Falling Cinders, Chapter 21: A Fly in the Sky

The night before, the small apartment had heard a slamming fist on the door. Nora, asleep as she was, was woken by the sound, and sat up in their bed, rubbing her eye. She could see the shadow of her lover standing before her, as Ren stalked over from the window he'd been watching through... Unexpected. His guard was immediately raised, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly standing on end, that tingling anticipation of fear brushing along his spine.

"Mm... Ren? What is it?" Nora asked, and as he glanced at her in the darkness, the slanted light spilling through the blinds catching his eyes, glinting off of their surface as they softened upon looking back at the red-headed girl on his bed, so lovely as she was in her night gown, those gentle curves...

"Stay here," he said simply, always a man of little words, and he left the room. Drawing the bladed pistol at his hip, he stepped to the doorway, listening. The heavy knock sounded again, and a small noise of frustration, from... A female. Strange, he hadn't seen a single female Atlas soldier throughout his entire time of observation. He had been standing guard tonight, he always went to bed slightly later than Nora, determined as he had been from childhood to keep her safe. He waited only for a moment longer, catching another feminine noise of desperate thinking, before he suddenly ripped the door open, startling the rabbit-eared faunas on the other side as he put the pistol right to her head.

But, as quick with his reaction time as he was on his feet, or with his mind, he pulled it back, and pointed it toward the roof. It was Velvet. She looked terrified, no thanks to him he was sure. He inclined his head and she wasted no time, rushing in as he closed the door and locked it, first by the knob, then the slider, then the deadbolt... If she was here, this was not a good thing, and extra caution in case she was followed was highly required. He holstered his weapon again, as she jogged barefoot over to his couch, flopping on it in exhaustion. What exactly was she doing here...? How had she found them? Ren and Nora were rather private people away from work and they hadn't exactly been hanging out with friends, all things considered. Velvet, though, he knew, had quite a lot of skill. Her red dress suited her, she'd probably been singing again to entertain the damned Atlas soldiers, in order to keep herself alive. Ren, as cultured as he was, knew for a fact that she had a wonderful singing voice. He looked to his bedroom, and then back to Velvet.

"Nora...?" she questioned softly, and he tilted his head in the direction of the sleeping Huntress. He didn't want to wake her unless he had to... Sleep, to him, was completely sacred, a thing to never be interrupted save for the most dire circumstances... And Nora's sleep was absolutely priceless to him, especially since she was terrible at everything when tired, and he'd ate more than one sucker punch in her cranky attitudes. Velvet, however, seemed to accept his little gesture as fact, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked about the place, never having been in here before. Nora and Ren viewed this as their sanctuary, nobody had ever been invited inside before, and few people even knew it was here, many assumed they lived in the outskirts of the city, not the deep center in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, considering Lie Ren was rather well-off after his parent's death. But the Lie family, ever clever, knew how to conserve their resources... That was, at least, until they all perished, except for him.

She caught sight of the stack of canned food on the corner of the kitchen counter.

"Oh, Ren..." she said softly, lamenting for them. She knew they must've been confined here for quite some time, centered as they were in the middle of the entire operation. The man shuffled over to the door of the bedroom, and slowly closed it, quietly turning the knob before he did so, to avoid the click of the latch, though he spared one last glance inside at his sleeping beauty before he shut it and turned away. Flicking on a light, he moved over and sat down next to his friend, elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"Ren..." Velvet extended a hand and rested it on his shoulder. He'd sleep soon enough, her concern was unneeded, and as he looked toward her, she gasped. The bags under his eyes... She'd never quite seen him like this before. But Velvet's Semblance was strong, and with it's nature, she could tell...

"Ren, no... You've been using your Semblance this entire time, haven't you?" she questioned, and he grunted, rolling his shoulder to dislodge her hand. His well being was nothing when compared to Nora's. She shook her head. His eyes dropped, noticing her lack of shoes, and he immediately tensed.

"Velvet?" came the quiet man's questioning tone, and she tilted her head, her bunny ears moving with it, drooping slightly to the side.

"Where are your shoes?" he asked, his tone suddenly sullen, dark, and serious. She blinked.

"I can't run in heels," she stated, and looked back toward the door, "I left them outside on the sidewalk, I suppose..."

His eyes suddenly deepened, she could see the muscles in the back of them straining to keep him from letting them fly wide open in a bad temper.

"FUCK," he said heavily, the word resounded so much through her that she inhaled loudly. She'd never once heard Ren swear in their entire time together, and she touched her lips, while the man reached over to grip the arm of the couch so hard his fingers created dents deep enough to remain when he let go and stood. He began pacing back and forth, wringing one hand into his own hair, practically pulling at it.

