Troll in Reviews
As has been noted, there is a troll in reviews spamming guest reviews and trying to frame people by writing their name in the name slot. Just ignore it. It's not worth the effort of paying attention to and I'm only writing this message so people are aware.
He's also pretending to be me by writing my name in guest review slots. I would only ever review something from this (logged-in) account.
Chapter 5
Picking out the individual details of the base was almost impossible. The land swelled up on either side with trees on one side and an expanse of jagged rock on the other, leading up toward one of the many mountain ranges that dotted Atlas. It was midday and the sun beat down on them but try as he might Jaune could make out no evidence of there being a hidden facility.
"Look at what isn't there," Adam murmured, staring through a pair of binoculars. "No wildlife. No birds. No rubble. This is at the base of a mountain so you'd expect some fallen rocks. Why is the area so clean?"
Because someone was moving it – he could figure that out from the contextual clues, but it didn't help him spot the signs himself. That changed when movement stirred. Jaune, Adam and Blake ducked low, watching as a man in an Atlas military uniform stepped out from seemingly nowhere and removed his helmet, dropping it to the floor. He reached down to his waist and drew something out. Moments later, a small orange glow emanated from a cigarette.
"That's our cue. We'll rush in as a group, but if we need to split up then I want you with Jaune, Blake. Jaune, don't use your Semblance except in bursts. Let Blake deal with weak enemies and only use it if she's in trouble."
"Okay."
It was just going to be the three of them. Too much risk to bring others in. With any luck they'd be able to stick together, but Adam was right to plan. Whatever entrance the man had come out of was surely going to expand and split underground. He'd have thought going off on his own was the best choice, but what would he do if he came across a firing line of soldiers? He couldn't Semblance his way forward and they'd bring him down under a hail of fire.
Adam held a finger over his lips and made some quick gestures. Despite trying to learn the group's rudimentary signals and signs, the most he could get from it was `flank wide`. Blake tapped his shoulder and gestured for him to follow, and the two made their way to the right, around and away from Adam, who clicked Wilt free with a quiet hiss.
Blake was quieter through the underbrush than he, but he did his best. They skirted the clearing without stepping in – there was sure to be surveillance – and came around behind the outcropping of rock the soldier was at. There, Blake stabbed quickly forward with two fingers and broke cover, dashing forward. Subtlety wasn't the game apparently. The element of surprise was going to be shot the second they stepped inside.
"What? You there, halt!"
That didn't sound like it was aimed in their direction. Gunfire barked toward Adam, who had appeared from the trees but quickly ducked back into cover. The soldier kept firing ahead, reaching for his helmet which likely contained a radio. Distracted and focused on Adam's last position, he didn't notice Blake coming from above until her feet connected with the back of his head.
She carried him down to the floor and knelt on the man's shoulders, taking his head in a tight hold and squeezing. The soldier kicked and tried to break free but slowly stilled, choked unconscious. Blake wasted little time stealing a pouch on his waist and tossing it his way.
Jaune flipped the Velcro and flicked through it, finding an ID card with a name, picture and serial number. He held it to the metal door cleverly hidden among the rocks and was rewarded with it sliding open with a hiss.
Adam arrived behind them, Wilt drawn. Stopping by the downed soldier, he reversed it and stabbed, piercing the man through the throat.
"Adam!"
"He could have woken up and attacked us from behind or sealed the tunnel and locked us inside. We can't leave an enemy behind us, Blake. You know that."
"He was subdued…"
"That could have changed at any moment and we've no one to keep watch over a prisoner." Adam pushed past her and entered. "Come on. We need to move quickly."
Blake's fists trembled at her side but she entered after, mask doing little to hide her distaste as she brushed past Jaune. Even if he felt the urge to say something, he was too frightened for his sisters' sakes to do so. He stepped in behind them, leaving the dead man outside.
The interior corridor was well lit with white-grey floors set in segmented square pieces, tall concrete walls and a ceiling dotted with spotlights. It dipped down about six steps and then levelled out, continuing ahead until what looked to be a junction with two visible doors, metallic with glass windows about head height.
