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If Pyrrha had thought that the "safehouse" was impressive before, now she was honestly astonished. Checkpoints, bulkheads, concrete walls, and a camera grid capable of making even Ozpin blush. They'd already been walking for about ten minutes through long halls and somewhat busy staircases, and it seemed like there was still plenty more to go. Honestly, it reminded her more of a military base than anything else, yet this lacked that same level of coldness. Rather than the plain and sterile walls of an Atlesian military vessel, the halls were decorated and carpeted, effort had clearly been given to the decoration and luxury of the entire building. She wasn't the only one to notice.
"Is this a damn fallout shelter, or a hotel?" The Lieutenant grumbled as the immediate area around them gave way to a larger and more accommodating hallway, the walls clearly having once been adorned by paintings or pictures of some kind, judging by the faded square spaces left behind, but were empty now that Torchwick's men had come through and cleared them out.
"Bit of both, really." Torchwick shrugged from in front of them, strutting down the hall without a hint of urgency. Were it not for the strained sound of his voice, one might have missed that his life was in danger at all. "Building was built during the Great War to withstand bombardment; the basement was dug three times as deep to give people someplace to hide in the event of collapse above ground. Some point after Mountain Glenn some fat-cat rich asshole rediscovered it and turned it into his own private estate for his more… shall we say, exuberant tendencies."
"And he just lets you stay here?"
"Ha!" Torchwick laughed haughtily. "As if, guys' dead now most likely. His brat lost the keycode to me in a game of poker."
"Someone bet all of this?" Sergeant Fairfire asked skeptically, and Pyrrha couldn't help but agree. The arrogance, or desperation, was hard to imagine.
"What can I say, it was high stakes and the family had fallen on tough times. Place was damn near in ruins when I found it."
"Why can't you just hold out here?" Pyrrha asked. The White Fang was dangerous, but anybody short of Atlas would need time to attack a bunker like this. It was difficult to imagine an organization like them having the recourse to attack someplace like this. They could probably manage it, they did often attack Schnee convoys after all, but it would take time. Time in which Torchwick could easily escape. Assuming the White Fang could even find the place. Despite its complexity, it was shockingly well hidden. Atlesian intelligence hadn't found any mention of the place, or at least they hadn't mentioned it in the briefing packet she had admittedly skimmed through.
"Tch, that bitch already knows about it." Torchwick practically spit the moniker and Pyrrha didn't have to think about who he was referring to. "Mentioned it in passing once when I tried to challenge her on something, saying there was no where I could run. Guess she didn't like the smug look on my face, outed this place well within hearing of those animals." With a shake of his head, Torchwick sighed as they reached what would have normally seemed like a luxury apartment, made unusual by the fact that it was buried beneath thousands of tons of concrete. "Besides, her lap dog killed most of my good men already, and anybody left that I trust is already fleeing town, or is here helping me get out with what we can carry."
Torchwick walked over to a small safe on the wall, entering in the code without bothering to cover up the digital display. Not that it mattered, as soon there wouldn't be anything of value to take anyways. He withdrew a small notebook, as well as a scroll.
"Is that it?" Pyrrha watched it like a hawk. If it had what she thought, then it very well might be the last truly dangerous weapon their enemy had.
"You think I'm stupid?" Torchwick deposited the scroll into his jacket before handing the notebook over towards his companion. "Cinder knows about this place, you think I'm keeping the one thing she want's here?"
"Is that all you needed?" The Lieutenant sounded exhausted and irritated, a combination that Pyrrha couldn't help but empathize with.
Dealing with high value targets couldn't be easy, especially when they were as cocky and arrogant as Torchwick so often was. Pyrrha hated it just as much, if not more, than the Lieutenant likely did. Torchwick and Neo had sided with Cinder before, and been a crucial part of the plan to attack Beacon. Her death was directly tied to their actions, but if they had something that could legitimately give them an edge, she was willing to overlook it for now. She'd leave their ultimate fate up to the General.
Torchwick shook his head in response to the Lieutenant. "There's more, but I have people on their way to take care of it. I just need to make sure they grab the right stuff. Sit down, take a load off. We've got time."
"Aren't you being hunted?" Sergeant Fairfire asked over her shoulder, keeping her body facing the doorway they had entered through. "Shouldn't you be moving with a sense of urgency or something?"
"I'm not about to be some damn beggar up in Atlas living off of scraps!" Torchwick snapped back. "I built all of this up from nothing, and I'm bloody well not going back to nothing just because some bitch thinks she can take on the whole fucking world!" He reached into his coat, withdrawing a cigar and lighting it in one swift motion. "She's plagued enough of my life already, I won't let her take the rest of it."
