A/N: Your butts. Hold onto them.
Oh, and also, I had a serious case of the flu a couple weeks back, and while I got over that, I have lingering bronchitis, and among the medications the doc put me on is, like, some kinda hyper Nyquil. So I'm a little slightly sloshed while writing some of this, so please forgive any typos, as I will fix them over repeated edits.
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The Vanguard does not know fear. The Vanguard does not know doubt. The Vanguard does not know love.
I do.
That may be a weakness, but as I have found, it has also been my greatest strength.
"From the Journals of Sir Jaune d'Arc the Preserver, Champion of Vale," Arc Family Archives, Château d'Arc.
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As the Bullhead flew towards their destination, Jaune sat quietly. As he absently double-checked the grenade launcher that he'd hastily mounted under the barrel of his rifle the previous evening, he contemplated this new feeling of dread that had seeped into him, turning it over in his mind, dispassionately examining it the way one regards a strange wart that had grown overnight.
He had been on many missions before. He had grown up carrying out missions just as dangerous as this, if not moreso, and with little or no backup. Compared to everyone else present, save for the faculty members, he was a seasoned veteran at this sort of thing. But then, he'd never had so much to lose before either. If a fellow Atlesian soldier had gone down in a fight, he or she was just a notation to be made and an empty slot on the roster to be filled. Now, if, say, Pyrrha were lost, Jaune would have to go to her gentle mother and explain to her that his leadership got her killed.
And that was before factoring in that Weiss was on this mission as well.
Jaune took a deep breath. Doubt was normal. In a way, doubt was good. After all, Ironwood never doubted a decision once he'd made it, and he was an abject lesson as to the dangers of unreasonable certitude. But the opposite extreme was of no use to him either. Irrespective of everything else going on with him, the stark truth was that he was the best choice to lead his team through this, and that was what he was going to do. There simply was no other alternative.
And as for Weiss? All he could do was trust the Huntress, and in Ruby's own leadership, as well as in Doctor Oobleck's expertise. That was the reason, after all, why he'd deliberately chose not to team up with the love of his life in the first place. Ruby wasn't as compromised as he was in regards to Weiss, so he could trust that she could make good decisions when he could not.
It was as simple as that. He could falter, place his friends and lover in further danger, compromise the mission, and endanger the people of Vale...or he could succeed.
Jaune chose to succeed.
"All right," he said, hiding his surprise at how steady and calm his own voice sounded. "When we land, we keep it tight. We seek out clues to the location of the White Fang facility, and search methodically. If we encounter opposition, whether from militants or from Grimm, we take them out swiftly and efficiently. We want simple and easy over flashy. No telling how long we'll be out here, so check your fire and make each shot count. Any questions?"
He looked at his three teammates, who each seemed to be a little more at ease themselves since he'd begun speaking. "What?" he asked, puzzled.
Ren smiled. "It's good to have you back, Jaune."
Soon enough, the Bullhead set down in a large plaza, an open square ringed with the blasted and crumbling remains of skyscrapers. It was a sobering reminder of just how far the city of Mountain Glenn had come in its development before its sudden, shocking fall.
Jaune touched down first, rifle at the ready, and his faithful dog at his feet. He had opted to remove parts of his steel plate armor for this mission, partially to ensure that he could properly aim and fire a rifle, and partially so that he didn't clatter about like a kitchen drawer as he walked. He had removed the rerebraces and poleyns that had armored his biceps and elbows, as well as the besegaw that had hung over his left armpit. He had taken the faulds off of the cuirass, as well as the thigh cuisses, using a series of leather harnesses - Jaune had refused to call them "battle garters" the way Weiss had suggested - in order to suspend his greaves properly from his belt, foregoing the sabatons that would have covered the tops of his feet. He'd kept the cape, since, with the highly polished armor, he wasn't exactly sneaking anywhere anytime soon to begin with. The end result was more half-plate than full plate armor, but Jaune had found the loss of total protection to be more than a fair trade for the reduced noise and added mobility. Besides, he still had a big damn shield.
Oh, and he'd conveniently "forgotten" the helmet back at Beacon too. Last thing he needed was that damn visor falling down and fouling a shot. He was sure that Sir Roland would understand.
His teammates soon joined him, with Port just behind.
"So, not a vacation destination," Nora mused. The city was a morass of crumbling ruins, with vines growing up the sides of hollow building facades, and grass - and occasionally entire trees - springing up through cracks and breaks in the asphalt and concrete. The regional CCT relay for the city was long gone, limiting Scroll communications to a distressingly-short range. Oobleck and Port each carried a radio - when a team found what they were searching for, one would radio the other, and both teams would converge on the Fang. That was the plan, at least. Looking at the ruined city around him, it would be difficult to maneuver easily, and there were a great many places for lurking enemies to stage an ambush.
Jaune shook his head at the devastation around him. "All right, Port, what are we looking for?"
The elderly Huntsman stroked his mustache thoughtfully. "Well, when I was a younger man, the ne'er do wells would often find themselves the most impressive of lairs. In fact, there was this one time when -"
"Port." Jaune interrupted. His voice wasn't raised, nor was it particularly angry. It was just deadly serious. "Not the time. Focus."
Port blinked, obviously unused to a student so abruptly calling him out on his meandering musings. "Oh. Right. Er, sorry lad. A concentration of terrorists will naturally attract Grimm. In their case, that would be a good thing, as they need the raw materials for Merlot's method. We find a large concentration of Grimm, it's a good bet that our quarry will be nearby."
"Right." Jaune nodded. He knelt down next to Percival, who wagged his tail happily. The dog was growing larger again, and it wouldn't be much longer before Jaune would have to remake his armored jacket entirely, for the second time. "All right boy," he said, petting the dog behind the ears. "We need you to sniff out the Grimm. Can you do that for us?"
"Arf!"
The dog, understanding what his master had asked of him, put his nose to the ground and began sniffing. His efforts soon sent him wandering off. Jaune frowned as he realized that he was heading southeast, the same direction that Team RWBY had landed.
"Keep to cover, watch for glints in the buildings around us. There could be potential enemy snipers in the windows," he ordered. Soon, Team JNPR, with Professor Peter Port in tow, was off following the dog.
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At the other end of the city, Team RWBY had had no trouble whatsoever finding Grimm. The girls had started off somewhat cocky, eager to show the results of their training to Oobleck, only to find the historian Huntsman to be entirely disinterested in their display, merely humming as he surveyed the dissipating Grimm.
Ruby watched through several encounters, somewhat puzzled, as Oobleck delegated the Grimm fighting to the girls, concentrating mostly on examining the ruins around them. Finally, she mustered the nerve to speak up. "Um...Professor Oobleck, sir?"
"It's doctor," he muttered, consulting a map of the city on his Scroll. "What is it, Miss Rose?"
"Well, I couldn't help but notice that you're...well, you're not fighting at all. Why not?"
He smiled, shaking his head at just how young the girl was. "Ah, but you see, I am fighting. Waging a battle of the mind, as it were, seeking to uncover the puzzle behind our hidden terror cell. There is more to being a Huntsman - or a Huntress - than merely swinging weapons about, after all. Mountain Glenn was labyrinthine to begin with, and time and trouble has only made such conditions worse. We could wander aimlessly for months, fighting every creature of Grimm we saw, to no avail. It is not enough to be powerful, Miss Rose. We must be precise in our application of our power."
