Ragnarok 31: Trespassing isn't a crime if it's a terrorist HQ
I do not own RWBY
Weiss looked out the window of the Bullhead. The dense forest blocked her view of the ground, the wooden limbs of the tree shielding the White Fang base below them from view.
"Wouldn't they know we're here?" Weiss asked quickly.
Ruby nodded. "Probably but I think that is a good enough disguise." She said thumbing the white fang logo on the side of the bullhead.
"So what's the plan?" Yang asked, glancing at Yin, who was doing her damndest to keep the bullhead level, cursing softly under her breath every few seconds.
"We land, beat everyone up, capture Adam, and hopefully get a lead on Blake. If she is pursuing Adam, we simply keep him locked up, spread the word we captured him and wait for her to approach us." Ruby summed up quickly
Yang nodded "sounds like a plan".
"That's hardly a plan!" Weiss retorted. "What about scouting? Layouts? What if the base is underground? Shouldn't we cause a distraction and sneak in?"
Ruby looked at her then pointed at Yin and Yang.
"Is Rubes pointing at me?" Yin asked, glaring down at the controls.
"You betchya." Yang chirped.
"Rubes it was one time! One time!"
"I'm sorry but marching up to a band of giants in Jotunheim and proclaiming we just killed their local deity isn't stealthy."
"I thought it would get us out quickly! They'd let us go through! We just killed their god!"
"Weiss told you specifically not to what you did!"
"Since when did I ever listen to what Weiss said?" Yin exclaimed, exasperated.
Ruby sighed. "We're getting off topic, can you land this thing?"
"Define land." Yin asked. Weiss and Yang looked at each other worriedly. Before glancing at Ruby casually rolling her eyes.
"As in get us on the ground alive."
"Yep, I can do that."
Weiss let out a breathe she didn't realize she was holding.
"Those two are insane." Weiss whispered to Yang
"That is the understatement of the century." Yang whispered back. Her arms crossed. Weiss glared at her.
"You appear to be enjoying this." She observed looking at Yang's grin and the excitement in her eyes.
"Of course, princess. How could I not?"
"I changed my mind, all of you are insane."
"How about you?"
"You know, I'm not sure anymore." Weiss admitted.
"Get reading for a landing!" Yin shouted.
Within a few seconds, the smashing of trees jostled the bullhead, Weiss and Yang tumbled into each other, even as Ruby struggled to stay upright. The breaking of branches revealing their presence to the people below. Weiss would have cursed if she wasn't concerned about biting her own tongue.
"Prepare for impact!" Someone shouted, presumably Yin, but over the breaking of branches and the roar of the engines Weiss couldn't tell. She shut her eyes and prepared for the force of the bullhead smashing into the ground.
The crash was loud, trees splintered at the impact as dirt exploded outwards. The smell of burning gasoline was everywhere.
Ruby, Yin, Yang and Weiss all crawled out of the bullhead through various hatches, doors and windows.
"Everyone OK?" Ruby shouted, all attempts at stealth forgotten.
Yin glanced over at Weiss and Yang. "I think we're fine sis." She called back, stumbling out of the smoke as she did so.
As the smoke cleared Yang let out a sigh. "Well, there goes any chance to sneak in." She pointed towards an encampment, probably an outer lookout station. A score of White Fang soldiers were already fanning out, heading in the direction of the Ruined bullhead.
Weiss nodded, looking at the same thing Yang was. She shook her head. "Couldn't you have landed a little bit more quietly?"
Yin laughed. "Where's the fun in that?" she asked, cocking Ember Celica as she turned to face the group.
"Remember, We're her for Adam Taurus." Ruby reminded everyone as she pulled out Crescent Rose. The others nodded. Ruby aimed her weapon and fired. The first fight was on.
Lie Ren was patient. Patient enough to wait in the middle of Vale's marketplace for several days on end. Patient enough to wait for Qrow Branwen to visit a bar. He had forced the others to help him. Cinder wasn't much of a problem, she wanted to be useful to Salem, and that meant being useful to him.
Mercury was a little more challenging. But Cinder controlled him through fear, and she had leveraged that fear well. Sadistic monster that she was, Ren had to concede she knew what she was doing.
Valkyrie had been the most troubling. Mostly because she had wanted to take more direct action. It took quite a bit of convincing before she stopped proposing to twist the legs of every barmaid in the area into pretzels in an attempt to elicit information. Surprisingly, once Ren thought to point out the obvious, that none of them had aura, had she actually stopped. Ren supposed that was the flaw in their thinking, when everyone on Vytal had aura from the moment they were born they couldn't imagine others not having the same. The fact that most people on Remnant did not have active Aura's was startling.
"I'm bored, can I go into the bar?" Nora asked through the comm channel. Ren raise da hand to his ear.
"No Nora, you can't. Wait outside, I'll make pancakes later."
'Fine…" Nora replied with a defeated huff.
"But what if he slipped through another way?" Cinder proposed.
"He wouldn't." Ren said confidently. He scanned the crowd, ignoring the response over the intercom. Suddenly a flash of blonde hair appeared amidst the bystanders. His eyes instinctively followed it. It was someone his own age, or at least its relative equal on Remnant. The shape looked so familiar, he could almost swear it was Jaune. But the figure was with a tall, blonde haired woman, and they looked to be shopping. It was unlikely to be Jaune. Still, the thought nagged at him.