"...What? What did I do?" she questioned, surprised, and he turned, angrier than he'd ever before seen her, as he placed a heavy hand on the couch and leaned over her, glaring daggers straight into her face. She shied away, suddenly more afraid of him than Atlas.

"You led them to us," he said slowly, clearly, and much in the tone she was used from Ren, save it was dripping with acid and really worrying her.

"I-I didn't mean, I mean, it was a block back..."

"You don't think they won't realize that? These... animals... They aren't a joke, Velvet," he said, and returned to pacing, starting to cool off again back to his collected nature. He rubbed a hand over his face as he stalked back and forth, his head running through the scenario. He had to keep Nora safe. Nothing could touch his precious gem... Now he had to think of a solution to this problem, however he supposed it was in his nature to be happier that Velvet was safe, and that they had time, than to get angry at the situation once more.

"Okay... We'll be fine... We'll leave soon, yes. We'll have to leave." While it was entirely possible that Atlas could miss them after the search, he was absolutely sure she wouldn't have come here unless she was in danger... What had she done? He stopped, crossing his arms, lifting one hand to his chin.

"What did you do?" he asked, as serious as possible, and she blinked.

"N-Not me, Ren... I would never..." she breathed, and frowned, "It was Coco... She..." Her eyes began to water. She had to tell Ren the truth, which had suddenly flooded back to her mind now that her fearful state had faded.

"She saw Jaune," Velvet stated as bluntly as she could, and Ren's eyes actually did fly wide open at the admission. Jaune? Now that was interesting news, indeed. But as he watched the faunas suddenly begin to struggle with emotion, her face slowly wound up, forming what could only be the precursor to a very, very heavy flow of tears. Indeed, she scrunched up more than he thought could possibly be comfortable until a heavy sob came, and the ones that followed it peppered out of her like the steady beat of a drum. It wasn't long before she was a mucus-covered mess on his couch, nose leaking, impossible to stop, sobs causing spit to fly out of her mouth. Whatever the news was... It was bad.

"Is he... Velvet, is he dead?" she questioned, and when she slowly shook his head, his heart dropped into his stomach. No...

"He-he's he's..." she tried, unable to control herself as she vigorously wiped at her face.

"HE'S ATLAS!" she cried, and broke down once more, flinging herself to bury her face in their soft couch, the only thing that could give her comfort.

Ren was beside himself. He didn't know what to feel. Slowly, he started grinding his teeth, and then began to pace once more, clenching and unclenching his fist. He growled to himself once, and then turned toward Velvet, raising his finger, opening his mouth...

"Nn... Ren... What's going on?" came the soft voice, and he looked over, his face contorted with his ire, as his head practically creaked to the side. There in the doorway was a sleepy Nora, leaning with hip cocked against the door frame, hand raised along its rail, rubbing the tired from her eyes. She saw him, and her face grew concerned, as she moved over.

It was just like Nora to completely ignore the fact that a faunas was sobbing on their couch. She moved right up to him, and slid her hand along his arm, lowering it for him, as her other fingers touched his cheek softly. He had been holding his breath, and he let it out, panting with his seething rage. But her touch was calming, and as she stepped onto her toes to place a gentle kiss to his lips, he closed his eyes shut tight, and reminded himself that she was all that truly mattered. When she pulled away, her hands found his, and held them.

"Now, Ren, you'll tell me... Slowly, go."

He breathed in and out, slowly, twice, in order to control himself. Nora was not going to like this. Not at all.

"Jaune joined Atlas," he stated in his usual blunt manner, and now it was her turn. Her eyes slammed open so fast he was sure her skull would crack, and she leaned up against him with her forearms, gripping the collar of his shirt as she shook him.

"WHAT?!" she screamed, and his hand sped quickly to cover her mouth as the string of shouting curses poured from her. It was a good thing he knew her, because any more loud noises and they were sure to compromise their location to the troops that were likely outside. She stomped her foot, and as the thump echoed through the room, he was quick to trip her with his own foot, and startled as she was as she fell, he caught her, holding her up in his arms. The surprise eased her out of her own anger, and he turned, holding her like a bride as she clung around his neck, so they could both look to Velvet, who was finally collecting herself, sitting back up on the couch. She was breathing irregularly still, but she managed.

"I-It's true... I was... I was singing for Coco, at the lounge bar... Three soldiers came in. One of them was Jaune... Velvet tried to kill him on the spot, she was kind of drunk, but she only managed to kill his two guards, because of that shield..."

That shield, Ren knew the one. It was forged from Phyrra's armor, there was no way a simple bullet was getting through that, even many bullets, as much as Coco liked to put holes in things, she lacked accuracy and hitting the same mark that many times was impossible for her.

"You have got to be kidding me," Nora spat, her face still contorted in her anger. She was always so adorable when she was angry, Ren thought, even if he did hate letting her feel that way. Nora didn't seem to want down, or anything, because she usually wiggled like a cat when she did, so he clutched her close to himself, his face leaning near her own as she looked back up to him with those beautiful, glittering eyes. She looked worried, and he pressed his forehead to hers.

