Chapter 11 – Something Worth Fighting For
Author's note: Here I am again with of course another chapter! This one is a bit longer than normal, around the 5k. I hope you enjoy!
"Right, everyone remember their roles?" Ruby asked. Ruby, really? We had been waiting for this moment for what felt like ages. I had repeated the plan in my head for over a million times, of course I remembered.
"You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies." Weiss answered. "Seeing as I am in the family, it shouldn't be a problem." She continued. Weiss, you boaster. We already know you are rich, you don't have to be mean about it.
"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members." Blake explained. "If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they are planning." Mm, I was a bit worried about Blake. She had by far the most dangerous role of us all, as she would infiltrate one of the meetings of our enemy, on her own. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't come with her, but I would stand out way too much. I was a human, after all, they would kill me on the spot.
"I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard, especially because I have Elisa with me! And she is pretty scary." Geez, thanks Yang. I glared at her, but she only laughed. Puh, I would show her scary.
"Great, we will meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we have found. Let's do this!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Yeah!" A muffled voice suddenly was heard from outside. Before our window was Sun, hanging onto his tail. Of course he was here, ugh. "Sun!" Blake shouted, clearly shocked to find him there. Same Blake, same.
"How did you get up there?" Yang asked, her voice filled with uncertainty and a hint of admiration.
"Ah it is easy, I do it all the time!" Wait, what?
"You do what?!" Weiss exclaimed, apparently also not too pleased with the idea of Sun- I didn't even want to finish that thought, it was just too horrible.
"I climb trees all the time!" Sun explained. Weiss narrowed her eyes, not fully believing his words.
"So, are we finally getting back on that Torchwick guy?" Sun asked while he jumped into our room.
Yes, we were. No, you weren't. That sounded harsh, I know, but I really didn't like it when people showed up uninvited, and expected me to just be fine with it.
"We are going to investigate the situation." Blake said, with an emphasis on 'we'. "As a team." Yeah Sun, this was a super secret team mission, so only team members allowed.
"Sorry Sun, we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to." Ruby continued, trying to decrease the intensity of Blake's words.
"Pff, that is dumb. You should always get friends involved. That is why I brought Neptune." Sun countered, pointing to somewhere outside. Wait, that other dude came with him? O my god, why were we even friends with this guy? And speaking of Neptune, where was he?
We all looked outside the window in the direction Sun had pointed, finding Neptune there, standing on the small fillet between the wall and the open sky beside our room window. "Sup." He greeted, looking a bit nervous, his eyes flickering between us and the ground far below him.
"How did you even get up here?" Ruby asked amused. "I have my ways." Neptune answered, trying to sound cool and mysterious. "Seriously though, can I come in? We are like, really high up right now." Super bad boy right here, totally not scared and totally not almost begging us to let him in.
Of course, the good people we were, we let him in.
"All right, I will go with Weiss. Sun, you can go with Blake. And Neptune, you can go with Yang and Elisa." Ruby practically pushed Neptune our way, and he stood completely frozen besides us. I believed he might was a bit scared of us. That was good, he should be.
"Actually Ruby, why don't you go with Yang, ha. After all, she is your sister." Weiss spoke up. If you wanted me to believe that was the reason you wanted to switch partners, princess, you should work on your lying skills. That argument was just pathetic.
"But Weiss, who would go with you then?" Ruby asked, the poor girl utterly confused.
"Well, I guess Neptune could come with me." Neptune flashed his million dollar smile at her, probably relieved he wouldn't have to come with Yang and I. Ruby just laughed, like Weiss had just told a really bad joke (she does, please don't tell her I said that, she will kill me). "Nah."
"But! But!" Weiss stammered, clearly not done with this discussion. Ruby, however, thought the conversation was over and pulled Weiss away from us and out of the room, probably headed towards the CCT tower.
Blake and Sun said their goodbyes, and also left. I was happy someone was going with Blake, it made me feel a lot calmer. If something bad would happen, Blake would have some back up. Although I was not sure Sun could be counted as back up, as I had never seen him fight. Well, I would give him a chance to prove himself.
Yang cleared her throat. "We do have one problem folks. I only have space for one extra person on my bike, so one of you will have to walk." She said that last part as a joke, but I decided to take it serious.
"Neptune, you can go with Yang. I will run over there." I answered while I started doing some warm-up exercises. Yang raised her eyebrows at me, doubting my words. "You are going to run over there?" I looked at her, trying my best to look as innocent as possible. Puppy eyes mode activated.
