.
Outgunned, Outnumbered, and Outmatched
.
"If you think your opponent's always going to be as honorable as you,
You've got another thing coming."
.
.
One night passed, since Qrow and Team RNJR settled themselves in the Tower of Tamonten. A name they found for the tall pagoda, after Ren explored more of its ruins.
Based on what they found, the structure was formerly a place of knowledge and school of worship. Below the top floor, were countless levels to train and learn. Statues of long-past figures were erected in and outside its walls. Scrolls filled its shelves, on the verge of toppling from their cupboards. In another time, the place may have fulfilled a role similar to Haven or Beacon Academy.
At least, that was the conclusion Ren came to, while musing himself with the scrolls. The rest of his team opting to keep watch over Qrow.
"Victory is mine! I'm Queen of the Tower~ I'm Queen of the Tower~"
"How…the…"
As Jaune stared horrorstruck at the Mahjong tiles in front of them, Nora counted the points of her winning hand that put the rest of the players into bankruptcy. The other two at the table, showed no response whatsoever.
"How are you so good at this game?!" Jaune asked dumbfoundedly.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"'Cause you usually lose at every game we play. And most of the time, it ends with you slapping everything off the table."
"Psh! I'm not that bad," Nora waved.
"Remember the time, we played Atlasopoly?"
"Psh!...No."
"You threw my airship piece up my nose!"
"I don't…Psh! Remember that…"
"Pyrrha had to use her Polarity to get it out."
"Oh, yeah! That was gross! You have a lot of boogers! Ew!"
"It was your fault!"
"…."
Nora started whistling a feign innocence, while gathering everyone's chips. To which, Jaune could only pay a dejected sigh.
Qrow had remained quiet the whole time, while his true attention laid elsewhere. Jaune could almost picture Ozpin speaking to him. Their private telepathic conversation going on about who knows what. The possible secrets piqued his interest, but he convinced himself they didn't matter to him.
His curiousity drifted to Ruby, who was also being unsettlingly silent. From time to time, the girl's sight would flit to different parts of the office. Darting to corners, like chasing some invisible object.
"Hey, Ruby? You there?"
"Hm? What's up, Jaune?" she blinked out of her trance.
"Is there…something you wanna tell us? Like, is there something up with this room?" He then, whispered low, "Is it haunted?"
"Kiiiind offff."
"What?! Really?!"
*Snort* "No. Haha! You're so gullible!"
"Don't do that! I'm already freaking out here! We're stuck in this creepy tower, Ren's been gone for a while, Nora's winning games, your Uncle looks like he's possessed by a zombie…"
"How do you get possessed by a zombie?"
"…And you're acting like you can see ghosts!"
"Don't be silly! They're not ghosts…Unless they're dead. And you guys are dead. Then, I am seeing ghosts."
"No! You're not getting me again!"
"But seriously, I don't know what they are."
Jaune gulped his saliva worriedly.
"Wh-what do you see?"
"Well, sometimes there's this big guy in black armor walking around, speaking in poetry or something. Then, there's Professor Port and Professor Oobleck yelling about Grimm stuff."
"Professor Port and Oobleck?"
"Yeah. Something about the truth of Remnant. They look kind of upset. And then, there's…um…"
"What?"
"Well…" Ruby looked down at her hands, and fidgeted a little. "There are these flashbacks I get from when Beacon Tower fell."
"…..You mean, when Pyrrha?"
The girl's voice became small and sad as she squeaked out, "Yes. That. I'm sorry, Jaune."
"…"
A heavy atmosphere filled the room. Not even the chaotic gales blowing outside could distract the tension. And Ruby and Nora waited patiently for Jaune's response.
"Can you show me?"
"What?"
"Pyrrha's last moments. Can you show them to me?"
"Jaune. I don't know if I—"
"Please, Ruby. I'm begging you…"
Under the gaze of the pleading boy's eyes, Ruby shrunk further. She became more daunted, when Nora nudged by her shoulder.
