"Listen, I was dealing with a potential terrorist. If I had been as lenient as you wanted, I could have had a knife in my back!" Ajax forced out, losing vocal control just barely at the end.
"You don't need to torture confessions out of people!" Ruby countered, equally as forceful.
This 'discussion' has been ongoing for sometime now. It started over breakfast, continued in the Armory/locker room, and they had now taken it to a quieter corner where they could more freely speak their minds.
"So you'd rather me take the risk of death"
"Ajax, you are literally one of the best Atlesian Specialists, probably the best that works outside of a team. You were not in danger, just paranoid"
"Belladonna said she had taken on Specialists before, multiple times. The Ace-Ops lost Tortuga to the White Fang. My 'paranoia' was justified!"
"Then why not call on Ozpin if you were so concerned?!"
Ajax took a deep breath. This was simple. Very easy. Nothing worth getting this worked up over. Anger leads to broken deals and severed ties. Deep breaths.
"If it became 'official' and there was revealed to be a potential White Fang spy that made it as far as the campus gates, Beacon's image would be a goner. Panic would spread faster than a wildfire in the Forever Fall, and we would have a Grimm invasion. Ruby, your moral code is going to get people hurt" he managed calmly.
"Oh, so what am I supposed to do then? Just whip out my gun," Ruby did that, tearing Crescent Rose from its mag plate and pointing the barrel directly at Ajax's forehead, "and mow down any adversary? No! I don't care if I'm not really a people's person, or a mega-genius that can create a not-a-probleminator, but I'm me! I can still try and help before I hurt"
"And when the clock is ticking down on a bomb guarded by a room full of terrorists in the middle of downtown Mantle, are you going to reason with them?" Ajax remembered that vividly. It was his first experience with the Fang. "Or a Grimm that can predict your every move and hide in plain sight, are you going to try to talk your way through that? There are some things words won't pull you through. Terrorism is one of them"
"Well you could have at least apo-"
"Apologized?" Ajax asked incredulously, losing whatever veneer of calm he had, "Ruby, she lied on her official registration documentation about her activity with a terrorist group. Not a civil rights group, because civil rights groups don't send General Ironwood and Atlas's Council videos of beheadings. A terrorist group. The nicest thing I could've done is what I did, let her run free and updated her file to a White Fang operative defector and potential Fang target. She is under official Beacon protection now. What I should have done was thrown her ass in the slammer. And she knows it too"
Ruby looked at Ajax with confused eyes. Ajax could only imagine what it would be like, seeing your icon turning out to be far more sinister than you believed. It was why he hid the specifics of his… employment from Teucer.
"Fine. I just, I don't feel fine with the idea of hurting someone because they might be a danger"
Ruby slid her scythe back to its resting place on her back. She didn't bring herself to meet Ajax's gaze. He sighed, then conceded, "You don't have to. You just can't be pillow soft when dealing with people who are out to kill others"
Ruby said nothing and looked down at her shaking foot. Maybe she knew Ajax was one of those people out to kill someone else. He himself had no idea his next victim, but whoever attacked the Maiden is soon to meet his maker.
"Now, enough arguing. Standing here won't get us any closer initiation"
"...alright… let's go"
Ajax walked onto his own plate, bow loosely in hand and quiver strapped to his lower back. Despite passing this being required of all Beacon students (even undercover Specialists and personally invited students), Ozpin had refused to specify beforehand what would be happening in Initiation itself. Apparently it would be more fun.
It was a reasonable excuse, if a little distasteful. Only a little though.
A few students arrived a bit later than the pack. Ruby was clearly dragging her feet, but played it off as nerves when her sister asked. The act was far too convincing for the first time. Ajax silently prayed he didn't make a mistake dragging Ruby into his affairs.
Once all the students stood on their own platforms, Ozpin and another female staff member meandered up in front of them.
"Well. I'm glad to see you're all here. I need you to listen carefully, because this is your only chance to hear this and there are no questions after, any questions before we start?" Ozpin inquired.
Not a hand raised.