"Yeah? It is not that far, right?" Neptune had moved away from us. He most certainly were covering himself in case Yang and I would get in a fight over this. Haha, as if.
"No it isn't, but still. I know you are fast, but you know I don't like to wait." Yang answered. I paused, acting like I was thinking about my response. "You won't have to wait, I promise." Yang raised her eyebrows again.
"Was that a challenge?" Yang's voice sounded dangerous, as if she tried to scare me out of this race.
"Maybe." I answered, successfully 'upsetting' Yang, who immediately started moving. She pushed Neptune out of the door while pulling out the keys of her bike out of her pocket. She looked over her shoulder, at me, and winked. "See you in about an hour Elisa." I just smiled and winked back.
Mmm, they were later than I had expected them to be. It had already been almost 2 minutes. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I stood in front of the nightclub Yang had told me her old friend was. I had an idea who this 'friend' of hers could be.
Junior.
He was famous on the streets, as he sometimes would visit us and recruit new bodyguards.
His club was popular, especially by the more shady people in Vale. This was the place where the small criminals gathered together, made deals and got drunk together. From outside the club didn't look like much, just a building in the outskirts of Vale, without even a proper sign. I had never been inside, mostly because I rarely had had contact with other people when I had been living on the streets. It had seemed to dangerous to me, especially considering my past…
Of course Junior and his men had tried to convince me to join their little gang, because who wouldn't want to have me in their gang, am I right? However, I hadn't been very interested and refused every time. Maybe that was why they didn't seem to like me very much.
Finally I heard motorcycle sounds, and the next second Yang drove around the corner, the colours of her bike standing out in our somewhat grey surroundings. She parked in front of me, and slowly took her helmet off so that she wouldn't damage her hair in some way, while trying to hide the fact that she was surprised I had been here earlier than she and Neptune.
"You didn't make me wait. Good job." Yang said, attempting to not sound amazed.
I laughed in response. "I wouldn't even dream of making you wait, my queen." Yang laughed too, and together we walked inside the nightclub. Neptune was still on the motorcycle, apparently shocked by Yang's driving style (she is horrible, especially when it is your first time driving with her). Poor boy, I feel your pain.
Muffled screams could be heard coming from inside the club and together with the doors suddenly closing, the message was clear: you aren't welcome here. I shared an amused look with Yang. "After you, my queen." In response, Yang fired one of her rounds at the door, instantly breaking it open, throwing the two guys guarding it on their feet.
She walked in first, not even bothering to help the two guys up, and I followed right behind her. Straight away everyone pulled their guns out, pointing them at Yang. She just stared at them, silently challenging them to fire. Her lilac eyes seemed like they were dancing, the lights of the club reflecting in them. It made her look like a typical party girl, who had come here to get drunk and maybe even pick up a nice guy. Nothing was less true.
I moved my fingers a tiny bit, placing a shield made of my aura around Yang. Now, even if they fired, the bullets would be reflected by my shield, and hit them instead. Surprise!
"Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me?" Neptune asked. So he decided to finally join the party too. Amazing.
"Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot." The great Junior himself pushed his way to the front, earning himself some dirty looks in the process. His men didn't act like they really liked him, what was probably true. It was likely they had only accepted this job to get off the streets, and to try to build a whole new life for themselves.
Junior straightened his tie, then faced Yang and me directly. To be honest, he looked a bit nervous, throwing quick glances at Yang, as if he was afraid she would attack him any minute.
"Blondie! You are here. Why?" Hey, I was here too jerk! And Neptune of course, but he didn't have a real purpose here (sorry bro).
"You still owe me a drink." Yang responded, grabbing Junior by his arm and leading him to the bar. Junior gasped, not looking happy with these developments. His men just watched him go, not caring about what would happen to their boss. I quietly followed them, also not taking any initiative to stop Yang's behaviour.
We had decided that Yang would do the negotiation, and I would just be there if something went wrong. How did Ruby phrase it again? Oh yeah! "Yang will talk with her friend, and Elisa will be there for the intimidation factor. And if something goes wrong, you are allowed to break all of their bones." The corner of my mouth quirked up. I loved it when I had permission to break bones.
Junior slammed his glass on the table, holding his head up with his left hand. It was a big club, with lights flashing everywhere and loud music playing. The main colours seemed to be black, grey and red, and the main purpose was clear: Getting people as drunk as possible so that they would spend as much money as possible. And if they were lucky, they would even sign themselves up to do some dirty work for them. I already hated it here.
"I don't know!" He exclaimed.
"How can you not know?" Yang asked in a demanding voice, crossing her arms. Ruby had said I would be the intimidating factor, but Yang was doing a good job too.
