Chapter 43
Then
"You looked like you could've used some help." Mikhail Kashtonovvy remarked as he unloaded the last sack of wheat from his girlfriend's carriage.
"You're right. I think I chipped a nail back there."
Svetlana Crimsonoff shared one final kiss with her beloved before heading home for the night. She would have to get up early in the morning to help her father in the fields while her mother went off to work at the construction yard. Rushland was a small, but thriving country, thanks in no small part to their society's union between the peasantry and the working class. The only problem was that Rushland - like other countries - suffered from Grimm attacks and crime. One day, she hoped to become a huntress to better protect her people, but for now, she had work to do.
She had just arrived back at her family's farm when she noticed that the living room's light was still on. This took her by surprise as her parents were usually asleep by this hour. She entered the house through the back entrance and heard a stranger's voice chuckling, softly. What she saw next, shook her to her core.
Her mother's lifeless body lay on the floor, soaked in a puddle of blood. Her father rested his hands on the back of his head, sobbing at the sight of his wife. Standing behind him, with a gun pointed to his head, was a penguin Faunus from the White Fang. And standing in the center of the room was a man dressed in green, smiling.
"Hello, my dear." Loki chuckled. "You must be Svetlana. This one won't shut up about you."
Suddenly, Svetlana noticed the light coming from behind her. Turning around, she rushed to the window to see her village engulfed in flames. The White Fang were attacking. "I'm sorry, my daughter." Her father whispered just before the gunshot.
"You bastard!" Svetlana rushed at the murderer, only to take a bullet to the stomach from his boss. As the pain coursed through her body, she could only look up at the psychopath. "W-why… are you… doing this…?"
"To prove a point." Loki poured himself a glass of vodka before using the rest bottle to create a molotov cocktail. "Here's to crime." He toasted before throwing the bottle against the wall.
After the maniacal trickster and his associate left the farmhouse, Svetlana turned to face her deceased parents. Fueled by righteous fury and her own indomitable will, she grabbed her father's sickle and used it to carve out the bullet. After that, she crawled towards her mother's hammer and held it over the nearby flames. Biting down on her sickle's wooden handle, she used the heated hammer to cauterize the wound. With her injury tended to, the Crimsonoff girl made her way out of the house with both hammer and sickle in her hands.
The fires had consumed every crop and building in Rushland, destroying the only home Svetlana ever knew. "I'm sorry, mama… papa… Mikhail..." She cried. "I couldn't save you… but I can bring your murderer to justice." With that, Svetlana clenched her fists around her newfound weapons and silently made her way out into the night.
Now
"I'll find you," Svetlana growled out under her breath as she continuously punched at a bag that she had taped a picture of Loki to. "You won't escape me this time."
Sun, still in recovery after the encounter with Loki, couldn't help but look towards the team leaders of the group with a hint of concern. "So you guys are more familiar with each other, right? Have you ever seen her this serious before?"
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone this serious before." Yang nervously replied.
Jaune hummed in agreement. "What were those two phrases Ren would always point out? Oh, right: 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,' and 'There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.' Or in this case, a gentle girl."
Mata could only nod in response. "Yeah, I'd say those two phrases fit this situation quite well."
At last, the group arrived at a gas station just off the outskirts of a neighboring village. "You're sure that Mikhail would be held here?" Saber couldn't help but ask as they arrived.
Svetlana sighed. "Honestly? No...or at the very least I don't think he's here anymore, but I'm hoping we'll get lucky and we'll find some clues."
"Oh, why did you say that?" Ruby groaned out. "Everytime someone says that, something bad happens."
"Is someone there?" they suddenly heard Mercury call out from deeper in the facility.
"Great, now we've got him to deal with," Yang growled out.
Ruby simply nodded in agreement. "Like I said, you shouldn't have tempted fate, Svetlana."
The Rushland native had the decency to give a sheepish blush. "Sorry: anyways, what's the plan now?"
Jaune, meanwhile, just hummed in thought. "I actually think I have a way to deal with him."
A few moments later, the mercenary came out from behind a corner, only to blink at what he saw: there, standing for the world to see, was a group of snowmen. Needless to say, Mercury was amused by this latest development. "Huh…" he chuckled. "Looks like even crazy raven Faunus like making snowmen. Wonder how far I can launch it's head with my foot-" The mercenary was cut off when Yang's arm burst from the snowman and stabbed him with Dragon Fang. "Oh… shit…"
Once Mercury collapsed, the group brushed off the snow. "Gotta admit, Jaune; that was some pretty quick thinking." Yang commented. "How'd you think to do that?"
