A/N: Italics=Thoughts
Ghira effortlessly sidestepped out of the way of an attack and brought down a quick chop onto the back of a White Fang soldier's neck. Knocking him out immediately.
"Sir! I'm going to try to make a path to your wife." A guard said.
The large panther Faunus chuckled. "Oh, trust me. She's fine. Kali will meet with us shortly."
The young guard was about to question what Ghira meant, but he was hit in the shoulder by a small, dust blast. "GAAAA!"
Ghria reached out and caught him in his arms. The large Faunus gave a sigh of relief once he saw that the guard was still breathing. He set the young man down gently on the floor. Looking up, he saw the smirking faces of Fennec and Corsac. Rising to his full height, he crinkled his nose in anger. The yellows of his eyes smoldering as he glared at the brothers. "So, this is you two's doing."
"Brother, your aim was a bit off."
"Sorry Fennec. I can't always have true aim." Corsac said jokingly.
"You would make light of almost killing your fellow Faunus!? The NERVE you two have!" His voice so loud, it nearly sounded like a roar.
"He stood in the way of progress. He deserved what he got." Fennec sneered.
"Sometimes you need to make an example out of people." Corsac said as he shrugged. Twirling his sai nonchalantly.
Fennec point his own sai towards Ghria. "Just like we're about to make an example out of you, your dear wife, and that precious daughter of yours." He smiled at the chieftain. One that only a viper could produce.
Ghira felt his blood begin to boil over. Enough was enough. He would not allow these upstarts to threaten his family and destroy his home. Grabbing his coat, he threw it off in a fit of barely controlled rage. His claws unsheathed themselves from his finger tips and the pupils of his eyes took a slit like appearance, with his canines becoming elongated fangs as his primal Faunus instincts began to take over. With a furious stomp of his right foot, he let out a roar so loud that it shook the room. Causing the wood to creak and moan under it's impressive weight.
Fennec closed his eyes in pain. He held his hands to his ears in an effort to protect them. Once he opened his eyes, he saw a very pissed off Ghira. The panther Faunus was a large man, but now, with his shirt off and his animal features more pronounced, he truly looked like a mountain of a man. A mountain that was getting ready to jump at them.
Ghira made the first move. Catching the brothers by surprise by how fast he was, he grabbed each brother by their wrist and lifted them up and spun around once before letting them go. Sending them into opposite directions. Crashing through the walls.
With his plan to separate the two now complete, he immediately went after Fennec. Still being absolutely livid about his threats on his wife and daughter.
"Ugggghhhhh." Fennec groaned in pain. Never did he imagine that a man as large as Ghira, could ever move with such agility. His eyes widened in fear as his sensitive ears picked up the sounds of something large barrling through the air. He rolled out of the way of a massive fist slamming down on the wooden floor. Causing it collapse and splinter apart.
The White Fang elite rolled onto his feet and immediately jumped at Ghira. He pulled his arm back and thrusted it forward. However, The chieftain effortlessly moved out of the way.
With Fennec completely wide open, the large Faunus grabbed his opponent's head. Bringing him to a sudden stop. Before Fennec could retaliate, Ghira slammed his massive fist into his stomach. Causing the smaller man to gasp painfully as all of the air was pushed out of him all at once. With his enemy stunned, Ghira lifted Fennec over his head with one arm and slammed him down headfirst onto the floor so hard that the foundations of the Belladonna household were rattled.
Corsac came stumbling through to see Ghria standing over his brother. Fennec's mouth was wide opened in a silent scream. Fearing for the life of his sibling, he immediately began to run towards Ghria. He jumped up into the air with his sai raised over his head.
Corsac eyes immediately shifted to the right as he saw something move in the shadows. Next thing he knew, something hard hit him and sent him careening off into a pillar.
Ghira looked behind him to see Kali standing with a small pole in her hands.
"Ghira, dear. Don't tell me these little upstarts are giving you trouble."
