"So," Winter sat down, inviting her sister. "How have you been since we last spoke?"
"Not terrible."
"Still cannot believe you've gotten involved in such a task," Winter sighed, pouring herself a bit of white wine. "And with Qrow on top of that."
"You of all people should know he's not that bad," Weiss smirked. Winter was unperturbed and kept slowly sipping, only narrowing her eyes.
"… No, he's not," Winter paused. "Still an ass sometimes."
Weiss snickered quietly, "All the same, I don't think he meant to hurt you, Winter."
"I know he didn't, Weiss. We're quite alike in our professions. But at least he could've said goodbye properly," Winter rubbed her scarred nose. "And then you know what happened, so forgive me if I was a bit miffed about this."
"All is forgiven," Weiss smiled. "So, how was the talk?"
"Not bad, all things considered," Winter grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear. "After a good tongue lashing, that is."
"And not just tongue lashing I assume."
"I do not know what you mean."
"Certainly you don't."
"Excuse me?"
The sisters turned to the door, seeing a young girl from earlier, Violet saluting them both.
"At ease, Violet," Winter saluted in return. "Come in. Sit with us."
Violet sat down on the far side of the table, her posture stiff but gaze certain.
"Is something the matter?" Winter set her glass down.
"I'd like to apologize for my insubordination earlier. However I stand by my words."
"Your honesty is appreciated, Violet," Winter pointed to Weiss. "Meet my sister, Weiss. She's only few years older than you but accomplished much. You really do remind me of her couple of years back."
"Winter..." Weiss turned around to hide her face, coughing in her fist. "I think you're setting the bar a bit too high."
"I'd have to agree with Lady Weiss," Violet set her head on her hand. "Doesn't really help with my situation."
"She has a habit of turning a compliment into a note for necessary improvement," Weiss added, making Violet laugh at the flat stare Winter shot to her sister.
"Why and how did this turn on me?"
"You know why," Weiss smirked. Winter sighed and nodded, smiling. Violet looked between the two then zeroing in on Weiss.
"Lady Weiss, I'd like to-"
"Hey kid!"
The three women turned to see Qrow jerking his head to the hallway behind him, "Time to go. Sorry Ice Queen."
"No," older Schnee exhaled. "No it's fine. Please be careful, both of you."
Offering apologetic bow of her head to both her sister and Violet, Weiss strutted towards Qrow who offered a silent apology of his own then followed it up by a wink which earned an eye roll from Winter, the two walked out of the classroom.
"Are we there yet?"
"No we're still about two hours away," Weiss was honestly losing her patience with the man but opted to do breathing exercises instead of scolding him.
"I'm going to go and check our gear," Raven informed and walked out of the kitchen. Probably she got out of there for the same reason, to get away far from Qrow's complaining. Weiss kept twirling the tablet with the report on it, eyes closed. Several flashes, purple hair, narrowed eyes. Several thuds reached their ears.
Weiss's brow twitched as she raised her voice to the mic of Defiant's intercom, "Raven! I assume we have a stowaway?"
"It would appear so."
A sigh, "All right then, bring her here."
"Her?" Qrow glanced at her, now sitting straight. The door hissed open, revealing Raven holding a girl by her shoulders, leading her into the kitchen.
"Please have a sit," Weiss still did not open her eyes.
"Aren't you..?" Qrow raised an eyebrow.
"Sit down," Raven ordered, lightly showing the uninvited guest who sat down with huff and leveling a glare with Raven's cold stare.
"So, what are you doing here?" Weiss finally lifted her eyelids and faced the girl.
"Violet."
"… Uh, Lady Weiss, I-" Violet shuffled, twirling her purple locks before falling silent.
"Go on."
"Well, I kind of wanted to request to go with you on this assignment but you walked off pretty fast, so..."
"Okay kiddo, take it from someone older," Qrow butted in. "This mission is not some stakeout gig."
"I figured, oldie," Violet huffed drawing a surprised snort out of Raven and widened eyes from both Qrow and Weiss. The girl was sure quick to change attitude when needed.
"Back-" Weiss coughed the surprise away. "Back to our conversation. Violet, do you realize that you've broken not just one law but several?"
"I know I broke one but not others," Violet eyed the trader. "This mission is not officially sanctioned, right?"