Pyrrha had to squash the subtle spark of sympathy she felt for the man, bastard that he was, it was scarily similar to her own story. Cinder didn't seem to have any more mercy for her former allies than she did for her enemies. Torchwick had become an obstacle, so she sought to remove him.
The Lieutenant shook his head and sighed, turning away from the thief before holding the button on his wrist to activate his radio. "Bravo seven, this is Alpha six, how's our exit? Over." There was no response over the static, and he repeated the question.
"Could be we're too far underground." Nathan offered. "Doubt we'd be able to hear anything even if the building collapsed."
"Phone on the wall." Torchiwck gestured towards the far wall of the apartment, near the doorway. "Private line that connected to the front desk. They should be able to get in touch with your hopefully competent friends." He paused for a moment, looking at the clock on the wall. "Ask them why they haven't sent anyone here yet either. They should be here by now."
"I'm not your damn lackey." The Lieutenant snapped back before moving towards the phone line. He held it up to the edge of his helmet for only a few seconds before cursing and turning back to them. "Lines dead."
Torchwick was on his feet in an instant, puffing away at his cigar as he closed the distance in a barley stymied run. Holding the phone to his ear, he pressed down on the center button a few times to no luck. "Shit." The lights flickered suddenly, turning off for a moment before turning back on. "And that's the external power cut. Great. Fan-fucking-tastic!"
"Ma'am, we need to exfil." The Lieutenant turned towards her.
"Like hell we do!" Torchwick responded before she could. "I've still got shit down here th-"
"What good will it matter if you're dead?!" Pyrrha snapped back. "Cinder will kill you, without hesitation, and I'm sure whoever she sends after you will be just as ruthless!" She turned her attention back towards the Lieutenant. "We're leaving, how long before you can get in contact with the people we left above ground?"
"Honestly, I don't know ma'am." He shook his head slowly. "But if they aren't reporting in… we're gonna have a hell of a firefight on our hands."
Pyrrha turned towards Torchwick expectantly. "What'll it be? Run with what you've managed to get out already, or die here where you can be rich?"
She'd tried to word it in a way that made the choice obvious, and to her it was, but shockingly, he hesitated. He ignored her and turned towards Neo. "How likely do you think it is that at least half of them made it out?"
The girl thought for a moment before, with a grimace, making a so-so gesture with her hand.
Torchwick sighed. "That'll have to do, I guess. Fine, let's go. I'm ready to leave this fucking Kingdom."
"About damn time." The Lieutenant moved towards the door. "Nathan you've got point, Fairfire cover the rear, VIP's just behind Nathan, guide us out of this maze. Ma'am, when you're ready."
Why he still deferred to her, Pyrrha didn't know. This was far outside of any kind of training she had ever received but, technically, she was his superior if only by rank. With a quick nod, they started off back down the halls. Where before there had been people rushing around moving boxes and items, now there was an eerie silence that unnerved her. The lights didn't flicker, there weren't any signs of blood or fighting, and the various rooms they passed were just as inviting as they had been before, and yet she couldn't help but feel this was what it was like to live in a horror movie.
"Take a left up ahead, we can use one of the service tunnels to avoid the main halls. With power switching its possible that some of the doors locked down, these ones wouldn't have though." Torchwick informed them, leading them off of the path they had followed down there; the path anyone coming down would hopefully take, thus leaving their new route unnoticed. That had clearly been the intent, sadly, it seemed fate had other plans.
"Shit, that's a lot of blood." Nathan and Fairfire moved into the tunnel, a far less luxurious space covered in pipes and valves of unknown proposes; as well as a dead guard wearing what had once been a finely pressed suit that was now soaked through with the wearers own blood. There were a few footprints of blood leading deeper into the service area, but those too eventually dissipated and it was impossible to tell whether it was more than one person. "Judging by the trail behind him, he dragged himself quite a ways before they caught up and finished him off."
Torchwick was silent, simply staring down at the dead man as he puffed on his cigar. With a sigh, he stepped forward. "Still the fastest route out, nightmares be damned."
"Sir!" Fairfire said suddenly, turning towards the Lieutenant. "I've got contact with headquarters!"
"Anything from Bravo Team?" He replied quickly but moved to follow after Torchwick as their group started off once more.
"Negative, sir." Fairfire replied stiffly. "HQ says they went silent shortly after we fell off the network."
"What about our eyes in the sky?"
"MIA, sir." She responded. "Went dark at the same time."
