Main theme: Can't Trust Anybody Now by Jeff Williams
Arc Theme: Deep Stone Crypt from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
Theme: Control from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack
{BANG BANG BANG}
Red streaks of light whizz past them and shattered against the walls around them both, passing through the brick, creating spiderweb cracks within the stone, and coughing up fragments and splinters of rock at them as they ran, ran, ran.
Ruby and Jaune continued to sprint through the alleyways of Vale, trying to slink away from their attackers into the darkness of the night, to no avail. Their bodies were weighed down by thick blood that wasn't theirs, their cloaks stained a wet crimson as it weighed them down and wetted them like sludge or tar.
And yet they kept running.
Their pursuers did not stop running either, the black-armoured men continuing to pop shots at them whenever they had the chance, firing their weapons and letting out clap after clap of loud sound as red flares of heat continued to whizz past them, Ruby pulling on Jaune's hand as they continued to round corner after corner, pushing over rubbish bins and box stacks behind them in an attempt to slow down the people following them, and-
Up ahead, two more armed figures emerged at the end of the alleyway in front of them, covered in the shadows of the buildings around them as they raised their weapons and-
"No!"
Ruby pulled tightly onto Jaune and-
{FWOOSH}
SCATTER
SCATTER
SCATTER
SCATTER
SCATTER
SCATTER
SCATTER
SCATTER
He felt sick.
It happened all of a sudden. In a single second, his entire body seemed to disassemble itself, scattering into fragments and- Petals? Petals. He had merged with Ruby to form a cloud of white and red petals that comingled together and leapt over the two men before them, skimming upside the wall next to them, and then leaping up high into the air, before-
{BANG BANG BANG}
-A green trio of bolts went through the cloud. The sniper from before had caught up with them, flinging green rounds of light at them as he leapt between the alleyways and sprinted over the roofs around them. The rounds punched through the cloud of petals and scattered them, making Jaune want to vomit from all of the sudden motion only for him to remember that he didn't have a mouth or eyes or a body anymore because it was all scattered and he was flying and it FELT SO FAMILIAR-
The cloud of red and white petals changed its course in an instant and slammed into the ground behind the two armoured men, reforming into Ruby and Jaune as he almost fell to the floor and dry heaved for a moment as his body reformed from scattered nothingness, like he was being threaded together with ribbons of sinew and tendons, stitching himself back into existence as he clung to the wall, teeth chattering together and eyes watering as his mind tried to process what the fuck just happened he was something then he was nothing then something again what the hell did I just die then not die what the fuck was that-
He was very much on the verge of a panic attack.
Nearby, Ruby looked at her hands, shaking, and muttered, "What the... How did I..."
{BANG BANG}
A pair of green rounds impacted with the floor next to Ruby, and both she and Jaune remembered what was happening as she grabbed his hand and began to pull him down the alleyways, before-
{FWOOSH}
-Somehow turned them both into rose petals once more, bursting down the alleyways, pursued by their relentless would-be killers as Jaune felt himself fall apart only to reform once more, skin shivering and stitching itself back together like clumps of petals turning to clay turning to flesh and bone and blood.
Another round of bolts impacted with the wall nearby, reminding them that their pursuers were still right on their heel.
"Why are they missing?" Ruby said to herself as they ran, "They had us dead to rights loads of times, yet they keep missing..."
"What the- Ruby, what the hell was that?!" Jaune called out in a panic as she continued to pull him along, "We were- We were petals for a second, and then-"
"That was my semblance, Jaune! It was just my- I didn't know that I could carry more than one person with me, so-"
"Your 'Semblance'?! What the fuck does that mean?! What was with that supernatural bullshit back there?!"
Ruby stopped, and looked at Jaune, "...Jaune, do you not know what a-"
{BANG}
{CRACK}
Another green round from up above slammed into the wall next to them, reminding them of the sniper above, and once more they were on the move, running down the alleyways as time after time again, the armoured men in black cornered them and forced them down opposing alleyways, as if they were-
"Corralling us," Jaune realised. From the looks of it, Ruby did too, "They're forcing us down different alleyways, like they're trying to lead us somewhere."
"We need to get up high," Ruby told him as they rounded a corner, "And get out of these alleyways. Onto the roofs and away from these guys. Out of danger as well."