"That's horrible, questions are the way to learn things; you need to ask for information. Tell me, if all of you began Initiation right now, how would you know what it entails? Anyone who was going to say scrolls, please do ten pushups"
One student humbled himself to do the workout. Upon closer inspection, it was the unlucky boy, Bennett. Ten pushups later, he stood up. Ozpin looked satisfied.
"Thank you for accepting your smartassery. Now, the correct answer is that you wouldn't because you all are being passive learners, when you need to be active in Huntsman training, lest you forget some important piece of information on how the Grimm could be potentially obliterated. Just this once, I'll forgive your sloth, and tell you what you should have asked about. In that forest below," he motioned to the vast green expanse under the cliffs, "you all will take your Initiation exam. Your main objective is to form a team, and that's it. In all my years, the only two students who have failed to do so failed because one killed another, failing the dead one and disqualifying himself. Please don't make me do more paperwork than necessary"
The staff next to him looked aghast.
"Ozpin, you haven't done paperwork in years, only shoved it into mine and Glynda's desk-"
"In any case," he interrupted, "Team leaders will be chosen tomorrow morning based on who we observe to be the best fit for the role"
"The last thing to note is that teams are standard Huntsman teams of four, not Specialist five or six man squads," that felt very directed at Ajax, "and as for how they are formed, the first single person you shake hands with is your partner, and the first partner group you shake hands with joins your team. Teams are for your duration here at Beacon. We are watching, don't try to lie about it. Simple enough?"
Nods.
"Perfect. Now, prepare for takeof-" the Headmaster was stopped by a hand to his mouth
"Oz, you forgot the flags"
"Right, the flags," Ozpin began after carefully wiping his face,"they are a bonus objective that gives you something to do after finding suitable teammates. It is in your best interest to form a team to capture and secure a flag quickly, considering there are only three. Teams can steal flags, having multiple flags does nothing extra, and ending with a flag gets your team a free exam grade that will exempt you from one semester exam for one class. Usable once at any point in your four year tenure. Does this make sense?"
That got a lot more response from the line of students. Apparently semester exams were something undesirable. A multitude of nods spread the excitement even to the red cloaked girl a few pads down.
"Well, get to it then"
The Headmaster swiped through his large scroll with a mastered familiarity, eventually settling on what looked like a large button that said, HƆИUA- he jammed it with his thumb- the plates beneath the students feet shot them soaring into the open sky.
Ajax's previous landing strategy revolved around something he was actively trying to avoid using: his semblance. Not saying surviving a fall without it was impossible, far from it, but made it much less impactful on his Aura reserves. Regardless, he needed a different plan.
Improvising was something he knew even as a mere fourteen year-old loser running for his life in the woods. Surely he could think something up for this.
Arrows would be no help, maybe his belt? The force would snap his wrist straight through his Aura though. Maybe he could turn his shirt inside out for an improvised parachute? No, not enough drag. Ajax mentally slapped himself. He really should have thought this through a bit better, especially with the ground rapidly approaching.
All he had to do was hide his semblance, right? If he was subtle, it shouldn't be an issue.
It was a risky strategy, but one that could work.
He pulled some Aura into his feet. Right as he reached the canopy, he let the Aura slowly release and gradually go faster. Branches broke beneath his feet as diminutive jets stalled his descent. Eventually, he slowed enough to grab onto a rather thick one and wouldn't dislocate his arms. It snapped under his weight.
"Ah, fuu-"
Ajax tried to roll out of the way, only for his foot to get stuck under the broken branch. A good amount of his Aura dissipated in a puff of blue steam.
"Rookie mistake…"
He casually kicked at the branch with his free foot. Only a bit of bark came off. Putting some juice into it, his Semblance kicked in and began cutting the branch away. A few seconds later, Ajax was free. He stood up and brushed himself down.
Partner. Team. Flags.
The simple three step plan for the next few hours. Better yet, it really was that simple. Shake three people's hands and rough up four others and that's mission complete. It was far easier than going over missing persons reports and checking the credibility of résumés' references to try and discover Salem's little insider at Haven. Gods, even thinking about it was tiring.
Ozpin was right, this should be fun.
Or at least interesting, if the person walking up to him indicated in any way.
"Ajax, my man. Nice to know I got someone decent watching my back. Although, I wouldn't have thought someone so good with hand to hand would be using a bow right now" Bennett said.