"Peachy." The Lieutenant sighed. "Reinforcements?"
"Enroute, ETA minus fifteen." She replied. "Spun up as soon as they lost contact."
"So all we have to do is secure our exit." The Lieutenant said it simply, but it was clear he didn't believe it to be so easy. "How many ways into these tunnels are there?"
"One on every floor." Torchwick replied bitterly. "It's a service tunnel, not an escape route."
"Any other way out aside from the main door?"
"This is a fucking incursion bunker, its meant to keep things out." Torchwick replied quickly. "Emergency exits are just extra entrances you have to guard."
"So no fire escapes?" Nathan quipped back from up ahead, though as usual his attention was focused ahead, rifle trained on the tunnel as if something was going to attack them at any second.
"No, there aren't any fucking fire escapes!" Torchwick shouted back. "If there were, don't you think I would have taken us to those by now? It's the main door, or this place becomes our tomb."
With the alternative for a better exit dead and gone, they once again fell into a professional silence, moving through the tunnel as quickly as they could do so without making too much noise.
Surprisingly, the access tunnels actually managed to comfort Pyrrha more than the usual hallways. The lighting wasn't nearly as good, and she had to stop herself from jumping at nearly every shadow, but the sounds in the area weren't nearly as well dampened. The occasional gut of steam or drip of water at least helped to dispel some of that eeriness from before. Not much, but some. Plus, if anyone ended up walking down the tunnels they would hear the footsteps long before they got close enough to see them.
The slow incline of the tunnels gave way to an outright staircase that they quickly ascended several floors before they ran into their next problem; a sealed metal doorway.
"I thought you said these doors wouldn't be sealed?" The Lieutenant kept his voice low as he approached the doorway.
"It should be." Torchwick walked over to a small keypad on the wall. "Could be that my guy back there closed it to buy himself some time."
"Could also be someone else trying to close off our exits." Fairfire responded.
"That too." Torchwick shrugged. "Guess we'll find out here in a second. Door should be opening… now."
The moment after the door opened seemed to stretch on beyond possibility. Those on the other side, clad in the familiar mask of the White Fang, looked surprised to see them. Shockingly, it wasn't actually them that interrupted that drawn out moment, rather, it was a shot from the opposite side of the room that the doorway had opened up into. The White Fang who had been hit by it grunted in pain, but with a flash of Aura, he was unharmed until they too opened fire. Aura or not, three soldiers and three Huntsman level combatants, in addition to whatever was on the other side of the room, and this group was dealt with quickly; not as quickly as Pyrrha would have expected however.
In addition to their Aura's, they were trained far better than what she was used to. Not only could they properly use their Aura, they knew their way around a weapon. By the time they were done, Pyrrha had actually sported a few hits from gunfire on her Aura; thankfully, that seemed to be the worst of it. For them at least.
The group on the other side of the room, the one who had initiated the firefight, was what was left of the team they had left up top. Four motionless bodies, and one that sagged backwards as they finally moved over towards her.
"About time, sir." A surprisingly solid voice called out, given the massive gash across her chest. "Afraid we didn't manage to hold the-" When she started to cough, the Lieutenant was at her side.
"Damn it, Yu. Don't try and talk." He pulled out a small canister from a pouch on the girls back, before applying a medical sealant to the wound. There wasn't enough however, only about half of the cut being covered, the other half still bleeding profusely. When he went to grab the one on his side, the woman reached up to grab his wrist.
"Can't let you do that sir." She coughed again, a not insignificant amount of blood spewing forth as she did so. "A-Against regulation. You might need it yourself. You always do get hurt after all."
"It's my life to risk, I'm getting you out of here." He gently broke her hold of his wrist, before grabbing the canister off his side. "You're gonna be ok. I promise."
"Don't do that." Yu coughed harshly. "Don't make me a promise… D-Don't blame yourself… sir."
"You're going to be fine." He uncapped the canister, looking up into her face as he did. He paused there when she didn't respond, moving a hand to the top of her throat. "She's unconscious. Fairfire, what's the status on our reinforcements?"
"Minus ten, sir."
"Nathan, grab her. If her luck holds out, she might just live until evac."
"Roger, sir." Holstering his weapon, the soldier moved over to pick up his wounded comrade. She grunted as he did so, although whether that was a sign of her being conscious or not Pyrrha didn't know. She hoped not, as the amount of pain she must have been going through was beyond what most could imagine.
"Entrance is this way." Torchwick gestured towards the side, this time taking point as he did so. It wasn't far before they were back at the familiar large doors that Pyrrha had noticed on her way in. Doors that were now closed. "Shit."
