With a great roar of the engines and the slow churn of metal, moving for the first time in many weeks, or perhaps even months, the locomotive was on the move. Many surprised White Fang members watched in shock, their avenue of escape immediately going on the move, leaving them behind to their fate. That fate?
A strong punch to the jaw knocking them unconscious, or one of two blades. Kujo Jotaro ground his teeth together as he watched the train slowly begin to roll on down the tracks, the older man having grown increasingly annoyed with the small gang of White Fang grunts who had now made it their mission to slow down their progress and keep them from reaching the train. The RWY of RWBY also took notice of this, the three young women momentarily pausing from attempting to force their way through the crowd of White Fang to watch the train shake off its rust.
"Crap! Really kinda figured they wouldn't leave so many of their buddies behind! No honor among thieves, I guess." Yang grunted as she caught a punch from another member of The Fang, twisting the fist in her grip before dragging the guy in to be punched straight down into the dirt. Weiss Schnee nodded her agreement, Myrtenaster rapidly sliced through the air as she disabled another member of the terrorist organization.
"We need on that train now." Weiss quickly whipped out Myrtenaster and quickly ran her hands through the air, a Glyph forming at the young woman's fingertips as she slowly focused. Before long, a long, rising cliff of ice formed in between Weiss and the train, any White Fang goon who had sought to stand between the group and their destination having either been partially frozen in place for their lack of attention or threw themselves to the side to avoid an icy fate.
"Good job Weiss, let's make a break for it!" Not having needed to be told twice, Jotaro and Yang had nodded in agreement with Ruby's suggestion and the group of four quickly broke off contact with the White Fang, immediately running up onto the incline of the ice. It had been touch and go as, while Weiss had used what control she'd had to try and ensure that the ice wouldn't have been a bother for anyone running up it, it had still been a surface of pure ice. The three Aura users had found enough purchase to get themselves across it fine enough, though Jotaro had often needed the help of Star Platinum in order to make his way across.
As the train's engines roared and the machine had actually picked up speed, the group of four had just 'barely' made it in time to jump onto the backmost train car. The four young women had managed to land on their feet quite easily, their Aura having impacted their landing. The trio had turned, ready to assist Jotaro with his own fall, though to their surprise the more experienced Huntsman had landed beside them not a moment later, steady on his feet and seemingly without that much trouble.
"... You're kind of surprisingly spry for a guy who doesn't have Aura, you know that Jotaro?" Yang intoned, almost teasingly, as Jotaro just shrugged his shoulders, dusting off his jacket slightly as he did so.
"When you lead this active of a lifestyle, it isn't exactly hard." The older man spoke as he turned his gaze down the train's various cars. The three young women had followed his gaze and, lo and behold, they watched as from in between the various train cars and from the sides, the White Fang had just climbed up and out from the trains and onto the roof. "Didn't take them long to get up here." There was a slight annoyance that had slipped into Jotaro's tone as the man adjusted his cap, the three young women having frowned as they prepared for a fight.
"So, what's the plan Jotaro?" Ruby asked, Jotaro having still been nominally the leader of their group, as the older Huntsman looked down the line of train cars up to the engine.
"Our plan is to figure out what their plan is; they just launched a train down a very old line of train tracks that can only go one way, to Vale. Whatever their reason, we need to piece it together and quickly. To that end, we can't afford to waste too much time with these grunts." Jotaro looked down at the trio as he shrugged. "Capturing Roman Torchwick for interrogation would also be a plus, but I'm sure that went without saying." The slight smirks or smiles on all their faces confirmed this. "To these ends, we're going to need to make progress down these trains quickly and, potentially, find out what exactly they have in here.
"You three, at the earliest opportunity, I want you to get down into the train cars and traverse the train by passing through all of them. Take note of what's in there and, if you spot an opportunity to shortchange whatever their plan might be, do so. Don't waste too much time on these guys or whoever they might throw to try and get in your way." Jotaro turned his gaze back forward over the top of the train car as The White Fang goons approached. "I'll traverse the train by going over the top of the train cars. Hopefully that'll allow me to cut what time it'd take to get to the front." The three young women frowned, slightly worried, as Jotaro walked forward toward the approaching herd of White Fang.
"You sure about being up here by yourself Jotaro, one of us could stay up here to help-"
"ORA!" Before their eyes, as a White Fang goon jumped at Jotaro, a bladed weapon reared back and ready to cut them down, Star Platinum appeared and, with a powerful blow, sent the goon flying with enough forced to skip and hop across several train cars. If the goon hadn't been knocked out by the initial punch, having been sent skipping like a stone across the metal roofs had. The various White Fang Grunts who had, previously, charged with abandon and seemed ready to take the fight to Jotaro, paused and looked at the large man, having been reminded of exactly 'why' they had previously been on orders to not directly engage him one on one. With that little display, Yang just laughed as she slapped her knee.
"Nah, he's fine Rubes, Jotaro here can handle himself." With that, Yang placed a hand on her chin, rubbing it slightly as she gave a wiley grin. "Now, what we we need is to go ahead and get ourselves inside this little train." Weiss blinked as she just pointed up forward toward the gap in between train cars.
"... Yang you know that there's doors in between each car, right? It's actually not that hard to get in-"
"Too boring, I got a better way to handle it!" With that, Yang gave a quick 'woo' as the battle addict immediately sprinted forward toward another White Fang goon. Before Jotaro or anyone could stop her Yang gave a quick jump into the air, smiled nice and wide for the soon to be pulverized goon, and then punched straight down, slamming the goon's head into, and then through, the metal roof of the train car. With that, Yang Xiao Long dusted off her hands and grinned to her teammates and Jotaro, presenting to them the newly created hole. "Ladies and little girls first." Weiss and Ruby, in time, rolled their eyes as they quickly hopped down into the train car, Yang having given Jotaro a mock salute before she followed her teammates down into the train car.
