Chapter 36
Ice Queen
Blake closed the train door effectively turning her back on her partner. Weiss stood beside her looking paler than usual. They had just left their teammate and friend behind to deal with a psychopath.
"Yang can take care of herself," Weiss said, wiping the sweat from her brow. "She's the best."
The girl in black focused her eyes on the next train car and on their mission. Her mission...
"Let's get moving." She took off running and Weiss followed as closely as her shorter legs would allow. Blake couldn't dwell on her partner at a time like this just like how Weiss couldn't worry about Ruby up above. They had a train to stop and a city to save.
"Twelve more cars," the other girl panted as they ran through another bare room.
"How can you possibly know that?" She turned back around and Weiss shined a lopsided grin as though she couldn't decide whether to be amused or bitter.
"Because I happen to know how many train cars the White Fang stole from my family."
Blake's feet began to feel as though they were made of lead, and soon they were running side by side.
"Oh…" was all she could manage, guilt bubbling up making her nauseous all of a sudden.
This had been the end game the White Fang had been planning all along, or at least since last spring. Roman Torchwick hadn't been the one to send the her people to the point of no return. They had chosen that path long ago, and Blake had unwittingly helped in acquiring for them the keys to destroying the City of Vale.
She had come to love that city these past few months. Ozpin may have given her a place to sleep and a future, but her friends had given her something she had never truly had. A family, and a place to call home.
And now she was going to play a key role in that home's destruction, and cause her family even more suffering than she already thought she had...
"I need to tell you something, Weiss," her conscious spoke aloud.
"Uh, we're kind of in the middle of something," she pointed out, breathing heavy. "Can't it wait?"
Blake shook her head but never stopped moving. "It's about the train."
Weiss glanced over raising her brow, and the girl in black couldn't help staring at the scarred eye not watching where she was going.
"About eight months ago, my partner and I-" The heiress came to a sudden halt and grabbed Blake by the shirt stopping her momentum.
In a single fluid motion, she drew her rapier and chambered a cylinder.
"W-Weiss!?" Blake froze and stared down at the girl in horror.
"Your little guilt trip is going to have to wait." She took a step back pulling Blake with her.
*THUMP, THUMP*
The tile beneath their feet shook.
Blake's eyes widened when body entered the hall between the two rooms blocking the entire doorway. If it hadn't been for Weiss she would have ran right into him.
*THUMP, THUMP*
They craned their necks as a giant lumbered into the room, ducking his head as he did. He had to be at least seven feet tall...
"We have a problem," Weiss whispered from the side of her mouth.
"A big problem," Blake agreed as she drew her katana.
*THUMP, THUMP*
Weiss' mouth fell open as she noticed how the man's tribal tattooed arms resembled tree trunks rather than human limbs, and how his legs were thicker than her waist. Covering his entire face was a mask resembling an Ursa Major, and she couldn't help but remember the Beowolf woman her partner had described. To wear the face of a Grimm was unthinkable to the heiress, but seemed like yesterday for the girl beside her.
A huge chest piece with the White Fang emblem rested against his heart. The armor must have weighed at least a hundred pounds, possibly more that herself, but the man didn't seem to notice. Hung across his broad shoulders was a chainsaw longer than they were tall, and both girls held their breaths as they noticed the prominent scarlet stains on the blade. They couldn't help but feel pity for whoever's blood it had belonged to.
'No doubt a human,' Weiss thought spitefully, gripping her weapon a little tighter.
His heavy boots came to a stop and eyes rested on the top of Blake's head. Always self-conscious about hiding her cat ears, she reached up and made sure her black bow was still in place.
The giant cleared his throat and despite his size and ferocious mask he spoke with eloquence and an Atlesian accent much to Weiss' chagrin.
"I remember you," he said to Blake who stiffened. "You were with a blond monkey faunus at the recruitment center."
She sighed with relief despite her entire body being on edge and her knees feeling weak. She had been afraid he might remember the young girl with cat ears who had also once worn a Grimm mask of her own volition.
"You should have taken us up on our offer, miss. The White Fang could use more recruits like you."
'Been there, done that,' Blake retorted in her mind.
His gaze however quickly fell to on the heiress who shifted her weight anxiously but held her blade firm.
