Roses & Thorns – Volume 1 – Chapter 14

-Darkened Reliquary-

Nyx flipped one of the switches overhead inside the Bullhead's cockpit, watching closely as the indicator light nearby flickered out and then came on again, this time green instead of red. A chime sounded from the control board in front of him, informing him that the engines were primed. "You don't need to worry." The soft voice came from the other chair beside his, originating from the red-haired girl that sat there. It caused him to sigh in agitation, the kind of weariness that came with having a sister who always knew exactly how he felt. "I'll be okay."

He turned a slight inch to glance over at Amber, taking in the way she was pointedly avoiding his gaze, operating her own pre-flight check as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "You're lying." Scoffing as he moved to adjust in his seat before tightening the belts that secured him in place, Nyx shook his head. "You always lie if you think it'll make someone feel better. You know, this is exactly the kind of thing that Father never wanted. It's why I told him not to let you go to an Academy."

"I can do the most good here." His sister's words parroted the same that had convinced their father to let both of them attend Beacon. Nyx had been adamant that Amber should end her combat education after general school, and instead attend a college to pursue a degree. Given her talents, she could have made one of the best doctors Remnant had ever seen. He had even threatened that he would follow her into the career of a Hunter if she was allowed to go. Their parents had called him on it, and now his worst fears for his twin had come to pass. "Pre-flight check is green across the board, I'm entering Skia's coordinate data."

With a discontented noise, Nyx jammed his finger against the button to ignite the engines, bringing them to life with a roar. Tossing a glance back towards the transport area, he received a thumbs up from Claire, the Faunus girl having already checked that everyone was aboard and secure. Turning back, he gripped the controls and shook his head once again. "This is a really bad idea."

"It's still on route, straight from Beacon." Cinder handed the datapad back to technician that had given it to her, a bone-white mask obscuring part of the young man's face as he spoke to her. On the device itself, a pulsating dot was making progress across the map towards a steady yellow dot that marked their location. However it had happened, they had been discovered.

"Why send one transport?" She mused over the idea of her enemy slipping up after all these years, waving away the Faunus as she turned to look out over the massive hanger of the underground installation. It had been their base of operations for almost a year now, an abandoned military facility that had lay dormant and forgotten from a war that raged nearly two centuries ago. "Why now?"

"Cinder." The sound of her name brought her around to face a man taller than her, one wearing a white suit with a bowler hat. Orange hair swept across one dark green eye, concealing it from view while the other was magnificently outlined in black makeup. "The last of the Dust is on board. Time to quit this place before the party shows up?"

"Not too eager to run, are we, Roman?" Injecting a teasing inflection into her sultry tone, she grinned as the man's uneasiness at approaching her only grew. "Not that many would blame you for playing the part of a coward when squads of Hunters show up, but there is only one transport headed our way. Hardly an army." Taking a step toward the man, she raised a single finger to trace down his jawline. "And still the question remains: How did they manage to find us? And why did it happen after yet another run-in you had with Beacon forces?"

"You.. You think this is my fault?" It amused her, the way that she could cause the normally confident criminal to back down in an instant, at the mere thought of her threatening him. Not that she would follow through, he had been a great asset to her, though she saw no reason to tell him that.

"The timing does seem suspect, doesn't it?" Mulling over her words as she let her hand fall away from his face, she walked a few steps before turning back to face him. She wasn't looking at him though, instead studying the wall behind him as she fitted the pieces of the puzzle together. After a long pause of silence, she spoke up again. "The Bullhead you arrived back here in. Leave it when we abandon this base. I do believe our young friends may have found a way to track you back here."

"That means you leave on the next transport out to Mountain Glenn." Grinning at the way the man's expression fell, Cinder tilted her head. "And find the White Fang assassins for me, I have a mission for them."

"Looking for us, are you?" The sound of a light voice caused her to turn around, finding two Faunus standing nearby, her mind enlightening her to the fact they must have arrived while she was deep in thought.

