Chapter 13: Breaking and Entering
Author's Note:
I said I'd be going on a hiatus until partway through May, but I have time for one more. I really will be taking time off to focus on school now, though. It's a good time as any, too, since I really need to pause and take time to improve my writing skills. Looking back on what I've written so far, I can't say I'm too proud of the pacing and I feel some parts are just...missing something, I guess. I'm not too sure. I've got this great story all planned out, but I'm having trouble telling it properly...if that makes any sense.
I've been trying to get some inspirations from other great RWBY fics like Michael7123's 'When Allied Together' and FourNails1341's 'Long Road Home'. I'd say check them out if you haven't already, they're both post-Volume 3 stories with excellent writing and faithful characterization. They're filled with intriguing ideas that I could honestly see being tackled in the canon series.
Anyway, thanks for understanding, and enjoy!
I'm sure there's ways things could have gone worse, Summer thought. …Nope, I can't think of anything.
The four of them were cornered by two gigantic, armoured Ursa Grimm who could turn invisible, one of them was holding a Faunus merchant hostage, ready to kill him at any moment, and their enemy was standing in front of them, gloating at their predicament. It didn't get much worse than that.
"Ooooo-kay, guys," Tai muttered nervously. "Let's just hold out and the professor'll come and help us-"
R shook their head. "That won't be happening, sadly. The Grimm I dispatched should keep her busy long enough for me to…take care of you four."
Tai winced. "Urk…dammit…"
"Yes, it seems you've really backed yourselves into a corner this time," R said mockingly. "Unlike our last meeting, I'm afraid I won't be so lenient."
Qrow gritted his teeth. "You sure have a way with pissing me off, you know." He prepared to draw his sword.
"Are you certain that will be the best course of action?" R asked. "Have you forgotten about my little advantage?" Beside him, the giant Grimm tightened its grip on the merchant's head. The Faunus whimpered in terror.
"Bastard…" Qrow muttered in frustration.
Summer stared at the scene before her in disbelief. "The Grimm you 'dispatched'?" she yelled. "Are these Grimm…obeying you?!"
"Of course!" R laughed. "It's a skill that comes in handy in quite a few situations…like this!" They snapped their fingers, and suddenly multiple growls could be heard from close by. Summer and company looked to their left, and saw around twenty Grimm leaping over the edge of a nearby building. Within seconds, they were completely surrounded.
"Oh, now this is just ridiculous!" Qrow growled in frustration as the Grimm slowly approached them.
"So, uh…got any ideas?" Tai whispered (rather loudly).
"Well, even if we did, if we say them out loud, he'll hear us!" Qrow hissed.
"Yeah, but we need to think of something!" Tai replied, agitated. "We can't attack him when he's got a hostage…"
Raven drew her katana. "Not necessarily."
"What?" Tai stared at her.
"Even with these numbers of Grimm, the four of us can take them down without much trouble. Then we flee from the two giant Grimm and their master as fast as possible. We can even escape through a portal, provided I have an opportunity to activate one."
Tai gulped. "O-okay, sounds alright…but what about the hostage?"
"What about him?"
"Eh?" Tai and Summer were both taken aback.
"At this rate, it will be his life against ours. And if we fall, he'll likely be killed anyway. Personally, I'm not fond of those odds. If we need to sacrifice a single person to save all of us, so be it."
In front of them, the merchant continued to struggle fruitlessly against his captor's grip.
"What?" Summer yelled. "We can't do that! Th-that's not how Huntresses do things! We're supposed to protect the w-"
Raven turned to look at her. Her eyes were hard and stern. "Summer…you may have a kind heart, but you never grew up fearing for your life every day. And you haven't seen enough of the world to know that good people-yes, even Huntsmen-can act cruelly. If you're displeased with how I do things, I can take all responsibility for-"
"Th-that's not the issue here!" Summer snapped. She'd always felt that Raven was a little distant but she'd never seen her so…cold.
"Hate to say it, but she's right," Qrow mumbled, looking conflicted. "It might be our best option."
"Qrow!"
R laughed. "What, fighting amongst yourselves, now? I thought not being eaten was your immediate priority."
Sure enough, the Grimm were getting ever closer to them. Team STRQ slowly backed up against each other. Raven was preparing to shoot at the giant Grimm-hostage and all.
"Rae, you can't…!" Tai pleaded.
Summer was silent. She glanced at the giant Grimm as he held the merchant hostage.
The creature's paw, like the rest of it, was abnormally big. It was also noticeably less armoured than the rest of its body. There were small chinks barely large enough for an arrow to fit through.
