I'm back. Since the last chapter I turned 20, let's hope I didn't lose my writing ability.
Eagle's personal transport had barely touched down, before she stormed out of it. Behind her she was dragging the Grim Reaper, who was still writing in pain from being blinded. Without a word she made her way past the guards in the hanger, heading straight for the throne room. Everyone she passed was stunned into silence by the extent of the injuries inflicted on the unfortunate bounty hunter, though they couldn't identify her without her iconic mask.
Sol followed closely behind, carrying the injured woman's weapons. Though he tried his best to hide it, he was quite shaken by what he had just witnessed, the more he thought about it the more it bothered him. The fight and its aftermath played over an over in his head, it was going to stay with him for a long time. If he had ever had the slightest thought about betraying the tribe, that was now gone. As he struggled to keep pace with Eagle, he started to fully understand the implications of crossing the tribe.
Vernal was standing just outside the throne room when Eagle arrived. After looking at Eagle and the other woman for a brief moment, she spoke with an uncharacteristic level of concern in her voice. "What the hell happened? Who the fuck is that?" she asked, gesturing to the bloody bandages covering Eagle's abdomen and the blind woman.
"This bitch thought she could just turn up and take me down, so I made her suffer." Eagle responded, her voice filled with hatred for her enemy. She then removed her mask, before continuing to explain. "This is the legendary Grim Reaper by the way, or she was before I blinded her." she said, as she threw the woman back to the floor.
Vernal paused for a moment, as she recalled everything she had heard about the Reaper. She was a warrior almost as skilled as the Birds, and now she was lying utterly defeated at Yang's feet. Now she was just another vanquished enemy "If you ask me, you shouldn't have been so merciful. Especially if she made you bleed. She deserves to be skinned alive." she said. Once she finished speaking, she spat at the helpless woman who was struggling on the ground.
Yang nodded in agreement "That can still be arranged, but first we need to get some information from her. She can either tell us who hired her to come after me, and I'll put her out of her misery. Or, she can resist and I'll put her through hell until she breaks. I'm sure she'll see sense, once the Chief gets hold of her." she replied. Other than Ruby, Yang was the least likely Bird to resort to torture. She reserved it for the people she hated most, and the Reaper was now at the top of that list.
A sadistic grin spread across Vernal's face, as she learned of Yang's plans. "Well don't let me delay you, take her to the Chief and I'll come to watch." she said, before turning and leading Yang into the throne room. Yang followed Vernal into the room, dragging the reaper by her hair as she went. Sol waited outside, not wanting to witness what they were about to do to the prisoner.
Raven was sat on her throne when Vernal and Yang entered. At first she smiled at them, but her smile soon faded when she saw the state of her daughter and the fact she had a prisoner. She rose to her feet, then asked "Yang? What happened to you and who is she?" Her usual composure slipped, as her maternal instincts came to the surface. She wanted to know who the prisoner was, but her primary concern was her daughter.
"It's a pretty deep cut, but nothing that can't be treated. It's my fault anyway, I let it happen so I could get close enough to take this whore down." Yang started. To most people the wound would have been a huge deal, but Yang had much bigger concerns. "Anyway, they call her the Grim Reaper. Someone hired her to take me out, so I brought her here for interrogation." she added, her anger finally starting to fade. Replaced by cold hatred for her captive.
Having regained her composure, Raven made her way over to Yang. "So Mistral finally decided to make a move, and they couldn't even do it for themselves." she said, she knew who hired the Reaper without having to interrogate the prisoner. Still, she wasn't going to be merciful to the one who had attacked her own flesh and blood. "That being said, I still want to hear it from her own mouth. If she can still speak that is." she added, as she glared down at the badly beaten woman.
"Oh she's going to talk, I'm going to make sure of that." Yang responded. She then stomped on the Reapers leg, breaking it with her brute strength. The once proud bounty hunter released an animalistic yelp, as a new wave of pain washed over her. Unfortunately for her, a broken leg was just the tip of the iceberg. The Branwens were experts at interrogation and torture, willing to take things further than anyone else.
Vernal laughed sadistically at the sight, she wanted the Reaper to suffer for her slight against them. Nobody spilled Branwen blood and got away with it, not for long anyway. "Should I get Coco to call the others back? I'm sure they'll want to be here for this, and I'm guessing this means were going to be hitting back at Mistral." she asked Raven.