Throwing Fennec away, Ghira smiled at his wife. It was nice to hear her soft, playful voice. "Kali! I was wondering when you get here."
Kali looked down to inspect her nails. "Well, I had to take care off a bunch of grunts." Looking over to see both Fennec and Corsac begin to finally recover and stand up. "I'm not exactly in the best of moods. They ruined my precious nap Ghira!"
The large man chuckled. Shaking his head, he looked upon his wife with a loving smile. "Well, you could always take your frustrations out on these two." Pointing his thumb to the brothers.
Kali hummed. She looked upon the disaster zone that was her house. Snarling, Kali activated her weapon. A blade coming out of each end of the pole. "I spent years. YEARS of hard work, trying to make this house feel like a warm, inviting, and wholesome place. It took me years to take care of all of these plants. Nurturing them and giving them love so they could grow to be beautiful."
Like her husband, the pupils of her eyes narrowed into slits. Her nails grew into claws and her canines becoming more like long fangs. "All of my work. Gone. In one night. By two little upstarts!" Getting into her stance, she looked over to her husband. "Ghira. It's time to give the spanking these two never got from their parents!"
"Of course dear. I would be more than happy to beat these two pups to a pulp."
Fennec pointed his sai at Kali. The red dust cartridge at the bottom of the hilt glowed. Then traveled through spirals of the bladed part and from the tip, a small ball of fire shot out. Kali cartwheeled over the projectile. Landing on the balls of her feet, she immediately dashed to the side to avoid another shot aimed at her.
The Belladonna matriarch then closed the distance with all the agility and finesse of a cat. Now, being practically in his face, she forced Fennec to switch to melee. He made forward stabbing motion, but was instantly countered by Kali thrusting the tip of her blade through the space between the hand-guards and the blade of his weapon. Her blade found his shoulder as it pierced through his aura. Red trailed down as the blade dug deep into him. His yell was caught off when she kicked him in the stomach. Now he had only had one arm to work with.
"FENNEC!" Corsac yelled. He then pointed his sai towards the Belladonna matriarch. However, just as the spirals of his weapon began to glow blue, a large hand gripped his wrist and yanked it up. A shot of ice went to the ceiling. Freezing part of it. Corsac shifted his eyes upward to find molten amber staring down at him.
"You really shouldn't let your guard down pup." And with that, Ghria lifted him up and slammed his fist into the smaller Faunus' face with a loud crack. The blow sent him flying towards Kali, who jumped up and delivered a roundhouse to his oblique on the right side of his body. Her strike redirected him towards his brother who was just starting to get up.
As soon as Fennec raised his head, his brother slammed into him. Both brothers crashed through the wall, landing in the Belladonna's living room. Groaning and moaning from pain, the twins struggled to get their feet under them. After a few tries, they finally stood up. Blood running down Corsac's face, while Fennec was nursing his right shoulder. Blood now streaming down his arm.
"Brother, how are they this strong? I thought they were just simple little house cats!" Fennec sneered with contempt.
"I'm not sure. This was supposed to be easy, yet, here we are. Getting quite the beating." His voice laced with equal amounts of contempt as his brother's
Neither could believe how much they had miscalculated. The Belladonnas were supposed to be soft and weak. A domestic life style that should have left them vulnerable. But, this was not the case. They moved and fought like seasoned veterans of the battlefield. Like they had seen every trick in the book. The two brothers began wondering what kinds of things did Ghira and Kali experience in their younger years.
"Well, these two aren't much." Kali stated as both her and Ghria walked through the hole that was created. She looked back at the wall and let out a sigh. The woman was not happy about the damage to their home. It was going to cost a hefty bit of lien to have this whole house fixed.
Looking up at her husband, she asked. "Are we going to make them pay for the damages dear?"
Ghira smiled down at his wife. "Of course honey, but first." He then glared at the twins. "We have to take care of them first. It's not just us they want dead, but our lovely daughter as well."
