To: James Ironwood
From: Arthur Watts
So called "Razor-Field" shells, despite proven efficacy against speed-based Aberrations, are unlikely to succeed in killing Rose. Her unique temporal dilation affords her a reaction time most speedsters are not capable of, and she is thus unlikely to enter the area of effect. Against Rose, these shells should still be useful as area denial and suppression, which could lead to nonlethal recapture.
I cannot understate the benefits of recapturing Rose alive. Aberrations that alter time are exceptionally rare, and are all the more scientifically valuable for it. I want that girl's brain on a slab.
Despite its appearance from the outside, the automotive factory hadn't fallen into complete disuse. There were food wrappers only a few days old left on the break room tables. Spare parts and the cases of power tools; a power drill battery charger plugged in next to a coffee pot. Chopping up cars was only a small part of Junior's business, but the remoteness of the garages made them ideal for meet-ups like this one.
In a room that had once only comprised a small part of the complete production floor, a Honda Accord was parked amidst the dismembered carcasses of other vehicles. It was a few years old, in factory paint, and the highest selling vehicle in America. Ordinarily, Miltia Malachite wouldn't be caught dead, seated on the hood of such a drab car, though it did, by contrast, draw attention to her bright red, fur-lined leather jacket and form-fitting black jeans. She was scrolling through her phone, her other hand moving a lollipop about in her mouth.
Janus, one of the half-dozen thugs in the room, approached her. He had a burly build, though a little leaner and more cut than the others. There were a few military tattoos on his neck; the muscle was coming fresh out of the armed forces these days. Some of Junior's boys only worked for him as a side-gig, when they weren't doing contract work.
"No movement at the back door," He reported.
"Mm-hmm."
Miltia looked over to Melanie. The girl was perched, in almost animal like fashion, on the roof of a truck frame across the room. Her hands gripped the metal right next to her bare feet, her knees stuck out to either side. She'd positioned herself near two of the thugs leaning on the frame, who were, of course, oblivious to her eavesdropping. Melanie sensed Miltia's gaze, and with a movement like a gust of wind, she was reclining next to her sister. Miltia turned her phone towards her sister, showing her a meme somebody had made of a recent live interview with Jacques Schnee. A disagreement over proper terminology when it came to Post Humans had devolved into a minor diatribe from the senator on the subject of political correctness. Melanie cracked up, causing Miltia to join her.
Janus stood in awkward silence next to the car, until Miltia glanced back at him.
"Yes?" She asked, with a raised eyebrow, "Is there more?"
"Spotter outside says sky is clear," Janus said, "Says its weird how few drones have gone over lately, though. Probably, they're keeping 'em where the civvies can see 'em, but might be something to keep in mind."
"Aight."
A side door in the corner, barely lit by the fluorescent tubes hanging low over the center of the room, burst open, Yang Xiao Long striding in at a casual pace. It was as if the door had blown open on its own, just ahead of her step. All six of the thugs in the room stood at attention, sliding their hands into their jackets. Yang took a few paces in, then came to a halt just as she entered the glow of the lights. Ruby Rose appeared beside her, feet planted and hands in the pocket of her hoodie. The hood was pulled forward, so that the lights cast their shadow over her eyes. The thug near the car actually moved to draw his weapon, drawing a glance from the hooded girl. Miltia held out a hand where it would be visible in the thug's periphery, halting him.
"Weren't expecting us to show?" Yang asked.
"I said back door, right?" Miltia asked, "If it sounded like a sex joke at the time, it wasn't. I meant the back door of the building."
Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw Ruby start to crack up. She seemed to blink in place, and was stone faced again. Yang doubted anybody else had seen it.
"In case you had a plan for when we came through that door," Yang said, "Other then the one you told us."
Miltia smirked. Melanie cocked her head, staring at Ruby at an angle. She stood and walked onto the roof of the car. Yang noticed that, even considering the girl's small frame, the car's weight was unaffected.
"Very well," Miltia shrugged, "So then, here's your ride. Janus, give them the rundown."
The thug standing next to the car approached the two of them. Yang tensed, but the man's posture wasn't threatening. She could see just a hint of Ruby's eyes through the mess of her bangs; She was watching him closely.
"Welcome to your ride out of the Rust Belt," Janus said, "Now, this ain't going to be a family road trip, got it? There are parts of this ride where you're in the backseat, and parts where you're in the trunk."
He opened the back door of the car, reached in, and pulled the backseat forward, showing a path into the trunk of the car one might be able to awkwardly crawl through.