Raven nodded "Tell her to get them back immediately, we're going to deal with her and then we're going to make them pay for crossing us again. We're going to hit them where it hurts and we aren't going to stop until I have Lionheart's head on a stick. They've aligned themselves with Atlas, and we will punish them for that. We're going to make an example of them, to show the galaxy that the Branwen Tribe is not to be fucked with." she responded, revealing the fiery passion that burned within her.
Before heading to the bridge Vernal spoke to the Reaper for a final time "You hear that bitch, we're going to bring Mistral to its knees because of you. Now you know why you don't mess with us, we'll take everything from you and destroy everything you've ever stood for. Anyway, enjoy your alone time with Yang and the Chief." she said making it clear that she felt no sympathy for her. With that, she headed off to see Coco and call the other Birds back from their missions.
Just after Vernal left, the Reaper finally managed to speak. "You won't get away with this, you will face justice for your crimes." she said weakly, through her shattered teeth. Despite everything she had been through and everything she was yet to face, she was still defiant. She cared more about her beliefs, than she did about her life.
"Shut the fuck up, we're the good guys in this shit hole of a galaxy. Even when you had eyes, you were too blind to see the truth. It's a shame really, we could have used someone like you if you weren't fully committed to the wrong side." Yang snarled at the woman. As far as she was concerned, the Reaper was as much of an enemy as Cinder, Adam, Mercury, Junior and everyone else the tribe had fought.
"You're deluded, you cause so much suffering to innocent people yet you claim to be the good guys. The gods will punish you for your misdeeds, whether you face justice in this life or not." the Reaper replied, after coughing up a load of blood. She was so set in her beliefs, that she would not be swayed by Yang's words. She was totally convinced that the Branwens were evil.
"So, you think the faunus should be enslaved?" Yang questioned. Either the Reaper didn't know the tribe freed faunus slaves, or she supported slavery. Whatever the case was, it just made Yang hate her more. The only difference it would make, is that she would be tortured more severely if she did support slavery. As she waited for a response, Yang considered all the things they could do to the Reaper if she was a faunus hater.
The Reaper seemed to be angered by the question "No, I'm not like you!" she spat. Clearly she knew very little about the true nature of the tribe. Her beliefs about the tribe couldn't have been further from the truth, and now she was going to die because of it.
"You clearly don't know anything about us, you've been brainwashed by those pieces of shit. We treat the faunus better than anyone else in the galaxy, you would know that if you could think for yourself. I almost feel bad for what we're about to do to you." Yang retorted. If she didn't hate the Reaper's guts, she would have pitied her for being so misguided.
"There's no point trying to lie to me... I know the truth and I'm going to die anyway... I'm not the one who's been brainwashed... You're being manipulated into thinking your tribe is a force for good." the Reaper responded with great difficulty, as her injuries made it hard to speak. She disagreed with the tribe so passionately, that she absolutely refused to believe Yang.
"You poor misguided fool, it's a shame you won't live long enough to be proven wrong." Raven hissed, her voice as cold as the void outside. She didn't appreciate the criticism of her tribe, especially when it was completely misguided and wrong. She didn't actually think it was a shame that the Reaper would die before she could be shown the true nature of the tribe, in reality she couldn't wait to spill the woman's blood.
Owl and Lila were on a reconnaissance mission over Vorpal, they were trying to find the legendary Grimm that apparently lurked there. They were so busy looking for any signs of the creatures, that they almost missed the radio coming to life. "Owl, we need you back here ASAP." Coco announced, the lack of her usual playfulness made it clear that the matter was urgent.
"We're heading back now Coco. Mind telling us what the big deal is?" Owl asked, as she altered Crescent Rose's course. She understood that it something major was probably going on and she wasn't going to delay her return, but she was still curious as to why she was needed so urgently.
"I can't say much over the radio in case someone is listening in, but Eagle just brought in a prisoner and they're kind of a big deal." Coco responded. Usually the tribe didn't bother being so secretive, relying mainly on their strength to defeat their enemies. So Coco's vague response set off red flags in Owl's mind, and showed just how important the new development was.
"I understand, I'll push my baby as fast as she'll go. But one more thing, is Eagle alright?" Owl asked. Though Coco hadn't mentioned anything bad happening to Eagle, Owl was still worried that her sister may have run into some trouble when she was on her mission. After all, she usually only took prisoners when things went wrong.
"Eagle's fine. A little cut up and extremely pissed off, but fine. Don't worry about her, just get back as soon as you can. Now I have to go, I need to cell the others back too." Coco told her, before the radio went silent again. Owl felt somewhat reassured about Eagle, but she still pushed her craft to its limits in a rush to get back to the Terror Bird.
