No Brakes
Steel clashed and rang out in the dark driver's cab of the train as Weiss and Torchwick dueled. It, just like the sounds of warfare growing nearer, was nothing more than the softest rumble to Weiss: she focused entirely on the opponent in front of her. A single step to the left to avoid his swing. A counter aimed at his shoulder. Feint a second strike to draw him forward. Parry the response. Riposte.
Weiss cursed herself as Torchwick dipped away: she was a half-second too late. It was one of many frustrations that were gnawing away at her as they fought. It was not that they were stuck in a stalemate that bothered her.
It was that this criminal had the gall to 'fence' with her using his cane! A mockery of the style and, through some miracle, he was managing to hold his own!
Weiss let that anger fuel and quicken her blows, each coming faster until Torchwick was on the defensive. Stepping back and twirling his cane to force her away, Torchwick jolted as he bumped into the control panels. Weiss allowed herself a smile as she lunged.
Torchwick smirked back. His cane hooked around her blade. With a sharp yank, he stepped aside and let Weiss' own momentum do the work for her, throwing her forward. Caring nothing at all for honor, he grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into the controls before stepping back and whirling his cane above. Infuriated and with her head throbbing, Weiss twisted and brought up a shield of cyan energy to deflect Torchwick's incoming blow. Torchwick stumbled backwards, giving Weiss all the time she needed to flick Myrtenaster's cylinder to red and aim it at her foe.
"Ah-ah-ah!" Torchwick held his hands up. "Careful, Ice Queen, unless you want to blow us both to bits..."
Weiss narrowed her eyes: he stood in front of familiar, Schnee-marked crates near the door. With a huff, she flicked her rapier towards the ground instead, blinding and forcing the crime lord further against the crates. Torchwick barely had the time to whip away the flames before a blow to the chest knocked the wind out of him. Even when cornered, however, his constant flourishes and swings at legs and head both kept Weiss away from a finishing blow.
At least he'd stopped mocking the way of fencing.
Torchwick suddenly fired down at her feet, forcing Weiss to leap back onto a glyph. He smirked and charged forward to strike her from the air. He never saw the glyph form at his side until Weiss had already sprung to it. Now, it was his turn for his momentum to be his downfall, leaving him wide open to Weiss and her blazing, red Dust-charged weapon. Her eyes briefly fell upon his right—no doubt prosthetic—leg. It'd be all too easy to end the fight right there: even if it didn't destroy it entirely, lack of experience would at least unbalance Torchwick enough for a pathetically easy coup de grace.
But she wasn't like him. She wouldn't stoop to his level. When she shot forward, it was his left that she jammed Myrtenaster into, leaving him shouting out in pain and stumbling into the console. A lucky swing—at least that was what she told herself—caught Weiss' cheek hard enough to force her away.
His white bowler hat drooping over his eye, Torchwick growled and pushed himself back up to his feet. "Why, you worthless little brat!" He raised his cane to lash out at her, only to just jerk forward and grunt. He looked back to find the end of his cane held in place by a spinning, black glyph. Torchwick turned to his other side just in time to see his arm get frozen to the console in a rush of Dust. He glared at Weiss, who only pleasantly smirked back and strolled closer, her rapier raised and pointed at him.
"It's over, Torchwick. Tell me just how to stop this train."
The criminal boss looked more aggravated about his hat falling off. "Maybe I've been going at your poor negotiation skills from the wrong direction." He slumped down against the console. "I mean, seriously, try this: just what do I have to gain from listening to you?"
Weiss huffed. "The mercy of Vale's justice system and potential imprisonment instead of the 'mercy' of a pleasant executioner, of course."
"Uh-huh. Yeah. Counter-offer—" His right knee suddenly exploded into light, and Weiss's head snapped back from a sudden impact. With her aura flickering and a sharp stinging across her face, it took a second for her to realize what had just happened: he'd just shot her with his mechanical leg. Her eyes snapped back to Torchwick as he broke the ice and her glyph failed from lack of concentration. The barrel of a short gun was visible through the hole in his pants just at his knee. A gun. In his prosthetic. That she refused to target. He'd abuse even the small kindness of her not targeting his weakness!