"Can you get them open?" The Lieutenant asked.
"It'll take time without the external power to help, the doors were designed to close damn near instantly, so opening them will take a few minutes." Torchwick walked over to a door on the wall. "The controls are in here, so keep me alive long enough and we can all get out." He didn't stop to wait for them to respond, shutting the door and getting to work right away.
"Nathan, take Yu over to the door and prop her up somewhere safe and out of sight. I don't want a stray round to hit her." The Lieutenant started issuing orders. "Fairfire and I will take up defensive positions to guard the doorway deeper into the bunker."
"What do you need me to do?" Pyrrha asked, desperate for some task to throw herself into.
"You get the honor of dealing with any Huntsman level combatants." He replied, moving over to a metal container that looked like it could top a few bullets and offered a decent view of the doorway. "Fill in the gaps where you need to." He gestured towards Neo. "Can she fight?"
The girl's smirk was equal parts smug and annoyed. Though she seemed relieved when Pyrrha nodded. She had beaten Yang in a fight, that wasn't easy, and so long as Torchiwck was still here Pyrrha didn't think she was likely to run.
"Eyes up, they know we're up here." Torchwick's voice came over the intercom system, warning them just as bodies started to rush out of the way they had come. The first few only made it a few steps before stumbling under the intense fire. The others hesitated, digging in behind the doorway.
Pyrrha drew Allos and switched it to its rifle form before taking aim. These White Fang kept their heads down unless they were firing, and the few hits she did manage to land didn't do much because of their Aura. Slowly, the White Fang managed to advance. A few slipping into the main entrance, rushing to take cover behind large crates of valuables that Torchwick's men hadn't managed to get out with.
One made a move for the doorway to the controls, easily guessing at what they were trying to do. They made it to the handle before their Aura broke and they collapsed under the coordinated fire from the soldiers and her. Neo, apparently lacking a ranged weapon, kept her head down and stayed out of the way for now.
As it was, the White Fang's progress was slow, but they were making progress. It was difficult to defend the door to the control room and themselves at the same time due to its position on the opposite wall. Their only real saving grace was the fact the cover located near it was clearly not made to stop bullets, and even the White Fang was hesitant to dive behind it. The few that tried met with similar fates as the first.
All in all, they had been doing well, and the White Fang had started to falter; for all of a few minutes. Something changed however, she noticed the shift in their morale long before she saw the actual cause of it. Their slowly faltering attacks were renewed with an intensity that had her ducking for cover. When she tried to regain her initiative and fire back, the moment her eyes crested the top of her cover she was met with the silhouette of something running at her. She managed to get her shield up in time to block it, though the metal had only just barely stopped shifting from its sheath as a red sword slammed into it.
She was pushed back under the assault, unable to attack back as Allos slowly transformed back into its sword form. Her assailant noticed the shifting and tried to intercept it, aiming down for her sword arm's wrist in the hopes of making her drop the weapon before it could be properly used. She managed to twist enough to bring her shield up and catch the sword once more, but her shield arm faltered and with another strike it was thrown to the ground back behind her.
Allos was done shifting however, back into its sword form, and she brought it around to ward off the man's follow up. His red blade seemed to move faster than she could see, and it was only due to experience that she was able to keep up. She blocked a strike from overhead, stepping aside and attempting to utilize the momentum to bring her blade around on his side. His own sword met hers halfway however, forcing her back. With a flourish, he disentangled their swords and struck again, this time diagonally; aiming for the spot her shoulder met her neck. She brought her blade up to block, only to realize no strike landed as his blade continued on; its wielder having pulled the sword back enough so that it wouldn't hit its target.
His feint worked, her sword too out of position to stop his follow up to her side. Her Aura sparked and she allowed the force to push her back. As her feet slid across the floor she positioned her stance, adopting a more defensive and prepared form that offered her more protection than the hastily thrown together defense before. He followed quickly after her, not giving her a moment to prepare.
The pace and pressure of his assault was impressive and, as she was once again thrown back she realized, more than she could match. He was better with a sword than she was. That was clear as he easily tore through her guard and landed another hit on her Aura. The strike was rather superficial, only taking a small portion of her Aura with it, but those strikes were quickly adding up. Clearly losing the melee, Pyrrha took a deep breath and called on the magic within her.
Her attacks tripled in speed, the sudden shift of which caught her assailant entirely off guard and drove him back. He still managed to catch half of her strikes, but the rest landed true and leveled the Aura field once more.
