Chapter 12: Four Birds, One Stone
VIEWER DISCRETION WARNING: THIS VENTURES VERY CLOSE TO M TERRITORY RATHER THAN THE ADVERTISING T RATING, DUE TO PROFANITY AND POSSIBLE GRAPHIC IMAGES. CONSIDER YOURSELVES WARNED.
AN: Now with that out of the way, back to the story. So I kinda sorta lied by saying the next two chapters would follow the same vein as the last. That was the intention, but then I accidentally wrote up a better storyline (better from my point of view, anyway). RK trolls WY, Bob begins to turn into Skynet, then Kassidy turns to the dark side for ten minutes.
(Perspective: K)
Mornings came early as ever. After the anomaly that was the nine hour snooze fest on the first day of class, Kassidy resumed sleeping nowhere near as long as anyone else. Still, six hours and no cramps is an improvement from what I'm used to. Silently grabbing Bob, her scroll, and a prepacked bag, she left the room and beelined for the campus' workshop. And they still mock me for sleeping in my full gear. Sure beats the time needed to change out of… whatever. Nobody was up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning of course, which left Kass alone as she walked, tying her hair back into its bun after Yang obliterated it during their spar yesterday.
That's right, yesterday. She never was good at hiding her emotions, so she settled for burying them. But the brawler did a damn fine job of digging them back up. It had been a while since anything other than fear and regret managed to surface, but over the past week she had begun daring to hope. Kassidy's life was a paradise compared to the radioactive apocalypse she came from, she was starting to develop friendships with people who at least showed to have no interest in hurting her, and she didn't have to hurt anyone else for a while (the first spat with Yang notwithstanding).
A few minutes of walking through the brisk spring air found the gunslinger at her destination. Grr, didn't get the bangs tight enough in the bun. Gonna have to settle for good enough. Finding a room with a workspace specifically designed with electronics in mind, she closed the door. Except that door just took two and a half seconds too long to close. Whirling around, she found the culprit: a particular black and red haired girl in sleepwear was in the room with her, who just realized she had been found out and had wide eyes.
"Oh, sorry Kass! I just couldn't sleep and wanted to see what you were doing!" The young team leader was almost panicking at having been caught. Kassidy could only chuckle.
"It's alright, Ruby. Just never pegged you as one who'd get up this early." Setting down to the worktable, she started unpacking her bag as Scythe Girl looked awkwardly from the corner.
"You don't mind if I watch what you're doing, do you? What are you doing, by the way?"
"I think I have an idea on a conversion module that'll let Bob connect to your computer systems. Your dust based electronics sure are a handful, but that applied chemistry class inadvertently let slip a couple hints on how I could bridge the gap between dust and electricity." Pulling out a broken scroll someone dumped in the trash, she pried the receiver off and got to work soldering transistors. "And no, I don't mind as long as you don't touch. This stuff is really fragile."
Ruby pulled up another chair, and the next two and a half hours passed by as the newfangled contraption was built. The younger girl made bits of small talk as Kassidy was working on less intensive bits. The two talked a bit about the first week of class, but mostly about the greater world of Remnant. The gunslinger had no idea about where she was, other than some crime lord named Roman Torchwick tried to kill her, there were bloodthirsty monsters in the wilderness, and she was training with a bunch of superpowered teenagers to be a fighter.
"So, what happened to your moon to make it bust apart like that?"
"Nobody knows for sure. There's legends, obviously, but it's been like that for hundreds if not thousands of years."
"I've got astrophysics in the data we brought with us, Bob. What's your analysis?"
"I'm… not entirely sure. For there to be a very clear mark where the moon is damaged and where it isn't almost makes it seem like it was intentionally detonated from an interior point of the body. That quite obviously isn't the case, but without spending time on simulations I couldn't give you a good idea as to what kind of impact it would take to cause such damage. In any case, the event likely happened twelve to fifteen thousand years ago. Long enough for the several hundred kilometer gaps between the sections that we see, but short enough to where there isn't obvious gravitational influence on the system."
