AUTHOR'S NOTES: After the huge chapter last time, a smaller one this time around. More air combat as Ruby and Norn Flights take on the Nevermores, though it's not a particularly long fight: neither was Ruby vs. the Leviathan in canon RWBY, either. I stole a bit from Star Wars, but I don't feel bad about that...after all, Lucas "borrowed" from a lot of sources himself.
Normally, this is where the "season" would end, as the fight with the Leviathan ended Season 6 of canon RWBY. I thought about ending this story arc here, but I'm going to get our bunch to Ironwood first before I go on to "On RWBY Wings V," which will combine about half of Season 7 and all of Season 8 of canon RWBY. There's some things Blake needs to work through after Adam's death, and Yang will be right there for her. Will this blossom into Bumblebee, or something else? Well, we'll find out.
More notes at the end...
Near Algiers, Republic of Algeria
31 July 2001
1245 Hours Local
"This is your fault, Ruby Rose!" Brigadier General Caroline Cordovin shouted. "Your fault! Do you hear me?"
"Oh, shut up." Ruby was being insubordinate, she knew, but Cordovin was being an idiot. "Ruby and Norn Flights, break off and orbit, go to channel base plus three." That would get them to their own discreet frequency, which had the added effect of ignoring Cordovin. The base was zero, the default that the nine of them had used since Beacon if they didn't agree to a base number. Ruby reached forward and switched to channel three. "Norn Flight, check in and give state." It suddenly occurred to Ruby that she hadn't heard from Yang or Blake since they'd taken off; she wondered if they had already made it to Aviano.
"Pyrrha, four active, two heat, three hours fuel." Other than shooting out one of Cordovin's engines on the general's Mirage IV, Pyrrha had barely been engaged.
"Oscar, four active, two heat, two hours fuel, but I have engine and stabiliator damage." Ruby could see Oscar struggling to keep his stricken F-18 in the air.
"Ren, four active, two heat, two hours fuel."
"Nora, four heat, one hour fuel!"
"Qrow, four heat, two hours fuel."
"Ruby Flight, check in," Ruby radioed next.
"Weiss, two active, two heat, two hours fuel."
Ruby waited for Blake or Yang, and was about to switch back to either their former frequency or the emergency Guard channel, when suddenly Yang's voice came through her earphones, a little breathless. "Yang here! Three actives, one hour fuel! We just engaged White Fang near Sardinia. Splash five, including Moonslice." Ruby's eyebrows rose: the Moonslice was Adam Taurus' personal aircraft. There was a story there, but it was going to have to wait.
"Ruby, Blake." The Faunus' voice sounded subdued. "Four active, two hours fuel, but I've also got engine damage. We're headed to you; course one-seven-five, speed 250. Confirm splash on Moonslice; no ejection."
God, they shot down Adam. Now Ruby really wanted to hear the story, but the GRIMM were more important at the moment. "Okay, gang, here's what we're going to do. Oscar, Blake, divert to Boumediene. Everyone else, we have to help the French, otherwise those Nevermores are going to flatten Algiers. Besides, some of us don't have the fuel to make Aviano now." Ruby let the radio button go for a moment, in case anyone wanted to add something.
"Ruby, Ren. Advise there is a good chance we get arrested when we land in Algiers."
"Roger, understood," was all Ruby replied. "Permission granted to try to make Sardinia, Mallorca or France." No one answered; Ruby hadn't expected them to. "Okay then. Let's get back to channel two and do this!" She switched back to the channel used by the French. During the whole conversation, Ruby had kept an eye on Cordovin, but the Mirage IV had kept going south and descending; she was probably going to land at Boufarik. They would have to worry about her later, too.
Ruby took a breath. "Lupin, Ruby Lead," she radioed the E-3F AWACS orbiting about sixty miles to the east. "Vector us to GRIMM. We can help."
"Like hell!" Cordovin's voice blasted across the frequency. "Ruby, you will land at Boufarik and present yourself for—"
"Cordovin, Lupin. Clear the channel." The voice was authoritative, probably the senior controller aboard the AWACS. While Cordovin outranked him as well, in the air, the controllers ran the show. She went silent, and Lupin continued. "Ruby Lead, what do you have?"