"I haven't talked to him. I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here. He paid upfront, I lent him my men, and none of them ever came back." Junior stood up, leaning in towards Yang. I stepped forward, glaring at him with my 'killer gaze', warning him to not pull a stunt or he would regret it. He instantly backed away a little bit and I grinned, internally celebrating my small victory.
"So, where did they go?" Of course Neptune suddenly showed up again. Where had that dude been? And why did he think he could just interfere with our negotiation?
"What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back!" Junior answered with a frustrated growl. "Who is this guy?"
"Don't worry about him." Yang replied, slapping her hand in Neptune's face. "Worry about me if I don't find out what I want!"
"I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them! Which is something I can relate to!" Well, what do you expect when you pick most of them up on the streets? All the things you learn on the streets are related to your survival. Most of us don't have any real skills, which is one of the reasons why we are living on the streets you know.
"C'mon Elisa." Yang turned around, urging me to follow her.
"We got enough?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck."
"I have a feeling luck doesn't really like us." I responded sarcastically. Yang smiled, giving me a knowing look and I looked back with the same intensity. Then I rolled my eyes and smiled back.
Yang and I had had this sort of rivalry for a few weeks now. Sarcastic remarks, getting each other stuff we knew the other didn't like, meaningless contests etc, most of the time just to get on each other's nerves.
Don't get me wrong, Yang and I got along great and we loved each other a big deal. I guess this was our own way of showing affection.
We walked out of the night club, and I still felt the hateful looks burning on my back. I didn't know what exactly Yang had done here the first time she came in, but it hadn't made her famous in a good way. Knowing her, she probably had destroyed the place and everyone who had dared to stand in her way.
The warmth outside hit me again, urging me to take my jacket off. Yang whistled teasingly at me. I rolled my eyes while tying my jacket around my waist.
Buzz buzz buzz. Yang grabbed her scroll, which she had put in one of the pockets of her jacket. A little smile formed on her face, then she picked up. I knew almost for sure it was Blake who was calling, as she was the only one Yang would smile at like that.
Blake and Yang had been extremely close ever since the beginning of school, and some people (me included) suspected they had romantic feelings for each other. Some even believed they already were a couple. Of that I wasn't so sure, but it couldn't take much longer, judging by the way they acted around each other.
"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" Blake was interrupted by Sun, who was yelling and screaming. "They got a robot, and it is big, really big!" Sun sounded desperate and tired, as if he had been running around for a few hours. Yang and I shared a look. We had to help them.
I glanced at Yang's scroll, and seeing what I already thought. Blake had created a group call, so hopefully Weiss and Ruby were also alerted and on their way to help.
"Where are you guys?" Yang asked in a loud voice, trying to make herself audible over the loud background noises. Sun yelled again, but now it sounded much and much closer. I could also hear loud footsteps, probably from the robot. Weird, we couldn't hear-
As if we had planned it, all three of us turned around at the same moment, and we all saw Blake and Sun running away from an enormous robot in the street behind us. "I think that was them-" Neptune started, interrupted by Yang who had already started the engine of her bike.
"Yeah, I got it. Elisa, will you be okay?" I nodded, and Yang immediately turned her bike around and raced away, chasing the big not so friendly robot. I waited a few seconds, taking my time to determine where they were probably heading, then I also set off.
Our plan was simple. Blake and Yang would chase the robot together with Sun and Neptune, and Weiss would make the robot fall of the highway with some help of her ice dust. Ruby and I would be waiting at the spot the robot would crash into, keeping him busy until the others would join us. Then we would finish him off with our skills and amazing team attacks.
"I am in position!" I heard Weiss yell and I took my sword out of my scabbard. The runes on it were glowing softly in response to my aura running through it.
My sword was a special item that I had gotten a long time ago from a world renowned black smith. It had a black heft and a golden blade, with white and red runes drawn upon it. It was light, but not too light, as I also had to be able to overpower an enemy.
The runes allowed me to use my aura to let the sword change forms, and it could become any weapon I wanted. However, I preferred its sword form. Simple, but deadly.
The sound of cars speeding by was all of a sudden interrupted by the sound of ice forming. There was only one explanation for ice forming with this temperature. Our Ice Queen was busy with her loved dust. The next moment the enormous robot I had seen earlier, crashed down before us. Ruby gripped her scythe a bit tighter, ready to attack. The rest of team RWBYE landed beside us. We were all ready.
A soft laugh could be heard from deep within the robot, then it started moving forward, in our direction. Ruby immediately reacted. "Freezerburn!"