"I want to see Pyrrha too," she said.
"I think we all would," Ren joined, as he entered the office. A bundle of scrolls curled in his arms.
Ruby traded glances with the three of them, and gave it some thought.
Her powers were far from mastered, or even controllable. Let alone using it for herself, she didn't really know if she could make them work to include others.
It was a great risk. One, Qrow had explicitly told her not to take. If it were any other situation, she would have refused her friends, no matter how much it hurt.
But this Tower was different.
It felt protected for some reason. And the veil between this world and the other, was incredibly thin in these hallowed grounds. Perhaps, if it was here, she would be able to use it safely.
"It should be fine," Qrow suddenly answered. "From what Oz tells me, this Tower is safe from Salem. In fact, this place was built to educate and train those like you. So, why don't you give it a shot?"
Ruby stared at her Uncle, who winked back. An odd smile surfaced on the man's face that didn't look quite his own. As if, it belonged to another.
The girl took the words to heart and faced her friends.
"Okay. Hold my hands."
Jaune grasped Ruby's right, while Nora and Ren grasped her left.
"I'm sorry, if it doesn't work."
"It'll work," Jaune said immediately. "I know you can do it."
"…..Kay..."
She took several heaving breaths in and out. Her eyes shut and her face scrunched, as she grunted in concentration. The effort, starting to make her cheeks turn red.
Then, the three felt Ruby's Aura pass through their bodies and pull them in. Her eyelids lifted, and a blinding silver light encompassed their vision.
The office around them shifted. The interior molded with different designs, but always the same dimensions. Figures moved about the corridor in fast-forward and reverse. Hundreds of voices blared at once.
But as time passed, the numerous discussions narrowed down to one in particular.
"Barty? Barty, what ails you, my friend?"
"It's these accounts…" Professor Oobleck responded, in a sentence much slower than his usual pace. He appeared crestfallen, both hands planted on the surface of the desk, as if to brace himself.
"What does it say?"
"The truth… If what is written here is correct, Ozpin is not the man I thought he was," he lamented. "Salem. The Grimm. The Four Maidens. The ones possessing Silver Eyes. It's…too much."
"You shouldn't trust everything you read. In spite of what Papyrus may say, these documents could be written fiction. You can't know for sure."
"But I can, Peter…I can…"
Oobleck took his glasses off. A few tears fell from his eyes. Full of concern, Port picked up the tome that was set aside, and decided to read it for himself.
After scanning a few of its pages, he was filled with the same shock that distraught his friend. It was not only the content that made his insides sink, but the name of the one, who recorded the journal.
"Summer Rose…" Port uttered.
"You can recognize her handwriting. The papers I've graded with the same grammar mistakes…Papyrus mimicked everything perfectly in her recording."
"No…Ozpin, say it isn't so…"
Professor Oobleck mustered himself back up with something like anger.
"We still have more research to do, Peter. A greater task now awaits us."
"What…What else can we look for?"
"Although I am convinced of the authenticity of Summer's recollection, as a man of history, I must know both sides. Which means, I require Ozpin's memoires. No, it would be more accurate to refer to that sentient consciousness as the Wizard from this point forward. Come, Peter! Again, we must delve into the annals of the past! The people of Remnant demand it! The truth demands it!"
As he was about to call up the next volume to investigate, he bade one more look to the book lying on the desk.
"And for the sake of my former student," he quietly vowed to himself. "And the ones, who come after."
"I must learn the truth, so I may pass it on."
"I can only hope I am strong enough."
.
X
.
The office around Team RNJR shifted again to the ruins of Beacon Tower.
A colossal dragon circled the skies, and below, two warriors reached the end of their battle.
Cinder held Pyrrha's chin in her hand. A parting taunt to her vanquished foe. And the scarlet-haired girl was broken.