"...huh."
"Indeed."
The older Huntsman continued to educate his charges as they methodically searched the ruined city of Mountain Glenn. "Tell me, Miss Belladonna, why did you choose to become a Huntress?"
Blake frowned. "I want to bring peace between humans and Faunus, and justice for my people."
"I see." Oobleck canted his head at her. "And could you not have done that from Menagerie?"
"What, you'd rather I not be here?"
"Not at all, Miss Belladonna. I merely find myself curious as to how, exactly, serving as a Huntress translates to those goals that you've stated."
Blake hummed as she casually shot a wounded, squirming Beowulf in the head, killing it. "I suppose, by serving as an example of what the Faunus have to offer - saving people, no matter who they are or where they come from - I can help win over the detractors, proving the excellence and value of my people."
"You are not the first to have thought to do so," Oobleck said. "Nor, I fear, will you be the last. I have seen human leaders cower behind a Faunus Huntress, then turn right around and vote for discriminatory policies when the danger has passed. Some may view Faunus Huntsmen as cannon fodder, their place to fight and die in place of humans. Tell me, have you ever heard of a Faunus named Nala Lionheart?"
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Jaune held up his hand, signalling his team to halt as he saw Percival stop, growl, and point forwards, the young golden retriever having detected a Grimm. Looking around quickly, he saw a ruined storefront to the left, and a half-collapsed apartment building to his right. Using numerical designators - Nora was Two, Pyrrha was Three, and Ren was Four - Jaune sent Nora to the store and Pyrrha to seek high ground in the apartment building, while signalling for Ren to stay back with Port and Percival.
"What are you going to do?" Ren whispered.
Jaune folded up his rifle and stowed it at the small of his back. "I'm going to advance under cover until I see what it is. If it needs to be killed, I'll lead it back here, where we'll attack from all sides. Hold tight until I signal."
Ren shot him a look. "What cover?"
Jaune expanded his shield and drew his sword, giving a quick grin to his teammate. "I am cover." With that, he cautiously set off. A few hundred feet down the road, he spotted the Grimm that Percival had detected, one of the altered Elder Deathstalkers, with the telltale glowing green sludge seeping from between cracks in its carapace, and with the obvious weak points of the eyes and stinger covered by wrought armor seemingly welded directly into the faux-chitinous plating. It was, however, behaving erratically, skittering from one side of the street to the other and then back again, seemingly confused, or maddened.
He frowned. According to Port, the entire point of Merlot's method was to put the Grimm under control. If that was this case, then what happened here? Did it slip its leash, as it were, or was it simply defective? He slipped around a building corner, sheathing his sword and drawing his rifle again. He looked through the sights, trying to find any indication of a controller, but there was no one to be seen. Jaune decided to take something of a risk. He knelt into a firing stance, bringing the weapon to his shoulder, drew down on the enhanced scorpion Grimm, and took a shot at one of the junctions where a leg socketed into the carapace.
Vera kicked in his hand, sending a powerful shot towards the Grimm. The round was jacketed by Hard Light Dust by the aftermarket modifications that Jaune had made to the weapon - partially to boost its penetration, in the hopes of staggering Hazel Rhinehart, but also because Jaune just liked having his guns go 'pew-pew' - and those modifications paid off, impacting the Grimm with a sickening cracking sound. Jaune scanned the area for any White Fang reacting to the gunshot, but no one seemed to be present. The Grimm itself, however, reacted, albeit in a halting, jerking manner. For a few seconds, it seemed torn between whatever compulsion had it skittering from side to side of the street and the natural Grimm inclination to defend itself from attack.
Eventually, its natural inclination won out, and it raised its pincers in threat, hissing by forcing air through its carapace. Jaune calmly returned to the main street through which he'd entered, and began backstepping. The Grimm began to charge towards him, and Jaune, backstepping much quicker than before, occasionally took shots at its legs to slow it down while noting its armored resilience relative to its unenhanced cousins.
As he reached the section of the street where he'd left his team, he held up his left fist. From the storefront, Nora launched a grenade, low and at the left underside. While the force of the explosion didn't penetrate the carapace, it did succeed in flipping the creature onto its back. While its multitudinous legs scrabbled for purchase in the empty air, Pyrrha, from her elevated vantage point, took a running leap towards the Grimm. She shouted a war cry as she drove her spear, with both hands, into one of the junctions of the armor on its underside. Green blood seeped from the stab wound, causing the creature to hiss loudly, sounding almost like a shriek. It made to stab at her with its tail stinger, only to be rebuffed by Jaune's shield as the knight interposed himself between the lethal stinger and his partner's back.
He made to retaliate with his sword, when Professor Port, of all people, bellowed out a mighty roar and made a great, cleaving double-handed swing with his axe, taking the entire tail off at the base. The Deathstalker spasmed in agony, while Ren, having used his Semblance to camouflage himself from the Grimm to approach unseen, drove the tip of his new sword through one of the small slits in the eye armor that allowed the creature to see. With one last spasm, the creature went limp and died. Unlike its normal brethren, however, it didn't begin dissolving into oily black Grimmsmoke, instead seeping its glowing green blood into the cracked asphalt of the street.
"Make...sure...to clean that off your weapons," advised a red-faced and panting Port. "Hoo! I haven't had to throw a strike like that in many a year!"
As the students backed away from the dead Grimm, soon joined by their final companion, Port wiped the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his coat. "Well now. A fine effort."
Ren shrugged as he cleaned the blood off of his sword. "I'm glad that your ideas panned out," he said to Jaune. Upon seeing the picture of an enhanced Deathstalker the previous day, Team JNPR had brainstormed ways to kill it without their usual standby tactics.
Jaune shook his head. "We killed it, but it still took six rounds, one grenade, and all of us jumping it at once. We don't know how many more like it are waiting for us. We need to find a way to kill these quicker…"
Port slapped his hand onto Jaune's shoulder. "Now, young man, you should be proud! That's the fastest I've seen a team of this size take out the enhanced Deathstalker!"
"And that was with your assistance as well," Jaune noted. "Pride doesn't win wars, Professor."
"Nice axework, by the way," Nora congratulated the man.
Port puffed himself up with pride. "Well, I may not be as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was!" He frowned as he saw the sun sinking low towards the horizon. "Well, I'm certainly not looking to continue this hunt in the dark of night! Let us set a base camp for the evening, so I may contact my counterpart on the radio."
"Right." Jaune nodded. "Pyrrha, how was the interior of the apartment building?"
She shrugged. "About what you'd expect, but most of the rooms looked sturdy enough so we shouldn't have to worry about it caving in on us at night."
"Good. Let's get set up for the night."
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Weiss frowned as she tended the rooftop campfire that Team RWBY had made for the night. Professor - sorry, Doctor Oobleck - had asked her why she had wanted to become a Huntress. When she told him that she wanted to make a name for herself and reform the SDC, he had merely peered at her and asked what in the world that had to do with being a Huntress. Oh, learning to protect oneself was fine and good, but she was aspiring to a specialization in combat proficiency far beyond what would be necessary for a CEO to have. Would not her efforts be better spent in cultivating business and government contacts?