"What can I say? I surprise even myself sometimes. Besides, your Semblance could probably use a babysitter. It certainly messed up my landing plan, and dropped a branch on my leg"
"Ah… well…" he tapered off there, as if unsure how to apologize, "Sorry about that. You seem alright though," The blond boy offered his hand sheepishly, "Team?"
Ajax took it, "Team"
They shook hands. After a while, Ajax realized he didn't really have any plan for where to go. He brought this up to Bennett, who had a solution.
"Scrolls. Ozpin made a big deal out of it so people would check them" He carefully pulled his out of a small satchel. Sure enough, it had a map with flag locations (there were three of them) as well as a timer reading about the same hours left.
"Really? It sounded more like he wanted the others to avoid their scrolls" Ajax thought out loud.
"Yeah? Well maybe the others need to think bigger. If you're right, we've got an advantage. Either way, we need one of those flags. Closest one is," Bennett glances at the map's compass rose, then squinted at the sun, then pointed- "that way, north. Let's get moving and hope we find suitable teammates"
"Sounds good"
True to their word, they went north. The flag was not where they expected it to be though. In its place was the empty flagstand with a small flashing LED.
"Someone took it?"
"Someone took it."
Great.
They had yet to find so much as a trace of anyone else, potential partner or otherwise, and just lost the flag.
"Wait, it's not the stand that's got the tracker on it, it's the flag. Look"
Bennett pointed to the icon on the map. Sure enough, it was moving. While it was certainly closer than the rest, they had to move quickly to capitalize on it.
"Let's go"
Ajax took a stance like at a track line. To his great surprise, Bennett took a similar stance next to him. He held up one hand that clearly expressed his intent on three fingers.
3…
2…
1…
There was no buzzer, but the two shot off as fast they could. The Specialist had a decent height over the other boy, and had a much longer stride because of it. Surprisingly, Bennett was holding his own in this little foot race they had. Seems someone else put in the mileage.
Over roots, under branches, slowing only briefly to place an arrow through the eye of a Beowolf. Bennett took a lead over him, but lost it when he suddenly stumbled over a larger hidden root. And then they found the flag.
It was a cacophony of explosions and yelling. Grimm surrounded the area, and a team of four boys was fighting with a single bow-wielding blond girl in dark clothing. She seemed to be stalling for the flag bearer, who was fighting her way out of the wall of Grimm in a blur of petals and severed limbs.
"Ruby! Over here!"
Damnit Bennett, shut up.
They needed a proper plan. Ajax could deal with the horde of Grimm, likely along with most of the freshman class and a good chunk of the sophomores all at once. That was with his little splash n' slash and zap fingers. Without his semblance, things could get messy quickly.
"Ajax, look. They need a partner group, and that group over there looks keen on taking our free exam. If we join Ruby, we could probably put the boys down and bolt"
That… wasn't a terrible idea. Certainly better than just standing here like they were.
"You go officiate the team with Ruby," Ajax motioned for Bennett as such, "I'll go help mystery girl fend off some uglies"
"Yeah, you have fun with that. I'll stay over here, where it's safe. Be careful and be ready to cover your eyes"
The hell is that supposed to mean?
Whatever. Not important right now.
Ajax ran toward her. As he got closer, he noticed a small Nevermore assaulting the boys alongside the girl. Strange, but the enemy of an enemy can be a friend.
He fired off a few arrows to limited effect. They hit their marks, but did nothing besides slightly stagger them. The other girl's arrows though were tipped with some kind of Dust; lightning if the sparks were to be believed.
Those arrows burst and almost tased her opponents, leaving them vulnerable to the small flying Grimm. Ajax would have thought woman and Grimm to be working together had he not known better.
Maybe tipped arrows aren't such a bad idea.
Despite his bow having the force relative to its gargantuan weight, he didn't like it much in extreme close quarters like these. Ajax slid the bow onto his back magplate.
He approached the first boy, who was mobile but distracted with the bird. A knee to the liver brought him down very quickly. The rest faced him, much more unsure about their already hard fought battle.