Her face red with indignant rage and her lips twisted into a scowl, Weiss spun her cylinder to yellow Dust as Torchwick rushed forward. She flooded her rapier with her aura, and ducked off to the side before Torchwick could even blink. Channeling the quickening power of Electric Dust, she shot past Torchwick time and time again, raking her rapier across his aura and only stopping to unleash a flurry of lightning-fast blows. No matter just how fast Torchwick was, he couldn't stop all of them from cutting through his defense. Once more, she parried a futile attempt to attack her, but now her riposte was a fully-charged, electrified stab.
Right into his metal leg.
Torchwick's scream was so shrill it almost hurt her ears. She was so wrapped up in anger at his dishonor, however, that she only pressed on, watching the criminal's aura flare and flicker from the constant punishment. Soon, his only choice would be surrender or be knocked out. He'd have no choice but to—
Torchwick grabbed the blade.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, he managed to forced Weiss' rapier away from his knee. Weiss tried to yank her blade back yet, to her increasing surprise, Torchwick kept holding on. She tried to amp up the electric Dust's power and pressed the trigger down flat but, if anything, the lightning waned.
Finally, she gathered the leverage to pull her weapon back and stepped away, rapier raised flush to her. Torchwick twitched as he steadied himself. Weiss didn't like where this was going. She'd just need to finish this on the spot! Weiss created glyph after glyph around her foe and channeled her aura into not just the Dust, but her Semblance. She inhaled and focused on dilating time itself around her.
Nothing happened.
Weiss' eyes widened as she looked at the myriad of Dust chambers. Had she used everything up already? No, she could still see the electric Dust inside, but it was... desaturated. Dull. Almost completely gray.
"That was a nice little trick you pulled, last time we fought," her foe said.
Weiss looked up to find Torchwick with a pulsating aura of yellow around him.
"Mind if I... borrow it?" He was gone in a flash.
The cane slamming into her ribs was the first strike of many.
"Cover me!" Yang shouted.
"On it!" Adam rolled to his feet first with his blade drawn as Almond dropped from the hole in the ceiling. He spun Blush in his hand, aimed and threw his Semblance into a single shot that painted the train red and launched Almond into the cart ahead as little more than a silhouette. It wouldn't be enough to put him down, but hopefully, it'd keep him stunned.
An explosion rippled behind him and Yang rushed forward in pursuit. Now then, that just left him and...
Adam spun without a thought and struck the pointed tip of a parasol away. Neo was already back at arm's reach by the time he'd fully turned. Adam twirled Wilt in his hands, staring down his substantially shorter foe. Neo copied him with her parasol, cocked her head to one side and blinked, eyes changing from pink to brown at random.
He sheathed his blade, and the two circled one another, watching for any sign of weakness. He drummed his fingers on Wilt's hilt. Neo laid her parasol on her shoulder. Adam paused and clicked open his blade. Neo watched him for a moment longer, then smirked and beckoned him forward. With a smirk of his own, Adam gladly obliged and drew his blade in an instant.
The image of Neo shattered into pieces leaving empty space behind, yet Adam was not fooled: he whipped around and swept his blade low to block Neo's parasol coming in from behind him, the hook only a couple of inches away from his leg. He aimed Blush, but Neo snapped a kick up into his wrist fast enough to send his shot wide. Spinning his blade to force Neo away, Adam leaped back and sheathed his blade once more.
The two looked over one another again, appraising. Judging. Deciding on their next move.
Neo's eyes flicked towards the door where Yang and Almond escaped. Her mind was elsewhere. On another opponent.
Adam's eyes followed hers. Normally, he'd have been more than able to take advantage of even that small glance. However, he could not judge. His mind was on how to conquer his other opponent, as well.
Adam drew his blade, and their second round commenced.
Yang ran through a last door to find the hulking White Fang leader kneeling and shaking wilted petals off of him. The armor she'd once seen on him in the rally was almost completely gone. He turned his half-broken mask in her direction.