"Ruby Flight is one Fox 16, one Typhoon, one Fox 23, and one Fox 14. The latter has engine damage and will divert to Boumediene. Norn Flight is one Fox 22, one Juliet 10, one Alpha 10, and one Fox 18. The Fox 18 also needs to divert due to damage. We got fuel and actives."
There was a pause. "Roger that, Ruby. We can use the help. Also there is another Fox 22 out here somewhere, Juniper Lead."
Yang's voice came up, sounding embarrassed. "Uh, Lupin, Ruby Four. Juniper is me. I sort of did that to fool you. I didn't think you would believe a Fox 23….among other things."
Another pause. "Whatever, Ruby. Steer three-zero-zero. Boufarik has engaged Beowolves. One Nevermore is at 35 miles; the other is in trail at 50 miles."
"Roger that, Lupin! We'll take the closer Nevermore first! On our way!" Ruby moved up the throttle. "Let's engage, Rubies and Norns!" She looked at Maria through the mirrors. "Blaze of glory, huh?"
"I suppose I need to be the asshole here and say it," Maria answered. "Getting JINN to Ironwood is still our top priority, and right now we have the perfect opportunity to head to Aviano. Everyone's going to be distracted. And Ren's right; Cordo will arrest us the moment we land."
"Thanks," Ruby told her. "But it's like you said—we're supposed to protect others, all the way to the bitter end."
"When did I say that?" Maria asked. "I must have been drunk."
"I can land real quick at Algiers," Ruby said. "Drop you and JINN off."
"Nah. I came along for the ride."
Yang was torn. She needed to catch up with the rest of Ruby Flight forty miles to the south, which the F-23 could do very quickly using supercruise—but that meant leaving Blake alone, and the rule was never to leave one's wingperson. She'd already done that once today, and Blake was lucky to be alive.
Blake already knew what she was thinking. "Yang, this is Blake. Go."
"But…what if there's any more White Fang?"
"There isn't. Go. I'm okay."
Yang looked across the distance between her and the F-14. She put her artificial hand on the canopy. "Roger that," she said reluctantly, then pushed the throttle to the stops.
I'm okay, Blake repeated to herself. She was not okay. The image of Moonslice hitting the water replayed itself over and over in her head. She couldn't believe Adam Taurus—her enemy, her stalker, her friend, her lover—was gone. It seemed too quick an ending, too easy. Blake closed her eyes, and pushed those thoughts to the side. She still had a job to do.
Gambol Shroud was flying well enough, considering it had a dead engine and a six-inch hole in the left wing. Blake climbed to 40,000 feet and began scanning with her radar. The Nevermore was stealthy, but her radar was strong enough to pick it up. Come on, come on… Two sweeps and she had it. "Lupin, Ruby Three is padlocked on Nevermore-1. Advise keeping friendlies away from it for five minutes."
"Ruby Three, Lupin, your target distance is 70 miles?" The controller's voice sounded confused.
"Lupin, Ruby Three is a Fox 14."
"Ruby Three, Lupin, you are still…oh." Realization had dawned on the controller. "Roger, Ruby Three. Weapons free at your discretion."
Blake let the radar sweep a few more times to ensure she had a lock, then pressed the trigger twice. "Ruby Three, Fox Three." Below the Tomcat, both AIM-54 Phoenix missiles dropped from their pallets and ignited. They quickly climbed away and headed south at four times the speed of sound, headed for the first Nevermore. Blake felt a little better: at least she could do that much.
"Ruby Lead, Lupin; advise hold on engaging Nevermore-1. Ruby Three has engaged with Phoenix."
"Well, hot damn," Ruby grinned, and throttled back a little. The Phoenix's heavy warhead was designed for exactly this kind of scenario: it would not kill the Nevermore, but it would significantly weaken it. "That gives me time to come up with some kind of plan."
"Nevermores aren't very bright," Maria advised her. "We used to just salvo missiles into them until they died."