"I say trunk, you get in the trunk," Janus said, "You don't argue with me about gettin' in the trunk, you don't suggest alternative plans to gettin' in the trunk, you get in the fuckin' trunk. Understand?"
"We got it," Ruby said.
This caught Yang by surprise. She certainly hadn't been sure about it. Janus apparently caught it.
"You move Abberants, 'specially kids, they always get ideas like your fuckin' superpowers are gonna be the solution to every problem. You want our help? You follow your rules."
Ruby blinked in place again. This time, Janus's focus had been on Yang. She could tell he hadn't seen it.
"Whether or not you've actually moved Aberrants before, you've never moved me," Ruby said, "And you've never moved her. We can wait in the trunk just fine. If you get stopped, I'd pop it before they shoot you. It's easier for us if you're still alive when we're done."
Janus's stare didn't move from Yang.
"I like her," he said, "let's go have a look at the map, and I'll show you the trunk bits of the trip."
Yang followed him over to a workbench in the corner. Ruby looked up at Melanie, still perched on the car's roof. Melanie was peeking at her threw soaked strands of hair, suspicious, but not hiding a small grin.
"I like the dress," Ruby said, "You've got a neat look going."
Melanie smiled, and sat down on the roof of the car, leaving a spot next to her. Ruby appeared seated in the spot, causing the thugs in the room to jump.
"You want to see some cool stuff I stole?" She asked.
Melanie nodded.
On a tool bench just to the side of the car's back end, Janus laid out a map of the northeastern United States. A line was drawn in marker in a somewhat crooked path from Detroit down into Idaho. There were various markers and notes dotted along various places on the line.
"So, once we're out of the city, the hard bit is over," He said, "This spot here, and here. Those are the only two places we could have trouble. The real trick is getting out of Detroit. You'll be in the trunk until… here. Go back in, here and here, for maybe ten minutes each. You think you can survive that?"
"I've hid in a fucking trunk before," Yang said, "I just don't like doing it."
"Gotcha. ICE has jurisdiction all over Michigan, so if we see a patrol here…"
Something had caught Yang's eye. Miltia had drawn her phone from her pocket, and looked down at the screen with concern. She looked up again and caught Yang's glance. She put the phone back in her pocket, returning her attention to the map. Yang looked over to Ruby. Ruby, it seemed, had been expecting Yang's questioning glance, and returned a nod. Yang gave her a nod in return, then looked back to the map.
Janus was laying down rules about eating in the car. Another of the thugs approached Miltia, and whispered something in her ear.
"What's going on?" Yang asked.
Miltia looked over. She glanced about the room, seeming to be weighing options in her head. She glanced over her shoulder at her sister.
"Drones in the air," Miltia said, "Too many."
Janus immediately drew his phone, and turned to begin speaking to his men outside. Ruby appeared next to Yang, drawing a small double take from Miltia. She tugged on Yang's sleeve, and Yang turned to give her an ear.
"Think the text was from Junior," Ruby whispered, "There's something wrong and he wanted her to bail on the meeting if we hadn't arrived yet."
"Oh shit," Yang whispered.
Janus turned around and addressed the room. It seemed the time for discretion was over.
"Convoy just entered the district, headed here," He said, "Armoured vehicles, unmarked. Spotters say the drones don't look police issue, so we're dealing with mercs. Expect heavy gear, and Anti-Aberration tech. Get ready, and remember, Malachite is the priority."
The reaction from the other thugs was immediate. They drew their weapons and proceeded wordlessly to their positions. A few climbed up the catwalk above, where a slanted window provided a view of the street outside. The men on the rafters each grabbed a rifle that had been left in place there; semi-automatics, with tactical scopes, and that was as far as Yang could identify. She glanced down at Ruby. The girl stood, hands in her pockets, staring at the floor.
"We've seen how this goes," Ruby whispered.
The sun was drawing near the horizon, casting an orange glow across the Detroit River. The helicopter was flying low over the city, boldly announcing its presence to the city below. It raised in altitude as it entered the industrial district, evading the towering smokestacks- some long dormant, some spewing black smoke.
Down the street from the auto factory, Armoured APCs pulled to a stop. The doors at the backs of the trucks flew open, and the mercenaries within charged out, moving for the cover of the edges of buildings. Ironwood leapt from the back of the lead truck, wielding an AA-12 shotgun. His boots slammed into the pavement, and he strode down the street, leaving the other mercs staring dumbfounded as they moved from cover to cover. He clicked the button on his radio down.
"Be ready to chuck those two out the second I confirm the targets."