"Oh, no you don't!" She fired behind herself to go rocketing forward. "Stay down!" She brought her hand down with all the force she could and, with a roar that shook the car, Almond swung his arm up and took every pound of it right into his hand. Steel groaned, crates were blasted back and crimson aura burst from the resulting shockwave, filling the air with the taste of iron. Yang fired her gauntlets again and flipped herself over the frenzied leader, narrowly avoiding a wild swing of his chainsaw in the process.
She could tell already that this man was the opposite of Neopolitan. Like the Junior to Neo's Malachite Twins. In other words, a way better match for her. Yang smirked and ejected her shells before throwing in far more brightly-colored Dust shells. The good stuff.
"Come on, why don't you take off the mask! Look me in the eye while we're fightin'!" she taunted him.
Almond cocked his head to one side, blinking without understanding. His one, utterly black eye focused on her. Then, he grinned and reached his hand up to the remains of his mask. It cracked as he pulled it away, crumbling in his crushing grip as if it were made from plaster.
Yang could now fully see the black, frantic orbs that were his eyes and the rows of sharp, jagged teeth in his maw. A maw that, as Almond grinned wider and let the glowing mist flow freely from it, was spreading far and away beyond what any man's should have.
"... Uh, on second thought, can you just kinda... paste that back on?"
With another roar, Almond leaped at Yang and forced her to roll out of the way of a swing that swept through the ground like a knife through hot butter. She ducked and weaved around slash after slash, peppering him with gouts of flame and pellets from her gauntlets all the while. He barely even budged. Alright, a tough guy! Yang brought up her gauntlet to block one of his one-handed blows, hoping to leave him open enough to strike at his gut.
As she was instead slammed into the ground from Almond's saw, Yang realized that she'd grossly miscalculated his strength. She rolled out of the way of his incoming stab and put her own strength on display, hurling one of the heavy crates at Almond and firing her gauntlets to send her into a tight spin towards him. Almond could cleave through it with ease, but that didn't stop the two halves from striking him and forcing him back, nor did it stop Yang's spinning kick slamming into his head.
She didn't need to beat him, Yang thought as she landed and brought her arms up to block a desperate swing that still threw her back a couple feet. She just needed to last long enough to get herself charged up. Yang was caught between wanting to grimace and grin both as Almond raced through her incendiary rounds to knee her in the stomach and knock her back towards Neo and Adam. She hissed in pain and spat as she rose back to her feet, eyes blazing red and aura flickering gold.
"Come on, asshole! I've fought Ursas stronger than you!"
A inhuman bellow befitting of said Ursa was the reply from the cart beyond.
At least it wouldn't take too much longer now!
The tip of Neo's parasol sliced past Adam's faltering aura and into his cheek, leaving behind a trail of red that remained even after his aura patched the cut up. First blood. Adam scowled and his concentration returned to the fight at hand, blade little more than a crimson line of light as it swept and lashed out at Neo. Every blow was dodged with speed and grace that rivaled—no, exceeded—his own. Adam did not believe she was an amateur, but even so, it was clear she was better than he predicted.
Her eyes turned a gleaming pink upon noticing the mark she'd left on him, carrying with them a predatory glow like that of a shark to blood in the water.
Blood in the water...
As his thoughts drifted away to Almond once more, his body moved on autopilot, avoiding a swing of Neo's parasol and parrying the next before sweeping his foot through what became yet another field of illusory, shattered glass. Adam spun and drew his sword only enough to block the expected counterattack from behind.
He was going to have to kill Edward Almond at this rate. His stomach churned at the thought, but with him so frenzied, it was clear it was the only way out.
He abruptly bolted back from Neo and slashed just in front of the door Yang was beyond. The true Neo flipped out of the fragments of empty air left in Wilt's wake nary a step away from the door, and the illusory copy she left behind crumbled behind them both.
Adam tutted. "I am your opponent now, not her." He smirked and spun Wilt before sheathing it and beckoning Neo forward.
She narrowed her now-brown eyes at him.
He took that as a victory.
He was stalling, he knew that. Waiting for Yang to finish with her scheme. Waiting for his turn. Waiting for the time where he would have to finish what he had started with his former lieutenant. The train rumbled behind him, and he could faintly hear Yang cursing, followed by the muffled and increasingly loud shout of: "Switch-switch-switch!"
