"Ah, perfect timing." Cinder had to admit she didn't expect Raven to appear quite as quickly as she had.
Raven Branwen, the infamous head of the Branwen brigands; a clan routed in their ability to survive. They valued strength above all, that was if the stories shared by their returned captives were to be believed. Raven herself was rumored to be quite secretive, and nefariously cunning. Cinder expected Raven to spend a few more days planning to ensure a complete success, but it seemed as though the woman was quicker than expected.
Or perhaps her fear of taking up any more time pushed her to act; Cinder had made it clear she preferred efficient hands, and Raven knew better than to cross the one with enough power to incinerate her entire group.
Cinder smirked as Raven approached, and even though the woman was wearing her signature mask Cinder could feel the effect she had over the bandit queen.
"It's not just you, right?" Raven asked, and Cinder let out a small hum of affirmation.
"Correct." She clapped her hands. "Emerald, Mercury." The two took their places at her sides.
Raven looked between the two, and without a word turned and cut a gateway for them. "Let's move."
Cinder took a step forward, only for Emerald to speak. "We sure about this. There's a chance she can turn on us."
"It'll be fine." Cinder clarified. "Raven's a coward at heart. The very chance that we might be a threat will keep her at bay." A devious smile perked the corners of her cheeks. "She knows the power I now wield; she won't risk her life against that. Now come on, you do remember the plan yes?"
Mercury chose to respond this time. "Get in; take the relic; kill the maiden."
"Will the maiden even show?" Emerald quickly chimed in. "What if Raven's already had the vault opened before hand and hidden the maiden away?"
"She wouldn't risk it." Cinder placed a hand on her hip. "Who knows what traps and tricks lay in the vault. If anything she'll wait for us to get in so we'd face the danger instead, and at that point while we do she'll make a break for the relic."
"Let me guess, you have a plan?" Mercury tried, and Cinder chuckled.
"Of course. I'll deal with her myself just as the vault opens; she won't be able to escape." Cinder continued towards the portal. "Now come on, we shouldn't keep our curtious guide waiting."
Looking between themselves Emerald and Mercury followed after.
.
.
Adam smirked as the portal opened up before him.
Right on time.
A dark haired woman wearing a mask similar to his own stepped out first, not Cinder as he had expected, but who looked a capable warrior nonetheless. She appeared to face him, sizing him up before stepping aside as Cinder herself appeared, followed by her two pets.
"Adam, glad you could make it." She spoke. "For a moment I was wondering if you would show."
He held back a snort. "Please, you worry for me when you've got the gall to step in last."
"It would seem so." She spoke before crossing her arms. "Now down to business. I assume the school is secure?"
"Yes." Adam told emotionlessly.
"Are you certain?" She looked around. "This room is awfully silent."
"My men had this place under control for the past few weeks." Adam chose not to mention that it was done so against his orders. "We've already had Lionheart dealt with."
"Yes, I'm well aware." The way Cinder said that caught his attention, but whatever ire slipped into her voice quickly subsided as she continued. "He had outlived his usefulness anyway; it was only a matter of time before I myself would have snuffed him out. I suppose you are owed some form of thanks for dealing with that little issue for me."
"I don't need your thanks, only what you offered us." Adam clarified hard. He cared little for the appreciation of Humans, but Cinder had enough power to make their goals easier, and while proud Adam found it hard to give up on such a rare opportunity to leap forward.
"Yes yes, I'm well aware." Her smile dripped with venom, but Adam ignored it. "I am more than willing to give any of the settlements and cities to the White Fang; I've little need for them. There are much more... 'grandiose' matters to attend to than looking after a population that would see itself torn apart for petty reasonings."
Adam didn't particularly care for whatever ideals and goals she sought after, only that she kept her end of the bargain. With enough settlements under Fang rule it would strike enough fear into Humanity for them to be acknowledged by the kingdoms, who up-to and including now chose to keep news of the White Fang to a minimal. Said kingdoms believed themselves powerful enough to avoid responsibility for all the suffering they caused, but Adam was more than ready to snuff out that little fable with a truth everyone would see.
"SIR!" One of his men burst through the office door, panting and covered in sweat. "WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"
Quick as can be and before anyone could blink he buried a fist into the man's gut, and as the grunt fell clutching himself Adam spoke.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you to knock? I made it discerningly clear not to bother me for the next few hours."
"I-I'm sorry sir, b-but we have an issue." The man coughed. "I-in the courtyard."
"The courtyard?" Cinder smirked. "You said this place was secure."
"It is." Adam looked to her. "But attack can happen at any point." He looked to the downed man. "Fine, you have my attention. What is so important that you or the others couldn't handle it?"
"I-it's him." The man wheezed. "The boy who you worked with, th-the spy."
Adam grew a smirk of his own. "Vermillion."
"Y-yes sir."