"Good, I had hoped you two would linger until the last stages of the evacuation." The Faunus with a eyepatch gave a shrug, while the one who had spoke to her flashed a broad grin in her direction. "Ruan, Calico. I'd like you to stay behind after we leave, and give our incoming guests a.. Warm welcome." She enjoyed the way there was no hesitation in the way the two assassins nodded, both of them eager to serve at the promise of an approaching fight to be had. "There may be Hunters aboard. We can't risk any information of where we are going from slipping into enemy hands. Arm the self-destruct when we are gone, I'll remain at a safe distance to pick you up when it's done."

"We'll get it done, Cinder." Ruan was the one who spoke to her, the taller of the two women. The wolf-Faunus' blood red eye fixing upon her. "Are these the children that chased off Torchwick?" That sanguine orb flashed past her to the man standing near the wall, and a grunt of annoyance was all that Roman challenged the assassin with.

"It certainly looks that way.." Striding forward, she softly touched each of the two Faunus' arms as she slipped between them, smiling wide. "I have the utmost faith you will not fail me."

Ruby held tight to the strap secured to the roof of the Bullhead as the aircraft tilted and began to turn. They had arrived at the coordinates, only to find the huge expanse of crimson leaved trees broken up by a cliff that dropped off into the sea. Leaning out of the transport bay as Nyx piloted them off the sheer drop, she studied the ground below, looking for any sign of the vehicle that Torchwick had used to escape from the docks.

To her surprise, and the audible gasps from several of the other students behind her, a large opening was carved into the side of the cliff. Rectangular in shape and constructed from concrete, the portal was illuminated by the searchlights of their Bullhead. It was a hanger, designed to hold at least a dozen other craft identical to their own, but inside sat only one. Narrowing her eyes, Ruby spied the circular saw of Skia buried to the hilt just before the tail boom.

Turning back, she nearly bumped into the form of Claire, who was standing close behind her and had spotted the same thing. The dark brown of the wolf-girl's eyes locked onto her own gaze for a moment as the older student gave a slow nod and moved to shout in the direction of the cockpit. "This is it! Set us down inside, Nyx!"

Letting the strap slip from her hand, Ruby reached back to find the comforting presence of Crescent Rose, held tight to its harness. She drew the weapon, unfolding it to it's sniper form as the Bullhead turned and held steady, advancing slowly toward the hanger bay that held the criminal's aircraft. Her ears caught the sound of Ember Celica locking into place behind her, and the signature clicks of both Blake and Claire's pistol slides being pulled back.

For a moment, a spark of fear laced through her chest, causing her heartbeat to accelerate until she shut the emotion down. It was replaced in an instant with a determined nod, and a thought that the course they now took was the right one, even if it was far from being the most intelligent. The underside of their transport scraped against the concrete of the hanger, and then sat down in a near perfect landing.

Ruby was the first out, dashing forward and dropping down to a knee, scanning the entirety of the hanger bay through the lens of her scope. The light from outside was barely sufficient enough to outline the edges of the doors on the far side of the huge room, but it left no shadows that could conceal a waiting adversary. Letting her weapon drop a bit, she felt her eyebrows raise on their own accord in surprise, and looked back to find the rest of the two Beacon Teams spreading out, their weapons raised and ready.

Her partner was the one who voiced what it was they were all thinking, the heiress turning away from the Torchwick's Bullhead with a confused expression. "Where is everyone?"

Dawn Sheppard rubbed her eyes as she placed a student's chart at the end of the bed, clicking the top of her pen and placing it back in the pocket of her lab coat. Glancing over at the clock revealed that it had been long past an hour since she had let the Pinion girl go, and though sleep nagged at her senses, she had half a mind to track the Huntress-in-training down and drag her back to the infirmary for whatever treatment she could hope to offer.

Mentally cursing herself for declining to fulfill the offered psych training earlier in the semester, she pulled her scroll from the same pocket she had deposited the pen. Tapping a finger against the interface in order to bring the device to life, she was stopped from pinging Amber Pinion to the Infirmary by the sound of a pair of boots stomping down the hallway outside the nearby door. Moving to investigate, she found a couple of familiar faces conversing quietly as they moved by.

The one lagging behind was a woman her own age, with coal black hair and stormy eyes that flashed to her the instant she appeared. "Qrow, Memphis?" Tilting her head to the side, she glanced between the two Hunters a few times before settling on the brunette. "What's going on?"