And that time had come quicker than he'd wanted it to.
Adam tightened the grip on his weapon and readied himself for Neo's attack. She stalked forward, a prismatic, reflective sheen building on her parasol.
"But fine, I am a benevolent opponent. You want her? Have her!" He ducked as the door barely opened fast enough to allow Yang, hair aflame and eyes blazing-red to come rocketing out.
Adam and Yang both mentally saved Neo's surprised gasp and horrified expression. A split-second later, Yang's fist wiped it off of Neo's face with an explosive punch that unleashed nothing short of purest, blazing sunlight and a deafening cacophony inside the train cart. When the light faded and their ears stopped ringing, the door at the opposite end of the car twitched and sparked with a gaping hole in it. Through it, similar damage could be seen in the car beyond that.
Yang popped her neck, aura spotty and flickering, yet held together by the same flames that now danced across her blonde hair. Her eyes held a visible glow to them now as she stalked forward. She turned her gaze over her shoulder, watching Adam as he stared into the car ahead, waiting for Almond.
"I'll finish her. You got the big guy?"
Adam couldn't bring himself to answer directly. He gripped his blade tighter. "His semblance. It's being fueled by others being wounded. Call Ruby and make sure she falls back when Neo is finished."
Yang snorted. "Takin' that as a yes, then. Good luck!" She sprinted off, tearing through any door that did not rise for her. She didn't have time to waste even another second of her Semblance.
Finally, Adam was alone, if only for a few moments. His aura quivered and waned, held together after the constant punishment more from willpower than endurance. How many more strikes could he take? One? Two? He couldn't afford to play around, nor could he afford to busy himself with the past. Adam drew Wilt as he jumped into the next car. Almond would have to fall now, if not to save himself, then to stop his Semblance from affecting him even after this skirmish. He ejected Blush's magazine and fired its one shot left in the chamber into the ceiling.
"Come, Edward! Let's put an end to this!"
The guttural growl of Almond and saw both rumbled from deeper within. Crimson mist seeped out from beneath the door before it even opened. Almond stepped out, hunched over and snarling with rows of sharp teeth visible. Standing on the other end of the car, Adam stabbed Wilt into the ground and jammed a new magazine into Blush.
One emblazoned with the Schnee insignia.
Ruby threw aside yet another magazine and reached for her bandolier. Two left. Stuck in the back supporting Penny as she fought off more than ten White Fang at a time, she sighed in frustration. The waves felt endless! They really must've been planning a massive attack for them to have this many people onboard. She racked the next shot and aimed. She peered back over her scope and blinked.
Wait, there didn't look like there were that many left at all! She rose up to her feet and squinted down at their foes. Were they finally running out?
She noticed the few remaining backing off and ducking behind crates having been dragged and thrown up to the ceiling to serve as cover. Ruby squealed and dived to the side as a Paladin turned its attention onto her, riddling the train car with heavy slugs. Yet, it didn't advance. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized that they weren't trying to kill them anymore, they were trying to stall them.
"Penny! How close to Vale are we!"
Penny ducked under a wild swing and struck her assailant from the train with a sweep of her blades. "I cannot ascertain our exact position at this moment." Her swords launched out and hooked into one of the many crates before dragging it to her. Simple cover, but cover nonetheless. "But..." She narrowed her eyes in thought, searching through her maps and knowledge of the surrounding area.
"I sense that we will be reaching the barricade in six minutes. If my calculations are correct, we're already within Vale limits, Ruby!"
Ruby gripped her scythe tighter. So, that was why they were suddenly getting defensive: they were already in the final stretch! They still had so many mechs ahead, too: there was no way that they could get to the front of the train by themselves.
It was all up to Weiss, now...
Weiss' aura cracked as Torchwick, glowing gold, blitzed past and struck her with his cane once more, sending her stumbling back.
"How!" she shouted as she rolled out of the way of an explosive round and had to block a trio of strikes from Torchwick before it even struck the wall behind her.