"I know," Ruby replied. "We fought a few of them at Beacon. We can bet the damn Beowolves will be trying to keep us away from the Nevermores…I wonder…" Ruby checked the altitude, removed her oxygen mask, and raised her voice to a yell. "Hey, JINN!"
The console, strapped to Maria's left leg, rattled and switched on. The hologram came to life, though smaller than it had been in the rooms on the ground; Ruby was oafishly disappointed, as she sort of wished JINN would be squeezed inside the canopy and complain about being cramped. Apparently there was apparently some way JINN could sense her—its—surroundings. "Good afternoon, Captain Ruby Rose. How may I assist you? I can see that you are flying. I advise you to shut me down immediately, as distracted flying is highly dangerous."
"Never mind that," Ruby instructed. "How do you kill a Nevermore?"
"Nevermores are semi-stealthy, large GRIMM designed to saturate targets with firepower from a series of eight turrets on the ventral side of—"
"We know that, you naked idiot!" Maria snapped. "How do you shoot one down?"
"There is no reason to insult me. If you are offended by my lack of clothing, I will activate my censoring function." The toga appeared around JINN. "As to your question, the preferred method of shooting down a Nevermore is either with a single large warhead missile, such as an AGM-109 Tomahawk missile, or several missiles to saturate the target. Both methods are flawed, as the Nevermore is equipped with dual purpose defensive cannon and antimissile systems."
"This is dumb," Maria commented. "We already know that."
"JINN," Ruby said, "is there a weak spot on the Nevermore?"
"There is one location, between the Nevermore's engines. It is not well covered by the GRIMM's defensive turrets, and a precise hit with a missile will hit the Nevermore's magazine, which will cause a chain reaction and destroy the GRIMM."
"Nice to know that now!" Maria was infuriated. "All the times I had to go up against one of those damn things, and there was a weakness?"
"It is not known or widely disseminated," JINN explained, "because it is nearly impossible to hit. Such an attack would require a precision beyond the ability of most radars and pilots to guide. Only a precise hit will cause the chain reaction."
"Thanks, JINN!" Ruby called out. "You can shut down now."
"You are welcome, Captain Rose." JINN bowed and shut off as Ruby strapped her mask back on. She winked at Maria in the mirror. "Sounds like a job for silver eyes!"
"Oh God. What have I done?" Maria leaned back in the seat.
Boufarik Airbase
Algiers, Republic of Algeria
1255 Hours Local
The Mirage IV left the runway, cutting its dragchute, and taxied over to the tarmac, rather than a hardstand or a hangar. The canopy came open as Cordovin pulled the remaining engine's power to idle, and waved for the ground crew's attention. "Sergeant!" she shouted at the closest man.
"General!" The sergeant pointed at the tail, where Pyrrha's cannon hits had shredded the rear fuselage over the left engine. "We can tow you the rest of the way—"
"Never mind that, moron! I still have one good engine and plenty of fuel! Download the conformal drone launched and load an ASMP!" She stared down at him. "And I know we have some of those!"
"Well…yes, General. We didn't have time to load them onto the Mirages-"
"I don't care about that! Load it on the Colossus, now! The clock is ticking, Sergeant, and if you can get it loaded in the next ten minutes, you'll be a chief master sergeant." She leaned halfway out of her seat. "And if it's longer than ten minutes, your next duty assignment will be in Antarctica!" She dropped back into her seat, fuming. "This isn't over yet."
South of Algiers
1257 Hours Local
Ruby came out of a cloud bank just to see the spectacular sight of Blake's two Phoenixes, leaving thick smoke trails, dive out of the sky towards the first Nevermore. The first missile, thrown off by the GRIMM's stealthy design, perversely lost lock in the last ten seconds and missed. The second hit as advertised, and the Nevermore shuddered with the hit. It was the first hit on either of the massive GRIMM: around them, the Beowolves fought a battle with the French Mirage 2000s, and had so far managed to keep the fighters away from their charges. Ruby thumbed the radio button. "Manta Lead, Ruby Lead; we're coming in from the north. If you can keep those fighters off of us, we'll get the Nevermores."