"Weren't the sniper back there force us ground when you turned us into- Oh god, turned us into rose petals or something?"
"Well, yeah, but-" up ahead, down the alleyway, a trio of black-armoured men cornered them and aimed down the sights of their weapons, "-Crap! This way!"
As the armoured men- Armoured soldiers- Opened fire, spraying red strings of light down the alleyway, Ruby grabbed onto Jaune and-
{FWOOSH}
-Turned them into a cloud of red and white rose petals once more, the bullets phasing through them as they jetted down the alleyway, the both of them reforming once more as-
"There!"
-At the end of a long alleyway was what looked to be an exit into the streets, and out of the claustrophobic alleys between buildings.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." Ruby muttered to herself, keeping her eyes on her feet as they ran down the alley, before her eyes lit up with, "My dad!"
"What?!" Jaune yelled out.
"My dad owns a private security business, and he's got connections to Beacon Academy! He can send help! He can help us!" pulling her scroll out of her pocket, she began to dial a number, "I just need to call him and-"
{BANG}
{SHATTER}
A green bolt from the sniper above landed on her scroll and sent it flying out of her hand, sparking on the floor as the screen shattered, flickered, and died.
"Dammit, hold on!" Ruby yelped as she grabbed onto Jaune once more, and-
{FWOOSH}
-Burst them both into rose petals once more and sped down the alley, out into the open streets and air that didn't suffocate them in claustrophobia like in the alleyways beforehand, the cloud of rose petals speeding down the street before-
{SLAM}
"Augh!"
"Oof!"
OW
-Slamming into the side of a car and breaking apart, Jaune and Ruby both being reformed as the car tilted to the side, a big dent in its door as it landed back on the ground, whilst Jaune and Ruby were sent spinning through the air, before-
{THUD THUD}
-Landing hard on the ground-
{SLIIIIIIDE}
-And skidding hard across the smooth porcelain pavement, trailing blood from their cloaks into streets across the once spotless floor beneath them, before-
{SLAM}
-Coming to a halt when slamming into the side of another car on another side of the square, the both of them groaning in pain as Jaune felt a sharp pain in one of his shoulders- Had he pulled or broken something- Before he and Ruby began to pull themselves back up onto their feet by grabbing onto the car behind them and-
Wait.
SQUARE
Had he said 'Square'?
…
Oh no...
Jaune looked around, and recognised where he was. Porcelain square with white cubes on top of them, with benches surrounding a trio of angel statues flying out of the ground below.
Gris Square.
And nearby, the White Fang and HLF protestors were still gathered, now sagging their picket signs as they looked at the two bloodied children in confusion, the policemen across the side still doing nothing about it all.
Why were they still...
Oh no.
At the far end of the square, the sniper jumped down from the roof and onto the roof of a car, crumpling it inward and shattering its windows as its alarm began to blare. Around him, over a dozen soldiers gathered, their armour as dark as the night, and their green visors glistening in the streetlights around them.
They raised their weapons-
DOWN!
DOWN!
DOWN!
DOWN!
DOWN!
DOWN!
DOWN!
DOWN!
"GET DOWN!"
-And opened fire.
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
{BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM}
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
{CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM CHOOM}
Bullets and blasts filled the air, red streaks of light colouring the world a flashing crimson as the bullets tore through the world around them, shredding apart the cars and brick cubes parked and placed around and in the square, embedding themselves within the porcelain and tearing apart the metal as Ruby pulled Jaune behind the car to their back and-
{CRACK}
{CRUMPLE}
{SHATTER}
-Covered their heads with their hands as they both curled up into balls and screamed as the bullets continued to fly and impact with the car behind them, dislodging the car doors and popping the tires as the world around them screamed and cried with shattering windows and panicking civilians.
The crowds of White Fang and HLF nearby began to scatter, the bullets tearing through them and scattering their blood and gore over the ground beneath them, dyeing the white square red as bodies dropped to the floor by the dozens, eyes staring upwards and mouths wide open in screams as they all twitched and spasmed and then fell still, silent and dead.
All of the policemen nearby scattered into the buildings, wordlessly, and almost methodically. Jaune barely noticed.
