "We have to go," she whispered urgently. Without waiting for a response, she placed a glyph underneath the two of them, face twisted into a scowl, and launched them into the air towards the catwalk. Gunfire erupted behind them, and Weiss felt a bullet slam into her back. Her aura bore the blow. Ahead of them, a window shattered.
When they landed, Blake turned her angry face to Weiss. "We could save R-" she began, but Weiss cut her off. Her gaze stern, she said quickly, "There's no time. And besides, you saw what happened when you tried. Some of us have to get out." She winced as a bullet struck the railing next to her.
Blake nodded, casting Gambol shroud out, so it hooked around a bar above the broken window. "Grab on to me," she commanded Weiss, who did, placing a glyph behind them and quickly activating it, catapulting the two through the window, gunshots echoing behind them. As they did, the burning at Weiss's neck began to fade.
The two landed in a heap on a nearby building. Weiss gently extracted herself, then stood up and turned to watch the doorway. Blake rose to her feet behind her. She walked until she was close behind Weiss.
"What do we do now," she said tightly, disapproval clear in her voice. Evidently, she would have stayed and fought. But that would have resulted in their death. In response, Weiss pulled the detonator out of her coat. She brought it up for her teammate to see.
Blake's orange eyes widened. "But Ruby and Yang are still in there," she said, tilting her head in the direction of the warehouse. Weiss's eyebrows scrunched together.
"We wait for them to leave," she said, eyes intent on the doorway. "Then, we blow the place to smithereens. And," she added, raising a finger for emphasis, "Before you ask, they will use this entrance. Cinder will want to gloat." She leaned her weight on one hip.
After about a minute, Blake pointed. "There they are," she said simply. Weiss squinted in the direction she indicated. Sure enough, about five White Fang members were walking in front of the building, towards the road. Two flanked Cinder, another two Yang. The last carried Ruby's still form.
Blake shook her head sadly. "That didn't go too well," she said dryly. "They'll begin loading the supplies soon. At least Ruby's still alive. Probably." She turned to Weiss. "What are you going to do about it?"
Weiss's gaze hardened. "This," she said, and flipped open the safety on the detonator. One hand clenched at her side, she squeezed the button.
