Chapter 2: Silver Bullet

"Light the flares! Take off now!" Ruby ordered Four Seven Niner as she ran to the cockpit. Weiss knew what would happen next.

Ten flares soared into the night sky, whistling and drawing orange spirals in the air. A few moments later fireballs burst, six of them. Missiles, the atlesian army had shot them with subsonic missiles, Weiss was thankful that Ruby fired the flares as prevention, it wasn't the type of thing a huntship could react to or survive. A Huntress like them? Maybe, but the ship carried civilians now, and it had barely taken off, only a few paces off the ground.

The survivors rushed to the nearest seats, Weiss, Yang and Blake moved from one to another, helped them lock the over-the-shoulder restraints, roughly U shaped bars mounted atop each seat individually. They were so scared, how could the military do something like that, to survivors in a Ruin Zone no less?

"Close the door behind me!" Ruby ordered Four Seven Niner again, "Weiss! You and me!"

Weiss moved as soon as Ruby finished her sentence, running outside as the cargo door closed, she swung under the opening, landing on the roof of The Robin. In a flash, a burst of petals followed her, Ruby materialized from it, just besides Weiss.

The huntship's engines roared, Ruby laid prone on the roof of the aircraft, down on her belly, aiming down Crescent Rose's scope. In a single, swift movement she produced a dark purple vial from one of the pouches she carried on her belt, and spilled it around them. Gravity Dust, so they could stick to the surface of the roof, even at the absurd speeds the vehicle flew at. That way Weiss wouldn't need to use a glyph for the same effect, it freed her concentration.

A moment later, they were flying through the air, away from the atlesian seekers.

"Get ready!" Ruby howled the words.

Had Ruby spotted something, a sign of a pilot deploying more missiles? With her words still ringing in the air, Weiss conjured a wall of glyphs, twenty at first, side-by-side, to form a wall. They were imbued to repel, forming a loose half-circle around the backside of The Robin. Not a moment later there were more explosions, blocked by her Semblance. Most Glyphs flickered and shattered, destroyed by the missiles, others survived the impact, giving Weiss time to readjust, command them to fill in the places where others failed, summon more to form a second, stronger wall behind the first.

The gray seekers chased them in a loose V formation, with one aircraft front and center, leading the pack, not unlike Griffons. It was likely the captain. They fired another barrage of missiles, pushing Weiss's concentration as many glyphs flickered off. She summoned more behind them, a second layer of defense, pushing them out into place to replace lost barriers. She was mentally aware of where the glyphs hovered in relation to her body, and what happened around them without the need to look, but managing them took some concentration. If a glyph fell and she didn't notice it… Weiss tried not to think about it.

The Robin picked up speed, it was flying in a straight line, an upward ascent into the dark void. It made them easy targets, no doubt Four Seven Niner counted on them to keep the ship in one piece as she accelerated.

Middle one is the captain, Weiss signaled to Ruby. Sign language came in handy when winds blowing at hundreds of miles per hour made it impossible to talk.

Ruby fired twice at the leading aircraft, then twice again in quick succession, each shot finding their mark at the center of propellers. As they hit, single purple orbs spread from each point of impact, first only appearing as dots, in a burst it expanded to match the size of a person, then doubled. The surrounding structure of the seeker bent towards orbs, but otherwise didn't budge. A semi-competent pilot would simply slow down, the harder he chased, the more damage the gravity dust would cause to the inner workings of his aircraft. It would buy Weiss and her team a couple of minutes, enough to fall back and figure out just what happened to warrant a squad hit.

The pilot, who likely attended fuck-it-up academy, seemed to take the struggling engines and the pull of the dark orbs as a challenge and accelerated. The hull caved into itself, exposing the airframe, a moment later the left wing bent upwards, threatening to abandon ship and travel to a completely opposite direction.

No, If the pilot panicked, if he ejected…

Weiss opened a small rift in her wall of glyphs, and she could see it happen as if in slow motion.

Except… it was.