"… No it's not," Weiss pinched her nose. This teen was smart. "So, you want to come with us?"
"Uh, yeah."
The Branwens threw half-expecting glances at Weiss who was pondering, weighing pros and cons. Winter seemed to be praising Violet when they came in and that's got to count for something, right?
"What's your specialty?" Weiss sighed. Violet grinned.
"Engineering," the teen saluted. "Second class combat engineer, mam."
"Combat engineer... Where's your weapon?"
"I, uh, didn't have time to grab it?" Violet gave a sheepish smile.
"Wonderful," Weiss rolled her eyes. "Qrow, would you mind to grab a medium handgun from the cargo hold, load it and give it to Violet later?"
"Weiss, you can't be serious," Raven reasoned. "She's barely old enough to handle engines, let alone combat."
"Hey, up yours woman!" Violet protested, earning a glare that cooled her off. "Okay, yeah I don't have combat experience but I trained!"
"Agreed," Qrow smirked. "Hell she reminds me of Ruby. More of an ass but basically the same."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Violet crossed her arms.
Weiss sniffed, looking to the side tapping her leg, thinking. Eventually, the trader broke through the bickering and looked at the young engineer.
"Alas, going back now will just waste time and fuel," Weiss's eyes narrowed. "I hope you'll be cooperative, no, obedient even. This might prove to be way beyond your capabilities and knowledge. In that case, you always listen to us. Do you understand?"
"Sir yes sir!" Violet saluted gleefully to the silent Raven's protest and chagrin and a groan from Qrow.
"Better," Weiss checked her Scroll and stood up. "As it stands, we're yet to reach our destination. Come along Violet, I'll show you around."
"Lady Weiss?" Weiss heard from behind her. Turning her head sideways, she replied.
"Yes?"
"I was… I was hoping to speak with you, in private," Violet checked the hallway to the cockpit behind her.
"Very well. Have a sit."
The young engineer sat down, twiddling her thumbs.
"Come on, out with it."
"… I wanted to thank you," Violet uttered, looking everywhere but Weiss. "For not throwing me to the sidelines like most do."
"Are you referring to my sister?" Weiss couldn't help but let an accusatory tone slip in her voice.
"No! ...Well, yeah..." Violet deflated. "It's just- so annoying that no matter how hard I request and prove my capabilities, no one lets me do something that might actually matter."
"Passion is good but you're letting emotions and pride get the better of you," Weiss did not spare the girl the hurt. Better now than later in hostile environment. "That is why you will fail whenever the situation presses you."
"I guess…," the engineer didn't relent though. "But I think coddling me won't do me any good either."
"True. My point still stands," Weiss turned away, as if bored, tapping her finger on the console. "These two things aren't exclusive."
"Yeah yeah," Violet huffed. "Getting really sick of that."
"I used to feel the same way."
"Like when you threw yourself into the hellfire in the defense of the Atlas station with your sister?"
Weiss's tapping ceased, "… Whatever do you mean?"
"I'm not dumb, m'Lady. It's not difficult to cross-reference pictures of this-" Violet pointed around them. "- vessel. Lady Winter has a different ship, this one is now yours, so you were the one who piloted it."
Weiss cursed inwardly, "An interesting theory."
"This ship belonged to your sister in the past, m'Lady," Violet pressed.
"… All right, you win," Weiss sighed, not facing the girl. "I thought I was careful enough to not let my image slip through."
"And most of the stupid people still don't know it's you since the General kept you out of the public eye for some time after. So your secret is safe."
Weiss clicked her tongue. Still, she was just as brash in her youth, not to mention her unrestrained tongue. Hah! Youth... Weiss sometimes forgot she was barely in her mid-20s.
"What else do you know?"
"Enough."
"Violet."
"Okay, okay… I know about Mantle Prime incident, though I'm not aware of details."
"That's good, one less horror," Weiss chortled, her eyes trailing the control console. Soft chime rung out. "Looks like we're nearly there. Go and fetch the Branwens, please."
"Do I have to?"
"What, you don't like them?" Weiss smirked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Not really."
"Well, get used to their presence and especially them giving orders while on the ground," the trader nudged the girl. "Now shoo."
Weiss called on the intercom, "We've arrived at the coordinates."