The walls were bathed in red suddenly, a long and undulating siren sounding.
"Well, I didn't expect we'd go unnoticed," Adam said. "Move. Speed is of the utmost importance. They might kill the captives to keep their secrets."
Rushing forward, they reached the junction. Without speaking Adam pointed a hand to the right and went left, punching through the door while Blake and Jaune took the other. Doorways dotted either side of the hallway, marked with nameplates. Those went ignored, even if people might have been within. It just wasn't possible his sisters would be unprotected, so anywhere not guarded was ignored for now. They could always come back later.
With the red light causing the room to pulse red and grey, he almost missed the movement ahead. Blake didn't. Placing a hand over his chest, she ushered him into one of the offices and scanned the room. It was empty, and not in the dishevelled way one would expect of someone having abandoned it the second the alarm started.
Peeking around the doorway, Blake hissed. "Ambush ahead. Stay here."
"My Semblance-"
"Is more a problem than a use here. It's fine. Wait one minute and follow."
Blake was out and dashing down the corridor a second later. Gunfire barked and his body tensed, but fact it continued ironically calmed him down. It meant they hadn't brought her down, and with aura and training she could surely close the distance.
Eager to not be entirely useless, he stepped behind the desk and rummaged through the drawers. There was a gun, a spare ID, a box of mints and some tacks and paperclips. Nothing all too useful. A file in the second contained medical words, terms and figures he didn't understand but which could have been a member of his family. Shaking the mouse just to test it, the monitor came to live, but asking for login details. The person working there hadn't been kind enough to write those on a post-it note stuck to the screen.
Behind the box asking for a username and password was Atlas' symbol, but beneath that, several words, almost like a company name but obviously a slogan.
In peace, prepare for war.
"Ominous." Jaune abandoned it with a shake of his head and ran outside, trusting that the gunfire having ceased was a good sign. Blake stood washed in red but coming closer revealed it the light and not blood. Her opponents were downed, several groaning, all clearly still alive.
"We can keep going," Blake said, mask focused on him. Even without seeing her eyes he could tell she was watching him, telling him in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't allow what Adam had done up above.
Had Adam really been wrong? These people would get up and fight them again. In the end it didn't matter because he both couldn't fight Blake and didn't want to waste time. Nodding, he ran ahead, Blake catching up and overtaking to take the lead again. To Jaune's frustration, they came to another break in the hallway, this one containing a crossroads in an expanded hexagonal-shaped room, three doors aside from the one they'd entered leading off in the cardinal directions.
"What now? Where do we go?"
"Lab 1-C. Docks. Containment." Blake read the three plaques by the doors and swore under her breath. "Couldn't be easy, could it? We'll have to split up. Will you be okay?"
He had no idea. "I'll be fine. Which two?"
"Containment and Docks," Blake decided after a long second to think, during which the siren continued wailing. "I'll take containment – if it's where your sisters are, they may be trying to kill them. I'm the better fighter. You should take those docks. They must be a way out and they might try and ship your sisters to a different site if they have one. The labs sound like testing. It's probably blood, DNA and the like. If not, we'll check it later."
It was all a guess at that point but he agreed enough with what she said to nod and push on, sliding the metal door to the docks open and watching Blake disappear toward containment. His skin itched to follow, but she was right. If time was of the essence then it was better she be the one to go that way. Turning off aura wouldn't let him keep the girls alive any longer. Jaune ran ahead, gasping for breath with lungs burning.
If I can cut off the exit, we'll trap them all in here. Need to make sure they don't escape.
A soldier burst out from a door ahead, fell to one knee and took aim. The corridor was so narrow there was no hope of dodging. Jaune brought his hands up over his face instinctively, tensing every muscle in his body in the expectation of agony.
The tight, controlled, burst of fire struck his chest and blew the wind from his lungs. It was like being punched by needles. He dropped to one knee, eyes wide and body shaking. A second burst of three or four shots tore his leg out from under him, knocking him flat on his face. Without aura, he'd have died instantly. Curling into a ball, he heaved for air, lungs burning.