"This is quite the opportunity to come by. Well then, amuse me"
Ajax steeled himself, bringing his fists up in time for the first boy to charge him. A mace swung at him. It missed. The boy screamed in pain as his knee collapsed under the Specialist's foot. Ajax placed the tip of an arrow to the boy's chin. The slashing sound rejuvenated him, giving him a fresh shot of dopamine as he stared down the rest-
He shook his head. The screaming stopped. Opening his ocean blues, Ajax found that nobody had moved yet, all three boys still standing unsure.
Get it together. This isn't you.
But it is. Embrace it.
Before he could act, more arrows came, knocking down another contender that wasn't prepared. The one with the mace blocked the projectiles that came his way, and the one with the sword stood behind his protection. He trained his sword on the specialist. Looking at the tip, he saw an open tube.
Down the barrel.
His arm was around the boy's throat before the shot fired. The sword fell to the ground, its edge digging into the sandy soil. He felt fingers desperately clawing at his arm, running over the marks Belladonna had left the night before. There would be no torturing this time though.
Ajax dropped the boy on his knee, shattering what little of his Aura remained when the bone found a kidney. The last teammate looked between the two evils, as if deciding which would be more dangerous to turn his back on. He never got the choice; the bird came back with a vengeance, clawing and pecking at the eyes.
Ajax's foot made quick work of the boy's legs, dropping him to the ground. Blue eyes met blue eyes. He stopped himself from stomping on the other set though, scoffing at the vivid illusion he saw of the boy's demise. Instead, he turned to face his new teammate hopeful.
"Fate has found us united," she announced, "My Auge der Verurteilung foresaw this unification of sojourning souls-"
"About twelve seconds ago, mein Fräulein"
Ajax didn't see anyone else arrive, but the bird flew onto the girl's shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it was just a large raven, not an avian Grimm-
"Oz!"
"Apologies. Behold, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung!"
-that can also talk. He'd have to ask Bennett how he knew this bird, and why he should be wary of his eyes.
"I'm Ajax. Ajax Akva. I assume you're partnered with Ruby?" He offered his hand.
"The Lichtträger graces me with her companionship. I shall grace thee with mine"
The Prinzessin daintily shook Ajax's grip. Despite how gentle of a shake it was, Ajax felt her callouses scraping against his own.
She let go, then looked to the four masses lying unconscious on the floor. The one with the mace seemingly fainted, whether from heat or fear Ajax knew not.
"Preparatory to sojourning, we must ascertain the wellbeing of this quartet"
She could stand to learn modern language.
Pain is an excellent teacher.
The girl nudged the bird, Oz, on her shoulder. It nodded, then flew off to the cliff face. Bennett and his tag along came for proper introductions. Both showed signs of minor combat with Grimm.
"umm… Ajax. This is Fischl" Ruby stated. Fischl bowed to the girl.
"Ruby, I believe the bird called her the Prinzessin der Verurteilung. I, uh, shalln't address her as anything less" Ajax said theatrically. He was struggling to not laugh while the two girls looked very serious. Bennett was avoiding eye contact.
"You really don't have to" Ruby said in a quiet voice.
"Her highness says otherwi-"
"Thine Prinzessin implores you to listen to the Lichtträger's wisdom. Thou shalt call me Fischl"
"Okay?"
"Yeah that works. I guess you two did your own introductions without me. Oh well. We all knew each other from Signal," Ruby managed, albeit awkwardly.
Ah. Odd one out. Not the first time, never the last time.
"So what are we going to do with these kids. None of them have their Auras up, or are awake for that matter" Ajax said.
The one with daggers shifted slightly, but otherwise they all were still.
"I got something. But, did you hit anyone on the head really hard?"
Ajax and Fischl both soon their heads.
Bennett walked up to each of the four boys and put an adhesive bandage on each of their foreheads.
"Do you really expect that to help them?"
"Obviously not. It's so I know it's safe to use this-"
He slammed his fist into the ground. An explosion of heat, no, pure Aura, rushed outward from its epicenter. When it reached Ajax, he felt pain. Excruciating pain. A spot on his neck felt like it was tearing deeper into him. Then it lowered in intensity, and Ajax looked around.