The sound of the thumping rotors was omnipresent; the cabin around Blake seemed to vibrate with the sound, drowning out anything not coming from her headset. They'd come into the industrial district from the East. Out of the open rear doors, the landscape beyond the Detroit River stretched into the distance. The light above the rear door cast a red tint across the world around them with each flash. Weiss's face emerged from the darkness, bathed in red, before plunging back into shadow with the rhythm like a heartbeat.
Blake and Weiss were in modified seats, their safety straps fitted with electronic locks. Though their arms we free, the soldier carrying the dongle that would release them was staying well out of either of their reach. Blake stared out at the horizon on the other side of the border.
"Homesick?" Weiss asked.
"No." Blake said.
Yang marched towards Miltia, crossing her arms before her and stretching her triceps. Though Janus was taking his own position near the back of the room, checking the chambers of his weapons, this movement caught his eye. Melanie was still seated on the car, beady eyes watching Yang like a hawk.
"What did the text say?" Yang asked, "Anything useful?"
"No," Miltia said, "Our best bet is splitting up. You and your sister need to get out of here."
"No shit," Ruby said, "Everybody for themselves, is that it?"
"Ma'am," One of the thugs at the window called down, "Mercs moving down the street. They're forming a perimeter of vehicles. Air support- a chopper. One of 'em is out of cover. We good to go loud?"
Ruby blinked in place, drawing closer to Yang.
"Jimmy is out there," She said, "He's coming."
"Shit," Yang said, before looking up to the high ground, "Guy out of cover is bulletproof! Don't fire, it's a trap."
The thugs looked between each other in confusion.
"How do you-?" Miltia began, before shaking her head, and calling up, "Wait until he gets into a position where you can grenade him!"
Ruby pulled on Yang's arm. Yang turned away from Miltia, and crouched to give Ruby her ear.
"You go through the wall, right?" Ruby asked, "I'll disarm anybody who spots you while you book it."
"No," Yang whispered, "This crew is still our best shot out of Detroit. We need them to get out alive too. How about something a little more creative?"
Ruby nodded. Yang turned back to Miltia.
"We split up. The mercs are coming for us, not you," Yang said, "Take a few of them out if you can, but focus on getting out. They have Post Humans working for them. I'm going to draw them towards us. Maybe punch something hard enough to get their attention. We all get out of this alive, where do we meet back up?"
Miltia raised an eyebrow. She glanced at Melanie, who was lounged, casual as could be, on the hood. Miltia leaned in, as if concerned her own thugs would hear.
"Marcello's Pizzeria. Canton." Miltia said, "But first, we need to know-"
An explosion at the back of the room. Two of the thugs were sent flying back, flesh peeled from bone by the breaching charge. Ruby vanished from sight in an instant, just before a hail of gunfire sprayed out across the room. Yang and Miltia dove in opposite directions, Miltia taking cover behind the car, while Yang ducked behind a waist-high toolbox. Before she could even crouch behind her meager concealment, the toolbox was abruptly piled with smaller toolboxes, bricks, and car parts, hiding Yang completely.
Ruby topped the impromptu barrier with a large wheel rim, one of the biggest, heaviest things she could still manage to carry with her into the silver. As soon as she placed it, fulling concealing Yang from view of the breach, the shimmer overtook it, and it was frozen like everything else. Ruby backed up a few steps, checking if the barrier could still be improved. She turned around and searched the air carefully. The bullets had been 5.56 rounds. Those were the fast ones; not as big as slugs or hard to get around as a cloud of shotgun pellets, but Christ, were they fast, even when everything else was frozen. It was darker inside the building than out, and the goddam silver tint on everything only made the harsh light spilling through the breach worse, and bullets all the harder to spot.
Ruby walked forward, looking about for debris caught in mid-air. She stopped for a moment next to a bullet that was going by. The shimmer could even be seen in the air spinning about the tiny projectile. The distraction almost made her run face first into a suspended piece of debris that had been hiding in plain sight, directly in front of her. It looked something like a human hair, glinting as it caught a sunbeam, but it was distinctly metallic. Weirder, the metal strand didn't seem to have any momentum to it; it simply hung in the air.
"Razor field," Ruby said, "Right."
The air around the breach was filled with these little floating fibers. Almost invisible from across the room, from here they gleamed and glimmered like glass. She'd noticed a few percussion waves coming from outside the breach right after the explosion; little waves of hot air she'd come to associate with shotgun blasts. No buckshot had come in Yang's direction, so Ruby hadn't cared. Near the breach, one of Miltia's thugs lay maimed and screaming from the hole being blown in the wall. It looked like the edge of the cloud of razor fibers had just touched his arm- and had gone clean through as if through air.