She had been mulling over that conversation for a few hours, and from the looks of Blake and Yang, they had had similar discussions with the strange Huntsman. Only Ruby had been spared the piercing question, it seemed.
The radio at Doctor Oobleck's belt hissed to life. "Coming in RWBY team, this is JNPR team, do you read me?"
Oobleck unhitched the radio and pressed the button. "Copy that, Peter. Long day on our end. Find anything?"
"We made contact with one of the enhanced. A Deathstalker. Easily dispatched, but no sign of a controller. You?"
"Only ordinary Grimm."
"Ah, you think they will congregate close to the Fang? We are of one mind in this, Bart."
"So it would seem, but your team ran into an enhanced. The base may not be far from your position."
"With no controller? And Arc reports that it was behaving erratically, running from side to side for seemingly no reason."
"It's a strange puzzle, Peter."
"Indeed. We'll think on it overnight, approach the hunt with fresh eyes. Shall we let the children chat a bit before reporting to Ozpin?"
"Sure, why not?" Oobleck handed the radio over to Ruby. "Go, speak with your friends, then return the radio to me when you're finished."
"Thanks, Mister Oobleck!"
"It's Doctor!"
Ruby trotted over to her friends. "Hey, guys. Oobleck gave us this to talk with JNPR for a few minutes, so let's say hello!" She held up the radio and activated it. "Hey, JNPR? This is RWBY. How are you guys?"
"Hey, Ruby," Jaune's voice crackled over the radio. "You guys okay?"
"Yepper!" said Ruby. "We're a bit tired, but we're all okay."
"That's good to hear. We ran into one of the enhanced, a Deathstalker. Just a heads-up, it's a tough nut to crack. We killed it by flipping it over and finding weak points in the underside. Oh, and Weiss or Blake could probably slip their swords through the eye slits. We had a hard time piercing the armor, but I bet Crescent Rose could double as a really good crab-cracker."
"You bet it could! Thanks for the tips, though. We'll make sure to put them to good use." An impish smile spread its way across Ruby's face. "But I'm guessing you'd like to talk to someone else, am I right?"
The radio went silent for a moment. "...You're going to be awful about this, aren't you?"
"Nope. I just wanted you to know that I could've been if I wanted to." Ruby gestured to Weiss. "Hey, Weiss, your hubby's on the line!"
"Just give it here, you dolt!" Weiss snatched the radio away from her partner. "Sorry about her." Her expression softened as she gazed up at the celestial panorama that she'd so rarely bothered to appreciate when she was in Atlas. "It's a beautiful night," she finally said. "Are you...okay? Being out on a mission like this?"
"You know?" Jaune's voice crackled from the radio. "I think I am. I was born to do this."
"I'm glad to hear it. I'm proud of you, Jaune. Keep it up, my love."
"I could do no less. Let me see if anyone else has something to say to your team." There was a pause. "Well, Nora had something to say to Yang, but I am terrified to pass the message on." Another pause. "Nora is now booing me. Okay, fine. I'm handing the radio over to Nora now. Love you, Weiss. Be safe."
Weiss shook her head fondly as she passed the radio over to Yang. "Hello?" the blonde bomber asked as she activated the radio.
"Heeey!" came the familiar cheerful tone of their other resident demolitions expert. "So, we were going over the different kinds of Grimm we saw today, and guess what? We saw Goliaths! So, I thought that we could have a bet to see which one of us can bench more Goliaths, me or you."
Yang laughed. "Don't be dumb, of course it's me!"
"See, that's what losers say before they get beat. Ya big loser."
Ruby grabbed the radio away from her sister. "And that's enough chat time! Be safe, JNPR!" She returned the radio to Doctor Oobleck, who just shook his head at the juvenile antics before joining Port to make their report to Ozpin.
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It wasn't the worst job Qrow had ever had to do, not by a long-shot. Waiting around, inside a comfortable, air-conditioned room while keeping an eye on two vulnerable women didn't come close to some of the insane things he'd been tasked to perform in his time as a Huntsman.
That didn't mean that it didn't have its unexpected difficulties.
The first was Amber. The doctors could do nothing for her, save for keeping her under sedation. Her Aura had been ripped in half, a sort of all-new, metaphysical level of agony that Qrow didn't want to think too hard about. And she was in that state because he hadn't been fast enough to get to her in time. Her every labored breath was a reminder of his failure.
And then there was Fria.
Whatever condition the crotchety old woman had, Winter said that it was getting worse. The Atlas medics had been treating the condition with some kinda drug, to keep her alive long enough for Winter to suck her soul out like a milkshake, but whatever drug they had, they weren't sharing with other kingdoms, the absolute bastards. As a result, Fria had begun having episodes of disorientation or forgetfulness. She was still lucid more often than not, but when she wasn't...well, Qrow hadn't even been particularly close to the old woman, and it was still hard.
"Excuse me, young man, do I know you?" Fria asked, confused and a little frightened.
Qrow did his best to put on a reassuring smile, for her sake. "You sure do, ma'am. I'm a Huntsman, and it's my job to protect you."
"Ohhh," said Fria, nodding to herself. "Well, that's nice of you, dear. Have you seen my daughter? Tall girl, white hair, carries a sword? Her name is…" she paused as she realized that she couldn't remember the younger woman's name. "I…"
"It's okay, ma'am."
The elderly Winter Maiden fell silent for a time, and Qrow focused on oiling the mechanism in his weapon. After a half hour, Fria peered at him once more. "Oy, you! I hear Winter finally pinned you against a wall and had at you!"
Qrow just shook his head ruefully. "Well, you know her. When she wants something, she is not subtle about it."
"Yes, yes. Now, where is she, anyway?"
It was the third time that Fria had asked about Winter's whereabouts.
"She's in the city, ma'am. She has work to do, whipping the local Huntsmen and miltia into shape."
"Oh? But General Ironwood's usually so good about keeping the troops in line."
Qrow paused. "Do you...do you know where you are, ma'am?"
Fria looked hesitant. "Are we not in Mantle? I've lived there...here my whole life…"
"No, ma'am. You're in Vale. Winter brought you here."
"Oh."
They fell silent once more.
"Excuse me, young man? Have you seen my daughter? She's a tall girl, white hair in a bun, carries a sword…"
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Ruby was bored. Each member of Team RWBY was assigned a section of the night to stand watch over their camp, which was just soooo dulllll! There wasn't anyone out there, and all Ruby could do was kick little rocks over and watch them bounce a short distance.
Ugh.
So.
Boring!
This sort of thing was not mentioned in the recruiting brochures for Huntsmen Academies, that much was for sure. She noticed Zwei circling anxiously by one section of the wall. Ruby supposed that he had to take a little doggie doo, and since she certainly didn't want him doing that in camp, she might as well take him for a bit of a walk. She scooped up the corgi and carefully slipped over the tripwires and proximity sensors that Oobleck had set up to help notify of intruders to the camp.
Setting the corgi down, Ruby was surprised that he didn't run off to find the nearest bush. Instead, Zwei ran towards a jagged hole in the street, one which opened to the city's old subway tunnels. Ruby crouched near the hole, straining to listen as she heard people speaking.
"...Then they will have no choice but to stand with us against the humans," someone said. "They won't have a choice any longer."
