Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY
Chapter 6: Dead Men Walking
"Oh, that's a lot of activity." Jaune muttered, spying on the Spiders' operations from the roof of one of the warehouses. Malachite's people had moved in once the sun set and blocked off all the routes leading to the warehouses, fortunately, traversing the rooftops was still fair game.
And down below was a nest of activity. Spiders were carrying crates from warehouses and loading them up onto bullheads. There were even some repurposed mechs assisting with the heavy lifting. But most concerningly, there were Vacuo natives in the mix, all of them wearing the symbol of the Crown.
"Looks like an alliance of some sort. Oh boy, this can't be good." Jaune muttered.
"Just so we're clear, your semblance boosting me or not, there's no way I'll be able to catch all of them before they notice us." Emerald said. There were just too many people at work down below, if she missed even one the alarm would go up and then it'd be one heck of a fight.
"Damnit, I'm thinking… rgh… need to know what's in those crates." Jaune growled. Coming at night might have been a tactical mistake after all, sneaking past alert guards in the morning might have been difficult, but it was certainly looking a lot more plausible than evading the hundred or so people milling down below.
Scanning the area with his binoculars again, searching for a solution, Jaune locked up suddenly, nearly dropping the binocs. "No… that's impossible. Grey, down by that bullhead next to the stack of crates, is that who I think it is?"
Grey relieved Jaune of the binocs and peered through them, searching for whatever had spooked him. Locating the bullhead in question, they scanned the faces and attire of the people around it, searching, searching until they found it. A single tremor in Grey's hands was the only sign of shock from the stoic sentinel.
"Jax."
"Jax? Who's Jax?" Emerald frowned in confusion.
"Jax Asturias." Jaune all but spat the name out like a curse.
"Jax… Asturias… what!? Isn't he-" Emerald began and Jaune interrupted.
"Dead. But somehow, he's back from the grave." Jaune growled and something clicked in Emerald's mind.
"You. You did it, you're the one who killed him."
"Yeah. Broke his aura, broke his legs then fed him to the Grimm alive. I watched them tear him apart screaming, fucking son of a bitch is dead, there's no way he's here." Jaune hissed, pure hatred bleeding through despite his best effort to remain calm.
"That's… a bit much, isn't it?" Emerald recoiled at the sheer vitriol in Jaune's tone.
"I only regret I couldn't give him a more painful death. Well… maybe I'll get a chance to rectify that mistake soon."
"What the hell did he do to you?" Emerald asked.
"It's not what he did to me, I… I don't want to talk about it." Jaune grit his teeth hard, just remembering the uncountable sins laid at Jax's feet was enough to make him want to go berserk.
"Look, my hands might be stained, but I have lines I won't cross. This Grimmspawn on the other hand… his… his semblance is fucking mind control. You do the math." Jaune hissed, fingers twitching, itching to wrap themselves around Jax's neck.
"Engagement unwise." Grey said, the synthetic monotone helping to clear Jaune's head.
Taking a few deep breaths to stabilise himself, Jaune forced himself to calm down. Logically speaking, Jax was 100% dead, by the time the Grimm were done, there was barely anything left to be called a 'body'.
Meaning, whoever this was, was definitely an impostor of some kind. Jaune sucked in another deep breath, held it there for a moment before slowly exhaling. "Well Em, guess we know who's on the other side of the Crown power struggle now."
"So what do we do?" Emerald.
"I think, we go pay Lil Miss a visit now. She's in deep enough leaving her alone is no longer an option I think, I'm not waiting till she brings her mess to Vale." Jaune growled, backing away from the edge. Having to see Jax down there was making his blood boil and he needed a cool head.
"As for Jax… haaaaa… another time. There'll be a reckoning between us, but it'll be on my terms. Not here. Tch, so much for seeing what's inside the crates."
"Sure, works for me. But if the Crown is here, you think they're shipping all these to Vacuo?" Emerald asked.
"Maybe, only one way to find out." Jaune reached into his pocket and pulled out several coin sized devices. Activating the trackers, he tossed them over the edge onto several bullheads. The small 'ping' they made on contact went unnoticed among the hubbub and small gravity dust projectors anchored the tiny trackers to the airships' hulls.
"Tracking them will have to do for now." Jaune grimaced.
"Alright, now that we're done with the side-tracking, can we go collect Lil Miss? Or do we need to collect more intel first." Emerald quipped sarcastically.