Kali bared her fangs. Giving the brothers a look that promised a painful death. "Oh, really? Well, time to squash these terrorists then."
The couple heard the sounds of rushed footsteps above them. They looked up to a platform on the second level to see five White Fang soldiers taking aim at them. They pulled their triggers, but they were met with a dull click.
Ghira looked down at his wife with a knowing grin. "Well, that was lucky."
Wasting no time, Kali jumped up towards the platform. While in the air, she pressed a button. Her double bladed sword separated from the middle and became two swords. Upon landing, she twirled her two swords and cut two of the soldier's guns into pieces. She immediately followed up with an attack to their heads. However, she made sure to hit them with the flats of her weapons. Effectively knocking them out.
The feline ears atop her head twitched at the sounded of rushing foot steps coming at her from her flank. Kali quickly reached inside the hidden pockets of her black hakama. After finding the objects she was looking for, she then (in one fluid motion) spun around and threw her metsubushi at the reaming three soldiers.
As the small objects exploded into what looked like dust, the three terrorists began screaming out in agony. The mixture of ashes, ground-up pepper, mud, flour, and dirt served as irritants for their eyes and surely caused a good deal of pain. However, it was the fine-ground glass inside the vicious tools that caused the lion's share of their torment as the tiny pieces of glass tore into their eyes. They dropped to their knees, desperately clawing at their eyes to stop the excruciating burning pain in them. One could only hope that their eyesight would remain after their eyes healed.
While his wife busied herself with the riffraff above them, he turned his attention to the twin brothers. Ghira ran in a zig zag pattern as Fennec and Corsac fired their weapons at him. The Belladonna patriarch grabbed two chairs as he ran and threw them both at the twins. Both Fennec and Corsac rolled out of the way, putting them on each side of the large man. They both charged at Ghria. Closing in like a pair of pincers. With a sly grin spread across his face, Ghira jumped right over the two at the last moment and watched in glee as his opponents slammed into each other. He landed a few feet away from the two.
With the brothers dazed, Ghira sprinted towards them as fast as he could with his an outstretched arm. The bulk of his arm caught the two by the neck. The force so great, that it caused both of them to flip a few times in the air before falling on the ground completely unconscious. However, before Ghria could celebrate his victory, due to their last impulses from their brains before being knocked out, Corsac and Fennec had shot their weapons at the part of the roof his wife was standing under. An explosion came forth when fire and ice mixed causing the wood from the support beams of the roof to become nothing, but splinters. Without the support beams, part of the roof collapsed under it's own weight and began to fall.
"KALI!" Ghira roared. Forcing his legs to move faster than he ever moved them before.
Kali's eyes widened from the sound of her husband booming voice. She looked up to see a large part of the roof rapidly descending towards her. She tried to move out of the way, but it was looking like she wouldn't make it. She closed her eyes as she felt the roof touch her ears. That's when she heard a boom from behind her. Kali looked behind her to see her husband hunched over, holding the roof above her. Upon closer inspection, she noted how the size of his muscles had greatly swelled out and had veins popping up all over them. It was clear that he activated his semblance.
Ghira lifted his head to meet his wife's gaze. He smiled sweetly at her. "How many times do I have to to tell you dear? Luck always runs out." He teased. Ghira turned around towards the railing. He then leaned his body at an angle so that the object that he was holding would slide harmlessly away from everyone. It hit the floor with a loud boom that shook the entire room.
Kali ran over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him. "My hero!" She said as she nuzzled her head into him.
He smiled down at his wife and wrapped his large arms around her. "I'm just glad you're safe."
After the two released each other, Ghira deactivated his semblance. A wave of extreme exhaustion hit him. He dropped to the ground on his butt and began to pant heavily. It wasn't just his stamina that suffered, but also his aura. Which had nose dived to dangerous levels. He looked up to see his wife's concerned face. He smiled. "I'm fine. Just very tired."