"Some might choose death over attacking other people, even humans, with the Grimm."
"Then they will die, either at the hands of the enraged humans or as traitors to their people. There is no more middle ground! They must fight with us or perish! The die is cast, and there is no turning back. Not for them, and not for you."
Ruby gasped as the asphalt crumbled underneath her, sending her falling and tumbling into the subway tunnel, where she hit the ground with an unceremonious thud. She shakily rose to her feet, only to see more than a dozen uniformed soldiers of the White Fang staring at her. She reached behind her for Crescent Rose - and her heart sank as she realized that it had fallen loose from her during her fall. Ruby gave a sheepish smile towards the insurgent force.
"Um...parlay?"
The leader's voice called out from behind them. "Get her!"
Uh-oh.
While she would never be as adept at fighting barehanded, a great deal of her more focused training had identified this flaw of hers, and had sought to mitigate it. Ruby had never been suited to either the Glorious Sun Dragon school of unarmed fighting, nor her sister's more boxing-based variant of their familial style. However, Ren was familiar with a number of fighting styles, one of which perfectly suited her agility and small stature.
As a White Fang soldier reached for her, she caught his forearm with trapping hands, shooting out her booted foot to stomp on his knee. As the man reeled from the hit, she fired off a rapid flurry of chain punches to his torso before calling on her Semblance and zipping away in a burst of petals. She recohered above and behind another man, grabbing him by the antlers and yanking backwards, sending him to the ground. Ruby dashed away, again, a red blur coming into focus just long enough to hit someone.
She was preparing for another run, when she was slammed into a wall with stunning force. Her head hit against the wall, causing spots in her vision, before a fist drove into her gut, folding her in half and blasting the air from her lungs. She felt an unyielding grip of steel clench around her throat. When her vision cleared, she saw that she was being held against the wall by a tall, slender man in black. His black horns contrasted with his blood-red hair.
"A human," he growled out. "A young human. She would not have come on her own." Ruby whimpered as he leaned in closer to her, a sneer on his face. "You're going to tell us everything about your team, human."
Ruby shook her head. "I'll never -" she was cut off by the Faunus's gloved fist slamming into her face.
She saw a flash, and then no more, as she fell into darkness.
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Well, shit.
Zwei was a veteran Hunting Hound, and had accompanied his master on many missions before. But for all his skill and experience, at the end of the day, he was still just a small corgi in a world designed for much larger beings than he. He knew that he had to get to his Other Girl and the rest of his Girl's pack, to go after the ones who took her.
He was just having a damn hard time getting out of the hole.
The brave little corgi leapt from rock to rock, kicking and scrabbling to haul himself up higher and higher, gradually making his way to the lip of the hole. He paused, gathering his strength for one last leap. Damn it, hardcore parkour was the sort of thing the Pup should be doing, not him, with his aching hips. With one last push, Zwei leapt onto the edge of the hole, huffing and scrabbling to haul himself onto the street. It was a near thing - he nearly fell back in more than once - but eventually, he succeeded, limply sprawling onto the asphalt like a stuffed animal that fell from a child's backpack.
Zwei lay there for a long moment, huffing and panting, gulping down air. Then, he picked himself back up and ran for the building where the rest of his Girl's team had made their camp. He took the stairs two at a time, bounding with all of his corgi might to reach the rooftop. Zwei very deliberately ran right through the alarm lines that the Coffemeister had set up, counting on them to wake everyone up at once.
Sure enough, the great commotion set his Girl's team awake with a quickness, and it wasn't long for them to realize that one of their own was missing. In all the confusion, it took a bit of barking for him to call their attention to his greatness, but eventually, the Other Girl got the hint.
She knelt down before him, her brow furrowed with worry. "Zwei? You can show us where she went, can't you?"
Well, it took them long enough. Zwei barked in the affirmative, heading for the stairs again, and barking for them to follow him.
"C'mon, boy," the Other Girl said. "Take us to her. Help me get my sister back."
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Jaune was awoken by Ren. It hadn't been that long since he'd gone down after his watch, so that, added to the expression on Ren's face, told him that something had happened. He quickly shook his head to clear away the bleariness of sleep. "What is it?"
"Port needs you to speak with him. Something happened to Team RWBY. I'll get the girls up while you're talking to Port."
"Got it." Jaune picked himself out of his bedroll and quickly stretched as he strode towards the old Huntsman. Sleeping in armor sucked, but the discomfort and stiffness was worthwhile for when something went wrong, and they needed to react swiftly. He had just about shaken the stiffness out of his arms and hands when he reached Port.
The professor looked as serious and sober as Jaune had ever seen the man. "Word from Bart," he said, without preamble. "Ruby Rose has been taken. They've tracked her scent to a subway tunnel. It appears likely that the Fang has been operating in the extensive tunnel system beneath the city - something that Bart and I are kicking ourselves for having missed. At any rate, as per Objective One, the mission is effectively scuttled. Our new priority is retrieving and extracting Miss Rose. Go tell your team, while Bart gets me the coordinates of that tunnel entrance."
Jaune felt a yawning pit open in his gut at the thought that Ruby was in danger, and the rest of her friends, most definitely including Weiss, would be going in right after her. He forced that feeling down, pushing it to the back of his mind. He had to focus if he was going to be of any use to them.
He nodded "Right." With that, he turned back around and went to address the rest of his team, who were now awake and checking their gear. "Our mission has now changed," Jaune announced. "Ruby Rose has been taken. Our new priority objective is taking her back. We're going to find her, grab her, and Unass the AO. The rest of Team RWBY has already gone into a subway tunnel after her. Port has the coordinates of her last known location, and we'll be headed out shortly. We're going in loud, and we're going in hot. Everything we come across that isn't us or Team RWBY dies. Any questions?" Upon seeing that they had none, Jaune nodded. "Right. Leave anything that isn't absolutely essential to doing our jobs. Nora, keep those demolition charges. Pyrrha, you've got the ammo packs. Let's move out."
Jaune drew his rifle, hearing the soft whine of the Hard Light Dust capacitors powering up. He just hoped that the rest of Team RWBY could hold out long enough for them to reinforce.
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"Contact!"
Weiss drew her sword and her dagger-gun as they bore down on a group of White Fang soldiers, who had obviously been left behind to slow them down. She crossed her blades in front of her to catch the blade of a machete between them, before she used the swept-hilt guard of her dagger to trap it and pull it off line. She drew Myrtenaster back and stabbed hard, no doubt taking a chunk of her opponent's Aura as she did so, and then triggered the Dust mechanism. A cone of Wind erupted from the tip of her sword, sending the man flying back into his fellows. Weiss fell back to guard as Yang hit the main group of soldiers with all the force of a meteor strike. The soldiers screamed as they were flung through the air by the sheer concussive power of her fury.
Yang grabbed the nearest White Fang lifting him into the air with one hand. Her hair was cascading golden flame, and her red eyes burned with unconstrained fury. "Where is my sister?!" she roared in the man's face.
"Who?"
Wrong answer.
She punched the man in the chest, firing off the Ember Celica as she did so. The man's Aura had been drained from Weiss's attacks combined with Yang's, and so the point-blank shotgun blast tore through his torso, effectively blasting his ribcage out of his back. Yang dropped the body and moved on to the next man.
