Chapter 90

May stuck her foot out of her invisible bubble, tripping the coffee sipping man as he walked through the command centre. The mug went flying, soaring "coincidentally" into the nearest console nearby, promptly scattering hot coffee everywhere and particularly onto one guy's pants. He screamed in agony as it burned his jewels, attempting to keep the coffee from seeping into his terminal before realising his efforts were to be in vain. His adjacent officer got up as well, turning to the man they were unfortunately sabotaging.

'Read the sign Bill, read the sign!' He pointed to a comically badly drawn sign that said, "no food or drinks in the command centre". 'Why don't you ever pay attention! You're in here late all the time; your co-workers hate you!'

Chaos abruptly ensued in the command centre, and the man made a quick run for the bathroom to hopefully cool down his precious bits before any permanent damage was made, and Jaye bowed in apology to the man just trying to do his job. Ruby immediately draped her spun out cloak over the group, bundling them all together into one giant swirling rose petal thing and shooting them through the chaotic control centre and alighting them atop the stairwell on the other side. The group alighted in sequence atop the stairwell, Ruby finally appearing in a bright grin and striking a pose, panting in exertion. With no prior warning to brace himself, Jaye staggered as his feet found the ground again, dropping against a nearby wall for support. He balked as Blake grabbed him for stability, wrapping his arms around the girl with trembling legs as they both stared down the still posing red riding hood with homicidal intent.

'Another thing. I don't wanna do. Ever. Again.' Blake choked out, her ears flattened against her skull, and Jaye couldn't help himself but to poke them, earning a death glare from the faunus girl.

They continued down the hallway, passing over a long walkway hovering over a long drop, and Jaye wondered to himself who designed a hallway like this for a terminal room where if you so much as fumbled your scroll it would go plummeting down into the depths of the abyss, never to be seen again. They approached the electrified door on the other end, and Jaye looked suspiciously around the area.

'This is a really bad place to be in.' He muttered, and the girls looked at him curiously.

'We're in an enemy base; everywhere is a bad place to be in.' Ruby scoffed, and he smacked a hand directly into the centre of her face, earning a splutter from the smol girl.

'No I mean this literal area is the worst place to be in.' He pointed out. 'There's just one walkway in and out, no room to manoeuvre, and the potential to fall to your death. If you got ambushed here, you'd be completely screwed.' He crossed his arms. 'Too risky for us all to be in here; I suggest splitting the party in two.'

'But we would be more likely to be detected if we stay out here.' Weiss pointed out. 'Wouldn't it be safer if we all went in? It is a classified area after all, and we don't know what's waiting for us on the other side.'

'Well I'm staying here then.' Jaye planted his foot firmly into the ground. 'If you guys get stuck inside then at least there's the chance I can do something to get you guys out.'

'Suit yourself.' Nora said, bundling the rest of the girls together and towards the force field. Jaye set himself up next to the entrance, listening for sounds of trouble, and watched as the girls entered the room, the doors slamming shut behind them and the noisy force field reactivating.

Blake spun in lethargic circles on the chair, listlessly staring at the ceiling while Penny/Pietro worked on the console. She finally spun to a stop as Nora walked by.

'I hope the others are okay.' She murmured, gathering her hands into her lap. 'I've never seen Yang and Ruby fight like this.'

'Don't worry; they're sisters. Sometimes sisters just have very different ideas about what's right.' Weiss said, though the severity of her statement fell past the members present.

'Yeah, they'll be fine!' Nora cut in. 'Jaune's a great leader, Oscar's grown a ton, and Yang's more than capable of protecting them all in a fight. I'm not really sure why Jaye came with us instead of going with them, but hey you know, I guess he just worries about us too.'

The girls stared at her pointedly, and Nora hung her head a little.

'Oh and of course Ren is… um.' She trailed off, letting her hands fall despondently to her sides. 'I don't know what he is. Every time I think the two of us are making progress, he…' She heaved a sigh. 'We've been together our whole lives, but I feel like I understand him less now than ever. And I don't know if that's his fault or mine.'

'When you've been at someone's side for so long… after a while they become a part of you.' Blake said, placing a hand on her chest. 'But that's just it; they're only a part of you. Don't forget about the rest.'