She could not stand. Molten shards embedded themselves into her heel. The awareness of the coming deathblow, all too known to her.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted without thought.
And for a brief moment, the girl looked his way.
A quiet fervor kindled, and dispelled her fear.
"Do you believe in destiny?" she asked.
"…Yes."
"PYRRHAAA!"
Cinder let the arrow loose, and it pierced Pyrrha's heart.
…
…
…
They returned to the Tower of Tamonten.
Jaune dropped to the floor and punched its stone-cold marble.
"NOOO! PYRRHA! PYRRHAAA!" he cried again.
Nora buried herself in Ren's arms. The sorrow she felt was so intense, she clawed and grabbed at his chest. Ren didn't show his grief on the surface. He wanted to be there for the others. So, he only mourned quietly underneath.
Only Ruby, who had seen the exact scene playout countless times, wasn't overcome with sadness. In all honesty, she wanted to kneel beside them. The memory never ceased to hurt, no matter how many times she saw it.
But something else demanded her attention.
"So, they saw it, huh?" Qrow asked.
"Yeah. Uncle Qrow," Ruby said with a serious tone. "We need to stop the—"
Suddenly, windchimes within the Tower began to ring. It was a strange thing, seeing that even after opening a window, they never made a sound. But at that moment, the high-pitched bells echoed up and down the whole structure.
While Jaune and Nora were at a loss, Ruby, Qrow, and Ren lifted their heads in the same direction. Through whatever acute sense they possessed, they identified an incoming enigma.
"Is that…an airship?" Ren mouthed absentmindedly.
"Seems like it. Better be ready, kids," Qrow warned. "I doubt they're friendly."
"They aren't," Ruby answered. "Jaune."
The boy remembered back to what Ozpin said about the ones, who would try to stop the synchronization process.
"Who are they, Ruby?"
"…"
"Ruby! Is it them? Is it the ones responsible for Pyrrha?!"
"…"
She sighed.
"It's—"
.
X
.
Emerald, Mercury, and Neo observed the top of the hurricane. A tiny hole was visible at the center, indicating the location of the Tower.
Their mid-sized airship carried them over the Windpath in record time. As one of Mistral's newest models, it was equipped with the latest designed engine. However unfortunate for the team, Emerald had hijacked it during development stages, so it lacked any true artillery or reinforced armor. But its barebone structure did help in shortening the travel time.
When their aircraft hovered directly above their destination, the three squinted their eyes at the towering pagoda off the side. They also took notice of the random debris rotating around the structure in the storm. Trees and whole boulders were caught up in its winds. Even pieces of ruin gathered from elsewhere in the Windpath, found its way into the funnel.
"It's like a big, flushing toilet," Mercury commented.
"Gross. Thanks for that image," Emerald replied, while folding a paper airplane.
After straightening the nose-end, she flew the plane down, and watched it circle the Tower at continuously accelerating speeds—
Until it was ripped to shreds by the vicious cycle.
"Well, that was enlightening!" Emerald said, fake cheerfully. "We should probably park the ship here. Get ready to drop in about half an hour."
"Half an hour? Shouldn't we drop now? If we wait too long, they might come after us."
"We should be so lucky. But it's around noon. We haven't had lunch yet. Doubt they have."
"You think we can get them to fight on an empty stomach?"
Emerald looked to Neo. "They're all there? Qrow, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Ruby?"
The small girl nodded.
"Any suspicious movement? Surprise guests?"
Neo shook her head.
"Great. Keep an eye on them, and let me know if they start eating. Until then, we'll let 'em soak. Wear on their nerves a little. I want them as soft as possible, when we go in."
"You've thought a lot about this," Mercury said.
"No, duh. At this point, I'll buy every little advantage we can get."
Emerald took a seat on the ship's deck and pulled out some ration bars. Apparently, they were going to eat and go over the plan once more, before making a move.
.
X
.
