Chapter 43: The Games begin
Ruby
The Challenge hung in the air, everyone in the room had heard it, every word, every detail. Yang was going to turn this into the tournament she was cheated out of and she was accepting challengers at mountain Glenn.
Or that's what she's saying at least. Ruby thought to herself, a more than cynical mindset taking over her thinking. Ruby used to know her sister, a pretty straightforward woman but this new Yang she was different from the sibling she knew, but she thought she was starting to get a grasp on Yang's new eccentricities.
"Something's off" Blake whispered into Ruby's ear. Ruby jumped a bit she was so lost in thought she'd forgotten Blake's presence next to her. "This feels like she's baiting us"
"Not just us," Jaune said quietly not looking up from the Holo-screen giving off nothing but static. Nora hopped down from the bunk, and Ren rose from his seated position to stand next to her. They gave Jaune a determined look and started to head towards the door.
Again Ruby raised her hand in Jaune's way and a fire lit behind his eyes, Ruby matched it with her own. No weapons were drawn but the room became very very tense in an instant.
"Ruby?" Jaune asked, a growl in his voice but buried deep underneath it was a desperate pleading of someone willing to throw away their safety for a friend. Ruby's hand did not fall, she lifted it and pressed her hand to his breast-plate, it was firm against his chest and she half-thought she felt the thumping of his heart beneath it.
"If Pyrrha kills you… she's lost" Ruby stated nailing home the cold hard reality of that statement, she didn't see doubt on the faces of team JN_R's members, they were locked into this cause. "And she would kill you Jaune. So if you're going to do this, don't be an idiot! And if you need help, I'm just a scroll call away"
She let her hand fall, But Jaune caught it in his own and gave it a grateful squeeze. The anger vanished and an old tired smile returned to his face, for a split second he was 'Vomit boy' again, hopeful and nervous once more, Ruby's friend. She squeezed back before stepping out of the team's way. Ren gave her a nod and Nora picked her up into a bear hug shaking her a bit.
"It'll be nice for us to finally get some action, you guys have been hogging all the fights lately," Nora said, her voice as boisterous as could be.
"I'd trade places with you if I could," Blake replied her voice a cool sardonic hiss. "See you in the field."
With that team JN_R were out the door at a leisurely pace, after all, they didn't need to rush they knew not to make the same mistakes that team RWB had. Suddenly Penny beeped, honestly made a tiny beeping sound. Despite being the source of the noise she jumped in surprise.
"Ruby I've been ordered to join the forces seeking to capture Yang Xiao Long. Would you care to join me in this endeavor? I would so very much like to field test the team attack Nuts and dolts. Oh, you come up with the funniest names."
Normally Ruby would have laughed at that, glad to see the joy on Penny's face, but something was severely off here, This didn't fit into Yang's scheme at all.
"We should pick up Weiss first" Ruby answered Penny, opening her scroll and sending a message still sticking to the agreed-upon code. She received confirmation in return, though Ruby doubted Yang's broadcast had reached Weiss. "We'll need her to capture Yang… again."
They were armed and ready almost preemptively, so as they exited team JN_R's dorm room they were greeted with the sight of multiple students scrambling to throw on armor, weapons and get dust rounds properly chambered. The student body was apparently enticed by the enormous bounty placed on Yang and was unafraid of her Grimm reputation.
Well, they're probably afraid, but that's a lotta lien on Yang's head. She was glad for their lack of preparedness though, it would grant her and her team a head-start in the pursuit of Yang. Hopefully, the teachers will be able to keep the younger students out of this.
The grass crunched under Ruby's feet as she, Penny and Blake rushed to the Atlas Holding Facility, The front gate was rubble, with Atlas Personnel shooing away anyone who decided to stick around and gape at the destruction. A few Beacon attendees had decided to watch from afar, and nearest to the busted building an excited Lisa Lavender was rambling to an Atlas scribe, struggling to get down whatever it was she was saying.
That scene was particularly amusing since she was both gesticulating wildly to the scribe and shouting into her scroll, no doubt at some higher-ups at her station. Ruby was so used to seeing the reporter calm and collected on TV that this very animated version of her was almost endearing. Ruby hid her smile behind as professional a look as she could muster and approached the nearest Atlas Grunt guarding the perimeter. He seemed like all the rest until he opened his mouth.
"Sorry Ma'am, no one allowed past the perimeter" the boy squawked, only now did Ruby notice the scrawny frame of her latest Ammo-Gopher. He shook a bit as she stared down at him, which was a rare occurrence for Ruby, being on the smaller side herself.
