Chapter 34

Yang knew she had a hard fight ahead of her.

Diana could have been able to use her assault rifle or grenade launcher, but, well, she obviously wanted to prove a point.

So Yang found herself dodging a tomahawk that was thrown at her, before leaping back as she started swinging.

She started flipping back as Diana swung until Yang kicked out and knocked a tomahawk out of her hand before repeatedly punching her. Using the other ax, Diana blocked or deflected her punches. Her low punch caught, elbow jab knocked back, a high kick was ducked.

Diana suddenly launched herself forward and shoulder-charged her, but as she brought the ax down Yang activated a gauntlet and caught it, before sending a two-footed kick into her stomach.

She pulled out the tomahawk from Ember Celica before loading them and launching several shotgun blasts forward. Diana landed on her feet and quickly dodged all of the blasts.

"Are you even trying?" She taunted as she pulled out more Tomahawks from her belt.

Yang leaped forward and repeatedly swung around, striking her with her fists. "Just warming up!"

Yang suddenly had her legs kicked out from under her before Diana used the back of her tomahawk to smash her in the back, sending her to the floor. Yang rolled out of the way of Diana's tomahawks slicing into the ground.

Yang felt her semblance beginning to work. She started striking more powerful hits. Diana obviously noticed, but she doubled her ferocity.

"Yang!" Silver called out. "Use something to get extra reach!"

She jumped over a table and looked around quickly, grabbing two short swords from the table and swinging them upwards, blocking a tomahawk sent to her.

Diana was surprised, but she merely grinned. "Well, this is exciting."

Yang tested the swords in her hands. The blades were only a bit more than a foot long, but they were light and strong. "Only fair."

They charged again.

"Right, let's see…" the guard checked the power boxes on the side of the facility. "Wiring, check. Circuits, check. Power gauges, check. Alarms-"

"Check!"

A staff smacked onto the back of his head, knocking him out. Sun stood over him, grinning as he put away his weapon.

Blake sighed as she landed next to him. "Was that necessary?"

"Saw that in a movie, always wanted to try that. Right… fourth box on the left…" He grabbed the box and opened it, revealing several wires, screws, and a very large knife-switch.

"Simple!" He grabbed the switch and flipped it with a clunk. "Right, now we just have to-"

Suddenly, Blake's weapon flew past his head and struck a guard in the face, who'd just walked up the stairs.

"You're welcome." Blake caught her weapon as the ribbon she used pulled it back.

The guard, instead of falling back, stumbled to the side. Sun and Blake both leaped forward to catch him, but he fell over the edge of the wall.

They watched in horror as the man crashed onto the top of a large tent, making a large hole. And inside were several more guards on several bunks, whom all woke up as their comrade hit the floor.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Sun replied sarcastically as he leaped down into the tent and started attacking the guards, nunchucks swinging.

Blake facepalmed, before jumping after him.

Yang jumped over a table as Diana's tomahawks smashed onto it, chopping it in half.

"That armor…" Yang ducked as another Tomahawk sailed through the air at her. "I think Silver mentioned someone wearing it before."

Diana launched herself over the table and struck out, with Yang blocking the strikes with her swords. "It belonged to my mother, went by the name of Diamond. She perished in the explosion years ago."

"I'm sorry." Yang thought about her own mother disappearing - and leaped to the side as Diana slashed down. She kicked out and caught her, sending her crashing and knocking over several tool boxes, the noise unbelievably loud.

"I don't mind, really." She got up and pulled yet another tomahawk to compensate for the one she threw. "She never really treated me right, but still, I at least wish I had a body to bury."

"What?"

"Bronze, when she got this armor, she literally stripped it off and threw her body back into the sea."

Yang stared at her. "That's… horrible! And you work for her?! What the hell?!"

Diana sprinted forward and smashed the blades of her weapons onto hers, pushing her down to her knees. "What else am I supposed to fight for?"

"Join us!" Yang struggled against Diana, who was leaning in now, pushing her weight onto her weapons. "We can fight Bronze! We can get revenge for your mother, and all those who she's hurt!"

Yang jumped back suddenly, allowing Diana to fall forward before she jumped on her and pinning her to the floor and getting her in an arm lock.

"You don't have to work for the bad guys anymore." Yang gritted her teeth, holding Diana's arm in place as she struggled to get it free. "I'm sorry for what happened, but we can make her pay for what she's done. She's a horrible, evil woman who deserves to burn in hell."

"That we can agree on." Diana slumped over, defeated.