The gunfire stopped. "Control," the soldier announced. "Unit Theta-Seventeen reporting. Target subdued. Possible match on Subject 000. Please advise."
The response came with too much gain for Jaune to make out, but the soldier had obviously received his orders. With a quick "Roger", he held his gun low and stepped forward, cautiously approaching.
They want me alive. Want to take me back and test on me.
That would be convenient for Atlas, wouldn't it? Sweep him back under the rug and pretend he never existed. No one would care except for Saphron and Lavender, and that was assuming they weren't kidnapped as well.
"I won't… go back…"
The man's boot reached his shoulder.
Jaune's eyes pooled with colour. His hand lashed out, driving the knife he's drawn into the man's leg, just above his boots. He cancelled his Semblance immediately after, just as the soldier screamed and fell. Adam's training saved his life, because even falling the soldier had the wits necessary to bring his weapon down and open fire, choosing to save his own life over completing some mission.
Six dust rounds impacted Jaune's back, exploding over him. Teeth gritted through the pain, he surged up and tackled the soldier, who fell, flat-footed. They landed together and Jaune immediately took a fist to the skull. The soldier followed it up by pushing his rifle up into Jaune's face, smashing metal against skin to knock him off. He then took the stock and swung it by pushing with one hand and pulling on the muzzle, striking him across the cheek.
Aura took it all, but it didn't take the single round Jaune injected into the man's chest, pressing the handgun Adam gave him directly over the soldier's armour, over his heart, and squeezing the trigger. As he did, his eyes pooled yellow and purple.
The body under him bucked. The man's mouth tore open in a startled gasp.
And then, he died.
Panting and sweating, Jaune straddled the dead man with his eyes wide, the colours slowly fading as the Null Semblance flicked off. His shoulders were shaking, his cheek burning and his jaw aching so bad he thought a tooth might have been knocked loose. All of that paled in comparison to the nausea rolling up inside him. He was afraid to take the gun away and see the damage he'd done.
It was less than he expected.
The shot had pierced armour, and whatever mess it had made of the man's chest was mostly hidden beneath what remained. The hole was round and cracked at the edges, with red staining out and shadows hiding the gore within. The fact he was sat on a corpse wasn't so easy to dismiss, however, and he fell off, kicking away with both feet to reach the corridor wall and shiver. Tears prickled at his eyes.
Focus. Focus! I need to save them.
"Keep moving," he rasped, pushing a hand down. It threatened to give way in much the same way his knees almost buckled, but he pulled himself up with a hand on the wall. Panic later. Break down later. One foot pushed forward, the other following, his body half-leaning on the wall as he slid on, gun dripping blood at his side.
Killing had been so easy. Too easy.
He hated it.
/-/
"Damn it!"
Containment had been the right call but Blake kicked a metal chair across the room, sending it shattering into the wall with a loud bang. The containment cells were empty. They obviously hadn't been, what with the patches of blood and the medical equipment everywhere, not to mention the prints of wheels in some of the bloodstains suggesting they'd been moved out on gurneys, but it was empty now.
I must have missed them. Damn it, damn it, damn it.
That explained the lack of any concerted effort to stop her reaching the cells. Blake made to leave and backtrack, only to pause as she noted the documents strewn on the main desk. Picking them up revealed several different sheets, some of which she couldn't understand for all the medical details written on them.
Another was somewhat easier.
/
Test Log #442
/
Attending Researcher: Dr. Christina Umber. Jnr Dr. Harold Clementine
Object: Subject 001
Status: Healthy
Semblance: Unlocked. Inviable.
Updated Status: Expendable
Research Suggestion by Dr. Christina Umber: Disposal of Subject 001 is inefficient. Please see proposal log 442, submitted for approval.
Research Suggestion Approved by Snr Dr. Alcott
/
/
/
Test Log:
Subject 001, known as `Mother` by the staff, is a forty-six-year-old female specimen collected with Subjects 000 through 007. Subject 001's Semblance was previously unlocked during Test Log #441, in which repeated trauma caused a panic-induced Semblance capable of launching Jnr Dr Clementine across the room.