If I shoot its paw…it might release the hostage in its pain, she deduced. And then, we can get Raven to teleport him to safety. Then we can fight freely!
But her plan was far from perfect. If she missed, the hostage was dead. No question. And the area where she could hit the giant without her arrow bouncing off harmlessly was rather low. But if she readied her bow in the direction of the giant's paw in order to steady her aim, R would notice. And there was no telling what they'd do.
In other words, she'd have to hit a tiny target without properly aiming. And the punishment for failure was the death of an innocent person.
I can't do this…it's too big a risk…I'll just mess it up, she thought despairingly. Yet deep inside her, she felt a strange sensation. Determination and adrenaline were pumping through her body. The sensation felt tangible-sentient, even. Yes, you can do this, it seemed to be whispering. You were destined to do great things. This is nothing to you.
…Alright. I'll give it my best shot! Swallowing her terror, Summer took a deep breath and reached for her bow.
"Summer, no!" Tai yelled.
"Oh?" R chuckled. "It seems your comrade's words have reached you. She's not wrong, after all."
"…" Summer ignored them. Without aiming, she stared intently at the giant Grimm. She analyzed the layout of the creature's paw, determining what spot would be the best to aim for. The process came surprisingly naturally to her. …Okay. I'll shoot…there. She looked up and stared the Grimm square in the eyes. For a second, she could have sworn the beast took a small step backward, its revolting, inhuman eyes twisting into an emotion resembling…fear.
"Summer, please don't do this!" Tai was pleading.
"…" Qrow said nothing, but stared at his partner thoughtfully, as if he could tell what she was planning.
Okay. Here goes nothing. Without warning, Summer swiftly aimed her bow and fired it at the beast's paw.
The arrow hit its mark perfectly. The Grimm howled in pain, and released its hostage. The Faunus merchant collapsed to the ground, antlers first.
"Raven, now! Get him to safety!" Summer yelled. "Qrow, Tai, fire at will!"
Raven nodded, and promptly summoned a portal with her katana. "Get in! Now!" Nodding, the merchant walked in.
"Eat this, you bastards!" Qrow changed his sword into its gun form and fired several heavy bullets into the horde of Grimm. Tai turned around and began pummeling his enemies into powder, activating his Semblance for some extra strength.
"Tch! Well, well, not half bad," R said, holding their hand out, generating a golden glow of energy-Aura. "The trial has concluded. Now comes the execution."
"Looks like it's time to get the hell out!" Qrow yelled. "Run, run, RUN!"
There was no need for him to say it. Summer turned and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Whenever a Grimm got in her way, she promptly shot it down with an arrow.
"There's nowhere to run." Out of nowhere, R materialized in front of the four Huntsmen and flung a small gold crystal at them. Upon hitting the ground, the crystal exploded in a burst of pure Aura, sending everyone flying.
"Ugh!" Summer hit the ground. That was an Aura Capsule! Like Harriet, the masked figure could use this high-level Aura technique. And it seemed like they had the ability to teleport! So much for running. We won't get out of this without a fight!
Without wasting a second, Raven picked herself up and threw herself at the masked figure, launching a flurry of sword strikes. R blocked them all with the Aura resonating from their hands.
Tai joined the fray. "Hrahh!" he shouted, throwing several powerful punches at his foe.
Meanwhile, Summer and Qrow were occupying themselves with the two giant Grimm. One of them ran towards Summer with surprising strength, and she barely dodged in time.
"Well, you took care of that pretty well!" Qrow called to her. "Can't fault you for your guts, at least!"
"Ha! It was a piece of cake!" Summer replied, lying through her teeth. "Turns out you can solve problems without hurting bystanders-who knew?"
"Hey, that wasn't my idea, it was Sis'!"
"Well, we could use some ideas now!" she yelled at Qrow. "How should we take down these Grimm?"
"Break its armor!" her partner yelled back. "Heavy attacks like explosive arrows and my blade should weaken it!"
"Got it!" She prepped her quiver with Ice-Dust arrows and fired at the Grimm. The impact brought forth bursts of freezing energy that encased the beast's armoured belly in ice. The Grimm growled angrily, its movements greatly slowed by the extra weight. "Smash him up!" Summer called to Qrow.
"Heheh! Good thinking…for a girl." Grinning, Qrow transformed his sword into its cannon form and began firing rounds into the beast's frozen armor, shattering it into pieces. "Watch out for the other one!"