"Looks like you owe me one." Silver grinned.

"Fine," Vulcan grumbled.

The two women glared at them. "Seriously?"

"What?" Silver, if he could move, would have shrugged. "Not much we can do, as you can see."

"Boys." Yang rolled her eyes, before turning back to Diana. "So can we trust you?"

"I said I would join you if you win." She shrugged. "I don't back down on my promises."

"It's true." Silver spoke up. "Diana's loyalties are questionable, but she does keep her promises."

Yang reluctantly let go of her, and Diana stood up. She removed her helmet before grinning. "Looks like you win."

"You're not so bad yourself." Yang shrugged. "Could use a little work, though."

They went and freed Silver and Herman Vulcan, the latter whom glared at Diana.

"No hard feelings, old man." Diana offered her hand. "Your Tomahawks are top notch, by the way."

He smiled after a while and shook her hand. "Just get me out of here."

"Blake, Sun?" Silver called on his radio as they headed for the door. "We've got the package, where are you?"

"A tad bit… busy!" There were the sounds of punching on Sun's radio. "Ow! That hurt! We've got the alarms, but we've alerted every guard in this sector! Could use a little help! Blake, watch out for the mech!"

Silver sighed. "They had one job. Right, Diana, you come with me. Yang, you stay here and guard Herman."

"I can fight!" She protested.

"I know." He hugged her. "But you need to recover from the fight. And I don't want you getting hurt. Besides, we can't leave Vulcan with Diana, it's still too early to trust her completely."

"Fine." Yang sighed, before smiling. "Who did you bet would win?"

"You, of course." He grinned, before stepping to the door. With Diana, they both ran to the sounds of fighting.

"So you didn't vote for me?" Yang turned to the blacksmith, who chuckled nervously.

"Nah, just figured I'd owe you one, you know?"

"Hmm…?" She hummed, eyes red before she grinned. "I'll make sure to order everything in the bar."

"I don't even have that much." Herman groaned, already feeling his wallet paying the price, so to speak.

Fifteen minutes later, Silver poked his head through the door. "Alright, you two can come out now."

Yang and Herman came out and were shocked at what they saw. Literally, hundreds of guards were scattered across the base in varied states of consciousness. What was more shocking were the many destroyed jeeps, flipped tanks and collapsed mechs that littered the area. And somehow the main base was unalerted, no alarms were raised.

Yang sighed and walked towards Blake and Sun, who were both sitting on the ground, exhausted. "So what's up?"

"She… knocked over… a guard… right into… their tent…" Sun gasped out as he fell back flat on his back. He pulled off the beanie soaked with his own sweat off his head. "So… who's the chick…?"

Yang turned and narrowed her eyes at Diana, who was now talking with Silver. "Assistant to Bronze gone rogue."

"And you trust her?" Blake stared at Yang. "Are you crazy?"

"Look, Silver says we can trust her. I'm willing to believe him. And we've got the package."

The two Faunus looked up to see Herman Vulcan, who nodded to them. "Hello."

"Dude. You owe me a new weapon." He held up Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in nunchuck form. It was dented in just about every spot, the gun mechanisms for both had been broken, and it had completely lost its shine, with the paint being scratched off from striking so many guards.

Balke's Gambol Shroud wasn't faring any better, with the ribbon of her weapon actually having been cut in half, her sheath bent down the middle and the gun barrel had melted from firing so many rounds. Not to mention her blade was chipped and worn.

"You had one job." Yang deadpanned, shaking her head as she looked around. She quickly sent a kick to a guard who was getting up, knocking him out again. "And even then you didn't do a good job."

"Shut up." Blake snapped, although she couldn't get up, she was so tired. Her clothes were torn, and there were several bullet holes in her clothes, thankfully stopped by her aura, and she was also soaked in sweat. "Let's get out of here."

Sun didn't look much better, but he simply stood up and picked up Blake. She didn't complain, she just let it happen.

As they headed to the gate, the friendly guard poked his head out from the guard booth, eyes wide. "Are you serious? This was your idea of a stealth mission?"

"We had to improvise." Sun shrugged as they passed, heading to the two guides who had similar expressions on their faces.

He shook his head. "You're all crazy…"

"It's how we roll."

A/N: Sorry for the seemingly boring fight, but I've got an announcement to make. From now on, uploads WILL be longer, and I might introduce them weekly instead. Just a lot of personal issues and writer's block, as well as many family trips and such as we're almost at the end of the summer holiday. So sorry for this announcement, leave a review about the story, and until next time, peace out!