Kali kissed her husband's forehead and wiped away the sweat that was building on his brow. "And how many times have I told you to be careful with that semblance of yours?"
Suddenly, a couple dozen of Menagerian police came flooding in with their weapons drawn. Only to realize that almost everything was destroyed. When their gaze rested on the unconscious forms of Fennec and Corsac, they looked confusedly at one another.
"We're up here!" A booming voice called out.
The island's police looked up to the indoor balcony to see their leader and his wife.
"Sir." One of them spoke. "Are you alright? Are there any more?"
Ghira shook his head. "No. Me and Kali took care of them."
Kali frowned. "What took you so long though?"
Before answering, he motioned for the rest of his men to quickly arrest all of the White Fang and help the wounded guards. "My apologies ma'am. These...scoundrels set up IED's all along the paths leading up to the house." He looked away. Tears nearly falling from his eyes. "We lost some good men to them. Some died being blown into pieces."
Both Ghira and Kali were furious. Never in their lives would they have ever thought that their fellow Faunus would ever be so cruel and heartless to each other. This was not what they had in mind when they fought for their kind all those years ago.
"I want those explosives cleared. Once that is done, I want you to assemble our people. I wish to speak with them." Ghira said.
"Of course, sir"
"What a terrible night." Kali said as she watched the officer they had talked to rushing off to organize a party to search for the IED's and clear them out.
"Yes. I agree. However, this is only the start of our hardships I fear." Ghira said with a tired sigh.
"Nothing me and you haven't already been through dear. We'll get through this and so will our people." Kali said. She placed her hand on her husbands back and began to rub it soothingly. Encouraging him to be to strong.
He smiled and bent down to give his wife a peck on her lips. "Of course Kali."
It didn't take long for the police to clear out all of the bombs since they were only on the routes leading to the Belladonna residence. Of which there weren't many of. However, they did second sweep. Just to be absolutely certain that there weren't any more IED's.
With the roads being safe for civilian use, the people of Menagerie came to their leader's half destroyed home. They looked on in terror at the state of the Belladonna home. A chunk of the roof was missing, most of the plants were dead, some of the walls had been destroyed, and there was still black smoke rising from the large house.
Once they made it to the front yard, they saw Ghira and Kali standing on their patio with the White Fang bound and on their knees with police around them. Keeping their weapons trained on them. They noted the appearance of both Fennec and Corsac. This shocked them. Those two were always so friendly and helping towards them.
Once all of the people of Menagerie gathered, Ghria took a step forward and began to address his people.
"I know many of you were probably woken from your sleep from the sounds of gunfire and explosions. You can thank the White Fang for that." He gestured his hand toward the terrorists. "These criminals. These terrorists, even had the audacity to plant bombs along the paths to my home. Not once did they even think about what would happen if one of you walked down these roads. Or even worse, if one of our many young ones played down these paths, like they often do, and then were killed."
The large gathering Faunus began to mumble to each other. Hearing their concerned tones, he raised his hand for them to stop. "Do not worry. All of the explosives have been taken care of. No one is in danger."
Staying silent for moment, Ghria gazed into his people's eyes. He could see the worry was lifted and seemed to be more intent on listening to what he further had to say. "Now, the hard part comes."
Ghira took a deep breath and spoke. "Do you see now what has become of the White Fang. This is why we must fight back. Why we must save Haven from their attack." He could hear the audience murmuring. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they had doubts about getting involved and actually fighting.
Despite that however, Ghira pressed on. "The White Fang's actions speak poorly for all of us. The humans are starting to believe that we are all like them. And, I can assure you, that inaction will make them believe that we support their insanity. Then, eventually, the humans will declare war and they will be on our doorstep."
Ghira kept a careful eye on the crowds reactions. He breathed an internal sigh of relief. He was beginning to sway them. Ghira only needed to push a little further.