"Jaune, Ren..." she whispered, and he sighed.

"I know, Nora." She was touching his face again, her other hand on his shoulder, and for a moment Velvet took some small comfort in witnessing their obvious love. She had been happy when they'd finally closed the gap to each other's hearts, really, it had been way too long coming. But as that moment faded, and she became just as worried as they obviously were, she put herself in their shoes, as she was so good at doing, knowing they must truly be devestated. They had each other, however, and they seemed to draw their comfort there in.

"We'll leave later tomorrow. We have to find the others. What happened to Coco?"

"She fled the response team, she fled from Jaune. You can't fire off a thousand rounds a minute and expect nobody to notice," she said, and touched her own lips again. This situation was impossible. She hated every moment of it... She'd already had to kill to keep herself safe... She remembered that alleyway, all those dead soldiers, as disgusted as she was and then...

"OH!" she shouted, perking up in her seat, practically bouncing up and down on the cushion for a moment. Her sudden outburst had both of them looking her way, and Ren glaring again.

"Shhh!" he warned, and yet again she covered her mouth with her fingertips.

"Sorry," she peeped, just like a tiny rabbit, and wiggled her nose. Nora always snorted when she did that, and this was no exception, even if she did earn a look from Velvet.

"My camera," she said, reaching for it, where it had been hanging about her neck, and held it up. Now her hope was growing inside of herself, and she stood, holding it up before her.

"Ren... I took pictures of everything! The whole inner Atlas compound, all of it! Did you hear those explosions before?" Ren looked at the camera, and his mind worked through the process. Yes, he'd heard them, but he'd assumed that maybe somebody was...

"Oh my," he said gently, in surprise, and now it was Nora's turn to remember how much she loved when he did that, Ren was cute when he heard good news. His face looked ecstatic, even if to the untrained eye they might not notice it. Nora did, though. They held the key to this entire problem right here in Velvet's hands. Finally, Nora kicked her feet, and wiggled her bottom, letting him know to set her down. She clung to his side, but smiled up at him, one hand on his chest, the other resting gingerly on the opposite side of his bottom. He was used to it, she wasn't groping, she just liked the curve, because her palm fit perfectly to his toned body.

"Velvet's fucking awesome, isn't she?" Nora asked, and Ren started beaming right then.

"This time, I'll have to agree," he replied, and stepped forward, dislodging his girlfriend long enough to push Velvet's camera back against her chest.

"Keep that safe. Do you have a picture of Jaune?" he questioned, and the little faunas nodded slowly.

"This day just got so much better," he said.

"Not only do you have proof, not that I doubt you, that Jaune is Atlas..."

"But I can copy his weapon, yes. And Coco's." All three of them were grinning at the possibilities. Nora's excitement finally bubbled through her whole body and out the top, and she laughed, skipping about Ren with his hands in hers. His heart welled up seeing her so happy after so long, and when she was finally all bounced out, she jumped up to wrap her arms around his neck, and gave him a long, loving kiss. His arms moved about her waist, and for a moment, in their lover's embrace, the awkwardness finally got to Velvet, and she cleared her throat.

"Sorry," Ren said, pushing the still-trying Nora down by the forehead, her smacking lips seeking his. He was always more considerate than his lover, of course. Velvet removed the camera from around her neck, and set it on the end table of the couch, next to the lamp. She was absolutely exhausted now, especially as the excitement was suddenly fading. She guessed, after all, Coco's orders had been good for something. Such a passionate one, Coco was, but she was glad to be parted from her partner for awhile, her overbearing attitude sometimes got on her nerves, and this was the break she'd needed from living with that tension for so long. She lay down on the couch, stretching out her limbs, before she rested her head back, letting her ears droop over the end of the couch. Ahhh, this was a nice couch. Ren had good taste in upholstery.

"Feel free to get some sleep. We can't leave yet, not with all the noise out there. What do you suppose that was?"

Nora, ever the optimist, cocked her hip, hand on it, and raised her other finger.

"I'll tell you what that was, it was the sound of freedom, baby!" she said enthusiastically, and he rolled his eyes.

"I know those noises anywhere, you silly butt, those were twin smooth-bore Mistral Armsworks 88 millimeters!" Ren and Velvet both blinked at her, Ren was far more used to the girl's knowledge of explosives, though. After the moment fell flat with their ignorance, however, her eye twitched, and she straightened up, hands on either hip now as she closed them and tipped up her nose.

"Uh, duh? Atlas doesn't use Mistral Armsworks 88 millimeter artillery. Theeeyyy use Schnee Dust Company 420 millimeter howitzers, of course. I like to call them Big Bullshitters, on a' count of the mess they leave afterwards..." Ren chuckled at her little joke, but she smiled at him happily.

