A Changing World
Act two
Chapter 7: On the verge of success
…
Ren drove the heel of his hand into the throat of an opponent, one of many, at the same time that Taiyang performed the same move but with his right foot.
"Get clear!" Yelled Nora and they retreated as two pink grenades landed where they had just been.
They detonated, expelling pink smoke, which quickly obscured vision on both sides. Then Stormfly let loose spines and Toothless spat plasma into the pink mass, discouraging anyone from venturing through it to reach them.
Astrid glanced at a few White Fang goons who lay injured, out of the battle and propped up against the wall on her left.
She then pressed a hand to her earpiece. "Hiccup! Say something!"
"Can you stop that? You've already tried to talk to him. It's obvious he's not listening. That or he doesn't have his earpiece in or both." Said Taiyang.
"Now would be a good time to check if Jaune, Yang and Qrow are in any of those rooms back there Ruby." Cut in Blake.
"On it. Also, Astrid, I'm with my dad. Hiccup can handle himself. He'll be fine." Said Ruby, before turning and running to the rooms that were further down the hallway behind them in cloud form.
"He won't be when I get my hands on him." She heard Astrid say through her earpiece.
Ruby spotted Hiccup and Banesaw fighting around the corner on her right but ignored them, moving forward instead.
She entered the double doors and found herself in a room that was easily the size of the cafeteria back at Beacon.
It was devoid of any people, Ruby noted before returning.
"See anyone?" Asked Ren.
"Nope. Just vehicles; a few pickup trucks and a pair of bullheads, as well as weapons and Dust rounds." Ruby reported.
Footsteps sounded on the concrete floor before anything else could be said. They all turned, weapons at the ready, as the next wave of White Fang goons burst through the smoke and they were all thrust back into the fray.
…
Sparks flew and screeching was heard in the hallway as metal met metal.
Hiccup and Banesaw separated before they lunged at each other again.
This time, Hiccup brought his left leg up, intending to kick Banesaw in the gut.
The metal foot colliding with the area had Banesaw winded, and Hiccup dealt a punch to his jaw before separating again.
Soldiering through the pain, Banesaw lunged at Hiccup, attempting to slash at his left leg.
Disappearing before his very eyes, Banesaw halted mid-move, looking around wildly for his opponent. "Coward, show yourself."
Hiccup reappeared and dealt a blow to Banesaw's concealed face. "I'm a coward, am I? That's rich coming from you. You, who had three houses filled with innocent people killed for no reason at all."
He then followed up with another kick at his stomach.
This time, Banesaw activated his semblance and Hiccup suddenly found himself slowing down, ending up in the path of Banesaw's chainsaw.
Banesaw smirked behind his mask as his chainsaw reached its mark, resulting in his shirt being practically torn in two before Hiccup rolled away, but drawing no blood because of his aura.
Then Hiccup got up and disappeared again to flee.
When he was visible once more, he put his axes away and drew the shield from his back.
'Time to try something else. I think his semblance allows him to slow me down, but his chainsaw is what's really dangerous. Maybe I can disarm him? Here goes nothing, I guess.'
Hiccup lunged, his shield positioned so that it concealed his torso as he ran.
Banesaw met the lunge by moving his chainsaw below Hiccup's shield just as he entered his guard, before thrusting it upwards.
His chainsaw scraped along the front of the shield, trailing sparks. Then, he pressed forward, creating a groove in the shield and preventing Hiccup from advancing any further.
"First my shirt, now my shield. You must love ruining my stuff with that thing."
Banesaw said nothing, and the four White Fang goons chose that moment to open fire, forcing him to move away from their boss while blocking the shots with his shield.
His arms ached by the time the gunfire stopped. He peeked over his shield and had to immediately duck again as the edge of the chainsaw came his way.
Had he not ducked, his forehead would have received a cut, deep and bleeding heavily. It would have become another scar; the third in his collection.
Next, Banesaw hooked the chainsaw below Hiccup's shield and tore it from his grip.
A shot fired by one of Banesaw's entourage hit Hiccup's shoulder, drawing a hiss of pain from him. Clutching his shoulder with a grimace, he disappeared once again as the three others opened fire for the second time.
He reappeared and drew his axes, but was forced into the path of the chainsaw by the shots, which depleted his aura as it cut horizontally across his torso.
Stepping back, Hiccup summoned fire to both hands before going in, intending to win the fight or at the very least force a stalemate.
It didn't go well, as Banesaw simply stepped aside, letting his semblance slow Hiccup down further. As a result, he was left entirely open to the gunfire from his entourage.
His aura held for no more than ten seconds before it broke entirely.
The final move of the fight from either side came in the form of a punch to Hiccup's chest that emptied his lungs of air.
"You shouldn't have chosen to fight me alone," Banesaw said, watching Hiccup try to regain his breath for a moment before turning to his men. "Grab him, make sure he has no weapons left on him and follow me."
"Yes, High leader." The four faunus spoke before approaching Hiccup.
Hiccup tried to move away from them but the notion was futile as he found he couldn't move.
After taking his axes, shield, and scroll away from him, they forced him to face Banesaw.
Now looking straight at their boss, the faunus spoke again. "My semblance is the reason that you can't move right now. Keep that in mind as there may come a time when we fight each other again."
"Bring him," Banesaw added, turning and setting off down the hallway.
Rounding the corner where the others were fighting, Banesaw shouted. "Enough!"
The area was a warzone. Faunus littered the hallway sporting various injuries, mostly broken legs from Nora or a great deal of bruising and broken ribs from Ren and Taiyang. Or some minor cuts on exposed skin from Blake and Astrid.
Not to mention those who were unfortunate enough to encounter Stormfly and Toothless.