"I see they bumped you up from Ruby-duty." She said mildly, Resting her hand casually on Crescent Rose. The young grunt gulped, before readjusting his stance to as close to proper Atlessian form as he could manage. He even snapped off a crisp salute.
"Yes Ma'am," he said with gusto, Ruby raised an eyebrow at that and the kid sputtered a bit. "I mean What's Ruby-duty? No one calls it that…. I'm sorry ma'am"
Ruby chuckled at that before starting to walk past him. "No worries, and I told you not to salute me I'm not in the military."
The Ammo-kid took a step in front of her to block her path.
"That's the problem Ma'am" He responded his voice shaking slightly, as Ruby looked down on him. "We can't let anyone other than Atlas personnel back here"
"I'm just here looking for a friend"
"Be that as it may ma'am, I have my orders and I can't break them" Dust the kid was scared, nervous and still keeping to his orders, Ruby had to admit he wasn't a bad kid and she may have teased him a bit much. So she just sighed and took a step back, the ammo-boy's tension decreased noticeably at her retreat.
Digging into her pocket Ruby retrieved her scroll and brought up a picture of Weiss and the confirmation of the bounty mission she and her team had taken a few weeks back. She showed them both to the kid, who scanned over the content at a rapid, but professional pace.
"Would you mind finding this woman? she was here when everything went nuts" Ruby asked calmly. "Her name is Weiss Schnee and she's my partner"
"I know her" the kid responded though unlike most Atlessians he didn't add a heavy sneer to his words, which Ruby supposed she appreciated. He looked around nervously and then back up to Ruby. "I'll go find her, just don't cross that line ok?"
Ruby gave him a nod and a jovial salute. "Yes Sir"
He smiled at the honorific before jogging back to fulfill his new mission. As soon as he was inside the building Ruby let out a sigh and scratched her forehead.
"What is Yang after?" she asked herself, almost oblivious to Penny and Blake's presence near her. "How does ducking out to mountain Glenn get her closer to… to her target"
Ruby had to remain careful about what she said and when she said it, especially here with so many atlas ears around her. Blake was lost in thought, no doubt seeking an answer herself, while Penny simply shrugged. An idea dawned on Ruby and she turned to her robotic friend desperately hoping her suspicions were wrong.
"Penny! How has Grimm activity changed since Yang's broadcast?" Penny considered as the green-lights throughout her systems began to glow.
Oh Dust, oh no no no! Yang, you wouldn't would you? Yang killing was hard enough to stomach, but the idea that Yang would be willing to help the Grimm run rampant on the people of Vale by spiking fear seemed a bridge too far. Vale had been emotionally stunted in the last few years since the Vytal festival incident with Pyrrha, unfortunately, being the only ray of light. Turning that apathy to fear or anger might put hundreds of lives at risk. Not to mention everyone around the world who'd have to watch that chaos.
The green lights on Penny flashed and the robot girl dinged as she turned smiling towards Ruby.
"Grimm encounters on the border of vale have shown a decrease of 13.56% since Yang's broadcast" Penny answered chipper as always. Ruby stared dumbfounded, clearly, her pessimism had been getting worse these past few years.
"You're certain?" it was a dumb question to ask, Penny was a creature of certainties and she rarely exaggerated. "Why?"
"98.7% positive friend Ruby" Penny smiled back no doubt happy to be the bearer of good news. "as to why my psychological analysis programs still require a bit of fine-tuning to get working."
Blake glanced around at the Beacon students nearby, watching the whole affair, Ruby followed her gaze and saw almost laughter in the eyes of the students watching the Atlas soldier struggle to move the rubble, she could see the joy on each of their faces at the misfortune of the Other kingdom's citizens.
"Atlas isn't very well-liked in Vale," Blake said simply, She could see the writing on the wall faster than Ruby had. "Maybe people in Vale just like seeing their nose get bloodied"
"Oh no I hope not" Penny responded bringing her hands up to her face in shock. "Atlas only wants to help Vale."
"It might Penny, but not everyone appreciates that… help" Ruby knew that first hand, the brunt of her bullying since the Vytal festival had been in connection with Atlas' overstepping of bound, and while it wasn't her fault that the breach had occurred a lot of people hadn't seen it like that, and since Yang's arrest many people had correlated that action with Atlas' further snatching of powers.