"And the big one?" Now her excitement was far too obvious, grinning ear to ear.

"That, my wonderful pair of poppy pushers, was a whole shitload of set-charge plastic explosives. Atlas, it would seem..." She let the tension mount slightly...

"Is under attack! Isn't it exciting?!" She clapped her hands together, and Ren's look reminded her to stay quiet, so she looked down sheepishly, twisting her foot into the carpet as her hands clutched behind her back.

"Wow," Ren said in response to her words, then looked back to Velvet, "This day really does just keep getting better. We're leaving tomorrow morning, then, but first... Velvet, do your thing. Copy my Semblance, and go get your shoes. Nora, get the hammer, we're doing a victory pose for the camera." Nora obliged, and fetched her weapon from their room, looking like a mixture of innocent and guilty as she dragged the giant thing across the carpet in her nightgown, shouldering it as she went to hug herself to Ren's side. He drew his weapon, while Velvet picked up her own, and together they struck as much of a pose as they could manage, a couple's shot to be sure of the dynamic duo. Velvet snapped the photo after a second of adjustment, and chuckled.

"You two are too adorable together," she said, and Nora scoffed.

"Excuse me, but I'm cute with or without this sad sack," she chimed playfully, and Ren gave her a mock glare in response, reaching over to pinch her in the bottom, causing her to yelp. Velvet laughed, and turned to go.

"I'll be back in a bit... Say, how long will your Semblance hold up, Ren?"

"For me, about an hour at most, unless I push it, which as you can tell drains me. It normally only works on Grimm, basically makes you appear nonexistent to them... But for Atlas, it will only keep off their suspicion. Don't let them see you in that red dress for too long, or they will recognize you, why? What is it are you planning on doing?"

"Not much. I thought I'd use that fire escape on the side of the building to get up and take some shots of the surrounding area for when we leave. The more information we can get, the better," she mentioned, and he nodded at her as she turned to leave. He didn't lock the door behind her, it would be easier to simply let her get back in on her own. Besides that, he was pretty sure Atlas hadn't clued in on them just yet, and if she collected her shoes, they would be fine.

But once that door was closed, he looked to Nora, who was giving him a look...

"Oh, no... No, Nora. I'm so tired," he said, and she pulled him by the hand toward the bed. His protests, he knew, wouldn't matter much. She moved out of his way once he was near the bed and as he stepped to the side of it, she pushed him gently so he sat, and climbed up atop his thighs, her knees on the bed. His hands were placed to her own thighs by deft fingers, and as she kissed him, his tension seemed to melt, and together, they fell back carefully to the sheets.

She broke the kiss, and that tiny little smile, those blushing cheeks, those happy eyes... He never wanted that moment to end, but when she spoke, he swallowed.

"She'll be gone for at least a little," Nora mentioned, and he rose an eyebrow, she could tell he was so tired, but... Her hands moved, so very careful as she unbuttoned his jacket, helped it off of those strong shoulders... She slid it away, and tossed it aside, and her hands moved to his, pulling them up over his head, those hips pushing down on him... She leaned in to kiss him again, and for once, she used her tongue, invading his mouth as she sought his own. Nora didn't really like tongue kisses, but right now was a special moment. They were on the verge of escape, and her happiness was evident by the squeezing of her legs to his sides. Fuck, she was always so romantic with this, the first night they'd been together he had felt it... And right now, he felt it too. The way she was resting against him, so tender... His heart fluttered, it crashed like a wave, it was true love, and nothing less, nothing could ever come close to that feeling.

It was as if she had set him on fire, and the only thing on his mind was her movements, her grace, as she pulled back, sliding her hands down his shirt... And then up it. He breathed heavily outward when she ran those fingers over his muscles, grinning at him like a devilish cat.

The way he looked at her was obvious, it wasn't the first time this had happened. He was far too tired to go all the way, but for now, she was content to love her man. She pushed his shirt off, and rubbed at his muscles carefully, grinding her palms along his chest, his shoulders, down that smooth set of abs... She wanted to bite them, they were so solid, test them like a gold coin to make sure they were real, even if she knew they were.

They didn't even have to say it; the look in her eyes said it for her, and the way he sighed at the relief of his tensions let her now... They were so madly in love, and nothing would ever change that. She reached to each of his hands, and removed his gloves, adding them to the growing pile of his clothes. When she kissed his stomach, he smiled, and played one hand tiredly through her hair.

"You're too good to me," he whispered to her there, in that darkness, and the smile she reserved only for him, that gentle, little one, shone past the lack of light regardless.