Everyone except for Weiss and Yang jumped out of the way. Then Weiss created, once again, an area of ice around her, and Yang fired one of her bullets at it, effectively creating a sort of smokescreen. It was one of the first moves we came up with, as we all agreed it was extremely important to have an attack which blinded our enemy, and would give us the opportunity to use sneak attacks.
We used the little time we had created to divide ourselves, surrounding the robot.
Some laser lights passed by me and the next second bullets were flying nearby my face. So this thing also had some tricks up his sleeve. The shield I had placed around Yang took a hit, probably from one of this weird electrical bullets, and I flinched a bit.
It felt like I myself had been hit by that bullet, and my aura had to restore itself. I quickly fixed the hole in the shield and was just in time to see Ruby launching herself at the robot, successfully landing a hit on it.
"Checkmate!"
Blake and Weiss ran forward, landing beside Ruby and immediately attacking the robot's legs. They landed a few hits, but didn't do any real damage. Weiss quickly send them both backwards with her glyphs, trying to get them both back in our 'safe zone', but getting hit herself in the process. She flew past us, landing hard on the ground at a small distance from us. I flinched again as another shield of mine took damage.
Then the robot revealed another trick: small missiles. It fired a few dozen of them , each one closely following up the next one.
"I got this!" I yelled, bringing my sword in position. I could easily slay them out of the air, I just had to use my aura to power up my slashes. Closing my eyes for a millisecond, I concentrated, pulling my aura out of my body and extending it towards my weapon. It almost resonated with power now, ready to take down these stupid missiles.
I didn't open my eyes again, but instead trusted on my skills to sense where the missiles were. Wait, I told myself. They just had to come a little bit closer… Just a little bit more….
Yes, this was it. I opened my eyes, and immediately moved my sword. My aura charged slashes teared through the air, rainbow coloured aura attacks rapidly decreasing the distance between me and the missiles, successfully tearing the missiles down from the sky. Turning my back towards the explosion, I walked away, like a complete badass.
I ran to where Weiss laid on the ground, still recovering from the hit she took from the robot. I had to protect her while she couldn't protect herself. Taking a combat stance, I kept a close eye on what was happening, also putting up a few more shields around Weiss and I.
Meanwhile, Blake and Ruby were using their Ladybug attack and Yang decided it was finally time to join the battle again. She jumped, soaring in the sky for a moment, then she landed on the robot and fired a few of her bullets on it.
"Take that you stupid piece of metal!"
In an attempt to get rid of her, the robot moved forward at an extremely fast pace, throwing her against a heavy pillar. Ouch, that didn't look good. Yang fell to the ground, and I heard Blake screaming her name. I looked back at Weiss, who seemed okay and quickly recovering. She could protect herself for a while.
I had to help my other teammates, so I rushed back to their side again. Yang had stood up again, her hair flaring and eyes coloured a blood red. Her semblance was activated, time to run little robot. It tried to land a big right overhand punch at Yang, but Yang easily stopped it, looking up at it dangerously.
Whenever I saw Yang like this, I felt really relieved she was on our side. Nothing would make me feel more terrified than the sight of an angry Yang, hair almost burning, eyes blazing and powered up with the power of what could be compared to the power of an army.
Yang punched the robot, destroying the only arm it had still left. The robot stood still for a moment, as if it was actually grieving the loss of its arm, then kicked Yang to the other side of our fighting space.
"Bumblebee!" Ruby yelled, and Blake instantly threw her weapon at Yang, who caught it while still flying in the air. Blake grunted because of the effort and I could almost feel the burning pain in my arm muscles myself, but she managed to pull Yang forward, directed at the robot. The robot however, was way too fast, and Yang flew past it, not able to land a single hit on it.
"We have to slow it down!" Ruby yelled again.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss had finally joined us again, and of course immediately treated us with a sarcastic remark.
Ruby however, ignored her. Her brain was working at its absolute best; gears turning, dots getting connected, and a plan was slowly forming in our leader's head.
"Elisa, distract the robot. Weiss, Ice Flower!" Ruby ordered.
While Weiss and Ruby were preparing their attack, I sprinted towards the robot again. The muscles in my legs were quietly protesting, but I told them to shut up. I reached out with my aura to my sword, getting an immediate reaction that made the hairs on my arm stand up and my skin tingle in anticipation.
Focus Elisa, imagine that your sword is changing, and you are now wielding a big weapon, like an axe or something. Yes, an axe would be great.