Nora's shoulders fell.

'I don't actually know who I am… without Ren.' She laughed awkwardly, hugging her arm to her chest. 'Pretty sad, huh?'

'Well… maybe take this opportunity to figure it out?' Weiss suggested. 'Do something only Nora can do. The girl shrugged despondently.

'Like what? Be strong and hit stuff?'

Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of Pietro finishing up at the console, though in their preoccupation they missed the faint feeling of their scrolls vibrating. Blake finally took notice, pulling out her scroll as they approached the door, noticing too late as it opened the furious messages still coming in from their friendly neighbourhood assassin.

"OI YOU STUPID SONS OF BITCHES READ YOUR DAMN SCROLLS WE GOT ACE OPS"

Outside the terminal room about 5 minutes ago

Jaye started as he heard furious movement from the other side of the door. The sounds of a keypad began, and he glanced around the area, noting the piping underneath the walkway, and swung down to it quietly. He shuffled into a secure spot under the pipe, yanking his scroll out of his pocket and activating the camera. He heard footsteps above him move, and he snuck the camera module of his scroll out to the side just past the edge of the walkway, staring at the holographic screen as it displayed his quarries upside down. He grimaced as he recognised the members; it was the Ace Ops. He quickly spammed messages to the kids, cursing under his breath as no one read them.

'You flipping idiots read your damn scrolls!' He hissed under his breath, wondering if he should risk calling in the dead silence of the walkway where his speaker would most definitely be audible, but too late he heard the force field deactivate.

'Hello kids.' Harriet greeted, standing in a row with the other members of her team. 'Time to come home now, Penny.'

'So your first time losing to us wasn't enough?' Weiss scoffed, and the girls drew their weapons.

'We were holding back!' Marrow defended, and Vine stepped forwards.

'We have all said some things we regret, but please hear me out.' Vine walked towards the girls, stopping as Ruby levelled her rifle at him. 'I know you thought you were doing the right thing when you left with the maiden power, but Salem is here now. Things have changed.'

'If General Ironwood plans to leave Mantle behind, nothing has changed.' Penny declared, and Vine sighed heavily.

'I thought you were supposed to protect the people, not hurt them.'

'I would never hurt anyone!'

'Well Winter's in critical condition; because of you.' Elm said, their attempt at piling on the guilt onto the somewhat naïve girl seemingly working.

'And you repaid her by stealing the power that should have been hers.' Harriet cut in with a fury, the spite in her words clearly taking a toll on the robot girl who was wholly unfamiliar with psychological warfare. Jaye clambered slowly out from where he was hidden, silently pushing himself up onto the platform. The girls spotted him out of the corner of their eyes, though they betrayed no indication that he was there. 'If you don't start doing the right thing, people in Atlas and Mantle are going to die.'

'You can stop all of this, Penny. Just open the vault, hand over the relic, and you'll save Atlas!' Marrow begged, and Ruby finally burst out in anger.

'But it won't save Atlas! Salem will find her way to the relic no matter where you go! Once Ironwood opens the vault, the relic is as good as-!'

'One more word, and I'm throwing you in jail right next to your uncle.' Harriet hissed, egging Penny on as she got increasingly hostile. The robot girl, unfortunately falling for the trick, slowly stepped forward.

'Leave her alone.' Penny warned, bringing a foot out of the room. Harriet scoffed at the girl.

'And what are you gonna do about it, tin can?' She stepped forwards into a fighting stance, levelling her fists with the robot girl. Penny, her anger finally boiling over, stepped fully out the doors, but realising too late Ruby reached a hand to the girl.

'Penny no!' She cried as the doors slammed shut. The force field crackled to life, and Jaye slapped a hand into his face, groaning in irritation. The robot girl turned to her adversaries, nodding subtly to Jaye behind, before casting a frigid wind down the length of the walkway. The Ace Ops were blown back, Alexius at the rear of the pack, and she gasped in surprise as Jaye seized her by the neck. He slammed her into the ground, blasting cold air onto her limbs and freezing her to the metal floor. He placed a hand over her mouth, freezing it shut, thankful for the howling wind serving to mask his actions. The rest of the Ace Ops barely noticed one of their members get taken out as they charged for Penny again.