"Ah, it was nothing." Jaune shrugged. "I did it all the time as a kid when I wanted to hide from my sisters during summer break."
Ruby cocked a curious eyebrow. "You constructed and hid inside a snowman in the middle of a forest during the summer?"
Jaune thought back to the days of his youth. Saphron stood above her younger brother as he sat in a puddle of melted snow. "Hey, girls! I found him!" She called, gleefully.
"Admittedly, it wasn't always a perfect plan."
Meanwhile, Svetlana noticed that Mercury wasn't quite dead yet. Acting quickly, she poured a vile of fire dust over his wound, causing him to howl in agony. The Rushland woman planted her foot on his chest. "Where's Loki?! Talk!"
"Gah! You think you can torture me?!" Mercury choked. "After everything I've been through?! With my dad?! Then Cinder?! And now that freak?! I ain't scared of you!"
"We'll see…" Svetlana walked back to the warthog and placed her hammer over the gas pedal. Her sickle acted as a remote control that would extend the hammer's handle to apply more pressure on the pedal. The vehicle lurched forward until the tire had nearly run over Mercury's head. "Tell me where he is!"
"AAAAAH! You're crazy!" He screamed. "Alright! Alright! I'll talk! I'll talk!" Svetlana let off on the gas, planting her foot back on his chest. "He and the others set up shop in a remote section of the island! They're planning an ambush!"
"What's it called?!" She growled.
"Ah! 419! Outpost 419! That's all I know, I swear!" Once again, Mercury felt the pressure of the warthog's tire rolling onto his skull. "Ah! Okay! Okay!"
"Remember anything else?!"
"Mikhail! He's still alive! Loki said he wanted to wait until you showed up to kill him! So he could force you to watch!"
"Thank you." Svetlana muttered before knocking her captive unconscious. She climbed back into the driver's seat of the warthog and snapped her fingers. "You coming or what?"
Startled, the other leaders and their lieutenants got into their own warthogs and followed the crimson crusader towards Outpost 419. "Yang? Remember how scary Paulette was?" Ruby whispered, pointing towards Svetlana. "She's way scarier."
Yang merely nodded in agreement. "Jaune was right: there's definitely something to be feared about the anger of a normally gentle person."
Two hours later, the group reached Outpost 419, only to find it almost completely deserted. Before she could get upset, Saber noticed Svetlana's scroll vibrating. "Were you expecting a call?"
"No," the Rushland native said with a blink, only to smile upon noticing the caller ID. "Nice to know you're alright, Mikhail."
"Aw, that's so sweet," Loki's voice called out over the scroll. "It'd be a real shame if some nutjob planned to ruin such a lovely romance."
"What have you done with him, Loki?" Svetlana growled out.
"Relax, he's fine...and so are the other hostages I've taken," the trickster called back. "That said, I'm willing to let them be set free...so long as you show up at the abandoned prison facility just outside of Outpost 419. It's time we ended this rivalry of ours once and for all."
"For once, you and I are in total agreement." Svetlana angerily declared as she hung up.
"So what do we do now?" Pyrrha called out.
"There is no 'we.' Not this time. You guys are staying here." "Rachael" growled out. "I don't need you slowing me down."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ilia called out. "I'm all too familiar with the desire for revenge - broke the teeth of some kids who laughed when news of my parents' deaths in one of the late Jacques Schnee's Dust mines became public - but you go after him now and you'll only be playing into his hands."
"You don't know him the way I do," Svetlana said with a glare. "I need to take care of him now while I still have the chance."
"What about the hostages?" Ruby couldn't help but ask with a frown. "Do their lives not matter?!"
"Of course they do," Svetlana growled out. "But I'll deal with them later: if you were able to remember what's important here, you'd understand…"
"We do remember though," Pyrrha suddenly declared with a stern expression. "Do you?!"
Hearing that question, Svetlana paused, before going over to a nearby wall and punching it in frustration. "Loki killed my family. Destroyed my home. Nearly took Mikhail away from me and having done so again… and through it all, I couldn't do anything to stop him. I won't be able to rest as long as that madman is still running free. I'm sure that you all are familiar with the sort of powerlessness something like that creates, given you likely felt something similar in regards to Cinder and the Battle of Beacon. Please, just let me do this."
Ruby could only watch as Svetlana ran off before they could answer, before nodding to the others. "We're following her, right?"
Yang simply shook her head in amusement, a proud smile on her face. "As if you even need to ask."
Meanwhile, once inside, Svetlana activated her semblance to scan for any hostiles. "I can see you." She announced to the single opponent hiding from her. Emerald casually sauntered out from her hiding spot with her hands up in surrender. Svetlana sneered. "You're the girl who got Penny killed."