"Turn, turn damnit." Ren whispered. His prayer was answered when a man absentmindedly slammed into the blonde's shoulder. The moment the boy turned to accept an apology was the only time Ren needed. The flash of sapphire eyes, and the shape of the face made all doubt vanish.
His hand whipped up to his ear, pressing the small speaker button on his comm system. "Nora, I think I see Jaune, meet up with me on the next street."
He didn't wait for a response, instead deftly entering and blending in with the crowd, trying to get closer. As he moved back and forth in the swirling masses of Vale's citizens he took in Jaune's appearance. He could only presume the blonde woman with him was Goodwitch. He couldn't tell from where she was positioned relative to himself. But the Jaune he knew had a very different stature. Without Pyrhha around, he was always slightly tense, his back arched backwards ever so slightly. He also wasn't wearing Crocea Mors, something the Knight-Commander would never have left behind. This Jaune was dressed in a navy blue short sleeved shirt and pale denim jeans, sneakers completed the outfit. If Ren hadn't heard that the Remnant Jaune Arc was a huntsman, he would never have imagined this person to be anything other than a civilian.
"Ren, I'm above you. That's Goodwitch and Jaune!"
"the Remnant Jaune. No need to worry. Follow them from above, let's try to follow them back to their hideout. Then we can rendezvous with Cinder."
"Roger." Nora chirped before the comm went silent.
Ren continued to follow the two, there was a nagging at the back of his mind, and he couldn't precisely tell what was causing it. He made certain to follow from a distance, and with Nora backing him up, if this was somehow a trap, they would be in for a big surprise.
"We're being followed." Jaune whispered to Glynda.
"Act normal."
"Normal? How? I don't have my weapon, I don't have my Armor, I'm practically defenseless, That in itself is abnormal!" Jaune hissed.
Glynda cocked an eyebrow. But said nothing.
"Drag them into an alley, we can question them there." Jaune proposed. Glynda subtly glanced around.
"There are two, one on the rooftops and one somewhere behind us. They're good."
Jaune nodded in confirmation, following Glynda as she took a left. These two were good. If he hadn't been searching for someone tailing them he wouldn't have noticed the first one. Hell, he had assumed that there had been at least one more, but he couldn't tell where the tail was. That was more of Ren and Nora's forte.
Something bubbled in his stomach at the thought of his friends. He hoped they were okay. Hopefully they had met up with Pyrrha, that would have been the safest bet. They were smart, they wouldn't get wrapped into this huge mess.
I wonder what that says about me then…" He thought absently.
"We're here." Glynda whispered as she made one final turn into a dead end alley. The duo stopped.
Around them, there was silence, Jaune turned and felt more than saw, a figure approach. The tail hung to the shadows, a faint silhouette was all that Jaune could discern.
He crouched into a defensive posture, arms raised, his body low to the ground. He was unarmed, and these tails almost certainly weren't.
"You think you can face a Knight-Commander of Vytal? Let's see about that."
Glynda pulled out her riding crop, her eyes keeping more to the roof than buildings above them than to the figure. "Be ready, they'll strike fast and hard." Glynda said, shifting her glasses slightly.
The few moments that passed seemed like much longer to Jaune. The figure had paused, just out of sight. The world around them was silent, not even the sound of wind blew through the alley.
"Abort."
They word was uttered so quickly and so faintly that Jaune wasn't quite sure he heard it. His body reacted on instinct, charging towards where he believed their enemy to have been standing.
"Jaune wait!" Glynda shouted as Jaune skidded to a halt, casting his gaze across the shadows. There was no indication that anybody had even stood there.
"What the hell was that?" Jaune asked.
Glynda approached him. "I don't know. Perhaps it had something to do with what you said."
"But that would mean-"
"Salem has a God on her side." Glynda finished. She turned and started to stride quickly down the backstreet "We need to get back to mountain Glenn immediately. Qrow can wait for his whiskey fix."
Jaune gave one last look at where the tail had been standing. If there were god involved it would have to be one of the others. But who? Jaune turned and left, intent on finding out who had betrayed them.
"That was Jaune." Ren said, breathless, his hands entwined squeezing tightly so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
"Well of course that was Jaune." Valkyrie said waving her hand. She didn't seem disappointed that they had left, instead she seemed to be confused. Like how one might feel if a cat had a mouse cornered and whimsically decided to let it go.
"No, that was Jaune." Lie said. Valkyrie paused before she scratched the back of her head, she let out a sigh.
"Well that Just makes things more complicated. What should we do?"
Ren knew the question that laced the actual question. He raised his hands "What can we do? Without the whole story, there is no doubt that he thinks we're villains!"
Valkyrie sat across from him. "Well duh! We're not exactly helping the people of Remnant. This is a necessary evil, remember? You actually think Jaune would accept that without being utterly convinced there was no other way?"
"We can't just sit down and talk, not now!" Ren said, a look of desperation in his eyes.
Valkyrie nodded. "Yeah, The best we can do is not hurt him." She said, a forced smile on her face. Lie nodded numbly.
Valkyrie pulled him into a hug. "It'll be alright. We can explain this to him once we have the others dealt with. Then we go find Pyrrha and our friends. Then we stop Fenrir and we all go home."
Lie nodded, hoping it would be that simple.