The blame for the Atlessian indiscretion had landed in her lap along with many other things. That just how people acted when they were upset, they looked for people to blame, for a reason for why things happened and a simple reason at that. So many people blamed her, and she all too often blamed herself. Well, she did whenever Weiss wasn't around, the Atlessian wouldn't allow anyone to blame Ruby for the current state of affairs, Ruby least of all.
Ruby couldn't help but smile at those old lectures secretly meant to raise her spirits, Weiss was an excellent partner. Looking up from her thoughts Ruby saw the Ammo-gopher returning from the ruined building with a slightly bedraggled Weiss following behind him.
Weiss had looked better, dust and smoke coated her, she had a few scratches up and down her arms, and there was a sunken look upon her face. It was the look that disturbed Ruby the most. Ruby felt the urge to just buck at the Atlas kid's orders and rush to her teammate there and then, but she controlled herself and waited patiently for Weiss to be brought to her.
Once Weiss passed the line, all bets were off, however; Ruby Rushed forward and enveloped Weiss in a crushing embrace that after a second Weiss returned, she held onto Ruby almost as if she needed help to remain standing. Ruby held her up, its what friends were supposed to do.
"Yang's at mountain Glenn" Ruby whispered into Weiss' ear.
"I Know" that was all she got back, it confused Ruby, she thought that Weiss would be in full conspiracy theorist mode, trying desperately to decipher what it was that Yang was actually after, but Weiss was quite. It said more than screaming would have.
"She's up to something"
"She is"
Ruby hesitated before breaking the embrace, looking over Weiss again, there was doubt on her face and tears being kept at bay from her cheeks.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, herself very worried about what the answer might be.
"I need to tell you something," Weiss said wiping the tears from her eye. "About something Yang Said."
Yang
"How long do you want to play this game, Yang?" Raven asked, no sarcasm in her voice because this 'Accepting all challengers' thing was, in fact, a game, a farce, a show. Yang's feet dangled off the edge of the ruined building, she looked down at the ruins of mountain Glenn and remembered her first official mission. She lifted her knees to her chin and hugged them, it was a good time, talking to Oobleck, fighting with her team and getting a rude awakening that sadly paled in comparison to future ruder revelations.
Yang sighed at the remembrance, but not so loud that anyone besides her mother could hear her. "This thing with Ironwood is gonna cause a panic, might as well give them some entertainment before they take that plunge." She stood up, kicked a section of the wall of the building, and watched it fall tumbling down below. "Who knows maybe they'll be glad to be rid of him"
Raven gave her a blank look.
"But I doubt it"
"That is best" Raven muttered, Yang had felt like she'd let Raven down, in getting captured, she felt like she was the weak link and that Raven was only staying around out of obligation. It made Yang feel weak and exposed. She wanted to rant at her mother about the stupid accusation Winter had leveled her way, to get an angry chuckle at the idea that Raven had been involved in Summer's death, she wanted someone to share the cathartic rage with. But Yang felt she wasn't worthy of that connection anymore, not yet at least.
The plan was an easy one, draw Attention and defenses to one location, Yang would keep the focus on herself and her fights while Raven, used the distraction to infiltrate Ironwood's ship and act as Yang's in. Yang had to sell this fight, VNN would send huntsman reporters, most likely to get footage, to keep attention on this fiasco.
They are a bunch of carrion-eating Nevermores. Yang thought slightly sickened by her using them. The media had done her no favors, before or after her escape. She remembered how team RWBY had become pseudo-celebrities for their efforts in pushing back the breach. Everyone was looking for either a scandal or a creepy angle, reporters were kept off of Beacon campuses but it made, trips to Vale uncomfortable.
That attention died down with the whole Vytal festival going on, though Yang could still remember the same VNN reporting on how 'stunningly strong, courageous and beautiful' Yang had been at the breach calling her 'A Failure, a moron, more a psychopath less a huntress' immediately after the Vytal Festival incident.
They were fickle and Yang could use that.
They Praised Atlas for its effectiveness. Yang looked up to see a far distant Atlas dropship approaching. Let's see what they say when I kick their ass.
Yang was going to hurt them, to beat them down and hunt them as they hunted her, she had chosen the battleground, picked the time. She had prep time, thanks to her mother's portals and she had surprise on her side. She looked back at Raven who'd removed the mask from her face, exposing her pale skin and red eyes to the midday sun. Raven looked like she wanted to say something to her. Yang was worried she'd say something that would make Yang feel pitied.