The twins walked into the cockpit, followed by Violet who was hanging back just by few steps. Minute jolt signaled the Defiant's deceleration and the blurry lines of the stars started to slow down, eventually stabilizing and forming the usual blackness with white dots. That was an old sight, what wasn't however, is their current target floating just to the left of the Defiant.
"Good Lord," Qrow muttered, looking at what was supposed to be a shining example of galactic economics, a merchant vessel that helped move around cargo and circulate currencies, keeping the economy stable. No. What they were staring at was a shot up ship with three cargo sections, drifting in the cosmic winds, debris orbiting it like a meteor belt. Three boxy sections barely held together by pressurized bridges.
"What the hell happened?" Raven wondered.
"A firefight, maybe," Violet speculated and turned to Weiss. "Is this our target?"
"Yes," Weiss flexed her fingers on the stick before stirring left. "Get ready, looks like we have our work cut out for us."
The twins led Violet down the corridor as Weiss drifted towards the wreck. Man, it was in really bad shape. And here Weiss thought Winter's fighter looked bad when she got shot down. The connector bridge was out for sure, thus the only option was to try and land in one of landing bays, so Weiss opted to do just that. Scanning the vessel, Weiss noticed one's bay doors prompted open, well more like deformed as if something rammed it. She flew towards it and had to resort to launching few torpedoes to blast it open.
"Felt the ship tremble," Qrow's voice came on the intercom. "Everything all right in there?"
"Had to blast our way in, don't worry."
The guiding lights, or any lights for that matter were out so the landing pad was drowned in darkness so Weiss used the spotlight and carefully sat the Defiant down at the messy pad. Extend the landing gear, gently lower the ship down, rotate it towards the hole in case they needed to quickly bug out, feel the soft thud, power the engines down. Checking the console for sensor readings, Weiss learned that the ship's artificial gravity was still working but it seems like the air was quickly depleting.
"Everyone got their gear on?"
"Yep, all dressed up for the occasion," Qrow informed.
"Okay, I'm coming down."
Thank lords their suits had pretty good flashlights plus night vision in Weiss's case, because without either of the two one couldn't make heads or tails in this darkness. The four descended the ramp into the pitch black, lighting their way. The twins sported their weapons of choice while Weiss opted to have her blade-fueled pulse rifle.
"Comfy..." Violet commented, nearly tripping over a cable.
"No bodies at all," Raven noted.
"You'd think if it was a violent hijack, there'd be casualties," Qrow concurred.
"Maybe they moved the crew to other sections," Weiss proposed. "… Or spaced them."
"That's morbid."
"Stick around and hope that you won't get to see what we actually mean kid," Qrow said, looking around. "First things first, we get the power back online."
Weiss glanced at the schematics on her HUD, "Straight down that catwalk and left-hand turn – an electric panel."
"Should I go and check it out?" Violet stepped towards Weiss.
"Not alone," Raven grabbed the engineer by the shoulder and led her down the catwalk and pointed to the right. "You guys keep going in that direction."
Weiss nodded and let Qrow take the lead, following the two women before separating and turning right-hand corner, inspecting the old metal walls of the corridors. Very much like the ship's interior, very rusty and dark grey in color. Most of the walk was spent in silence as the two kept quiet, listening for any sound that a person would make. Nothing, dead silence. At one point the stale air was getting even heavier, indicating that the air supply was dwindling. Just few meters after they came up to a sealed bulkhead door.
"Hey kid," Qrow radioed. "How's that panel doing?"
"Kinda screwed, honestly," Violet responded.
"Most of the wiring is either cut or fried," Raven translated.
"Any way to repair that?"
"Well, some soldering and repurposing some excess wires might do the trick."
"Get to it then and be quick about it," Qrow cut the transmission.
"Quite hard on her," Weiss commented.
"She needs to learn quick."
"Agreed."
"So, I have an idea," Qrow grinned.
"Which is…?"
Qrow pointed at the hilt sticking out of Weiss's rifle's grip.
"Let's try that on the door."
"… Are you serious?"
"Yup."
With a sign, Weiss took the hilt out of the weapon and ignited it, "Step back."