"Yeah, fuck that." Ruby said.
Yang just managed to crouch behind her custom-built barricade when Ruby appeared next to her. The girl had a bag slung over her shoulder, heavy with pilfered tools and weapons.
"Razor field shells, and more bullets than I want to mess with," Ruby said, "Back the way we came. Hey, if I say freeze, you gotta freeze, okay?"
"Got it. Cover me."
Yang stood, grabbed hold of the toolbox, and took off sprinting. The metal drawers flew out, scattering their contents across the room. The wheel rims, toolboxes, and power tool cases that had been stacked atop the barrier were thrown each at different angles across the room. Yang was putting all the force she could into every footfall, the concrete floor cracking beneath her boots. She crossed the room in less than a second, rocketing towards the door they'd entered. She let go of the toolbox and put up an elbow. The metal frame of the box crumpled against the wall. Yang's elbow hit the heavy door and took it off its hinges. She planted her feet and slid to a stop. The door continued down the hall, bouncing off the walls until it planted itself halfway into the ceiling and stayed there. Ruby appeared beside Yang.
"They're already coming through the door we came in," She reported, "Go right, left, and up the stairs."
Yang dashed down the hall, taking the turns by smashing into the walls and pushing off rather than slowing down. She reached the staircase and pushed off, taking the steps four at a time. When she reached the top, she was launched as if going over a ramp, coming back down to the floor just as she reached the next door and blasted through it.
"You can slow down, I'm building booby traps and shit behind us."
Yang slowed to a stop, and took a moment to look about. Gunfire was coming from the garage, and that at least meant some of Miltia's crew weren't dead yet.
Miltia kept her head down behind the trunk of the car. Any illusions of adequate cover were shattered every few seconds by stray bullets punching through the cheap fiberglass. Melanie stood in the open, bullets flying about her, head cocked to one side as she watched the battle unfold. Their crew had scrambled to what cover was available to protect them from the massive hole that had opened in the wall. The mercs outside were tossing flashbangs and smoke through the breach, along with a barrage of suppressive fire for good measure.
On the walkway above, Janus ran for the wall above the breach. There was a small window, well above eye level and only a foot or two across. Janus put his shoulder against a crate and shoved it underneath the window, climbed atop, and opened fire through the window. Another thug made the mistake of approaching the breach. A flashbang landed at his feet, and he was knocked backwards by the blast. Three mercenaries, covered in Kelvar, pushed straight through the breach, taking as many shots as they dished out, but still pushing forward. The one furthest right stumbled right over the injured thug as pushed through the hail of fire, firing a three-round burst into the downed man on his way to a truck he could use for cover. Janus saw the advance beneath him and tried to reposition. One of the mercs aimed almost straight up and fired through the walkway. Shots punched through Janus's legs, his tac vest barely keeping the burst from killing him instantly. He tumbled over the side of the walkway and hit the ground hard in front of the mercs.
Melanie looked at Miltia, a pleading look in her eye. Miltia nodded. Melanie turned and dashed towards the mercs. The mercenary in the lead aimed a Benelli down at Janus. Melanie reached the squad leader, and her body vanished into his. The mercenary spasmed, and the shotgun went slack in his hands.
"Sir, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" The mercenary to his side shouted.
The squad leader swung around and blew the other merc's head off. He shifted about awkwardly, as if unfamiliar with his own bulk. The merc in cover levelled their rifle, the muzzle shaking in confusion before firing. Another burst tore a chunk out of the squad leader's side, before he put a shotgun blast in the merc's chest. The merc was knocked back against the wall, trying to pull air into his collapsed lungs. A third shot blew his head apart. The squad leader pulled a frag grenade from his belt, and sent it back out the breach. He stumbled towards the car, handing the shotgun off to Janus, who'd managed in this time to half-crawl most of the way back to the car. The squad leader reach Miltia, drew his Five-Seven handgun, and held it out to her by the barrel. She took it, pulled back the slide to check the chamber, and shot the squad leader through the head. His body crumpled to the ground, leaving Melanie in his place. She smirked at her sister, then dashed back towards the breach.
Yang was moving down a hallway on the second floor. By her reckoning, they had to be near the south side of the building. They'd reached the management portion of the factory, a modest grid of hallways and offices, long cleaned out, with only loose papers scattered intermittently across the emptied desks. Ruby appeared next to her, gripping her arm.
"There are guys both ways up ahead," Ruby said, "We can't avoid them. There are less on the right."
"We go right, then."