"I can't ever be good enough," she responded, and continued her massage, digging her thumbs into his hips, up his sides, once more to his shoulders, then rubbing along his neck, down those wonderful biceps. Just for her, he flexed under her fingers, and the obvious blush that crept up her neck, blossomed on her cheeks, made him smirk at his effect. Poor Nora, if only they could...

"I'm sorry," he said softly, and she nodded.

"I know."

It wasn't long before they'd gone to bed, after removing Ren's pants and boots, and there, in their sleeping attire, they curled against one another, Nora's head rested on the broad chest of her guardian, her one true love, of her Ren.

When Velvet returned, she could hear the soft snoring of Nora in the other room through the closed door, and she smiled to herself, kicking off the heels she'd collected, placing her camera back to rest. She flopped on the couch, so grateful that today could just simply end, and she lay with her eyes closed, rolling onto her side. It was chilly, they hadn't given her a blanket, but the pillow on the couch was at least enough to cover her arms as she put them under it and rested her head. With a sigh, she lay for a few minutes, looking at the small bars of light peeking through the window from the street lamps, the small specks of dust floating through the air.

Tomorrow was a brighter day, she thought to herself as she fell asleep.

Now, on this day, the day of their escape, when the three of them had all woken and gathered their things, gotten ready with showers and a change of clothes for Velvet from Nora's stash, they grouped in the living room as the light of day filtered through the windows like the artificial light had the night before.

"Ready?" Ren asked once it seemed like everything was in order, and when both girls had given him the thumbs up, he lead them out the door, and out of the building.

Stepping onto the street in the daylight, they looked around, and the change was immediately apparent.

"What the...?" Nora said softly, and Ren and Velvet, noticing where she was looking, both turned their eyes upward. There, above them, was a floating airship, a massive metal behemoth they'd never expected at all. It was the mother of all Atlas tech, coated in turrets, burning jet engines, and armored plating.

"Holy shit," Velvet said first, and the other two looked at one another in agreement with the statement.

"Let's move," Ren stated to get them going, and they moved down the street, in the quickest route straight away from the central Atlas compound behind them. For a moment, all three of them caught the nostalgia on the wind as the breeze blew and they glanced into it, and there in the distance loomed Beacon tower, out of reach, that dragon still frozen in place atop it.

"If only," Ren said, and shook his head in sadness, those days seemed so very far behind them now. As he took off running, the others added some speed as well, ignoring the shouts of the Atlas guard behind them as they were spotted. It was expected, after all, they didn't look like anybody else around here, neither armored nor uniformed, like the rest of the Atlas sympathizers. The mundane humans, lacking any sort of ability like the former Huntsmen, it wasn't hard for them to escape. But what bothered all of them to the bone, was the ear-splitting and sudden blaring horn, almost like a fog horn but much, much more eerie, resounded all about them, rattling their teeth as the sound caused vibrations to course through the air and their bodies.

The first explosion landed so close that Nora screamed in fear.

"Run, keep running!" Ren shouted as he looked over his shoulder, the absolutely huge ship behind them was turning... Turning right toward them!

A flash alerted him to another shot being fired, and as he heard the shell whistling toward them, his eyes widened and he jumped after the girls.

"Get down!" he shouted, and shoved them out of the way, diving behind a car as an eruption of blue, glowing material spread all over the ground and the opposite side of the vehicle, turning their surfaces into iced-over replicas. The moment the shell's effect stopped blowing the air about, he pulled them both up by their shirts, and shoved them. Velvet held her camera to keep it from knocking against her, and Nora had her hammer in its launcher configuration, using both hands to carry it. Ren couldn't activate his Semblance just yet, he had thought this escape would be easy... But that... thing, up there, they hadn't seen an airship in days, however the attack must have drawn this one back. But this one was so much bigger than any airship they'd ever seen... When the cannons were turned fully toward them, they heard a thunderous sound of so many cannons being fired that there was absolutely no way they could stay in the streets.

When the extremely terrifying rain of hell flowered over them, blooming puffs of fire, ice, and thunder all about them, Ren put his arms up to shield himself from the wind, leading the charge.

"This way!" he said, and cornered a building, just in time for the street to erupt behind them where they'd only been a minute ago, showering dust and a plume of smoke everywhere. Velvet was flung, being slight behind the others, and flew a few feet before hitting the ground hard and sliding a couple of inches, the asphalt ripping at her exposed elbows... Luckily, these pants that Nora had given her were tough, and her knees, while probably bruised, remained fine.

"Are you okay?" Nora asked, holding out her hand, and Velvet took it with a nod as she pulled her up and they kept moving. Now that they were out of sight for the moment, Ren activated his Semblance, and held out his arms to slow their walk, whispering for them to act casual, as suddenly a group of soldiers ran by, toward the explosions. When they passed, he wiped his brow, sighing heavily in relief.