With Qrow retreating two meters behind her, Weiss lifted the cyan blade up and positioned it horizontally, aiming just above the locking mechanism and plunging the blade into the door. Sparks of molten metal flew everywhere, hitting Weiss's visor. After sinking the blade up to the hilt, Weiss started dragging it down, feeling the metal resist but eventually giving in. A minute or so later, the center of the door was cut and Weiss put the weapon away, grabbing one half of the door and Qrow grabbing the other. The suit glowing blue in hexagonal pattern, the trader pulled with all her strength, prying her half of the door open with Qrow quickly slipping into the opening and bracing against the other half, pushing the doors open.
"Open sesame," Qrow grunted and stood next to Weiss now unmasked.
A quiet bang was heard down the hall before lights started flickering on and off.
"Voila," Violet radioed in. "Though it's not gonna last long, the insulation is quite old."
"The fuse box nearly went up in flames," Raven added.
"Get over here, then."
The quiet hiss flew through ventilation system, providing some oxygen. Weiss was silent, scanning the flashing lights on the ceiling and on the walls. The whole setting really reminded her of an old horror film she watched with Flint and Neon. Not to mention it wasn't exactly a new sight to her. Sounds of footsteps reached her ears, drawing her out of her thoughts.
"So," Violet crossed her arms, walking just a step ahead of Raven. "Where to next?"
Weiss jerked her head to the door and the twins stepped forward, weapons at the ready. Weiss motioned Violet to march ahead of her so that the trader could hold the rear. It was not long before the group stumbled onto the first sign of struggle inside the vessel. Their first red flag was a metallic scent floating in the air. Turning the corner, the twins had to frown.
"What is it?" Violet asked. The twins didn't answer, looking at each other. Silent conversation. Violet pried the two apart to get a look at their findings… and promptly reared back. "Oh god..."
Weiss pushed Violet back and steeling herself, looked over Raven's shoulder and there it was. A pool of blood, three liters worth at least and thank gods they had their masks on, otherwise the stench would've been awful. Curiously, no bullet casings. Weiss took a breath. She saw blood before, spilled good amount of it herself but there was one thing that really set this instance apart.
"Where's the body?"
"Hell if I know," Qrow replied, flashing his light further down the hall. A faint trail of bloody footprints. "No way the poor bastard got up from that and marched away."
"The killer then," Raven surmised. "Our culprits?"
"It would appear so," Weiss sighed and raised her rifle, glancing at Violet. "Stay behind us."
The group slowly continued, now aiming at each other's blind zones. Without the schematics provided to them by General Ironwood, they'd easily get lost in these metallic mazes. Numerous turns here, endless corners there... Another pool of blood. And another. No bodies, only footprints. Weiss could see Violet clutch her pistol tightly and even though she couldn't see her face behind the mask, the trader was certain the girl's eyes must've been looking around wildly by now.
More scratched walls and blood. By now it was getting tiring to see the signs of struggle but never seeing the cause. The lights starting blinking and the group accelerated their pace, not dropping their guard until they came up to a fork.
"Processing area on one side and the local maintenance on the other," Weiss informed.
"No signs of life in that direction," Weiss said after trying to sense anything, pointing to the right passage. "Violet, go and look what's up with the electrics, then quickly get back to us."
"Uh, okay…?" Violet tilted her head then moved away from the adults, disappearing behind the corner.
"Why send her away?" Raven watched the girl go.
"You'll see."
Positioning themselves at each side of the door, Raven and Qrow moved in, checking their corners. The lights went out and Weiss lit her blade up, illuminating the area for the twins. Qrow noticed the fuse box and walked to it. Probably wanting to show Violet up. Smashing the glass cover of the box, the man crouched and started poking around in the wires.
"Gonna try and get some air in here," Qrow explained, muttering curses at the wiring. Some minutes passed and finally the lamps showed signs of life, flickering on and a hiss of the air came rushing in.
"Hallelujah..." Qrow threw his hands up to the ceiling, removing his helmet."Some sweet filtered recycled air."
Weiss's eyes trailed the man's posture not loosing its steel as the lights turned on and he stepped away from the panel he was fiddling with to achieve this result. Raven hummed at the bland joke, standing near the rusty doors leading to the docks. Weiss turned off her blade and put it away, collapsing her helmet as well with Raven following the suit.
"Violet," Weiss called. "Get back here."
"Okay, on my way."
*CLANG*
The noise echoed and bounced off every metal wall around them, tracking the source of it was nearly impossible.