Note: See Subject 003 for similar Semblance. Possible secondary, undesirable, hereditary Semblance contaminating Subjects 001-007. Further study suggested.
Subject 003 was classified expendable due to undesirable Semblance and transferred to Testing Site Alpha on suggestion by Doctor O'Callaghan (See Test Log #412), for use in testing of Subject 000. While Subject 001 is similarly compromised and of no further use in testing of Null Semblance, it is Doctor Christina Umber's opinion that the genetic traits of the "Null Semblance" may have come from the female line. Lacking access to the male body for testing due to its demise upon acquiring of Subjects 000 – 007, this is a matter as of yet unknown.
If correct, however, this promotes the possibility of Subject 001, and of Subjects 002-007 being viable as progenitors of the Null Semblance, providing further Subjects for future study. As such, Subject 001 has been anaesthetised and artificially inseminated by Doctor Christina Umber, with a view to monitoring the development of the child/children for potential development of Null Semblance.
If successful, Doctor Umber's promotes a further proposal for Subjects 002 – 007 to be similarly utilised.
Proposal suspended until results of Test Log #442 concluded. Note from Snr Dr. Alcott – "Potential benefits outweigh any cost. Keep me updated of any developments and we'll see if this leads anywhere promising."
/
Test Log #442 Ends
/
Blake slammed the paper down, teeth gritted so hard they grated. Those… Those monsters. Desperately, she checked the date at the top, breathing a sigh of relief to see it dated only a few days ago. That meant the test hadn't concluded, so only this woman, who had to be Jaune's mother, had to far been put through this. There was time to save the others.
Did she dare let Jaune see this, though? He deserved to, but at the same time it would hurt him so much, especially if they failed to save his mother today. Staring down at the poisonous words, she tried to make heads or tails of how anyone could do this to another person. How anything like this could be considered worth becoming abandoning all trace of morality.
Jaune had to know.
Stuffing the documents in her pocket, she picked up Gambol Shroud and made her way back outside, leaving the horrible cells to rot.
/-/
The alarm wailed.
Jaune's feet hammered down.
A soldier got in his way.
The soldier got out of his way, slumping back with a bloodstain reaching out from his stomach. Alive, wounded and quickly left behind as Jaune kept charging ahead, eyes wide and pupils narrowed to tiny pricks of black. He'd gone past his second wind and onto his third and fourth, every breath tortured and his muscles screaming in pain.
Turning the next corner, he found himself faced with six men at once, all in uniform and aiming down the corridor.
"Open fire!" the commander roared. "Defend the docks until all personnel are evacuated!"
Foot sliding on the smooth floor, Jaune kicked back and dove the way he'd come, just before sparks erupted on the opposite wall, hosing his last position with automatic fire. Once it was clear they'd missed, the gunfire stopped, the soldiers conserving ammo. They knew he was there now, however, and from the sounds of it Blake had been right, they were evacuating.
Taking his sisters with them…?
No…
He peered around again, taking stock of the distance before pulling back and dodging four quick shots. It was hard to judge but more than the fifteen metres of his Semblance – not that it would have been any use here anyway. He couldn't kill them before they did him. Patting himself down offered no solutions. Adam had given him a knife, gun and a scroll he promised was untraceable. No grenades or anything, because there was no point giving those to someone who didn't know how to use them.
"No, no, no…"
"Jaune!"
Blake skidded to a halt next to him and crouched, worry writ on her face.
"I'm not injured!" he said quickly, relief rushing through him. "I'm pinned down – they're taking everyone away! Six soldiers around the corner. Maybe twenty, twenty-five, metres."
Blake took in his rushed explanation and nodded. "Leave it to me."
Her weapon clicked into two, a long black ribbon connecting the halves of a blade and a gun. Standing, she dashed around the corner and into gunfire, except this gunfire didn't stop and the soldiers barked orders, continuing to fire. Left behind, all he could do was try not to have a mental breakdown as he counted the seconds in his head, wondering how late he might be.