With that, Jotaro turned his attention back to the rest of the White Fang on top of the train. While a good number had slipped back down in order to attempt to deal with the three Huntresses who had then, presumably, decided to take a trip through the various train cars, many more still stayed right on top of the train. They seemed ready to try their luck in a straight fight with Kujo Jotaro. Jotaro heaved an annoyed sigh as he adjusted his cap, his narrowed gaze falling upon each and every member of The White Fang whom had stayed behind.
"Yare yare daze, you all know that this isn't fair at all, right?" Jotaro muttered as he slowly leaned his posture back and raised his right hand.
"More of your friends should've stayed."
With a point, Star Platinum rushed forward, its battle cry echoing through the tunnel along with the echoes of the train's engine.
"I'm still not so sure about this." Ruby muttered as the three of them rushed through train cars, the trio having beaten or bruised many goons and grunts who had tried to get in their way. Ruby Rose, having been given space to not 'need' to think of how to beat these White Fang grunts, had instead turned her attention back to the sounds of combat that had been taking place above the very roofs they stood under. "There were, like, nearly a hundred White Fang going up onto the roof to challenge Jotaro… even if some of them came down, that's still a lot for anyone one person, even with a Stand, to handle. Shouldn't we have-"
Ruby's concerns had been interrupted as, seemingly out of nowhere, the head of a White Fang goon, thankfully still attached to his shoulders, suddenly burst through the ceiling. A huge, fist-shaped bruise had formed on his cheek as the terrorist groaned, the sounds of Jotaro's footsteps as they passed by echoing down into the train car as the three young women still heard Star Platinum going at it.
"Ruby, 'I think' Jotaro has a handle on this." Weiss commented dryly as she dispatched another member of The Fang, a mix of dry wit and amusement sang through her voice as Yang just chuckled.
"Yeah; this is what we've all been training for and, given that Jotaro's been at this 'way' longer than we have, I think it's pretty safe to say that he's more than ready for a goon squad." Yang commented idly as she looked around. "Now… more to the point, Weiss, what exactly are we looking at?" Weiss glanced around as Yang asked, a momentary lull in the fighting having formed as the trio prepared to move to the next train car.
"Same thing we saw in the last car… Dust, and a lot of it. If I had to guess, this is where Torchwick's been taking all the Dust he's collected these past several months." Weiss muttered as she looked at, well, 'everything'. Barrels upon barrels upon crates had been stacked, practically up to the very ceilings and, upon closer inspection, SDC labels and insignias plastered most of them. Those that didn't were instead cases full of commercially available Dust, equally stacked high, that had likely been stolen directly from stores involved in the robberies.
In one train car alone, Weiss estimated that there was probably something closely approaching to a 'ton' of Dust, and that was just her being cautious. She frowned as she bit her lip, the trio having continued to walk forward.
"I just don't understand; why load up all this Dust onto these trains? Why bring it all out here in the first place? It seems bizarre… you figured if he had some kind of trick up his sleeve for using this against Vale, he would've left it all 'in Vale' rather than having dragged it all out here." Weiss muttered as she stroked her chin.
"Maybe he couldn't keep it there, or anything that originated within Vale itself would have been too obvious and too easily stopped before the plan could go through?" The silver eyed young Huntress spoke up, the line of logic having been sound enough to earn a nod of agreement from the two older members of her team.
"So what? Torchwick's looking to blow something up? To what end though? These tracks likely don't lead anywhere in specific anymore if 'no one' knows where they go." Yang looked around at the Dust, the conundrum having boggled the blonde brawler's mind.
"Yeah, you'd think he'd have a specific target… and even then, why so much Dust for one target? What's he looking to accomplish?" Weiss asked, hands on hips, as they approached the entrance to the next train car.
"Well hey, think about it like this; the sooner we get to the front of the train and confront Torchwick, the sooner we can have these answers!" Ruby remarked with a cheerful chirp, which caused her partner and sister to both smile as they gave quick grunts of agreement.
"In that case what exactly are we sitting around for? Let's get going!" With that, Yang brought her leg up and, with a mighty kick, blew down the door to the next train car, having sent it skittering about the next car as Weiss frowned.
"Are all these overt displays of force really necessary, Yang?" Weiss asked as Yang just shrugged.
"Hey, this is not just our first mission but our first 'save a whole city' mission. I'm going to make the most of it." The trio of girls chuckled; it had been clear that what Yang had been doing was keeping their spirits high. The situation they had found themselves in was very tense and 'very' serious. A life and death struggle that they, mere days ago, had not entirely anticipated having to go through. Heck, such life and death struggles had become a more and more common occurrence these past several months. Still, they were young and not quite yet used to these stresses; a little comedy, a little steam blown off, it had been good to keep their heads in the game.
"Even so, I wouldn't necessarily suggest wasting energy like that on a job… it tends to tucker you out before you get a chance to actually get down to the nitty gritty of things…" The three young women flinched slightly, their attention drawn forward as they all readied themselves for a fight. However, each of them blinked in surprise at what they saw; whereas they might've expected a good number of goons with perhaps one brawny guy… what they saw instead had just been one man.
A man who leaned against one of the crates of Dust, calmly smoking a rolled up cigarette. The man himself appeared a bit odd to the fashion senses of the three young women; a wide-brimmed, purple-ish hat sat atop his head, the shadow neatly obscuring his eyes from the angle. On his face was a full beard that fluffed out just an inch or two from his face, nearly pure snow white save for some… odd little black squiggles that none of the three could have quite made out from the distance they had stood. A forest green range coat had been worn over a grey, high-neck shirt, one that had been neatly tucked into some dark, tan pants which themselves dipped into some boots.