"What was that…?"
"Hell if I know..."Qrow whispered answering Raven's quiet question. Weiss stayed silent."Maybe some bolts came loose off the ventilators in the vent system?"
"No, sounds too heavy to be some bo-"
An alarm drown out Raven's rebuttal and the lights switched to ominous orange blinking as the sound kept blaring. Weiss stood still, no expression present.
"What in the-"
The vent lids in the ceiling exploded around them, raining debris and sparks everywhere. For the moment, nothing but the alarm going off over them.
*THUD*
The thudding noise then multiplied and seemed to come from everywhere, even the wall vents. Raven and Qrow rushed to stand back to back, weapons trained at the ceiling and Qrow jerked his hand to Weiss, ordering her to stand alongside them which she did without a word.
*CRASH*
Another vent lid on the wall behind the twins exploded and a gutural screech rung out. The time slowed as blackened figure burst out of the vent and closed the distance, making a beeline to the Branwens. The bloodied white bone-blade reared back and descended down on the twins nearly connecting with Raven's neck-
Weiss reacted, swiftly taking aim and throwing her blade, severing the creature's limb before unloading her sidearm into their assailant. The humanoid seemed to not care for the bullets though and changed its focus on her, hastily running towards her but got thwarted by Qrow's shotgun. The Huntsman started firing slug after slug, almost juggling the creature in the air as it was riddled with holes before it seemingly succumbed to its injuries with one gurgling whine.
"The hell was that!?"
"I don't know..." Raven moved to inspect the corpse. "Seemed like a hum-"
The felled monster sprung up and swiped at the woman, ripping off her breast plate in one swing before Weiss grabbed her blade and sliced into its abdomen with all her might, intestines pouring out of the thing's belly and painting her face dark red. The monster finally slumped over her shoulder and she threw it off in disgust. Checking the piece of armor, Raven cursed, finding it damaged beyond repair.
"That's some force," Qrow commented, crouching and inspecting now nearly bisected beast. "Lords almighty."
Weiss checked the body as well and recoiled. It's a human… or was human. A man, approximately 30 years old, average height. His face was mangled to such an extent, calling it a face would be a stretch: lower jaw split down the middle into two mandibles with sharp jagged teeth set in rows. The eyes were basically non-existent, instead appearing to be gouged out. Blackened skin with bloody veins running all over, bones protruding from its limbs and knees, its guts now slowly sliding out, touching the floor with wet squelch. The smell was probably vomit-inducing. One would think she'd get used to gore but no.
"Hey guys! What's going-" Violet ran through the exit and gagged, throwing off her mask. "Shit! What is that!?"
"Million Lien question, kid," Qrow grunted, moving the corpse's limbs around checking for any ID documents, eventually finding a badge. "Looks like storage worker."
"That's quite ways off from here," Raven said.
Weiss collapsed on the bench, thinking. Where to next? She didn't get any further in her visions… like Foresight stopped working... so this likely means…
"It's a new form of Grimm," Qrow finished the thought for her. "What kind I cannot tell for the life of me."
"A Grimm? Weren't they extinct?" Violet scratched her head as three stared at her. "Look history or biology or whatever was never my strong suit, okay!?"
"We'll need to fix that, I'm afraid," Raven said.
"We need to move," Qrow stood up, pocketing the bloodied badge. The lights started once again to go on and off.
"We'll spend ages getting through sections at this rate," Raven sighed.
"Then the answer is simple," Violet cut in. "We go and look what's up with the reactor."
Weiss hummed and checked the map. The reactor was in the rear, on lower decks behind dozens of blast shields and other various safety barriers.
"That will also take time," the trader tapped her foot and accepted a piece of cloth from Violet to wipe her face. "What do you two think?"
"We split up," Raven answered. "I go with the kid, you and Qrow go get to the bridge."
Qrow grunted affirmative and moved to the door. Violet huffed, no doubt miffed she had to go with the woman again and glanced at Weiss who shrugged and shouldered her rifle, sliding the hilt in and following Qrow. Raven nudged the engineer and they followed the pair. The doors hissed open revealing yet another empty rusty hallway. Few hundred meters after, the group split up at another fork with Weiss wishing luck to the two women and jogging after Qrow who was already walking away.
