Chapter 9: Confrontation
"Oh no," were Cinder's last words before the hammer fell.
She had closed her eye, fully expecting to have her head crushed by the weapon. However, the force that hit her came from her right, knocking her to the side. It was Roman, jumping and pushing her out of the way. The hammer fell on his leg, causing it to bend unnaturally and emit a cringe-inducing crack. He yelled, clenching his fists, squeezing his eyes shut, and gritting his teeth.
"Roman!" Cinder yelled. She crawled to his side and glanced back at her attacker, who raised her hammer back into her fists.
It was one of Lord Ozpin's Huntresses.
Nora grinned as she looked down on her targets. How cute. One of them was bleeding.
"Oh Reeeeeennnnnn!" Nora cried again. "You'll want to see this!"
Ren appeared out of nowhere, seemingly emerging directly from the shadow of the tower. Cinder could not see his face except for his eyes, which were cold and guff. They scared her.
"Well, what have we here?" the gruff voice beneath the mask growled. He leaned down with a pistol/knife hybrid weapon and slowly extended his arm so the blade rested right beneath Cinder's exposed chin. He raised the blade up, poking at Cinder's flesh and forcing her to look into his cold eyes. A trinkle of blood ran from the puncture down Cinder's neck.
"Looks like some rats, come to scavenge." Lie Ren snarled, his eyes narrowing.
"And they woke up the kitties!" Nora squealed. Her shrill voice was uncomfortably loud, especially compared to her partner's low growls.
Cinder's heart raced as the blood flowed further down her neck and onto her bosom. She could do nothing but worry about her attacker and wonder what was keeping Adam and Mercury.
Roman groaned, turning over on the ground while favoring his injured leg. He looked right at Nora.
"Fuck you," he spat, his words dripping with anger and hate.
Nora gasped a bit. "Uh oh, he said a naughty word!" she yelled. "Can I break his other leg, Ren-Senpai?"
Before Ren could respond, another loud noise interrupted him. This was the sound of an impact. Directly following it, Nora went flying forward, over Cinder and Roman's heads and crashing into the street. Mercury stood behind, his leg raised.
Ren pulled his knife from Cinder's chin and aimed the gun at Mercury. Before he could fire, A red slash cut the barrel. Adam jumped from the shadows and slashed at Ren's face, cutting off his mask and allowing it to fall to the ground, revealing his clean-shaven face and furious mouth. A bleeding cut formed on his left cheek. Adam went in for another slash, but Ren jumped out of the way.
Mercury ran to Roman's side and instantly and without warning hoisted him up. Roman grunted loudly as he was suspended. Adam sheathed his blade and grabbed Ren's mask cloth mask off of the ground, handing it to Cinder. Cinder grabbed the cloth and quickly pressed it over her wound, slowing the bleeding. As she rose to her feet, she heard the sound of clinking armor.
"What the hell is going on here?" a voice called.
Cinder looked to see another Huntsman and Huntress, clad in armor. Ren stood as the other Huntsman approached, and Nora waddled over.
"We found some Resistance scum!" Nora yelled, chipper and seemingly disregarding her injury. "They're feisty, too, Jaune!"
Jaune smirked and looked at the four scavengers before him. "Is that so?" he mused. He laughed slightly and put his hands on his waist. "So this is the Resistance we've heard so much about?"
Pyrrha stepped forward. "I recognize one of them," she said. She pointed at Adam. "He's not Resistance. He's the leader of the White Fang."
"The White Fang?" Another voice joined the conversation. From behind Pyrrha came anther woman, dressed in a white uniform.
Cinder recognized her.
"Schnee..." Cinder said, her wound stinging as she spoke.
Weiss eyed Adam closely. "So the White Fang are part of the Resistance, huh? Figures. I've always hated those animals. They were disgusting pests even before they were organized."
Adam stepped forward. Though his face was hidden under his mask, his voice carried his expression.
"Stop talking about the Faunus that way!" he shouted angrily.
"So it does speak," Weiss said. "I half expected you to bark or moo."
Adam stood still for only a few seconds, growling. Then he unsheathed his sword and rushed Weiss with a battle cry. He almost reached he before she pulled out her rapier and blocked him, then forced him back. June pulled out his sword and attacked Adam from the side, and Adam just barely blocked and jumped back. Juane rushed him with a flurry of quick sword swings, which Adam blocked. However, June pushed forward and Adam was forced to jump back with each attack. Jaune then allowed their blades to clash, then looked Adam in the face.
"This is the part where you loose." Jaune smirked as he put pressure on the blade.
Suddenly, a metallic clink was heard. Both Adam and Jaune looked down to see a fire Dust grenade rolling between them.
"Grenade!" Jaune shouted. He broke the attack off and retreated back, throwing up his shield. Pyrrha did the same, and Ren and Nora ran. Adam bolted away from the grenade back towards Cinder and the others, just barely reaching them before the device exploded in a quick blast of flame and smoke. Adam, Cinder, Mercury, and Roman stared intently at the crater the explosive left.
Jaune and Pyrrha peeked from behind their steaming shields as Ren and Nora returned. They too stared at the crater.
Then all eight of them heard a rustling in the bushes. They all turned their heads to see another figure, garbed in black and a haunting mask, emerge from the darkness.
"Do not harm Adam Taurus," the figure said.
Adam took a step back as his breath audibly quickened. He stepped back again, almost hiding behind Cinder.
Blake Belladonna stepped out of the darkness, her bladed weapons drawn. She pointed one of them at Adam.
"He's mine."