He didn't rush back in to attack her, nor did he try to taunt her or withdraw, however. He simply observed her for several long moments. Were the soldiers not so busy with their own fights, they might have been able to fire on him, but with his charge had come a flood of White Fang to back him up.
Pyrrha breathed heavily, the exhaustion from using even such a comparatively simple trick making itself known. Her opponent's foot shifted forward and that was all the warning she got before he was once more on top of her. He wasn't nearly as aggressive this time however, using more probing attacks than before and being cautious of any movements she made.
Whatever opening he was looking for, he seemingly found. He lunged forward suddenly, driving her sword aside and pushing well into her guard. Had his strike landed, he would have pushed her back once more, but Neo had picked just the right moment to attack. Her sword cut directly into his side, Aura sparking and forcing him back. He managed to deflect Pyrrha's own follow up however as he pulled back.
"There you are." The man spoke for the first time since she had started fighting him, voice barely audible over the rapid gunfire in the relatively small space.
Despite now being outnumbered, he didn't disengage or pull back. He stood his ground, and observed the two of them closely. Pyrrha took a deep breath, slid her foot back, and once again called on her magic. He noticed the shift of course, but by the time that he had his sword up she was already striking. Most hits landed on the flat of his blade, forcing it up against his chest. He grunted in pain, Aura sparking once more as he was forced back.
There was some kind of explosion before Neo could follow up behind her however, forcing Pyrrha back and shooting up dust to cut off her visibility of her opponent. She readied herself for him to strike again, only for said strike to never come. The smoke began to clear just in time for her to see a slash of red, and the head of Lieutenant Meadows roll across the ground.
There was a sudden loud blaring as the large metal doors slowly started to open, offering them their much needed escape. The moment it did, and despite the loss of their commander, Farfire and Nathan started pulling back, stopping only to grab Yu before yelling for them to follow. Torchwick stepped out of the control room door; a small army of White Fang between him and escape. She met his eyes for a moment, the sudden movement of the door drawing her attention away from the horrifying scene of the man she had followed in here dying.
The room glowed red suddenly, drawing her attention back just as her opponent drew the weapon he had sheathed. The blast that hit her and Neo nearly succeeded in shattering her Aura; the fact that it didn't was a minor miracle; the force did launch her back through the doorway however, Neo landing with a roll a few feet beside her as her Aura broke.
Pyrrha tried to struggle to her feet, the breath having been less knocked out and more forcibly removed from her lungs. It was slow however, and had her opponent been able to follow through she certainly would have died. The large metal door falling back into place stopped that however. She had managed to breath again as she heard a familiar voice once again come over the intercom.
"Get Neo out of here." Gone was the arrogance and pomp that the gentleman thief was known for, in its place was a certain dejected acceptance. There was a loud explosion over the intercom, as it suddenly cut out. When the doors didn't start opening once more, she realized that must have been the controls. "That'll buy you some time, but not much. Neo knows where I kept the scroll, hold up your end of the deal, and it's yours. Get her someplace safe."
The girl in question could barely stand, the fact she was conscious at all was a miracle, and she still had the energy to resist Sergeant Fairfire as she pulled the girl back from the door. Not much resistance, but the attempt was still made.
"Ma'am, we need to go!" Nathan picked up Yu once more, moving towards a nearby alleyway. "LZ is this way."
Fairfire tried to get Neo to move with her, but the girl seemingly found her strength once more, clawing at the soldier as she tried to move back in the direction of the door. Pyrrha moved over to her, helping Fairfire to drag her back some before giving up on getting her to come willingly. They didn't have time, she very much doubted that the White Fang hadn't left forces outside the building. It was just a matter of time before more showed up. Neo resisting might very well get them all killed.
Moving her arm under the girl's head, Pyrrha slowly started to choke her. By the time she realized what was happening, Pyrrha already had a solid hold; without Aura, there was very little she could do. She was unconscious before long, thrown over Fairfire's shoulder, and on her way towards the alleyway.
I'm sorry. Pyrrha signed internally, though she wasn't sure exactly who she was apologizing to at this point. This mission hadn't gone anything like what they expected, and their casualties were high. She only hoped the price they paid would be worth it; that the men and women of Atlas could make some use out of the scroll, assuming that they got it of course.
It would be just her luck for it to turn out to be a dud.
Author's Note: And thus, our favorite thief falls once more. I hope this chapter lived up to the extra wait and as always I Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review. Just a heads up, the site has changed how they do notifications, so you may want to make sure your settings reflect correctly if you want to get emails whenever this story is updated. Until next time.
Sincerely, SE