He had ejected his seat, but the seeker wasn't losing altitude in the slightest, and the gravity orbs pulled the pilot back down, matching his momentum and canceling it out. The end result led to the man being effectively paralyzed in midair, slowly but surely dragged to one of the four miniature black holes that impaired his aircraft.

Before his parachute opened and made an already ugly scene worse, Weiss broke out of her stunned daze, conjuring a repulsion glyph below the man. The instant it emerged, the man was flung upwards, far enough Weiss lost sight of him.

It all happened in the span of seconds, and while she was busy saving the life of one of her aggressors, the others took the chance to curve around The Robin, each flanking one side, both ships had their undersides pointed at them. A pincer maneuver.

By instinct, Weiss pulled every glyph she had already summoned close to the huntship, forming a dome. A moment later, a series of explosions told her the seekers had fired a full salvo of missiles, if not their entire ordnance. The Robin shook violently from the sheer impact, a whining noise spilled from the turbines, they coughed up smoke in short bursts, threatening to give out.

Weiss couldn't begin to imagine how scared the others were inside. As soon as the smoke cleared, she summoned glyphs inside the ship, no bigger than her handheld scroll. They didn't serve any particular purpose other than feeding information, Yang held a safety rail with one hand, and had her other arm around survivors seemed fine, if shaken, and Four Seven Niner was reeling from the impact, but managed to stand firm. She pulled on the controls, taking the ship from an angled ascent to a completely vertical one, straight up.

The seekers followed, hot on their tail. Could their propellers even handle it?

Give me an opening, Ruby signaled, unloaded her weapon's magazine, putting it away on one of the many pouches on her skirt, then loaded another as she snapped her hand back to it.

The Robin was ascending quickly, how many G's was it pulling? In a minute they'd be high enough to meet clouds.

Weiss pointed to their left, so Ruby could see where she'd dismiss a glyph, then counted down using her fingers. Three, two, one…

When the glyph dematerialized, Ruby used her semblance, transforming into a whirlwind of rose petals. She soared across the air in an irregular, zigzag pattern, changing course at sharp angles. Every time she switched her direction, Ruby reformed into herself for a brief instant, fired, then used her semblance again.

She rocketed around the pair of seekers, then back to The Robin, landing in a wide stance. Ruby held Crescent Rose in sniper form and pulled the bolt of the rifle, something inside reacted, white-yellow light flooded from the gaps of the weapon.

The loud, violent hum that followed caught Weiss's attention, it was coming from the seekers below them. Both aircrafts were linked by a mesh of electricity streams, almost like plasma chains.

The propellers on the seekers stopped, giving out once the shock-dust finally shorted them out. As quick as when flying, their descent was almost sluggish, like they were floating down to the bottom of a pool. It was only an illusion of course, Weiss knew the shape of their hulls was responsible for the illusion of weightlessness. They were narrow and wide, triangular and almost reminiscent of a manta ray, with the cockpits on top. Their broad, flat chassis created a lot of resistance, but they were still falling and fast. She prepared to summon glyphs again, but the cockpit windows opened, and the two pilots ejected.

Weiss felt the huntship slowing down as it returned to a sloped ascent, then hovered in midair. The cargo door opened a third of the way, the hinges at the bottom made an uncharacteristic grinding when it did so, but it was just enough so Ruby and Weiss could enter. With a burst of her semblance, Ruby carried them both inside.

As they reformed, the door struggled to shut behind them, Yang and Blake ran their way.

Yang checked them both with a look, scanning for injuries. "Sh-You both good?" she asked.

Weiss nodded, Ruby wrapped both arms around her waist and answered, "Yup, we're good."

Weiss looked at the survivors, they were pale, staring in shock, some of them likely hadn't expected to make it through the ordeal in one piece. Others looked at her and she recognized the glares immediately, even from the corner of her view.

Anger. Directed at her.

