Chapter 2 – Human Chastity Belt
Soundtrack: Robbery, Assault and Battery – Genesis
5th of September, 1890.
Two minutes later, everyone was within position. Ruby unfolded her weapon and braced her elephant gun with the scythe blade, finding the crow's nest to be a good place for standing watch over the whole western side of the docks. The scope of her elephant's gun was currently pointed at the entrance to the gangway, and her finger was ready to fire at a moment's notice. Blake, meanwhile, had somehow managed to ascend into the canopy of an ancient oak tree without dirtying or tearing her clothes. The tree she was in had branches that overlooked the south-western entrance, giving her pantherine eyes a great view of the path the goons were likely to use. Blake removed her bow, allowing her extra ears to assist in sifting through the general urban noise that invaded her senses.
Weiss stood imperiously on the gangway with Myrtenaster in her left hand, and Yang had drawn her scatterguns out for use. Weiss noticed that the guns had names inscribed on their stocks; Ember on the left gun, and Celica on the right.
"Out of curiosity, Yang," Weiss asked quietly, "how come you named your guns Ember Celica?"
Yang gave her the self-satisfied smirk that preceded her brand of comedy.
"Because I like peppering my enemies with Dust bullets."
If the audience had been anyone else, Yang would have been slapped across the cheek for her atrocious pun. However, much to Yang's considerable surprise, Weiss chuckled softly in response.
"I might just like you, Yang."
"Why thanks, Weiss-cream!"
Weiss's smile faded instantly, and Yang felt the tip of Myrtenaster at her throat.
"Don't push your luck."
"Whoa, sorry there Weiss," Yang breathed. "Didn't realise you hated puns about your name."
"Of course I do! I have a standard to live up to," Weiss softly retorted. The fact that Blake called her "Snow Angel" out of habit was conveniently forgotten at that moment.
"Noted," Yang gingerly acceded as her gaze returned to the pier. Her speech sounded unusually stilted as a result, which Weiss picked up on like a hawk.
"Not used to apologising that much, are you?"
At this accusation, Yang's verve and humour returned. "Weiss, I'm a female bastard who rides a motorcycle and punches people for a living; no one ever lets me apologise!"
Weiss barely had the chance to start laughing when Blake leapt from the tree and onto the gangway, turning to face the front with her bow on her head.
"Eight of them. They're not armed with guns or Dust, but they're masked."
Weiss smirked at this news; these thieves were clearly expecting no resistance while the guards dined. It was a cunning plan, but no plan ever survives contact with the SDC.
"Very well, ladies," Weiss murmured. "Let's give them a warning shot."
Weiss promptly spun Myrtenaster's Dust chamber to the crimson setting, and shot a fireball above and past Blake and Yang's heads. Ruby, operating on pure instinct, jammed a lightning cartridge in Crescent Rose's chamber and shot the fireball when it was thirty metres in front of her colleagues.
The resultant firestorm landed clear of the gangway, and quickly exposed the eight pirates in gas masks who'd come to steal the Autumn Maiden. Indeed, it actually managed to set fire to two of them before the guards within the pub spotted the commotion and raised the alarm. Yang and Blake began shooting at the pirates as they charged the gangway, while Ruby and Weiss quelled the firestorm with twin blasts of azure Dust. The pirates, having made the classic mistake of bringing knives to a Dust fight, took the only option available at this point; they jumped into the water and swam like buggery to get away from the Autumn Maiden. When the firestorm began to subside, Ruby quickly swung down from a rope to the gangway, with Crescent Rose now in carbine mode, then seized the initiative and led the others.
"Yang, go search for Emerald and Mercury; they'll likely be where the Canada dock meets the Thames. Blake, call in whatever reinforcements you can to protect the ship until it departs. And Weiss, freeze the waters so those pirates don't escape! I'll fill the guards in on what happened."
Weiss held her tongue at the breach of command structure, having realised the validity of Ruby's point, and nodded mutely before running towards the waterfront while Yang and Blake set about their tasks.
However, the pirates had a backup plan of their own. When they saw Weiss conjuring the ice, they held their breaths and ducked beneath the waters. Just in time to avoid Weiss's blast by millimetres. Jamming compressed golden Dust cartridges in the gas-mask portholes, they swam hastily beneath the sheet of ice towards their escape vessel; a submarine that had both been fabricated and commandeered at the SDC's waterfront warehouse in Calais.
The lead swimmer opened the hatch easily, and all eight made it inside the decompression chamber before the hatch was shut. They hooked tubes onto their gas masks and started to breathe in oxygen while the water was drained from the chamber. Once finished, the eight pirates clambered into the hallway that linked the engineering hall at the stern with the bridge of the ship, with a ladder leading to the crew quarters in the belly of the ship. While most of the crew clambered down, the rogue who led the attempted raid went to face the music at the prow of the ship. Sitting imperiously at the helm on the bridge was the first mate of the crew, Vera Brennan.
"Failed me again, Ni?"
"Not of our own accord, Brennan. The Schnee wench and her heavies attacked us with Dust and alerted the rozzers about our presence here."
"Captain Fausse won't be pleased, Brawnz," the first mate noted.
"Sure, but she'll understand. That Cinder woman, though … there's just no telling with her."
Vera nodded in response. "Agreed. Still, let the skipper deal with Cinder, after I deal with her."
Brawnz nodded, then repaired to his quarters while Vera steered the ship out of the Canada Docks and to the rendezvous point. Foiled again, she ruminated angrily, by forces outside of my sphere of control. Just bloody typical.