Yang marched down the right hallway. She could hear the clatter of heavy gear moving down the hall around the next corner. She felt her fist clench so tight, her fingernails dug into her palms. She rounded a corner and laid eyes on four soldiers, all moving down the hallway with assault rifles at the ready. The mercs in the back saw Yang and raised their weapons in alarm. The point man had been covering the corner Yang came around, so Ruby didn't give him the chance to react. The assault rifle twisted about in his hands; his trigger finger unable to withstand the torque. The other mercs managed to pull their triggers, but the magazines were already falling from their guns, the chambered cartridges spinning away through the air..
Yang's fist met the point man. She'd thrown the punch downwards, and his bones could be heard cracking when he hit the floor. The soldier behind him moved for his side arm, all of his fingers bending away from the latch of the holster. Yang lunged forward with a wild elbow strike. The soldier brought his arms up to block the strike, and his forearms shattered like twigs. The third merc's pistol came apart in his hands. Yang planted a kick in his chest that sent him flying into the fourth. The two tumbled over each other until they slammed into the wall. The one who managed to stand drew a knife as Yang closed in. It disappeared from his hand, then reappeared piercing straight through the forearm. He screamed in pain, then swung a left hook that Yang hadn't seen coming. He got a glancing punch across her face, more surprising than painful. As she stumbled back, the knife disappeared from the merc's arm, sending out a spurt of blood. Slashes appeared up and down the insides of his legs, and he collapsed, flailing in agony.
"Ruby!"
Ruby reappeared next to Yang. The knife appeared in mid-air and hit the wall, stabbing into the drywall and sending the blood that had soaked it running down the cheap wallpaper.
"Well, be careful," Ruby said.
The merc Yang had used to bowl the other over was trying to crawl away. Yang walked over to him. He saw her coming and went for his radio. Yang grabbed him by the ankle and pulled, swinging him around and throwing him back down the hallway. He hit the wall at the other end and smashed through it. The merc who's arms Yang had broken was conscious, but could only squirm and flail uselessly from the floor.
"Can you hear me?" Yang asked Ruby, "While everything is stopped, I mean?"
"I know what your face looks like at every single part of my name," Ruby answered.
"Huh."
They moved forward, and approached another locked door. Ruby sat cross legged on the floor, the world silver around her. She'd found some printed maps of the building in the break room, and had spent the last few minutes figuring out how the staircases lined up between floors. She couldn't find an alternate route around this door. She didn't like the idea of breaking through it without knowing what was on the other side, but there were soldiers closing in from every other direction now. She could even explore very far outside without running into more razor fields, or getting scared back inside by a close call from a 556 that wasn't even meant for her. If any of these mercs managed to fire one of those at Yang, Ruby wasn't certain she could stop it. Between that and those scary-ass fibers, this ambush was starting to stress her out.
It had been like this in that tiny room in Chicago, chained to the table, waiting for them to figure out a safe way to execute her. She'd just gotten lucky that Jimmy had made a bad call. The gas station, the forest, the half hour she'd spent in the silver, riding the car off the road and into the trees, making sure Yang got out safely. She'd never feared they'd get away from those. Even outside the Cash Mart, where she'd made her stupid, immature little stand. She could have walked away, and she'd known the whole time. She didn't like the feeling of them being boxed in like this.
Ruby stood, and slipped the maps into her bag. She held the flap open and looked at the handle of the hammer she'd swiped. She could wail on the door for a bit. It would fly open, and she'd be able to get through and deal with any threats on the other side before they could react. Ruby looked up at Yang, charging towards the door, like every muscle in her body was primed for action. She always looked so stressed when they were fighting, so angry. Like her eyes might suddenly burst red, or her rage might set the room about her on fire. Maybe it was best to let her hit something. Ruby pulled her hood up, slipped her hands into her pockets, and let everything start moving again.
Yang caught Ruby reappearing as she reached the door. She planted her knuckles into the lock that connected the double doors together, and they blasted open.
Yang had put her weight behind the punch; her long blonde hair had swung out to her right side, so that Ruby had to duck to slip under the outstretched locks. Once inside, she turned back to Yang. She caught a hint of a smile at the edges of Yang's gritted teeth. Ruby looked at the doors, which had swung completely outward from the punch. The metal hinges were straining, but most of them looked like they would hold. She smiled and looked into her sister's eyes. She could see wild fury, fear for Ruby's safety and her own, the desperate, urgent look that everybody always had in their eyes when things outside the silver were moving fast. But there was something else Ruby recognized: a look of glee at what she had just done. Ruby could see it every time Yang sent an entire car tumbling with a kick, or elbow checked a tree trunk into sawdust. It reminded her of that video, from when Ruby had been just a baby. Yang smashing through the walls of the kitchen without slowing down.