At this point, Ruby's head hit the desk. "Ugh, so boring! Make Jarvis stop!"
Kassidy scoffed. "First Yang, now you? His name's Bob, not Jarvis. Please tell me I don't need to have this discussion with Weiss too."
"Actually, I do believe the heiress' invocations of my name involve a generous use of German vulgarity."
"Well, you did kind of accuse her of being on her period back when we all got here." Ruby's eyes went wide at that mention. "Happened after you left from collapsing on her luggage. Told you that you missed the main event." The team leader started snickering helplessly. Kass ignored it and got back to work.
Eventually, the device was finished. Kassidy fastened the last screw and regarded her latest gadget with pride. "Hmm, one of these days I'll need a design pattern that isn't 'ugly black box'. Oh well, that's for another time. Ready to connect to the RemNet, bud?" Without waiting for an answer, she hooked Bob up to the box.
"Attempting connection… I'm in. Establishing new scroll device… and done. The system now recognizes me as a scroll. As long as this device is attached, I'll be able to perform all relevant functions. Which means you can finally get rid of that holographic piece of crap."
"Oh c'mon Jarvis, it's not that bad! Plus it is a lot smaller…" Ruby was fidgeting around; as cool as it was to see another geek in action, sitting around for two and a half hours did not do her hyperactivity any favors.
"Well, looks like it's seven o clock. Don't you think it's about time our partners got up?" Kassidy had a mischievous grin, which Ruby smirked at. "What? This is totally logical and absolutely not payback for Yang swapping my notes with gibberish she wrote up earlier. Besides, we're out of striking range." The two girls snickered together. "Hey Bob, do me a favor and put a call out to the rest of the team. Let's put your bold new claims to the test."
"Connecting to Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long… connected. Establishing group call."
Ruby took out her scroll out and answered the call, then put it on the table. It took a full fifteen seconds for either of the other two girls to pick up. Weiss spoke for the two rudely awakened teammates.
"Kassidy, what in dust made you think it was acceptable to put out a team-wide call at SEVEN IN THE MORNING!?" The last bit of yelling made them both flinch. "Now you got Yang up, and she's not happy. Since Ruby isn't here either, that means I have to put up with it. And that means YOU are going to have to deal with ME later."
"Relax, ice queen." The gunslinger was quite casual in how she responded to the heiress. "I was just testing out Bob's new capabilities. He said he cracked the code, and I told him to prove it. End of story."
"So your demented compu –"
"Hey, is that Kassidy on the line? Put me on." Some shuffling occurred in the background as the brawler picked up the scroll. "Listen up K, that was very rude. I know I said that –"
"What's also rude is swapping out your partner's notes when they're not looking."
"Is that seriously what this is about? Ugh, you're the worst at taking pranks."
Kass was barely stifling the laughter at this point. "Oh, I can take a prank just fine. It's apparently you who needs to work on that particular issue."
"Partner, I swear that I… " A thought apparently occurred to Yang in the middle of the threat. "Hang on, where's Ruby? She doesn't usually get up this early on the weekend. Hey K, you haven't happened to see Rubes, have you?"
The team leader decided she could no longer hold her tongue. "Yang! Ugh, I'm so sorry! I was helping Kassidy build some new gizmo and she threatened to call you and I tried to talk her out of it but –"
"Hang on, what?" Hazel eyes shot towards the leader. They held fire, but the accompanying facial expression told that no actual anger was being felt. "You're the one who told me this was a great idea and the team needs to stop sleeping in so late!"
"Liar!"
"Traitor!"
"Oh for the love of…" Weiss was back on the line. The two girls could practically hear her pinch her nose through the speakers. "At this point, I really don't care. I'll deal with the two of you later. Right now I need to keep Yang from breaking something."
"Weiss Schnee has disconnected." Bob's announcement signaled the fun was over. The darker haired pair of the team busted up laughing. Kassidy was able to calm down first.