The man appeared almost completely unarmed, save for a single revolver that had been placed into a holster connected to a somewhat loose hanging belt. Grey gloves flicked away the cigarette the man had been smoking as he turned on the three young women, allowing them to meet the gaze of some dark colored eyes.
"Least, that'd be my advice to you. Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be handing off that kind of advice to people my client's given some pretty specific orders concernin'. After all, wouldn't do to have you all actually learning anything." With that, the three members of Team RWBY all glanced at each other before looking back to the stranger in front of them.
"So what, just you here?" Yang remarked dryly as she tilted her head to the side, the hat wearing gentleman nodded in response.
"That's right ma'am. Me and my associated figured that if you all were carving through members of The Fang like a knife through butter, not much point in individual backup from them. Might as well just handle you all ourselves." Ruby, Weiss and Yang all looked at each other, furrowing their brows as they stared at the man in front of them.
"So where's your friend then? Hiding in a corner?" Ruby asked, genuinely curious, as the fella just shook his head and jabbed a thumb on behind him.
"Nah, he's settled himself up with Mr. Torchwick at the front of the train, trying to keep the guy from having a fit… and helping him set up for Kujo Jotaro's arrival, 'course." The man suddenly pulled out his revolver, a move which caused each of the three young women to flinch for a moment as he pulled back the hammer. "'Fraid it's just me here in this car, though my associate and I judged me sufficient to handle the three of you."
"... You're kidding, right?" Yang spoke up, a wide grin on her face. "Just you, huh? Man, Torchwick must've forgotten the last time we all tussled. Guy was in a giant mech and still couldn't take us on without his teeny, tiny scoop of ice cream." Yang cracked her knuckles as she looked over at Ruby and Weiss. "Hey, you two go on ahead. I'll deal with the cowboy here." Weiss frowned as she leaned over.
"Yang… just because he doesn't look like much, doesn't mean that we should take him lightly. For all we know, he could be a Stand User." Yang nodded understandingly as she cracked her knuckles.
"I get that Weiss, but at the same time, this 'good old boy' here just told us where our man is. Jotaro's going on ahead but it sounds like they're ready for him. I say three on two makes for a more even fight than two on one." Yang looked the stranger in front of them over. "Even if he is a Stand User… well, after Red Hot Chili Pepper, I can't imagine we'd come across another Enemy Stand User who'd give us as much hassle. It's better that we get this all over with, get Torchwick and then get this train stopped, don't you think?" Both the Schnee Heiress and the silver eyed Huntress frowned.
There was certainly a logic to Yang's words and it made sense on some strategic level; the sooner they secured the train, the sooner this mission would be finished and whatever threat to Vale that Torchwick posed would be cut down then and there. The head of the serpent had been placed right in front of them…
"Are you sure Yang?" Ruby Rose believed in her sister and her judgement, especially after the experience Yang had gained against Stands like Sticky Fingers and RHCP… 'if' this guy in front of them was a Stand User. Could be that he was just a good fighter with Aura. Still, she needed to ask. She needed to see that confidence in her sister's eyes.
So when Yang's lilac gaze turned to Ruby, full of vim and vigor, Ruby felt her own confidence bubble up.
"Alright Yang, we'll trust you… now, Weiss, let's get past this guy!" Ruby and Weiss readied their weapons, as had Weiss, while Yang prepared a shot from Ember Celica. Given this guy had been ordered to deal with them, there was no way it was going to be easy to just get past him. So, with a deep breath, Ruby and Weiss made a break for it while Yang reared her fist back, ready to cover Ruby and Weiss' breakthrough. The stranger's eyes narrowed, his hand twirled his gun in his grip and his other hand reached for his hat…
Whereupon he stepped off to the side and allowed Weiss and Ruby to pass. The partner pair nearly tripped over themselves but, luckily, kept on going, while even Yang had seemed surprised by the gestured. Weiss' gaze lingered on the back of the stranger for a long moment… and it was weird. It almost looked like those black lines in his hair were newspaper print. Weirder than that was the pattern on the back of the man's ranger… and his head. Weiss blinded; did he… have a human face tattooed on the back of his skull?
Despite this weirdness, Weiss shook it off and eventually took the… opportunity afforded to her and Ruby and ran off, slamming the door to the train car behind them as they did so. Yang eventually shook off her shock as she gave the stranger a bit of a grin.
"Huh, you know, for a guy who's supposed to 'deal with us' you sure have a funny way of showing it." Yang remarked glibly as she recovered from her surprise, the stranger just dusting himself off lightly as he shrugged.
"I'll grant you that little miss, but something you're going to have to understand is that, well, to me I figure that three Huntresses are gonna be a problem, no matter how young they might seem. The fact that you gals got Torchwick in such a twist in the first place shows that well enough." The man licked around the back of his teeth as he brought his revolver back up. "Three Aura Awakened folks in a group, in this cramped space… yeah, my mother didn't raise a fool. Even with what I got up my sleeve, that would be a pretty tricky ask." With a flick of his finger, the stranger sent the revolver forward as he took Yang in.
"Now… taking on 'one' Aura Awakened lady? That seems like the kinds of odds I can handle and handle quickly. Then I can go ahead, turn around and go deal with your friends… or hey, better yet, catch them in the back while they're dealing with whatever Torchwick and my associate have in store." The men presented his revolver, pointing it right between Yang's eyes. "So I'm going to have to apologize if I make this quick little miss, but I do have some other appointments to keep today."