"What are they doing?" Jaune asked, as he stared up at the airship. "Why aren't they attacking?!"
"No idea," Ruby answered.
"Team ENMY… Is Yang there?"
Ruby, Qrow, and Ren honed their senses simultaneously, searching for any trace of the girl.
"No," Ruby finally replied. "Yang isn't with them. Maybe, it's a lie she's on their team?"
"I hope so. Cause if she was working with the people, who helped Cinder, I'll never forgive her."
Ruby didn't answer that, only continuing to stare up at the airship in a somber manner.
Emerald. Mercury. Neo.
She formed the names on her lips. It was strange to think about, but the thought of revenge never crossed her mind.
Not only Pyrrha, but they were also at fault for what happened to Penny. Another memory that pained her every time her thoughts went to it. But the feeling was never accompanied by anger. Just a hollow taste of helplessness. The regret of thinking she could have done more.
Ruby sighed, and double-checked one more time.
She's not there.
A part of her was genuinely relieved her sister was nowhere to be found. But another was disappointed there would be no reunion. Although the circumstances would have been horrible, Ruby thought it would have been nice to see Yang again.
She measured the emotions of her surrounding allies. Anger was erupting within Jaune. Likewise, Nora and Ren stoked with a similar fire. Qrow's mood was more tempered, but he never forgot what Emerald and Mercury did to Amber, the previous Fall Maiden.
Ruby wondered if there was something wrong with her for not feeling the same way. But she would worry about such things later. For now, the hardest fight of her life was ready to unfold.
.
X
.
As Team "ENMY" finished lunch, Mercury did the final tune-up of his Talarion. Emerald was on deck with him, but Neo had chosen to eat in the privacy of a cabin.
"Hey, Em."
"Yeah, Merc?"
He hesitated.
"I'm sorry."
"…What?"
"Don't make me repeat it."
"I think I had, like, a seizure for a second. What did you say?"
"I said, I was sorry."
*Choke* Cough* Emerald thumped her chest, trying to ease the food caught in the wrong pipe.
"Now, I'm not so sorry. Why don't you just go ahead and choke on that, and die?"
"What in the hell brought this on? Wait, are you planning to sacrifice your life for me? Cause if you are, I'm totally cool with that."
Mercury sighed tiredly, trying to stay serious.
"I bet you wish you hadn't gone with me to meet my family, back when I first got their message. After all, none of this really has anything to do with you."
"Dumbass. They knew we were partners. The moment they screwed you with this contract, they screwed me too."
"That's not the point."
"Oh, then what is it? This about earlier?"
"I was just apologizing. Geez, I don't even care anymore!"
"Well, I had to do it. Or else Cinder would've—"
"Yes! You love Cinder! We know! Whatever, I don't know why I bother."
As Mercury frustratingly performed his stretches and warm-ups, Emerald eyed him curiously.
"No way," she blurted.
"What?"
"Were you—no."
"What, now?"
"Were you…trying to say thanks for sticking with you? Like, real, actual gratitude?"
"I hope Qrow kills you first."
"WOW…" Emerald's jaw hung open.
"Why did I—"
Emerald threw her arm around his shoulder and glowered.
"Oh. It's cause you love me, ya big soft bag of douche."
"It doesn't work when you say it."
"Why? I know. I'm missing your disasterably-sculpted quaff."
"Let's just go. I'm getting one of my need-to-boot-someone-in-the-mouth craves coming on."
"Fine, fine. But for what it's worth…can you say that again? I wanna record it."
"…." He spun and whipped a kick her way.
"Whoa!" Emerald dodged. "Now, there's the Mercury I need! Time to dance, partner."
The two entered the cabin, where Neo chose to eat alone. They paused with an unnerved twitch.
Across every surface of the interior were etchings in the wood. Violent, twisted letters scratched with Neo's thin blade.
