A Public Display
Torchwick was surprisingly good. She hadn't quite expected proper technique from a mere thief, but he'd clearly had some form of training in the past. He fell back, balance steady, cane twisting in his hands as he blocked and parried her attacks.
Variation of the Gentleman's Style... no. A partial version. He's half trained.
She twisted at hips, avoiding a sudden thrust of his weapon towards her throat.
Very fast. Aura reserves solid. Semblance unknown. Test flexibility.
The tiniest tug of her semblance warped the air around her free hand, letting her divert his follow up slash at her temple, disguising his miss by her simply swaying slightly to avoid the impact. The combination left him unbalanced, wide open for two quick cuts to his chest that drew flares of orange light.
He growled what sounded like rather foul swear words as she drove him back. His stance became shakier as she began using her semblance to increase the power of her blows; yanking her weapon forward each time it collided with his.
To his credit, she was sure he tried to adjust his strategy. Tried to dart back to regroup, but she wasn't about to give him that space.
"Fast bitch, ain't ya?" Apparently word games were his next defense. "Why don't you-cunt!"
The thief bounced even farther back, shaking his left hand where Milo had come down on his fingers. The other barely kept his cane up when she pressed her advantage, driving him even farther away from the bus station. Away from her friend, and away from the crowd who'd started to creep closer for better views rather than staying back.
What I wouldn't give for arena walls right now!
Not that the movement discouraged them. Behind her, she could hear the crowd still screaming, cheering and jeering in equal measure. Some had even started chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' as if this was all part of the club's entertainment.
Pyrrha blamed the almost mockery of an arena fight for forgetting that Blake wouldn't be content to simply stay back, content to let her handle things.
At least until her friend darted past, her own weapon snapping forwards as she tried to entangle their opponent. Her sudden arrival threw Pyrrha off, forcing her to side-step to give Blake room, with Torchwick just quick enough to dodge the blade and its ribbon.
He bought himself more time with the same maneuver he'd used in the parking garage; the moment he had space he lowered his cane, then yanked the trigger three times in quick succession. The blasts tore up the street, hurling gravel and dust up and into their eyes and mouths, finally drawing sounds of alarm from the people far behind.
Coughing, she grabbed Blake by the shoulder, pulling her back behind her before the other girl could try to simply rush through the screen.
"He's running!" The other girl protested.
"He's not!" She shouted back, focused on the two metallic objects her semblance told her were just ahead.
When the dust settled a few seconds later she could see that Torchwick was no longer alone; his dainty partner stood beside him, her parasol held in a two handed grip as it rested on her shoulder. A smug little grin was on her lips as she moved, taking a spot in front of Torchwick just as Pyrrha was half in front of Blake.
"About time, Neo." Torchwick drawled. "Mind keeping not-so-copper-top busy for me? I've got a kitten to corral."
Narrowing her eyes, Pyrrha rolled one step forward. "I do not think that will go well for either of you."
The thief cocked his head to one side. "Ya know. You're kind of familiar, have we threatened you before?"
Not seeing any reason to continue bantering with criminals, Pyrha brought Milo up to an inside guard... and then advanced.
Her petite opponent kept smirking, not moving an inch as she drew closer.
A test thrust at her chin saw the parasol suddenly sweep down, batting the light attack aside. Just beyond, Torchwick began to move to the right, trying to get around them. Not about to let him, Pyrrha's thumb struck Milo's selector. It whirred and rolled, expanding into a javelin as she brought it up in a telegraphed miss.
The girl surged in at once, ducking to be ready to drive the tip of her strange weapon into Pyrrha's belly... and the caught the expanding shaft across her temple for her troubles.
Twisting around, she pushed through the impact, sending the girl stumbling to one side, letting her complete the motion with a thrust at the taller man. Growling, he parried the attack, but he too off balance to counter.
"Please surrender!" She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice. The pride. This was better than any championship. Better than any duel in a tournament.