Sure enough, the other Grimm was charging at them now. Feeling more confident than ever, she shot another Ice arrow, freezing the ground in front of her. The creature howled as it stumbled on the ice and fell over on its side. Before it could recover, Summer launched several arrows directly into a small chink on the Grimm's side. With a loud growl, the beast's body shuddered and dissolved. Beside her, Qrow swiftly impaled the second giant with his enormous scythe.
The remaining hordes of Grimm were beginning to retreat. "We did it!" Summer whooped.
"Not yet," Qrow grumbled. "We still gotta deal with-"He turned around, and his eyes widened. "Oh shit! Sis! Blondie!"
"Huh?" Summer turned, and sure enough, Raven and Tai were both lying on the ground, defeated. R stood above them triumphantly. He took out Raven, too? Without hesitation, she fired an explosive arrow straight at the masked man's face.
"Too slow." R raised his hand and caught the arrow in mid-air. It was so fast Summer hadn't even seen it. No way. In that split second, they'd even managed to apply just the perfect amount of pressure on the projectile to prevent it from exploding on impact. Just…what is this guy?!
The masked man threw the arrow back with just as much speed as if it had been fired from a bow. The explosive projectile flew straight towards Summer. Oh crap!
"Hey! Watch out!" Qrow yelled, jumping in front of her, his sword raised in a defensive stance. Summer braced herself for impact.
Suddenly, she felt someone's hand grabbing her from behind. Before she could react, she felt herself flying several feet away as the arrow exploded harmlessly where she had stood seconds ago. Her rescuer released her and stood to confront R.
"Ughh…" Summer moaned as she regained her balance. Beside her, Qrow was also safe and getting back on his feet.
"Stand back," said Professor Goodwitch calmly. "You've all done quite enough."
Relief filled Summer's heart. They were saved.
R assumed a strange battle stance. "Hmmm, an enemy I'll have to fight seriously? I didn't expect to see that today." They began to glow with a strange power, something that felt similar to Aura, yet unmistakeably different.
Wordlessly, Glynda swung her wand, generating violet beams of Dust energy. The projectiles flew at R from all directions. R quickly dodged out of the way, but even with their speed they had difficulty avoiding all of them.
"Hrahh!" Extending their palm forward, they fired a ball of sinister-looking dark matter. Glynda summoned a large purple barrier using her wand, blocking the impact. Even so, the energy ball's explosion generated an enormous wave of sound, caused cracks in the ground beneath it, and knocked Summer and Qrow off their feet.
Without so much as a pause, Glynda and R continued their duel. Energy beams and explosions flew and rang out everywhere. It was a truly epic spectacle of power, but Summer wasn't inclined to stay and enjoy it.
"We need to go!" she yelled to her partner. "Let's get back to our shelter!"
"Don't need to tell me that!" Qrow muttered through clenched teeth.
The two of them ran around the ensuing chaos, picked up the unconscious Raven and Tai, and made their way back to base as fast as possible.
With her students out of the way, Glynda could fight at full strength. Using her Semblance, she lifted large chunks of rubble from the ruins with her wand.
"Hmph," R muttered. "It looks like Ozpin has taught you well, professor."
Glynda did not respond. She swung her wand, and her projectiles flew at the masked man, who surrounded himself with a shield of the dark energy. The rocks bounced harmlessly off of it. Immediately afterward, the shield dispersed, and the energy manifested itself as four large black portals. Hundreds of energy spears came flying out of them.
"Tch!" Glynda summoned her shield once more, attempting to block all the projectiles. However, they began to take a great toll on her. She'd barely deflected the last spear when her shield shattered into pieces and dissipated. She stood there, gasping for breath.
"Are you finally out of energy?" the masked man inquired mockingly.
Glynda did not answer, but rather said: "Those techniques of yours…no school in all of Remnant could have taught you those. That, and how easily you control that forbidden energy…I'd thought you were nothing more than a low-class criminal, but it seems Ozpin was correct about you-and who you serve…"
"Hah, it's good to see some appreciation for my hard-earned skills," R chuckled. "Of course, if I was really trying, you'd already be dead, professor."
Glynda narrowed her eyes. "Why did you come to these ruins? Ozpin and I decided to personally investigate once we suspected your syndicate of acting in Pandora Village, but I still can't understand what your purpose here was!"
R shrugged. "Oh, please don't make me out to be some diabolical mastermind. It's not that complicated. Really, I'm just bait."
"…Bait?" Glynda was confused. "But for wh…."
Suddenly, a wave of horror hit her, nearly knocking her over. "No," she gasped. "You can't mean…"
"And at last, realization dawns," R laughed. "It was a hassle causing enough havoc around Remnant to have all competent Huntsmen forced out of the Kingdom, but it looks like it was worth it."