"That was insane," Nora said, almost ecstatically, "Let's do it again! I never got the chance to be on the receiving end of Big Bullshitters, wow!" Ren glared at her, he was not about to go through that again. Looking back, he could see craters all along the street that led back around the corner they had come from, the black of ash, and the blue reflecting ice scattered about.

"There's only one place we'll be safe from that thing," he said, and turned their path.

"We're heading to the docks, the cliff will provide more than enough cover. Let's go." And so they ran off, his Semblance keeping them safe enough from the rest of the soldiers as they made their way through what remained of Vale. Everywhere they went, they could see the lines for the food stalls, everyone seemed hungry... Dirty, perhaps, they looked at them with sunken eyes, their pristine clothes were so out of place. But they dared not act, surely these strange people had to be Atlas, with clothes like that... Right?

But as they neared the edge of the cliff, it became immediately apparent that they weren't about to get through. All along the cliff's edge, there were fortifications, and groups of soldiers, and as they hid among the city outskirts, Ren tried to formulate a plan. Damn, so close, he thought, and frowned. Occasionally, as they stood, they could hear a small group of soldiers open fire for a few seconds, then it died down again. What were they shooting at? They were all shooting down at the docks...

"That must be where they were hit," Velvet offered, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"We need... A disguise," Ren said cleverly, rubbing his chin.

"That won't work... Won't whoever's down there just shoot us for looking like Atlas?" Velvet said in her worry, and Ren looked back to the troops at their stations, all watching the cliff, save for the occasional relocating soldier, but his Semblance was holding.

"Damnit, so close, yet so far... Okay. Where's the tallest building around here? No, that won't work either, that thing up there would spot us... Agh, and just when I thought things were going well..." Nora's hand found his to comfort him, and squeezed it briefly, but he slid it from her grasp in order to draw his weapons as well, just to make sure.

But as they watched, trying to think of something, the answer seemed to present itself, as suddenly there was a sound, and shouting, and Ren perked up to look around the corner from where they'd been hiding in their alleyway. Down a ways along the front of the cliff, he watched as a several soldiers careened through the air, falling away, off the cliff. Gunfire echoed right afterward, and Nora's excitement grew once more.

"No way... I know that sound! That's Neptune's rifle!" The other two shared her excitement as they all scrambled to get a better look, practically stumbling over one another. Sure enough, at the far edge of the cliff, three Suns and a Neptune were battling the line of soldiers from the perfect angle, hitting their flank suddenly and without warning. As the soldiers rushed to respond, Nora's devious look of pleasure arose and she lifted the muzzle of her weapon.

"I been waitin' a loooong time for this," she said, and as she corrected her angle, pausing for a moment, the audible thunk that emitted from her weapon was followed by the crack of an explosion as she fired at the troops. She hit a cluster of three of them, incinerating two and sending the third launching from the steep, screaming.

"Nice shot," Velvet said, as she fired off two more rounds, assisting their allies in bringing down as many of the men as they could. Bullets had begun to fly about the street, some even in their direction, so they ducked behind their walls, pressing their backs up against the narrow alley. When the gunfire abruptly stopped, and there was shouting, Ren motioned to them all silently to back up.

Velvet knew this tactic well... Too well...

As they took a few paces back, Nora's weapon clicked and clanked as it switched configurations, and with that sideways grin, she waited, her brow furrowing with anticipation as her menacing features came about her. Oh yeah, it was time to kick some ass!

Ren stood just behind her, weapons at the ready, they were used to this sort of thing, and they worked so very well together. But as soon as the first soldier rounded that corner and got shot in the head, she gagged as her memory flooded back to her. Placing a hand on the wall, she turned away, trying to steel herself as she listened to the sounds of cracking armor and twin pistols. She was frozen, and when it stopped, she still didn't move, until Ren pulled her off and they ran across the street. Neptune and Sun had already fled, soldiers giving chase, and they ran passed the garrison, and to the steps that led down the face of the cliff.

By the time they got to the bottom, all three of them were smiling again, running, panting and out of breath, but running none the less, because there, on the corner of the very first building stood a girl who's stance was unmistakable, her arms crossed, eyes wide as she slowly started to grin too.

"No way..."

"Yang!" Nora shouted, practically skipping by now, as the woman leapt from the building, arms wide to receive the red head in a big bear-hug, spinning her around, laughing together. She set her down after a moment, and extended one metal hand to Ren, who made a face at it, even if he did take it.

"I know, it's Atlas tech... Sucks, but it works. How are you holding up, Velvet?" She judged by their appearances that they hadn't done too badly up there, but she had to wonder. Velvet nodded to her and smiled.

"How did you guys get passed the garrison?" she asked, blinking. Ren looked back up the way they came, turning around lightly, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.

"Sun Wukong... And Neptune," he said, and Yang immediately tensed, uncrossing her arms. Nora's face twisted in concern at her expression. Why did she look so sad...?