"Aww, that's too bad, but I understand. I've always heard that guys your age tend to have a bit of a problem with your trigger-"
Before Yang could finish her joke, a hail of bullets were rapidly emptied out from the man's revolver, rounds upon rounds soaring through the air toward Yang. The blonde brawler, having been more than ready for this, ducked the initial shots as she rolled across the ground, pumping Ember Celica as she did so. She looked back over her shoulder as she watched the rounds impact the wall… and then blinked as they sunk 'deeply' into the metal, twisting it around them..
"Woof, Gravity Dust Rounds huh? That's nifty; I would've figured you'd go for Flame Dust, it's what I use myself." Yang countered as she immediately kicked off the ground, the stranger just frowning as he jumped back and reloaded.
"'Fraid I can't make that kind of allowance here; if I were to fire off Flame Dust rounds, well, I'd probably blow us and this entire train to Kingdom Come… speakin' of-"
"Yeah, gotcha, probably should hold back on that myself." Yang grinned as she ran forward, forgoing the shotgun blast she had been preparing and instead set herself up for some good old fashioned close quarters combat.
"Much appreciated." The stranger remarked as he finished reloading. Almost the second he had, the man turned his gun back on Yang and fired off another successive series of rounds, which Yang had ducked around-
Only to have to immediately jump as another round of bullets almost immediately impacted the ground she'd ducked to.
"Woah there, I didn't even hear you reload!" Yang cried out as she watched the stranger reload his gun… seemingly at the same pace as the first time.
"Huh, weird innit?" The man brandished his revolver again and, rather than duck or dodge to the side, Yang bit the inside of her cheek as she dived forward, the move having slightly surprised the stranger as the bullets ricocheted just behind her. The stranger grit his teeth as he did his best to jump back, bullets sent flying from his hands into the chambers of his revolver as he sought to get his ground back. Yang, however, kept her eyes peeled and kept her gaze trained on the man's gun hand. The stranger grimaced as he took aim however, rather than focus fire into one general shot, the man sprayed his bullets in a small area, the six rounds having been meant to cover Yang's possible means of approach.
To say that he was surprised when Yang, instead of backing off, just jumped straight up into the air, and twisted around so that her foot, very lightly, touched against the ceiling had been an understatement. Yang grinned; she hadn't pulled a stunt like this since the fight with RHCP… four days ago.
Wow these near-death situations really had just been stacking one right on top of the other, huh?
"Gotta say, mighty impressed. I'd heard that you Aura Awakened folk had the strength of five people, but seeing this is throwing me for a bit of a loop, admittedly." Yang grinned as the momentum of her initial jump pushed her further against the ceiling, the young woman having bent her knee to absorb the energy of the jump and prepare a second.
"Heh, five people huh? I think it might be a little more than that, but dang if it doesn't sound close. Glad I could impress!" Yang remarked with a wide grin as she pressed off the ceiling, firing herself off like a bullet as she made a line directly for the stranger.
"A little more huh? Well, so long as it's just a little, I think I'll be fine." The stranger remarked, his eyes obscured by his wide-brimmed hat as Yang reared her fist back for a punch. To her surprise, rather than having tried to dodge or get away from her punch, the stranger just brought up his own hand to block. A gutsy move, and one that Yang had been more than willing to meet. Yang 'felt' the weight shoot through the man's arm as her fist impacted his palm, the young woman having landed roughly on the floor as well as her body arced through with her punch. However… Yang hadn't expected the man to stand his ground against her punch. No sir, Yang hadn't expected that at all.
She'd also been pretty well thrown for a loop when, as she looked over at his hand, she saw… five, ten, fifteen, twenty… thirty something fingers that wrapped around her fist instead of just five.
"You see, I'm a fair few more than five men myself." At that moment Yang had felt something distinctly cold and metal press up against her exposed midriff… a few somethings, at that. A glance down with her lilac eyes showed that three revolvers, not one, had pressed themselves against her exposed stomach. Yang swallowed a nervous lump in her throat before-
BA-BAN-ANG-NG-BA-B-AN-NG-BANG!
The breath had been 'violently' driven from Yang's throat as she felt nearly a dozen Gravity Dust rounds pound into her midsection, the force of the shots and the gathered Dust having been enough to loosen Yang's fist from the stranger's grip and send her flying off back to the other end of the train car, where she landed with a massive 'thud'. The lilac eyed young woman cried out as she held onto her stomach, pulling her arms back to inspect the damage. She winced; those had been some deep bruises leftover, even if they had been healing over… though not as fast as usual. A consequence of her lack of sleep no doubt. Yang bit the inside of her cheek, a momentary shock that had been meant to distract her from the pain, as she forced herself back up to her feet and looked at her opponent.
Those fingers all slowly crawled back up his arm and around to his back, seemingly melding back into his flesh as they did so while his three additional gun arms that had sprung from his side tossed their guns back into the… main gun? It was so weird to watch happen as the other arms pulled the same trick as those… fingers, hand? As they all went back into…
"Okay, what?" Yang's mind had been having trouble absorbing exactly what she'd been looking at. It looked, for all the world, like some kind of surreal painting as the man seemingly melded back into himself.
"[Tatoo You!]" The stranger intoned as he shook off out his hand. "God's sake little lady, even with about eight other hands takin' that hit, I still feel numb there. You weren't kiddin' when you said you were more than five men put together." Yang's mind slowly but surely fit the pieces of the puzzle together as she frowned, dusting off her gut as she took a long look at the stranger.
"I'm guessing you were being more than just a little cheeky when you asked that… and that you are man to spare with your…" The stranger nodded as he reloaded his own revolver.
"Stand, little lady, Tatoo You! Is my Stand. You're also right, I wasn't exactly just jokin' around when I was asking that… then again, I'm more than a little familiar with the answer myself." He slammed the revolver's chamber shut as he brought up his gun again. "Tangoed with more than my fair share of Aura Awakened folks down in Vacuo… I think you can imagine that the reveal of my little stunt is usually enough to put them on their back feet." Yang grunted as she nodded.