Ruby turned around. James Ironwood was standing in the middle of the room, carrying another in his collection of stupidly massive guns. She'd seen him when she'd come in. He had already been facing the door, but was just beginning to react to it blowing open in front of him. Ruby walked up to him, looking him up and down. He wore a suit of form-fitting Kevlar; helmet not included. There was an earpiece clipped around his right ear, the little coiled wire connecting to his shoulder. His face was lined; his jaw held stiff. He seemed to be just registering Yang, and the look in his eye was darkening, his brow lowering into a scowl. Ruby scoffed. Ironwood's whole body looked tense; his veins bulging, and his teeth gritted in pain. She looked down at his weapon, some sort of shotgun, it looked like. His right hand was nowhere near the grip; it was buried in one of the pouches on his right side. There was still time before he would be anywhere close to firing.
"You still haven't given up," Ruby said, "And you still think you're going to win."
She sat down, crossing her legs. She pulled her hood back, then drew a candy bar from her pocket. She stared up at Ironwood, in all the bulk of his muscle and armour. Ruby gave Yang another glance.
"She hasn't seen you yet," Ruby said, "The next bit is gonna happen pretty fast when she does. Killing you will be harder than most, but… no, this'll be done before you get a chance to talk. This is all we're going to get. I'd have asked you why you're doing this. Why you hate us just as much as everybody else."
Ruby took a bite of processed chocolate, nougat, and pretzel. She hadn't been expecting the pretzel. She put the bite of candy into her cheek and bit down slowly. She shrugged and continued chewing.
"What you can do is amazing, you know that?" Ruby said, "I mean, not much is going to impress me as much as taking a punch from my sister and surviving. And you made it, you know? That's why it pisses me off so much. Look at you- that whole fucking tacticool get-up. They've accepted you- made you one of them, even though you have this amazing Ability that they don't. Maybe you're keeping your Ability a secret. Maybe if they knew, they'd be trying to kill you, or they'd have you on a leash, just like those girls. A leash you want to help them put on us. Why?
See, my uncle, he was… his name was Qrow Branwen. He'd have fucking hated you, I mean, Jesus. But he had an Ability just like us, and he… he used it like you did. He used it in the military, I guess it's what gave him an edge- why they sent him on all those missions him and Dad and Raven couldn't talk to us about. The people he worked with- they must have known. Yeah, I've felt what Uncle Qrow could do, and they must have known. But they accepted him, and they left him alone. He was allowed to pretend to be like all the other people. Until they found out about Yang and I, at least."
Ruby's head sank. She blinked back the warmth in her eyes like a tear wanted to form. She looked back at Yang. Her sister's gritted smile was starting to fade; her wild eyes focusing on the man across the room. The doors flying open had caused a gust of air to be dragged down the hallway and into the room. Yang's hair was flying wildly about her head. Ruby smiled, and turned back to Ironwood.
"If she doesn't kill you, I think I will. I feel bad about those cops, I guess. Not really. But I won't feel bad about you. You're just going to keep following us. You know what I think? I think you're just like those girls you sent after us. I think you're on a leash too, it's just that being a good dog has earned you some slack in the chain, and you know that. I think you're scared to find out what'll get that chain pulled tight again. Yeah, killing every stupid grunt is kind of pointless, now that I think about it. But getting away from Atlas, it's going to be easier with you dead."
Ruby pulled herself to her feet. Ironwood's hand was no closer to his gun. It was buried deeper in the pouch, the muscles of his arm tensed as he gripped something. His whole body seemed oddly tense. Ruby reached out for the shotgun.
Yang's knuckles struck the lock. The metal blew apart like tissue paper, and the doors flew open. The rush of wind down the hall blew Yang's hair about. She caught sight of somebody in the room. Yang's eyes widened as the strangely familiar silhouette became the hulking shape of Ironwood. Yang felt blood rush through her body. She felt her pulse slamming against the inside of her skull. She gritted her teeth, and took a step forward.
Ruby appeared in midair in front of Ironwood, thrown away from him like a ragdoll. She hit the floor, her head bouncing on the cheap fake boards. Yang's breath caught in her throat. Smoke rose from the edges of Ruby's sleeves, and the tips of her errant locks of hair. Her eyes were fluttering about, showing no sign of awareness behind them. Yang's forward march became a stumbled half-step, and a slack jawed stare at Ironwood. Smoke rose from the edges of his body armour. He wheezed in pain; frozen in place.