The four boys were all awake now, and screaming. Or just opened their mouths so wide they might dislocate their jaws. He couldn't tell; his hearing was shot. The girls who somewhat expected this were a decent distance away.
He noticed as well, despite the pain, he felt incredibly powerful.
"Bennett, what kind of Semblance do you have?"
Lips moved.
"Yeah, I can't hear you. Type it out"
Ajax felt like he was yelling the words, but couldn't even hear himself.
It's like a mix of my Dads' Semblances. Ruby calls it Trial by Fire.
Certainly a fitting name. Bad Luck and whatever the hell that was. Likening it to a fire brewing in his belly made sense. If only it didn't hurt so much.
The Specialist's hearing was slowly coming back as his overloaded Aura did its miracle work. He could now hear… ringing. Endless tinnitus. Fantastic.
"Does it always hurt that much?"
"...get used to it"
Louder words he could hear quietly. Looking at the boys, they stopped screaming and clawing at their eyes. At least he didn't have to lose his hearing again to their moaning and groaning.
"I know I went overboard and dropped their Auras completely. Are we good to leave them?" Ajax asked.
"Assuming they don't become comatose from shock, probably. That was certainly enough Aura for fighting conditions. By the looks of things, they'll need it" Bennett said, much more audibly.
Sure enough, more Grimm slowly appeared at the tree line. Few enough to be manageable by even a mildly equipped team, but consciousness and motor functions were a bit of a requirement.
A new solution appeared in the sky. A Bullhead came by, doors opening to reveal the Headmaster and Oz the Raven.
"Congratulations, you are the first group to call in air support before the fifteen minutes mark. Closest up to this point was half an hour"
"'Tis but an honor to please," Fischl curtsied, making Ozpin smile a little, "I trust Oz caused no issues"
"Nothing beyond some mild confusion of a talking bird sharing my name, I assure you"
From there, the Headmaster moved the injured onto the ship, and the doors closed. However, instead of heading to the cliff, it went to another location in the forest.
Another team is almost as dangerous.
And if where they were landing was any indication, very, very close.
"Ajax," Bennett called, "check to see if there is a flag anywhere near that airship"
He did. The closest was about a mile away. The ship was not even a quarter mile out.
"Nope. We may have company soo-" he started, only to be shoved aside by Fischl, "The hell was that fo-"
A sword flew past his nose. It would have slammed into his temple had he not been shoved.
"Ruby, Ajax, take the flag and bolt. Me and mein Prinzessin will take care of these kids"
Nobody questioned Bennett's command. Everyone moved into action, Ajax struggling to keep pace with the red blur before him.
Upon entering the trees, the crimson shade condensed into a panting person. Ruby wiped her brow, then kept up a steady jog through the wood.
"So why can Bennett call her the Prinzessin and I can't?" Ajax knew it was a dumb question even before he asked, but he needed an ice breaker after their heated debate.
"Because I said you shouldn't" Ruby offered.
"Seriously?"
"Yup" she said, popping the 'p'
"What is it about you she finds so great?"
"Apparently my eyes are special according to some book she read back in Signal. She also acts like an interdimensional traveller, so take that with a grain of salt"
"Wait, she found that in a-"
Four gunshots rang out. Ice formed around the pair's feet, rendering them immobile. Silver eyes met blue, and a word met his ears
"Ambush!"
Before Ajax could act on it, a massive frozen blade shattered over Ruby's head.
The flag fell.
Some kind of hook attached to a ribbon came and snatched the objective. He looked for the perpetrators after using an arrow to free one foot. The flag went that way, the ribbon must have been higher in the trees. But nobody was anywhere. Had they left that quickly?
"Right behind you"
A whack hit his ear, sending it ringing again. He managed to grab the object though; a massive black cleaver with a slit in the back.
It was swinging backwards before Ajax really had any threat assessment beyond 'true; is a threat'.
Steel sang out as the last of the ice crumbled. As he turned, blue eyes met amber.
"I never got to thank you for giving me a second chance. I'm not doing that here, just making sure there's nothing personal" She said
Another shot rang out, this one digging into his chest. He felt motor functions suddenly be ripped from his control.
Lightning Dust.