"Haha very funny." Jaune rolled his eyes, shooting Jax one last dirty look, he scowled and turned away, more than ready to leave before he did something he'd regret.
"No, we're done on recon. Lil Miss has a nice little office in Upper Mistral now, it's where she stays, no more moving from base to base with multiple decoys."
"She's out in the open? In an… office? There's no way it's that easy." Emerald frowned.
"That's because it isn't. Her new base is Xin Hengsha, all of Xin Hengsha. Oh and she does have a security detail." Jaune replied, cold smile on his face.
"This is bullshit, we're never getting in." Emerald glanced up at the massive steel grey walls fencing the compound in. The towering skyscrapers of Xin Hengsha lay behind them, guarded by legions of Spiders and other mercenaries on Malachite's payroll. And Emerald could just make out the heavy machine guns situated at the top of the walls, ready to repel any siege with deadly force.
Xin Hengsha was a kingdom unto itself within Mistral. A combination of apartment complexes and office buildings, Lil Miss Malachite had plans to turn the entire place into the centre of her criminal empire. Built in full view of Haven Academy and within walking range of the council chambers, this entire place was a giant middle finger to their authority.
Supposedly a solution to the inequality of Mistral's levels. 'Cheap' and 'affordable' housing for anyone and everyone, with all the amenities one could expect from upper Mistral. For most who spent their whole lives drowning in lower Mistral's squalor, a place in Xin Hengsha meant living like kings without the worry of starvation or getting shanked for a piece of mouldy bread.
All that for the low, low price of 'favours' owed to Lil Miss. Simple things, easy things, just a bit of eavesdropping here, a little bit of delivery work there, some minor murders for variety.
Easy stuff.
Refusal meant 'eviction' of course. Inside, Lil Miss's word was law and 'lawbreakers' were dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly. Nobody ever saw any bodies, but nobody ever saw the evicted tenants again either.
Fortunately, Xin Hengsha's security had one major flaw. The guards were only human.
"Nah, we're walking in through the front door." Jaune shook his head.
"How?" Emerald glanced at him.
"Everybody loves pizza." Jaune chuckled and entered several commands into his scroll. Once done, he stowed it away and leaned against a wall to wait.
"What did you do?" Emerald asked.
"Eh, in about… thirty minutes, this gate is going to get a delivery of a hundred pizzas from twenty-eight different stores. While the guards are distracted, you hit them with your semblance and we walk right on through. Gotta love twenty-four-hour delivery." Jaune replied.
"…" Emerald was struck speechless by the sheer absurdity of Jaune's plan.
"You're insane, you know that?" She said eventually.
"Guilty, I was crazy enough to sneak into Beacon with fake transcripts and zero training after all." Jaune shrugged and Emerald shook her head with a sigh.
True to Jaune's word, a horde of deliverymen descended upon the lone guard post, all carrying boxes of doughy, cheesy goodness. The sudden clamour proved one heck of a distraction as the guards came out to check on the situation and even those inside were more focused on the crowd than keeping an eye out for anyone else.
Their distracted states made it easy for Emerald to hit them with her semblance, hiding the three of them from view as they kept to the shadows and walked right past the unaware guards. Her worries about the guard towers spotting them were moot as they entered, no alarm sounded and no one started shooting at them.
"Can't believe that worked."
"Why wouldn't it? A little bit of misdirection goes a long way, people see what they want to see, and most guards want to see no trouble. It's 3.30 AM Em, people just want to get on with their jobs so they can go home and sleep." Jaune said.
Past the walls, Xin Hengsha itself was surprisingly bright, every corner was lit up by some kind of lighting. Several armed patrols swept the area, searching for intruders, while cameras were situated everywhere, keeping everything under surveillance.
"Thought this place would be darker." Emerald kept her head down, not looking into any of the cameras.
"Most of the guards are human. Bright areas mean easier aiming." Jaune replied.
"Real encouraging." Emerald drawled.
"Patrol incoming." Grey reported and they tensed up.
"Don't do anything stupid, just use your semblance to make them see spiderweb tattoos on us. Remember, they're not expecting intruders, to them, we belong here." Jaune whispered and patted Emerald on the shoulder, activating his semblance to give her a boost.