Then, his whole body seemed to slack, just a little. He withdrew his hand from the pouch on his hip, coiled wires dangling from the spent taser in his hand. Little coloured pieces of debris that looked bizarrely like confetti spilled from the end of the taser and from Ironwood's pocket. The taser slipped from his fingers and in an instant, he'd taken hold of his shotgun's grip. Yang was staring down the barrel, Ironwood's eye glaring at her through a holographic sight.
"On the ground, Xiao Long," Ironwood said, "Only warning."
It was maybe 8 feet to him. Ruby lay between them, motionless except for the weak rise and fall of her chest. Yang's eyes darted between her sister and the man holding her in his sights. It was like every muscle in her body were bolted in place. Ironwood was like a statue, not even seeming to draw breath as he held the gun on her head, perhaps aiming directly between her eyes. He clicked the button down on his radio, holding the shotgun in one arm.
"Targets confirmed. Ruby Rose is neutralized," Then releasing the button, "Are you fucking deaf? Get on the goddam floor. Now."
She heard soldiers rushing to catch up behind her. They were slipping in puddles of oil, tripping over dangerously placed furniture, stepping on upward pointing nails and various power tool blades, but they were getting closer. The searchlight of a helicopter was coming through a plate glass window at the end of the hall, casting harsh beams of light and shifting shadows across the three of them as it whipped about. Yang gritted her teeth, her knuckles white and trembling. The muzzle of the shotgun lowered ever so slightly, and Yang almost took the chance. Ironwood grinned; a pale, empty grin with nothing behind the eyes. His aim snapped downward, and the shotgun was pointed directly at Ruby.
"Don't think I'll waste this opportunity to put her down for good," Ironwood said, "Stand down, while I'm still thinking of bothering with the zip ties and sedatives."
"I'm going to fucking kill you," Yang whispered.
"Fake bravado and swearing," He said, "That's all you've got, and it's not enough. I'm going to count to-"
A strange sound, like a mechanical screech. The pitch stung Yang's ears from across the room. Ironwood's head swung to the left, a desperate, fruitless effort to escape the explosion of noise from his ear piece. His aim swung to the side, for less than a blink of an eye. The floor beneath Yang's heels was torn apart.
Blake wasn't sure what was going on below them, but from the occasional screams over the radio, Atlas was losing people.
"Get these fucking straps off me," Blake called into her microphone, "You want us ready to deploy or not?"
"Shut the fuck up, Pocahontas," The pilot radioed back.
Weiss's reaction was fast and volatile. She flipped the microphone of her headset down to her mouth and took a long inhale, her teeth gritted and her glare focused. Even with her Ability, Blake barely got in front of it.
"Weiss, they have orders to deploy us on target confirm," Blake said, "Be ready to get your belt on to rappel in a hurry if these chucklefucks want to leave us strapped in till then."
Weiss looked at Blake with a questioning eye, her hand still held on her microphone. Blake nodded. Weiss let her hand drop. Another burst of gunfire from below, and a panicking voice on the radio.
"There's another- there's- unknown Aberration in play. Repeat: unknown Aberrant on the field. Can't control my- not in control of my-"
The sound of a gun being fired directly next to the microphone. The radio was suddenly ablaze with voices.
"Fuck sake-"
"Another one-"
"Is that confirm to deploy assets, sir?"
"We have confirmed Aberrants on the-"
"Do not deploy-"
"Figure out what this one's doing before-"
"Sir, was that a confirm to deploy?"
"No, goddam it," Ironwood shouted, "Do not deploy! Follow the goddam protocol! Hold position and report what you see to the best of your ability. If you're not engaging a mutie right this fucking second, clear the goddam comms!"
Blake squirmed and pulled the strap over her shoulder to one side, letting her pull the hand radio from where it was clipped to her vest. In the cover of darkness, between the flashes of red light, she grabbed the headset hanging next to the empty seat to her right.
"I hear someone approaching my position," Ironwood reported, "Think it might be Xiao Long… I'm gonna try something."
The soldier carrying the electronic key tossed his straps aside and pulled himself from seat. He came to a stop just feet away from Blake, taking hold of the handrail above him for stability.
"Targets Confirmed," Ironwood reported, "Ruby Rose is neutralized."
Blake felt something like a knot in her gut. Whatever just happened, whatever happened next, Rose was either dead or about to die. Blake had come up with a plan on the fly in the valley, and this kid had just paid for it. Blake took hold of the straps crisscrossing her chest. As long as she'd sold her soul, she may as well get what she paid for.
"The straps," She called out, "Now. That's target confirmation."