A few muttered across themselves, Weiss could swear she heard the name 'Schnee' across the whispers. Ruby tightened her grip slightly, bringing her back to the present, the now. She always knew what Weiss was thinking.

Weiss turned her attention back to her team, "What even happened out there, how come the military is shooting at us?"

Yang crossed her arms, "As far as I remember, rescuing people was never illegal."

Blake shrugged, "A lot could change in five years..."

Four Seven Niner opened the door to the cockpit, "Sorry to cut in, ladies, but are we clear to go?"

Yang answered over her shoulder, "We're clear! Let's go back to base!"

Ruby let go of Weiss, "I'll talk to the survivors, let's update each other later."

There were nods across all of them, they moved below deck, to the cargo bay. Yang was the first to openly question the past events, "We didn't get any radio warning, and we've been in this airspace for days. But the moment we leave that manor they come after us?"

Weiss followed from the line of thought, "Maybe I did something wrong when I turned the generators back on."

Blake shook her head, "It was only for a few minutes though. They'd have to be inside the Ruin Zone. They'd be hounded by Grimm and androids from all sides while waiting."

Weiss let an eyebrow up, "Did you find anything while you infiltrated the place?"

Blake shifted her weight, from the left foot to the right, "I tried. The last couple of days have been rough for the few that were left, the only safe place was the panic room and they had no supplies. From what I gathered, they were all refugees from the Android Crisis."

Yang cut in, "I saw the marks on their necks, slave collar scars. You think they were…" she looked at Weiss, then back to Blake, "You know?"

Blake shook her head, "Schnee slaves? No, they were moved there after the Crisis by a warlord. Remember Mindara Abores? Bandit queen, roamed Solitas and Mistral?"

Yang and Weiss nodded, she'd come up in dossiers before, her group survived by raiding villages outside the kingdoms and trafficking people to noble houses, selling them as servants. Was almost as slippery as Torchwick too, past tense because a year prior Team Coffee raided one of their encampments in Mistral and finally arrested her.

Blake continued, "That's the one. Doubt she has her fingers in the military though, much less a manor like that."

The comment piqued Yang's interest, "How do you know?"

"Nobles use liaisons for those dealings, intermediaries. Enough so nothing can be traced back to them. She's a dead end."

Yang nodded once, "Makes sense. Did you get anything, Weiss?"

Weiss hugged an arm close, "What I got from the security central was that the place belonged to House Stoneguard, textile makers. The name kinda jumped out at me, they used to feud with House Schnee before my granddad."

Before the Schnee Dust Company, she thought. The addition would've been unnecessary but the thought that crossed her mind nonetheless. Nicholas Schnee was something else entirely, a diplomat, a warrior, but above all he was at the forefront of innovation back then. His legacy was left to none other than Jacques, she dug her nails into her arm at the thought of the slimy, duplicitous man.

"You think they had anything to do with this, bribes maybe?" someone asked her, it was Yang.

Weiss only shook her head, her vision focused on the ground, "It wouldn't make any sense. Not only there's no way they'd know we would come here, they evacuated the place and everything points to it happening after it became a Ruin Zone. The state of the manor, leaving people behind…"

Blake brought a hand to her chin, "But they identified us in no time. Someone knew we were coming."

Weiss nodded, pensive. Was there a spy somewhere in Beacon's efforts? The pieces would fit that way, but there was no motivation, nothing to drive such a thing.

Who'd want to sabotage rebuilding the Cross Continental Transmission System?

It had taken them five years. Five years of planning, building, questing to carve a way. Cleaning out Grimm and establishing outposts, performing the near impossible task of taking Ruin Zones back. Purging anything android, the ones corrupted by Grimm at least. All to make it so the continents could be united again. And someone threatened to bring it all down on their heads, every effort, the blood and sweat spent for nothing.

Weiss thought back to the times Beacon teams reclaimed Ruin Zones. Places that were either too difficult to take back, expensive, or simply not worth it. Kuroyuri. Mountain Glenn.

Weiss snapped her own line of thought, "It might be too early to tell. Maybe it's all a big misunderstanding."