Fighting unknown criminals without days of preparation. Without hours of minute study of semblances, exact aura percentages, without a dozen spars against exact styles.
This is the life I wanted. This is being a real huntress!
"Fuck!" Torchwick stumbled back, trying to adjust to her longer reach as she thrust and cut, using both the blade and shaft to strike at his arms, shoulders, chest. His eyes widened further when he finally managed another pair of blocks, then was caught off guard when she simply shifted Milo back down to its sword form to make his next move strike nothing...
...leaving her free to slam its edge into his stomach, cleaving into his aura.
Behind her she heard Blake shouting, more sounds of battle. Their partners must have engaged, conducting their own duel just out of her sight.
She'd have to hurry then. It wouldn't do to let Blake fight alone, that was her duty.
Torchwick recovered more quickly after a glance over her shoulder, he must have had a better view of the other fight. When she resumed her offensive he seemed faster, more ready to hold his ground.
He's finally taking me seriously. Interesting.
After deflecting a slash he tried for his little ground-attack plan for the third time, but she was ready for it. The moment his cane began to lower she surged into him, accepting an off-balance strike to her hip in exchange for driving her left fist into his cheek.
She didn't realize that he'd pulled the trigger on his cane until the explosion went off directly behind her... and it was far more powerful than it should have been.
Heat and pain made her yelp, staggering in surprise. It left her open for a snarling headbutt, which sent her lurching backwards, trying to recover. To her surprise Torchwick seemed content to give her that, backing up as well until they were half a dozen paces apart.
"I know that damned face now. That high-priced toy you're using." His eyes narrowed to slits. "You're that Nikos bitch, aren't you?"
Shaking her head once to clear it, she settled Milo back into a two handed grip without replying.
That blast was too strong. Semblance. Desperation that close. His aura must be low.
The moment before she could transition Milo into its rifle mode, to finish off his protection at range, the other duel spilled over into their own.
Blake was losing. Badly from the desperate way she using her own semblance to dodge repeated cuts and strikes from the sword and parasol her opponent was wielding. Her own dual-weapons were blurs as she tried to deflect or block what attacks she could, but it was clearly all she could do to stay one step ahead.
Reacting on instinct, Pyrrha stepped hard to her left and thrust when the mute girl tried to get past, forcing her to pull up with a ferocious scowl.
Neither engaged, retreating after the single move to again stand protectively in front of their partners.
"She's too good." Blake was gasping for breath. "Too fast. Illusion semblance. Kept getting behind me."
"Got it." Pyrrha replied distractedly, making sure to not turn away from the two criminals. "Stay close, against my back please."
Rather than reply, she felt Blake shift until she was almost pressing against her back.
Torchwick mimicked them in turn, moving to stand directly behind his much shorter friend. "Can't believe I didn't see that the first time around. How did a Mistrali arena doll end up with you, kitty-cat?"
"Tell us where the White-Fang are operating from!" Blake demanded in turn. "Why are they working with a racist like you?"
"Rude to ask questions when you haven't even answered mine." That smirk slowly returned, looking far more sinister and unpleasant now. "Got a fetish, Nikos?"
She felt her cheeks warm at the insinuation. "Answer her question, Torchwick."
"Heh." His grin sharpened further. "You know what? I don't think I will. I think I've got a better plan now, meaning this is where our little game ends."
Oh no. He's going to tell everyone I'm in Vale.
Several things happened all at once after that.
First, Roman tried to speak. "Neo? Do your-"
Second, Pyrrha kicked off from her back foot, charging in to try and stop whatever was about to occur.
Third... the crowd behind them abruptly let out panicked screams, and a stampede began to sound on the concrete.
Pyrrha was just about within reach of the criminals when they abruptly shattered into shards of fading glass. The bizarre sight made her draw up, blinking rapidly, until she heard Blake shout behind her.
A quick turn revealed the two criminals darting into an alleyway. She was ready to follow when the line for The Club surged between them.