"You can take them Daughter-mine" Yang couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement, she hoped for the latter.
"Yeah mom, I can" she squeezed her hand into a fist, her knuckles gave a satisfying pop under the pressure. Yang would take them, she'd beat the first wave of Atlas specialists, she'd win that first round by knock-out. When the Beacon students came she'd give them a lesson they'd keep with them their whole life, when the bounty hunters came she'd make them question their life choices. When team RWB came…
I can't think about that now. She thought, pushing that intrusive idea back behind the wall her mask had made in her mind. It was going to resurface, again and again. But she couldn't let it stifle her thoughts.
"Mom?" Yang asked Raven turned towards her, giving her daughter a curious look.
"Yes?"
"Can we just have a talk between the two of us once this is all done?" Yang took another step-forward until she was on the building's edge. "I think I have more questions that need answers"
"Of course Yang" Raven answered before she took on her avian form and flew off.
Yang took a step forward and fell from the building, she blasted Ember Celica before she hit the ground, slowing her descent. She rolled when she hit the concrete, her focused aura silencing her contact with the earth. As she ran her aura silenced her footfalls, it was a strange talent, in fact, her first attempt at it freaked Yang the hell out, making her feel like she wasn't even walking, but soon it became as mundane as the rest of her strange new talents.
After a 30-minute run, she came upon them, the Atlas personnel were all setting up a base camp, dead beowolves turning into smoke all around them. Yang had herself crouched behind the ruins of some burger joint watching the dropship fly off, no doubt to pick up more men. It was a slightly more experienced crew, she could tell, the usual Atlas grunt armor was augmented in some places, a few had cybernetic-prosthetics and the rougher looking of the crew had markings on their armor tallying the Grimm they'd slain.
Yang had to scoff at the counting. Who the hell keeps score anymore? The markings on the armor were mostly Beowolves and Yang barely registered fights with them anyway. Grimm hunting wasn't necessarily about quantity but Quality, and Yang had the Quality hunts in spades. The mechanized units were setting up guns and embankments while the human agents chatted and started looking at the nearby ruins, no doubt planning their search pattern.
Now how would I do it?
Yang crawled deeper into the ruined burger joint, keeping an eye on the camp through the cracks and holes in the wall. Atlas had motion sensory tech and would no doubt sweep through the area, Yang could deal with that.
She found a good position in the ruins, with a nice line of sight, knelt down and focused into her mask. Normally she'd touch on the anger in it or the disdain but this time she reached for the Grimm-patience in herself, her heart rate slowed, a calm overcame her and her muscles relaxed perfectly. Yang was in her mask, sat perfectly still, keeping watch over the Atlas Camp.
Remember mother's lessons. She thought to herself as her mind focused on analysis, she saw weak knees, malfunctioning arms, unwieldy weapons, holes in the armor, bitter glances between teammates, structural weaknesses, emotional weaknesses. As she watched she made a picture of their faces in her mind's eye, and she began to build a profile for each one.
It was busy work, but she needed it. She had to linger on other things; on the work and her fights. Yang couldn't allow herself to linger on Weiss or Ruby or Blake, it hurt too much. She could feel her heart rate rising, she took a deep breath and let out a practiced exhale. Those thoughts were her weakness and they'd ruin her.
Soon she saw the Atlas crew arguing, a tall muscular man was being reprimanded by a smaller almost petite dark-skinned woman. He was pointing to a scroll and to the camp around them, while she was gesturing to the city itself. Yang focused her aura on her senses and eyes trying to pick up what she could.
"wait… orders… reckless" The large man said, Yang could only hear a few words from this distance but she could catch the gist.
"tired… scout it… active" The woman responded, there was a confidence in her voice that the big man lacked, Yang figured she'd win out on the argument. Yang could expect an aggressive pursuit even from the first lot.
Good. Yang thought mind racing for ways to further bait this team. The Larger man was right hunting after her would be reckless. Maybe I should give them some bait? Later.
The dark-skinned woman had talked of scouting out the area, which Yang couldn't help but find amusing since she was scouting out them. They could take out a few Beowolves sure but the further they headed into the city the more they would come to realize that the Grimm here was more than aggressive and endlessly patient. This small crew would come back with more than a few cuts and bruises in their first scouting mission.
When the big man caves and the scouts leave, I'll leave them a present.
It was another half an hour before they let out, the big man acquiescing and joining the scouting party but looking significantly put out about that fact. The 6 Atlessian knights were left behind along with 2 human guards. They did a quick motion scan of the building Yang was hidden in and found nothing, she was still as a rock before heading out. Yang gave it another 10 minutes before moving.