SUSPECT
Bullets continued to fly in the dozens, then hundreds, flying into the windows of houses nearby and eliciting screams from dozens of people as they fled to cover and hid themselves away from the violence breaking out in the square. The Providence soldiers from before tried to put up a fight, but-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-The sniper from before sent seven green bolts of light into seven necks, dropping them before they could even reach for their weapons in splatters of blood. The rest of them scrambled to cover, unable to poke their heads out to spray back their own fire, less they be killed as well.
The soldiers in black continued to fire and fire, unloaded round after round into the square, killing everyone that they saw, and forcing everyone that they didn't to scamper and hide away as the world continued to shatter and break apart around them.
Nearby, a holographic streetlight flickered out of existence as an actual streetlight crumpled under the bullets shredding its base, before falling to the ground and-
{SHATTER}
-Breaking apart, the metal bending underneath the sudden force and pressure as nearby, a car caught on fire from all of the rounds slicing through the metal and engines, before a stray bullet pierced through its fuel container and-
{BOOM}
-Sent a bright orange fireball sprawling up into the sky, drenching the world in smoke and flaming shards of debris as everyone's ears began to ring and begin to bleed from all of the loud noises around them, their eyes burning from the flashing lights burning their retinas and blinding them.
Jaune and Ruby winced more as they covered themselves from the bullets whizzing past them, as Jaune finally recovered equilibrium over his panicking mind, if only for a few moments, and called out to Ruby, "We need to move!"
"What?!"
"I said we need to move!"
"How?!" Ruby shouted in a panic as she pulled her arm away from the side of the car before a bullet punched through the metal near her, the car behind her deflating slightly as she covered herself once more.
It surprised Jaune that she was asking him what to do, considering how confident she had been before, and how knowledgeable she had been with the Huntsman life. Frankly, he didn't know what to-
SHIELD
…Huh?
SHIELD
SHIELD
SHIELD
SHIELD
SHIELD
SHIELD
SHIELD
SHIELD
He blinked. Why were they... Why were they-
BLOCK
SHOOT
BLOCK
SHOOT
BLOCK
SHOOT
BLOCK
SHOOT
…
He looked down to the sheath at his waist, and pulled it into his hands, weighing it in his hands, and then spotting the switch in the pack of it.
"Ruby, do you still have that handgun on you?"
"Huh?" Ruby went, before remembering the handgun that she had swiped off of the dead goons in the dust shop, pulling it out from her waist- Having previously shoved it in there for easier transportation- And looking back to Jaune as she gripped it in her hand, "Y-Yeah, why?"
Jaune pressed the button on his sheath-
{VWIP}
-And expanded it outwards into a shield.
"I block, you shoot."
Ruby blinked, and then quickly nodded, catching on to what he was saying.
Jaune nodded back to her, and then took in a deep breath, "Okay then... When should we move? Where to?"
Ruby blinked, and then looked around, staying silent for a second, before pointing out a side street in the corner of the square, shielded by a pair of cars that was filled with dead passengers, their blood covering the windows and seats within, "There," she went, "If we can run down that alleyway, then it should-" she retracted her finger as a bullet whizzed by, too close for comfort, "-Be a straight shot from here to the police station, or my dad's private force, or at least somewhere safer than-"
"Augh!" nearby, a civilian woman, hidden behind one of the porcelain blocks in the square, clutched her side, trying to keep the blood from a bullet wound from pouring out. Nearby, one of the Providence soldiers- Their leader with the pauldron on his left shoulder- Was pinned down by fire.
"Dammit!" Ruby hissed as a bullet slammed into the car nearby, before looking at Jaune and going, "We need to help them!"
Jaune winced, and bit the inside of his cheeks in debate, before nodding to her and raising his shield.
"I block, you shoot," he repeated.
"Right."
Bullets continued to fly over them in red strings of blinding light, crashing into the buildings nearby in torrents, crumpled shells clanging down onto the ground as smoke filled the air in clouds and streams, blurring the world as everything began to grow murky and washed out.
"When I say go, we go," Ruby said to Jaune as they prepared to move, "Got it?"
"Got it."
Ruby held up a hand, "Wait for it..."
The bullets continued to fly past them and embed themselves into their shelter, deafening the world as what looked like a news Bullhead began to hover nearby, far enough away from the fight to not be of any harm.
"Wait for it..."