Memphis Slate paused as she regarded the Lynx Faunus standing in front of her, the tufted sandy blonde ears twitching ever so slightly as the sky blue eyes flitted between her and Qrow a few more times. The man made a noise that sounded like the start of an explanation, but faltered, leaving her to pick up the pace. "RWBY and CAIN are heading out after the same group that they fought down in the docks earlier tonight, we think. Ozpin is sending us to back them up." Stepping more towards the door, she lowered her voice so that any students in the Infirmary would be unable to catch her words. "Be ready when we return, might be wounded, maybe worse."

"Why just the two of ya?" It amused her that the doctor was trying not to let concern show for her, causing a grin to rise to her lips as she gave a shrug.

"Ozpin said when the kids move, we move. Gladly have you along, Sheppard, but we need combat ready Hunters." It wasn't meant to be a dig at the other woman, but the way the fair features dropped let her know that it could have certainly been taken that way, given their history. To make up for it, she reached out and clapped the side of Faunus' slender shoulder. "Cheer up, we'll be fine."

Even as she turned to continue on the path they had been taking before stopping her, Memphis found her hand trapped by another that coiled around it, and she was pulled back to look at the doctor. "Be careful out there, will ya?"

"When am I not?" Smirking as Dawn released her, the blonde gave a slow nod before smiling back, watching as she tossed a nod in Qrow's direction. "Besides, I've got one of the best Hunters in the world with me."

"Speaking of.." They both looked to the man as he spoke, staring down at his scroll, and the time that was displayed on the device. "Let's get a move on, Slate." With a single look back at the doctor, Memphis turned on her heel and followed the older Hunter down the hallway towards the helipads.

"Oh come on!" Yang's yell echoed throughout the spacious hanger bay, but what truly set a reverberation off the walls dozens of feet away was the punch she landed on the Bullhead they had tracked to this location. She bit back the wince that came with slamming a closed fist against the unyielding metal of the aircraft, and instead swung her arms out wide as she turned. "We came all this way for nothing?!"

"Keep your voice down, you dolt!" Swinging her gaze to where the heiress stood, she narrowed her eyes into a glare towards Weiss. She obeyed the harsh whisper nonetheless, falling quiet while the other girl continued. "If they didn't know we were here already, they certainly do now."

"Let them come." Yang swung her gaze around to peek through the open transport bay of the Bullhead she had punched, finding Claire staring back at her from the other side, the gray-tipped fur of the girl's wolf ears twitching in agitation. "I'd take a fight to just standing here."

"They're gone." Past the Faunus girl that had previously been speaking, Yang spotted her little sister crouched down and running a hand over the floor. Ruby's soft voice had carried through the room, but the scythe-wielder seemed to have said it without really paying attention, the younger girl's eyes still studying the gouges that had been dug into the floor.

Noticing the silence that had followed her words, Ruby glanced up and pointed to the duo of lines that were present on the floor, long canyons cut into the concrete a few feet from each other. "These are the right size for the cargo containers that we saw at the docks, right?"

"There's more over here!" Iris' voice came from behind Yang, causing her to turn and find her girlfriend bent down and tracing a finger through a line that belonged to another set. Bright purple eyes snapped up and scanned the rest of the nearby floor. "They're everywhere.. How many of these did they steal?"

"If these were all Schnee Dust containers like the ones we saw.." Claire scuffed a boot along the inside of one of the lines, trailing off as she slid her eyes up from the ground and settled her gaze on the heiress to the company their conversation now spoke of. "You didn't know?"

Pale blue eyes snapped from gouge to gouge, the signs of the thieves' movements evident throughout the entire room. The increasing amount of concern was clearly written on Weiss' face with each new count of a container that had been stored here, enough so that a shaky hand rose and nervously grabbed at the girl's ponytail. "How could Father not notice? No, he would have. Why wasn't I..?" Leaving the rest of the thought unsaid, Yang watched as her teammate finally met their gazes.

For the first time since she had known the heiress, Weiss looked downright meek.