"Though it would appear you've brought a Schnee along for me to kill. Perhaps you haven't forgotten your heritage after all."
Blake's eyes narrowed as she assumed an attack stance in front of Weiss. If he wanted to kill her friend he'd have to go through her first.
A cold hand rested gently on her shoulder pulling her back. "Weiss-"
"Let me take handle this," she said confidently despite her sword hand shaking slightly. "You keep moving and stop Torchwick."
Before Blake could argue the giant interrupted speaking as eloquently as ever. "You may continue on your mission, young miss. I do not wish to harm any fellow faunus no matter how misguided." He pointed an over sized sausage of a finger at the girl in white. "The Schnee filth stays here however."
His hand glided across his blade and over the red stains, showing them what the heiress' future held in store for her.
Blake snarled but once again Weiss grabbed her.
"You heard him." She pushed the katana away and Blake out of their line of attack. "Now get going."
"Weiss!"
"Go," she said more forcefully as she spun Myrtenaster's chamber. "You have your score to settle, and so do I..."
Blake noticed her hand was no longer shaking and girl's demeanor having completely changed. There was ice in her eyes and she could feel the temperature of the room dropping.
"Nobody insults the Schnee name and gets away with it."
She had seen the pleasure Weiss had taken when knocking out members of the White Fang. It was retribution for everything they had done to her family since she was a little girl too young to understand why they kept dying. But Blake had also seen the joy on the faces of her kin whenever misfortune fell upon her family. The death of a Schnee was regarded as a holiday to them, and even celebrated like one in the streets of Menagerie.
She needed to talk her out of this. Ruby was injured and dealing with the firing squad above their heads so they'd have a clear path. Yang had stayed behind to battle Neo, and now Weiss was going to fight a giant by herself.
Blake felt as though she was running away from her friends all over again, and could no longer hide the fact that leaving her partner behind scared her and she'd been looking over her shoulder ever since abandoning her.
"Weiss, he's a lieutenant and you're-" her voice caught in the back of her throat.
"I'm what?" she challenged, activating a red dust crystal and putting her left foot forward. Despite the flames it felt as though the temperature had dropped another ten degrees.
Blake glanced at the giant glaring at the Schnee with contempt. She could see animal-like eyes through his mask, and it was as if they were hungry. It was a matter of pride for the both of them, and a culmination of wars and deaths that predated even the White Fang and the Schnee Dust Company.
She turned to her teammate who was holding her ground, fearless and unwavering in her resolve.
"You're the finest swordsman at Beacon Academy," Blake finished, unable to keep herself from grinning.
"Of course I am," Weiss huffed as though she were stating the obvious. "Now hurry up and go. You're wasting time."
Blake lowered her weapon and nodded. "Good luck."
"It won't be necessary but thank you. I'll be joining you shortly."
"I'll be waiting."
"Humph. You better not be. I expect Torchwick to have been dealt with and the train to be braking by the time I'm finished here. Am I clear?"
Blake answered by shadow jumping across the room with her weapons up but true to his word the giant didn't acknowledge her. She turned for one final look at Weiss but the lieutenant unloaded the chainsaw from his shoulders, and let it hand loosely in his hand blocking her view.
'What have I done?' she asked herself, lowered her head and running away once again. 'I'm so sorry...'
One person's face kept appearing in her mind however, and when her head raised her eyes were glowing.
Torchwick...
And with another shadow jump she was gone.
The giant cleared his deep voice again once his fellow faunus was out of earshot.
"I must say that I've been looking forward to killing another Schnee. I just regret it has to be one so young..."
Weiss blinked. "Another?" She asked calmly, almost as though they were discussing the weather.
He chuckled at the lack of emotion in her voice. He had expected nothing less from a family so notoriously cold and heartless.
"You really should be thanking me, miss. The White Fang may wear the faces of Grimm, but the Schnees are the real monsters of this world."
The grip on her rapier tightened as her insides churned. She didn't know if he was telling the truth about killing a member of her family, and truthfully didn't care. He was a member of the White Fang, and her family's blood was on all their hands.
Atlas was a cold kingdom and the weather made no exception for the death of a Schnee. She could still remember being a little girl freezing in the bitter cold wearing a black veil so she could cry without being seen. To a Schnee it was a sign of weakness.