"Uh, Yang?" Blake asked, her voice quavering. "Are you okay?"
"No," Yang ground out. "I am not okay."
Their conversation cut off as the Fang soldiers, having regrouped, opened fire with their guns. Though Weiss created a low wall of ice with her Dust to block the shots, Yang vaulted over it, tearing into the soldiers, a dragon among the sheep.
Blake shuddered.
It wasn't long after that that they'd entered a larger room built into the tunnels and encountered their first Enhanced Grimm, a trio of enhanced Boarbatusks. Annoyingly, they'd had overlapping steel plates bolted directly into their underbellies, and their spines were reinforced with plates bearing raised, sharpened blades.
Weiss braced herself for impact when one of the creatures spun towards her, only for it to be batted away by Doctor Oobleck, who had transformed his coffee thermos into a two-handed cudgel. They watched as it bounced off a wall, unharmed.
"There must be a controller nearby," Oobleck mused. "Weiss, try to immobilize one with ice."
Yang met a Boarbatusk's charge head-on, grabbing its tusks and crossing over to snap its neck, just as Jaune had demonstrated. She moved on to another, but the porcine Grimm stood jerkily, wrenching its head back into place with the loud snapping of bone.
"Yang, look out!"
She turned around to see the Grimm that she thought she'd killed charge at her once more, when all four of its hooves became encased in a thick block of ice, halting its progress with stunning force.
"Yang, grab the tusks, immobilize them! Weiss, stab the eyes!" ordered Oobleck. The girls rushed to comply, Yang, her hair still aflame, forced the Grimm's dangerous head still, the muscles of her arms bulging and straining from the effort, while Weiss leapt in, driving Myrtenaster through the thing's eye and deep into its brain. They didn't relax until the thing slumped over limp, the green ooze pumping from its ruined eye in great, viscous gouts.
"Excellent job," girls, complimented Oobleck.
Blake, meanwhile, was dodging for her life against the other two Boarbatusks, her shadow clones bursting into and out of existence rapidly as she leapt through the air and used the ribbon on Gambol Shroud to trip up one of her pursuers. "Guys?! A little help, please!"
[/]
The chime on his Scroll was the first indication that Team JNPR had reached Scroll range with their sister team. Jaune pulled out his Scroll as they marched, checking the team Aura status. His was relieved to find that Weiss, Blake, and Yang were near-full - though Yang's was a little lower than the others - indicating that they'd mostly been dishing out punishment instead of taking it. However, Ruby's status was greyed-out, meaning that either her Scroll was still out of range, or...he forced himself not to think of what else it could mean.
"They're in good condition," Jaune reported to his team. "Keep moving."
It wasn't long after that that they found the tunnel entrance that Oobleck had spoken of - though it was more a hole in the ground than any sort of actual construction. "Pyrrha, you're up front with me," Jaune ordered. "Shield up, keep your head on a swivel. Let's go." The partners were the first to drop into the hole, rolling to bleed off the momentum of their landing and then drawing their shields.
Standing side by side, their shields were broad enough to grant passable cover for the others behind them. Jaune waved for them to follow, with Ren, Nora and Port dropping down with various levels of impact. Nora put down Percival, whom she had been carrying under her arm, allowing him to move ahead to take his customary position just behind Jaune's feet.
With a nod to Pyrrha, he set out down the tunnel. They were moving at a pace just shy of a run, only slowing down to give them a chance to spy out any mines, tripwires, or ambushes that may have been left for them. As it was, though, the Fang didn't seem to have expected anyone to stumble across their lair in the ruined city, and as such, they hadn't invested as much effort and resources into those kinds of defensive measures.
Their loss.
That lack of entrenchment really bit the Fang when Team JNPR came across a squad of White Fang soldiers charging down the tunnel in the same direction, apparently intending to surround Team RWBY.
They never saw it coming, as Jaune and Pyrrha crashed into them with blade and shield and fury, the rest of their team right behind them.
[/]
Her head hurt. That was the first thing that Ruby thought as she slowly regained consciousness. She struggled not to vomit as her vision swam. Shaking her head to try to clear it turned out to be a really bad idea, so she quickly gave up on that notion, waiting for the world to come into focus on its own.
Then she remembered that the White Fang had grabbed her.
Oh, crapbaskets.
She was chained to a chair, which itself had been bolted into the concrete floor. Ruby was able to look around a bit, finding that she was in a large room made entirely of concrete, with dingy mold growing in the corners, and a harsh, fluorescent light flickering on the ceiling overhead.
And standing across from her was the dangerous, black-clad White Fang member who had captured her. That sneer across his face hadn't died down at all since the subway tunnel, and if anything, he seemed somehow even angrier.
He drew his sword, a blood-red katana, and placed its tip just under her chin.
"You," he spat, "Are turning out to be far more trouble than you're worth. Who are you?" he demanded.
Ruby just gave a sheepish smile. "Well, you know me, just your regular neighborhood mail girl. Man, I must've got really turned around."
Her captor was unamused. "The next time you lie to me, I start cutting pieces off," he growled.
Ruby gulped, which her captor took as a sign of her cooperation. "Now. How many were with you? Who sent you?"
"Sir!" One of the regular White Fang soldiers burst into the room. His mask had been torn off, and one of his sleeves was torn to shreds, with that arm limp with bleeding wounds.
"What is it?" growled the leader.
"Sir, we're being pushed back! We can't stop them! We need more Enhanced Grimm!"
The horned leader of the White Fang growled once more. "Must I do everything myself?" he asked. "What happened to the squad we sent to flank the intruders?"
"Sir, a second force fell on them."
"A second force?!" The black-clad Faunus stood, sheathing his sword. "I'll take care of this. Stand guard over the prisoner, soldier."
Ruby couldn't help but feel relieved. Not only were the rest of her team coming for her, but JNPR was too. Yang alone must have been doing a number on them, and she didn't even want to know what Jaune and Pyrrha could do when working together and angry.
Now, if only she could help them!
She glared at the soldier in the room with her as he checked out the door. Yeah, he'd better be scared. He stopped, then smiled at her. "Now, Red, is that any way to greet an old friend?"
"What?"
As she watched, the air around him shimmered, and the image of the wounded White Fang soldier shattered like glass, revealing the immaculately-dressed Roman Torchwick, complete with hat and his silent companion riding piggyback. The girl hopped off of the thief, giving an elaborate bow.
"Torchwick? What are you doing here?"
Roman sighed dramatically. "Well, as it turns out, I wasn't nearly so big a fish in the pond as I had thought. You know how these things go, one day you're stealing, the next day you're stealing because some crazy fire-bitch told you to do it, and then, before you know it, you're helping to ship freaky mind-controlled Grimm into the city via the subway."
Ruby's silvery eyes flew wide at that. "What?! They're going to send them into Vale? Why would someone do such a thing?"
"People are fucked-up, kid. About time you figured that out. Thing is, I'm just your average run-of-the-mill scumbag. I'm a thief, sure, and a damn good one. I like who I am. Problem is, how exactly am I supposed to go around stealing when everyone's dead from hopped-up murder Grimm under the control of a twisted cult of fucked-up animals?" Roman trotted over to her, setting up a folding chair across from her and sitting on it backwards, as if he were some kind of kindly uncle instead of an infamous criminal. "So, here's the deal, Red. I want out, and you're my ticket. I figure that, if your friends can fuck up an entire White Fang cell with impunity, anyone lookin' in afterwards will figure that me and Neo here got caught up in it too. What's a couple more henchmen, after all?"