Claire stepped through the door and glanced to the side, taking in the long, dark hallway that awaited her. Returning her gaze to the front, she lightly stepped from boot to boot in an attempt to examine the way forward better than she could. Stepping back into the hanger bay, a nod came from Yang, who had been investigating the other door. "Alright then. Four hallways, that means teams of two. Keep in touch using our Scrolls, and if you see the enemy, fall back and wait for back up before you engage." She let her gaze fall over Blake, feeling her eyes narrow into a light scowl as the other Faunus looked away.

Her attention was taken by her partner and the brawler from Team RWBY moving through the door together, a lingering smile and a wave made in her direction as they disappeared from view. Though she would have suggested that partners be the teams, Claire couldn't help but realize there was no stopping those two from going off together.

Others made up pairs and went off, leaving her alone with the young leader of the other Team, who was watching as Weiss and Nyx disappeared around a turn down the hallway in front of them. "Looks like it's you and me, Rose." Pulling Packmaster from her belt, she gave the brunette a wink and moved through the door.

Ruby was by her side in an instant, the hefty sniper rifle held loosely in the girl's arms as red highlights bobbed with each step. They had taken the last path available, the side hallway on the left. Cases that should have held the lights to illuminate this place were dark, hanging from the ceiling as if they needed to announce their uselessness. Emergency lights were all that was still running, lining the top corners of the narrow concrete corridor and casting an eery glow over the dull gray of the walls. Claire kept her weapon raised, one hand wrapped around the grip while the other supported it, allowing her to adjust aim quickly despite the tight spaces.

A quiet scuffle sounded out behind her, causing her to glance back and find Ruby recovering from almost tripping. Silver eyes glanced up and found her own, a smile flashed in her direction before the mumbled apology. "Sorry."

Claire let a small grin take to her lips to let the younger girl there was no harm done, before returning her gaze to the front. All that waited was the same empty hallway, but the strange feeling persisted. To find this base abandoned was unsurprising, but it felt as though they had missed their enemy by a few minutes. She had to question why there wasn't something left behind for them, either as a trap or to delay them while the others got away.

Blake held Gambol Shroud in a grip so tight that it was beginning to turn her knuckles white, her uneasiness growing steadily as she marched down the corridor. It was several minutes of silence and nothing but the dull glow of emergency lights to be found before a hand wrapped around her elbow, pulling her back and around to face the other student she had teamed up with. Amber Pinion's eyes looked incredibly calm in the low light, no longer a dancing pool of crimson and orange, simply a stunning landscape of bright color. "Slow down."

It was spoke in a quiet whisper, but even that seemed to disturb this place. The caution of the redhead caused her anger at being stopped to dissipate instantly, and she leaned in closer to speak, realizing that the perceptive girl was not attempting to allay the worry that had set into Blake's heart. "What's wrong?"

"There's.. I feel.." Amber's eyes closed in a slow blink, and the shorter girl shook her head in frustration. "It's gone now. But I could feel something nearby.. It was faint though."

Blake cocked her head to the side, eying the girl for a long moment before replying. "One of the others, maybe? We don't know how close these hallways run to each other, maybe they came close to intersecting with ours?"

"It could have been." A small hand rose and kneaded against the girl's forehead, before those red eyes opened once again and a nod was tossed in the direction they had been going. "Keep moving, I'll alert you if it happens again."

The thrum of a plasma bow continually broke what would have otherwise been silence, echoing down the long, empty corridors that Weiss now stalked. Myrtenaster was in hand, kept at her side with it's point slightly raised, ready to be used on a moments notice. Beside her walked Nyx Pinion, the taller boy's attire reflecting the golden light from his weapon and acting as a sort of lantern. Doors to offices were wide open as they passed, each of them taking a second to peek in and ensure there was nothing of value to be found before moving on.

"Back there, you seemed surprised at the amount of thefts this group has carried out. Your Father keeps you up to date on company business?"

The question came out of left field for her, throwing off her ability to deliver a snappy retort as she stared at the back of the other student's head. After no reply was forthcoming, Nyx turned back to look at her, his yellow eyes wide and one eyebrow raised in surprise. Shaking herself from her stupor, Weiss gave a slow nod. "Yes, usually. My instruction on how to run the company didn't end when I left to attend Beacon. I get a packet every week through our secure line from the CCT."