"Move!" Blake's second shout came as a panicked woman struck her friend from behind, driving her to a knee. A veritable mob was surging out of the nightclub they'd just left, covering the street as it raced in a panicked flight away from the building.
Reversing direction, Pyrrha got to Blake a second before the crowd could trample her.
Acting entirely on instinct, she simply hauled the smaller girl up and into her arms. Blake out a startled noise, then wrapped her own arms around Pyrrha's neck to hang on when she began running the same way that the crowd was moving.
"Not this way!" Blake yelped into her ear. "We have to go after them!"
"I'll try!" She had to scream the words back to be heard over the sounds of panicked confusion... and somewhere even farther behind, rumbles of gunfire and explosions.
She did her best to swerve to the right, to push in that direction, but the crowd wasn't having any of it. Whatever terror had gripped them seemed to leave hundreds of people interested only in running directly away from what had frightened them.
By the time Pyrrha managed to get them into the shelter of another alley they were several blocks away, and even she knew that Torchwick would be long gone.
Her arms were burning by that point, and it was a bit of a relief to gently let Blake down to her feet.
"Dammit. Dammit! We had him!" Blake was already fuming. "I... dammit!"
"It's all right." Pyrrha assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Blake, calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down! We had him and he got away!" When Pyrrha flinched back, Blake's ears flatted immediately. "I... gods. I'm sorry. I need to stop doing that. I'm acting like... no. I'm sorry."
"It's all right." She tried.
"No it's not." Blake stepped forwards, groaning as she let her head fall against Pyrrha's shoulder.
Not sure what else to do, she gently put her arms around the smaller girl, trying to comfort her. "It's all right."
"It's not." Blake muttered again. "I'm sorry. Dammit. I need to be better than this."
Biting her lip, she tried to cheer her up. "We didn't get him, but we learned a lot, didn't we? And we still have that lead from the club."
"...yeah, we did." There was a heavy sigh. "That girl with him. She's definitely the fighter of the pair. And her semblance... I don't know how we're going to deal with that. When we got after Torchwick again, we might need to avoid her."
"I can handle her."
"Pyrrha, she turn invisible and create an illusion of herself."
Pyrrha smiled, remembering what she'd felt in the garage. "She can't mimic how metal feels to my semblance."
"Oh. Right." A nod nudged her a shoulder a bit. "Right. Next time, I fight Torchwick, you take her."
"That sounds like a very good plan to me. He's decent, but I don't think either of us would have a real problem with him one on one." She paused, then lowered her voice. "Um... I'm afraid Torchwick guessed who I am."
Blake made a quiet sound of displeasure. "...great. Was going to happen sooner or later, but I was hoping for later."
"...me too. Um, what do we do?"
"...we check to see what happened to make the crowd panic. Then we take the long way back to the hotel. We do research, we train, and we make sure we win the next round."
It was Pyrrha's turn to nod. "All right. I should put my bandanna on, right?"
"Yes. And keep it on in public from now on, we've got to make it hard for anyone else to recognize you."
No argument.
Blake started to step back, seemed to hesitate, then came closer before wrapping her own arms around Pyrrha in a hug.
Oh. This is... this is nice.
Gently tightening her own grip, she enjoyed the moment until Blake relaxed, moving back. She did the same, and found herself smiling while Blake blushed and glanced away.
"Um, thanks." Her friend mumbled. "For, everything."
"Of course!"
For some reason that just made Blake's cheeks redden further, "Yeah. Um, right. Let's get moving. I want to see what happened to The Club, and if it's going to cause us more problems. We'll help anyone that's hurt, but we can't stick around if the authorities are coming."
"I understand."
Getting their weapons settled beneath Blake's coat once again, Pyrrha quickly pulled her bandanna off of her arm and fixed it over her nose and lips. Then they set off into now quiet streets, walking back towards the criminal den they'd left not more than a quarter hour before.
There were several civilians on the ground, Pyrrha felt her pace quicken at once to bring her close to the nearer of them. A young man was groaning as he sat against a wall, clutching at his arm.
