Chapter 75

Sorry this chapter is kinda bad, there were a lot of transitions and things that just don't translate well into writing because they use screen/theatre techniques to build tension and play with the pace. But I tried my best.

'Okay, remember. One, the radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment. So, if you disconnect it properly it won't take out comms for the rest of the city. Two, this conversation never happened.' Terra said, staring skeptically at the girl through her scroll. Blake smiled back at the woman who was proving surprisingly integral to their plans.

'Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security.' Blake said, but the unimpressed look remained plastered across Terra's face.

'Never. Happened.'

The girls halted some distance away from the communications tower in the distance, glancing over their shoulders at the other pair pulling up behind them. Jaye and Kamina stepped off the bike, loosening up their limbs as they prepared for the fight ahead.

'You sure I shouldn't come with?' Yang asked, and Blake shook her head.

'More intruders means we're more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn't exactly your um…' The faunus girl turned around to meet her partner's eyes, and Yang raised an eyebrow at the girl. 'I mean you're great! And I'll hurry back.'

'Go.' Yang said, and Blake took off running towards the tower. She bumped fists with Kamina as he apparated next to her, vanishing once more in a flash of orange. Yang made a sound of pleasant surprise as Jaye kissed her, grinning at the boys as Kamina appeared behind him.

'See you in a bit.' He said, taking off towards the tower. Their radios crackled to life in their ears.

'Okay, so let's go over the plan again. Jaye and Kamina, you're fighting your way into the security centre to erase any evidence of us being there; tapes, access records, the works.' Ruby said.

'We'll also shut off the alarm system, so we don't get rained hell on for disconnecting the radar box, and sub in a fake feed so they don't realize their radar's down.' Jaye finished. 'We got it. I made the plan, I remember it.'

'Unfortunately, it still hinges on you Blake.' Kamina said. 'Until that box comes out, we can't sub in any feed because of how the system is set up, and if they notice anything, they can still sound the base alarm.'

'No pressure though.' Jaye said cheerily, and Blake mumbled a muffled curse through the radios at them. Stepping into the bushes, he and Mina shuffled through as quietly as they could. 'Reaching the security centre in one minute. Preparing to infiltrate.'

They peered through the bushes at the military construct before them, the metal doors sealed tight against any potential intruders. Two guards were posted in front of the entrance, and just as they suspected, were hardly alert for an attack. Shoulders lax, snoozing gently, they were leaned languidly against the metal doors of the centre.

The previous day, back in the house

'How do you know there will be guards?' Ruby asked, furrowing her brow at the boy, and Jaye waggled a finger at the girl.

'Much to learn, you have, young one.' He said pompously. 'Jokes aside, Cordovin seems like the type to stroke her ego by accomplishing her mission with "utmost care". That means she'll probably stick guards in front of everything she can think of, especially the stuff that usually doesn't matter.'

'That means that guards posted there hate those duties, and they're less likely to be on alert for any threats.' Kamina elaborated. 'Usually the guards inside manning the cameras would be on the lookout for threats coming from the outside as well, which would be a problem to circumvent since they could seal the doors if they spot us.'

'But with guards outside, high chance they won't be watching the screens for their front door.' Jaye finished, running the whetstone along his katana. 'And with the guards outside snoozing it'll be a milk run.'

'I'm pretty sure there are guards posted outside the comms tower.' Terra added. 'I've been to the security centre a few times for business and maintenance, especially whenever there was an issue with the base's communications equipment, and to talk to the Officer in Charge. Each time I went there were guards outside, acting exactly like Jaye's described thus far.'

'So, odds are high they're permanently stationed there on interchanging duty, thus ironically letting you slip in easier.' Weiss caught on. 'That's good for us isn't it?'

'It is.' Jaye laughed, returning his katana to its sheath. 'Cordovin's ridiculous patriotism is going to be her downfall.'

Back in the present

'Wish us luck.' Kamina said, vanishing in a flash of orange. He reappeared atop the centre, leaning over the edge to monitor the guards. Jaye squinted at the doorway, taking note of the obvious cameras, and signaled the boy to continue. Pulling two knives from his jacket, he slung them expertly at the two cameras on either side of the doorway, puncturing the lens and disabling them in seconds. The guards jumped at the sound of glass shattering, reacting too little too late to the surprise attack. Sliding off the roof, Kamina hit the ground with a whoop, sweeping the guards' legs out from under them and slamming their faces into the dirt. Stealing a badge off the unconscious guard, Kamina swiped it on the lock by the door, and they slid open with a hiss.

'After you my good sir.' Kamina said, bowing to Jaye as he approached. The boy retrieved his knives from the cameras, flipping off the faunus boy, but entered the centre first anyway. The guards inside jumped with a start, yelling at them as they moved, and he flung a knife at the weapons locker in the corner, embedding it in the electronic lock and shorting it out. One of the guards still ran for it, yanking desperately at the unforgiving doors, while the others geared up for a fight. Slipping a poorly thrown punch, Jaye seized the guard by the face, slamming his head into the wall behind him. Kicking another across the face, he threw a swift uppercut into his body, buckling him over in pain. Seizing him across the waist, he threw the guard into the last one still hanging behind the other two, knocking him out instantly. Kamina apparated over to the one still by the weapons locker, flashing his shit-eating grin at the man before cracking him across the face with a gauntleted fist. Jaye placed a finger to his ear.