It was hard not to sound proud whenever she discussed Schnee Dust. It was a tone that had been hammered into her subconsciousness from a very young age, one that she found came unnaturally after months of disuse. "My parents do that, too." A sympathetic smile was cast her way by the other boy, with him having seen fit to ignore her tone and merely continue on with the conversation. Weiss bit back her surprise, berating herself for not remembering that Nyx was a kindred spirit, an heir raised from birth to take control of his parent's fortune when they stepped down. "They were so mad when I left to Beacon with Amber."

"Do you regret it?" Realizing that her question could be construed as rude without proper context, Weiss stumbled over a few words before truly explaining herself. "I-I mean, leaving to attend the Academy is a huge choice, given the time necessary and the career it leads to. Do you ever regret making that choice?"

"I used to, sometimes." Nyx spoke softly, leaning against a doorway to an open room and looking back at her, Winged Triumph held in his hands. "These days, I'd say I do. Amber should have never been here, despite her gift. She isn't made for this job, and once I convince our parents, I think she'll be taken out of the school. But me.." The boy chuckled, raising a hand to graze through his short black hair before shrugging. "I think I found my calling.. What about you, do you regret this?"

"I.." Looking past him into the room, she saw a panel laden with switches against the wall. Stepping past him, she made her way around the desk and scoffed at the sight of the old technology. After a moment, she looked back toward the other student, grinning wide. "..I found the lights."

Iris felt a hand brush across the fur of her tail as she ducked her head into a side room, causing her to glance back and find a playful gaze emanating from lilac eyes. Shaking her head while swatting away the offending digits, she took a step forward and spun on a heel. "This one's clear, too." Placing both hands on her hips and quirking a single eyebrow, she grinned at the way the taller girl slowly meandered toward her. "What's on your mind, Xiao Long? Not afraid of the dark, are ya?"

Her lips spread into a more mocking expression, one that was scoffed away with the flick of a gauntleted hand through long blonde locks. "I can literally set myself on fire, so no, I'm not afraid of the dark." Uncertainty crossed over the beautiful features before her, the shadows cast by the pulsating emergency lights only amplifying the strong angles of Yang's face as the brawler took the final step to be next to her. "It's just a feeling. Like we're in a place that hasn't been abandoned recently, but.."

"I know." Raising a hand to gently touch a palm to the warm cheek of the brawler, Iris let her grin slide away into a more fitting smile, leaning into the hands that settled on her hips and working to calm her girlfriend. Either due to personality or ability, Yang was a volatile individual. She loved that about the blonde, but it did take some effort to keep the girl's rampant excitement in check when there was nothing around to hit. "Feels like we shouldn't be here, right?"

A nod confirmed her guess, and even as she moved to kiss the taller girl, the overhead lights flickered to life and flooded the hallway. It banished the shadows that had clung to every wall and corner, and the mood between the two of them was swept away as they both moved to a defensive position. Iris slipped past the brawler, hearing the distinctive click as the girl's gauntlets slid into place, her own hand wrapped about Siren Melody's hilt and ready to pull the weapon free before a voice sounded out over the scroll in Yang's back pocket.

"That was us, in case you were wondering." It wasn't hard to match that the high-pitched voice belonged to Weiss, it's tone dripping in pride as only a Schnee's could. But it did the trick, as Iris heard her girlfriend utter a relieved chuckled and their positions relaxed.

Moving to face the brawler with a lopsided grin, she tilted a nod in the direction they had been heading before. "We should get moving."

Ruby held the shaft of Crescent Rose to her chest as she stepped around the corner, letting the barrel fall into a waiting hand as she aimed down yet another expanse of empty hallway. Behind her, the larger wolf-girl stepped out with a pistol raised and at the ready. A low growl sounded from the other as they moved into the new corridor, causing her to glance back to make sure that Claire was okay. One of the ears above the Faunus' hairline was facing forward, while the other was pointed sideways, both of them giving an agitated twitch every couple of seconds. "Hey, what's wrong?"

After a long moment, brown eyes settled on her, and the older girl's expression relaxed. "Thought I caught a scent, again." It was the second time the other had reacted in such a way, but this was the first that Ruby had heard of a reason. "It's nothing to worry about, Rose. Likely something left over by those we're hunting, but I can't quite place my finger on.."