"Well I sure hope not every big misunderstanding comes along with subsonic missiles," Blake quipped, a light smirk touching her face. Yang laughed.

Weiss chuckled, "I hope so too. Let's prepare some supplies for the people up there? They must be starving."

—❖—

"So we've got nothing then?" Ruby asked Weiss, in the privacy of the cockpit.

The cockpit's view was split evenly across six windows, two to their sides, two to the front. It gave them a one-eighty degree view of the outside. The sun was rising, and they were high enough to catch the view of the gold-cerulean tinted sky from above the clouds.

Ruby was at the co-pilot seat, manning the radio, trying to find the right frequency. To her left was Isabella — or Four seven Niner, whatever was the correct one to say— focused on her task, and behind her was Weiss. Blake and Yang preferred taking care of the people in the cabin.

"Basically. We can't even tell why they attacked us."

Ruby typed in another frequency, got nothing but static, "Well, that sucks."

"Yeah. Sucks. Any news from other teams?"

Ruby shook her head, "Nothing yet. It's giving me a bad feeling…"

Weiss leaned over just a little, "You think the same happened to them?"

"Or worse. I mean, the Grimm can't take over the new ships but we've seen them take over weapons, the in-between stuff at least. I've been talking about this nonstop but the other leaders just don't listen."

"Jaune listens."

Ruby lowered her brows, gave her the best incredulous look, "The leaders that aren't our friends."

Weiss bit a smile back, "Well, if it's any consolation, I listen."

Damn it, she had Ruby there.

Ruby turned back, getting up from her seat just enough so she could plant a peck on Weiss's lips, "Yeah, I know you listen." She sat back down, slumping forward on the seat, "I still worry though, wouldn't wanna lose any of them."

It wasn't supposed to be that hard, was it? They could adapt to anything, survive. What they were going through was a bad time, but it was just that, a time that was bad. Sure, they were limited. No android knights to fill in the ranks, no wireless systems for their weapons, or self-piloting ships. Sure, that meant every advance made in the past decade had been effectively nullified, but there were gleams of hope. Grimm couldn't take over artificial intelligence like Dot, Beacon's resident A.I. They couldn't take over people like Penny. Ruby didn't know why, but she suspected it was because they were sufficiently human, sufficiently anathema to the Grimm.

It just meant they had to tread a different path.

The thought brought a smile to Ruby's face, "You know, I can't wait 'till we get back to base."

"Another stroke of inspiration?" Weiss asked.

"Something like that."

The static of the radio changed abruptly, to vague chatter in the background. Ruby tested some frequencies, finding the correct one moments later.

"...Team Ruby, this is the Mirage bridge, code five jay ten fifty-eight, do you follow?"

Four Seven Niner pressed a series of buttons on the panel, Ruby felt the huntship slow down. She took the headset from the panel, "We follow. This is Team Ruby, code nineteen ei one-one-seven."

A few moments passed, no static from the radio. For a second, Ruby's stomach almost dropped, she knew there was no reason to worry, but in the back of her mind she still doubted. What if they reject us this time? What if it's a trap?

She tried to ignore the thoughts. Not fit for a leader.

"You're clear. Welcome back, Team Ruby."

Ahead of them, the air shimmered in the distance, revealing the massive carrier, moving base of operations and latest in post-crisis technology: The Mirage.

It was a massive airship, surpassing cruises in its monumental nature, the deep, V-shaped hull of the carrier made it look like a boat or an aircraft carrier, kept aloft by four upward-facing propellers, two at each side.

The flanks of the hull had openings near the front, the docking bays. There was one opening for each side, wide enough so at least five other huntships could enter side-by-side and still have plenty of room to maneuver, tall enough they wouldn't worry about rough or rushed landings. Windows lined the upper ends of the hull, some wider than others. At the front, the bow, the wide window of the helm station laid beneath the figurehead, a statue of a long-haired maiden charging forward with an ax on each hand, both arms outstretched to the side, as if challenging an enemy to strike at her chest.

