"Do you know exactly where the safe zone is?"
"Apparently it's right next to the docks, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding it" replied Yang as she impressively managed to pull the engine to life with only one hand. They set off with Winter at the controls as she had been while in the Atlas Cruiser.
"I assume it is the area with all of the lights on" she said to Yang.
"Must be" she replied "but I'm not really quite sure why you guys wanna go there. I already told you that Ruby ran off to Mistral and Blake is... who knows where." She finished the last words with a subtle, yet obvious note of anger in her voice. Winter gave Weiss a confused look, but Weiss knew exactly how Yang felt so she decided to ignore her tone and simply answer her point.
"We know we won't find the rest of our team there, but we may find a clue about where they are. Pretty much everyone in Vale is there, right? Someone must have heard something about our teammates. Plus, it'll be nice to see some of our other classmates and teachers again." She gave Yang a reassuring smile. After finding Yang so easily and her not wanting to kill her for going home with her dad, she was feeling quite pleased so far, especially considering she thought she would probably die trying to leave Atlas. Her recent success made her excited rather than ashamed to see her former classmates and teachers again
Yang, on the other hand, was not so confident. She was not even sure she wanted to be on this journey with Weiss. She was happy to see her, but she was still quite frightened to have to face the world without her arm. She had no desire to see Blake at all and she only went with Weiss because she felt guilty over not protecting her sister and also secretly hoped that such a well-connected family could help her get a new arm.
As they approached the dock, Winter decided to take more charge and brief her two companions on what they ought to do.
"From what I know, the stronghold is quite cramped and being guarded heavily by what remains of Vale's police, military, huntsmen, and students from Beacon. I believe that Glynda Goodwitch is in charge."
"Yeah, my dad said that Glynda was the leader as well. He said she's really had to rely on the students to help guard the borders" added Yang.
"Indeed" replied Winter. "While we can hope that students or teachers who know you are guarding the docks at this time, we must assume that it will be police or military in that position which means that we must be extremely cautious and calm. If they attempt to take us prisoner, do not protest. We must be diplomatic in this situation."
As she finished, Weiss and Yang noticed that she had slowed the speed of the boat and moved in to dock. Before they could get out and tie the boat up, a spotlight was on them and a loud, angry voice shouted "Stop right there! Identify yourselves or we open fire immediately."
Quite a few footsteps were heard and several heavily armed soldiers were soon standing on the dock, pointing their gun barrels at the three girls still in the puny boat. As pathetic as they looked, they knew that they could easily dispatch all the soldiers in short order, but they remained calm and did not speak until addressed.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Asked the closest soldier angrily
"We're here to look for the other members of my team" piped up Weiss before Winter could answer for her.
"What team?" Replied the soldier with a note of confusion added to his anger
"Team RWBY, of course! I am Weiss Schnee. This is my teammate Yang Xiao Long and my sister Winter, an Atlas Specialist."
The soldier's look of comprehension was unmistakable even with the low light of the docks. He didn't speak for several moments. Instead, he peered closer at the girls in a rather uncomfortable way, looking at Weiss and then looking even more intently at Yang. The other soldiers had heard the names as well and immediately lowered their weapons, also looking into the boat the way many people looked at Pyrrha.
"Right" said a second soldier, finding himself before the others did. "We do know who you are. We… um… apologize for pointing our guns at you. We just can't be too careful."
"That's quite alright" said Winter calmly "We did not mean to cause trouble. We just wanted to find the rest of my sister's team and I was unable to land my ship on the mainland."
"Was that you?" asked the first soldier. "We were confused because we weren't expecting any Atlas aid this week."
"We were just hoping they might be here or perhaps someone may know where the rest of my team is" interrupted Weiss impatiently. "Their names are Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna."
"Yeah I don't think either of them are here and we would definitely know if they were. We all know who the members of Team RWBY are" said yet another soldier, looking at Yang closely again.
Yang was feeling quite uncomfortable at this point and even Weiss and Winter were beginning to wonder what was going on. A fourth soldier seemed to notice as well and spoke up.
"We can take you to see Professor Goodwitch. She and the other professors may be able to help you."
"We would appreciate that very much, thank you" replied Winter
The soldiers put down their weapons and reached out to help the Schnee sisters and Yang onto the dock.
"Azure and I will take you" said the first soldier, nodding toward the fourth one who spoke.
After picking up their weapons, the two soldiers beckoned for the girls to follow them and lead them away from the docks and toward the safe zone of Vale.
Everyone remained silent as they walked. Winter, Weiss, and Blake were rather shocked at how empty the place seemed. It felt quite eary to them. As if noticing this, the first soldier finally spoke up again as they turned down toward the dust store that hid the headquarters.