Red continued to fill the world, streams of bullets flying past them more and more and more.
And then some of the streams stopped.
They were reloading.
"GO!"
Jaune threw himself out of cover, standing tall and thrusting his shield out in front of him. Ruby followed quickly after, pushing herself behind his shield and body, using him as moving cover, as she pointed her handgun outwards, towards the black-armoured soldiers on the far end of Gris Square and-
{BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM}
-Letting loose blue strings of light at them, spraying wildly at anything that moved as she forced them to duck for cover, the sniper leading them jumping down from the car that he was perched on and-
{BANG BANG BANG}
-Sending a trio of green rounds at them, impacting with Jaune's shield and almost knocking him off balance with each shot if not for Ruby supporting him as they ran across the side, their sudden burst of movement drawing the attention of the soldiers that weren't suppressed by them, and causing them to-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-Fire at them, sending red strings of light at them as they moved from one corner of the square to the other.
The Providence leader noticed this, thankfully, as he pulled up the rifle carbine in his hands- Not the pistol holstered to his waist- And yelled at his fellow surviving mercenaries to-
"Open fire!"
-Taking advantage of the brief pause on the fire against them as they released their own volleys of blasts at their attackers, sending streams of blue-tinged blasts at their opponents, and giving Jaune and Ruby more space and time to move from their original spot to the side of the wounded woman.
It was a fight now, at least, and not a one-sided slaughter.
Tanking several more hits to his shield, Jaune and Ruby were able to quickly duck back down to cover, this time right besides the woman bleeding out- Dodging three green rounds from the sniper as they did- As Jaune pulled Crocea Mors out of its shield sheath, sliced off a long sliver of white fabric from his cloak- Thankfully not part of it that was stained with blood- Before he brought the sliver of fabric to the woman and-
She swatted his hand away, "Get away from me, human!"
Jaune finally noticed the cat ears atop her head- Huh, how had he not noticed that?- And said to hey, "Hey I just want to help!"
"Do as he says, lady!" Jaune was surprised to find that it was the Providence leader calling this out as they both looked at him, his white and red helmet staring blankly at them as he yelled out, "Better that you be treated by a human than you bleeding to death!"
The woman seemed to concede to the Providence mercenary's point, as she muttered, "Fine," and readjusted herself, allowing Jaune to wrap the bandage around her waist, and tighten it around her waist, as nearby-
{BAM BAM BAM}
-Ruby continued to lay down covering fire at the soldiers on the far side of the square, as did the Providence soldiers around them, both sides exchanging volleys of fire with each other, before Ruby turned her head to the Providence leader and loudly asked over the chaos, "Any chance of any backup heading our way?!"
"I've already called for reinforcements, little miss!" the mercenary leader yelled back, before sending three more blue-lit bullets towards the sniper's men on the other side of the square, "There should be an attack shuttle's worth arriving in a few minutes!"
"An attack shuttle?" Jaune muttered to himself, "Sounds like an appropriate name..."
A red blast impacted with the porcelain block next to him, spraying him with red hot rock fragments cutting him out of his thoughts.
"Okay then," he went, before looking around behind him, seeing a dozen other civilians around them, some of them nursing worst injuries than others. They must not have been able to escape with all the others.
Or at least, the others that hadn't been killed already.
"What about these guys?" Jaune loudly asked as he took a moment to try and dry the wet blood off his hands with his jeans, "We need to move them, now!"
"Got any good ideas then, kid?!" the Providence leader yelled out. He seemed to be a lot more cooperative than Jaune would've suspected, at least. Probably just the heat of the battle, "Because we can't move at all with these guys trying to kill us!" he then turned his helmet towards them, "Who are these people, anyways?! Last I saw, they were following you!"
"We have no idea!" Ruby yelled back as she ducked back into cover and turned to face them, "They just shot up the dust store that we were in, and-"
Nearby, two black-armoured soldiers pulled off a flanking manoeuvre, ran down the side of the street, and aimed their carbines at the red-cloaked girl.
"Ruby, look-"
A pair of green bolts shot out from an alleyway nearby, into the necks of both helmeted soldiers, dropping them both dead in a twin spray of blood.
"-Out?"
"Em!" Mercury cried out as the green-haired girl fired off her twin revolvers, Thief's Respite, into the dozen soldiers on the other side of the square, "What are you doing?!"