The shout drew every eye to Banesaw and the captive Hiccup, causing despair among the latter's allies.
"All of you, the traitor herself and the humans will surrender right now or this one dies." Said Banesaw.
He nodded at one of his men, who immediately obeyed him. The faunus forcefully pressed the barrel of his gun to Hiccup's temple.
Fury flashed in Astrid's eyes and a scowl graced her features. Nevertheless, she was the first to drop her weapon.
After she placed her axe down, everyone else reluctantly followed suit.
After being bound and blindfolded, they were all led away and separated, being placed in different rooms.
Hiccup and Astrid were put in one room. Then Taiyang and Blake together. Then Nora, Ren and Ruby.
Lastly, Toothless and Stormfly, the latter two of which were moved into a room, but not together like the others.
…
Watching as they were led away, a tap on the shoulder from one of his subordinates broke Banesaw away from his thoughts.
After speaking briefly with the man in hushed tones, Banesaw gave an order. "Get all our equipment ready. We're leaving for our base in Mistral. Also, make sure that our new prisoners won't be able to escape easily, if at all."
The subordinate nodded and set off while Banesaw sought out Merlot.
He and Jack were in the room that let him hear anything that was said by the hostages in the next room along.
So far nothing relating to escape had been said by any of the four.
"Get ready to move out. Two Atlas airships are in the skies above us, so we're leaving before they decide to make a move." Banesaw told them.
"I heard the fighting that took place just down the hall. They have no idea how close they got." Replied Merlot.
"And if all goes as planned, they never will. My people are preparing our equipment for transit as we speak. Get ready to leave." Banesaw said nothing more to the pair before he turned and left the room again.
…
Shoved into a steel-walled room, the door clanged shut, trapping him with a furious looking Astrid in the vicinity.
Hiccup sighed internally. "Alright, get it over with, but if you would be so kind as to not punch either of my shoulders, that would be great. I got shot at and both of my shoulders aren't doing great at the moment."
Astrid rolled her eyes before she raised a hand and slapped him hard in the face. "You sent me away and got hurt. Expect no sympathy from me, you complete muttonhead."
Hiccup quirked an eyebrow. "Sending you away with both dragons and everyone else to reduce the risk of our baby getting hurt makes me a muttonhead, does it? Guess I'm a muttonhead then."
She paused and her eyes softened as realisation dawned. "And you couldn't tell me the reason you did that because-"
"-Because the White Fang would focus on you particularly if they heard." Hiccup finished. "Yeah."
Astrid looked away, face flushing red in embarrassment. "Sorry. I overreacted."
"Don't worry Milady. I kind of expected it."
"That doesn't make it right Hiccup." Murmured Astrid, looking down and refusing to meet his gaze.
"Hey," Hiccup forced her to look at him by lifting her chin with a finger.
"You did nothing wrong, Astrid. Don't forget that." Said Hiccup before pecking her on the lips.
"You're too quick to forgive you know," Astrid muttered under her breath. Then, speaking louder, she added: "So how did you lose to him Hiccup? You managed to succeed before."
"His semblance slowed me down until I couldn't move at all, according to him."
"Why didn't he use it before?"
"It took a while to start working. Maybe that's it? Who knows. Anyway, we can think of that later. Right now we need to escape. Any ideas where the others are?"
She shook her head. "Even if I did, neither of us could get through that door."
"Yeah, you're not wrong there Milady. We also can't tell Weiss or Gobber that the plan went wrong as they took our scrolls."
"Guess we can't do anything but wait then." Suggested Astrid.
So they waited, hearing footsteps pass their room, then they waited and waited some more.
Neither knew how much time had passed before they heard an explosion, not far off, then another, sounding like it was just outside the steel door to their room.
Lastly, a third explosion that sounded above them, causing dust to rain down on them both. Hiccup glanced upwards before looking at Astrid, worry on his face.
"Aura up, Astrid. I've been here before."
"What do you mean?"
"I ended up in a coma as a result of a bomb. If only I had my shield with me right now."
Then a fourth explosion, larger than took place that swept them off their feet.
Both were flung, face first, against the wall in front of them, just as another explosion occurred and the ceiling sported a large crack, concrete dust covering them both.
Hiccup blacked out beside her as a result of colliding with the wall, slumping forward as what little aura he had depleted itself once again, while Astrid, with her aura in much better shape, managed to stay conscious.
The crack in the ceiling started to spread, more dust raining down. As it spread, a worrying creaking could be heard.
Hastily scrambling to her feet, she picked up Hiccup and ran to the door, avoiding being crushed by a hair's breadth as the ceiling finally fell in.
She looked up, the blue sky greeting her. Then it gradually became more and more white as an Atlas Battleship slowly moved into view overhead.
Then Astrid heard something that drew her attention away from the large airship.
It must have been her imagination, but she could have sworn that she heard three smaller explosions followed by a roar.
No, it wasn't her imagination. She heard the noise again. A familiar roar.
"Toothless! Over here!" She called.
Silence.
"Toothless! Over here!" She repeated.
An answering roar and the repeated thud of the two dragons coming her way before the noise stopped completely, just outside the door to her room.
'Hang on Hiccup. We'll get out of this.' She thought.
"Toothless, I want you to break down the door. Can you do that?" Astrid called to the dragon.
She got a roar in answer so she picked up Hiccup and stepped away from the door. When the door was blown off its hinges after three blasts, Astrid stepped into the hall.
Toothless warbled with concern when his eyes fell on Hiccup who was passed out in her grasp. "I know you're both worried, but right now we need to find the others and get out of here."
He responded with a croon. Satisfied, Astrid nodded. "Right, let's go Toothless."