As Tanith felt her leg going numb, she tried to figure out the events that lead her here, stuffed in a XXXXL sized suitcase with an irate old woman and a sack of cashews. Well, the events were obvious.
This morning they'd met at Saphron's house and Tanith and Elster had been given ear pieces.
"Neat" Elster said as she put it on.
Tanith stared at the ear piece with an unimpressed expression before tiredly stating "I hate how we're trying so hard to make this look official"
Her negativity continued as they hit the streets and went to the nearest store to look at suitcases. This was Tanith's least favourite part of the plan. This part of their plan involved a suitcase that needed to fit both herself and Maria. It was hard to be inconspicuous when looking for a suitcase both white in colour and seeing if a small Mistral woman and an old lady could fit inside.
Somehow they'd found and bought a suitcase without security getting on their case. They went somewhere secluded and enacted Tanith's least favourite part of the plan. As Tanith stepped inside the suitcase she shot the watching audience with a glare "one fucking word about this, ever, and I will shoot you"
Those were the events that lead her here, stuffed in a suitcase. She winced as her leg slipped and knocked Maria. Less because it would have been painful, and more because Maria would start on her shit again-
"Watch where your leg is!" Snapped Maria, her glowing goggles and Tanith's tattoo the only light inside the rumbling suitcase.
"Oh I'm sorry, next time I'll shove it up your ass!" Snapped Tanith, beginning to get frustrated with the woman's incessant complaints.
"If you haven't noticed we haven't exactly got a lot of room"
"Well" growled Tanith through grit teeth "we'd have more room if you hadn't brought along a sack of cashews!" She yelled as quietly as she could.
"Revenge is something I take very seriously, Cordovin can't stop my cashews this time!" She Said with a manic grin.
Tanith sighed and rubbed her face "I'm just going to put your insanity down to you being old"
"I am Maria Cordovin and I'm not insane!"
"Do you have to do that every time? I know who you fucking are"
"And why are you so up tight huh? You've done nothing but complain this entre time"
"Because this is insane and stupid"
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Elster is here and I need to make sure she stays alive"
"She seems like a perfectly capable huntress. If anything I'd be concerned about keeping yourself alive"
"Trust me, it's harder then it seems"
"You guys need to be quiet, we're approaching the base" Weiss hissed over comms and so they fell quiet, Tanith flexing her hands and breathing to calm her nerves. They heard people talking, heard the Nubuck twins doing their usual shouting. Tanith's leg was beginning to go to sleep when she heard Cordovin's grating voice
"Ah, I was relieved to hear that you came to your senses, Miss Schnee. Many of us were devastated when we heard you would be attending... Beacon Academy" Tanith clenched her fists at the disdain in Cordovin's voice "Knowing that you'll be returning to Atlas just warms my old heart"
"I don't think she's experienced any warmth in her life" snickered Maria and Tanith had to quickly cover a snort.
Weiss's voice was obviously strained even with the muffle of the bag "It was... time to get my act together and go back to my roots"
"Oh, I can't wait to see you follow in your sister's footsteps" sighed Cordovin
"Absolutely..."
"I'm sending two of my best guards to personally escort you. Make sure General Ironwood hears that part" Cordovin's voice got quiet and Tanith glanced at Maria in concern.
"Allow me to assist you with your bag!" shouted one of the Nubuck's. Tanith gripped the walls of the luggage bag as it suddenly shifted "My, what a heavy bag!"
They felt like they were being tugged back and forth "That's alright!" Weiss tried
"Nonsense!"
"Allow me to assist as well!" shouted another Nubuck guard and the tugging got more intense and Tanith had to bite her lip when a hand close around her leg through the bag's fabric.
"Oh, we're being fucked over by the Nubuck's" grunted Tanith.
"Quiet!" hissed Maria
"A year and a half ago I've been alright with that but now-" an elbow jabbed her and she decided to clamp her mouth shut.