"Ruby Lead, Manta," the commander of the Mirages came back, puffing as he pulled hard to avoid a Beowolf missile. "Roger that. Bonne chance." He didn't mind sharing the glory; right now, all he wanted to do was survive and save his city.
"Ruby to Rubies and Norns. We clear on this?"
"Roger," Yang replied. "And for the record, this plan sucks." She was not pleased with the plan, which they'd talked about on the short flight to the Nevermores' position. Ruby would make the run at the supposed weak spot on the first Nevermore, and they would cover her. It had nothing to do with kills or anything like that: to Yang, it seemed very much like a plan to kill her baby sister—to say nothing of losing JINN.
Ruby ignored that. It wasn't the best plan, but they didn't have time to think of a better one. The Nevermore might be stopped by firing every missile they had at it, and it might not be. Algiers was now only twenty miles away. "Okay, here we go." Ruby climbed, flying over the Nevermores, trying to avoid the furball around it. White smoke from missile trails and black smoke from destroyed GRIMM and Mirages criscrossed the sky. The Nevermore's turrets also had a minimum range: they could not detect beyond a certain distance. As she rolled over and watched them, the turrets dotting the top of the bat-shaped GRIMM would rotate and fire at any Mirage that got close.
"Ruby, Qrow. I'm going to cut across the Nevermore's axis and try and draw their fire." Qrow rolled in and dived on the Nevermore. The GRIMM did not detect him until the launch bays on the F-117 opened to launch two Sidewinders; then the turrets as one swiveled in his direction and opened fire. Qrow dodged the curtain of shells as both Sidewinders impacted on the Nevermore's surface.
Ruby pushed the stick forward and Crescent Rose dived, then she leveled out behind the Nevermore. She centered the gunsight on the narrow spot between the baffled engines of the GRIMM; a Sidewinder would not have the punch, so she would have to use an AMRAAM—and fire just at the minimum range of the missile. She divided her attention between the range counter and the Nevermore. Sweat ran into her eyes and she blinked. Her finger closed on the trigger.
"Ruby, break left!"
Ruby did so immediately as she fired, knowing she'd missed. The F-16 twisted out of the way of a Beowolf that fired its cannon; the AMRAAM actually hit the Nevermore, but it was a glancing blow that did little damage. She curved away and the Beowolf followed. Ruby jinked left and then right, opening the range, and climbed as Weiss destroyed the GRIMM with an AMRAAM. "Ruby, Weiss. You're clear."
"Shit," Ruby breathed. "We've got to think of something different." She climbed back into position, knowing she only had three more AMRAAMs—and there was still the other Nevermore.
"Ruby, Weiss. I'll go in with you on the next pass." The Typhoon joined up on her right wing.
"Roger." Ruby took a breath. "You okay back there, Maria?"
"No!" Maria was already regretting not letting Ruby drop her off. Her prospects of dying in bed were rapidly fading.
"Here we go." Ruby rolled in again, this time with Weiss on her wing. The Typhoon opened the distance and fired an AMRAAM at the Nevermore, which quickly got its attention. The turrets swung around and began firing, first at Myrtenaster and then at the F-16; Ruby watched for a moment as the flak seemed to come at her slowly, then speed up as it went past. Once more, she locked on, lined up, and waited an impossible few seconds to close the range—but not too much.
Then out of the corner of one eye, she saw the Typhoon rock with a hit. Weiss pulled off, trailing smoke and Ruby, distracted, fired too late. She immediately threw the F-16 into a climb, rolling and twisting to avoid the gunfire from the Nevermore; her AMRAAM missed entirely, its onboard radar failing to switch on at all. "Weiss!" she shouted.
"Weiss here." She coughed. "I'm hit. Oxygen out. Aircraft tactical." The Typhoon got out of range, and then descended; the Nevermore were flying at 15,000 feet, but if Weiss's onboard oxygen system was hit, she needed to get a little lower.
"Weiss, Ruby, RTB," Ruby ordered. Weiss would be at a disadvantage, and that got pilots killed.
"This is never going to work," Qrow radioed.