Neo silently scoffed from where she was standing guard at the door.
"Oh, shut up, Neo," replied Roman, not even having to look to have guessed her reaction to being labeled a mere henchman. "So, we spring you out of this jam, and you help sell the lie that Neo and I are dead 'n gone. As fair a deal as you're gonna get. So, whaddya say?"
"I don't know…" Ruby said. "I'm not supposed to lie…"
Roman snatched off his hat and threw it in frustration. "Damn it, Red, don't you understand how unbelievably screwed you are? That guy that was in here earlier? His name is Adam Taurus, and he's the most fucked-up of a fucked-up bunch. Twisted fuck has a Grimm in his arm to control those freaky science experiments! He's out of his mind, bugnutty-bat shit fuckin' nuts! He really would've started hacking if I hadn't come in, and you'd better believe that I've seen him do it before! Get your shit together and grow up!"
Before Ruby could respond, red alert klaxons began blaring, painting the base in scarlet light. "What's happening?" Ruby asked.
"Warning: Mass Grimm Release! We have a Mass Grimm Release in the base! Evacuate, evacu-" the announcer's voice cut off, and all that followed were a series of screams and wet, chewing noises.
The wall to Ruby's right collapsed. Standing there, hunched over, barely-fighting in the room, was an Enhanced Beringel. Green ooze wept from where a thick helmet and armored pauldrons had been bolted directly into its flesh, and its fists were encased with heavy, black wrought iron that bore spikes on each knuckle.
Roman immediately made for the door. "Tough break, kid. Maybe we'll make it without you."
"Roman? Roman!" Ruby pulled desperately at her bonds.
Roman and Neo were gone.
[/]
Team RWBY's pursuit of their friend and leader had led them into a large, sprawling underground facility, which is clearly where the bulk of the White Fang had been located. Weiss used her Dust abilities to control and disrupt the enemy movements, cutting off parts of their forces from one another with ice, and throwing bullets and projectiles off-course with walls of wind. Yang hit them like the flaming hammer to the anvil, scattering guerilla fighters like leaves in the wind, while Blake, unnoticed in the chaos, snuck behind their line and made precise, surgical strikes to any who appeared to be able to rally them into some sort of disciplined order.
Soon, the survivors of Team RWBY's furious assault fell back in complete disarray, fleeing into the facility proper.
Yang marched right up to the door, hair still aflame, and punched it right in, sending the heavy steel flying off of its hinges.
"Not prudent, but I suppose we have little choice," muttered Oobleck.
While a few stragglers attempted to take shots at them, the main resistance of the White Fang, at least this cell, appeared to be broken, and Team RWBY were almost unopposed as they moved deeper into the facility.
They drew to a halt in a large chamber, stood upon a raised gantry, horrified by what they saw.
Built into the stone around, above, and far below were cages, stretching to the left and right as far as the eye could see, each one glowing that same sickly green that emanated from the Enhanced Grimm contained within.
Blake was the first to speak. "We have to stop this."
Oobleck shook his head. "While I agree with you, now is not the time. We need to retrieve Miss Rose first, extract her, and then return later."
"How can you say that? Look, Ruby's great and all, but this? This is more important than any one of us."
In the center of the raised walkway was some kind of machinery, fed by a large vat of the green ooze, and which had a control console set before it. "Look, this must be how they inject the Grimm with this stuff," Blake continued. "You guys go on ahead, and I'll disable this machine. At the very least, it'll keep them from being able to send these things into Vale right away."
Oobleck looked conflicted, but eventually nodded his assent. "I'll have you know, our orders are to prioritize Ruby Rose over all else...but I can see your point. Good luck, Miss Belladonna. Yang, Weiss, on me."
As the rest of her team left, Blake took a moment to film the scene with her Scroll, zooming in on the Enhanced Grimm in their cages, and on the uniformed White Fang members currently scurrying around, gathering tech and supplies as they fled. She sent copies of the footage to her teammates - taking a moment to feel relief that both Ruby and Team JNPR were in range - before putting away the Scroll and moving to the console. Typing quickly, Blake found the submenu that controlled distribution of The Substance - apparently, the unimaginative name for the green ooze. Using a clever saboteur's hack, Blake prepared to order the machine to begin backpumping The Substance up into the vat, which would soon overload and burst. She made to enter the final line of command code, only for nothing to happen.
Oh. Her hand fell away from her wrist. That would make it harder to type, wouldn't it?
Blake stared blankly at the bleeding stump where her right hand had been. Then the pain hit, and she began screaming, holding her wounded limb to her chest, the hot blood pumping onto her torso, painting her white blouse crimson.
A boot struck to the side of her head, and Adam stood over her, licking her blood off of his sword. He shook his head at her, reprovingly. "Blake, Blake, Blake. I should have known it was you. You just have the ability to ruin everything you put your hands on, don't you? Well. Hand now, I suppose." He leaned down and picked up her severed hand, kissing it in a sick parody of a gentlemanly gesture, before he turned and hurled it over the walkway.
"You ran from me," he said, shaking his head once more. "You disobeyed me!" He kicked her in the chest, causing her to roll over. Blake tried to crawl away from him, but he drove his sword through her shoulder, pinning her through a hole in the gantry. "You don't seem to understand that you belong to me. And everytime you disobey me, I'll cut away something else from you, until all that's left is something that knows how to behave!" He ripped the sword from her body, then kicked her, right in the temple. Seeing her go limp made Adam see red, and he kept kicking her, over and over again.
Then a blinding pain shot through his head, as something struck him with a metallic clash. He staggered forward, tripping over Blake's body before regaining his balance and raising his sword in a guard.
He barely had time to set himself before a very angry redheaded human, clad in bronze, caught her bronze shield in midair and rushed him, sending her own blood-red blade stabbing towards him. Besides her, a burly, elderly human hurled a broad-bladed axe directly at his head, forcing him to use his sheathe to parry the heavy blow.
Jaune quickly took stock of the situation. "Ren, get to Blake. Nora, do you see that machine? That must've been what Blake was trying to disable. Finish taking it out."
"But...I can't hack things the way she can."
"Blow it the fuck up, Nora."
"Oh, right. You know, that stuff burned pretty good yesterday. Think it might all go up?"
"We'll just need to be ready to run."
"What are you going to do?"
As they watched, the Faunus who had hurt Blake flipped his sheathe over in his hand, and slammed his fist into Port's solar plexus. The devastating punch sank as deep as the man's wrist. Port went white and fell to the ground, just an old man hurt too badly to even breathe.
Jaune drew his sword and ran to join his partner. The three warriors warily stood off against each other.
"Adam Taurus," Jaune said, recognizing the man. "You're going to die today."
That actually drew a reaction from the man. "Jaune Arc. You've no ground to stand on, human. I've seen the reports, spoke to the survivors. You're the reason a man like me is necessary."
"I made you maim your ex, did I?"