Emerald didn't care for his complaints as they both ducked back down behind the shaded alleyway, red bolts flying past them as she drew fire away from Orion and his red-cloaked friend.
Honestly, why was Mercury complaining? Didn't he love a fight? She figured that he'd be grateful for pulling him into this, so what right did he have to whine about it?
Besides, she didn't care for his whinging. Not ever before, and certainly not right now.
All she cared about was getting Orion out of there...
One way or another.
"Well, that's convenient," the Providence leader muttered to himself as several of the black-armoured soldiers on the other side of the square turned their fire towards the alleyway, allowing them more breathing room as he turned to both Jaune and Ruby, and went, "What now?"
"Hm..." Jaune hummed, before looking down to the side street nearby, "Maybe... While the bad guys are distracted, if we give the civilians enough cover, we can get them over to that side street, and out of harm's way!" he still needed to yell over the screeching sounds of the battle around him.
"Hm... Good enough plan!" the mercenary called out to him, before raising his carbine to the soldiers attacking them, "You kids go with them! We'll cover you!"
"I'll stay here with you!" Ruby called out as she sent out three more rounds from her handgun at the soldiers on the far side of the square, "They'll need all of the cover that they can get!"
"Not a chance! I'm not risking a kid in this fight!"
"I'm a Huntress-in-training! I can handle myself!" Ruby yelled back, before turning to Jaune and going, "Jaune, you go with them-"
"No way!" was his retort.
"Jaune-"
JAUNE!
"If you're going to risk your life here, then so am I!"
He didn't know where this bout of determination was coming from, but at the moment, he didn't care. He gave Ruby his word, and Arcs don't go back on their word.
That was what his mother and father taught him, and he was going to damn well stick with it.
The Providence mercenary just groaned under his helmet, his body language indicating that he wanted to slam his head against a table, before wheeling around to the both of them and going, "Fine! Just tell us when it's safe to move!" before turning his head to his other side, and communicating this to the last two Providence soldiers with him, most likely through their helmet radios.
Ruby and Jaune peered their eyes over their cover, occasionally ducking down as a round flew near them, but they were able to get a pretty clear image of the fight through the smoke and flaring blaze nearby.
Whoever was shooting at these guys from the alleyway, they were doing a good job of drawing their fire, and even suppressing a pair of them behind one of the nearest cars, keeping them off of him and the people around him, which meant that it was a better time than ever to get these people out of here.
Something poked him in the side. He jumped, and looked to said side to see the Providence leader pulling the pistol from his thigh holster and presenting it to him, "You haven't got a gun, right? Take this!"
"I-I've never shot a-"
"Take it, Arc!"
Jaune nodded suddenly, and took the pistol into his hands, pulling the safety down on it, and-
He blinked, and looked to the Providence leader, "Wait, how do you know my-"
{BANG}
A green round slammed into the front of the Providence leader's helmet and pierced through the metal, throwing him dead to the ground as a trail of smoke left the hole in his head, as did a splatter and trail of blood.
Jaune cried out unintelligibly, and then looked down to the gun in his hands, steeling himself as Ruby nearby pulled the trigger on her handgun once more, and-
{CLICK}
-Discovered it to be empty.
"Dammit!" Ruby cried out as she threw the empty gun away, and looked to Jaune, "I'm out of ammo!"
Jaune looked around, and spotted the carbine that the Providence leader had been using before he was killed. Grabbing it with his spare hand, he then tossed it over to Ruby, and yelled out, "Here!"
Ruby looked despondently at him as she yelled back, "You want me to use a dead person's weapon?!"
"As opposed to using no weapon at all!?"
Ruby scrunched her face up, but seemed to concede to his point as she looked over the gun in her hands- "An ML-15A. Nice."- Before peeking her head around the corner of her cover once more, and going, "Right then," she then turned to the civilians nearby, and told them, "When I say go, you head for the side street over there-" she pointed to the street nearby, "-And don't stop, got it?"
The woman with the white bandage around her arm, as well as the few other civilians around them, nodded reluctantly. Maybe on any other day, they would complain about taking orders from a child, but right now, they seemed to understand that they didn't really have a choice in the matter.