"You're not still mad about that, are you?" The green-haired assassin smirked. "Besides, technically, it was 'Miss Invincible' who killed that little wind-up doll. All I did was make her scared."
Suddenly, the room burst into flames around Svetlana. The hallway shifted its appearance to resemble a humble household in Rushland. Emerald suddenly took the form of Loki as he drew a pistol and shot two flaming bodies. The female stumbled towards her. "Mom…?"
"Help us, Svetlana! Don't let us die!" She screamed before crumbling to ashes.
The other scorched body grabbed her arm. "Father?"
"You should've stopped him, Svetlana! You're no huntress! You're just a disappointment!"
Svetlana had heard enough. She shrugged off the crumbling ashes and activated her semblance. Fortunately for her, Emerald couldn't move while using her semblance, and better still, Emerald had no idea that her own semblance could block out the hallucinations. Needless to say, the green-haired villain was terrified as her victim marched towards her.
Svetlana gripped Emerald by the throat, threw her to the ground, and planted her foot against her back while twisting her arm. "Where. Is. Loki?"
"H-he's down that way!" Emerald stammered, fearfully. "I-I swear!"
"If I find out you're lying I'll break the other one." Svetlana threatened.
"The other wha-AAAAAAAAAAH!" Emerald screamed in agony as her attacker broke her left arm. After Emerald had passed out from the pain, Svetlana closed her eyes and took a deep breath to clear her mind. She had relived that nightmare countless times in the past, but luckily, she remembered to focus on another memory.
A young Svetlana had been rescued by a squad of Guardsmen when they spotted the fires on their way back from another mission. One of them - a puma Faunus - removed his helmet and sat next to her throughout the entire trip. "Are you hungry, miss? We have a few ration bars to spare."
"Why did he do it, mister? Why…?"
The Guardsman let out a sigh. "I don't know. It's just this world; there's too much ugliness in it. Don't worry, we're gonna take good care of you, young lady. I have a few friends back where we're headed who'll be happy to meet you. And please, call me Tukson."
Svetlana finally opened her eyes and proceeded down the hallway towards her nemesis.
"Emmy's Semblance! Ask your doctor if it's right for you!" Loki's mocking voice echoed from the intercom as Svetlana made her way down the halls. "Warning;exposuretoEmmy'ssemblancemaycauseseverepsychologicaltraumaincludingvisionsofdeceasedparentsandburingfarms. HA HA HA HA HA HA! I-I'm sorry! I just couldn't resist! I just had to tell Emmy about our little history together! But, y'know, I have to ask; what is it you're really scared of? Failing to avenge your parents? Not saving your doting husband in time? Me… in a thong?! WAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Great: now I'll never get that image out of my head!" one Sun Wukong called out.
Svetlana could only blink upon hearing that. "What are you doing here?!"
Yang just smiled back at the Rushland native as she and a few of their friends approached their fellow teammate. "This guy might be your archenemy, but if you think you're the only one who wants a little payback, then you've got another thing coming."
Svetlana merely nodded in response, knowing that she was referring to the clown's earlier assault on their group and that there was no time to argue. "We'll need to split up here: if Loki figures out I'm not here by myself, then we're all in trouble."
Saber nodded in agreement. "Normally, I'd advise against splitting up, but seeing how you know this guy better than anyone, I won't argue."
"Oh, and guys?" Svetlana called out, before giving them all a small but genuine smile of gratitude. "Thanks for coming."
Yang snorted in reply. "As if you could keep us away from a good fight." The Rushland native could only shake her head in amusement before running off.
Sometime later, Svetlana burst into the main office where the intercom was set up. "It's over Loki." she called out as she turned a chair around...only to discover that it was a dummy stuffed to the brim with explosives with the countdown already in its final seconds. "Ah, son of a bi..." The resulting blast sent her through the nearby window. Fortunately, Svetlana's huntress training helped her slow her fall to a safe landing speed. Unfortunately, she soon found herself surrounded by multiple thugs in the courtyard below; the hostages proving to be decoys.
"Welcome to the madhouse, Svetlana!" Loki's voice chortled out over the loudspeaker via a recording. "I set a trap, and you sprang it gloriously! Now let's get this party started."
"Nothing personal, kid," one of the thugs declared as they all surrounded the Rushland native. "It's just business."
"You don't seem to understand, do you?" "Rachael" said with a mocking grin. "Then again, Loki never was too bright, so let me spell something out for you: I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!"