Suddenly a piercing wail broke out, Adrian, the literal two or three year old somehow following through with his part of the plan. Somehow.
"Oh no! Look at that, he's just going to miss you so much! You should hurry on out of here!" called Saphron.
"A crying child?"
"We must console it!"
The hands left, Tanith not being able to stop the faint smile on her face "see, they're good guys… just… a little confused sometimes"
They went up a ramp and then Weiss let out a sigh and appeared over their comms "that was close"
"Is everything okay?" asked Ruby
"We're on board"
"We're in" Tanith added.
~§~
Elster rolled her eyes as she listened to the comm chatter, smiling at her girlfriends antics before looking over to Ruby.
"Alright, we'll all watch our scrolls. The second Weiss is out of range of the comm tower, that'll mean she's out of range of the radar too"
"And that's when Blake steps in. We're almost at the drop off" Yang said from the comms.
"Heading in on foot. Won't be long" spoke Blake.
"Yes! It's all going to plan!" cheered Jaune before coughing at the amused looks from his teammates "I mean, uh... roger"
Elster fiddled with her hands, knowing Tanith, Weiss and Maria had it handled but still worrying anyway.
~§~
Tanith looked at her scroll, watching the bars steadily go down and then looking over to Maria
"Weiss should hopefully be making her move… now"
"Miss Schnee! For your own safety, we must request-"
"What?!"
The sound of Weiss's glyph's sounded out from the cockpit.
"Traitor!"
There were some grunts and then a cry out the open door and then the bag unzipped and Tanith spilled out, groaning as she lay on the floor for a moment.
"Thanks for the warning Weiss"
"Get to the controls! Before we crash!"
Tanith waved her off as she stood and stretched "relax, more then likely auto pilot's on at the moment. We're fine"
Tanith made her way to the cockpit and looked over the controls, humming as she checked various instruments.
"Okay, we're good to go and ready to rumble" She said as she sat in the pilot's chair, Maria taking the other one as Weiss stood between "Maria, I see a jack for sensory data transmission, that should sort your eye problem for the moment"
"Ah, perfect" Maria did so and her implants widened.
"Right, we're ready to go, I'm going to stay on course for another minute or two before turning round, just to make sure" Tanith said, grabbing the controls.
~§~
"Alright guys, this is it" Ruby put her fingers to her ear "Blake, you're up"
Everyone became nervous when there was no response
"Blake?" Ruby frowned and switched "Yang, what's going on?"
"I don't know..." was the reply.
"We have a few minutes, Tanith said she wasn't going to bring the Manta back for ten minutes"
~§~
"Okay, bringing her round" Tanith turned the Manta around, beginning to fly back to Argus.
"This is where everything needs to go right" said Weiss
Eight minutes later and they discovered that everything had not gone right.
The radio crackled and Tanith shot a glance at it "Manta 5-1, this is Argus Base. We see you circled back. What's your status, over?"
Tanith immediate set to work, pulling the panel off from below the radio and exposing the equipment beginning to fiddle with it
"Why can they see us?" hissed Weiss
"Somebody dropped the ball. Don't worry, I've worked with Atlas forces before. I know their jargon"
Tanith snapped up and pointed a finger "don't touch anything and give me a few seconds" she got back to work, pulling wires and twisting knobs before sitting back on her chair and grabbing the radio.
"Argus Base, this is Manta 5-1. We're experiencing some radio troubles as well as some navigation malfunctions, we're currently doing repairs and wanted to be within landing distance of the base just in case. Over"
"Manta 5-1, radio seems to be experiencing issues, repeat over" Tanith did so and that time the message got through "Roger Manta 5-1, keep us updated on your status. Over"
Tanith breathed a sigh of relief before looking to Weiss "Ask them what the fuck is going on down there!"
"What did you do?" asked Maria
"I just fucked the radio up so my voice doesn't sound recognisable thanks to all the static and interference"
"Ruby, we're back in range and Tanith just had to cover for us, what's going on down there!?"
