Chapter 5: Tabula Rasa

When it's midnight in Solitas, everything is so beautiful. The purple-gold sky in perpetual sunset. The midnight sun among dancing waves of clouds. It's almost distracting, so quiet…

Weiss shifted slightly under the snow, she laid prone, down on her belly, and wouldn't need to take her eyes off the mark to know where her teammates were. To her side was Ruby, close enough to share body heat, behind and to her left were Yang, Blake and Penny. They had all buried beneath the snow, hidden with their equipment and vehicles. After some hours without moving, the snow that covered them most certainly looked like natural bedforms, inconspicuous near the rock formations.

It was the result of Blake's infiltration expertise and Weiss' familiarity with the terrain. Having the lay of the land was as important as covertness.

She centered her thoughts when the city finally moved again, it floated away in the distance. Their cover was quickly becoming unnecessary. Ruby was the first to rise out of it, snow shifting away from her body with a sigh.

"They're moving north again. This is feeling more and more like a trap," she said.

Weiss followed, rising after the others, "They'd be showing their hand too soon. At least we're still well outside their detection range. I think they're after Kastellfen"

Yang wiped her clothes clean of snow, then hummed, considering the thought, "Kastell? They'd get a lot of Dust but that's about it, it's a Ruin Zone now."

"It's also where Team Indigo was off to. We know they were in Mantle, and we know they survived long enough to send us that video. They might have escaped."

Penny joined the conversation, "Why would team Indigo move all the way to Mantle though?"

Blake cut in, "It was probably to confuse the military. Kastell is pretty close to Mantle, maybe they were attacked before their mission even began."

"So then they blended among the population of Mantle… It's an interesting strategy."

"It's what I'd do. It would buy them some time, not much, but enough to think things through."

Yang uncovered one of the hoverbikes, using her semblance to dig through the snow, Weiss left the conversation behind and walked to her side, to help. While uncovering the vehicles and cleaning the snow off, she considered her own line of thought. The most important part of any analysis was examining the basis, to see if it stood to logic.

She'd assumed the next city hit would be Kastellfen. It was north of their current position, and the town Atlas moved towards. The next thoughts followed within seconds.

Retrospection: simply relocating does not mean an intention to attack. Kastellfen is surrounded by mountainous terrain, it could become a new Mantle.

It didn't mean much, but it was a start. There were other reasons they could be moving there, but nevertheless the act meant they had already scouted the area. Ruby was right in that it could be a trap.

Did their actions betray some ulterior motive? She'd have to look for an answer in the past behavior.

Data: attacking Huntsmen, creating Grimm-Android hybrids, and wiping out Mantle.

Of the three elements, only one didn't follow at a glance, which was the attacked teams, she made a mental note, setting that detail aside.

Mantle was a mining center, one of the biggest ones in all of Remnant. Weiss doubted the Dust mines were wiped clean, perhaps miners were replaced with androids? Androids required nothing other than regular maintenance, and they could work for much, much longer than humans or faunus.

In other continents it would've been a grave mistake, they'd easily be corrupted by Grimm, who'd then seize the mines. But, as she'd seen with the hybrids, it wasn't necessarily true for Atlas…

But it was still one of their own cities. If they were preparing for war, wouldn't attacking their own populace be akin to shooting themselves in the foot? She could only hope some of the people made it out okay, but realistically…

Weiss felt her mind struggle to move past that, she was close to something, a revelation perhaps?

She closed her eyes for a better focus, rushed from point to point. There was a piece of logic missing, if Atlas wanted war with the rest of Remnant, even divided as they were, why-why would it attack their own? Was the destruction the point? She still hadn't seen it for herself, I only have bits and pieces of inferences, messages from my allies. I need to see it myself-

That-t-t wasn't my thought-

But it was still one of their own cities. If they were preparing for war, attacking their own was an unwise move. And the people, hopefully some of them had evacuated, but realistically…

How many would survive the atlesian winter in the stark, frozen landscape? A hundred years ago maybe people would've been better equipped to brave the land, but even then, that would still come with losses. If it happened to other cities how many would be lost to the whims of Atlas?

"Weiss?" Yang called her. Was something wrong?

This had to end early. For the rest of Remnant and for the people lost at Mantle. That Dragon was the first obstacle. Her head spun, Weiss lurched forward, felt bile rise in her throat-

"Weiss!" Yang exclaimed at her side, holding her before she collapsed on the hoverbike, "What's wrong?"

It took the physical touch jarring her for Weiss to realize what happened. Something was gone from her mind, a fragile moment shattered. The harder she tried to grasp it, the more it slipped away, like trying to catch a leaf in the wind.

"You there?" Yang asked again, snapping a finger in front of her eyes.

"I'm here. Sorry, I guess I just felt sick for a moment."