He would regret ever taking credit for burying another member of her family. Every single one of them would pay...
Without warning Weiss charged forward with a flaming rapier in her hands and a propulsion glyph at her feet. In the blink of an eye she was upon him and the flames coming off her weapon were contrary to the ice in her eyes. She ducked under the chainsaw as it cut through the air with ease. After sparring with Ruby and Crescent Rose, a six foot long chainsaw didn't seem all that impressive.
That changed however when he pulled the cord to his weapon and the engine revved up.
Her arms became covered in goosebumps from the eerie sound resonating from the chainsaw, reminding her of a woman wailing and making it difficult to concentrate as her entire body was shuddered
The brute swung the weapon around at a speed Weiss thought impossible for a man his size. She raiser her rapier for a textbook block and parry but the moment the two clashed sparks shot across the room and despite the extra power of the red dust, her entire body rattled as it was sent flying.
She landed gracefully on her feet but gritted her teeth remembering he was a faunus and not just a regular human. He had animal like reflexes to go along with superior strength, and even though she couldn't see any faunus traits it seemed he had the strength to match his Ursa Major mask.
At least now she knew what she was in store for.
The former fencing champion took note of his stance and was immediately disgusted by how sloppy it was. His feet were spread too far apart and the chainsaw held in outstretched arms pointed towards the ceiling. He was trying to appear large and intimidating, but all she saw was just another amateur.
She took a deep breath and activated a gold glyph under her feet. Time slowed down for her and she could now see all the imperfections to his stance and every flaw she could exploit. Finding the faults in others came naturally to Weiss, and not just when looking into the mirror.
"A haste glyph!" the giant boomed. "I wouldn't never expected something so refined and elegant from someone so feeble-looking. I have to wonder though, how long can you control such a powerful glyph? Your aura already looks-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Weiss was under his guard and drove a flurry of flaming jabs into his thick armored chest. The force knocked him across the room with his armor smoking but he never left his feet.
She dodged as he swung his chainsaw from across the room, but the faunus was able to keep up with her swift escape. She raised her rapier and bit her tongue to keep silent as her entire body shook from another blow, and activated a black gravity glyph when her heels began to slide.
With her eyes still glowing gold she could see how his entire body began to tense up and muscles contract, and waited for him to exhale.
The glyph dissipated as he swung the chainsaw around for another assault in an attempt to behead her. She easily ducked under the roaring weapon however and didn't even blink as it missed her chin by a hair.
She parried the next blow slashing and stabbing at his thick chest piece, each strike came faster than the last. Occasionally she'd take aim at his protected knees and thighs which were a much more manageable target, but the giant and his aura barely responded to heavy dust coated strikes, and each time it also meant lowering her guard and giving him the opportunity to use his lower body as a weapon.
Weiss moved to the side of a knee strike and misdirected the chainsaw as it aimed for her head, and caught him under the chin removing a piece of his mask in the process.
She paused seeing his bloody lip snarl, and with the flick of her wrist black glyphs appeared all around him. He charged, swinging his chainsaw in a blind rage but tiny heiress jumped into the air being caught by a glyph that turned gold by her touch.
'Compliments to Ruby,' Weiss thought as she chambered her weapon again this time to a light blue dust crystal.
With her rapier pointed towards the White Fang symbol over his heart, she flicked her wrist again and rocketed straight down.
Inches away from the chest piece, her heart nearly stopped when his bare hand grabbed Myrtenaster by the blade, even being covered in ice in the process. She fearfully attempted to rip it out of his grip but it wouldn't budge, and then the room began to spin as the golden glow faded from her eyes.
"Time's up Schnee."
He let go of Myrtenaster, crushing the ice only to grab her by the ponytail and lift her high into the air.
"AAAAHHHHH!" She screamed in agony as it felt as though her scalp was tearing.
She kicked her legs and slashed at the giant's arm but he shrugged off the feeble assault as she continued to cry out. Her eyes went wide as she felt a sudden rush of air, and without warning he slammed her head into the tile leaving a small crater.
Everything went dark for the small, helpless heiress, but then the lieutenant raised her back in the air and her arm twitched as she tried to raise her weapon once again.