"They must've heard about what happened and come to help us," Velvet offered in explanation, but when Yang, as frozen as she had been, suddenly spun on her heel and stalked off, they all looked at each other in confusion.

"What was that about?" Ren questioned, and Nora moved to hold his hand as they walked after her.

"Guess you haven't heard!" came a voice, and the three of them turned toward the sound, and from around a corner stepped a familiar face that none of them had expected. With hands behind the back, and a pep in the step, an Atlas android appeared before them, and Penny Polendina, her expression one they'd never seen her wear before, stared them down. She was different, though, from before... Her normally bright green parts, every single one was as red as blood, and in her right eye, they could see a target reticle, adjusting on them. She looked at them with the face of a cunning criminal con artist, waving one hand wide, legs crossing one another as she walked sidelong beside them.

"P-Penny?" Nora questioned, she'd assumed that once the outbreak had come about, she'd been pulled from here, back to... At...las...

"Oh, no..."

She raised her hand, and as three blades dropped from her back, they moved up into the air, rotating swiftly.

"Oh... Yes! I'm combat ready, and it feels SO GOOD!"

As she finished her words, a blast erupted from her weapons, headed right for Ren. But Nora, growling as he stepped back defensively, swung her hammer swiftly to intercept it, stopping it in it's tracks as the android frowned at her.

"Looks like maybe the silly one wants to play," she said cheerfully, so much so it made Velvet's skin crawl, and as Penny brought her hands together, pulling them back... She was charging for another assault, aiming it right at Nora. But the cool girl just smirked, and steeled herself.

"Bring it on, bitch," she insulted, and Penny, with a roar of anger, fired a massive red beam right for her. Ren tried to pull at Nora, get her out of the way, but she stood there, grinning stupidly, suddenly immovable as she took the hit right to the chest. Ren had never seen this from her before, but she suddenly erupted with sparks all about her, causing him to pull his hand away as she began to absorb the energy from the assault. Penny scrunched her face in disgust and doubled down with a second pulse in the beam, attempting to overcome her absorption ability.

But Nora cocked her foot, even as the force of the thing pushed her back, and she lifted it, stepping forward. By now, she was shaking, her vocal cords producing a shaky noise as she drew it all inside, until the beam stopped. The moment it did, she took two fast steps forward, and leapt into the air with her hammer, shouting in anger as she brought it down on the robotic girl. But Penny, having received apparent upgrades, suddenly turned completely red, and shot sideways, leaving a trail of several after images, all that same, glowing red, until she skid to a halt a few feet away. The impact of her charged attack shattered the concrete of the dock, cracking it outwards, causing a massive boom and a shower of water to fly all about them.

"Tch... Damn," Penny said in disdain. The one Huntress who could potentially get in her way hand to be here right now, didn't she? And she'd been so close to infiltrating those docks... They had built it up with barricades so there was only one way in, and while she could go over their walls, to do so would be far too blatantly obvious. She had planned on sneaking in along the wall and underneath Yang's gaze...

She crossed her arms, and her weapons arranged themselves accordingly, up and behind her, and with that same burst of energy, she slowly lifted from the ground. When she was a few feet off of it, she glared down at them, the unmistakable anger on her face evident as she suddenly zipped away from them, flying up the cliff, leaving a streak of light as she faded from sight toward the airship.

Yang slid around the corner a moment later, looking at the trio as they stood, dumbfounded, while she glanced from them to the huge hole that Nora had made. Nora, wet from the attack, was still sparking lightly as she panted where she stood at the edge of the hole.

"What happened?" she asked with surprise on her face, and Velvet turned, her hands just under her chin, worried.

"It was... Penny..."

Yang punched her fist into her hand.

"Shit! I knew that stupid robo-girl was bad fucking news! How can this get any worse?!" She threw up her hands, and walked into their base, and the others followed her inside.

After a brief reunion, and hugs, it was revealed to Yang, and to the White Fang and its leaders, the information pertaining to the fact they had photographic evidence, of Jaune, of Atlas, of everything. Their trial was over for now, and when they'd run across Ruby, the girl and Nora practically cried together to see each other again. Velvet couldn't have been happier, even if breaking the news about Penny to Ruby was a chore.

But when they'd mentioned Sun Wukong and Neptune being in the area, the entire room had grown quiet.

It was Yang who did it, even if Ruby had tried to go before her, but when she broke the news of Blake's death to the crew, there was no stopping the sea of tears. Even Ren was effected, even if he didn't cry.

Ruby told them about Cinder, and all she'd done for her, they introduced everyone to Cinnamon, and at the end of the day, despite sporadic gunfire from the new garrison now setting up atop the cliff from the Atlas reinforcements, everyone had been in a good enough cheer to gather around a fire, singing, laughing...