"No kidding… though I do wonder, why the restraint there? I mean, you had the opening…"
"Cause, Miss Xiao Long, I'm actually familiar with how your Semblance works." Yang ground her teeth together as her ruse had been so easily pulled out from under her. " A self-strengthening Semblance that depends on you taking heavy hits in relatively short order so that you can get the most out of it. I 'could've pumped even more lead into you, like I usually do… but I get the feeling that you would've just gotten right back up, tossed that lead in my face and it wouldn't matter 'how' many men I was made of at that point."
"Well, you've got perspective, I'll give you that." Yang slammed her fists together as she spoke, the man just having nodded as he aimed his revolver again. "So just one more thing there cowboy… who exactly am I fighting? I generally like to know who I'm going to kick the crud out of before I do so." The man just gave a small grin at that, though he returned to his more even, professional expression soon after.
"Name's are pretty things but useless in my line of work… still, I suppose you did ask, and I can't rightly deny a woman her request entirely." The man pulled back on the hammer of his revolver once again.
"How about we go by my work name… Ten Men. Sound good?"
"Sounds good, and thanks for the tip."
With that the two went at it yet again.
Man came from Dust. As far as most people in Remnant knew, that was the beginning and the end of where humanity came from in the big picture of things. That, somehow or another, the human race had been born from Dust and, thus, explained why they had been so keenly intuitive to, eventually, finding out how Dust worked and how they could use it for their survival. However, that statement had been such an oddly vague one and, indeed, it raised a question among many minds; if Man came from Dust, where did the Faunus come from.
Now, the most rationally minded among people would insist that Faunus obviously came from Dust as well. They shared human's natural empathy with Dust, shared the human ability to awaken their Souls into Aura or, well, Stands. Shared most physical traits with humans, even. However, because they didn't share 'all' of their traits with humans, because there were those 'singular' traits that stood out, there were those among humanity who insisted that 'no', Faunus couldn't have come from the same place as humans. After all, to sully mankind's birth with the knowledge that they shared it with 'The Faunus', of all things, was something to be spat upon in some circles.
So a popular theory that gained traction were that Faunus, rather than being born from Dust, had been created from animals who, looking upon humanity's interaction with Dust, copied it and, thus 'accidentally' ended up taking on similar traits. That was the kind version among racists. Worst versions insisted that The Faunus just came from animals entirely and that it was only because ancient humans 'gave' Faunus the ability to work with Dust and Awaken a Soul that they had these gifts and that these were the reasons why Faunus had been subservient to humanity for so long; after all, why not pay back humankind, whom had awakened your potential, with your eternal service and enslavement?
The fact that many Faunus could, often times, take on 'more' than just the physical aspects of their animal link, that some, like Blake herself, even 'acted' like their animal at times gave 'credibility' to this theory among those who sought a reason to justify the ill treatment of Faunus. Needless to say, Blake Belladonna had not been a big fan of this theory or the many, many, 'many' abuses that had been allowed to go on in its name.
However, at that particular moment… well, Blake had never felt closer to her wild side or, at the very least, she'd felt closer to it than she'd felt in ages. It was a strange sensation; giving yourself over to your Faunus attributes. Widening your eyes so that you could take in every last little bit of light so that your night vision could pierce through the inky blackness, your pupils narrowing until your eyes barely resembled that of a human's at all. Closing off your more innately human senses of smell, taste and touch so that your ears could pick up on every last little sound that they could, from the scattering of rocks to the scurrying of little feet…
And that scurrying. The shuffling of claws against ground. There was something in that sound that 'thrilled' Blake. Not in the same way she had once felt a thrill with Adam, or when she took to reading her… books. No. This was a 'primal' thrill. Something that made her mouth water and her mind go hazy. Something that drove her soundless footsteps across the broken buildings and concrete of Mountain Glenn as she stalked her prey, constantly just out of sight or making so little sound that there was no way the little furball could've possibly heard her; hearing it take potshots at a location its sense of smell told her she had been coming from.
She didn't have claws or fangs. She didn't have great tufts of fur or a long swishing tail… but in that moment, she felt like her hair was standing on end, her body was tense and thrumming with energy and there was this voice, way down in the most base part of her mind, what must have been the very first building block that Dust had shaped when making Human and FaunusKIND, that echoed out at her. That whispered such sweet, sweet nothings into her cat ears and made them twitch with anticipation. That when she got her hands on this rodent, when she got her hands on this morsel, that she would rip and tear at it until it was dead.
That this Stand User, animal it must be if her senses told her anything, was her quarry and, if captured, 'her trophy' and that she would be free to do with it as she pleased.
It was with a deep, shuddering breath that Blake pushed these thoughts back to the base, mammalian part of her brain as she took another series of silent steps which head lead up to a jump that allowed her to clear another building. Because as much as there was that animal in every Faunus, there was a reason they deserved equality with humans; they were more like them than they were the animals they shared features with. That mind of hers, more than instinct, was worried; worried about her friends, worried about the fate of Vale and this mission and, most of all, worried about her survival. If she messed up, if she shot the gun, then she would die. If she listened to these animalistic urgings that echoed so far back in her mind they went back centuries, then she would be toast.
This wasn't quarry. This wasn't prey. As much as the rat was running, it wasn't running just to hide; it was looking to reposition. It was looking to make 'her' the prey. This wasn't a one-sided hunt between predator and prey, this was two hunters dueling it out, one with Aura and one with a Stand. The loser would die and then move on to do what they could to either harm or help Blake's team.
Blake Belladonna, the young Faunus woman, was not about to let this rat be the one who'd move on from this place alive.