"Kaczynski, get those straps off them and get 'em out of the bird, now," The pilot ordered.
Kaczynski moved forward, and put the dongle to the locks. There were three holding the arrangement of restraints in place, the release of each lock freeing a little more of Blake's movement. She pulled her headset off and turned away from Kaczynski. Hidden by her body and the strobing light, she just had to hope the soldiers wouldn't notice the deliberation of her movements. Kaczynski moved to grab her shoulder. She ducked away from his grasp and turned to face him. She shouted at the top of her voice while motioning to the hand radio, which she'd shoved between the earpieces of the headset. It didn't matter what she said; with her headset off, they both may as well have been deaf and mute.
Kaczynski was pointing towards the open rear door. Weiss was shouting into her mic, pulling helplessly at her own restraints. Blake had positioned the radio such that her headset's microphone touched the radio's speaker, while the radio's mic was shoved against one of the ear pieces. Her fingers hovered over the radio, waiting for the right moment. She just had to hope that her Ability would show her the results of timing it correctly. Feeling the moment come on, like a strong instinct, Blake threw the volume and gain knobs to maximum. The burst of feedback was audible from Kaczynski's own headset. The soldiers in the chopper all grasped at their headsets in visceral reaction to the ear-splitting screech. Weiss tore the headset from her head, shouting in inaudible indignation. Kaczynski made another move for her, this time grabbing at the radio in her hand.
There was an impact against Blake's chest like a distant explosion. Every pane of glass in the factory that had yet to catch a stray bullet exploded outward. The helicopter lurched and pulled away as a cloud of flying debris followed the shockwave. Blake and Kaczynski weren't strapped in; they stumbled and slammed into the opposite side of the cabin, on either side of the seat Weiss was still strapped to. Kaczynski slammed into the wall hard; Blake put out a hand and came to a stop with acrobatics precision. From here, Blake had a slightly better angle out the back of the chopper. The radio was an uproar once again.
"Fuck was that?!"
"Something just hit-"
"Fucking half the building just-"
The south wall of the building had been almost completely torn off. The roof on that side was collapsing inward, the ventilation system crumbling into the ruin. The half of the building that was still standing was a crumbling cross-sectional view of the interior. There was a gouge in the tarmac leading away from the factory, where a piece of debris had hit the ground hard and come to a stop only by tearing apart the stone and earth in its path for some distance. Blood was smeared down the length of the gouge, leading up to the mangled body half-buried in broken stone at its far end.
Blake pushed off the wall of the cabin, and walked towards Kaczynski. With a movement he didn't have a chance of intercepting, she snatched the dongle from his hand. She swiped it over the electronic locks holding Weiss in place, and her partner stood. They ran to the back of the chopper and began attaching their rappelling gear. Blake looked down into the eviscerated carcass of the building, to the point where the damage originated. There was Xiao Long, standing at the edge of where the second floor abruptly ended, hair blowing about in the swirling smoke from the settling debris. Rose was cradled in her arms, though Blake couldn't tell if the girl was alive. She was staring down the length of the gouge torn across the parking lot. She glanced up at the helicopter, then disappeared into what remained of the factory.
"Bring us back over the roof!" Blake shouted over the radio.
Ironwood's limbs were twisting every which way, his ribcage dented inward. The first merc to cautiously approach recoiled in disgust. Ironwood's mangled fingers seemed to be trying to pull themselves into a fist. He was gasping desperately for air, his chest convulsing with each heartbeat. There was a loud crunch from his chest, and the shape of his ribcage was reformed. His knees, left hip and right elbow popped back into place. Ironwood sat up, shaking off the dirt and bits of broken brick that had piled on top of him. He stood, left arm hanging uselessly at his side, left hand twitching. He looked around at the mercenaries surrounding him. None seemed sure what to do with the weapons in their hands. Ironwood put a hand to his left shoulder and pushed, producing a sickly pop that restored the use of his arm.
"Report." He said.
"Sir, the… the opposing force in the garage just broke through the perimeter. The unknown Aberrant went with them."
Ironwood looked toward the destroyed factory. He licked the front of his teeth, and found the taste of his own blood revolting. The helicopter was holding over the factory, two shapes descending towards the ruins by cable.
"Let the unknown go," Ironwood said, "Re-establish perimeter. Primary targets are still inside. You, give me that grenade launcher."
The demo specialist stepped forward. Ironwood took the Milkor MGL from his hands, and walked back towards the factory. The mercs looked between each other. The demo drew the sawn-off shotgun from his side holster and fell into step behind Ironwood. After a moment, the others followed.