Everyone except Cinder, whom nobody had seen all day.

Cinder Fall, with so much on the Maiden's mind, could do nothing more the whole day than to sit, and watch the water, and think. The ocean of Cinder's mind was clouded, full of fear, flailing for a grasp of a course of action. Could Raven be right...? What was it she had to do?

That airship, up there...

Somewhere in there, she was sure of it, was that mysterious woman... Mistress Honeydew... She had been close enough, just out of sight, to hear all of the information being passed around. It seemed like now they might have a fair shot at this, maybe she could...

All she knew was, the moment she found Neopolitan, she was going to rip that bitch's womb out through her throat. To think she'd worked with her at one point? Just another fucking Torchwick, now. And these... Children, as Raven had put it, now even more of them, under her care. Damn it... It was all too convenient, it was almost as if...

"Mmmhmhmhm..."

"...Damnit," Cinder said in annoyance, her face callous as she turned to see it. She knew that voice. The campfire joy didn't drown out something like that.

Above her, standing on the dock's crane, on the far side and away from everyone else as they were, stood a white-clad figure, twirling a cane, the bowler atop her head bringing back some level of nostalgia.

"Neopolitan..."

Why was it she only ever appeared to Cinder? What was she plotting? What?!

"Get your ass down here so I can... Fucking... KILL YOU!" Her voice was hoarse, and hardly loud, but her point was still there. She welled up a ball of fire in her hand, and hurled it like a baseball up at the midget of a criminal, watching as she suddenly vanished in a puff of air, reappearing just out of reach of the fireball's aim a split second later. She walked along the crane, and Cinder growled.

"Where the fuck is your stupid little pet? I'll rip his head off too!" Neopolitan frowned at her after that, Cinder glad for just a moment that that smug fucking smile had dropped off of her face.

"Oh, Cindy... Don't you see?" She stopped at the end of the crane as she had walked, and steadied herself on her knee as she leaned over and looked down, tipping Torchwick's cane over her shoulder.

"For one, my son isn't my pet, and for two..." She pointed the cane at her for emphasis.

"You are." Cinder growled even as Neopolitan chuckled at her. Why could she possibly be here this time, if only to annoy her to death?

"I saw your stupid tar shit. We destroyed it. So what the hell do you want?" The woman leaned back up, giving her the smuggest look she'd ever been given in her life.

"I just wanted to give you a little present, thought you might like the memento..." She reached into the pocket of her fancy coat, and produced a golden necklace, dangling the pendant down on the chain as it shook back and forth before her. Cinder tensed up immediately, recognizing it instantly.

"W...Where'd you get that?!" she shouted, and Neopolitan tossed it down to her. As it sailed through the air, it was off by a few feet, and she practically dove to catch it. She caught the locket successfully, and stumbled to stay straight, clutching it tight in her hands. She opened her fist, and looked at it, it was object she hadn't seen in years...

Her mother's locket.

"Wh-" she went to speak, turning toward Neopolitan, only to find she was gone. Damnit! Why had she even done this? Looking back to the locket, she opened it, and tears immediately sprang to her eyes. The picture was one of herself, as a tiny child, looking so happy... She leaned against the wall of the building she'd been using to lean against before in the first place, and sobbed to herself.

It really had been just to fuck with her, hadn't it...?

[Author's Note: Mmm... Mmmmmnnn... MMMNNNHHH fhhhuuu- that chapter was better than sex. It was so... THICC with the plot, yo~*rubs nipples* Ahhh, am I glad this arc finally took off. We're on our way, BOYS AND GIRLS! Hold on to your bowler hats, parasols, dagger-bows, shotgun-gauntlets, sniper-scythes... Got your bags of pork rinds and or sandwiches? Huh? Great. Cuz shit bout to get crayzee up in hyuh.

So what to say about this chapter? Fuck, I thought it was amazing. I'll probably reread it a couple times myself. As always, I only had so many plot points to get across here, and the rest kind of came from the woodwork. Penny? That was almost Qrow, actually, but then I remembered that the IMPORTANT airship was the one with Penny on it~ hue hue. Also, Nora's hard on for things that throw explosives as far as possible is flippin' adorable, right? Good thing I know a lot about military stuff.

I really REALLY want Ren to just plow the hell out of Nora XD but of course, plot plot ploooot has to call for it! Booo~ haw haw haw. Although, idk, cuz people are reading this for a lesbian pairing, I'm not sure I should like, flop a bunch of dicks in their faces? I mean I probably will anyway cuz my bisexual ass likes to write about dongs too. Don't worry though it'll probably be as a bonus chapter after the thrilling conclusion. Hope you guys liked this one as much as I did! *fap fap fap*

To come: Yang. Is going. To beat. The SHIT. Out of someone. ;) See if you can guess who?]