Ruby then turned to the two Providence soldiers near them, "You guys in agreement?" they nodded, and raised their carbines at the enemy, "Good," Ruby then turned to Jaune, and went, "Jaune, you skirt around the side and use your shield to protect them from fire!"
It was an order, not a question, but Jaune nodded his head to it regardless. He'd never shot a gun before, so this was the best that he could do.
"Right then," Ruby nodded back to them, before turning to look back to the battle around them, poking her head out of cover as she then said, "Wait for it..."
Jaune readied himself to move, pulling himself upwards.
"Wait for it..."
He pulled his shield into his hands, pushed it in front of him-
GO
GO
GO
GO
GO
GO
GO
GO
"GO!"
-And stood tall.
Ruby and the two remaining Providence mercenaries began to spam-fire their carbines- ML-15As, apparently- At the soldiers on the far side of Gris Square, in conjunction with whoever was shooting at them from the alleyway nearby, keeping them suppressed as they ducked in and out of cover and unable to return any serious fire as Jaune pulled his shield out in front of him and began to skirt alongside the side of the square-
{BANG BANG BANG}
{CLANG CLANG CLANG}
-Blocking as many shots as he could from hitting the civilians behind them as they picked each other up- Regardless of if they were human or Faunus- And ran to the side street nearby. The air was filled with opposing rounds of red and blue and green as both sides of the fight tried to gain the advantage over the other, just as-
"They're clear! They're safe now!"
-The civilians made it to the far end of the square, and down into the side street, out of harms-
{SCREECH}
A pair of police vans skidded to a halt right in front of them, and out came over a dozen SWAT troopers.
The Valerian police had finally arrived, here to do battle with the soldiers at the far side of the square.
"Oh, hell yes! Finally!" Jaune called out as he ducked back behind a nearby car, "Backup is finally..."
The SWAT Team then raised their guns-
"NO!"
-And opened fire.
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
Red-lit bullets tore through the civilians in front of them, dropping them dead instantly.
Jaune and Ruby both screamed at the sight, and the two Providence mercenaries with them wheeled their heads to whatever they were screaming at-
{BANG BANG}
-Only for rounds of red bolts to nail them in the side, eventually breaking through their armour, and killing them both as they dropped dead to the floor.
Jaune and Ruby whirled their heads to the side as they saw the policemen from before marching out of the houses that they had once been in, automatic weapons now in their hands as they aimed at both of them.
Ruby brought up her ML-15A once more and-
{BANG BANG BANG}
-Let loose three rounds at the obviously corrupt policemen, only for-
{BANG}
-The sniper on the other side of Gris Square, now suddenly a lot closer than before, shot it out of her hands, and left it a smoking heap of metal on the floor.
Ruby ducked to cover, and yelled out, "Jaune! Pistol!"
Jaune, understanding what she meant, tossed the pistol over to her, only for-
{BANG}
-The sniper to shoot it as well, right when it was in mid-air. All of a sudden, his aim had dramatically and spontaneously improved, it would seem.
Jaune swore, and tried to move over to Ruby, using the same blocking method that he had been using before to-
{BANG BANG}
{CLANG CLANG}
-Block any incoming shots as he moved backwards, his front facing the policemen and SWAT Team, and-
{BANG}
A round from the sniper tore through his ankle.
Jaune screamed as it collapsed under his own weight and bend unnaturally blood spirting out and pooling onto the floor as he fell awkwardly onto the floor, almost hitting his head on the side of a car, and instead-
{THUD}
-Banging it into the gravel floor beneath him.
Ruby went to cry something out, but stopped as-
{TAP}
-A gun barrel pressed against the back of her head.
Ruby slowly raised her hands in surrender before glancing her head back, to see the sniper that had been chasing them constantly pointing his rifle down at her head, as the rest of his black-armoured men, as well as the police and SWAT Team from before, surrounded them, all pointing their weapons at the pair as the sounds of battle came to a halt.
In the distance, a wailing police siren could be heard amongst faint crying and the barking of a dog. Flickering lights sparked with electricity and snapped with light as the fires gave off their flickers and flames, trailing smoke into the air and smothering the ground in white clouds and thin blankets.
From his belt, the sniper pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and Jaune realised the truth about his objective.
He hadn't been trying to kill them.
He'd been trying to capture them.