Gods be damned.
Part of him wanted to fry the offending bead with his resemblance, but was drastically outweighed by the rational part of his brain. The one that made it clear, if Ozpin found out he possessed that power, he was dead.
"Chong, let's go," Belladonna said as she ripped the cleaver from Ajax's grip, "Those two will catch up, so we need some slack. We're meeting up with Schnee at thi-"
And the rest was out of earshot. Damn, they moved fast. Ajax hadn't seen this 'Chong' but imagined he was the one who dropped the ice sword on Ruby.
Very slowly, he moved his spasming arm closer to the bullet. Each inch brought another wave of pain. Almost… There…
The moment he touched it, a wild pain shot up his arm, making him relax and lose his position again. The second time, even more painfully, he successfully pried it off.
"Gah!"
Damn, maybe he should say sorry. Lesson for later, mission first.
"Ruby!" Ajax managed as he limped toward the girl. The faintest squeak left her.
"Let's get you up. No point waiting here" He reached to help her up, but she put something in his hand instead: her scroll
"...call Bennett"
Right. Weird pseudo fire healing. Considering how draining his own Semblance was, Bennett was probably running low on Aura.
Ajax thumbed in Ruby's contact for their team member. In less than two rings, he picked up.
"The two we were fighting, some Mistralian kid and what-her-face Schnee, just upped and left. I take it your end didn't go so hot?"
"Yeah, we lost the flag"
"Oh, Ajax. I thought this was Rubes. Is she okay?"
Blue eyes closed, and he sighed.
"I'm sending you coordinates. Try and get here quickly. We got ambushed by their teammates"
"Aw crap. C'mon Fischl, let's go"
Within a few minutes, they had arrived. A few Grimm decided to sneak a peek, but nothing greater than a Beowolf. Ajax's bow quickly dealt with them.
"Alright, I'm here," Bennett announced, "Ajax, you had a rather… strong reaction. Might wanna back up. Just in case" he added quickly.
He did. Bennett crouched over Ruby's partly awake body, giving her a once over.
"Alright, looky here. No, not at my scroll light, look at me"
He was shining the scroll light into Ruby's eyes from one side, then the other.
"Well, you got a minor concussion. Congrats Ruby. If I juiced you up right now, there is a very good chance it'll make matters worse. Let's call in air support"
"No! I'm fine. Seriously" Ruby pleaded as she shook her hands.
"No, you're not. If we let you keep going, you might get lasting brain damage" Bennett insisted.
"But I still have Aura left, I'm fine" she argued.
Ajax checked his scroll. Ruby's Aura meter read zero. He sighed, then reached and took Crescent Rose from the ground. It felt unbelievably balanced for having such a large blade on the end. He hit the fold safety, then handed it to Bennett. Ruby made no fuss, almost as if she didn't notice.
"We'll take it from here. Right now, you are unarmed, out of Aura, concussed, and delirious in Grimm infested woods. Ozpin's on the way" Ajax said, hitting a button on his scroll. A small ping gave confirmation of the Bullhead's impending arrival.
"But I'm fi-"
"Ruby, say one more word, and I'm throwing your scythe into the lake"
Wow. Bennett did have an edge. Ajax could've sworn he didn't have a mean bone in him. Judging by everyone else's expression, they thought the same as Ajax did.
The Bullhead arrived within five minutes. Ruby boarded without protest, though she had a defeated expression on her face. There were quite a number of people in it, and it seemed a stop at the med-wing was imminent.
Sure enough, it departed for school.
"No time to waste. Let's get this flag!" Bennett cheered as his fist struck the air. Nobody else shared his level of enthusiasm.
"Oh. Alright. Yay team…"
The flag wasn't all that far from them, surprisingly, only back near the clearing Bennett and Fischl were stalling for Ajax.
The first thing they noticed even before getting there was the rapidly dropping temperature. A breeze came through, and Ajax briefly felt as though he just climbed out of that cave three years ago. Then, they saw it.
A large ice structure dominated the clearing. Ajax could faintly make out one person in dark blue clothing and the flag within the ice fort. The three others were outside of it, close to large ice spires and decaying Grimm ashes.