Emerald did as instructed, hitting the patrol with her semblance as soon as they rounded a corner. She held her breath as they passed quietly, nothing more than a nod of greeting to even acknowledge their presence. Exhaling slowly, she let her hands fall away from her weapons.
Making their way deeper into Xin Hengsha in silence, they evaded the other patrols in the same manner. No one expected trouble and they easily bought into the illusions Emerald showed them.
Upon passing another set of guards armed with heavy weapons, Emerald shook her head. "I've seen Atlesian bases with lower security than this place. She's got her own army down here."
"Mmhmm, I wonder if she's planning to tack on Empress to her name. Well, I guess it doesn't matter now." Jaune hit the button, calling the elevator down. At the top lay their destination, Malachite's penthouse suite.
"Alright, we do this quick and easy. Go in, ice the guards, grab her and evac via the roof. Let's get this done before the army downstairs comes knocking." Jaune activated a transponder, signalling Mercury to begin his approach.
The rest of the elevator ride was in silence as each member of the team checked their gear. Emerald drew Thief's Respite and gave them a once over. Jaune slipped on a pair of knuckledusters equipped with lightning dust, enough to function as a taser or deliver a lethal jolt as required. Grey held a silenced pistol in one hand and their other hand rested next to a brace of throwing knives.
A small 'ding' sounded as the elevator came to a halt. Jaune glanced at the floor readout with a frown. "Forty-three, ah… why can't things just go according to plan?"
The doors slid open, revealing two unsuspecting men in suits on the other end and several more at the end of the hall. Spiderweb tattoos on their necks and faces proudly announced their allegiance.
"What the!? Who the hell are-" The outcry was silenced with the wet squelch of a knife finding its way into an eye. But it was too late to keep the warning from going out as the other Spiders were already going for their weapons. Jaune dropped the other man with a solid punch to the jaw then slammed his fist against the elevator controls.
The doors started closing slowly and Jaune resisted the urge to curse. Gunfire erupted as Emerald and Grey opened fire first, nailing several thugs before they could return fire. And return fire the survivors did, their unsuppressed weapons deafening in the relative quiet.
Jaune stood at the front, absorbing incoming enemy fire with his sizeable aura reserves while Emerald and Grey focused on taking out the enemy. Finally the doors closed and the elevator started ascending again.
"Fuck, that could have gone better." Jaune grunted, brushing deformed bullets off his jacket.
"They know we're coming now."
Another 'ding' sounded as they made it to the fifty first floor. As soon as the doors opened, there were several guards already stationed there. Emerald hit the first few with her semblance making them see Lil Miss herself in the elevator, causing them to pause instead of opening fire immediately.
The brief moment of confusion bough them enough time to surge outwards and scythe through the defenders with surgical precision. Jaune led the way as the vanguard, once more serving as a bullet sponge for those Emerald didn't manage to get with her semblance.
His aura flared as dozens of rounds struck him and bounced off harmlessly. Charging right into the thick of it, he delivered haymaker after haymaker, using the knuckleduster's lightning dust to amp up the damage of each blow, shocking them all into oblivion.
Emerald went with the tried and tested method of simply hanging back and plugging away at her targets with precise shots, using the elevator sides for some semblance of cover. Occasionally she'd hit the guards with illusions distorting their perception of where everyone was, encouraging friendly fire to further thin the ranks.
Grey on the other hand, was a force of nature onto themselves. Weaving through the enemy ranks and evading their attacks with an ease that bordered on the supernatural, none of the Spiders even came close to touching them.
If Jaune was a hammer that simply shattered everything in his path with brute force, Grey was the scalpel that slid effortlessly between ribs.
Vaulting over several guards and slashing all their throats with a single swipe, Grey landed on their feet soundlessly as the bodies dropped all around them. And without a pause, Grey was already moving again, slipping and sliding around other Spiders, keeping them from getting a clear shot.
Even when more reinforcements started pouring in, the duo of Jaune and Grey never lost momentum, their impeccable coordination made the numbers disadvantage count for very little in the enclosed space.
"Damn, how long have the two of them been working together?" Emerald muttered while in the midst of reloading. Even back in the day when Cinder had made her and Mercury drill together to get their cohesion down, they never came anywhere close to this level of sync.
Jaune kneed a thug in the face then roundhouse kicked him into Lil Miss's door hard enough to send the body crashing through, turning the wooden door into splinters.