She watched as the side of Claire's bottom lip was bitten in a gesture of thought, but the wolfish features betrayed nothing else of what the girl was about to say before trailing off. Shrugging as the conversation was seemingly dropped, Ruby tilted her head as a question came to mind. "Why do you do that, call me by my last name? Everyone else just calls me 'Ruby'."

"Hm." The soft hum came the moment that the wolf-girl's gaze met her own, and the untamed bangs covering Claire's forehead tumbled to the side as the Faunus cocked her head in the opposite direction of Ruby's own. "I suppose it's just something I do. I call Weiss by her last name, too." Fixing a gloved hand on a hip, the taller of the two gave a shrug with a single shoulder. "Would you like me to stop?"

"Well, you don't have to. It's just.." Sighing softly as she turned away, Ruby took a few steps down the corridor before continuing. "People used to call my mom that. It's strange to hear it again, even stranger that it's towards me." She let out a quiet laugh, forcing a smile to her lips as she looked back at the Faunus, at the wary expression that now dominated the wolf-girl's features. "Like I should be looking around for her, then I realize that it's someone talking to me."

Before her boot could fall again in a step, Ruby was pulled around to face the other girl, a stammered question as to what was going on faltering when a strong hand touched against her shoulder. It slowly made it's way down to release her own hand from Crescent Rose's stock, gripping it in a soft embrace. "I'm sorry, Ruby." Even with the Faunus' husky voice, there was a clear conveyance of gentleness through the tone, and the way the wolfish ears laid flat against the brown-and-red streaked hair was something that she had never truly thought would describe the fierce leader of Team CAIN. It looked cute.

"It-It's okay, Claire. I don't really mind it." Squeezing softly against the hand she now held in her own, Ruby summoned up a broad grin as she looked up into the older girl's face. The Faunus failed to meet her gaze, and after a moment, she continued in a lower voice than before. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one who ever lost someone. I still had my dad, and Yang, you know?"

Her attempt at sympathy saw an instant tension finding it's way into the others body, in the way the muscles along the taller girl's arms seized up, but no further pressure found its way to the hand that held her's. "And I know I'm lucky to have them." Sliding her fingers away from the grasp that held them, Ruby took only a few more steps down the hallway before turning and staring at the wall. Breaking up the monotony of dull gray concrete was a large map, depicting the many corridors and rooms of the abandoned base in a color coordinated order. "Hey, check this out."

The call to the other girl seemed to shake Claire from the thoughts that had frozen the Faunus, and Ruby found herself dwarfed as the taller student leaned over her to get a better look at the map. "Look out." A hand guided her to the side, and the location she had stood was replaced with a scroll, one that clicked once to signal a picture had been taken. She watched quietly as the wolf-girl tapped the device a few times before raising it to her mouth. "Guys, we found a map in our section. Sending it to you now."

"Here's where we are." Ruby reached forward, tapped a finger against the left most corridor that ran the length of the base back into the mountain. "Which means we are heading toward that hall, and the tunnels that lead to the surface. Blake and Amber will be taking the opposite way, so we should meet up in the middle." Examining the maze of pathways closer, she tapped two fingers on the remaining hallways. "The rest of our teams are in this middle section. We can cut through these doors here if we need to."

"For now, we should keep moving towards that hall." Claire spoke softly now, the wolf-girl's voice having lost it's usual edge as Ruby stepped back to examine the other student. Brown eyes avoided her gaze, instead focusing on the path forward. "It might have some clue as to where the White Fang has gone."

Yang kept a reckless pace as she dashed from room to room, checking them as quickly as she could before moving on, eager to be done with this place. Behind her, Iris kept up with her, having no trouble and voicing no concerns as they moved toward the central chamber that the map had showed along their path, eager to get there before the other pair did. "Clear!"

"Clear!" Iris' reply caused her to grin as she pulled the door closed and ran down the hallway, using a hand on the wall to catapult herself around the turn with a wild laugh, sprinting the last stretch and slamming through a door at the end of the corridor. Ember Celica at the ready she danced on the balls of each foot as her eyes scanned the control center, finally settling to a more relaxed position once she saw that they were alone.