Tanith put her finger to her ear "we only have five minutes, so I repeat, what the fuck is going on down there!"
"We don't know! Blake and Yang have stopped responding"
"Fuck, covers rumbled then if they've been caught"
Tanith saw Maria getting her cashews out and shot her a warning glare.
"Not necessarily! Maybe they just… you said we have five minutes?"
"More or less" Weiss responded.
"Okay, hang around their for five minutes, as soon as five minutes are up you come to get us!"
"What if they radio?"
"It doesn't matter, they'll probably be onto us by that point"
"Fuck" Tanith muttered as she began to pilot the Manta in large circles, counting down five minutes in her head. Heaving a sigh she set an autopilot course and went back to the radio, fixing what she'd done.
"Why are you doing that?" Maria asked, watching her.
"Because in five minutes it doesn't matter, covers rumbled anyway"
"I suppose… but wouldn't it remain advantageous for her to not know who we are?"
Tanith made an amused noise with her throat and looked up at Maria "you saying that you don't want Cordovin to know whose fucking with her?"
Maria blinked before grinning "I like the way you think Tanith"
Tanith just winked and went back to work, having the radio operational just as the five minutes were up. As if they'd set a clock (they probably had) the radio crackled and the Argus base control tower asked "Manta 5-1, what's your status?"
Tanith picked up the radio as she nodded at Weiss, Weiss beginning to talk to Ruby and the others "Control, this is Manta 5-1, I seem to have found the radio issue" she grabbed a handful of cashews and shoved them in her mouth, Maria immediately doing the same "sheems…thare wash shome nutsh in the eqhuipment"
"What! Who is this-"
"Tanith Mort!" screeched a voice on the other end.
"Oh Cordo, how could you forget about little old me!" Maria called, bringing the radio right to her mouth.
"What are you two doing!" hissed Weiss in disbelief.
"You hear this, Cordo?" asked Maria as she continued to chew buts
"Mmmm, I do love cashew nuts" Tanith spoke.
"Ruby, we're in trouble" Tanith heard Weiss say in the background "Cordo's onto us, and Tanith and Maria aren't helping!"
"Maybe we should fly over to help Yang and Blake first?" Nora suggested
An argument seemed to develop over the radio and Tanith scanned the radar, waiting for the blips that would mean incoming fighters. She wasn't sure if she could avoid them or if she'd have to fight back. She wasn't sure if she could attack the jets in good conscious, they were just people doing their job.
When nothing happened she frowned, she touched her comm "somethings up, the fighters would be here by now"
That stopped whatever conversation the group was having as an uneasy silence settled. It was like that for a few seconds before a warning popped onto the display. Tanith reacted, making the Manta spin through the air and avoid a beam of white energy.
"Fuck fuck fuck, that fucking crazy bitch, what the fuck is she doing" Tanith muttered as she began to ascend rapidly.
"A little warning next time!" Weiss snapped from the back, her sword buried in the wall.
"No time" Tanith grunted. The display beeped and a warning popped up.
Missiles detected
Take evasive action
"What's going on!" shouted Weiss
"That crazy fucking bitch!" Tanith shouted back as she began spinning and flipping, trying to avoid the missiles tailing them.
"Tanith! Maria! Weiss! What's happening?"
"I don't know! Tanith's going crazy at the controls!"
"Cordovin's insane!" Tanith shouted back "She's activated the Argus colossus!"
"The what!?"
Tanith saw the cliff face and began flying, seeing specks that might have been the group as she got a good look at the hulking mech walking toward them, its cannon arm aimed and charging again "That!"
"Those were merely warning shots! All Atlas personnel standby and watch how your leader maintains order!" she marched forward, another beam charging up "It's time you asked yourselves, children... Do you truly wish to defy me?"
"Hurry back, Weiss. I need you on the ground if we're gonna take this thing down"
"I'll see what I can do" snapped Tanith, reminding Ruby who was actually piloting the ship.