But, then, why lead them all the way out here? Why force a confrontation in the square, and get dozens of people killed? Why not just shoot them in the alleyways, like Ruby had said, instead of playing games with them?
All he had were questions with no answers.
And pain. He had pain to go along with them too.
Ruby saw the handcuffs, and came to the same conclusion as him, rolling herself over and shuffling away from the sniper in a panic as he approached her, her eyes eyes wide with fear, and her face paling with sweat running down them.
The sniper simply tilted his head to the side, looked down at Jaune, and then at his allies around him.
Through a muffled voice disguiser, he ordered, "Pin the boy down."
Behind Jaune, a pair of black-armoured soldiers grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and rolled him over onto his stomach, pressing the barrel of a gun against his head, and then-
{SLAM}
"AUGH!"
-Slamming a foot into his ruined, bloody ankle.
Ruby looked down at him as the black-armoured soldier pressed his boot further down onto his ankle, breaking it even more than it already was. She looked at his face, mixed with his own fear and pain, before looking up to the sniper once more.
"Now then, little Rose," the sniper grounded out through his vocal disguiser as he slightly waved the electronic cuffs in his hands, "I suggest you raise your hands and surrender-"
{STAB STAB}
Above Jaune, the two soldiers began to gurgle, blood flowing beneath their helmets as something pierced through their unprotected necks.
A pair of green blades.
The black-armoured soldiers dropped to the floor as the blades twisted in their necks-
{SLICE SLICE}
-Decapitating the both of them in twin sprays of blood as a figure, standing over Jaune, suddenly came into existence- Shimmering in from nothingness- Revealing themselves- Herself- To be a brown-skinned woman, about his age, with short green hair tied into twin locks behind her head, red eyes, a white and green crop top, a bare midriff, and white shorts that connected to brown knee height slacks, with high-heeled pumps on her feet.
Jaune looked up to the woman, and the woman looked down to him.
"...Orion?" she asked.
"...Emerald?" he asked.
"The creature's pet whore!" the sniper yelled out as all of the people around them aimed their guns at Emerald, "Kill her! Kill her now-"
Suddenly, a purple glow overcame both the sniper, his men, and the corrupt police and SWAT Team members-
"-Wha- What the-"
-Lifting them up into the air, and then-
"-H-AUGH!"
-Tossing them across Gris Square, slamming them into cars and porcelain squares and buildings, scattering them across the square, and allowing Jaune and Ruby to pick themselves up as they and Emerald looked up to the sky above to see a figure standing atop the building behind them, looking down on the battlefield below in disgust at the carnage below her
She was a blonde-haired woman with green eyes and glasses, dressed in a black and purple cloak over a white, long-sleeved top, and black to brown stockings underneath a high-waisted pencil skirt, and black boots with bronze heels on her feet.
And boy did she look cross.
Above her, a pair of attack shuttles- Like Bullhead, but with folding wings, cannons at the ends of the extended cockpits, and one of them having an underslung cargo bay and stationary dorsal fin atop them- Hovered in the air above them, aiming their cannons down at the ground below.
They must've both been Providence ships.
The blonde woman leapt downwards from the roof, and down onto the ground below. Up above, the doors underneath the attack shuttles' cockpits, as well as the cargo bay door on the larger one, opened up, revealing the stark white-armoured Providence mercenary soldiers within.
Reinforcements-
Actual reinforcements.
-Had finally arrived.
Reviewer response time:
C3l3st14: Well, you were indeed right on the first part... At least, it might seem like you were. Of course, the answer to it will be revealed soon. And as for the second part... Spoilers.
Xealchim: PMCS be like, "Fuck around and find out, gamer."
Yeah, I'm going to be importing weapons from Ascendancy into this story, so what?
And on the topic of that, could you guys please go leave a review on Ascendancy? I released a new chapter for it just a few days ago and no one has left a review on it, and I know for a fact that two hundred of you guys have read that latest chapter, so please? Just for me?
Seriously, Coeur's raking in all of the reviews, man. How are guys like me suppose to bring them in when none of you guys ever leave me your opinions?!
Love you all, by the way.
But with all of that said and done, please leave a review (On this and Ascendancy, please!), Follow and favourite, and with that, I shall see you all next time!
Titanmaster117 out!