"You know this attack was coming," Qrow stated. Weiss nodded. "Why send the girl away? I think would've been a good learning experience."
"And inflicting trauma on her?" Weiss shook her head. "Couldn't do that to her."
"My point stands."
*THUD*
The two stopped dead in their tracks, pulling out weapons.
*THUD*
*THUD*
"Aw fuck, here we go again,"Qrow groaned and two trained their firearms at the ventilation lids.
Violet and Raven kept walking not uttering a word, their masks clipped onto their belts. Violet's dislike was no secret to Raven and frankly, she preferred it that way. Less gray areas, pretty straight forward. The woman glanced at the girl following her. In some ways she reminded her of Yang. Always eager to prove herself, standing up to her elders, tripping over herself when near people she admires and all. Foolish and earnest. Quick way to get you into trouble and not the mild one. She inwardly snorted at all the stories Tai told her about Yang getting into fights and arguments with senior students and professors. Thank god she had Belladonna watching over her.
"Hey commander hardass?" Violet called out.
"What is it?"
"Why do I get stuck with you all the time?"
Raven almost smirked, "Because I said so."
"Great answer, ten out of ten, would ask the question again."
"Do you always snark your superiors?"
"Only the ones who irk me."
Raven had to admit, she was starting to like the girl's brazen attitude, "Oh I irk you, do I?"
"I've made no secret of it."
"Well brat, you better get used to me," Raven flexed her fingers on katana's handle. "It might actually save your life."
"Yeah I don't- mmphhh!?"
The Huntress's hand shot out and shut Violet's mouth with a quiet slap. Raven shushed her with a finger and gestured to her ear before slowly withdrawing the hand. Violet shot daggers but strained her hearing.
"~Oh, my friends don't you know,~"
The engineer stared at the woman in mute shock. It was a woman's voice, coming from behind the corner. Quiet metallic thuds accompanied the vocals.
"~How a long time ago,~"
Raven gripped her blade and slowly crept forward. Violet did not follow, her feet rooted and hands starting to tremble, unable to even hold her pistol straight.
"~There were two little children,~"
"~Whose names I don't know. ~"
The Huntress reached the corner and crouched, pulling out a small mirror and extending it around the corner.
~They were taken away,~
~On a cold winter's day.~
~And left in the woods,~
~So I heard some folks say.~
Reflection revealed a human female sitting on her knees near the left wall, slowly rocking back and forth, holding something with one hand and scribbling on the wall with the other, periodically gently hitting her forehead on the metal surface.
~And they sobbed, and they sighed.~
~And they bitterly cried,~
Violet finally managed to force her legs to work but was stopped by Raven's open palm. The Huntress kept observing until...
~'Til, at last, they grew weary,~
~And lay down and...~
DIED!
The woman let out a quiet whale and reared her body back before fully springing forth and slamming her head into the wall with a loud bang and a sound of cracking bone. Raven winced and closed the mirror, for a moment staring off into the distance, still signaling to Violet to stay put. The sound of a body sliding down the wall reached her ears and the woman at last moved around the corner, still on her knees. Violet shimmied along the wall until she reached the corner-
"Violet," Raven's voice remained firm despite the trembling. "Move towards me... but don't look down."
"… Okay..."
The purple-haired engineer continued shimming and turned the corner, seeing the Huntress's form block out the body. There were many bloody scratches on the wall and floor. Raven kept slowly moving around the body as Violet walked, determined not to let her see the corpse and whatever it was next to it.
"Keep moving."
"What's wro-"
"I said," Raven tersely repeated. "Keep moving."
Violet shut up and obeyed, walking down the hall and periodically checking behind her to see Raven pat the dead woman all over and searching the pockets on the bloodied jumpsuit. She turned around and did not look back anymore until she heard footsteps catch up to her.
"Was-" Violet's voice died for a moment. "Was it… that bad?"
"… It was. Keep your weapon ready."
The engineer shallowly nodded and kept walking with Raven now walking beside her, blade still in hand. Casting a glance at the Huntress, she noticed a bloody note and ID badge clutched in woman's fist.