"You're joking, right? You want to fight this thing?!" Weiss asked in disbelief, Tanith was inclined to agree as she avoided another beam of yellow light
"We've fought giant monsters before!" Ruby argued "This is just a tiny old lady... with one very big robot"
"Yeh, it's the big robot part that concerns me" muttered Tanith as she pressed a button, a clunking sound coming from the back of the ship as she deployed countermeasures, hearing the missiles exploding as they followed the shining decoys.
"You little spider-roaches thought you could creep your way to Atlas?! Well, let's see how your resolve holds out against the might of the Atlesian Military!"
The mech aimed its canon arm again, Tanith spotting as a slot opened and a singular missile flew at them. It didn't travel far before a bullet took it out. The mech turned to face the specks on the cliff.
"SO BE IT!"
The mech raised its arm, preparing to fire.
"Dive!" Weiss shouted.
Tanith did, diving and coasting the ground before coming to a stop by the group. She heard Weiss jump off and watched as a massive ice wall formed. A moment later an explosion sounded as the beam impacted the ice, the ice somehow holding.
"That was close" Oscar said shakily.
"We need to figure out how to stop Cordovin and protect the airship until we do"
"Yes, that's a big priority, protect me" Tanith added helpfully.
"Let's give her more targets to focus on" Jaune suggested
"You mean me, don't you" Elster said with a deadpan expression.
"Look at that thing. It's not designed for small enemies. It's probably meant for giant Grimm that come in from deeper waters. We can turn our size into an advantage. We just have to be smart"
"Something I'm well known for" Tanith murmured, really trying but horribly failing to not make jokes.
"Tanith, Maria, can you keep the ship out of harm's way?"
"Look, this is the one thing I'm good for at this point, I can do this"
"They can take my driver's license, but I won't let them take this ship!"
"Wait, you don't have a pilot license?" Tanith asked, looking at her.
"It was taken away, apparently your not-"
"You know what? At this point I'm not even surprised" Tanith muttered.
"I'll be more useful if I go with them. From up high, I can try to spot a weakness" Oscar suggested.
"Me too, I can create some clones down here and then I can drop myself and some clones on the robot. A bit of a carpet bomb technique"
"Well, they're not the only one who can grab a bird's eye view"
"Hm, must be hearing things if Qrow just made a joke that was funny" Tanith mused.
"You said you needed me on the ground?" Weiss asked as Tanith saw Elster climb onto the Manta, hauling Oscar in as well
"Not exactly" Ruby nervously admitted.
A hand on her shoulder distracted Tanith from the conversation, she glanced over and gave Elster a smile.
"Hey, you doing okay?"
Tanith snorted "Doing great, finally getting revenge on Cordovin at long last"
"Glad your having fun, just try not to let it cloud your judgment"
Tanith rolled her eyes "alright sensei"
"Ugh, young love" muttered Maria from the other side of the cabin.
"Okay everyone, lets move" Ruby ordered and Tanith grabbed the controls, making the Manta shoot up into the air again.
"Get over the mech and I'll hop down, give Cordovin a visit" Tanith felt Elster's hand tighten on her shoulder for a moment before it left as Elster walked to the open doors. Tanith watched as pink grenades exploded around the mech
"What?!" Cordovin's voice called out
The mech looked toward the shooter of said grenades, Jaune's group accompanied by several Elster clones. More grenades were fired but a blue wall suddenly flickered to life around the mech, Cordovin cackling down the microphone.
"Surely you knew Atlas was the father of hard-light Dust, or do lesser kingdoms simply lack proper education?"
"I'm getting real tired of this bitch's xenophobia" Tanith muttered, missing the raised eyebrow from Elster behind her at what Elster felt was the smallest hint of hypocrisy.
The mech charged up its cannon arm and a beam shot forth, rock being generated from where the beam touched. Tanith looked away and to the back, seeing Tanith standing in the open door and observing the scene.