"Okay…" Emerald elected to ignore the room and address the team. "You know the drill, criminals. You're not amateurs. Fight smart, not hard. They have us outgunned, outnumbered, and outmatched. But then again, it wouldn't be much of a Team ENMY gig if we didn't have to slant the table. So, run the game high and tight. Neo, buy us our in at the table."
The petite girl finished carving the last letter on the remaining empty space of surface.
.
X
.
Qrow and Team RNJR stared wide-eyed at the surrounding window panels. Every inch of the glass was scratched with the words:
DIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBY DIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBY DIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBYDIERUBY
The screeches made them cringe their ears.
And then, they abruptly stopped.
…
…
…
The windows shattered from the outside in, pelting them with shards of glass.
At that moment, Jaune stood before his team and lifted his shield. His aegis enlarged by the effect of his Semblance, expanding an energy field that deflected any projectiles.
Qrow kicked over the desk he was sitting at and took cover. Any other stray shards, he parried with his sword.
As soon as the rain of shrapnel passed, all of them took defensive positions. Their weapons at the ready. Sights set on the new entryways into the office.
…
…
…
"Where are they?" Jaune asked.
Their team's sensors scouted the area and found nothing. They scanned the airship above, but found nothing again.
It was Ren, who noticed an oddity.
He caught sight of an eye reflected in one of the glass fragments on the floor.
"They're watching us from thefloor belo—"
Before Ren could finish his sentence, the stone beneath his feet erupted. Two jungle-green chains wrapped his body, and dragged him under, like a kraken from the sea.
"REN!"
Nora was the first one to dive after him, unwilling to wait for the dust to settle. Jaune went shortly after. Ruby paused, thinking the enemy's goal was to separate them from Qrow, who could not leave the room. She couldn't allow herself to panic under the ambush.
In the floor below, Jaune and Nora found Ren dripped in crimson. A familiar-looking cane sword and paired sickles wrenched his ribcage open. The sight made his two teammates' blood run cold.
"No…NO!"
"Nora…" Ren groaned feebly. "I love you. Good bye…"
"NO! DON'T DIE ON ME!"
Jaune activated his Semblance. Specks of white levitated in the area around them. He didn't question if it would work. He just wanted to do everything to save his friend.
"Ren's fine!" Ruby's voice interrupted his concentration.
Jaune gazed up through the hole, and saw the girl's glinting silver eyes on them.
"It's an illusion!" she shouted again.
The boy shook his head, like shaking off a daze. When he looked back at Ren's body, the injuries were no longer as severe as they once seemed. Any damages his teammate suffered was already healed, and although unconscious—his overall condition was stable.
"Nora!" Jaune tried to get her attention, but she only continued to sob uncontrollably. "He's not dead! Nora!"
It appeared the illusion was too traumatizing for her and had taken a firm hold on her psyche.
"Jaune!" Ruby yelled. "We need—WAAH!"
"Ruby!"
She disappeared. Instead, only the sounds of blades clashing resounded from the floor above. Jaune did a double-take to Nora, before gritting his teeth, and climbing up again.
.
X
.
And then, there were two.
Emerald thought pleasantly to herself.
Out of all of them, Ren presented the most unique threat. An exceptional feel for Aura. He lacked stamina, but made up for it in burst damage. Able to concentrate his energy into a single blow, without the delay of using Dust or Bane, Emerald wanted to get rid of him first. And she spent their all-important surprise attack accomplishing just that.
She wasn't sure how badly the hallucination would affect Ren's teammates, but it did well enough to keep Nora out of the picture. It would delay Jaune at the least.
Now, onto the next phase…
"Three of a Kind," Emerald called.
She, Neo, and Mercury, rushed Ruby at the same time. Along the way, she hallucinated them to look like three identical copies of Neo. A tactic that put their target off-balance with their discording attack rhythm.
The new strength of Emerald's Semblance was enough to give Ruby's silver eyes a difficult time in tracking. Qrow tried to bat them off her, but Team ENMY's emphasis on mobility made them tough to catch.