Though if Blake had been determined to ensure that she'd make it out of here alive, then the rat had been doubly determined, fueled by an actual primal instinct… and more. Having its Stand awakened, having been given power… before that, the rat had been just a normal wild animal, at the mercy of the elements and the Grimm that had made up Mountain Glenn and had taken roost there. Every day had been a grind for survival, an attempt to carve out a meager existence while larger, predatory animals circled around. The Grimm, worst of them all, hadn't even been active hunters; no, they had only concerned themselves with humans.
They had just not given a damn if their steps or their hunting patterns had ruined the rat's nest, or had scared off potential food, or had 'destroyed' places for the rat to have hidden from its own predators. The rat had known what it had meant to be prey, and had known it for so long.
Then the arrow had struck, and it had transformed the rat's very existence. No longer merely prey for the larger beasts, no, now the rat had power. 'It' was the predator and it wielding this new power with abandon. It had killed 'everything' within its territory, Grimm, human and beast alike. It had devoured what remained of their corpses and it had made 'very' sure that everything knew that none were free to step within its domain.
The hunted had become the hunter…
And then this 'thing' appeared. This thing that walked like a human but smelled like a beast. For the first time in months, the rat had been reminded of what it had meant to be prey. It had run, claws scraping against the concrete of its territory, as it sought to hide or get away from its pursuer. It had run when, for the longest time, things had to run from it or face complete and total destruction. The hunter had become the hunted… and though the rat lacked the intellectual heft for it, on a more primal level, the rat 'hated' that it had been reduced to this again. It refused to go back to being prey after it had preyed upon its own predators.
It had power now. This 'thing' would be reminded of that. With a quick focus of its animalistic mind, [Ratt] materialized in front of the rat, its cannon pointed directly at where the rat's sense of hearing and smell had told it that the predator had been running toward. With a quick turn, the rat entered the body of its Stand and, with a quick bite, it had fired off another round.
Blake's eyes had gone wide at this as she quickly jumped up and out of the way, having heard the shot before she'd even remotely seen it impact the wall nearby. Before she could have gotten her bearings, more shots came out, which left Blake cursing; as she had thought, her opponent had just been repositioning itself, using the prolonged chase as a means to understand her movements before it turned on her with its Stand. From there, it had become a run and gun affair, Blake having sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her while RATT had swiveled in place, taking shots as quickly as it could as it forced Blake into its own planned affair.
Though Blake, having more than an animal's mind, had seen this coming; the Stand had been funneling her toward a dead end, a position where several collapsed buildings had intersected in such a way that climbing them with the speed necessary to have dodged the Stand's assault would've been made impossible. In addition, thanks to the angle that the Stand had set itself up in and the angle Blake had approached from, if the black haired Faunus attempted to course correct now so as to avoid being pinned in, she'd be hit by multiple rounds of the Stand's fire in the attempt, the only way back was to have walked right into the line of fire.
It had been clever but, at least Blake liked to think, she was far more clever than just some wild animal. So, with a sigh to clear her mind, Blake continued to run up to the corner, content to have let the rat think it had trapped her in a corner… much like a rat, ironically enough. As Blake ran, she eventually came to a halt, forced to stop by the collapsed buildings. There had been a focused, peaceful expression on Blake's face as she turned her eyes toward where the shots had been coming from… and there it was; the glint of that things scope. Blake had found her prey once again.
And then Blake had been struck. First in the neck, then in the gut and then square between the eyes. Several rounds of this Stand's rapidly fired shots had buffeted Blake's body, the young Faunus having been sent flying back into the wall from the force. The rat's mind had become elated, pleasure and relief evident in its mind. It had gotten its prey, it had shot it, it had killed the would be predator!
Then, the most complete and utter confusion an animal could have felt ran through the rat's mind as, rather than melt into a jelly of flesh and bone for it to devour later, the predator just disappeared into… nothing. Its projectiles had fallen into the ground with a clack and, for all the world, there had been nothing left of that predator that the rat could have seen. The rat's little eyes blinked and its ears twitched, its nose lifted up into the air as it sought any sign of the predator. Where had it gone? It had been there, all of its rat senses had told it so but… where had it gone? For all the rat had known, its predator had disappeared into thin air.
BANG BANG BANG
Up until a bullet had carved its way through the rat's ear, a terrible pain having erupted which caused the rat to scream, dissipate Ratt and run. Blake's other bullets had caught the Stand itself, the way the thing had been made having given the rat just the smallest bit of shielding from Blake's bullets. The would-be ninja, having used her Semblance to draw the rat's focus while she maneuvered, cursed under her breath as she reloaded. She'd actually caught a direct look at the Stand and rat at this point and, having seen both, needed to change her plans. She had thought that what she had been facing was a simple sniper of some kind, apparently fired by a rat, and that just getting a shot off from a little to the side or even from the front could have ended this fight.
However, as it turned out, the Enemy Stand was more than just a gun; it was practically an artillery set piece, a large cannon set into the ground with a shielding screen that faced forward. The only reason Blake had managed to catch the thing in the ear in the first place had been because the rat had raised its head in an attempt to sense her location. Thanks to its raised head, the bullet she had fired that just 'barely' scraped the top of Ratt had ricocheted into its ear… it wasn't much of an injury, more of a nuisance for the rat than anything, but it had at least been an injury. Now, having spotted out Ratt and how the Stand had been constructed, Blake knew that she needed to get in behind the Stand and its User. A shot from behind had been the only place that her gun, weak as it was, would've stood a chance of actually killing the Stand User. A shot from the front would've just bounced off of Ratt itself, the Stand having been pretty tough, as it turned out.