"Ruby Lead, Lupin. Distance to Algiers, fifteen miles." It was actually further than that to the city center, but the AWACS was measuring to the suburbs of the city; having a Nevermore crash there would still kill hundreds, including the Cotta-Arcs, who lived on the south side of town.
Ruby bit her lip. There had to be a way. "Ruby, Yang." Her sister interrupted her thoughts. "I'll go in with you on the next run." The F-23 settled in on Ruby's right wing.
"We all will. Qrow from Pyrrha, follow me." The F-22 rolled over and dived, followed by the F-117. "Attacking south to north, across the main axis."
"Ruby, Nora! Attacking from the bottom!" Nora's A-10 was down where it was supposed to be, in the weeds.
"Ruby, Ren. Joining up on your left side." Ren dropped into place.
"Here we go," Ruby said for the third time, pushing a sudden wave of emotion away; they were all going in, just to protect her. The three ship rolled in behind the Nevermore, even as Pyrrha and Qrow roared in from above, the Raptor and the Nighthawk preventing the GRIMM from detecting them once more. Both fired missiles as the turrets fired on them. Just as the Nevermore registered that it was under attack again, it was suddenly hit from below, much harder, as Nora's GAU-8 tore into its belly. The GRIMM's brain now had to divide its attention between two directions at once, and soon a third.
Ren fired two missiles at the Nevermore, which alerted the GRIMM to the threat from behind, but Yang went one better. She not only opened fire, but switched on her navigation lights to full strobe, giving the Nevermore a bright target to fire at. As a result, the overloaded GRIMM concentrated on everyone but Ruby.
"Maria, give me the range count!" Ruby ordered.
Maria leaned forward. "Distance eight miles. Seven. Steady…steady…" Ruby would fire at five miles. "Six." Another long second. "Five!"
Ruby remembered going shooting with her father, and exhaled slowly as she caressed the trigger. "Ruby, Fox Three!" Then she rolled down and away, going under the Nevermore at full speed, clearing the GRIMM's underside by mere feet, the Nevermore suddenly realizing she was there. The ventral turrets left off firing at Nora—who somehow had avoided getting hit by weaving in between the desert ridges below—but could not get their guns up enough to hit Ruby. Then the blunt nose of the GRIMM shot past and Ruby climbed slightly, into the thin envelope where neither ventral nor dorsal turrets could quite reach her, an envelope only a half-mile long.
But by then the Nevermore had much bigger problems. The AMRAAM struck just as the F-16 cleared the GRIMM. JINN had not been wrong: the missile's warhead found a thin strip of aluminum, a weak point where the buried fuselage joined the rear section of the large drone, and detonated. The explosion went forward, blasted through the loading point for the Nevermore's huge cannon magazine, and detonated that as well. Orange flames erupted upwards and downwards along the spine of the GRIMM, finally blowing it in half. The wings folded in on each other and the entire burning remains fell into a low ridge with a final explosion. "Boo-yah!" Ruby yelled out. "Ruby Lead, splash Nevermore-1!"
"That took care of one," Maria commented. "Now we just have to do it again."
"Now we know what we're doing!" Ruby refused to be depressed, or realize that she was seconds and feet from death. Maria marveled at the resilency of youth, forgetting that she had once been every bit the same as Ruby Rose.
Ruby curved the F-16 around, now down to one AMRAAM. The remaining aircraft of Ruby and Norn Flights joined up; none had been hit, despite all the flak. "Lupin, Manta, this is Ruby Lead. We'll make our run on the second Nevermore."
"Ruby Lead, Cordovin! Like hell you will! I'll take it from here!" Ruby craned her head around and saw the Mirage IV climbing out of Bourfarik at a steep rate, considering Cordovin was doing it on one engine. The Mirage leveled out, aimed in the direction of the second Nevermore, and fired something. "Cordovin, Greyhound!"
"Greyhound?" Then Ruby remembered. "Holy shit! Cordovin just launched a frigging cruise missile!"