"Cordo just activated shields!" Jaune called over comms, heavy breathing indicating he was running.
"I saw that. We need to find whatever's generating it"
Elster simply watched the scene with narrow eyes
"You know, in video games, the weak spot's usually on the back of the giant boss!"
Tanith considered the words. True, they were childish but…
"It's on the back, its kind of obvious, it has a cover over it saying something like hard light dust generator or something" she said into comms.
"I knew it!- WEISS!"
"How do you know that?" asked Maria
"Elster! Coming over the mech, now's your chance!" Tanith called into the back before looking at Maria "I was stationed in Argus for several months, I saw that damn mech a lot, did maintenance on it once or twice"
"Your only mentioning this now!?" Jaune shouted over comms.
"Well sorry I don't have a pitch perfect memory! Blame the alcohol!" she shouted back.
Elster clones jumped from the open door, Elster watching before then jumping out herself, falling through open air and listening to comms.
"It's slow, meant for big bastards. Lots of armour, few weak points. Take down the force field and you can try freezing the joints to slow it down. Biggest weakness is the cannon arm, when it charges up dust gets locked in, if you got a good shot at the right moment you would set the dust off early, destroying the cannon" Tanith explained over comms.
"That would've been useful to know beforehand!" Ruby shouted.
"Well I'm not the one who's massively fucked up! We shouldn't even be fighting this thing! It's meant for Grimm! They shouldn't even know we're here so get off my fucking case!"
Elster winced, Tanith was clearly getting stressed in this situation.
Elster focused on the mech before her, seeing it both approaching quickly from below, and stomping around in the water from the cliff face. She pondered if one's semblance maybe altered their brain as well, considering how this much sensory input for someone else would probably drive them mad.
The first clone landed, digging axes into the mech's armour. One after the other they landed.
"Ah! What was that?!"
Elster then realised she'd been distracted with her clones doing what they could that she'd missed the mech. She considered simply switching to one of the successfully landed clones, but she also thought of one of the modifications Ruby had done for her. She twisted in the air and pressed a different trigger. Her right axe head suddenly shot away, a cable leading from it as it flew up and then as luck would have if, hooked onto a metal grill. She began reeling herself up, wincing as some of her clones were destroyed by one of the mech's hands coming down and crushing them.
Qrow landed on the grill as well. The same moment the axe blade lost it's grip and Elster was falling again until Qrow reached out and grabbed the cable. Elster was hauled up, accepting Qrow's hand as she came to cling to the opposite side of the grill.
"Sorry about that" Qrow grunted.
"It's fine, I'm here now and-" Elster paused as she looked the grill over and then grunted as she used her prosthetic to haul the grill off, revealing hot glowing machinery "-bingo". They nodded at each other before opening fire. The mech stumbled, crashing into the cliff side as the shield generator sparked and smoked.
"Get off of me!" Cordovin screamed "What have you done?!"
"Gonna need a pick up guys!" Elster called as she jumped, falling through the air "on account of my inability to fly"
"Elster!"
Elster glanced over and reached an arm out, Ruby grabbing it and hauling her onto the back of a glowing queen lancer.
"Shield is down guys, hit it with what you've got!" Elster called into her comms
"No, no, no, no!" Cordovin screeched.
Grenades impacted the mech again, making it stagger back out to sea.
"We should get Nora out here so she can hit it from multiple sides!" Elster called.
"Good idea, Weiss!"
"On it!"
The summon flew to the cliff where Qrow landed, just as the fist of the mech raised and Ren and Jaune ran for Nora.
"I've had enough of you ingrates!"
The three clumped up and the fist hit them, breaking all their aura's instantly and sending them flying. Elster glanced over at the mech only to realise they'd been so focused on the cliff they'd missed the cannon aiming point blank at them.