"It was unlocked you know." A woman's placid voice called out from behind it. The Spiders still standing quailed at the intrusion and backed off.
"Guess we're invited in." Jaune lowered his fists and dusted the bullets off himself again. Shooting the Spiders an icy glare as though daring them to try anything, he strode through the shattered door, Emerald and Grey right behind him.
"Jaune Arc, you're pretty far from home. To what do I do owe this displeasure today." Lil Miss Malachite sat behind an ornate desk, flanked by two stone faced guards.
"Oh, you know, just thought I'd pop in and say hi while I was in the area. Nice place you got here, be a real shame if something happened to it." Jaune smirked and executed a mock bow.
"Yes, a real shame…" Lil Miss's smile turned enigmatic.
"What was your plan really, walk in here, start a fight and then walk out? I hope you don't expect leave this place in one piece."
"Well, the idea was to sneak in, stab you in your cold, dead heart while you were sleeping. But this is fine too." Jaune shrugged. The transponder in his pocket buzzed twice, a signal from Mercury that he was currently overhead and waiting, excellent.
"Come now Jaune, are you really trying to lie to me? Just who do you think I am?" Malachite shook her head.
"A dead woman." Jaune replied and Lil Miss chuckled. She gestured to the Spiders filing in behind the three of them with guns drawn.
"You're an optimistic person, aren't you? The kind that looks at an impossible situation and goes yeah, I'll give it a shot."
"Don't you know? I'm the man who makes the impossible possible." Jaune shrugged and gave another mock bow. Grey moved at the same time, hurling a smoke pellet on the floor and causing thick white smoke to obscure their position.
Emerald activated her semblance, causing Lil Miss and her guards to see dozens of Jaunes running amok. Once they were within the grasp of her semblance, she hit the deck, a split second before gunfire tore through her previous position.
Jaune ignored the bullets bouncing off his aura and punched towards the ceiling, firing a bolt of lightning from his dusters and overloaded the grid, causing all the lights to blow and plunging the floor into total darkness.
"God damnit! Someone get the lights back on!" Lil Miss roared.
But none of her grunts were in any condition to obey. Between panicking at the sudden loss of vision and further blinding themselves with their own muzzle flashes, they were easy pickings for Grey. One by one they dropped to the floor as an untouchable ghost breezed through their ranks.
"Mercury! Land now, hot extract!" Jaune shouted into his scroll and then charged right for Malachite.
Her guards moved to intercept immediately, completely unfazed by the turn of events and seemingly unaffected by the darkness. Jaune ducked under a punch from the first and slugged the second in the face.
Immediately he felt something was off, there was a flash of light on contact, almost like an aura flare, except… wrong. If he didn't know better, he'd swear the flash came before contact instead of on impact.
When the guard retaliated with a lightning quick jab, Jaune brought up both hands in an 'X' to block, despite that, he still found himself knocked backwards from the sheer force of the blow.
"What the hell!?" Jaune gasped, shaking his arms to rid the ache in them. He'd taken some heavy blows in the past but this guy was punching on the same level as a semblance boosted Yang or Nora.
Jaune backed away as the two guards advanced, taking turns to have a swing at him. Both of them were perfectly in sync, no fancy moves, no flashy techniques, just precise and well-timed kicks and punches that dug divots in the floor.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune spied Lil Miss trying to make a getaway. But with the two strange guards in his path, there was no way he'd be able to get to her. "Malachite's running! Stop her!"
"On it!" Emerald called back, picking herself off the floor and dashing after Malachite, following her into an escape passageway behind a false wall.
Jaune was left to contend with the guards by himself, since his partner was too busy keeping the other Spiders from overrunning him. Ducking under another right hook, he danced to the right, away from the other guard and lashed out with a straight jab.
Once again, a flare of light and his fist collided with something solid, keeping the electrified dusters from making contact with flesh. That's when it clicked for Jaune. "Hardlight? Personal hardlight barriers? Who the fuck are you people!?"
No response was forthcoming, the two of them simply maintained their blank expressions as they continued raining blows with mechanical precision. Jaune bobbed and weaved, evading where he could and blocking where he couldn't.
This was nuts, personal hardlight shields were a recent Atlesian development and ludicrously expensive, not to mention top secret. Jaune had a brief mental meltdown over the idea that Lil Miss somehow managed to get her hands on not one but two working shield generators before forcing his mind back on track.