Twenty in total. Twenty seconds for Blake to beat their enemy and shout "Clear!"
She hadn't fully won at the time she called that and Jaune ran around into a melee still in progress. She was among them though and they'd been forced to switch to using their guns as melee weapons lest they shoot one another. It was enough a distraction to let him run in and slam a fist into the jaw of one. The blow was so clumsy it did nothing more than knock the helmet off the man – a woman, actually. Her dark-brown hair flew back in a ponytail as she hooked an arm around Jaune's and made to snap it at the elbow.
The ribbon of Blake's weapon coiled around the woman's neck, pulling back and forcing her to wither let go or be suffocated. Blake tossed the soldier over her shoulder, unravelling the ribbon and kicking her head to knock her out. Before she'd even finished calming down, Jaune dashed past and through the final door, out into a wide open room with a huge hangar door open, several Bullheads already pulling out and away.
"NO!" he screamed.
The people that remained turned his way, several filing into two remaining aircraft. On one, a white bed on wheels was being wheeled up, but the figure in it turned his way.
"Jaune!" Amber, his youngest sister, screamed. "Jaune! Help me, Jaune! Help me!"
The scientists in white suits continued to wheel Amber up the ramp, ignoring her wild flailing and screaming, while four soldiers fanned out at the base and took aim. Their bullets ricocheted off his aura, chipping it down.
He didn't care.
A red haze had descended over him.
"AMBER!" he roared, racing forward, taking every shot without care. His own handgun spat back, plinking shots off the hull and clipping the arm of one soldier, knocking him back a bit but not downing him. "Let her go!" he screamed, racing into the gunfire. "LET HER GO!"
"Big brother! Jaunnneee!"
The ramp clunked up on hydraulic bars, closing and cutting off the sound of her screams long before he'd gotten anywhere close. With furious tears pouring down his cheeks, he kept firing, hoping that as if through some miracle, he could bring the aircraft down with a handgun.
He couldn't. The engines roared and the thing hovered, lifting off the ground and turning toward the open air and the other craft already flying away.
"The other!" Blake yelled, already racing toward the soldiers. "You can still stop the other one!"
Other…?
He hadn't paid attention with Amber awake and so close, but his head snapped to the second Bullhead in time to see another figure being wheeled up the ramp – this one still not fully inside. There was no making out who it was, but he moved, heart racing.
There was still time. He could save someone. This wouldn't be for nothing.
I'll find you, Amber, I swear. Your brother is coming!
But for now, he couldn't ignore someone else.
Three more soldiers on the second Bullhead moved to engage him. One of Jaune's shots went wide but hit a scientist, punching into the man's arm and dropping him. That made the gurney slide down the ramp and almost crush the person pushing it, before a soldier disengaged to help and dragged it up the rest of the way on his own, yelling for the pilots to get the engine going.
The Bullhead, still with its ramp open, began to whirr to life.
No. Not like this. Not now!
The soldiers hung from the pistons as the ramp began to close. Even then, it pulled off the floor, hovering and turning toward the exit. He wasn't going to make it. They were going to escape with all of them.
"Hahhhh!"
Red light shot out from the side and impacted the Bullhead, striking the large turbine on its side and shearing it off.
The aircraft lurched, suddenly unbalanced and swerving dangerously to the side. The pilot's attempts to correct it in a confined space weren't enough and the hull grated down the length of the wall, crashing down and skidding over the ground with bright sparks. Two of the soldiers were jettisoned out, landing poorly and trying to roll to safety.
Adam was already rushing in from another doorway, Wilt drawn and mask stained with blood. "Now, Jaune!" he shouted. "Before they cut their losses!"
Jaune was at the ramp before the Bullhead had even come to a stop. He jumped up, crying out as his hand touched metal suddenly burning hot from being dragged across concrete. Ignoring it, he hauled himself inside, taking in the tight space and the bed crashed against the side, still somehow upright and with a huddled figure curled up on it, blonde hair peeking out from the white sheet.