Meanwhile, inside the facility, Mikhail was being guarded by Melanie Malachite to ensure that he stayed put. After the others had left, he had begun to speak to her.
"And then what happened?" Mikhail asked his captor.
"Nothing too complicated." Melanie said with a shrug. "The academies weren't willing to see the daughters of renowned crime boss 'Little Miss Malachite' become huntresses. Wait, I take that back: some of the staff members, like that Ozpin guy, thought there was a chance we could do some good, but the Council over-ruled their decision. My sister and I ended up getting the last laugh, though: that blonde brawler you're wife's pals with is the only 'huntress' who's ever been able to take us out single-handedly."
Mikhail couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle. "Seems you know what you're doing."
"I know what you're doing too, Mikhail," Melanie declared with a deadpan glare. "You're trying to butter me up so that it'll be easier to turn me against Loki and the others. Well, let me just say right now...that that won't be necessary. Just tell me what you want me to do."
Mikhail had to hold back a wince. "I don't know what you're talking about. I…" He cut himself off when he realized what Melanie had said. "Excuse me, what?"
"You didn't think that you and Svetlana were the only ones to want revenge on that clown, did you?" Melanie remarked with an angry frown. "He hurt my sister: I won't take that lying down."
Mikhail blinked in response, before giving a grin. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, it would seem."
At the same time, Hazel was doing his best to hold off everyone else with his muscle-enhancing dust adding to his already incredible strength. "I have broken many of Ozpin's followers in the past." He warned. "However, I have no desire to harm children. If I were you, I'd give up."
"Sorry. I never was much for giving up." Yang sneered.
"Then you're a dead woman." Despite his size, Hazel proved to be very swift. His first move was to take out the lieutenants, swatting them aside like flies. Next, he targeted Jaune and Pyrrha. The duo tried blocking his advancement with both of their shields, but he easily knocked both of them aside. He punched Jaune in the groin, sending him flying through the air until he landed on the ground in pain.
"What is everyone's problem with my balls?!" He whimpered.
Pyrrha tried to stab Hazel in the chest, but it didn't even faze him. He grabbed her by her ponytail and hoisted her into the air. The huntsman-hater laughed as he tossed her around like a child with a toy before she landed beside her secret admiration.
"I'm scared, Jaune…" Pyrrha admitted. "I'm always scared."
Jaune quietly held her hand and brushed her cheek "It's okay. That doesn't make you weak." He told her, softly. "It just makes you human."
Before Hazel had a chance to finish the couple off, Ruby speed-tackled him from behind, reaching for the ammunition rounds in his belt. The villain grabbed the hooded huntress by her head, ready to crush her, only to let her go as Yang stabbed his bicep with Dragon Fang. Unfortunately, he shrugged the injury off and quickly went about pinning her to the ground and bashing her face in. "Admit defeat! Beg for your life! Scream my name!"
"... never…" Yang breathed.
"You are beaten!" Hazel lifted Yang over his head, preparing to snap her spine over his knee. "Now, I will break you!" That was when Ruby stabbed the huntsman-hater with three dust crystals at once. "What?! No! The dust!" Hazel cried out in pain as he dropped Yang in an attempt to remove the dust crystals. "It's too much! TOO MUCH! AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hazel's muscles began expanding in a grotesque fashion, as if they would tear free from his skin at any second.
Horrified, Ruby rushed towards him in an attempt to undo the damage. This proved to be no easy feat, as Hazel hysterically flailed his limbs in pain. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! I AM INVINCIBLE! I! AM! HAZEL RAINHART!" At last, Ruby freed the amplifying dust from his flesh, reverting him to his original size. Exhausted, he collapsed on the ground and slipped into unconsciousness. Ruby limped over to her friends, checking to make sure they were okay.
"That's my girl…" Yang smiled, tiredly.
Meanwhile, Svetlana was making her way deeper into the abandoned prison when she came across an old theater. "What's wrong, Svetsy?" Loki called out from the projection room. "No witty comeback? No threat? Then I'll provide the narration."
Suddenly, the projector turned on, showcasing Loki's travels throughout Remnant, as he went to other small farms and repeated what he had done to her home. At last, the video showed Rushland's fate. All the way up to when the penguin Faunus shot and killed her mother. "Despite popular belief, that bird-brain had zero chill. Ha ha!"
"Why do you insist on doing this?" Svetlana asked, clutching her fists as her eyes watered. "Why me?"