"Scum..."
He threw her into the steel wall leaving a dent, and her body lifelessly slumped to the ground. The chainsaw revved in victory and the giant laughed at the broken body caused by his own hands.
*cough*
He stopped and lowered his weapon. Surly she couldn't be alive?
*cough*
Weiss' eyes flickered open but they quickly shut again when she felt bile rise. She wasn't sure how she was conscious, and wasn't entirely thankful. It felt as though her head had been split in two just like the rest of her body. She felt something warm and sticky on her face, and reached up to wipe it off. She pulled her hand back to see it was covered in scarlet.
Using her elbows she tried to lift herself before collapsing and cradling her head under her arms. She heard the giant take a step and her eyes shot open on instinct. Myrtenaster was still in her hand and she stared daggers into the Ursa Major towering above.
He chuckled and began to clap politely. Using her rapier for leverage, she got to one knee and leaned against the wall so as not to fall over. She would not lay on the ground and be mocked. Her legacy was as a Schnee, and once upon a time they ruled kingdoms and killed men like this for sport...
"That should have broken your skull." He clicked his tongue. "A real pity that."
Blood in her good eye was making it difficult to see, but she looked up at the blurry giant having difficulty telling how far away or close he was.
"My partner-" Her acid tone caught on the back of her throat but she carried on. "-she tells me I have a very thick skull."
"That you do!" he howled. "But tell me, did you really think such a pathetic blade could harm me?"
Her grip tightened until her knuckles were white and her hand shook. "Don't you ever insult Myrtenaster," she growled.
The giant chuckled again. "Fond of your weapon are you? Did daddy dearest buy it for you?"
Weiss took her eyes off the fiend and stared at the beloved weapon her grandfather had left for her. Upon seeing her reflection in the blade, she turned her head to see she was bleeding above the hairline just over her right eye. The color red reminded her of someone, and the pain became little more than an annoyance then.
She held up her hand to her face and with a small ice glyph she momentarily closed the wound. Being the team's unofficial medic had advantages at times.
"It's not the weapon..." Weiss muttered under haggard breath.
"What was that? You'll have to speak up. You're rather low to the ground and don't sound to be long for this world."
"It's not the weapon that makes the huntress," she spat. "Weapons are extensions of ourselves. A friend told me that, and she's the toughest huntress I know."
He turned his head finding the remark humorous. "So you're saying the reason why your blade is pathetic, is because you yourself are pathetic?"
She shook her head in disgust and stood up on shaky legs. Her knees threatened to buckle but her resolve was too great, and her grip on the wall too strong.
"It means Myrtenaster is just as cold as I am..." She chambered a white dust crystal and immediately felt her aura leave her.
Frost appeared on the tip of the blade and their breath turned to fog in the air. The tile floor became covered in a thin layer of ice and it began snowing.
Weiss' vision went dark again and she knew this had to end soon. She didn't have the aura reserves like her teammates, and she also wasn't sure how much longer she could stand on her feet.
'Remember everything they've done to you.'
She flicked her wrist and the calm snowfall became a howling blizzard and the girl in white disappeared.
The giant growled and raised his weapon. "There is no point in hiding!" he yelled over the storm. "I can smell your filthy stench and hear your priceless heels, Schnee!"
He readied his chainsaw to impale the girl standing to his left. "I'm not hiding," her voice whispered over the blizzard.
Sparks fell to the floor as their weapons clashed again. The giant chuckled as he began to push his prey back, only for the cold wind to burn his uncovered arms.
He grabbed his weapon with both hands but still the dust infused rapier refused to give. He tried taking a step forward for more leverage but it was as though his feet had fallen asleep.
The giant glanced down and saw they were frozen to the floor in a shell of ice, and his heart quickened seeing it rising to up his legs. He could no longer hear the screeching of his chainsaw and could feel it beginning to slow.
"Wh-what's ha-ha-happening?" His teeth chattered. "S-so co-ld."
The outline of the heiress appeared in the blizzard and he could see her piercing blue eyes staring up at him.
"This is how I feel..." she answered.