"Oh man! I haven't had that much fun since… since…" All mirth left her as thoughts of her past came back. Damn it, I had enough of this with Yang yesterday.
"Since what?" And damn it, quit pouting! I will not be broken so easily by pitiful faces! No matter how adorable they are!
"Forget it. Just memories of worse times." Almost at once, the tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a dull knife.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" Ruby was pouting again, and damn if she didn't make the darndest puppy dog eyes you've ever seen.
Kass sighed. "Ugh, Yang has me in a practical interrogation about my past yesterday, and now today." She saw Ruby flinch back. "Hey, it's not your fault, you didn't know. It's something I don't like talking about. You want to know more, ask Yang for now. I'll talk later. Maybe."
At that moment, Ruby's stomach growled. "Uh, oops. How about we pick up here and get some breakfast?"
Later that afternoon, Kassidy was finding making her way over to one of the gyms. After breakfast, she decided she was on a roll at the workshop and spent the rest of the morning making ammunition. While she had been touching up her reserves here and there throughout the week, this was the first time she was able to top everything off and even have a bit of surplus left over. She was a couple hundred feet away when she got a call from Yang.
"Hey, what're ya up to partner?"
"Looks like Bob can handle the calls. I'm on my way to the gym, why?"
"Still upset about everything? I was hoping to get some of your help on this algebra assignment." While Yang was by no means an idiot, she struggled with math. Since Kass had exactly zero problems with algebra for obvious reasons, she often spent time tutoring her partner on aspects of the assignment that were proving difficult.
"I wasn't planning on being here long. Been meaning on getting some studying done myself, I've been letting that slip. I should be there in…" The words suddenly died in her throat.
"In what?"
It took Kassidy all her will to not snarl in rage at the sight before her. "Bob, can you stream to Yang the feed from my iris cam? She needs to see this."
"Doing it now."
The sight that greeted the gunslinger as she entered the door consisted, among other things, the four bullies of team CDRL circled around Ruby. Pushing and shoving were the way of things until the little sister found a knee in her face.
"WHAT?!" True rage was screaming into her earpiece. "WHERE ARE THEY? I'M GONNA TEAR THEM APART!"
"At the south gym. Don't worry." As Kassidy snarled, she drew her pistol from its hidden holster in the small of her back and made a point of cocking it so Yang could hear. "I'll deal with this myself. Want me to leave you any?"
"Absolutely. I'm on my way now." The sound of the shotgun gauntlets chambering fresh rounds clicked in the background.
The gunslinger walked in. "Bob, keep this stream going to Yang so she knows what's happening." Finding herself standing in the middle of the room, she fired a round straight into the ceiling. At the sound of gunfire, all activity ceased. Kass spoke up so everyone could hear.
"Everyone who doesn't wish to be a target has exactly ten seconds to leave this building. You – Cardin – your boys stay right there. One. Two."
She couldn't get to three before everyone used auras, semblances, and every other trick a teenager could pull off to exit the scene.
"Well, it looks like the babysitter just showed up." Winchester and his cronies stepped away, in the process showing they were all armed. "Doesn't someone need you to fix their scroll, you soulless freak?"
The gunslinger was practically seeing red at this point. "I'm not going to even try to understand why you're attacking my team leader. You fuck with my team, you fuck with me." She leveled her gun at the group of boys. "And I am NOT someone you fuck with."
Dove Bronzewing, the punk with a pair of daggers, was unimpressed. "Oh, I'm so scared, I'm shaking in my boots. Let me guess, there's the easy way or the hard way?"
"No. There's the hard way, and the dead way."
"That's real big talk, for the weakest runt in the whole damn school." Cardin stepped up and brandished his mace. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass, Smith. Alright, let's paste this bitch and get back to our fun." At that, the four boys charged.
Unfortunately for them, they were a solid fifty feet away from Kassidy. Even with auras making them run faster, they still had to close the gap with the best shooter in the school. Of course, she had never knowingly fired her gun at someone with an aura before, so she couldn't predict the results of what happened when the homemade lead slugs slammed into them.