"Fuck"
The summon was obliterated and Ester felt her aura take a beating, barely holding on as she instantly destroyed all her clones, not trusting their combined drain on her heavily weakened aura. She grunted as her body hit rock, bouncing and skidding along before coming to a slow stop. She cracked her eyes open and groaned in pain, her aura was low, dangerously low. It had been a while since anything had done such harm to it.
She climbed to her feet to see the rest of the group around her, Ruby hanging from her scythe imbedded in the cliff. The mech pointing its cannon at them.
"This is what happens when you think you know better than those rightfully in charge!"
Tanith's eyes widened, staring at the scene for a moment before Oscar's voice broke through "We need to do something"
Tanith snapped back and growled. Flipping a switch as she brought the ship around.
"The Manta airship carries a payload of eighty four missiles" she recited as she pulled up a targeting system, locking onto the mech and then pulled the trigger.
The group on the cliff watched as one missile streaked forward, only to feel their spirits sink as the mech caught it
"Calvera and Mort" Cordovin growled.
"Us bitch" Tanith replied as several dozen more missiles streaked from either side of the Manata, filling the air with a whistle as they impacted the mech, explosions erupting across its armoured surface and making it stagger.
Cordovin screamed "You animal loving waste!" she screeched
Everyone watched helplessly as Cordovin fired her retaliation, several dozen more missiles zooming toward the airship's direction. The Manta began flipping and twirling, counter measures firing off and missiles exploding like fireworks. One however followed a flare for a moment before the flare fizzled out, it streaked aimlessly before curving, getting close to the Manta and exploding causing the ship to rattle and Tanith to curse on the comms.
"You just couldn't keep our rivalries separate, could you, Calavera?! Mort?! You had to rope in each other and children to fail with you!"
"Ruby!" Oscar shouted from the back.
Tanith rolled her eyes "Yeah we're being chased by missiles but nooo" she jerked the joystick again to avoid a beam of energy "the huntress on the cliff in no immediate danger is the priority"
"Ruby, can you hear me? Are you guys okay?" Oscar asked over comms.
"Are we okay?!" Ruby asked incredulously.
"Finally, someone acknowledges" Tanith muttered.
"You sure showed her!" Maria cackled next to her.
"I know, we were supposed to lay low, but listen! I think I have an idea!"
"Well, we're all ears" Nora muttered over the comms, a weight going from Tanith's mind that Nora was up, presumably with one Jaune Arc nearby. She may not be happy with the boy at the moment, but she didn't want him dead either.
"The cylinder on Cordo's cannon rotates and locks in a giant Dust cartridge every time she changes attack styles"
"I explained this kid" Tanith voiced.
"Right, but her missile launcher doesn't lock in, it pops out! Without her shields, one well-placed shot could detonate the missiles while they're still in the launcher!"
Tanith blinked, watching the mech and at the same time avoiding another beam, watching the rocket pod pop out.
"We could destroy the entire cannon... Oscar, that's brilliant!" Jaune exclaimed.
"That could work, and we happen to have an excellent shot on team" Tanith added.
"We'll only get one chance before she catches on. I'd have to be practically staring down the barrel of her cannon" Ruby murmured.
Tanith looked over at Maria, returning the woman's grin "Well, we've got a way to guarantee that"
Tanith pulled the airship into a dive, flying low and avoiding another beam, Cordovin seemed to wind down for a moment as they hovered on top of the cliff. As soon as she set foot on board they were off again, straight for the mech. Cordovin must have been distracted by something as there was still no reaction from the mech which now that Tanith could see it properly she could see the black scorch marks and dents that her missiles had caused.
"Oi, crater face! I've got another missile for you!" she shouted down the radio.
"And I know where we're gonna stick it!" Maria crowed next to her.
Cordovin chuckled in reply "Another missile you say? That's a coincidence, because I have another as well!"
'Bingo' Tanith thought as the missile pod stuck up from the mechs arm.
"Tanith what are you doing?" Elster asked worriedly over comms.
"ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY?!" Oscar screamed.
"Sometimes the best approach is simply the most direct!" Maria crowed as Tanith simply displayed a feral grin.