Of them, he recognized two, Weiss and the Belladonna girl. The third was a boy with white Mistralian garbs, pale hair, and parchment paper skin. He was the only one without any weapon, as far as he could see, with everyone else on the team bearing a one handed sword of some variation. None of them looked their way as Ajax and crew hid behind the treeline.
"Plan of approach?" Ajax asked cautiously. He doubted breach and clear would work when the ice fort was so distant.
"Working on something. Fischl, Oz," Bennett called, "Eyes in the sky; Oz gives the signal. We strike from separate angles so Ajax's Atlesian friend can't take us all out at once. It still isn't great odds, but hopefully we can manage our own man each fast enough to rush the flag"
The boy looked at his scroll, then back to his team. "I'm still pretty good on Aura, but I can't check on the rest of you because the School hasn't synced our scrolls yet. Do you all have enough Aura for this?"
Blue eyes scanned the scroll.
35%
Well shit. Ajax has faced worse odds, what's a school field trip?
"Yeah, I'm set"
"My soul can withstand many battles to come"
"Alright! Let's get it. Split up, then strike"
The Specialist stood in place while the other two got into position. He wasn't sure what the signal was, but if Bennett was right, he'd be hard pressed to miss it.
The three soon-to-be students in the field began walking toward the ice fort.
Any second
Nobody had taken a move on the fort either, so clearly the signal hadn't been set yet.
Any secon-
A monsterous thunderclap hit his ears as a lightning bolt slammed into the wall of the fort, causing a mist to explode into the clearing.
Very shortly after, his feet pounded on the ground as he sprinted to the somehow still standing structure.
He palmed three arrows, firing them all in quick succession where the targets last stood. Another came from the quiver, but he held it until the fort was closer. Then he hit the freezing fog. Each snowflake clung to his skin, melting on contact.
Just like home
He barely made out footsteps to his left. Aiming his arrow to the sound, he fired it. A surprised yelp followed.
Two more followed as two more arrows hit the target. Ajax slid his bow to his magplate, then tore after the unknown.
A silhouette appeared in the fog, wary of Ajax's presence and giant sword in hand. Silently as he could, he circled to the other side of the figure. His back was exposed, and Ajax planned on taking full advantage of it.
He leapt with a warcry. Right before his fist violently met the boy's right kidney, paper crinkled beneath his foot. A spike of ice erupted from the card he stepped on, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling into his opponent.
They both hit the dirt, and more papers crumbled from the fall. Frozen swords formed around the two of them, embedding them in an icy prison.
The Mistralian boy acted first, elbowing Ajax in the face and ripping another card from his pocket. When he squeezed it, it formed into one of the swords that encircled the two of them.
The frosty blade narrowly missed Ajax on the first swing, and he took the chance to charge into the open guard. Without any room to effectively move his arms, Ajax bashed his head into the other's. The huge sword unceremoniously dropped to the frosted ground. Ajax grabbed the blue-haired head. Hopefully his Aura would hold enough for it to work. Their foreheads collided again, this time with much more force.
Blood splatter from skin tearing. Wiping at his own forehead, he found no cuts. The other boy had a nasty gash sliding down his front lobe, likely along with a concussion and possibly cranial fracture. Ajax watched his opponent drop to the ground.
Checking his own Aura, he found it at a startling 12%. Not great, but he had Bennett.
The blade on the ground felt cold and unnatural, it being ice and all, but it would do the trick. A few swings and Ajax was free.
The fort was still standing. Sure, the walls weren't even half as thick, but they stood. Swords continually flew from the center to some shadow in the sky. Oz was doing his job well enough then.
Ajax looked around the now clear field for his teammates. Bennett was engaged with Schnee, and presumably winning. He didn't appear unscathed, but he certainly wasn't moving as sluggish as the Heiress. Belladonna seemed to be causing trouble though.
Fischl was being forced from the clearing footstep by footstep, and while Blake had yet to so much as touch her, Ajax saw how exhausted his Prinzessin was.
Taking careful aim, he fired two arrows. Only one struck to his dismay, but it was all that was needed for Fischl to land one of her special arrows.
Easy enough. One problem dealt with. Onto the-
Oz came tumbling down from the heavens, crashing into his owner's arms.