Once she was in custody, they could interrogate her. For now, dealing with these two and exfiltrating asap took priority.
Falling back further to put some distance between them, Jaune wracked his brain for ideas. Hardlight was incredibly durable and long lasting, its defensive properties surpassed natural aura in some places. As for weaknesses… sustained damage on one area could breach the barrier, but that was easier said than done when it came to a moving target.
Unless…
"Fuck me, this is going to hurt. Grey! Shuteye!" Jaune winced and grit his teeth. When the closest guard came in swinging. Jaune ducked under the punch and then retaliated with a solid uppercut to his chin. Right before impact, Jaune overloaded the lightning emitters on his knuckleduster, burning up every last bit of lightning dust inside.
Fist wreathed in pale lightning made contact with hardlight barrier. A blinding flash lit up the room, searing the eyes of anyone unfortunate to look right at them. The containment field held together just long enough to direct the lightning up into the guard's chin, channelling all that power into one single strike.
The hardlight barrier collapsed instantly.
Jaune staggered back, eyes watering from the pain. His right arm felt like it was on fire after essentially holding onto a lightning bolt. He didn't even need to check his scroll to know his aura had taken one major hit from that reckless move. He certainly didn't have enough for one more go at the second. "Agh! Graggh!"
The burst had dispelled much of the smoke still hanging in the air from Grey's smoke pellet and it had punched a hole through the ceiling, allowing light from the moon to shine in. Jaune looked up to see the guard he'd punched missing everything above the neck and… still very much on his feet.
He didn't even have time to curse before the guard's flailing arms caught him with a glancing blow, sending him crashing into the far wall.
"Aah… ahaa… w-what the fuck?" One of the spiders said, lowering his gun at the sight of the headless guard. Blood continued to spurt from the 'fatal' wound, the crimson liquid looking almost pitch black in the dim light. One by one, the Spiders still alive and kicking noticed the odd sight.
Then the screaming started.
The Spiders broke and ran. Dealing with Jaune's group was one thing, dealing with the walking dead was quite another.
Once they cleared out, it was down to an injured Jaune and Grey to face Lil Miss's two inhuman bodyguards.
"Hold it!" Emerald roared, dashing after Lil Miss Malachite. Boy could that woman run, Emerald cursed and ejected the magazines from Thief's Respite, sliding home new ones containing ice dust rounds instead. If they didn't have to take her in alive, this would be so much easier.
She'd heard some kind of thunderclap from the office earlier and then heavy gunfire and explosions. No idea what was happening with Jaune and Grey but whatever they were doing, it was keeping the other Spiders out.
Firing on Lil Miss's legs, the first round went wide but the second and third shots struck home, freezing the limb in a block of ice.
Emerald's victorious grin faded when Lil Miss stomped downwards, shattering the ice instantly. She recoiled when her quarry spun around, sending a punch right for her face. A last second application of her semblance meant Lil Miss misjudged the distance between them and punched the wall instead.
Her arm went right through the solid brick wall and Emerald's eyes bugged out of their sockets in shock. Snapping herself out of it, she opened fire again, trying to encase her Lil Miss in a block of ice.
That plan went out the window when the mob boss hissed in frustration. A hardlight barrier sprung up around her, melting right through the ice imprisoning her. And with a final tug, Lil Miss ripped her arm free from the hole.
"Die!" She snarled and rushed at Emerald.
"Oh shit!" Cursing and activating her semblance again, Emerald evaded Lil Miss by a hair's breadth. Taking a deep breath, Emerald baited out another charge and waited till Lil Miss passed before leaping onto her back.
Wrapping an arm around Lil Miss's neck, she began to squeeze with every bit of strength afforded to her by aura and years of training. Lil Miss bucked like no tomorrow and her hardlight barrier sprung up, shaking like a wet dog, she did her best to throw Emerald off but the former thief hung on for dear life, using the added momentum to add even more force.
"Go! Down! Already!" Emerald grunted. Lil Miss's airflow should be completely restricted now, how the hell was she still moving!? Didn't she need to breathe at all!?
Finally, Lil Miss had the idea to back up against the wall and start slammed Emerald into it, jarring her enough to let go. Emerald hit the ground and rolled away right before a foot came down and smashed through the floor tile her head was on a second ago.