Another vent burst, another monster rushed them. Qrow's shotgun kept working overtime like a devil's symphony as the creature was tanking almost every slug. But shooting it to death wasn't the point. Recovering from the impact, the Grimm barely moved as Weiss swung her blade, chopping off its left and right arm respectively and kicking it over. Even that wasn't enough as the creature started crawling towards her. Qrow pushed her out of the way and lifted his heavy-duty metal boot, stomping the head of the monster into bloody mess. To no avail. The Grimm used its legs to spin around and whipped its flapping chunks of appendages at his shins. Hissing, Qrow stomped down once more, holding the beast in place and using his sword to cut off its legs. The foe kept writhing until its movement finally seized. Weiss's breaths were quick and shallow and she saw black spots in her vision due to her heart not being able to transfer oxygen hastily enough.
"Damn piece of plastic," she thought and sat down. "I'll need to re-calibrate it… Or replace it altogether."
Qrow slid down next to her, catching his breath as well.
"If it was this fucking hard to kill just three," Qrow coughed. "We'll run out of ammo and strength before long."
"And on top of that we don't know how many there are," Weiss scowled. "Or if there are any survivors."
Qrow glanced at her and she got the message. Given the state they found the vessel in, it was foolish to expect for anyone to be still alive, Syndicate or the crew alike. The trader looked at the ceiling, sighing before standing up. A thought flashed across her mind and she made her way to the last enemy they killed and knelt down. Using the muzzle of her rifle, she peeled off the flap of the jacket on the corpse. Wayward glance, Weiss noticed that small scales under the layer of red veins. A reptile Faunus of sorts. Black mucus slid down the clothes as she searched for the identification marks and then saw a small patch plastered on the breast pocket.
"What is it?" Qrow did not move from his position.
"I think I know who this was," Weiss quietly said, ripping off the patch and presenting it to the Huntsman. "The Fang, a cell of the Syndicate."
"Oh," the man accepted the patch Weiss tossed to him. "Heard about 'em. The saboteurs, if memory serves."
"Try terrorists," Weiss stood up, wiping her hands on the A.U.R.A. suit. "Let's go, the bridge is still ways off."
"No rest for the weary," Qrow grunted and got up, tossing the patch back to her. "You hold onto it. We need all the info we can get."
Weiss hummed and started slowly advancing down the corridor. Qrow caught up and got ahead of her just by a meter. To make it to the bridge they needed to pass through living quarters two levels up. Steel corridors, bloodied walls and floors. Weiss momentarily got lost in her thoughts, staring at the patch she held. A red wolf's head on black background. She has not seen it colored like that before. At most it was colored in yellow and blue. But that was before… Weiss minutely shuddered at the possibility she considered and tucked the patch away.
The advance was not hindered and soon they came up to elevator. Qrow tapped his fingers of flickering sensor controls. The doors of the lift shook with a screech and the two readied their arms, in case the contraption alerted some residents. The screeching continued for several minutes before cutting off.
"The damn thing got stuck," Qrow sighed. "I think we'll need head the longer way around."
"No time for that," Weiss scanned the lift and ignited her blade. "Stand back."
As Qrow did, Weiss stabbed the doors and dragged the blade downwards, where the locks resided. At Qrow's raised eyebrow, she replied.
"We'll climb our way to the living quarters," the trader explained. "I hope."
The man shrugged, "Do your thing."
Finished with cutting it, Weiss used her suit to pry the doors open with a groan and peered inside the shaft, looking up. The maintenance ladder seemed intact for the most part. One section was bent as the shaft wall next to it was blown inwards, hence the lift getting stuck. The box got halted by a piece of crumpled metal. Stepping back, Weiss let Qrow take the lead and he hopped onto the ladder with Weiss hopping next.
"I'm getting old for this," Qrow stated as they kept climbing.
"You're not that old, I tell you. Your adventures with my sister should be proof enough for that."
"Kid I'm old enough to be a dad to both of you."
"There is a concerning thought."
Qrow snorted and kept climbing. Weiss allowed herself a smirk in the moment of levity. The Huntsman's commlink flashed.
"Qrow," Raven's voice came in. "Where are you two?"
"Ran in a bit of a snag," Qrow replied. "We're in an elevator shaft right now, climbing up to residential level."
"… Pardon?"
"The lift got stuck," Weiss cut in, careful not to slip on the bars. "Decided to take a short route."
"Understood. Let me know when you're there."
"Copy that. Over and out," Qrow frowned. "Huh. Honestly expected some sort of jab."
Weiss hummed.