Yang slowly let her go, held her once more when Weiss' balance nearly gave out again. "Yeesh. Well, maybe give us a warning next time, okay? I swear, that almost shaved a few years off my lifespan."

Weiss looked at her, confused, "What?"

"... You were shaking, almost spasming. Seriously, it felt like I was seeing one of those old-school horror movies."

For the first time in a while, Ruby spoke up, concern filled her voice, "Yeah. Weiss, what happened?"

Weiss searched her memory, "I… Don't know?" She hadn't intended for it to come out as a question, and that was the only matter which she was certain of, "But I'm feeling better now, really."

Have I gone mad? I don't feel so, but then again, I'd be the last to know. I know it, I just know I was so close to figuring something out.

Ruby nodded, "We need to move. Atlas moves slowly, we can get to Kastell before them if we double-time it."

Weiss moved like an automaton, helping the others dig out the hoverbikes. Ruby took their helmets out of the built in compartment at the bike's back, hers was a black piece of protective gear, with a red, full face visor, while Weiss' was a simple gray helmet. Ruby climbed onto hers, wrapped the cloak around her waist, put on her helmet, then patted the seat behind her, inviting Weiss.

Avoiding the thoughts of how little space the seat left between them, Weiss took her spot, put on her helmet after snatching it from Ruby's hands, then held on to the handholds at the sides.

Within minutes they were moving across the snowy plains of Solitas, the trio of hoverbikes eventually weaving around the rock formations that jutted out of the snow. When they leaned to a side, Weiss gently leaned into the turns along with Ruby. Riding with her added extra weight, and she knew that light as she was, her presence still made it so Ruby had to put more effort into riding.

Eastward, opposite to the midnight sunset, the sky was dark, empty of stars or broken celestial bodies, almost night, just barely at the edge.

If there was something to be said about the wasted land between the cities and villages, it was that in an abstract way Weiss could feel like the place, devoid of wildlife and flora as it was, still had a soul. Westward, the way the golden sunset and the purple-ish sky reflected on the snow, dreamlike in their almost unnatural mixing.

A painting on the canvas of our continent, and the celestial body above is the artist.

Outside our reach, our control. Immortal.

She could've shared the feeling with Ruby, however it was impossible to hold a conversation with her when she — much like Yang — usually preferred going well over any reasonable speed, even though they were off-road. With the wind roaring as they cut a path she could barely even hear herself think.

Maybe turbo mode really did run in the family. Perhaps they thought 'ludicrous speed' was a reasonable mode of travel?

If anything, at least it was effective when the hoverbikes could enable it. The wilderness they were in was usually avoided by the military due to Centinel attacks, but they were likely still monitoring the roads for unusual movement. Going around said roads wasn't easy or quick, but it was multitudes of times better than alerting Atlas.

It took two hours to reach the outskirts of Kastell. They kept a safe distance, watched from a hill. Two problems were immediately apparent.

First, they were already under siege. Not by the military, but Grimm, although Weiss wasn't sure there was much of a distinction lately. There were no ongoing fights as they observed, but the signs were clear to all Huntresses. The city was walled, but parts had been breached so many times, some holes were even covered by snow. Buildings had their windows broken, walls broken, bullet holes rid the streets. People didn't roam outside, they were hiding inside, and there were no Huntsmen to be seen anywhere. They were usually the first ones to die during long sieges.

Cities in the world of Remnant were often built thinking of that exact eventuality: defending against an onslaught of Grimm. Vale was one such city, and it came in handy during the Breach, five years ago. There were systems in place, an underlying framework that made it easier for incoming defenders to help. Leaders assigned for such eventualities, who would provide Huntsmen with the necessary support, be it in the form of ammunition, intel, access to defending structures, and so on.

It then followed the second problem. Every single one of those systems were only in place five years before they even set foot on Solitas, before the fall of the CCTS and the following Android Crisis. What use was a city with the alleyways that could perfectly separate Beowolves, Streets that guided Grimm hordes without jamming traffic, and reinforced residential buildings when they couldn't call in help from a couple of cities away? Or when even if they did defend successfully, they had no way to rebuild with needed materials from Vale or Vacuo?

Isolation often led to stagnation, and stagnation was, always, the death of Huntsmen.

Ruby was watching from behind a cone-shaped rock, it had a wide base and narrow top, it had tilted to a side creating a diagonal peak, like a sundial. She was perched near its summit, used her semblance to fly down and regroup.

She was the first to speak up "We can't fight there. The place can't handle it."

Weiss considered it, definitely a difficult reality, "We'd just be bringing more disaster their way, but if we fight out here in the tundra we lose the home field advantage."

"Not necessarily"

Weiss tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

"You're more familiar with this place than most of us. You and Penny, and Penny can fly."

Blake nodded, "If you think about it, we'd just have to adapt, we knew things weren't going to go our way from the get-go."