Taurus snarled, and swung on Jaune. Pyrrha took the opportunity to stab at his unprotected side, and when Adam twisted to bring his sheathe in line to deflect it, Jaune got off a strong cut to the man's torso. As he reeled from that, Pyrrha hurled her shield at him again, striking him across the jaw. Jaune caught her shield and sent it back to her, low, tripping Adam. Taurus rolled backwards onto his feet, using the shotgun built into his sheathe to force Pyrrha to use her shield to defend herself instead of battering him. He was able to block a heavy downwards slash from Arc's sword, but he stamped into the side of his knee, and then Pyrrha was on him again, extending her sword into a spear and executing a wide sweep that knocked his legs out from under him once more.
Adam stood again, sheathing his sword and calling on the power of his Moonslice Semblance. That would put these humans in their place. Arc stood ready with his shield, which made Adam smirk in satisfaction. The look on a human's face when their weapons and armor, even their Aura failed to protect them from him never failed to put a smile on his face.
And then he found himself being hurled to the side.
The elderly Huntsman had somehow picked himself up from what had to have been a fatal blow and charged Adam, bodily tackling him with his great weight moving at speed.
Port, his grip iron-tight as he locked onto Adam, went tumbling over the side guardrail, and down to the floor far, far below.
Jaune and Pyrrha stared at each other in shock.
"Did that just happen?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune shook his head. "No time to linger on it. We need to check on the others." With the danger seemingly passed, Jaune and Pyrrha sheathed their weapons and ran back to Ren, Nora, and Blake.
"How is she?" Jaune asked.
Ren shook his head. "Traumatic amputation of the right hand, stab wound through-and-through the right shoulder, cracked skull. Couldn't find the hand, so no chance of reattaching it. Cauterized the wrist and shoulder. Not much I can do for the head wound. She needs a doctor, Jaune."
"Is it safe to move her?"
"No, but under the circumstances, it'd be more dangerous for her to stay."
"Right."
Jaune carefully gathered up Blake, carrying her over his shoulders. "Nora, pistol," he ordered. Nora complied without question, handing over one her new heavy pistols to him. Jaune racked the slide, chambering a round. "Pyrrha on point, shield up. Ren beside me, Nora brings up the rear. Nora, as we leave, blow that machine."
"On it."
Far below them, Adam Taurus stirred. Oh, that had hurt. He spat at the dead body of the Huntsman that had tackled him over the edge and glared balefully up at the walkway far above him. How was he supposed to kill them when…
Right.
Them.
He brought up his right arm, feeling the squirming presence of the control Grimm that Doctor Merlot had implanted in him. The sensation always made him nauseous, like something was somehow wrong, but he could live with that if it granted him the power to make Humanity pay for what it had done. "Kill them," he ground out. "Kill them all."
At his command, all the multitudinous cages, thousands of Enhanced Grimm, opened simultaneously.
From above, he heard a voice cry, "Nora, blow it now!'
After that, a great explosion rocked the building. The walkway itself gave out, sending the console crashing down with...The Substance! It went up in a great conflagration, sending green flames rocketing through the room. Adam leapt on top of an Enhanced Ursa, and commanded it to take him far, far away.
[/]
Team RWBY heard Ruby scream, and broke into a run. They found her in a room with an entire wall broken down, and she was chained to a chair, left for an Enhanced Beringel.
"Get away from her!" Yang rushed the creature. She sent a strong right towards it, only for the creature to catch both it and her follow-up left in its grip. The pair grappled for a moment before the Beringel overpowered her, smashing her against the floor, then the wall before hurling her away to bounce off of the concrete ground. Yang's hair finally extinguished as she skidded to a stop.
"Yang!" Ruby cried.
Weiss used her Dust to seal its knuckles to the ground, but the Grimm pulled once, twice, and then ripped its arms free, pounding on its chest before raising its giant, ironclad fists up to smash Ruby Rose to a pulp.
Doctor Oobleck dashed ahead, smashing his cudgel against the creature's chest. The simian Grimm retaliated by snatching up the historian, slamming him into the ground. It began smashing its iron-shod fists into him over and over again, ignoring the shards of ice and bolts of lightning that Weiss shot at it. Soon, the good Doctor's Aura was gone, and soon after that, there was very little of him left at all.
It turned its attentions back to Ruby, blood and gore dripping from the spikes on its fists.
Yang stood between it and her sister, fists raised in a futile effort to fend off the Grimm.
Ruby stared at the bloody ruin of her professor. Someone she knew, one of her teachers, had...had died. He'd died because of her, because she was stupid and foolish and got herself caught and chained down to where she couldn't help anyone...and worse, others were putting themselves in danger because she couldn't flee, and now…
Yang…
Yang!
Something broke inside of Ruby Rose. A power, a great and terrible power, welled within her, as uncontrollable as the fury of the storm, something older than her, older than words, an indomitable force that carried her along as a mere petal in its wake.
"NOOOO!"
That power poured forth from Ruby Rose, a brilliant, shining silver that streamed from her eyes and slammed into the Grimm with all the force of a hurricane. Against that will, no Grimm, enhanced or otherwise, could stand. In the space between one heartbeat and the next, the Beringel was simply obliterated, done to dust and less than dust.
The light died down. Ruby's vision cleared, seeing her sister and her partner staring at her in a mix of awe and confusion. But they were safe.
Ruby passed out with a smile on her face.
[/]
The teams reunited in that room, with Yang having broken the locks keeping her little sister chained to the chair.
"What happened?" Weiss asked, horrified at Blake's condition.
"Her ex found her," answered Jaune, his tone grim. "Cut off her hand, stabbed her, damn near kicked her to death. She needs a doctor. Ruby?"
"Something...weird happened," Yang said. "She just...burst light from her eyes. There was a Beringel in here, an Enhanced one, and with that power, she just...evaporated it, like it was nothing."
Jaune nodded. "Ozpin was right. Ruby has some kind of special power against Grimm, that she inherited from your mother. It's why retrieving her is priority even over destroying this facility. Port's dead. Where's Doctor Oobleck?"
Yang shook her head, while Weiss looked even paler than normal. "That's...that's what's left of him over there."
Jaune swore as he ran over to the mutilated corpse of the historian. Sure enough, his radio was damaged beyond hope of repair. "Thus passes the last member of Team GOLD," Jaune murmured, standing up. Both Port and Oobleck were dead, but they died as Huntsmen, protecting their students. Jaune could do nothing else to honor them but to carry out their mission.
He took a deep breath. "Okay. Both the radios are gone. Blake and Ruby need a doctor, ASAP, and then means getting them out of here. Anyone have any ideas?"
"I have one!"
Roman Torchwick walked into the room with Neo behind him, raising his hands at the sheer number of weapons abruptly pointed at him. "Man, you kids are twitchy," he said.
"You have something to say?" Jaune asked, his tone brusque.
"As a matter of fact, I do," replied Roman, reaching down to retrieve his hat. He flipped it as he put in back on. "Was trying to make a deal with Little Red there before things went to shit. She wasn't willing to play, but I'm betting you are."
"What's the deal?"
"Well, Sir Clanks-a-lot, it's simple: I know where there's a running subway train that goes from here to underneath Vale City proper, and I know the codes to get her running. And all that I ask from you is help faking my death. Long story short, me and Neo were pressed-gang into this bullshit, and we want out. Bein' officially dead's a good way to do that."