The ASMP was the French equivalent of the Tomahawk: not as large or as long-ranged, but with just as much punch. Cordovin had fired it at a bare minimum range to arm the warhead, but it crossed the distance before the other Nevermore could react, and impacted on the nose of the GRIMM, just to one side. The effect was even more spectacular than Ruby's hit. The Nevermore simply vanished in an explosion so intense and bright that Ruby closed her eyes and turned the F-16 away from it to ride out the shockwave; for a wild moment, she thought that Cordovin had somehow used a nuclear weapon. Pieces from the GRIMM rained down on barren ridges and fields.
"Huh," Maria said. "Should've just done that from the beginning."
"Cordovin, splash Nevermore-2!" Cordovin crowed.
The battle was somewhat anticlimactic after that. The remaining Beowolves seemed to lose focus, and sort of milled around, making them easy targets for the Mirages; there would be several new aces of the Armee de l'Air that night, and no one would ever claim Boufarik was a boring assignment again. There would be some empty bunks as well; five Mirage pilots would never return. Their memories were toasted along with the newly minted aces.
Ruby and Norn Flights reunited at Boumediene, where a happy but somewhat nervous Etienne Legrand advised them not to take off anywhere: Cordovin was on her way. Ruby wondered just where they were going to fly to: Oscar, Blake, and now Weiss' aircraft were all in need of repair, now. All three had landed without incident.
Ruby stood next to her wingmate. Weiss looked up at Myrtenaster in sorrow. A single cannon shell had hit just behind the canopy. She looked a bit sick; Weiss realized that, a foot to the right, and the shell would've decapitated her. "One of these days I'm going to quit being a fugitive from the law of averages," she said, with a nervous little laugh.
Ruby put an arm around her friend. "No worries, Weiss. Only the good die young, so you're gonna live forever."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "You're a dolt, Ruby Rose." They shared a laugh, then Weiss spotted a convoy come through the gate and drive onto the tarmac where the nine aircraft were drawn up. French flags flapped from the fenders, and the three vehicles came to a halt. An incongrously pink-haired lieutenant alighted from one, and she quickly opened the rear door, then came to attention. From the back stepped Caroline Cordovin. She had taken the time to change into a fresh, dress uniform. Ruby mumbled something under her breath, but came to attention. So did the rest of them—reluctantly, but all the same, one saluted the rank if not the person.
Cordovin stomped forward to about five paces from the nine pilots, snapped to attention, and gave them a salute that audibly cut the air. Then she went to parade rest. "Well." Her flinty eyes roamed over them and settled on Ruby. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"
"We saved your ass?" Yang had never really respected rank from anyone.
Cordovin ignored her, her eyes still on Ruby, who swallowed and took a step forward. "General. Yes, we disobeyed your orders, but we have to get to General Ironwood. Please, ma'am, if you'd just let us explain…" Ruby reasoned that they could always try the reveal-JINN trick again on Cordovin. Arashikaze would probably rip out her hair at that, but Ruby didn't know how else to convince the short general. All of it could have been avoided if Cordovin had listened to them the first time, rather than wave the tricolor and trade insults with Maria.
"It must be important if you're willing to risk everything to get to him. Disobeying direct orders, traveling under false pretenses, causing property damage—the Italians are a little upset; something about roofs being blown in and steeples being damaged on Sardinia…" Blake and Yang both turned red. "To say nothing of damaging my aircraft and other government property." She motioned towards the F-14 and F-18, their rear fuselages battered and blackened.
"Damaging your aircraft?" Oscar spluttered, forgetting Cordovin's rank. "You attacked us!"
Cordovin held up a hand. "However, you also came back to engage the Nevermores, and the AWACS reported to me that you, Captain Xiao Long, managed to destroy a group of White Fang marauders. And…well…." Her stern expression softened a bit, and Cordovin suddenly looked at the ground. "And perhaps I acted hastily." Ruby was careful to say nothing, though Yang punctuated that with a snort of derision. Despite what they had done in trying to sneak past the blockade, Cordovin had attacked Ruby and Norn Flights in international airspace, without provocation. Her career was probably over: if Cordovin was lucky, the French government would give her a medal for downing the second Nevermore with a damaged aircraft, then quietly order her to retire. "So, perhaps…we can call it even?"