Scrambling back to her feet, she evaded just in time for Lil Miss to punch through the wall again. This time, instead of solid brick, she rammed her fist right into the electrical wiring. With her hardlight barrier deactivated, the sudden jolt managed to go right through, frying the generator and causing Malachite to spasm uncontrollably.
"NO!" Emerald cried. Tackling Lil Miss, she knocked her away and hope the woman hadn't managed to kill herself by electrocution.
Those worries proved unfounded when Lil Miss snapped awake and started trying to kill her again. She grabbed one of Emerald's weapons by the blades and tried wrenching it free. Emerald resisted and started pounding on Lil Miss's face with her free arm.
Their grapple came to an abrupt end when Lil Miss suddenly jerked, accidentally shoving the blade she was holding into her own neck, causing blood to spurt everywhere, coating Emerald in it.
Emerald froze.
Panic set in.
The acrid stench of smoke, the cries of the damned, the metallic taste of blood. Suddenly she was back in Vale again, death and destruction all around her. Red, so much red, everywhere, on her, on her-
Emerald snapped back to the present when a meaty hand wrapped around he throat and started squeezing, choking her. Scrabbling at the arm and trying to get it to let go, she gasped and looked down, seeing Lil Miss Malachite still very much alive.
Stars exploded across her vision when Lil Miss squeezed tighter. Fortunately for her, a gunshot rang out and the pressure on her neck disappeared. Lil Miss's hand had been blown off below the elbow. Two hands grabbed her shoulder and hauled her off Lil Miss.
"You look like shit Em." Mercury grunted and dragged her to safety. When Lil Miss tried to grab at them, he rammed his boot into the face, kicking her down.
"N-no don't- we… need her alive!" Emerald coughed out, sucking down mouthfuls of precious lifegiving air.
"Right, limbs expendable then." Mercury set Emerald against the wall and proceeded to stomp on Lil Miss's remaining limbs, shattering the joints and crippling her.
"You human? You don't look it." Mercury grunted when he noticed Malachite's wounds had already begun to stop bleeding. Looking back to Emerald, she still had a shellshocked expression on her face, mumbling something over and over under her breath.
"Oi! Snap out of it! We need to leave now! They got this place rigged to blow!" Mercury's shout managed to drag Emerald back to the land of the living as he hauled her to her feet.
"GO! Manta is at the end of this hall, Jaune and Grey should be on the way soon. I got this bitch." Mercury grabbed Malachite's crippled form and tossed it over his shoulder.
"Gah! Don't you fucking bite me lady, or I'll fucking let you chew on some old boots!" Mercury swore when Lil Miss snapped at him with her teeth.
Emerald nodded slowly before starting to run behind Mercury. Forcing herself to remain in the present. Turning the corner, she could see the end of the hall had been blown away, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the building.
"Yo Jauney! We're here!" Mercury shouted into his comms.
Seconds later, the roar of the engines sounded and the Manta dipped into view. The door slid open and Jaune was there urging them to hurry on board. Several large explosions sounded and the entire building rumbled.
"Ah fuck, outta time." Mercury swore. With a mighty heave, he threw Malachite forwards like the world's heavies javelin, sending her crashing onto the Manta's floor in a painful heap.
As the building started to tilt, seconds away from a complete collapse, Mercury grabbed Emerald, picked her up and used his mechanical legs to propel them both forwards in one superpowered jump. Landing on the edge of the Manta, Jaune grabbed them both and pulled them into safety.
"Grey get us out of here!" He shouted and the Manta started ascending.
Mercury gently set Emerald down on a seat and watched her with a modicum of concern, the mint haired girl going back into shock again it seemed.
"So, you want to tell me what the hell that was all about?" He asked.
"To be totally honest with you Mercury? I have no bloody idea." Jaune sighed and gestured to the struggling Lil Miss. Thief's Respite was still buried in the gaping hole in her neck and all the struggling had only served to enlarge the wound.
"People just don't wanna stay dead anymore. Goddamned nice timing by the way, we were running out of options against those frigging unkillable bastards. You've earned your bonus today."
"Uh huh, and what about… what about Em? I've… never seen her like this before." Mercury nodded to the catatonic woman.
"I don't know. I just don't know." Jaune sighed.
Emerald rested her head against the cool metal wall, staining it red with the blood on her. Her eyes were unfocused, staring off into the distance, lost in her memories.