The chainsaw began to crack and with horror the giant could see the frosted tip of Myrtenaster poking through his blade. He barely had enough time to gasp before the rapier ran straight through his weapon, and right into his armor. Right where the White Fang symbol was. Scarlet leaked out of the armor and froze onto the blade. A single red droplet hit the floor and shattered into tiny pieces.
"Ever since I was a little girl, I've been forced to watch as my family was lowered into the ground because of men like you." Weiss twisted the blade making him cry out. "You made me into who I am, and I'll never forgive you for it."
She removed the blade and took a step back as the giant began to fall backward, and the entire room shook as he landed clutching his chest.
The giant coughed and Weiss could see speckles of blood covering the mouth holes of the Ursa Major. She slashed the bottom of his mask away and saw part of his lip was missing from her earlier attack. Before she could remove the rest of the mask however she stopped herself, leaving the blade at his throat. He was a monster, and he deserved to look like one.
"HAHAHAHA!" he bellowed as blood ran between his fingers.
Weiss narrowed her eyes wondering if he'd lost his mind. "Think dying is funny do you?"
*cough*
He wiped the crimson off his lips. "No, but you thinking this will stop me does." He removed the hand from his wound and grinned. "I'll be repaying you and your family for this someday. Your father and sister will look good with holes in their chests. Almost as good as your uncle, and too many Schnees to count."
*cough*
The lieutenant could feel his lips turning blue and lost the feeling in his arms as the temperature plummeted. In all his years in Atlas he had never felt such a bitter chill.
A single tear froze to Weiss' cheek which she wiped away in a hurry. "What makes you think there'll be a someday?"
The laughter stopped but his red grin never left. "Daddy's perfect little princess wants to play huntress does she?" He shook his head. "I'm unarmed, and you don't have the guts. I think I'll keep the scars as a way to remember you. I won't mistake your weakness for kindness though. You Schnees don't have any."
The hand she held Myrtenaster in began to shake, and he let out another chuckle seeing her wiping the blood out of her right eye.
"What's wrong? Having a little trouble seeing out your left?"
Her hand stopped, but after a moment she removed a cloth from her pocket and began removing her makeup as casually as she might before bedtime. With her blade still at his throat, she bent down to give him a closer look at the hideous scar she'd been hiding most of her life. It was her reminder every time she looked in the mirror, and had been a faunus' way of showing kindness instead of killing her.
"I'm not perfect, and I'm not a princess," she whispered. "I'll never be any of these things because of men like you."
She frowned knowing exactly who she was. His eyes went wide and his smile fell as he realized it too.
"I'm the Ice Queen..."
Yang cursed as she ripped the lilac bandanna around her knee and tied it around her hand to stop the bleeding. The knife had left a gash much deeper than she had thought, but didn't let that trouble her. She could already feel her aura working, and doubted she'd have a scratch by morning. She was more concerned with the black feathers that continued to float in the air which she kept blowing away.
"I had that under control," she muttered, her eyes flashing crimson as she slammed her fist against the steel leaving a large dent and a trail of blood.
When she blinked they returned to normal, but she could still feel her semblance threatening to tip over the edge. The rush of power throughout her body was intoxicating but Yang fought the urge to let go. The fire didn't want to be contained. It wanted to burn and be fueled by her rawest emotions.
"Soon," she promised herself. "When this is over and I find Ruby."
'Ruby...' Her sister was the one person who could calm her rage and lull her semblance back to sleep even at its worst.
After taking several deep breaths like she'd practiced with her uncle, Yang twisted her neck looking for a hatch up above. She had remembered the White Fang using them for cover while shooting at them, and her hair sparked just thinking about it.
The metal hatch was on the other side of the car and getting to her feet she nearly fell as the train went around another bend. Lifting her head from what was left of the tile floor she noticed the poster that had been used as a dart board. She wandered closer to get a better look, but only the woman's dark hair could be made out under the burns and obscene carvings.
"I don't know what you did to hack that psycho off, but I like you already." She folded the small poster and placed it into her dust pouch. Any enemy of Neo was a friend as far as Yang was concerned.
She placed one foot on the ladder and climbed it to the top. With a single flick of her wrist she spun the hatch and heard a loud clang as it broke.
"Oops. Sorry, Weiss," she muttered under her breath.