The mech paused in its movements.
"You!"
Tanith narrowed her eyes, something as up, then they widened in shock. Cordovin had caught on! Tanith was too late however to warn Ruby as the sniper rifle crack filled the air.
"You thought you could fool me?!" Cordovin announced as the missile pod slipped down and the cannon aimed at them, a yellow glow emanating from within.
"Pull up!" Oscar shouted
'back seat pilot' Tanith thought as she pulled the joystick hard, the ship going vertical. And then everything went wrong.
"Fuck!" Screamed Tanith, feeling intense pain in her hands but not having time to contemplate it, she held it for as long as she could as Maria screamed, gritting her teeth at the pain in her hands, the smell of burnt flesh filling the cabin.
She watched the display, taking a hand off the joystick and grimacing at the burnt flesh and the blood on the joystick. She checked and saw the engines were shutting down, she judged the distance and guessed they'd make the tree line.
"Tanith!"
"Maria!"
"Tanith are you okay?!"
"Tanith you need to let go of the controls!"
"My eyes!"
"No, no, no!"
Voices echoed around her and she ignored them, focusing on getting the ship to be usable after this. The tree line rapidly approached, and she grit her teeth, the electricity leaving the ship finally but her hands still stinging. Then the ship shook and rattled and metal screeched and groaned and the ship grumbled as trees cracked like cocktail sticks against it's hull.
~§~
"Look!" Jaune called pointing.
Elster had felt her heart freeze in her chest when she'd heard Tanith's pained scream over the comms. She watched as the ship plummeted to the earth, it hadn't made contact with the trees when she felt her legs moving.
She was still running when the ground reverberated with a thud, she jumped over destroyed trees, slipped slightly but caught herself on the destroyed earth. The ship wasn't looking good, its hull blackened and crusted with rocks and mud, scratches and sparks covering the hull. The engines were whining in that familiar shutting down way.
Oscar hopped out of the door on unsteady feet. Then helped Maria. "We're... we're still in one piece!" he called seeing her approach.
"Tanith" she said
Oscar bit his lip, Ruby stumbled out of the airship now as a thud of the mech walking shook the area.
"Tanith" she said again, hearing the urgency in her own voice but feeling numb.
"Elster"
Elster snapped her head to the interior of the ship before climbing in, looking to the cockpit.
Tanith slowly eased herself out of her chair, Elster let her eyes dart to the joystick, the red blood covering it catching her eye. Tanith turned slowly to look at her, her body twitching and shaky. She offered a smile that was clearly supposed to calm her but only really made her more concerned. She took a step forward and stumbled, Elster immediately stepping forward to catch her, bringing them to be sitting on the floor, Tanith still twitching.
Tanith then chuckled in her arms and Elster looked down at her in concern. Tanith looked back up at her, tears in her eyes.
"Think we pissed her off?"
Elster ignored her for the moment as she looked at the hands Tanith was tying to hide from her, taking a hand to delicately open them. Tanith didn't resist, instead screwing her eyes shut in pain as Elster looked at the damage.
"Very clever, but even the smartest apes can't compete with the intellect of man" Cordovin called.
Elster clenched her jaw, repressing the potent rage as she looked at the red raw skin, bits flaking off as blood and pus coated the palms. She closed her eyes, taking a breath before looking to the door.
Ruby was looking at her wide eyed, eyes flicking between Tanith collapsed in her arms and herself, cradling the woman.
"Come on, come on!" Maria complained as she tapped her goggles repeatedly.
Ruby looked at Maria, then her eyes went back to Elster's. She nodded, a determined expression on her face. Elster nodded back and Ruby marched away.
Elster looked back down at Tanith who was still twitching, her tears flowing freely now from the pain.
"Oscar!" she called, looking up to the boy "can you get me the first aid box please?". The boy nodded and she smiled gratefully at him before looking to Tanith who was weeping more openly now "hey hey hey, your gonna be okay" she wiped away a tear with her thumb and smiled, putting on a brave face that she hoped Tanith couldn't see through.