So Blake resumed her chase of the rat, her teeth grinded together as she focused in as close as she could. The rat had continued making squeaking noises of pain and misery as it had run, a trail of little blood had shined in the slowly but surely rising dawn and the sounds of its panicked steps had all alerted Blake to where the rat had been running. This was it, Blake had thought. This was her moment; she'd be able to kill the rat then and there, panicked and against the wall as it was, and then she'd be free to move on to help her friends. As she and the rat turned a corner, Blake bit her lip slightly as she saw that Ratt had been raised once again some ways off in the distance, the rat having quickly jumped up into the cockpit of the little cannon as it took aim at Blake. A shot fired and, to Blake's surprise, she hadn't witnessed another come at her rapidly like before. Still, Blake hadn't been about to look this gift horse in the mouth.
The round struck Blake again but, once again, Blake herself had disappeared and replaced herself with her Semblance, a shadow of the Huntress having been left behind before it disappeared. Again, the rat's confusion mounted as this impossible trick had now not only been pulled off once but 'twice'. The rat's eyes darted about, desperate to find the predator so that it could have turned its cannon on her… and it succeeded. On the first count, at least; the rat had found Blake Belladonna.
The would be ninja had managed to use the confusion of her Semblance to circle around Ratt's shielding, a move that had placed her right in direct line of sight of the rat that had been her prey for the better part of an hour. Gambol Shroud's pistol had been aimed true and careful, Blake's left eye closed as she took careful aim. This had gone on long enough; her friends needed her and they needed her then and there. This Stand User had eaten enough of her time; now was the time to end it.
She wouldn't feel too bad about it though; it was just a rat, after all.
Blake had been shaken from her thoughts as a shot had been fired… but not from her gun or from the cannon of the rat in front of her. In less than a second, Blake's eyes had traversed from the rat she had been targeting and moved toward the source of the sound… whereupon they had gone wide in shock and horror.
Another glint, another sign of an almost gold coloring… another Ratt. Blake's mind had gone at a mile a minute, her neurons had fired rapidly as the machinery of her brain had gone into overdrive to understand what exactly it was she had seen. Suddenly, in one single moment, it had all clicked for Blake. This rat… it hadn't been firing at them more rapidly than a cannon or a sniper rifle might've, even if it had been a Stand. No… what had gone on, beyond their notice, was that a second Ratt had been hiding further in the ruins of Mountain Glenn.
There had been two the entire time… and now Blake had been caught out. The thought had caused Blake's throat to dry as she could've practically 'seen' the projectile approach her. She'd 'just' then used her clone to protect herself from one hit… she hadn't been ready for another ne so soon, in such short order. She was in mid air too, having jumped so as to get around Ratt's shields and get a good angle on the first rat she had been chasing. She couldn't maneuver back around and she couldn't swing Gambol Shroud's ribbon out to pull herself out of the way in time.
Not with the shot having already been fired.
Blake choked as tears threatened the corners of her eyes. This was it.
This was how Blake Belladonna died. To a couple of rats… couldn't say that she didn't deserve it on some level. She hadn't been done in by The Fang for what she'd done, so might as well let a couple of wild animals exact that toll, right?
So, with little hesitation but a great deal of remorse, Blake Belladonna had closed her eyes and prepared for the pain of the shot; she had to imagine that being melted would have hurt like Hell, so she might as well brace for it. Indeed, as the seconds passed, Blake Belladonna 'had' felt a pain that she hadn't anticipated. The pain of having fallen right into the concrete with a solid 'thud'.
'What?'
Blake opened her amber eyes, blinking in surprise as she stood up and looked forward. The rat she had been chasing had paused momentarily as its own Ratt had disappeared, before it ran off, its Stand having appeared again some distance down the way. The second Ratt, she had to have assumed, had been at the moment taking its time to reload. She didn't understand though; had it missed? There was no way; she was wide open! She didn't have anything protecting her and she 'didn't' feel a bullet hit her Aura which meant that it hadn't just bounced off her… it had missed entirely.
But… but how?
"Bark bark!"
… Bark bark?
Blake's eyes turned down toward the ground in front of her and, for her trouble, she felt a rough tongue slobber over her face as 'something' jumped up to lick her. She gasped in shock and disgust for a moment as she used her hands to bodily push whatever had just jumped up on her off, wiping off her face and removing what spittle she could from around her eyes as she blinked in an attempt to take in what, exactly, had just…
"The mutt?!" Blake fought, and fought 'hard', the urge to jump back and away from the dog that had just seemingly appeared right in front of her, the little black and white corgi just having stood there on the ground as it panted up at her, a goofy expression on its face as it tilted its head to the side. "Wha-but-huh? What the heck are you doing here!? Why are you here?! Why aren't you with Yang or somebody… WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, IT'S DANGEROUS YOU DUMB ANIMAL, GET LOST!" Blake's thoughts had come at a mile a minute as she had looked down at this little dog that stood right in front of her. If Zwei had understood one word of what she had said, it hadn't made any obvious sign that it had. It just continued to stare up at her with that vacant expression it wore.
Blake resisted the urge to facepalm; this wasn't the time for this! Two dangerous Stand Users were nearby and ready to kill her, and this dog had just been standing there! It could get killed! Gods' sake, if Zwei got killed because it had ran into the middle of a fight in order to lick her face, Yang would 'murder' her, regardless of whether she'd been reduced to jelly. Yang Xiao Long would reach into the afterlife, grab her little Faunus soul, and proceed to murder her all over again. This dog, it needed to get out of here, it needed to get away, it needed-
Simultaneously, two shots fired at once, Blake's amber eyes having gone wide as she looked up. The two Ratts had fired off their canon at the same time, two projectiles immediately flying in toward Blake and Zwei with no sign of stopping. Blake panicked; there hadn't been time for this! She quickly scooped up Zwei in her arms and tried to ready her Semblance as fast as she could; she couldn't be sure she'd make it in time… but at the very least, she could keep this stupid animal from getting killed because it'd wandered in on her fight. As Blake attempted to focus her Aura into her Semblance in order to save this dog, a funny thing happened.