Vine, launching himself above the girl, noticed too late the boy standing on the opposing end, and elected to attack the girl to remove the onslaught of wind she was throwing at them. Harriet, taking advantage of the situation, darted past Penny, striking as she went. Seemingly taking Jaye's advice about the hit and run tactic, she delivered several strong blows before Penny's targeting systems locked onto her running path. The android slammed an arm into Harriet's path, sending her crashing to the ground. Jaye yanked the shield off Alexius's back, hurling it at Elm a little too late, as she got off a rocket blast that interrupted Penny's assault on Harriet. The shield bounced off her head, knocking her around, but Jaye's celebratory smirk was cut short by the sound of ice cracking. Alexius dragged herself off the floor, her eyes blazing with anger, and he noted the aura shields expanding from her hands to crack the ice. He shook his head at the girl.

'Right. Damage reduction. Forgot about your semblance.' He sighed, raising his weapons as Alexius called her shield back to her. 'Absolute pain in the ass.'

'It's not damage reduction.' She hissed clambering to her feet and brandishing her shield at the boy. Jaye made a face like he just remembered something.

'Oh yeah it was uh… shoot what did you call it… Iron Body?' He screwed his face up in thought. 'You're also vulnerable whenever you make aura shields since it takes away from your body shield, but otherwise your body shield is much stronger than normal peeps can achieve. Man I know pillow talk pays the bills, but you really told Mina a lot about yourself huh.'

'Dammit fox boy.' She grumbled, charging the ex-assassin and locking her shield edge against his swords. Jaye spun into a complicated kata, and she backed off as his swords raked across her shield. 'Goddammit. I really was into him you know?'

'Sorry about that.' Jaye grinned, slamming her shield aside with a blast of ice. He lowered his voice to a whisper as they locked swords again. 'I heard you let my team go that time. Thanks for that.'

'Piss off.' She scoffed, grunting in pain as Jaye kicked her heavily in the ribs. He pushed away from her, rolling over Elm's hammer as she swung at him and kicking her in the face. 'Didn't do it for you.'

'All the same.' He panted, sweeping Elm's leg and stopping abruptly as he realised her foot was tethered to the ground. She grabbed him by the leg, slamming him into the floor, and he blasted her face with ice, kicking her in the neck and freeing himself from her grasp. He stumbled into an assault by Alexius, and the woman was doing a good job in locking him down. Behind, he spotted Elm launch Harriet into Penny, knocking the girl down with a flurry of barehanded strikes. Elm spun furiously, and knowing what was coming, Jaye pushed past the shield wielding woman and charged for Elm. He felt the shield collide with his back as Alexius tossed it at him, dropping into a roll and swiping at Elm's unattached feet. Too late, Elm released her hammer, hurtling it across the walkway and straight into Penny before. Jaye finished his sweep, dropping Elm to the floor and froze her limbs to it, kicking Alexius in the head as she charged to help her teammate and dropping a people's elbow directly into Elm's throat. She spluttered, and he made a beeline straight for the robot girl surrounded on all sides. Sheathing his blades, he leapt over Harriet's head, kicking her square in the temple, and knocked Vine's feet out from under him and threw him into the railing.

Blocking a wild haymaker from Harriet, he slammed his palm into her nose, spinning and lowering himself to slip her blind jab and threw a spinning elbow around her jab and into her temple. Reeling back from the blow, Jaye sent her flying with a spinning hook kick, before feeling his movements slow in place.

'Stay!'

Frozen on the spot, he glared at Marrow, finger pointed at the pair, tying down both him and the newly minted winter maiden even as he struggled against the invisible force restraining his movement. Staring across the team, he realised this had been their plan all along; all he'd done was manage to delay it. In a last-ditch effort, he channelled ice into his feet, raising a sheer wall between them to obscure his vision, but it appeared that even with a broken line of sight Marrow's semblance continued to do its work. Breaking through the ice wall with relative ease, Elm seized the boy and slammed him into the ground, pulling a set of cuffs off her back. All weapons pointed at him, and still restricted by the dog boy's semblance, he could do nothing but growl his resistance as the Ace Ops members cuffed him.