"You know that if you keep making trouble, it won't take long for the truth to come out."
"Kid, you think I got to reach this ripe old age for a gentleman thief without learning how to lie low when the heat's on? I figure me and Neo are overdue for a nice quiet vacation in Vacuo. So, what do you say?"
"Deal."
Yang looked at him in surprise. "What? Really? Just like that?"
"Just like that," Jaune said. "Your sister and your partner need help, ASAP, and unless someone's got an airship in their pocket, this is the fastest way to get them that."
Roman nodded in approval, pointing at him. "See, now you at least have some sense."
"Sure, whatever. Just know that if you keep causing problems in Vale, I'll have to come after you again. We just have bigger fish to fry right now."
"Yeah, yeah, we can go back to playin' cops and robbers when there isn't a Grimm apocalypse breathing down our necks."
"Fair enough," said Jaune. "Yang, pick up your sister. Pyrrha has point, me, Yang and Ren in the middle, Weiss and Nora bring up the rear." He nodded at Torchwick. "Lead the way."
A loud series of growls and roars emphasized their need to hurry, so the group, now with a thief and a Neo Politan, broke into a flat run, with Weiss sealing the way behind them with ice. They kept running until the tunnels gave way to a stretch of subway that had been so destroyed that it was effectively open to the sky above. A subway train was waiting before a distinct tunnel, with a control console set in the broken remains of a kiosk near the tracks.
Jaune got the door open, and gently set Blake down on the seats, with Yang doing the same for her sister. Both Zwei and Percival hovered close to the two unconscious girls, nervously licking their hands. He then left the train and studied the tunnel entrance.
"What is it?" Pyrrha asked, leaning on his shoulder.
"We need to collapse the tunnel after the train leaves," Jaune answered. He turned to Nora. "Have you got any of those charges left? Enough to collapse this tunnel?"
Nora peered at it carefully. "I have some. If I mix in some grenades, it'll help, but...I don't know if it'll be enough to hold back those Grimm. And someone will need to...to stay behind, to trigger the detonator."
"I'll do it," Jaune said. "You just get those charges set and get onboard."
Jaune flinched from the various protestations that he received from all corners.
"Hey, kid, remember that part I said about you havin' sense? Yeah, I take it back," Roman helpfully added.
Jaune ignored the thief. "Look, our priority hasn't changed. Ruby needs to be extracted no matter what. Setting off the charge to collapse the tunnel and fending off the Grimm is the best way to do that, and I'm the best suited to carry out that task."
"Jaune…" Weiss stared up at him. "...I thought you were done with suicide?"
"I am. Because I am going to fight like hell to come back to you. But you need to go. Half your team is down, and Yang looks like she's about to pass out at any minute. You need to keep them safe, Weiss."
"Is this because…"
"No. It's because you're a Huntress," he said.
Nora shook her head. "Okay, even if you're gonna do this, like hell are we gonna let you do it alone."
"We're a team," added Ren. "And as your team, if you're going to stand here, we're going to stand with you."
"My mother's in that city," Pyrrha said. "I would rather stand here and fight than see her in danger."
Jaune nodded. "Fine. We'll stand together, here. Weiss, you and Yang go with the crooks and get the train ready. We'll come meet you before you go."
"Right." Weiss took Yang, and followed Torchwick and Neo to the train. Roman did something at the control console at the kiosk, and the train hummed to life, LED lights illuminating the inside of the car. He went to go mess with the console in the car itself.
Team JNPR had been gathered in a half-circle, with Jaune's scroll set up on a rock, recording them. Jaune shook his head ruefully as he approached Weiss. "I sent you a message," he said. "A message from Team JNPR to Vale. If things go south...well, more south than they have already...you need to send this to Ozpin, as soon as you're in Scroll range, understood? It's our best chance of getting backup in time."
"Of course," Weiss said, her voice thick. "Jaune…"
He stepped forward and gently raised her chin, leaning down to embrace and kiss her. It was soft and sweet, filled with longing and passion. If this was to be his last kiss with her, he wanted it to be one that she would remember for the rest of her days.
"I love you," said Jaune. "I have always loved you. No matter what happens, never forget that, everything that is good in me, is because of you."
Tears fell from Weiss's eyes, but as she nodded, and stepped back into the car, she saw those same eyes harden with determination that she would see her end of the mission through.
It was in that moment that Jaune truly understood what Qrow had meant when he had told him to love the Huntress.
She raised her hand to the window. The train whirred with electric power, and then it, and she, was gone.
Jaune took a deep breath. It didn't matter if he was worthy anymore. It didn't matter anymore if he was fit to lead. Even the things that he had done in Atlas were no longer of consequence. All that mattered was the fight ahead.
As he walked out of the tunnel, Nora triggered her explosives. He ripped a piece of rebar from the concrete, and unclasped the cape that Weiss had got him. Tying it around the steel, he created an impromptu standard, the twin Arcs of his house sigil fluttering in the wind.
"How is the collapse?" he asked Nora.
She frowned. "Good, but I don't know if it's good enough," she said. "Best we could do with what we had, though."
"Well, at least we aren't staying behind for nothing," he said, clapping her on the shoulder. "All right, JNPR, here's the deal," he said, addressing his team. "You all know the score. Behind us is everything we've come to love in this fucked-up world. Lovers. Friends. Parents. Pancake breakfasts." He paused to let them snicker nervously. "Ahead of us is everything that's trying to take them all away." He stepped forward, and with a grunt, drove his standard into the concrete. "Team JNPR, our orders are simple."
"Not one step back."
[/]
A/N: *cue Mass Effect 2 Suicide Mission Theme*
Again, slightly tipsy when writing, please forgive any grammar or spelling errors.
Ruby done goofed. On the other hand, she's fifteen.
Tried to portray that the kids really are much stronger than at this point in canon while still not quite able to steamroll a mission like this. But yeah, Adam was the only one in that cell - Illia wasn't playing along - who could put up much of a fight at all against them.
Would Blake's Aura protect her from a sneak attack? Well, Sienna Khan's death in Volume 5 would suggest 'no.' I tried getting a straight answer on Reddit, but the general consensus is that there's a split in what Aura can do from the early show to the current show, so I just went with what was dramatically appropriate.
Yang's fury was out of control, and this will have impacts going forward. Blake, for one, definitely noticed.
WK!Jaune plus Pyrrha would be enough to overwhelm Adam, but his Moonslice may very well have done some damage to an unprepared Jaune if Port hadn't intervened.
Speaking of Port, I almost had written a comedic scene in the "downtime" portion where he got fired for creeping on teenage girls - *cough, voice actor's a creep, cough* - but decided not to.
Thus passes Port and Oobleck.
Again, the Grimm that Merlot messed with here are different from Grimm Eclipse, mostly due to me wanting to do something weird with them. I figured that, if he were collaborating with Cinder, he would be very interested in Grimm implantation and its implications.
It was me, Torchwick! You know, I could see him as being more the pragmatist, and not really going whole-hog on the "kill everyone with Grimm" plan, especially since there's no Atlesian air piracy to sweeten the deal.
Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for the next chapter, "The Last Stand at Mountain Glenn!"
Love,
Mahina