"We are on full lockdown tonight" he told the girls. "You may not be able to speak with Professor Goodwitch immediately, but I am sure she will want to speak with you as soon as she is able."
"What's going on tonight?" Asked Weiss quickly.
"We're not actually sure" said the other guard failing to hide the disappointment in his voice. "We were off duty sleeping when we got the call to go guard the docks. All we were told was that all soldiers and police were to be on immediate guard duty because all the teachers, huntsmen, and students would be on high alert and on a code 5 mission."
"Code 5 is the highest priority, so we don't question it" said the first soldier clearly trying to sound important.
"Right" replied Azure "and of course they only tell students and huntsmen what's actually going on with those missions. I'm sure you can ask them, though." He pointed at the two people guarding the entrance to a dust shop before stopping in their tracks.
"We need to get back to our post. We really shouldn't have left the others in the first place."
The two guards turned quickly around and hurried back toward the docks.
"That was weird" said Weiss.
"You don't need to tell me" added Yang, holding her stump consciously with her left arm. "I didn't need them staring at me like that."
"Let's just get inside" said Weiss, nodding in agreement as they all walked closer to the guards in front of the door. "These guys better let us in. I hope they aren't as weird as- oh GREAT!"
Weiss and her companions had gotten close enough to recognize Cardin Winchester and his teammate Dove standing guard in front of the entrance that they were supposed to go through.
"Well if it isn't the rest of Team RWBY. Well, almost" began the man with the mace.
"Spare us, you ignorant meathead" answered Weiss with deep anger in her voice. "You're the second to last person in the world that I want to talk to right now, and I just risked my sister's and my lives, stole a ship, and attacked my own country's military several hours ago to get away from number 1on that list so you really don't want to know what I will do to you if you don't let us into Glynda's office or whatever the hell this dust shop is right this second."
"Wait, what did he mean by 'the rest?'" Put forth Winter.
"Well, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was going to say that I was surprised to see these two considering that the other one didn't mention them at all."
"Which other one?!" Demanded Yang. She was unsure whether to be excited or distrustful over this information, but she was curious nonetheless.
"The black-haired one, Blake. She's the reason Glynda's not hear right now. She came in here a few hours ago, apparently with some plan to capture the psychopath who caused all this mess."
"What?!" Yelled Weiss and Yang together.
"Where is she now?" Inquired winter, maintaining her composure
Cardin shrugged and swung his mace onto his shoulder. "Out with Team CFVY getting that Cinder person. Everyone else is hear preparing to fight anyone who tries to stop us taking her in. I'd ask you for help, but it looks like you wouldn't be able to do much anyway."
Weiss gasped and looked back at Yang, expecting her to fly at Cardin in a rage or fire back a witty retort. Instead, her teammate just hung her head and said nothing.
"Listen" said Winter to Cardin, trying to remedy the situation. "We believe we can be of assistance. Tell me, is Professor Goodwitch nearby? We will ask her what she would like us to do."
"She's out in front. Go back the way you came, take a right, then your second left, third right, and then another right at the very end of that street and you should find her at the front gate. But don't tell her I told you. You're all more of a liability than help anyway."
Without another word, Winter and Weiss turned around and swiftly began walking with the former grabbing the still stationary Yang as they went. She practically had to drag her along as they hustled down the route Cardin had given them. Weiss was very concerned. Yang had never acted like this before. She could barely move, was not speaking, and tears were streaming down her face. Weiss reflected on the fact that Yang could hardly have picked a less opportune time to have her break down.
Under normal circumstances, she would have gladly taken the time to comfort her and figure out exactly what was wrong, but with the new information they had just received, there was no time for this. As she walked down the last empty street before the entrance, she realized that perhaps it was this news that had Yang so upset and not just Cardin's crass comment. She slowed her pace to a stop, realizing she had no choice but to get to the bottom of this now.
"Wait!" She called out to Winter who was still half dragging Yang behind her.
"What could you possibly need, Weiss?" Asked Winter as she halted.
"Yang, what's wrong?" She asked with as much care in her voice as she could muster. Winter glared at her from behind Yang, but Weiss continued anyway. "I know those guards were staring at you and Cardin was a jerk as usual, but you can't let any of that bother you" she said this knowing that this was not really what was bothering her, hoping it would help reveal the real issue.
Yang looked up as if to give an answer, but the moment she looked forward, her eyes flashed wide open and she turn around and ran back the way they came. Even more shocked, Weiss turned to see what had frightened Yang so much. Walking toward her, along with Glynda, Team CFVY, and an unconscious, dark haired woman was Blake Belladona.