Half an hour later, Emerald and Mercury were waiting impatiently while waiting for the pirate crew to pick them up on the Thames, on the western side of the quay. Mercury glared at his watch, swearing as always that Swiss time was working against him. But perhaps that was bad karma for never paying out of pocket for a watch in his life.
"Should be bloody here by now, t' fucking sea rats," the Yorkshireman started.
"Calm yourself, Mercury," Emerald replied in her strange accent, which blended French and Arabic in even proportions. "They'll be here, one way or the other."
And true to her words, the submarine began to surface in front of them.
"What the … oh, God-fucking-dammit!", Mercury loudly complained. "Of course they're too bloody pathetic to steal a single ship when t' guards weren't there."
"Mercury!", Emerald hissed. "Keep your voice down, unless you want to awaken the whole district."
"Too late for that!"
Mercury didn't have the time to turn before a blonde cannonball nearly knocked his lights out with a single punch. Jumping away, Emerald turned to face their assailant. A tall, blonde girl in a cowboy outfit stood tall, with gauntlets at the ready and a cocky smile adorning her face. As Mercury staggered upwards, Emerald acted quickly and leapt into the Thames, with Mercury following suit by a hair's breadth.
"Oh damn it," Yang muttered as the ship moved away. The scatterguns she used were non-lethal and still painful – a perfect choice for a huntress, given that murder was never carried out by their like. However, shooting at a steel-plated submarine with Ember Celica would have been like throwing snowballs at a brick wall.
Yang instead took out a rarely-used notepad and pencil, and wrote a brief description of the submarine as it turned onto the Thames and sunk beneath the waters. She put her equipment away and ran back towards the Canada Docks. Upon her return, the guards were out in full force, having swiftly locked down the dockside from all comers. Weiss waved her through, while Blake and Ruby were conversing with a rather harried policeman, who'd rushed here all guns blazing the minute the alarms rang out.
"What happened to our marks?", Weiss queried.
"They jumped into the Thames when I found them, and got into a submarine," Yang tersely replied.
"Bugger," Weiss cursed with equal frustration. "Still, that'll teach them a lesson about crossing me."
For some inexplicable reason, Yang wasn't terribly convinced of that statement.
6th of September, 1890.
As the Autumn Maiden set sail the following morning, Weiss Schnee found herself in an impromptu meeting with General James Ironwood. Blake was, as usual, taking notes for Weiss's meticulous, immaculate records on her humble notepad. Yang and Ruby were a few metres behind, watching Weiss's back. The four looked a bit haggard, given they'd slept in the Leadbelly the preceding night.
"I have to hand it to you and your assistants, Miss Schnee," he politely thanked. "I'd arranged for that ship to collect a highly unusual Dust sample found within the fjords of Norway."
Weiss stared at him sharply. "Is that so? How come I wasn't told of this?"
Ironwood held his hands outstretched in a defensive stance. "Your father and I are, at present, collaborating on bio-technological experiments for use within automation. The composition of that Dust compound was flagged by the CO of the SDC mine north of Oslo for use in those matters."
At this, Weiss's stare lessened a touch, with her right eyebrow arching slightly; Blake read her paramour like an open book. She's realised he's being honest, the Faunus observed, while still keeping his ultimate goal secret. She'll stiffly accept his story, then she'll cajole me into stalking him fruitlessly for a week.
"Very well, General," Weiss cordially responded. "I'll leave it at that."
Ironwood nodded politely, and walked swiftly back to his cab. As the vehicle left, Weiss turned her attention to her colleagues, while Blake fished an envelope out of her trouser pocket.
"I'd like to thank you with the utmost sincerity for your assistance, Ruby and Yang," the heir-apparent started as Blake gave Yang the envelope. "You both did your jobs exceptionally well, and I'm very much looking forward to working with you in the future."
Ruby shyly smiled at the praise. "Well, I'm glad to help you, Weiss."
"Same here," Yang replied warmly.
"Speaking of future work," Blake added, "I'd now like to take the opportunity to invite you into a new initiative that myself and Ms. Schnee are starting."
"What did you have in mind?", Yang asked.
"As the two of you now know," the secretary continued, "the pair of us prefer to be more hands-on with dealing with these matters, but we can't personally solve every single case we deem to be a cut above our usual heavies and sleuths. Additionally, our strengths lie in infiltration, counter-espionage and intelligence – meaning that our effectiveness in fistfights and shootouts isn't up to standards. Which is why, after some deliberation, the pair of us decided to recruit a small, but well-trained roster of hunters to work for us on an ongoing, yet flexible basis."
"And the pair of you," Weiss interjected, "are our first two candidates. We're looking at giving you forty pounds an hour on the job, access to high-quality medical care in case of serious injury and the ability to have my weapon-smith make any upgrades you want to make on your weapons."
Ruby and Yang stood in amazed silence at what they were hearing. To get ongoing work at such a pay-grade was tantamount to receiving a life-long pension. The decision was the easiest either of them ever made.
"We'd be happy to accept!", Yang chirped while shaking Weiss's hand.
"Glad to hear it," Blake responded as Ruby shook her hand enthusiastically.
A/N: And there we have it.
Last time, I forgot to mention my update schedule for Amaryllis and Aconite. At this rate, I'll be uploading on Friday nights (ACST) weekly until chapter 10. Depending on how much backlog I've got at that point, I'll either take a quick mid-fic break to build it up, or continue as normal until all twenty chapters are out.