Her blonde mane poked up from the car and after brushing it out of her face she was surprised to see piles of bodies lying around, and how little this resembled sticking her head out of a bullhead or when riding Bumblebee without a helmet. She hadn't given it much thought when they were atop the train earlier, but given how fast it was moving was moving and how non-violent the still strong winds were, she suspected the SDC might've installed green dust emitters to their cars to cut out any wind resistance and possibly help motion sick passengers breath better.
'Probably makes for a bigger 'boom too',' she thought before quickly scolding herself for remembering her schooling. She spent most of her time trying to forget it.
She urgently looked around finding nothing but unconscious masked men, but her eyes lit up spotting a red cape several cars away blowing in the wind. Her baby sister was on her knees leaning on Crescent Rose for support, and held something in her hands that Yang couldn't see with her back turned.
"Excellent job, miss Rose," Oobleck said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "If you can stand, I believe it's time we joined your teammates. I suspect they'll have confronted Torchwick by now."
For the first time Yang noticed the paper thin professor and did a double take upon seeing his singed hair and clothes, and did a double take as she realized her sister and her cape had similar burns.
The sight was enough for her heart to nearly leap out of her chest, and at that moment she wished nothing more than to tackle Ruby to the ground and hug her and thank her for being alright. Before she could however, something caught her eye. One of the men had begun to stir, and he had a rifle pointed at her baby sister's head...
Yang's eyes became crimson as she launched herself at him. "NO!" she screamed.
Ruby fell to the ground as she felt the bullet whip her hair. She turned just as Yang slammed her fist into the man's skull, knocking him out cold instantly but her not being satisfied. He had just tried to murder her baby sister in front of her. That was the unforgivable sin as far as Yang was concerned.
"Stop, Yang!" she cried, tackling her older sister but barely making her budge.
She struck him again and again until her fists were covered in his blood.
"Please don't kill him!" Violent aura radiated off of her, and Ruby was truly afraid her sister would finally go too far.
Yang raised her bloodied fist and Ruby grabbed hold using her entire aching body. "Get off!" Yang ordered in a voice not like her own, attempting to shake her off.
"Don't kill him!" Ruby begged again. "Please, Yang!"
Using her free hand Yang grabbed the masked man by the shirt collar and was about to send him flying off the train when she heard a sound that tugged at her heartstrings and cause her semblance to extinguish. Her baby sister was sobbing...
She turned and saw tears running down Ruby's face and physical pain in her cries. "Ruby?" Yang blinked the crimson away. "Rubes what happened to you?"
For the first time she really took in all the claw marks and burns littering her sister's body, and how there wasn't any shine from her aura coming from her pale skin.
"S-someone fell..." Ruby whispered. "I shot him, and he fell off the train. He was gonna be eaten by Grimm, so I..." She trailed off and turned to the legion of Grimm following behind, and let the new markings on her body for themselves.
"So you saved him." Yang let go of the masked man and embraced her sister mindful of her injuries. Just enough to let her know she was there.
However, she glanced at the pile of bodies again and Ruby's grip tightened as she felt the temperature suddenly rise. They had all tried to kill her, and here was Ruby worried about their lives, risking her own life to save their worthless ones. Grimm were monsters but these men weren't much better. Perhaps there was a reason why they wore the masks.
Yang glanced down at the man she was atop of and swallowed. The thought of nearly killing a man should have disturbed her more than it did. Although it sadly wasn't uncommon, huntresses were supposed to protect lives not take them. What frightened her however was knowing how far she was willing to go to protect her baby sister, and how little she cared about anything else. As long as Ruby was safe her conscious would be clear.
After a few reassuring squeezes Yang got to her feet, helping Ruby and giving her a hand and a shoulder to lean on. She kept shifting her weight from side to side as though she were standing on hot coals, and Yang couldn't help noticing her boots had been loosened and unbuckled.
She bit the side of her cheek unsure if something should be said at a time like this, but her older sister instincts kicked in and she lifted the girl off her feet.
"Yang! What are you doing?!" Like so many times when Ruby had fallen asleep on the couch back home, Yang scooped the caped-girl into her arms and carried her like a baby.
She sat her atop Crescent Rose so her feet dangled, and grinned as Ruby puffed her cheeks out.