One scientist and one soldier were inside, the scientist on his back and unable to even stand, but the soldier reacting far quicker, his rifle knocked out his hands but a sidearm being drawn.
Jaune's eyes flashed a medley of colours.
His gun snapped in his hands.
The first shot hit the man's chest. The second hit his neck. The third missed, impacting off the metal hull as the recoil combined with the fact the Bullhead was still scraping and moving along the wall, pushed his aim off. It mattered little and the man slumped with a sigh, head dropping forward on his chest.
"I surrender!" the scientist wailed. "I surrender!"
The pilot didn't. Vehicle still crashing, he unbuckled and reached around from the central cockpit, gun in hand. Jaune made to shoot but the man threw his weapon away and raised his hands silently. Gasping for breath and with adrenaline still racing through him, Jaune wondered if he was supposed to accept that or not.
Thankfully, Blake wrenched the pilot's door open and dragged him bodily out before he could think about it. Adam was also at the ramp, pulling it open and shouting for anyone inside to get down or be killed. The scientist was flat on his front, sobbing like a child with both hands above his head.
Jaune was already at the bed, one hand steadying it as he wrenched the covers back, afraid of what he might see – and then almost crying in relief.
Tired blue eyes peeked up at him from a narrow face. Pale, shaking, but unmistakably alive, Coral Arc peered up at him through shattered glasses. Her cracked lips moved, whispering, "Am I dreaming? P-Please don't let me wake up."
The tears poured forth. Collapsing against her medical bed, he took her hand and clasped it between his, holding it against his face. Whether that was proof enough for her, he didn't know, but it was for him. He'd saved one. Coral was alive. Even if the others were taken away, he'd saved one.
Adam's methods worked.
/-/
"General Ironwood! General Ironwood!" Marrow burst through the door and came to a halt, detained by the two guards who struggled to prevent his entry. They trusted him enough to only use their hands, but even then they were dragged in with him. "General Ironwood!"
"Specialist Marrow?" Ironwood frowned, already making to stand. "Repo-"
"Unidentified aircraft on the southern tip of Atlas. They're leaving Atlas airspace, registering Atlas vehicles but refusing to answer any hails. They're flying out of Atlas – away from some location our systems picked them up on."
"Bring them down!"
"Winter is in pursuit, sir. I – I came as quickly as I could."
Winter? Thank goodness. Ironwood rushed past the exhausted Specialist – he'd praise him later for this, but right now there were bigger things to do. Marrow was left behind to recover his breath as Ironwood's personal guards hurried after him. No one dared get in his way, officers and students stepping back to let him pass.
Unidentified aircraft could have been anything, even something as simple as a civilian vehicle failing to follow proper procedure but given the absolute mess that had been going on lately, he didn't believe that for a second. Bursting into the command room, he ignored the salutes and approached Clover, who was leaning over a display with a grave expression.
"What is Winter's position?" Ironwood asked immediately.
"Here." Clover touched a blip on the map. It was moving slowly, though slow on the map meant intense speeds in the field. He slid his finger along, tracking what seemed to be six aircraft, each registering as a typical Atlas bullhead. "They first appeared on our systems somewhere around here," Clover remarked. "Winter moved instantly, telling us to alert you while she intercepted. As expected, they're not answering or acknowledging our attempts to hail them. We have no registered presence in this region, let alone military aircraft."
"It's them. They're relocating." Ironwood scowled. "Why? Are they retreating from something? Clover, I want you and your team out searching that region as soon as this is over. Take however many teams you need, but the less the better. Should anyone from Atlas attempt to accost you, warn them once you are acting on my orders and, if they should persist, react with force."
"You think the White Fang found our targets?"
"I think it's possible. They blew up the last facility but there's nothing to suggest there wasn't the location of this one hidden within it. Once the area is secure, I'll be visiting myself to get to the bottom of this."
"We could have Winter land and try to secure Jaune Arc," Harriet said.