As she stood up her bones creaked and popped and a soreness ran rampant through her body, from the lack of motion. She'd be sure to make up for that lost motion with interest. Focusing her aura to the pads of her feet she exited the ruined restaurant.
Should I leave a message or make a scene? Yang considered as her gaze swept over the remaining guards. The live guards were a male and female pair, they're armor was the least marked up, and the way the other Atlessians addressed them left no doubt in Yang's mind that they were the greenest members of the group. The male had removed his helmet and had green hair tied back in a tight bun while his companion had left her helmet on and was fiddling an overcharge dust pack into her weapon.
He had a weak knee and she was amazingly twitchy.
I know just what to do with them. Yang thought stooping down, hefting a considerable-sized chunk of rubble into her hand, she made no sound as she spun and flung it against a building on the opposite side of the camp from her. the stone sailed through the air and struck the building with a loud crash.
The effect was immediate. The Atlessian knights all turned towards the sound at once and the woman sprung up to her feet in surprise fumbling with her scroll, her partner fell out of his chair in a similar surprise. As soon as all faces were facing away from her Yang launched herself forward in a dead-on sprint, arms held low curved like claws.
Yang tore the heads from the 2 nearest Atlessian Knights, never slowing her stride, crossed her arms over her chest and fired shells into the middle two knights and flung the heads in her grasp into the faces of the remaining two. All this she did without breaking stride or slowing her pace. The woman had turned first, no doubt hearing the rent of metal as the Knights were made headless, the man didn't even start to turn until Ember Celica roared. By the time Yang locked eyes with both she was practically on top of them.
"What the fu-" The woman blurted out, her rifle waving at Yang wildly. Yang cut her off with a wordless roar as she threw herself at the woman. For all her twitching she didn't flinch when Yang darted her way, the confusion came When Yang's hand wrapped itself around the opening of the rifle.
Yang thrust the Rifle back, smashing the scope into the woman's face and clear off the gun. The woman's grip slackened. Yang tore the rifle from her hands, took a firm hold of the barrel, Spun and smashed the butt of the weapon across the woman's face. It hit so hard the butt shattered into a hundred pieces from the force of the blow. The man had stumbled out of his chair and was desperately trying to turn his fall into a confident roll. Yang had to admit he was doing a fair job of it; he managed to roll well and draw a pair of revolvers from his hip as he rose. Yang ducked and dodged away from his errant shots before hefting the rifle and flinging it at him, He caught it instead of shooting it.
Big mistake. Yang thought, firing Ember Celica at the over-charged power pack in the weapon. It exploded, no doubt, breaking the man's aura and leaving him unconscious. And alerting the rest of them to what's going on here.
Yang walked over to the woman still holding her head and moaning in pain, her free hand was reaching for her scroll. Yang snatched it up from her and flipped the screen open. She set a call for the first important-looking contact, the smaller dark woman.
"Cadet Alta! You were specifically told to maintain radio silence while we're out here" she whispers shouted into the radio. Cadet Alta made a slight moan reaching for the phone Yang swatted the hand away and tipped the woman over with her foot. "Cadet Answer me if this is a butt dial I swear."
"Cadet Alta can't come to the phone right now, she's nursing a mild concussion," Yang said cheerily into the phone. There was a long pause on the other end.
"Who is this?" the Sargent or captain or whatever asked.
"I think you can guess at who I am" Yang walked over to the smoke, took hold of the green-haired cadet's ankle and dragged him back to rest next to Cadet Alta. She pressed her foot against his weak knee until it popped, and his screams filtered up into the scroll. "The score is 2 nothing. It would be best if you got back here before the Grimm did, I sorta broke your Atlessian knights."
"We'll find you, you bitch, bet on that! I'll burn you-" with that Yang closed the scroll. She took her time looting through the camp, grabbing as much food, dust shards, and ammo as she could, even grabbed one of the rifles in case she got creative. Mostly she lingered to give these Atlas idiots a better chance at survival.
After about 7 minutes and a full account of her new resources, only then did Yang leave a small bug and book it as fast as she could. She had quite the haul, Ammo, dust, close range radios, tripwire, enough gear to turn this ruined city into a boobytrap filled wonderland. Hopefully, that would keep her mind occupied and her team well away.
"Let the games begin"
Author's notes
Nothing to note today, hope you enjoy the chapter