Torchwick swept her legs out from under her. His cane cannon was already aimed at her by the time she hit the ground. "C'mon, Ice Queen, do I gotta spell it out? You go to Beacon! I thought you'd understand a Semblance when you saw one!"
Ugh, of course the thief's Semblance would be stealing something. Weiss snorted and flipped Myrtenaster up before unleashing a torrent of fire at his face while he was so focused on talking. He easily leaned back, but his eyes tracked the flames.
Just what Weiss was waiting for. She shoved Torchwick's cane aside before striking his metal leg once more and bringing him to his knees. Growing more used to the extreme speed from his stolen haste, Weiss rolled to her feet and stabbed out just as Torchwick swung Melodic Cudgel towards her. Her rapier's flaming tip pierced the barrel just as Torchwick fired.
The explosion turned the world white.
Her ears ringing, Weiss stepped back, coughing from the black smog and embers that filled the air. Her left hand was empty and numb from her rapier being ripped from her grip. Blood dripped between her fingers: her aura had collapsed almost entirely. As the smoke cleared, however, Weiss saw Torchwick hacking and stumbling away. More importantly, she saw that he was disarmed as well. Unlike her, however, Torchwick's aura was breaking, but still there.
She saw Torchwick's cane, burnt but whole, laying near the door to the cab behind him. Weiss glanced over her shoulder. Myrtenaster laid wedged against the console behind her. She looked up, and their eyes met.
Weiss ignored how the world kept turning, stood tall and nodded to Torchwick. It was only fair that they retrieve their weapons. Torchwick nodded back, golden glow of his pilfered Dust energy fading. Weiss turned away.
Torchwick punched her in the face.
"Have you no shame at all?!" Weiss screamed in rage as she narrowly ducked under his second swing.
"The world isn't fair, Ice Queen!" He caught her in the stomach with the third, driving the wind from her. "I would've thought a Schnee knew that best!"
She leaned back to avoid an uppercut.
"And you're way too young for this if you think I'm gonna play fair!" He put all the aura he could into a finishing hook, but Weiss twirled around his swing and threw him over her shoulder. She might not have had her aura supporting her, but she wasn't a slouch in hand-to-hand.
Both took a second to catch their breath. Weiss looked past Torchwick to find that Myrtenaster was now behind him. The crime lord smirked. He'd caught on. Torchwick scrambled backwards for Weiss' rapier. In a panic, Weiss checked behind her. Torchwick's cane was in arm's reach. She reached for the cane. Torchwick swung the elegant rapier towards her.
Weiss aimed the simple cane gun and, as Torchwick realized he hadn't the slightest clue on how to use Weiss' weapon, simplicity won out. The flare slammed into Torchwick's chest, the explosion slamming him against the console and leaving his aura utterly vanquished. He slumped to the ground, groaning. Weiss kept the cane aimed at him, taking in great, gasping breaths.
The fight was over. She'd won. Her legs trembled, the world turned and she nearly passed out before slamming Torchwick's cane into the ground to steady herself. No! No more! She'd won this battle on her own, and she wasn't going to just drop afterwards like she had before. She was going to stick this through and prove herself strong!
Weiss hobbled towards the controls, willpower defeating exhaustion.
"Do you really think this is gonna be enough to make you a big hero?" Torchwick grumbled from where he laid. "That people are just going to forget whose daughter you are? Whose family's screwing up the world?"
Weiss glared down at him, a scowl growing on her face.
"How much of that Schnee depravity did you know about and ignore before you got here? Does your little White Fang buddy know? How about innocent little Red?" He chuckled dryly and coughed. "You can run away from home all you want, little girl, but you can't outrun your name."
Frustration finally built to a peak, and Weiss let the cane slide in her grip until she held it by the end of its shaft. Then, she turned and cracked the handle into his jaw. Torchwick fell limp.
Panting, sweating and alone with only her thoughts and the sound of the rumbling train, Weiss threw Torchwick's weapon back at him, grabbed Myrtenaster and leaned over the console. She'd seen and rode around in these trains before, if she remembered right, the brakes should be... here!
Weiss reached for the lever, only to find a piece of metal haphazardly riveted over the slot where it should be.
The train had no brakes.
"... Oh, wonderful..."