"That sounds fine, General," Ruby smiled.
"And…I think we can make an exception to the blockade rule. After all, humanitarian flights are still allowed into Europe by American aircraft. I will notify my government that you are assisting refugees."
"Refugees, ma'am?"
Cordovin pointed to Calavera. "Her, specifically." She threw her old nemesis a savage grin. "I can arrange for you to fly as far as Aviano—I think I can convince the Italians without too much trouble. After that, I'm afraid you're on your own to get to Ironwood, but you seem rather resourceful. I imagine you'll think of something."
"I imagine so, ma'am." Ruby was grinning now as well. "We'll have to stay here a few days and get repairs…"
"So demanding!" Cordovin turned. "Lieutenant Meroune!" The lieutenant snapped to attention. "Notify Commander Sixth Fleet that we will need two replacement engines and a repair crew. Do so immediately and they can be here before nightfall." Meroune saluted and ducked into one of the cars to use the radio.
"You're being generous, Cordo," Maria observed.
"Mistakes were made," Cordovin replied; they noticed she was not about to admit to making a mistake herself, not in front of Maria. "We'll leave it at that, I think. That should be all." Cordovin came to attention, and so did everyone else. She saluted. "As soon as everything is repaired, get the hell out of my AO."
"Yes, ma'am!" Ruby barked.
Cordovin nodded and started to return to her car, but Maria moved forward and grabbed her arm. "Hey, Cordo. Thanks."
The general stared at Maria for a moment, then her mouth quirked into a smile. "I will piss on your grave, Maria Calavera," she said in Spanish.
"Not if I get to your mother's first," Maria replied in French. Cordovin sniffed a laugh, then returned to her vehicle and left.
"Well," Ruby sighed after a few minutes of stunned silence, "I guess we'll have to tell Saphron and Terra we'll be staying for awhile longer."
"Me for a shower," Yang said. Pyrrha laughed, and the pilots started walking towards the hangar. Qrow hung back, then raised his voice. "Hey, Ruby." She stopped and turned. "You did great out there today, kiddo. Your mama would be proud of you—both of you." He nodded at Yang, who winked back. "Just don't go doing that solo shit again, will you? I don't need any help having a heart attack."
"I love you too, Uncle Qrow," Ruby replied, and waved. Then she rejoined her sister and her friends, leaving Qrow with Maria. "You weren't half bad yourself today, Qrow," the former GRIMM Reaper told him.
"They did all the heavy lifting," Qrow said.
"But you were there to help when they asked for it," Maria replied.
"Thanks. And I guess I sort of got to see the GRIMM Reaper in action." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Ha!" Maria laughed. "You should've seen me when I was your age. I would've flown rings around you and curled your toes, boy." She hooked an arm into his. "Let's go get a drink."
"Nah." Qrow began walking alongside her. "I'm putting the cork in the bottle, Colonel. Cold turkey. Won't be easy, but I'm not letting them down again."
"All right then." Maria nodded. "Club soda it is."
Sarajevo International Airport Hotel
Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
31 May 2001
Cinder Fall looked up from her book as the hotel room door opened up, admitting Neo Politan. "All done," Neo announced. "We can fly to Berlin tomorrow."
"Tegel or Templehof?"
"Templehof," Neo answered. "Our cover is that we are going to an airshow in Stockholm. Flight plan is filed and everything." She took off the bowler hat and tossed it onto the counter next to the television.
"How much did that cost?"
"About two thousand, American." Neo unbuttoned her blouse and threw it haphazardly; it landed close to her suitcase. "The locals know me. I'm grabbing a shower." Without another word, Neo shimmied out her pants and socks, and walked into the bathroom.