Something else had saved the two of them instead. Blake watched, again thoroughly surprised, as a cloud of… she couldn't even tell at the moment moved in between her, Zwei and the projectiles, the bullets having impacted the body of whatever it had been and had been, thoroughly, caught. Blake's jaw had gone slightly slack as her amber eyes blinked, the black haired Faunus having strained them to try and take in what exactly this cloud had been made of that had saved them…
Dust. Dirt. Debris. That had been what it was made of. In Blake's surprise she looked up and, lo and behold, in between where she had been and where she'd been initially fired upon, another smaller cloud of the very same material had been manifested, just having sat up there pretty as a picture.
If you could have believed it, that's when things got 'really weird'. Blake, in her moment of shock, had been forced to let go of Zwei as the little dog had shimmied out of her grip, a goofy grin still on its face as it turned to face the direction of the two rats. The dog just panted and yipped as it stood there, its legs spread in what was supposed to be a vaguely threatening manner that just did not fit the little corgi's disposition. Then… then the clouds of dust and debris started to swim together. More and more poured in from the surrounding buildings, years of decay and neglect having swam forth into their general area as a mess of dirt just collapsed into the cloud that had 'just' blocked the two shots from the Ratts. As the debris and dust clumped together, the black haired Faunus could only watch in numb surprise as something took shape.
Two back wheels with their axles extended out far from the body, a metal form that made up its torso, two long, metal paws with sharp claws that extended out as the forelegs, a beak with fangs that sat atop a face the shape of an ancient headdress, ten feathers having encircled the entire head. When the form had come together, the coloring had set in, the very form itself having appeared as though it was 'made' of those materials rather than having been made of the dust and debris that Blake had seen fly into it.
Blake Belladonna, having been pretty sharp, hadn't taken long to recognize the shape of the thing in front of her from Nora, Ren and Jotaro's story.
"[The Fool]?"
If Zwei had been 'terrible' when it came to putting on a war face, the Stand that had just assembled beside them had practically been a 'pro'. The Fool spread out its legs and lowered its lower body and roared, its voice having echoed throughout the empty streets of Mountain Glenn. Blake's mind quickly ran over all the possibilities and all the explanations… how? Iggy was dead and Zwei was just a puppy! It had been well over a decade since the Stardust Crusade, there was no way that-
Yang had said that they picked up Zwei's dad from Vale before. She'd remembered something to that effect. That it had been around the time that the Vytal Festival that occurred when The Stardust Crusade had passed through. The dog had been a puppy then and had been quite old by the time it had Zwei. Blake palmed her head as she shook her head. That was one mystery solved; not Zwei's dad, but 'grandfather', that's what Iggy, apparently, was.
Still, that had left the manner of this surprise; The Fool, right in front of her. She supposed that had been easier to explain; after all, Semblances were inherited between members of families multiple cases spread out across Remnant. Heck, Weiss herself had come from a family with a lineage Semblance that stretched back so long that it seemed like it'd been going on forever.
Heck, she was 'fighting two rats who had the exact same Stand'. Combining these two facts together, Blake soon found that she really shouldn't have been all that surprised that a Stand could potentially be inherited from down a family line.
Plus, well… Blake had said before that she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth and, boy, if this wasn't about the best gifted horse she could've gotten in that moment. Blake looked over The Fool again as it continued to snarl in the vague direction of where the two rats had been… but then her gaze turned down to Zwei and she couldn't help but shudder. Would she really take the help of a 'dog' in order to do all of this? It seemed so wrong. So completely and utterly wrong…
Still, Blake just bit her tongue. For her friends, for her life and for the fact that she needed to get out of here as soon as possible… Blake Belladonna would work with a dog.
There was no way that anything, God or man, could make her 'like' having to work with a dog, but she'd work with the mutt for now.
"Alright… Zwei…" Blake muttered, the calling of his name having caused Zwei's little head to perk up as it turned to Blake with that dopey, cutesy expression that Weiss liked, a fact that Blake hadn't been able to wrap her mind around. "How about we go ahead and hunt down some rats… that sound fun… boy?" If it had been possible for the dog to have a noticeable change in expression, it seemed as though Zwei had only grown more excited as it hopped around in place, giving quick barks and yaps before it turned back forward to face the two rats.
The two rats, with Stands born around the same time, had watched their predators multiply right in front of them; from one tricky one to three… no, the four legged one was much like them; the monster that formed beside it had come from it. If they killed the four-legged one, they would kill the monster. The two rats had dissipated their Ratts as they prepared to move around and maneuver… this fight between hunters had been far from over, and a hunted had not yet been completely decided.
Still, if the rats had anything to say about it, then the interference of another animal would just add to the pile of flesh they'd soon be ready to devour.
-To Be Continued- The Breach (Act 6)
A/N: I'm surprised that, as many people guessed that Zwei was Iggy's kid despite the fact that dog years wouldn't line up (Zwei is just a puppy, after all) that no one came to the more obvious conclusion that the set up about Iggy having left a bitch behind was meant to leave a more grandpaternal connection behind.
Ah well, hopefully that just means it still comes off as a surprise that was well enough set up that people won't call bullshit. Anyway, GET READY FOR SOME OF THE CRAZIEST ANIMAL FIGHTS CAUGHT ON CAMERA!
Hopefully I'll see you all in five days, though I'm going to be moving around sometime soon. If that ends up hurting my writing schedule, I'll be sure to let you all know. Till then, have a good weekend!