"No. That's too dangerous and we've no specific idea where he is." They knew roughly where the Bullheads originated from, but only that. It would take boots on the ground and time to isolate the exact location, and by that point the White Fang would be gone. "Even if Winter should happen to find them in that region, he could kill her with his Semblance. Better she intercept-"
"They're splitting, sir!" Vine warned.
Ironwood swore, watching as the six blips cut off in different directions, fanning out to prevent Winter being able to engage each. Worse, they didn't keep going in vaguely similar directions either. Three turned in the direction of Vale, one toward Vacuo, two for Mistral and one looked to be angling along the coast of Atlas, perhaps looking for another facility on the island.
How many bases did these people have? Was it an international organisation? His fists shook as he watched Winter's marker head toward the point of divergence and then pursue the one toward Vacuo. He nodded, pleased with the decision. Atlas had an alliance with Vale, so Vale could be called upon to intercept, while the one in Atlas was still on radar and thus trackable.
"Send out a team to pursue the one in Atlas. Vine, contact Vale and alert them to the situation – tell them they are to intercept and arrest, and then return the captives to myself and myself only. Elm, tell the diplomatic team to request access to Mistral airspace."
Vacuo would be upset if they impeded without a request, but the Kingdom was too fractured and disjointed to make a big deal of it, and as long as the threat was confined to desert wasteland, they likely wouldn't bring it up. The real problem was Mistral, lacking an alliance with them and with how proud and egotistical they could be.
"Sir, Winter is closing. Orders?"
"Intercept and bring it down in one piece. If needs be, shadow it until it lands on its own. Under no circumstances is she to open fire or destroy the vehicle. If what I think is on board dies, then we'll have made a dangerous enemy." Pushing off the monitor, he turned away. "Contact me once Winter has our enemies in custody. Prep reinforcements for her."
"And you, sir?" Clover asked.
"I'm going to call Ozpin. He'll be faster to move than any response team from Vale."
/-/
"Jauuuunnnne!" the girl screamed. "Jaunnnnneeeee!"
"Muzzle her, damn it!" the co-pilot yelled back. The sound of movement from the hold suggested someone had done just that, reducing the high-pitched screaming to frightened mumbling and sobbing. It was still enough to have them on edge, but not half as much as the attack.
"Do not harm the Subject!" one of the eggheads protested. "She is valuable."
"Sit down, sir." A soldier pushed the scientist back into a seat. "We are here for your safety. Allow us to do our work."
Sit down and shut the fuck up, basically. The co-pilot snorted, wishing the guy could have just said that. The eggheads were creepy fucks at the best of times, more so because of their constant mumbling about value, worth and research. His fingers nervously drummed on the dials, feet tapping on the floor.
This wasn't what he enlisted for. All those promotional videos talking about how fucking sweet life in the army goaded him on, and it hadn't been bad. The training was good, the pay fair, but when the promise of more pay came? Well, what was he to say? Property prices weren't dropping and he wanted to have a place to call his own.
Should have told that creep to shove his NDA's up his nose. Knew this was a bad call.
The radio in his helmet came to life in a burst of static.
"Charlie-4. Pursuit has broken off and is closing on Charlie-5. Repeat, Pursuit is closing on Charlie-5."
Thank fuck. Harsh as it was to think it, he was grateful the brass had gone after another group and let them escape. Even if it meant people he'd eaten, slept and made friends with might be arrested or even killed.
"Mmmmmh!" the girl continued to wail, bucking against her bindings. "Jnnnnn!"
"Not long," the pilot beside him whispered. "Back to base in Vale. Warm bed, debrief and a meal. We're home clear. Vale doesn't even have an army. It'll take them hours to mobilise huntsmen, and by that point we'll be long gone."
It was said more to calm himself than anyone else, but the co-pilot nodded along. "Yeah. Lucky us, eh? I can't wait to have a stiff drink to work this off."
"You paying?" the pilot asked nervously.