'Security hub is secure.' He punned, grinning at the fox boy who chucked the unconscious and now tied up guards into the corner. He plugged in a flash drive into the computer, watching it run with a satisfied smile on his face. A cartoon caricature of his face appeared on screen, and he grinned even wider at it. 'Alarm system out of commission, radar box detachment is a go.'

Ruby watched the signal bar disappear from her scroll with a soft beep, touching a finger to her ear.

'Alright guys, this is it! Blake, you're up.' She said. Her command was met with silence, nothing but the crackling of radio static filling her ear, and Ruby's face screwed up into a look of concern. She glanced across the other members of the group, eyes drifting to the radio tower in the distance and she touched her finger to her ear again. 'Yang, what's going on?'

'I… don't know.' The blonde said, eyeing the tower with barely suppressed fear gripping her chest. She felt a sinking feeling in her chest, falling lower and lower into the pit of her stomach as she watched the ominous tower in the distance, nearly jumping as her radio crackled to life again.

'Yang! Get to the comms tower!' Jaye yelled over the radio, and Yang's confusion rose even more.

'What? Why? Blake will be fine, just give her a minute.' She replied, and she could practically see the boy shaking his head furiously at her through the radio.

'No, no she is not okay. I have a bad feeling about this, and I trust my gut more than anything. It's kept me alive all my life, and I'm betting on it keeping HER alive right now. Please Yang; get to the tower. If she's in trouble, she NEEDS you to be there!' He said, the stress rising very audibly in his voice. 'I'll head down to the Base to ward off any fighters Cordo might try to send after us and delay them as long as I can; Kamina will stay behind in case we're wrong and that radar box comes off.'

'Ma'am, we've got something on radar.' The diminutive woman glanced pompously at her subordinate, pacing over to stare around his shoulder (she couldn't see over it).

'And WHO would be foolish enough to enter OUR airspace unannounced?'

'Apparently… us Ma'am!'

'Manta 5-1, this is Argus Base. We see you've circled back; what's your status, over.' The radio crackled to life on the dashboard of the airship, and Weiss's face erupted into panic.

'Why can they see us?' She whispered furiously, and Maria shook her head.

'Somebody dropped the ball.' She said. 'Don't worry, I've worked with Atlas forces before; I know their jargon.' She picked the microphone off the dashboard. 'Argus Base this is Manta 5-1, feel free to gaff off. Thought we were going to scrub due to FOD, but we're back up and green across the board, over.'

'Manta 5-1 return to base immediately or you will be treated as hostile, over.'

'I thought you said you knew their jargon!' Weiss hissed.

'Jargon was fine, but our pilots aren't elderly women.' The operator replied, and Maria chuckled carelessly, slapping the microphone across her forehead.

'Huh, well, they got me there. My mind really is going; why would you kids let me fly this thing?' She laughed, and the radio emitted a high-pitched whine as an annoying voice poured through the speakers, the device literally vibrating in suffering as Cordovin spoke.

'Calavera! You and those insolent children are up to something, aren't you?! You thought you could undermine MY authority? If you don't return my ship this INSTANT, I will make an example out of you. I WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUE MIGHT OF ATLAS!'

The crunching noise of Maria chewing was completely audible over the radio, understandable so considering she was taking great care to chew right next to the open mic.

'Hear that Cordo? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME NOT CARING!' The old woman broke out into a fit of maniacal laughter, and Weiss rolled her eyes at the petty old woman.

'Ruby, we're in trouble. Cordo's on to us and MARIA ISN'T HELPING! Why is the radar still up?'

'We don't know; Blake isn't responding!' Ruby said, the panic starting to show in her tone as the plan fell apart before their eyes. Oscar waved his hands at the girls in a desperate but wholly ineffective bid to put the pieces back together.

'What do we do?'

'Keep the ship in one piece.' Yang said, the rumbling of Bumblebee's engine nearly deafening in the radio. Her eyes set on the tower, she hurtled down the pathways as fast as she could for her partner clearly in mortal danger. Jaye wrestled with his handlebars as he hit a bump in the road, just barely righting himself and continuing down the hill, moments away from the Argus Military Base that was threatening their plan and hindering their success.

'Damn it! Cordo's gonna scramble her fighters. We've got maybe 90 seconds before they're in the air and all over Weiss and Maria. This is all my fault.' Qrow lamented, leaning defeatedly against the tree behind him.

'What are you talking about? Your semblance?' Jaune said, and the surly man pushed himself off the hard bark.

'Every choice I've ever made has led me here and I've dragged you along with me. Oz, myself, the others? We're responsible for the mess the world's in now. I shouldn't have come; I shouldn't have let any of you come! What was I thinking!'