Ruby wished she could've been one of the many researchers involved in its construction at Beacon. It was equipped with docking stations, a food court, living quarters, research labs, forges, workshops, solar panels, a medical bay, and even broadcast stations. Not to mention the bridge itself, a command center where operators managed the inner workings of The Mirage. Operators vetted who landed, took off, used their facilities, and above all? Every last one of them were trained by Professor Ann Greene, Beacon's Stealth and Security expert.

And the weapons, oh the weapons…

Ruby never thought she'd feel giddy at the thought of returning there, but there she was. Even as they entered the docking bay, she could barely wait. The inside was all metal, lit by spotlights from above, rows of them. A signal officer waved a pair of flags, directing the ship to its station on their right. To Four Seven Niner's credit, it was a smooth, perfect landing. There was the sound of metal striking metal, the safety restraints that clamped down the ship's underside.

Four Seven Niner got up from her seat, "Home sweet home. I don't know about you two but I'm not spending another minute here." She opened the door to the cabin, walking outside.

Weiss looked at Ruby, then shrugged, an open admission that yeah, they needed some time to rest. They passed Yang and Blake, as they led the survivors outside, so they could be checked by the medical personnel.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Ruby asked Yang, "twice the team members, twice as fast."

"Don't worry about it. It'll mean a lot to Blake if you can let her take care of this. I'll report the attack, don't worry about that," Yang answered. Ruby nodded, walked away.

Four Seven Niner was by the ship, talking to a crewmate. She removed her helmet, revealing her leopard ears, dark hair and olive skin, "It'll need new stabilizers all around, we were hit by heavy artillery and the left rear almost gave out. I compensated with the other three but-"

Weiss held Ruby's hand, rushed them forward, walking them away from the conversation, "Come on, you'll be there all day if I let you. Don't you have your own projects to work on?"

It was true, Ruby could, and had spent whole days tinkering with the inner workings of ships, weapons, scrolls, whatever she could get her hands on during downtime. It was a point of contention between the two of them, Ruby loved the process of creating, pushing components to their limit or finding alternate uses. Weiss was more practical in her approach. She loved tried-and-true weaponry, even used a revolving cylinder in Myrtenaster just because it'd never jam. Maybe it was an atlesian thing.

As they stepped out of the bay, walked through the tight corridors of The Mirage, Weiss turned to Ruby, "So, where do you wanna go? Workshop, I'm guessing."

Ruby groaned, "Come on, that's cheating, you always guess the workshop first."

Weiss looked into Ruby's eyes, tilted her head forward, "Was I wrong?"

"No. Now come on, let's go!"

The corridors were spartan and functional, made of metal plates and reinforced doors, but the rooms they led to made it worth the trip, every room was allocated the perfect necessary amount of space, and the workshop was, for all intents and purposes, function over form. It was large enough to rival Beacon's auditorium, where they fit hundreds of students, but unlike it there were only Gray, featureless tables built into the floor, and clear cabinets on the walls held components. Weapon parts, circuit boards, tools.

An older, grizzled, dark skinned man greeted them from his wheelchair, Ruby recognized the man immediately, Pietro Polendina, Penny's father, and one of the first scientists to take refuge in Beacon. Ruby led them closer to his workbench.

Weiss sat on a nearby table, the way she usually did when they spent time in the workshops. Ruby didn't think she realized it, but Weiss had that habit, sitting down in places that people didn't usually sit at. Couch armrests, tables, when she didn't carry that hawkish look, Weiss usually relaxed at those places.

He had a deep, friendly voice, if one could give a voice such a quality, "Salutations, dear. Back already, I see."

Ruby smiled awkwardly, "Not soon enough, I've been waiting to come back here since we left."

Pietro laughed, a deep, echoing guffaw, "I'm much the same. Penny visited not too long ago, asked about you."

Ruby perked up, "She did? Aw, wish we could've met."