"Surrender for your crimes, and accept your punishment!" Cordovin called in the distance. Elster ignored it as she murmured sweet nothings to Tanith.
"This sort of thing is easy to fix, we just apply some cream and bandages and you don't do anything too adventurous" Elster murmured before smiling up at Oscar, accepting the box and taking some bandages as Tanith nodded her head "Now, when Maria gets her eyes sorted she can take over, you deserve a rest. You've done amazing today"
Tanith shook her head "no"
"You have, you were-"
Tanith shook her head and sat up, wiping at her eyes with the back of her free hand and looking at Elster with red eyes and a small smile "god no am I letting Maria do my job"
Elster shook Tanith's hand lightly, looking into her eyes "Tanith, you've done enough, you're the most hurt out of anyone here, you've done your part. It's okay"
Tanith shook her head again, a determined expression on her face "Elster, let me do this. I just needed a moment, I can keep going"
"Have you seen your hands?!"
"Elster… please"
Elster stared into Tanith's eyes for a long moment before closing her eyes, she hung her head for a moment, cursing her girlfriend and her everything before looking up with a sigh "okay, but the first opportunity we're sorting your hands"
"Of course"
Elster grumbled as she applied some aura to Tanith's left hand and began to wrap it in a thin layer of bandages "You know what I thought when I heard you scream and watched the damn airship fall from the sky?"
Tanith bit her lip and a sombre look passed her face "I'm sorry"
Elster shook her head as she finished applying the bandages "your okay now, it worries me though, having you this involved"
Tanith looked up from her bandaged hands to give Elster a dry look "welcome to my life anytime you do huntress work"
Elster blinked, opened her moth to argue when a walking stick banged against the floor "if you two are quite finished, Tanith, I believe we have an airship that is noticeably a groundship"
Tanith snorted but stood, Elster also standing and watching as Tanith opened a panel on the side of the ship, flicking some switches. "We should be good, engines detected an overload and shut down before damage could be done. Simple to turn 'em back on and-"
"WHAT?!" came from the direction of the mech as the Manta lifted to hover several feet in the air.
"That's our cue, let's get there" Tanith said as she hopped back into the pilot's seat, grabbing the still bloody joystick much to Elster's ire.
"You really shouldn't be touching that with your open wounds"
"Get on my case later" Tanith replied.
The Manta turned and hovered back through the tree line, just in time to watch the once cannon arm now covered in rock and ice fall to the ocean, weighing the entire mech down as Cordovin struggled.
"Aw, did we miss it?" Maria asked sadly.
"No! No, no, no, NO! You! You're never getting to Atlas! Do you hear me?! NEVER! All forces converge on my position and eliminate these pests at once!"
Tanith activated her comms "okay people, that's our cue to run"
"What about Yang and Blake?"
Tanith paused before muttering a curse, she'd forgotten about those two completely in the ensuing madness. Part of her, a small angry part said they should leave them behind, they'd dropped the proverbial ball and it almost seemed like they'd abandoned the group. The sensible part of her argued that no, Yang would not leave her sister like this and likewise Blake's weird guilt kink probably wouldn't of allowed her to run.
"Tanith, are you sure you should be flying?"
Tanith rolled her eyes "Ruby, from what I can tell you went into the barrel of a laser cannon. I'm fine"
"Yea, the smell of burnt flesh really helps reassure me" Maria muttered next to her.
Then their comms blipped as a new person spoke "Citizens of Argus, seek shelter immediately. A Leviathan is en route to the city, I repeat, a Leviathan is en route to the city. Evacuate immediately"
Tanith slowly looked over the Argus colossus. The weapon designed to kill massive sea Grimm. The weapon that Cordovin, in her arrogance, had decided was better spent trying to get revenge with. The weapon they had disabled.
"Well… fuck us then, right?"