Cinder put down her book and thought. Two thousand was far less than she thought it would be. Cinder had forgotten that Neo had once run her own air pirate gang, before she'd fallen in love with Roman Torchwick, presumably, and merged their gangs together. Like most air pirates, Neo's bunch had diversified: the local Bosnians knew her because she had once run guns to them. There was a strong separatist sentiment among both the Bosnians and the Bosnian Serbs, who thoroughly disliked each other, and Neo had gleefully informed Cinder after they had arrived in Sarajevo that she ran guns to both factions. The money was Neo's in any case: Cinder had checked in with Lil' Miss Malachite after arriving in Yugoslavia, and Malachite was arranging a transfer of funds when they reached Berlin—along with a promise that the two of them better recover JINN damned quick, as the criminal leader was getting tired of waiting. Cinder reassured Lil' Miss that JINN would be hers soon enough, then hung up, smiling to herself: if Salem stayed remotely on schedule, Malachite would have a lot more to worry about than a doublecross from Cinder Fall.
That left Neo herself, Cinder thought as the shower cut on. She reached below her pillow, and felt the reassuring weight of the Beretta. It would be easy enough to simply shoot Neo between the eyes as the diminutive assassin came out of the bathroom, then get dressed, leave the hotel, and take off for Berlin in her borrowed F-86—or Cinder could even discard the antique aircraft, though she had grown to like it, and take Neo's more capable Hawk. Then she took her hands off of the pistol: Neo was very intelligent, and undoubtedly suspected Cinder was going to try something like that. There could be a hot reception waiting for her when she took off, courtesy of the Yugoslavian Air and Air Defense Force, or in Berlin. No, Cinder mused, it would be best to wait for a better opportunity. Or simply leave Neo alive; she was proving rather useful, after all.
The shower cut off and Cinder heard Neo humming to herself as she dried off, then walked out of the bathroom naked. She jumped on the bed and lay on her stomach, looking at the room service menu. Cinder went back to her book. "Want some food? I'm paying."
"Of course you are," Cinder replied absently. "Malachite's not giving me anything until we get to Berlin."
"Hmm." Neo ran her finger down the menu.
"You should put some clothes on."
"Why? We're both girls." Neo turned over, as if to prove it. "You sleep naked too."
"Pajamas tend to irritate my burns." Cinder shook her head, then put down the book again. "Neo, why do you want to kill me?"
Neo rolled back over and faced her. "Because you helped kill my dum-dum."
"Roman?" Cinder made sure the pistol was close enough for a quick draw. "He flew into the side of a mountain. From what Mercury and Emerald told me, small arms fire got him; Ruby suckered him into a flak trap. I had nothing to do with it."
Neo idly kicked her feet, balancing her head on her hands. "You were the one who roped us into that little scheme of yours and Salem's. So you're responsible." She smiled. "So yes, I'm going to kill you." Then she hopped out of the bed, so fast, that Cinder grabbed the pistol, but instead she picked up the phone. "But not tonight. I'm getting a burger and a Coke. What do you want?"
"What if I killed you first?" Cinder nodded towards the Beretta.
Neo shrugged. "Then you'll be shot by my Bosnian buddies as soon as you leave the hotel, and they'll dump your corpse into a ravine somewhere. And I won't get to enjoy my burger." She waited until Cinder put the pistol back under her pillow. "Don't worry, Cinder! I'm not going to kill you until I kill Ruby Rose. After that, well, we'll see." She dialed room service. "You want food or not?"
"A hamburger sounds fine. Fanta Orange for me." She listened as Neo made their food orders, hung up, and then jumped back onto the bed. Cinder leaned back in her pillows. "Neo, do you believe in destiny?"
"Sure. Don't you?"
Cinder nodded and returned Neo's smile. "I'm happy to say that I do."
MORE NOTES: The ASMP (Air-Sol Moyenne Portee) exists; it's the primary French air-delivered nuclear weapon. Since nukes are (supposedly) banned in this AU, the ASMPs here are equipped with conventional warheads-albeit very powerful ones. Cordovin had to get the second Nevermore somehow.
Neo sure talks a lot in this chapter, but I wanted to end it with those two, as they're getting closer to their objective, too. As mentioned before, Yugoslavia stayed together rather than fly apart in the 1990s, since the Cold War became the GRIMM War, and they decided they'd be better off sticking together. However, as Cinder relates, maybe for not much longer...