Falcon, Cherry and a few other tribe members were busy cleaning up after a recruitment attempt went wrong. They were throwing bullet riddled corpses onto a fire, having massacred a club full of criminals. Falcon had just thrown a severed arm onto the fire, when her scroll buzzed. "Sorry to bother you Falcon, but we need you back ASAP." Coco said, as soon as she answered.
"We're pretty much finished here, we can start heading back now. Should I be worried about what I'm going to find when I get back?" Falcon asked. Her past experience made her automatically assume the worst, so she needed to make sure it wasn't a repeat of the destruction of the SDC.
"I don't really know what this new development means for us, but I know we aren't the ones who need to be worried. All you need to worry about is getting here as soon as possible, the Chief wants all the Bird's back right now." Coco explained. It was a relief to hear that the new development wasn't bad for the tribe, but it was slightly concerning that the Chief felt the need to order all the Birds to return so quickly.
"Alright, tell the Chief that we're on our way now." Falcon said, before hanging up. She then sprung into action "Alright everyone, get back to the ship. We need to go right now, so leave everything and get moving." she ordered. As soon as she gave the order, she sprinted in the direction of her ship. There were still bodies strewn around the place, but getting back to the Terror Bird was more important.
Hawk and Almaz were finishing off the last members of a White Fang splinter group, which had refused to submit. Hawk was running a Wolf Faunus through with her sword, when Coco contacted her. "I hope this isn't a bad time, but we need you back here right now." Coco hurriedly explained, clearly understanding that Hawk was in a dangerous situation.
Hawk dispatched the other faunus and sheathed her blade, before responding to Coco. "It's fine Coco, I can talk and kill at the same time. Now, why do you need me back there so soon? Is everything alright?" she asked. She was half expecting Coco to say the fleet was under attack, so she needed to know more about the situation before heading back.
"Let's just say that there has been an interesting new development that may just bring our plans forward, so the Chief wants you back here to find out more about what's going on. Eagle's already here and Owl and Falcon are on there way now, so please get here as soon as you can." Coco told her. The answer didn't reveal much but it was enough to convince Hawk, that she needed to hurry up with the killing and get back.
"Okay Coco, we'll make our way back as soon as were done here." Hawk replied, before drawing her sword again and decapitating a Bear Faunus who was lying on the ground in front of her. She couldn't risk leaving anyone alive, so she and Almaz had to slaughter them all before they could leave. Fortunately, that was a very simple task for someone like her.
Kite was holding a pillow over a her most recent target's face, Luna watched on as her struggled for air before eventually succumbing the lack of oxygen. Almost immediately after he had stopped thrashing about, Coco called Kite "I know you're probably busy right now, but there's been a new development and the Chief wants you back here as soon as possible." she explained. Coco new that it was risky to interrupt Kite when she was on a mission, but the message was urgent.
"Don't sweat it Coco, actually I just finished smothering this guy. Anyway, it sounds pretty important so I think I can let this slide. Just one thing though, is this development a good thing or a bad thing?" Kite asked. Like with her assassinations, she didn't like going in blind. So she wanted to know what kind of thing she could expect, when she got back.
"Well, it's good for us from what I've heard. But I don't know that much about it other than the fact Eagle brought back a prisoner, and she and the Chief seem to think this prisoner is a pretty big deal for us." Coco explained. She didn't sound to sure about the situation, which just served to make Kite more curious.
"Now you've got me all excited, I can't wait to find out who Eagle captured. They must be pretty important, if she decided to keep them alive. We'll be there soon, but first we need to get out of here without anyone spotting us." Kite told Coco. He latest victim didn't have any guards so talking to Coco while standing over his body wasn't a problem, the only issue was sneaking out without being spotted.
Vulture and Clay returned from their mission early, so Coco didn't need to contact them. That meant a nice surprise for Vulture when she walked into the throne room to find, a naked seriously injured woman being hung from the ceiling. She took her mask off, then pulled her scroll out and typed a message for Yang and Raven "Is it my birthday or something?" she asked.
Yang shook her head "It's not your birthday, but you do get to help us interrogate this whore. She's being a real pain, so we're going medieval on her ass when the others get here." she explained. Yang wasn't as sadistic as Neo, but she too was excited at the prospect of interrogating her.
Neo smiled sadistically before typing up another message, this one was directed at the prisoner. "I don't know who you are or why you're here. But I do know I'm going to break you, and I'm going to love every second of it."
See you next time, if this hasn't put you off.