The room was smaller than the hanger bay, but housed over two dozen computers equipped with small built-in screens. Each of the four walls seemed to be dedicated to a different area of base defense. Directly in front of them was a large screen that housed an archaic radar system, a series of circles denoting distance while a bar swept the area in a never ending loop. The one behind them was lit with schematics for turrets and looked far more complicated than all the others, while the one on the left side looked to be a log of some sort, dated for a year nearly two centuries ago.

"And, clear." Turning back, she shrugged as her girlfriend entered the room, the indigo orbs of the fox-girl flitting through the room before finding her again. Iris offered a solitary wink before walking over to one of the workstations in front of the radar screen and sliding into a chair. Yang plodded over with a bored sigh and leaned down on the back of the chair the Faunus occupied, propping up her chin in one hand. "What'cha looking for?"

"Any sign of where they went after leaving here. There should be something, right?" Iris shrugged beneath her, the fox-girl's agile fingers flying over the keys of the touch interface, attempting to bring up the most recent data. After a few seconds, she succeeded, bringing up the display of a singular dot slowly approaching from the West. "Well, they were monitoring our arrival from the moment we hit Forever Fall, so that explains why they left. Ugh, hold on. I.. Think it's asking for a passcode."

"This tech is ancient. Wonder why they chose to set up here?" Yang looked away as the box appeared over the other girl's screen, moving over to the base defense screen, watching as it cycled through the sections of the base. The outlines of various rooms would turn from red to green and back to red again, as if the systems were continually trying to bring themselves online. Tilting her head as she stared at the display, she rose a finger to tap against the solid screen. As soon as the pad of the digit struck glass a second time, the entire screen went black, causing her to start and back up a step. "Whoa."

Turning around, she found that all the workstations and the displays on the walls had followed suit. The entire room had gone dark, leading to Iris swinging around in the chair to look at her. "I.. I didn't do it."

The Faunus stood up, looking past her shoulder with a confused expression. "Yang, I think that was me." Wheeling about, she saw what it was that Iris was looking at. The base defense display had come back online, only this time showed only a single box. Inside this window were six digits in groupings of two, each group separated by a colon. The numbers displayed within were beginning to wind down.

"Is that..?" The display of ten minutes was rapidly depleting, and that alone was enough for Yang to rip the scroll from her back pocket and open up the channel to her teammates. "Guys I think the self-destruct just activated!" It was hard to contain the fear from leaking into her voice as she watched the first fifteen seconds disappear as if time was actually speeding up to spite her. "We have nine and a half minutes."

"What?!" Weiss' voice came through the device in her hand, and Yang thought for a moment she could actually taste the disbelief that was conveyed through such a simple word. "Can you override it from where you are?!"

"I don't think so.." Iris was the one that nearly shouted into the scroll, the fox-girl's voice high-pitched and clearly shaking. "It requires a passcode!"

"Don't even try it, Vex." The noise of Claire's voice joined their conversation, holding a commanding tone. "There's nothing to be done, get to the Bullhead and get the hell out of here! Ruby and I are near one of the surface exits, we'll try to make it out through there."

Yang breathed in sharply at the mention of her sister, feeling the blood drain from her face as the edges of the scroll cut into the glove that covered her palm. "Blake here, me and Amber are going to try for the surface as well. You guys will need to pick us up!" Her partner's voice was clearly more calm than anyone else had been, and it had the effect of stilling her mind so that she could focus.

"Can we make it?"

Iris' question was one she hesitated to answer herself, intentionally not looking at the clock as she tore open the door that led down the tunnels Weiss and Nyx would have been coming down. Pausing only for a brief second to extend her hand and offer to pull the Faunus out of the room, Yang gulped down her fear and replaced it with a steady resolve. "Run. We'll make it."

Author's Note: Sorry to cut this off on a cliffhanger, but.. Well, I'm mean like that. Honestly this chapter is just turning out more huge than I had planned and I'm cutting it in half, which I may have to do again. But! We are nearing the end of Volume One, so there is that. Thank you to the lovely reviewers, your kind words meant the world to me this last week and a half(I did end up quitting my job, which was actually a good thing)! Thank you to all who followed or favorited, you guys are pretty dang awesome, too! Please feel free to drop a review with your thoughts, predictions, or concerns. I am happy to hear from you! 'Til next time! -Fox