Dove was the first one to go down, taking a bullet to the knee and having the entirety of his aura depleted in one shot. Russel, the man with a halberd, needed two shots to the shoulders to get taken down. Sky also ate two shots before falling. At this point, Cardin had closed the gap and had swung his mace in a horizontal swing. Just like practice with Yang yesterday… except this time there's gonna be blood. She rolled under it and put two shots into his breastplate, scrambling backwards as she slid a fresh clip in.
As Winchester turned around, he froze in shock. All three of his teammates were on the ground, moaning and bleeding freely from wounds which were nowhere as serious as normal gunshot wounds, thanks to their auras. It suddenly clicked that the skinny girl in front of him fired seven masterfully placed shots in just under three seconds. His face contorted into an animalistic snarl. "You shot my team!"
Kass was just as feral in her reply. "Remind me again what you were doing to Ruby as I walked in?" She fired three shots at his shoulder. One of them he managed to twirl his mace around and block, another bounced off the armored pauldron, but the third hit its mark and sank into flesh, only bouncing off and leaving a welt thanks to the kid's aura. Cardin was about to charge again before a resounding blast hit him from behind and sent him flying into a stack of weights. The source was none other than the angriest blonde anyone had ever seen, with blood red eyes and who was literally on fire. Winchester groaned but made no real effort to get up.
"Yang, get Ruby. I'll handle this." Something was giving the gunslinger a very dark vibe.
"No, I need to teach him –"
"Yang!" Her partner turned at the dark blonde who was snapping at her. "Take care of your sister. Believe me, I have a LOT of experience putting the fear of god in people." Not waiting for an argument, Kassidy strode towards the leader of CDRL.
"Wait, I can explain – oof!" Cardin was silenced by a punch in the nose.
"Shut the hell up you piece of shit." Kassidy grabbed him by the collar and drug him onto the floor, then stood straddling over his chest. "I suppose you're considering yourself lucky, considering that I just stopped the living definition of anger issues from tearing you a new asshole over roughing up her kid sister." Winchester was only too quick to nod in agreement.
"Well, you're very unlucky that you got me, because I've been places that blonde's never been and never will go." Kass was putting a lot of effort into showing just how infuriated she was, oblivious to the sisters watching from the sidelines. "Those feelings you're having? The pain, the feelings of helplessness, your life in the hands of someone who hates you?" More vigorous nods. "I know those feelings. I know, because I've had them. For eight damn years, I've put up with shit that would turn anyone else completely fucking insane from the horror. I know your feelings." Cardin's eyes were bulging, and a heavy smell of urine filled the air.
"And guess what?" His face had now lost all color. "I can make it worse. I can make it so. Much. Worse. Because I'm not a good person. I'm a very bad person, who happens to be very good at hurting people. I could spend YEARS hurting you, you know that right? Slowly, intimately, in every way you fear." She didn't bother looking over to see the faces of shock and horror the two sisters shared.
"I've dealt with your kind before, Cardin. I know that the only thing your people respect is strength. Strength and fear. So here's something for you to respect. You fuck with my teammates again, and you will beg me to kill you." At this point, Winchester was so terrified he literally passed out, his head hitting the floor with a small 'thunk'. She let go of his breastplate, slid her pistol back into the small of her back, and looked at her partner and her team leader. "Told you I could handle it."
Yang was the only one able to form coherent words. "Um, K, what the actual hell was that?"
Kassidy buried her face in her hands and let out a sigh. "A side of me I promised Ozpin I'd keep put away. C'mon, let's get out of here." Ruby also apparently had a broken leg; the brawler had to carry her. They made it halfway across the room when the door opened to Glynda Goodwitch.
"I've heard reports of gunshots and… oh dear Oum, what happened here?"
The gunslinger answered for the trio. "Training accident." With that, RKY walked out and made their way to the infirmary.