Weiss considered the paradigm shift, rather than defending the city, they could, in theory, fight out in the wild. It was far more deadly should any of them lose their Aura shields, it was cold enough to freeze people solid, risky.

But, on the other hand… It had a good outcome if they succeeded, at least when compared to fighting in Kastell. Fighting in the mining town had its own risks, casualties and collateral damage among the first, and they almost guaranteed. Out in the mountain range and the tundra they'd be fighting in an environment too hostile for the entirety of the non-Grimm Atlas military, and it would make recovering any remains of the tech that much difficult, perhaps impossible if they disposed of it properly. It would set Atlas back somewhat.

Ruby spoke up after a moment, "What do you say?"

Weiss smiled, "I think I have something in mind."

—❖—

Penny floated in midair, above a hoverbike piloted by Weiss. Her systems accounted for wind speed and stabilized her flight perfectly, almost like second nature.

Floating wasn't a good experience, but it was better than flying at least. When she floated above, she was so distant from the land below, weightless. She had none of the feelings her friends had, no tact or sense of balance, those were handled by her internal software, but she knew how they felt when she carried them.

Like I could be sucked to the sky in an instant. Untethered.

They'd described it as 'feeling as if one of their organs were heavier than the rest', again not something she could feel, but she most certainly could guess it wasn't pleasant.

It was, however, an effective tool for battle. Flying added a third dimension to battles that were usually only taking place on the ground, and most humans were used to looking forward and down. If an enemy tried to keep her in their field of view, they'd risk getting attacked by whatever was in front of them. There were other ways it could be used, of course.

She was aware of her Aura shield too, and the sword array, the cables that she used to manipulate said swords in midair, and every last of her components. Her vision was better than most, unobstructed by the atmosphere, she could see further, along with two other types of sight humans didn't have, those components allowed her to keep an eye on Atlas for Team Ruby. Even though she could see it, it was so distant that it was merely a dot in her vision.

Kastell was far away too, they were in the expanse between cities, it was only snow, the many rock formations that pierced the landscape, and the howl of the wind sweeping across the mountains in the distance.

It was those very components that allowed her to see the danger coming before any of them, a bright wite line shot out of Atlas, curved in the sky like a comet. Almost instantly, she sent out the signal.

"Get ready!" Penny roared.

Weiss started the engine on her hoverbike, weaving out of sight into a pair of rocks that leaned into each other, almost forming an arch.

The comet in the distance was approaching Penny, and fast. She timed it using her internal clock, a basic part of her software. It was moving closer… closer…

There!

One-point-thirty-eight seconds before impact Penny activated the thrusters in her feet, flying out of reach and twisting in the air, getting a glimpse of the Dragon that nearly crashed into her. It was bigger than a Huntship.

It wouldn't be able to stop, this much her friends had warned her, and in the moments between seconds Penny analyzed the landscape, calculated the trajectory…

Before the dragon could land on a far away mountain, one that was closer to a collection of pointed rocks, she aimed her hands and fired a laser where it would land, the green beam of light pierced the sky, lighting up the area.

It hit a moment before the dragon landed, the unstable structure beneath bruled and it overshot, with no way of stopping its momentum it crashed into the mountain, nowhere to go but down. Penny didn't let up, firing another salvo of shots, destroying the land beneath it so it'd keep falling. It created a crater filled with rubble that bought her a second or two before the Dragon could get back to its feet.

It spread out its wings, turbines slowing, it was already adapting, realizing it couldn't overwhelm Penny with speed alone. It hovered in the air, matching her speed, it fell for their trap.

Weiss' Glyphs materialized around it, on the legs, tail, neck and wrists, it wasn't perfect, when it put effort into breaking free it simply destroyed the glyphs, but it was nothing that more Blasts from Penny couldn't distract it from. She fired, and it caused no damage but it occupied the Dragon, had to bring its arms up to defend itself rather than to break the Glyphs.

Penny flew around it, the distance between them was great, but she knew it was nothing that the Grimm android couldn't close within a moment. She would never underestimate any Grimm, from Creep to Deathstalker.

Another salvo, Penny kept her swords nearby, floating behind her as wings, just in case it came close. The Dragon raised its arms to defend again, to no avail, then it covered the upper half of its body with the wings.

It was when a silver blast crossed the sky like an arrow, hitting the base of the wings, where it connected to its back. Success! The dragon was shot out of the sky, its wings falling along with it, crashing back down to the crater Penny made.

It was Yang, Penny knew it. She looked back, seeing her in the distance, her hoverbike had shifted, it looked more like an oversized rifle than a vehicle, slit in half lengthwise, it had no barrel, only a track. The rift had been loaded with a metal rod, parts inside glowed with the purple of gravity Dust, and the yellow of Yang's Semblance.

Ah, the Semblance catalyst Ruby spoke of.