The three eventually circumvented Qrow and came face-to-face with Ruby a second time. The girl was fast, but not fast enough to defend a triple pointed strike.
As Emerald, Mercury, and Neo aimed for separate parts of her body, Jaune's shield appeared in time to block their way.
Damn it! Emerald cursed.
Team ENMY backed off and reset their pursuit of Ruby, like a pack of determined wolves. But again, they found Jaune intercepting them. Not only that, but the force of the wall caught them off-guard, causing them to stagger.
It was then, Ruby made the split decision to launch a counter move.
"Birds of Prey!"
Qrow switched his sword into its scythe form and positioned himself next to Ruby.
In the next breath, Team ENMY faced a pair of great, curved blades slashing at them with perfect coordination. Like a hawk's talons, the lethal claws stalked them—missing only by mere inches. It was a complete turnaround.
Neo didn't take kindly to the idea of running from Ruby. So, she produced Torchwick's cane and found a narrow angle to plant the barrel against the girl's head. But in the fraction position and pulling the trigger, an ever-frustrating shield made its appearance once more. This time, accompanied by a slash from Jaune's sword.
*Ping!*
The cane flew from Neo's hands and she chased after it desperately.
As the girl broke formation, Qrow grinned. His iris flashed briefly with bloodlust, and he could see the cracks in the opposition become vibrant.
Emerald and Mercury sensed something sinister on an intuitive level, and went full defense. Even while devoting all their efforts into blocking, the Huntsmen's blows staggered them hard with an unparalleled brute force.
Mercury pulled his legs to shield his chest, when the heavy sickle almost cut his heart out. The impact limited only to his prosthetics, but he was knocked out of the Tower all the same.
Emerald managed to cast a last second illusion that displaced her position, and felt the sharp steel skim her belly. A superficial wound was drawn, as she escaped with her guts intact. There would not be a second chance. Unwilling to risk certain death, she launched her kusarigama around the fleeting Mercury, and grapple hooked to him outside.
The moment Neo recovered her cane, Qrow caved the point of his scythe into her skull. And the body collapsed into countless flaked mirrors.
.
In the wind funnel circling the Tower, Team ENMY regrouped on the flat of what used to be the wall of a building.
"That went about as well, as I'd hoped," Emerald said.
"I thought the Jaune kid was supposed to be a pushover, but he's turned into a real pain in the ass. Didn't count on that," Mercury commented, partly annoyed, but also partly impressed.
"Now, you know why I wanted to poke them first. 'Evaluate the threat, and then, Eliminate.'"
"Cinder's gospel."
Neo growled, inspecting the gash in Torchwick's cane.
"So, we done feeling this out? Cause I think I'm good and ready to go at this for real," Mercury rotated his shoulders and cracked his neck.
"You can hang with Qrow? Not just the cockiness talking?"
"With all that demented training we had to do and my new badass upgrades? Yeah, I've got him. At least, enough for the plan to work."
"Neo?"
The petite girl gave a prideful puff and glared, dead-eyed at the little red riding hood watching them from afar.
"Alright, Merc." Emerald's lips broke into a devious smile. "Tilt 'em."
Mercury revealed a matching grin, as he pumped a vast amount of Aura through his new legs.
The Talarion Strider hissed with a temperate vigor. The newly installed Dust Reactors started overclocking at the sheer amount of energy being channeled. His mechanical calves detached and folded behind his ankles.
It looked as if a pair of silver wings manifested at Mercury's feet, as he began hovering in the air.
Even at a distance, Team RNJR and Qrow could see something big was coming their way. The five of them braced for impact.
Mercury drew back his right leg in a wide arc.
For one reason or another—maybe owing to the tornado swirling around them—the young man donned the appearance of a maddened wind god.
And with a kick that conjured a storm,
The whole of the Tower tipped…