"When I formed the White Fang, it was to be an organization that would help disenfranchised Faunus and work to making the world give us equality. I did not create that organization so that some unhinged idiots would go and attempt to bring the world to another Human/Faunus war."
"You are all traitors! Weak, spineless cowards, and traitors!" Raged Fennec. Abruptly interrupting Ghira.
"The new world has no need of any of you! It was a mistake to do anything for you! If you will not join us, then you will all die like the human filth! We will hunt all of you down and kill you and your families! Human sympathizers will all DIE!" Fennec screamed out at the top of his lungs!
The rest of the Faunus stared in horror at Fennec. His radical rhetoric scared them. However, that fear slowly began to turn into anger. They began shouting at him. Calling him a rabid animal. Calling him and the rest of the White Fang that follow him monsters. No good Faunus would ever threaten their own like this.
Ghira held his hands up to quiet the crowd in front of him. Once they quieted down, Ghira continued. "Do you see now? The White Fang no longer represents you or any of us. They are prepared to slaughter even their fellow Faunus to achieve their insane goals. This, my people, is what humans will come to view us all as. Nothing but deranged beasts. But, if we help defend Haven. Then the world will know, that not all Faunus support these monsters. That we are good, respectable people."
A man with green scales on his arms and fins on his head stepped forward. "I'm game for defending Haven against these bastards. I fought that war same as you Ghira. We don't need another one."
Ghira watched in awe as one after another stepped forward. He could see the strength of their resolve in their eyes. They (as much as him) didn't want to be associated with the White Fang's insanity.
"The attack on Haven is still some time away. Which is good because this gives us time to train and make weapons and armor. Many of the the veterans of the war will help train you. Me and Kali will also aid in this. However, for now, return to your homes and rest. We have much to do tomorrow."
As the people of Menagerie began to leave, Ghira turned to the police. "Take these men and lock them up. Once this is all over, we will hand them over to Mistral so they can be tried for their crimes."
"Yes sir!" Looking at the prisoners he yelled. "Alright, come on. Get moving."
Corsac stood up and glared at Ghira. "You will pay for this Ghira. I promise you this. And Blake." He gave the large Faunus a disgusting grin. "Adam will have the time of his life with her."
Ghira payed him no mind. He walked straight to his wife and smiled. "Well, that couldn't have gone any better. Now could it?"
"I suppose not. However, I assume you have a means of transportation?"
"Oh, yes. Our daughter put me in contact with reputable a Captain. She saved his ship and the crew on board from a Grimm attack. So he will be more than happy to help us."
Before she could reply, she felt her husband wrap his gargantuan arms around her. He lifted her up and began to carry her like on the day of their wedding.
"But first. I think my beautiful wife needs some attention after the stressful night she has had." Ghira grinned down at her. All of his masculine confidence that she fell in love with was making its presence known.
Kali giggled and kicked her legs happily. She did enjoy being carried. "Well then big, strong, and handsome. I wouldn't object to that at all." She gave him a loving kiss. "Now then, to the bed dear husband."
Ghira grinned like he was a small boy again. "Your wish is my command. Dear wife." He sprinted off to the remains of their home with the love of his life in his arms giggling and laughing all the way there.
Yang was on her way back from the compound she had been studying for about a week and a half now. Of course she had been doing this in her bird form. She was very happy about learning this. It just made so many things easier. A bird's eye view was very advantageous when it came to learning patrol routes and general layout of the exterior of the compound. She was even able to use her bird form to perch on branches, window sills, and other buildings out in the open to observe the inside of the building. All without raising suspicion.
The sound of voices brought Yang's attention to the ground. What she saw were two White Fang members. Normally, Yang would take the opportunity to attack them right away, but she noticed something was off with them. They appeared to be running away from something. Not knowing the knowing the entirety of the situation, Yang had decided to just merely take a closer look and observe for now.