'We're all in this together, and we're all going to do the best we can!' Ruby said, stepping towards her uncle. 'That's all anyone can do! And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility because we're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side.'

Qrow chuckled at the girl. 'How did you grow up so fast?'

'I had good role models.'

'That's well and good and all, but can we save the sappy speeches for later when we're not potentially about to be fighting for our lives?' Jaye hissed over the radio, cracking his fist against another fighter pilot's helmet. The launch bays were in utter chaos now, thanks to him having sabotaged the airstrips' door systems and blown up the fuel cells of several Atlas fighters. 'Like I said, I'm slowing them down. And doing so effectively I might add; they're not getting any fighters out these doors anytime soon.'

Weiss's voice crackled to life over the radio. 'Guys? She's not sending fighters.'

Jaye stumbled slightly as the ground shook beneath him, and he looked around in confusion, wondering if he'd managed to blow something else up without intending to. The rumbling didn't stop, and he reasoned that something much bigger must be happening and that he was now going to be in serious trouble. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several doors opening, and Atlas strike teams poured in through the entrances. He waved at them cheerily, ducking behind a piece of fighter jet as they opened fire on him. The rumbling beneath his feet continued, and he swore as the mountain made a sound like it was about to fall apart. At this point he realized that the mountain was LITERALLY coming apart, and he stared up incredulously as the entirety of the base started to split into two pieces. Above his head, the ceiling split down the middle, and sunlight streamed in as the cliff walls parted like the red sea to expose the head of a gargantuan robot. Jaye swore loudly at Atlas as the thing began to move, ducking back down as the firing squads did as their names suggested and opened fire. The giant mech stepped out from under the cliff and into the sunlight, raising a giant cannon arm into the air.

'Clearly the people have forgotten that they live in peace thanks to the awesome might of Atlas!' She aimed the fist at the stolen airship, and Weiss groaned in annoyance. 'Consider this a reminder!'

Clicking into place, the cannon whirled with electricity as what seemed to be lightning dust was loaded into the chamber. Emitting a high-pitched whistle, the massive cannon fired on the airship; its size thankfully making it a difficult target to hit, and she missed them by a hair's breadth. Jaye shook his head at the mech that was now making its way around the corner of the cliff.

'This bitch is crazy!' He swore, throwing a random piece of metal half-heartedly at the firing squad closing in on him and watching the massive contraption turn the corner and pass out of sight. Weiss's voice crackled to life over the radio once more, and he could practically hear her roll her eyes at him.

'Understatement of the year.'

Meanwhile on the comms tower

Blake panted as quietly as she could, ducking into the nearest cover she could find. She jumped in terror as she noticed the body of an Atlas guard right next to her, flinching as a gunshot bounced off the railing beside her arm. She surged forwards and away from the signs of danger, eyes wide as she scanned for her assailant. She glanced down into the hole beneath her, the mesh floor of the tower levels hardly making for good cover as she spotted the black and red bull faunus beneath her.

'It's nice to finally have time to ourselves, don't you think?' He mocked, and Blake let out a scream half between anguish, fear and exasperation.

'Leave me alone!' She fired a few shots at the nearly deranged ex-leader of the White Fang, only to find them deflected with practice ease.

'But I've waited so long for you to be away from them.' Adam grinned, sending a shiver down the cat girl's spine. Blake charged for the nearest wire, sliding down it as fast as she could to escape. Hell-bent on keeping his quarry, the bull faunus loosed a wave of energy, severing the line and sending her tumbling down to the mesh floor beneath it. Blake hit the ground with a gasp, pushing herself to her feet as Adam lunged for the girl. She deflected his blows, finally making some space with a spinning back kick to the man's face. Adam growled in rage.

'WHY DID YOU HAVE TO COME INTO MY LIFE AND RUIN EVERYTHING!'

'You stalked me across Anima! I don't want anything to do with your life!'

She deflected the blade aimed for her throat, backflipping onto the railing behind her and leaping over another energy wave. Using her clones as launch pads, she kicked off onto the platforms above, thrusting her gun back over the edge to ward off Adam's approach. Losing sight of him, she scanned fearfully once more before a sword collided with the side of her head. She stumbled into the railing, turning her eyes to the bull faunus as he snatched his sword out of the air. Casting Gambol Shroud into the ceiling above, she swung around the central pillar to engage, finding herself once again outmatched as the man threw her onto the ground. Trying her best to find an opening to escape, she launched herself once more the platform above, gasping in shock as a hand closed around her throat. She backed into the railing, gasping for air and heaving with effort, before hooking her foot around Adam's and sending them both off the edge. They crashed through several branches, sending leaves scattering around them as they finally hit the ground. Blake coughed weakly as she got up, her eyes glued to the crazed stalker in front of her.

'Let go of the past Adam.' She said, finally finding her breath again. 'Do it for yourself.'

'Just forget it all? Is that what you did to me? You just threw our memories away!'

'Adam!'

'I let you go once already Blake. I'm never making that mistake again.'

End of 75