"You did good, sis." She bent down giving her another small hug. "Summer would've been proud of you."
Ruby wiped her eyes and her snotty nose. "Thanks..." She looked down and played with her thumbs.
"You can tell me what happened later, sis. Right now though we need to catch up with Blake and Weiss."
Misty silver eyes glanced up. "Aren't you supposed to be with them?" Ruby admonished as her role as leader returned.
The change in attitude was almost jarring and Yang couldn't help letting out a laugh. "I was too busy beating up Neo," she said defensively.
Ruby coked her head to the side. "Who?" Yang wasn't surprised she couldn't place the name with the face. For whatever reason her sister could remember the model and serial number to a gun that had been discontinued for half a century but people's names to faces were different somehow.
"Pink and brown haired girl about our age or not much older. About as tall as Zwei if he wore Weiss' heels." Ruby blinked "Used an umbrella as a weapon to stop my punch..."
"Oh yeah!" Ruby exclaimed as she remembered, making Yang roll her eyes. "Torchwick mentioned her when I was all tied up. Something about wanting me to meet her or something."
Yang swallowed and made a mental note for the next time she and Neo met.
"He made it sound like everyone was scared of her. Even Grimm."
'Gee I wonder why,' she thought sarcastically.
"Be glad you didn't meet her."
"And you beat her?!" Ruby cried.
Yang gave her a thumbs up and wide grin. "Of course I did. In case you hadn't realized it, your sister is one bad mother-"
Oobleck coughed and the girls turned around having forgotten he was there. The professor being used to being forgotten, especially in class, had been observing the scene while sipping from his thermos.
"Sorry to break up the touching moment," he said with raised brows, "but we're on a rather tight schedule here."
Another train car exploded making the sisters jump. They glanced behind them as they heard another cavern open up above and saw even more Grimm pouring down.
A trickle of light above their heads and Yang couldn't help but wonder if they'd reached the city yet.
"Don't worry Professor," Ruby cheered. "Team RWBY has everything under control."
TTTTSSSRRRRAAA!
All three covered their ears from the cry reminding them of nails on a chalkboard.
"What the hell was that!?" Yang cried.
Oobleck raised his binoculars and the girls squinted but couldn't see past the hordes of Grimm. Something caught their eyes though.
"What's that yellow orb thingy?" Ruby pointed as a soft glow appeared in the distance. "It looks like a-" She gasped and Yang's fingers twisted around her sister's cloak as she realized what it too and didn't want to believe it.
"That would be a Deathstalker," Oobleck said as his voice lowered. "A very, very large Deathstalker..."
Silence fell between them and Ruby swallowed. "I-if something like t-that gets in the city-"
"There might not be a city..." Yang finished.
The caped-girl hopped off Crescent Rose and threw it over her shoulder ready to fight, but fell forward slightly and her sister caught her.
Oobleck shook his head. "Go with your friends and stop the train."
"What will you do?" Yang asked.
The professor took a large gulp from his thermos and the golden flames returned. "Try and slow it down..." He then raced to the back of the train with Ruby trying to follow but her sister holding onto her tightly.
"Oobleck's a huntsman like Uncle Qrow. He can handle it on his own."
"But-"
"For the final time it's Doctor Oobleck!" he shouted back.
Yang ignored him. "Ruby, Weiss and Blake need us."
Another train car exploded and to their horror concrete began falling to the train tracks. They had finally made it home...
Yang pulled Ruby's hood over her face and reloaded her gauntlets.
"The City of Vale needs us, sis. And so do our partners."
(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Whether or not Weiss would kill the lieutenant is up to you. She could have just as easily maimed him to make sure he never came after her family again. I hope you enjoyed the fight though and the changes I made to the ending. It was important to me for Weiss to get a personal victory against the White Fang for everything they've done to her. I also went ahead and moved Ruby and Yang along in the story. A giant Deathstalker in the City of Vale doesn't sound good. I sure hope Blake can defeat Torchwick and stop the train. Sorry for the slight delays the past few weeks but they could not be helped and will likely continue as the chapters are getting longer and longer. Once again thank you for reading and all of the support you all have given me. You all are incredible and it is a blessing writing for you. All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who has made this story possible. God bless)