The force field shielded door promptly exploded with a passion, sending all present flying in various directions. The doors clattered across the walkway, slamming over the Ace Ops members, and sending Jaye flying into the railing. He swore aloud as the metal bar cracked into his back, the much smaller point of contact concentrating all impact into his back, and he toppled over the edge. Plummeting down, he fired blasts of ice from his feet, propelling himself towards the wall and slamming himself into it. He concentrated ice through his feet and hands as he dragged them against the metal surface, finally succeeding in freezing his hands to the metal wall. He stopped short, thankfully slowing himself enough not to completely rip out his shoulders, but he felt his right socket jolt hard and deduced that it was most likely going to be useless.

Placing his feet square on the wall, he froze them carefully to the metal surface, liquifying the ice on his arms and releasing them from their icy prison. Systematically freezing and unfreezing his feet, he finally managed to point himself facing upwards (nearly breaking his ankles in the process), and slowly began a slow and painful process of climbing the wall with his arms behind his back. He spotted the girls fighting out of the corner of his eye, climbing the surface as quickly as he could with dropping off or losing his balance and slamming his head into the metal wall behind him. From the edge of his vision, he saw the Ace Ops leap off the edge and down below, swearing at them as they went, and finally getting high enough, managed to synchronise his unfreezing of his feet with his jump and did a long backflip onto the walkway behind. He hit the ground with a grunt, rolling back over his shoulder and onto his knees, skidding slightly across the ground to stop his backwards momentum. He glanced across the girls, getting to his feet with a groan.

'Who the hell blew up the door?' He spat, rolling his shoulder to work the pain out of them. His back and shoulder were throbbing like a bitch, and he spotted the unconscious Nora draped across Penny's arms in the remains of the entranceway. 'Oh it was Nora. You've got to be kidding me.' He glared across the girls still staring. 'Will one of you cut me out of these damn things?!'

Weiss complied, drawing her rapier, and severing his bonds. Jaye felt his arms release, the weight of his right arm coming down hard on his now likely torn up shoulder, and promptly let out a steady stream of cuss words as he picked his arm up to his chest. Digging through his jacket, he pulled out a small length of leather stashed in a thin sheath in his sternum, shaking out the leather strip to reveal a metallic loop on the end. On the inside of his wrist area, there was a small clip-on strip to cover the sleeve zippers, and he undid that and threaded it through the metal loop, clipping it back into place and securing his arm to the sternum of his jacket. With his still functioning arm, he drew his wakizashi, growling in pain as he turned to the door.

'I can't carry her like this.' He hissed, brandishing his blade. 'Penny can you get her to the ship?'

'I've got her.' The android said, lifting Nora into her arms.

'Then let's get a move on.'

The Airship Hangers

They burst through the doors to the hanger, alighting on the empty docking bay. Jaye cursed as he saw the lack of ships, cradling his useless arm to his chest, glancing for any traces of a struggle, till a whistle came out of thin air.

'You coming or what?' May called, and they ran towards the source of her voice. They slipped through the bubble of invisibleness, the grinning blue-haired woman waiting for them with thankfully an airship. Her eyes alighted on the unconscious girl in Penny's arms, her grin turning into a gasp.

'She's in bad shape. We need to get her somewhere safe.' Blake said, and they piled the girl into the airship. With her maiden power, Penny blasted a hole in the hanger doors, and they sped out of the breach as fast as they could. Suspiciously, it didn't seem like Atlas was intent on pursuing them, and Jaye's suspicion only grew by the second. The girls laid their unconscious teammate down on the ground, Nora groaning under her breath, and Penny gathered her hands into her lap.

'I'm so, so sorry.' She wept. 'It is time for me to go, isn't it?'

Ruby hugged the android. 'We'll see each other again really soon. I promise.'

May opened the hatch doors, and the android girl saluted them gently. Jaye waved her away.

'Piss off alright. Take care of yourself.' He said, and Penny smiled at him gently. She took off into the open sky, towards where they knew Amity was, and the girls watched her green trail slowly vanish into the clouds. Jaye leant back in his seat, adjusting his arm and hissing in pain. Still, he couldn't shake the horrifying feeling he was getting that they were missing something incredibly important, even as they continued their journey to find safety.

End of chapter 90