"You know what, fuck it, sure. Drinks are on me-"
The Bullhead shook violently. His heart lurched but a quick view at the scanner told him no one was behind. The whole thing was dark. And then it flickered to life again, and then it went dark. Everything did.
"We're losing altitude," the pilot whispered. "What the fuck?"
"Controls are flickering on and off," the co-pilot reported, pressing buttons. "Are we low on dust? Please fucking tell me the engineers didn't forget to refuel." It was a hysterical thought and a check of the dial proved it false. "Our tank is full. All readings – those I can see – are normal."
"Well we're losing altitude!" the pilot yelled. "That's not normal!"
"Jnnnnnnnnnn!"
"Awakening!" an egghead cried. "She's panicked and awakened her Semblance! Quickly, someone document this!"
"Not the fucking time!" he yelled back.
"Is it Null?" another of the bastards asked, stumbling over to the girl's bed. "It is! I can see her eyes! They show the colours. No. It's… It's different. I can still feel my aura. But the eyes, they look so similar. It's not turning off aura or Semblances."
In the cockpit, the co-pilot swore and unlatched his buckle, climbing over the divide and into the back while the pilot struggled to bring them into a glide. They were just reaching Vale, crossing the ocean and approaching forested land. Angrily, he took one of the eggheads and hauled them out the way, sending him crashing into the wall.
"What are you doing!?" the remaining scientist panicked as the co-pilot drew his sidearm. "No! You cannot! Her Semblance is what we're looking for. Kill her and you undo all our research. I won't allow you to-"
Allow? He backhanded the idiot aside, knocking him to the floor as he flicked off the safety and aimed his gun at the girl's terrified face. "You're doing this!" he hissed. "You're fucking with the Bullhead. Stop it. Stop it now!"
Gold. Yellow. Green. Blue. Red. The colours swirled in her irises, so wide and afraid as she looked down the barrel of a gun. He might have felt a flicker of pity but mind-numbing terror eclipsed it. When she didn't instantly do as commanded, he pulled the trigger.
Click.
His hands shook.
Click. Click. Click.
It wasn't unloaded. It couldn't be. Throwing it aside, he wrenched the assault rifle from the nearest soldier out his hands and aimed it at the girl, squeezing down to nothing but a click and a lack of any gunfire. Shaking, he drew out the magazine, looking down at all the cartridges sat happily in their wells. One slid from the end of the gun's barrel. The back of the bullet had shattered, but it hadn't ignited. Dust dribbled out onto the floor.
"It nullifies dust!" the still-conscious egghead whispered in awe. "Not aura and semblance, but dust. All dust! Fuel, energy, ammunition, e–everything. Incredible. This is incredible, perhaps even more amazing than Null itself."
Amazing, but currently crashing their Bullhead. The co-pilot reached for his combat knife. That at least was cold steel. The second he did, however, a shout of warning came from the cockpit and the Bullhead rocked and shook, striking treetops and bursting through with a furious rattle.
He was launched off his feet, slammed into the ceiling and then the floor. One of the scientists suffered the same, impacting a wall with a sickening crack and falling limp, neck bent at an unnatural angle. Something heavy hit the cockpit. Glass shattered. He heard his best friend's final scream before they came to a sudden halt, the co-pilot sent flying backwards and into a wall.
Darkness swept in the moment he struck, robbing him of consciousness.
He didn't hear the Grimm that approached, nor the sound of a weapon cutting those Grimm down.
"Well..." the figure said, watching from the dark. "This is interesting..."
To make it clear, what Amber has is obviously very different to Null. Jaune doesn't affect dust or electronics (since as far as we can tell electronics run on dust). I think all appliances and stuff in RWBY runs on dust. It's their primary energy source from what I remember, replacing oil, gunpowder and other things of that nature. Hence why the bullet wouldn't fire. The primer relies on dust, while the "propellant" would also presumably be dust.
I could be wrong on that, but it's how I figure it comparing bullets in the real world and dust. While we could just assume Remnant has gunpowder as well, I don't know if they do. It's always kind of implied dust handles everything there.
Next Chapter: 9th March
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