-next problem.
A face peaked over the head of the fort. When Ajax locked eyes with him, it took all of a second for swords to seemingly appear from the air and glide towards him.
The first two were easy to dodge.
The next three, he only got hit once.
Then it began to rain swords, and he was really pushing his luck and lungs.
Trying to catch his breath, he slung some arrows on his bow and shot them towards the telepathic sword kid. They sailed off in odd directions, none of which struck anything of visible importance.
Great.
Why couldn't he have used his semblance again? Because Weiss would recognize it?
He mentally slapped himself. The solution was so blatantly obvious; he was very dumbfounded that wasn't his secondary objective after team building.
Incapacitate the Heiress.
It was a temporary solution at best, and at worst he could act like he discovered the Akva family semblance, but it should work decent enough to get the weather forecast of blades, 100% chance of precipitation, a little more under control.
He ducked behind the ice prison housing the concussed Mistralian boy. Pulling him out, he held his hostage in-between him and the sword flinger. Nothing was sent his way.
When he was in range of the explosive mess of the war between ice and fire, he placed the body behind a rapidly melting giant icicle. The limp body smiled a little at the colder seat. Odd. He had bigger fish to fry though.
Ajax shot an arrow at Weiss, hitting her in the hand and disarming her with a surprised yelp. It wasn't where he was aiming, but a welcome development.
Bennett slashed a fiery sword at her. She was powerless to stop the onslaught, but that didn't stop her from attempting to place glyphs between her and Ajax's partner.
Ajax took her unstead stance as a chance to score hits of his own. A knee to the chin discouraged any further resistance, and a punch to the right side of Weiss's ribcage dropped her like a sack of rocks.
Bennett suddenly leapt up, swinging his sword from overhand onto the poor girl. On strike, it exploded with great force, launching all parties. Weiss landed in some kind of bush, but a fizzle of blue indicated she wasn't getting up any time soon.
Ajax crashed into the ice pillar, right near where he set down his pet hostage.
Bennett somehow managed to launch himself into the fortress walls. A daze of some sort filled his eyes. He snapped out of it almost immediately; as falling blades chased his figure he ran back to Ajax.
"Ow, ow, ow, Ow Crap!" Bennett yelled as he dove behind the icicle Ajax was using for cover, "Fischl's toasted and we're locked down here. You wouldn't have any favors with deities, would you?"
He did. Odds are a trip to Atlas and a venture down a cave by a stream would put him in very good favor with one.
"No. I do have a meat shield though. Right ther-"
Gone. The hostage had vanished. Did a Grimm pick him up, or had he somehow overcome his injuries?
"Thanks for the refresh" was all Ajax heard as a colossal sword met his skull.
A.N. Happy Treason Day! I am so dead inside after writing all that. This was supposed to be a two week little jaunt in the woods. Supposed to be. Then I met writer's block. At some point, I decided to just edit it enough to be grammatically correct, even if it wasn't perfect or fully coherent, because this is an inexcusably long wait.But then I tried referencing my overall story outline.Oh God, it's awful. I wrote it trying to accomplish as much as possible, with as little length as possible (because this gon be a doozie) Instead, I ended up with a garbled mess of open ends and just completely wasted ideas.Just as a few examples of how pitiful it was, the Ace Ops were never mentioned again, Weiss was a MacGuffin, half of the team does nothing, everything in school didn't matter despite how long they were going to be there, his family (which make up literally half his character) show up for like two seconds and disappear, and Cinder was a plot device that did one thing and died. I ended up taking a shit load of time trying to (unsuccessfully) rework the plot instead of writing, and boom we're here. Not getting updated for like two and a half months or some shitSo, I'm taking some (more) time to completely rework the main plot. How long? No clue. Until I'm satisfied with it, I won't be putting any time into chapter writing. Because I can't believe I was going to pawn that garbage onto y'all and think it was good.Just to top it off, working on another RWBY fic. Seems I can never get enough sometimes. It's going to be much shorter than this one, but I don't think I'll upload anything till I have a rough draft for nearly all of the chapters.Got nothing else, take it easy folks and happy 4th.