"Impossible." Cinder spoke from behind, and as Adam turned he saw a hint of irritation across her face. "I killed him myself." Adam however let a taunting edge graze the smile across his lips, and he turned to leave. He decided he would deal with this issue himself, but not before letting out some words of thought.
"Apparently you didn't kill him enough."
.
.
Rather than rush for them the Grimm did something much more... intelligent.
Pyrrha wasn't exactly a professor or anything, but she liked to think she took her studies seriously, so when the creature raised it's hands she expected them to stretch; most lean Grimm had incredibly malleable limbs and would constantly use them to their advantage.
She didn't expect a hail of gunfire.
It didn't do much damage to her aura, but it was quite the shock for an instance. Pyrrha managed to get her shield up between her and the stream of ammunition, which cut off any more damage.
"Oh come ON!" Yang yelled as the group scattered, each attempting to find better positions for attack. "It can shoot too, that's just unfair!"
Pyrrha agreed, but rather than complain aloud she focused on the Grimm's continued assault. Her shield held perfectly fine against the barrage of Dust, but she took note of how the creature made no attempts to redirect it's target. Surely it must have seen it's attack was having no effect, and yet it continued to fire away helplessly at her shield.
While Pyrrha spent some time mulling over her observations Ruby had returned fire on the beast, and as the shot from her met it's target the flurry of fire from the black arms was pushed away, shattering on the floor helplessly as said ground appeared immune to the Dust's deadly rage. With the opportunity presented Yang made her move and rushed in, all the while Pyrrha watched from behind. Up close Yang went to deliver a series of jabs, only for them all to miss due to one little issue.
The Grimm fell upwards.
Jaune's voice faltered a tad. "Am I the only one, or did anyone else not see the Grimm jump?"
"No." Ren readied his weapon. "It didn't."
Nora smirked. "That's cute, it thinks it can run." She twirled her hammer, and it's handle shifted and morphed to attach back to the head where several openings were aimed directly at the ceiling. "Let's play catch!"
Multiple grenades went rocketing through the air towards the Grimm, yet as they exploded the group could see the beast fling itself around, leaping and jumping about, only to fall back towards the ceiling as if 'up' itself were down. However in place of any damage to the monster the ceiling had taken a substantial beating, which caught the eyes of all.
"Strange." Ren spoke aloud. "I thought the room was weapons proofed."
"Maybe." Jaune threw his own thoughts in. "But it looks like they didn't account for the ceiling."
"Guys." Ruby let out as a small smile adorned her face. "I think I have an idea."
"Shoot." Yang said as she shot off round after round of blasts towards the creature on the roof, keeping it moving as Nora had stopped moments before to reload; although with her sour look it appeared as though not many shots were left.
"Can we aim all of Nora's explosive rounds towards the most damaged part of the ceiling. If we can just make a hole there I can squeeze us through and probably find an exit to get us all out of here."
"Not a bad idea." Ren chimed in. "But there's a chance that nothing lies above. We might just end up wasting all our Dust on digging up dirt."
"Pffft, please." Yang smirked. "We can take this Grimm down even without any bombs, but if by some chance that something sits above us I think we can all agree that it's worth a shot."
"I'm in." Jaune spoke. "Even if it's a risk it's still better than nothing."
"You do have a point." Ren offered. "As far as we know this may be our only break. Even if we kill the Grimm who's to say Merlot will actually let us leave. He might just have us starve to death down here and collect our bodies for experiments later."
"That... sucks." Yang shot back as her gauntlets clicked. "Whelp, I've run dry. It's now or never."
Now or never, Ruby felt a little nervous at that. Regardless she readied herself, taking hold of her sister's waist as the group bunched up. Nora stood ahead with her weapon at the ready. With a manic giggle several more bombs were unleashed upon the ceiling, and as they tore and thundered the group waited in anticipation.
The smoke cleared, and only darkness remained as the Grimm fell to the floor, landing on it's feet as it let out a howl.
It pounced.
Yang readied herself and caught it by the claws.
Pyrrha drew her blade and forced her shield into it's face..
Nora rushed in and crushed her shoulder into it's back.
The blade on the ends of Ren's right gun cut into it's locked arm.
Jaune stabbed it's leg.
Oscar held onto it's other leg.
Ruby, still holding her sister by the waist, smiled at the twinkle of light above, just beyond the shadows. Without warning or wasting any sort of time she set the plan into motion.
Now or never, with those three words in mind the group burst into a storm of roses, and the petals raged and flooded into the darkness above. If anyone were present to see such an event they'd notice that among the gust of crimson several spots of black coated the tides, as leaving with the others Ruby had brought with them the very monster they were fighting.
The Grimm would not be abandoned.
Author's note
...
Hey there, we're back again with another step in this story, although you may have noticed it's considerably shorter this time. Sorry for that, but I'm currently going through some personal issues at the moment, and this is all I've got ready for you currently.
I promise next chapter we'll be back to normal, but for now this is all we've got.
See you next time.