It was still a prototype, and only Yang's semblance could keep the catalyst from breaking down. In addition it used it as fuel to attack, increasing the force of strikes in ways that broke conventional forces.

The other reason only Yang could keep it together was that the weapon was a railgun. Conventionally they would be powerful but impractical because they'd break after a single shot, even if imbued with aura, it was simply too much force. Yang's Semblance absorbed that damage too, and it also used it as fuel, increasing the power of the shot even further.

The disintegration of the catalyst and the breaking down of the weapon, all of it absorbed and sent into the shot instead. Penny wouldn't like being on the other side of that gun.

Yang was assisted by her sister and Blake. Both sisters aimed, while Blake loaded and fired the shot. The parts of the railgun moved individually, panels shifting and moving until it transformed back to a hoverbike seconds later. Ruby used her semblance, the burst of petals flying out to the side, hiding among another cluster of and Blake got on the bike, and moved out, prepositioned behind a hill.

That was the next part of their plan, hiding.

Penny followed their cue, flying behind a peak before the dust where the Dragon fell could settle. It roared, the booming sound cleared the dust around it.

Then silence.

Penny and Team Ruby remained motionless, her sensors told her. She knew their positions, could tell where they were. It was prudent to assume the Dragon had similar senses, that the rocks and hills were merely obstacles, delays. It looked around, searching with an eerie calmness, despite its current state.

The dragon was up on its hind legs, hunched forward as preparing to ambush. Was it looking for Yang, to take out their railgun before it could fire again? Or Weiss, so it couldn't be restrained and shot at?

Penny realized it too late, it was none of them.

Ruby flew out of her cover, reforming in the air to fire, and the Dragon responded immediately, leaping and lashing its tail at her. It hit dead on, as did Ruby's shot.

With one simple strike, Ruby's Aura shield was nearly broken. Red energy shimmered around her, spilling in waves from the point of impact. Ruby crashed on a nearby mountain, barely able to use her semblance a moment before impact. She reformed, then used her semblance again to fly back behind cover

The Dragon, for its part, was hit by an incendiary round to the center of its clavicle, where the neck met the body. It started as a simple flame, then, where embers crackled, it spread, fire consuming and spreading slowly, but never dying down. Perhaps it would softed the armor. It hit the ground and tried to put out the flames with its hands, only spreading the fire further.

Penny took her chance, firing a dozen blasts to the Dragon's back, where the wings were severed, then at the ground, forcing the beast to all fours. Weiss took the chance and Jumped out of her cover, activating her sword's hard-light mode, then chopped down at the Dragon's neck, holding her sword with both hands she hit between the sections of armor plates.

The sword barely penetrated armor, Weiss summoned a Glyph behind her, keeping the pressure and slowly pushing in, digging into the neck. She spun the revolver barrel in Myrtenaster's guard, then, with a click, stopped it at the fire round. The light blade burst into flames, nearly covering the Dragon's head, so intense that Penny could feel the heat, far as she was!

The dragon thrashed, wiping blindly at Weiss. Penny interfered, flying close and launching her swords at it. They were tethered to her with thin cables, strings she attached to other swords, then launched those to the ground, pinning its hands.

It broke free nearly effortlessly, But Penny could keep up the delay, pinning it over and over, at least until…

Another silver line pierced a hill, then the battlefield, and finally hit the Dragon's chest, a little to the left, where a human's heart would be. Yang had fired her railgun shot through the cover, no doubt with the assistance of Ruby and Blake again.

Weiss turned off the flames, then summoned a glyph beneath her feet to jump away, leap away. The dragon stumbled back on its hind legs and clawed at the ruined armor that used to be its chest. Inside, there was only darkness, a mass of Grimm flesh inside the gaping wound that, as Penny calculated, had nearly punctured right through it. The round was still inside, still damaging it.

It took one heavy step back, its body barely able to handle the weight, then another… Something inside it detonated once, the deafened blast had nowhere to go but out the wound. Some of the pitch-black substance sprayed out to the snow, quickly crumbling to dust in the wind.

Finally, it crashed to the ground, on its back, its limbs sprawled out. The neck coiled up, as if it was trying to force itself upright, but no limb responded.

Up in the air Penny could see Weiss as she climbed atop the Dragon's chest, sword in hand. She walked to the open wound, stopping at the edge where white armor plates met black Grimm flesh.

Weiss held her sword up, ready to deliver the final blow. She hesitated, a moment later Myrtenaster fell out of her hands, she let out a scream of horror, fell to her back, then crawled away.

Penny flew in, ready to pick up Weiss and move behind cover, and that was the moment she noticed.

A human arm, inside the Grimm flesh, reaching toward Weiss. There was more, someone was in there? She could see them, difficult as it was looking at their ruined body, almost a corpse. But the pale skin, white hair, the resemblance to…

Penny stopped in midair as dread filled her mind. It was Winter Schnee.