"Broken. Got slammed into the building." He gritted out when she arrived. When she started to kneel he shook his head, "I'm not dying, go. Find someone hurt more."
"That is very kind of you. Doctors will be here soon!"
He nodded gratefully, then let his head fall back as she moved on. Blake was already kneeling next to another young man, using the ribbon she occasionally used to hide her ears to cover a bleeding cut on his forehead.
Fortunately that was about the worst of the bleeding, and there were only a few others laying injured. Most of them seemed to simply have had the breath knocked out of them, or been concussed when they'd struck buildings or fallen.
The best they could do was guide everyone all over into a single location next to the first man she'd run into.
"Come along, miss." She carefully guided a young woman who was barely able to stand, probably as much because of the giant heels she wore compared to the small bruise on her temple. "Sit down here. Sir? Can you make sure she stays awake?"
"Yeah. Thank the gods at least one of you hunters is kind."
She winced, venturing a question. "Is that what started this?"
"Yeah. Some bitch started brawling with the staff in The Club."
Oh dear.
He turned, using his shoulder to nudge the girl now sitting beside him, then froze. His expression turned angry, nodding to someone in the distance. "That bitch."
Turning as well, she saw a blonde figure in the distance stroll out of the club. Even from a distance her stance was frustrated, annoyed as they stomped over to a motorcycle parked on the far side of the street. Whatever they'd hoped to do inside must not have worked out for them.
And just beyond her... flashing blue and red lights began to draw closer, casting shadows on the buildings.
"Petra." Blake's call was a warning.
Right. "The authorities are arriving. They'll take care of everyone."
The man nodded one last time. "Yeah. Thank you again. Wait, I didn't get your names? Should at least know your names."
Pyrrha hesitated, then a touch on her elbow drew her back before she could reply. She followed Blake away from the little group, plunging down the same alley that Torchwick had used to escape.
Emerging on the next street over, she wasn't surprised when Blake kept them moving rather than simply heading for the nearest bus stop. Much like when they'd left Tukson, they went in seemingly every direction for more than an hour. Doubling back twice, walking in a circle around a block once, and asking Pyrrha to use her semblance to feel for out of place weapons no fewer than five times.
Winding up near downtown, Blake finally guided her down to a subway station, paying for two tickets with their limited money.
"We'll get off at the Wall Station." She said once they'd settled on a bench to wait, only a few other people lingering around considering the increasingly late hour. "Then we'll take the back alleys to the hotel. We have to stay in tomorrow, can you handle that?"
"I believe so."
Blake groaned at the response. "No, Pyrrha. Tell me honestly."
That made her blush and cough into a fist. "Um. Maybe if we push one of the beds over so I can properly exercise?"
"...we can try that." The other girl's head fell back against the wall. "We'll need to keep the news on, in case Torchwick tries to slow us down by going public that you're in Vale."
Please, gods, do not let him do that.
If he called that in somehow, it seemed very likely that the people at the gym would think it public knowledge. They might innocently confirm it with online posts of some kind, or simple bragging that she'd gone there.
"We should, um, check in on the gym I went to." She murmured. "Ask them to please remain quiet."
"...smart." Blake covered a yawn. "Day after tomorrow. How long until the train gets here?"
She was looking for a clock when a gravely man replied, "Least twenty minutes. This one's always late."
"Oh, thank you..." Her voice trailed off when she saw the speaker not quite staring at them, so much as glaring. "...oh. You're, um..."
"Qrow Branwen." The Huntsman they'd seen in Ozpin's office growled his name, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You have any idea of annoying it was to run you two down?"
"I-"
Blake spoke over her, "We were just-"
"Save it. I got questions, you've got answers." When Blake's ears flattened against her hair, he snorted once, and drew a scroll in one hand. "You can answer mine, or I can get Glynda down here to ask 'em instead. You have no idea how pissy she was about having to clean up that bookstore for you."
Pyrrha winced, and felt Blake do the same beside her.
"Thought so."
Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."
Thanks, Kat