"Because you can lie to yourself and everyone else, but you can't lie to me, Svetsy." Loki mocked. "You'd have followed me here even if I hadn't kidnapped your loverboy! You just can't resist the chance to get at me for what I did to you! It consumes you! Makes you crazy! Beneath all the bravado and self-righteousness, you're still just a scared, sad little girl crying for mommy and daddy! It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic… Oh, what the hell? I'll laugh, anyway. WAH-HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
In response to his taunting, Svetlana launched her hammer at the trickster. He stumbled backwards from the impact and soon found himself pinned to the wall with a sickle to his throat, the Rushland native having burst into the room soon afterwards. "If you don't like the movie… I've got slides." He smiled.
Enraged, the crimson crusader threw her nemesis across the room. Loki began laughing louder as he drew a pistol and fired at his attacker, with each shot draining her aura. Once he ran out of ammunition, he threw the weapon at her head, knocking her backwards. He lunged forwards, and the two thrashed around on the ground, punching and clawing at one another. At last, Svetlana kicked him off of her into an electrical panel, draining his aura. But as she rose back to her feet and regained her weapons, so too did the maniacal trickster.
"I can take it!" Loki coughed. "I can take anything you throw at me, Svets! You can't beat me! I'm actually going to win! Ready for the next round?!"
"Always."
"WHAT?!"
"I'll never let you win… NEVER!" Svetlana grit her teeth and charged at her nemesis. She slid on her knees as he swung his bat at her, and struck her hammer upwards, hitting him in the jaw. She holstered her weapons and picked Loki up by the neck. "I am justice. I am the darkness! I am Svetlana Crimsonoff!"
With that, she tossed him into a wall and combined her weapons to form her shotgun. But Loki had one last trick up his sleeve - literally - as his pistol slid into his palm and he quickly aimed at her head. Fortunately, however, a blast of fire dust knocked it away.
"What!?" Loki gasped out as he spotted Mikhail. "How did you escape?!"
"I could've escaped at any time," Mikhail revealed, "but I thought I'd stick around and keep an eye on you guys."
"Not to mention he had a little help." Melanie mockingly declared as she stepped up beside him.
"You're with them now!?" Loki yelled out.
"Funny thing about mercenaries," Mikhail said with a smirk. "Their loyalty is bought, not earned."
"And besides, a chance to ruin the plans of the man who hurt my sister? I'd take that sort of opportunity for free." Melanie remarked.
Loki screamed in fury and tackled the duo to the ground, strangling them both. But Svetlana acted quickly, blasting her nemesis off of them, draining the last of his aura. Melanie had been unfortunate enough to succumb to the trickster's attack when her head hit the ground too hard, but Svetlana sighed in relief when her husband sat up.
"You looked like you could've used some help." She smirked, helping her beloved back up to his feet.
"You're right." Mikhail teased. "I think I chipped a nail back there."
"Funny," Svetana snarked back with a roll of her eyes. "Are you ready for this?"
"Always," her husband declared.
The Rushland couple made their way over to Loki just as their friends caught up to them. Mikhail planted his foot on the madman's chest to hold him in place while Svetlana aimed her weapon.
"Go on then: DO IT!" Loki joyfully called out as Svetlana pulled the trigger of her weapon...only to blink when the bullet landed in the dirt next to his head rather than going through his skull. "Wha...what?"
"You almost had me there," Svetlana admitted. "I never fully understood what you meant back when you burned down my village when you said that you wanted to prove a point, but thanks to Ruby and the others, I finally got it: you wanted to take someone who could overpower your Semblance and corrupt them until they were as cold and twisted as you were. Do I want to see you dead? Absolutely...but you know what I think a better punishment for you might be? For you to spend the rest of your life in a cell knowing that I managed to beat you without stooping to your level. That you're alone in your desire to see absolute chaos."
Loki just growled back in defiance. "You think this changes anything, Svetsy? I'll be back to finish what I've started, and there'll be nothing that you can do to stop me. NO ONE CAN STOP…!" ...and that was as far as he got before he was knocked out by a well-placed grenade.
"Geez, does that guy ever shut up?" one Nora Valkyrie whined as she and a few very familiar faces came out from over the bend, before blinking in shock upon noticing the group. Needless to say, everyone was shocked to see who it was standing in front of them.
"Nora? Ren?"
"Jaune? Pyrrha?"
"Blake? Mom?"
"Yang? Ruby?"
"Weiss? Uncle Qrow?"
"What're you guys doing here?" Ren asked.
"And how'd you run into Saber, Sun, Mata, and Ilia?" Blake couldn't help but wonder.
"It's a long story, but as to what we're doing here, we're here to rescue you guys!" Jaune exclaimed.
"But… we're supposed to be heading out to rescue you…" Nora scratched her head in confusion.
To Be Continued