Pietro nodded, slowly, "She'll be returning in no time, I expect. At any rate you might meet each other at the next assembly."

The mention of the leader's assembly made Ruby shift in place, it was akin to saying it was a quiet day, effectively jinxing it. If things were moving smoothly they wouldn't need it, and while some of it led them places, all in all it was like herding cats. "We hit a few bumps on the road, so to speak, the quest took longer than it should've. Any luck on the catalyst?"

The offhand comment caught Weiss's attention, "Catalyst?"

Pietro explained, "I was looking over Ruby's new project, as per request. I see you've been working hard Ruby, your suggestion of applying… I'll let you explain," he looked as if he was about to ramble, then stopped himself, giving Ruby space to explain her creation. It was kinda bad form to explain another tinkerer's creation, but they were all like that, one push and all the information spilled out, like a snowball rolling downhill and gathering momentum, more snow, it would go until stopped.

Even Ruby had times where she couldn't stop talking about other creations. No harm done.

Ruby crossed her arms proudly, puffing up her chest, "I'm creating a Semblance catalyst."

Weiss looked at her, both eyebrows shooting up in surprise, "I'm sorry, what?"

Ah, she'd jumped straight to the conclusion in her attempt to simplify it, "Let me roll it back. You remember when a few months ago I mentioned how Cinder's method for alloy formation channeled aura better than anything else we had on record?"

Weiss brought a hand to her chin, "I remember some, it was a while ago. She does it by instinct, right?"

Ruby made a so-so gesture, her hand held parallel to the ground and rocked slightly, "Kinda. We all do a lot of things by instinct with our Semblances, but so far hers is the only one that directly shapes pre-existing materials."

Weiss nodded along, her full attention on Ruby, "I see."

"So I looked into it, and sent some of the initial research to Pietro…"

Pietro followed, almost seamlessly, "And I was considerably surprised! It wasn't so different from Penny. A similar creation process, at least."

Ruby rushed to Pietro's table, grabbed a single metallic cylinder, no bigger than one of her fingers, "So I asked Cinder for some samples, I figured, if It can channel Aura maybe some dust could create a different reaction…" Ruby held the cylinder between her thumb and index finger. It took some concentration, but she pushed a light use of her semblance, tried to focus on the sample and only the sample.

For a brief moment, it burst into a whirlwind of rose petals, the next it reformed, crumbled and scattered on the ground, brittle and charred like coal. Weiss glanced at the remains, then at Ruby, her neutral gaze expecting an explanation.

Ruby breathed in, "It's not a success yet, but we're getting there. Some Semblances work better than others."

Weiss leaned forward, touched her tiara as she adjusted her hair, "I can see that. I can't see my semblance having any use for it, for example. Oh-" she pointed at one of Ruby's pouches, "Your scroll is flashing."

Ruby took out her scroll, It was a warning, calling all leaders to the Hunt Room. Assembly.

The apologetic look on Weiss' face said it all, "Already, huh? It's written all over your face."

"Sorry. I'll be back as soon as It's over."

Weiss got up from the table, her back straight. She was regal, with Myrtenaster sheathed on her belt it brought to Ruby's mind the imagery of an old-fashioned duelist or a swordmaster. She offered her arm, "Let me escort you there. It'll be a good look."

Ruby hooked her arm around Weiss's before they walked out, "See you soon!" she told Pietro on her way out. The man smiled back and waved.

It wasn't the fact she was leaving the workshop that made Ruby nervous. The attack from the military, the people they'd rescued still weighed on her mind, but whatever needed the presence of all leaders was probably routine, the same old looking at maps, making plans, adjusting team rotations.

The commotion in the hallways did it instead. Paramedics hurried, opening the way while some pushed a stretcher. Ruby only caught a glimpse of it, but the scene was clear: Velvet Scarlatina, the brunette, bunny-eared faunus was unconscious, hurt all over, one of the nurses leaned over the Huntress, performing chest compressions.

The other teams were hit too.