"Impossible…" Glynda whispered. "No one should have known about that…"
"Well, if you don't believe me, why don't you go back and see for yourself?" R asked smugly. "Provided, of course, you are not already too late." With that, they disappeared into thin air.
Glynda was left standing there, fear and panic overwhelming her.
Forgive me, Ozpin. We've made a grave mistake.
Summer and the team waited in the building anxiously. Upon returning, they'd discovered the merchant there and had quickly escorted him out of the area before heading back. Raven and Tai had woken up soon after.
"Dammit…" Tai grumbled. "Can't believe I was taken out so easily…"
"Now you know how it feels," Qrow sighed. "Three times and I still haven't gotten him back. So much for third time's the charm-not that I ever believed in that crap, anyway."
Raven was totally silent, but anger was clearly visible in her eyes. Defeat wasn't something she was used to.
Summer was silently pondering what had just happened. They'd found their mystery Grimm, all right-the gigantic armoured Ursas who could turn invisible. That was certainly a terrifying thought.
If that wasn't bad enough, the masked figure could control Grimm. Summer had always been taught that reasoning with Grimm in any form was impossible. And then R had taken down Tai and even Raven with little effort. She was beginning to see just how dangerous their enemy actually was.
And then there was that sensation she'd felt as she'd prepared to shoot the giant Grimm's paw. A strange feeling of adrenaline that was completely unlike her. It had compelled her to take that extremely risky shot, but she wasn't sure that was a good thing. After all, what if she had missed and ended up causing the hostage's death?
Suddenly the door burst open, interrupting her thoughts and Professor Goodwitch ran in. Her face was uncharacteristically agitated.
"We need to return to Beacon!" she yelled. "At once!"
The elevator doors opened, and the young guard walked out onto the floor of the Cross-Continental Transit Building at Beacon Tower. It was a majestic structure that towered above the entire Kingdom. It kept the network connections between the four Kingdoms online, and it also contained an enormous vault were valuable items were stored.
Adjusting his cap nervously, the guard walked over to his superior, a balding old man, who was leaning against the wall, enjoying a smoke.
"Sir…?" The guard asked.
"Huh? What is it?"
"Well…" The guard pulled out a business card from his pocket. "There's a strange man on the ground floor who wants to withdraw something."
"Okay..." his superior muttered. "Then why didn't you just guide him there?"
"That's the thing, sir. He, um…wanted access to Vault 57."
His superior's eyes widened. "What? Vault 57...? Who is this guy?"
The guard handed him the card. It read, White Fang Treaty Oversight Committee-Representative. "The guy looked really scary. I, uh, don't think he's going to take no for an answer."
"Well, he'll have to," his superior grumbled. "No customers allowed in there-period. Especially not some Faunus scum. Boss' orders."
"Err, what's actually in it?" the guard inquired.
"I don't know myself. None of us do. Apparently it's been locked since this place was first built. The headmaster at the Academy, he deposited it and asked that no one ever go in." He took another cigarette. "Or that's how the story goes. I could go in if I wanted, but I know better than to disobey orders-especially from Ozpin himself."
The guard raised his eyebrows. "You…have the key to Vault 57, sir?"
"Hrmm? Of course I do! The highest-ranked employees like myself have all the keys, because we can be trusted with them!" His superior glared at him. "Why do you even care?"
"No reason," said the guard, and shot him.
The silencer on the pistol masked the gunshot. The old man fell against the wall and slowly slid to ground wordlessly, as blood trickled from the wound on his forehead.
Pulling off the cap, Simon twitched his cat ears, trying to sense if anyone was approaching. It seemed no one had heard the shot.
"Well, that was easy," he muttered, smiling. R had really thought this whole thing through. First they'd had Buck run himself ragged around the Kingdoms, stirring up as much trouble as possible. Right now he was supposed to be holding some children hostage at the local hospital. Vale was already in chaos with all their previous attacks, but now law enforcement had fallen into complete and utter panic. Then, R themselves had baited Professor Goodwitch into leaving the Academy to investigate something. It was hilarious how easily she and Ozpin had fallen for it. And at this time of year, most students were out doing their assignments. All noticeable threats to the plan were out of the way.
Simon pulled out his scroll and texted Buck and R to tell them he'd infiltrated the Tower. Taking a deep breath, he took the key he needed from the old man's corpse. Everything was set for the mission.
His target was the contents of Vault 57...an artifact that had been stored away long ago for the safety of the citizens of Remnant. A crystal containing unfathomable destructive power, a small fraction of which had once destroyed an entire village.
It was known as the Promethian Ore.