My sword changed forms, and now I was holding a huge morning star. I hated the slow movements of the weapon, but it was ideal to inflict damage an enormous opponent like this robot.
I swung my axe at the leg of the robot. It managed to dodge my attack with a jump, but as it was still in the air, it wouldn't be able to doge my next strike. I focused on my aura once again, this time to create a huge arrow. It manifested just above the robot, and I let it fly down towards the robot.
The machine wasn't even in time to turn around, and the arrow hit at the exact place I wanted to hit. The robot stumbled, almost falling over, but it didn't get any rest.
Ruby and Weiss fired off their ice bullets, hitting the robot head on, placing small ice crystals along its whole body. In the meantime, Blake was swinging Yang at the robot again, and I quickly leaped out of the way.
Blake and Yang's attack completely destroyed the robot, and Torchwick rolled out of it. He recovered quickly, brushing dust of his shoulders and mumbling something. Yang, impatient as always, fired another round at him.
It disclosed the distance at a high speed, but before it could hit its target, a girl jumped in front of Torchwick, blocking the bullet with her… umbrella? Really, they just made everything their weapon these days. I bet it was a gun too.
We gathered together once again, standing in a fighting pose, waiting for Torchwick and the girl with him to make their move. I felt sick, my head feeling like I had taken a few hits of a hammer. My vision began to blur, giving me trouble concentrating. I was even struggling to keep standing, my legs were weak, leaving me swaying on my feet and feeling like a complete idiot.
"Ladies. Ice Queen. Always a pleasure." Torchwick greeted us. "Neo, if you would." The girl, whose name was apparently Neo, bowed to us. Something flickered for a second, and I blinked in confusion. It looked like she had just activated her semblance, but they were still standing still. Wait a second, their aura's were moving away from us. I turned towards my team, wanting to warn them that our enemy was escaping.
Yang suddenly leaped forward, throwing a left punch at the duo, but only shattering the illusion Neo had created. That was her semblance, huh, a dangerous and incredibly annoying one.
Confused, Yang scanned her surroundings, trying to locate Torchwick and his companion again. The sounds of an engine sounded far above us, and the next moment we saw our targets escaping in an airship, quickly leaving us behind. The cowards. If you started a fight, you also had to finish it.
"So I guess he got a new henchman." Yang said. Her eyes were purple again, but still had that cold look in them. It would take some time for Yang to calm down and completely be herself again.
Mm, she was one of his henchman, yes, but new? Their aura's had told me they had been together for some time now, their bond was deep and strong, and they had obviously been through a lot of things together.
"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans.. fall apart?" Weiss joked, well, tried to joke. She glanced at Yang, as if she was looking for her approval, but Yang only sighed.
"No. Just no."
"What! But you do it!" Weiss snarked back, clearly hurt by Yang's disapproval. I don't know if it makes you feel better Weiss, but I heard Ruby laughing. But well, Ruby laughed at almost everything, so that didn't really mean anything.
"There is a time and place for jokes." Yang responded.
"Was this not it?" Weiss asked, still offended.
"No, it just wasn't very good." With that Yang walked away, leaving a mildly offended Weiss behind.
"Well, at least I am trying." Weiss said, in a sad attempt to save her face. Sorry princess, but that wasn't going to save you now. Knowing Yang, once she was calmed down, she would never let Weiss live this down, grabbing every chance of teasing her with her failed attempt at trying to be funny.
"Wait, where are Sun and Neptune?" Ruby asked. Did she really just notice they were gone?
I turned around, following Blake, Weiss and Yang. My muscles and head hurt and I felt dizzy. I struggled to breath, and it felt like something was blocking my windpipe. I coughed, in an attempt to get rid of the thing that was keeping me from breathing.
Blood.
It had been a long time since I had used my aura this frequently, and it was starting to get a toll on me. Well, the blockade was gone now, so I could finally breath normal again. That was worth a little celebration, I thought, while inhaling the maximum amount of air my longs could hold.
I had to be careful, careful not to use too much of my power. I couldn't afford to lose control, or it would have catastrophic results. No, I couldn't let that happen again. I would train my ass off, until I would have complete control of my power. It was only getting harder with each day passing, our enemies growing in number and in power, and I would need all the power I could muster. I shouldn't be afraid anymore, it was my power, right?!
I had never had real motivation to learn how to control my power. It wasn't important to me, as I had nothing I would gladly lose my life for defending. Training was forced on me, and in general I was treated like a weapon they could use to win a war, not as a person. But now, it was different, I thought, while looking at my teammates. Now, I had a home I had to protect and people I would gladly lose my life for.
I had something worth fighting for.