Once they had stopped and both had sat down, Yang landed on the branch above them. Upon closer inspection, Yang found that she had in fact, been following a couple. One female lion Faunus and one male wolf Faunus. From the looks of things, the woman seemed pregnant. It was at this time Yang really rethought about attacking them. That unborn child did nothing wrong. Besides, she wasn't baby killer or a child killer of any kind.
The pregnant Faunus heaved. Running was much more difficult in her current condition. She placed a hand on the small bump that was her stomach as she tried to regain her breath.
"We'll rest here for a little bit." The wolf Faunus said.
"D-do you think we lost them?" The pregnant woman huffed out in between her labored breaths.
"I think so. I don't hear or smell anyone." The man removed his mask. He looked at it briefly before a look of contempt flash across his face. He threw it to the ground in anger. "We won't be needing these anymore."
Taking off her mask as well, the lion Faunus gently set her's down. "I don't understand. What went wrong? How did it come to this?"
"Adam Taurus." He spat the name out with great disdain. As if the name itself had the same offending taste to the tongue as durians. "Ever since he killed High Leader Sienna Khan and took her place, Things just got worse. Hell, it was already getting bad. He was bringing people to his insanity long before he came into power."
"You really think he killed her?"
"Of course I do. Sienna would never give him leadership. She's pronounced dead and then he takes over immediately? No way. That bastard definitely killed her."
The golden bird twitched her head to the side. "Interesting. So not all of them follow that piece of shit. I could use this to my advantage."
It was at this time Yang decided to make her presence known. She changed back into humanoid form. Now standing on the thick branch, Yang said coolly. "I didn't know that there were some who hated Adam."
Both of the Faunus whipped their heads to see a person standing above them. The male Faunus' hand instantly went to his weapon.
The pregnant woman went behind her lover. "I-I thought we lost them. How did they catch up to us so quickly?"
He squinted his eyes at Yang. "No. She's not with them. She doesn't wear their colors or mask."
Yang smirked under her mask. "You'd be correct. I'm not with those degenerates. Though, they did appropriate my people's culture with the masks."
Yang took one casual step forward and dropped to the ground. She landed with her knees slightly bending. "I'm not here to hurt you. Just curious. Are there others like you two? Is the White Fang as a whole, the same as the ones I've seen here in Anima?"
He eased up a bit, but his hand didn't leave his weapon. "Yes. There some others like me and my fiance. As for the White Fang, there are different branches of them. One in each kingdom. Though we all follow High Leader Sienna Khan."
Though the response was short, it satisfied Yang.
"You seemed to be rather afraid of the White Fang. Why is that?" Yang questioned.
"It's because they don't like anyone who doesn't agree with them." The pregnant woman said. Still hiding behind her fiance.
"Yes. Adam doesn't like those with dissenting opinions within his ranks. The Faunus that will not join and fall in line are treated the same as the human slaves." He said. He began to ease his hand away from his weapon as he watched Yang take seat.
That last part caught the half-breed's attention. Her brow raised behind her mask, she asked. "Human slaves?"
The wolf Faunus nodded. "It's a new thing they're doing. They go to small villages, attack them, and then enslave whoever is left. They then make them do all the hard, manual labor. This is what I meant when I said they would be treated the same as the humans."
"Guess that explains why you're running."
"We were lucky that we didn't end up like many who choose to leave."
"I don't know how true that is Nathan." The lion Faunus said. Tears swelling in her eyes. "My brother was caught. I still wan-"
"Amelia, no." Nathan interrupted his fiance. He turned to face her and lovingly cupped her head. "There was nothing we could do. If we tried to go back and get him, then we would suffer the same fate."
Placing his hand on the bump on her stomach, he gently started to caress it. "Besides, we have our child to think about." He whispered into her ear.
"I know, but it still feels so wrong for leaving him behind." She choked out a quiet sob. Leaning her head forward so her forehead was pressed against his.
Yang watched as the two embraced each other. This whole situation was beginning to make her feel rather awkward. However, learning that these two had someone they cared about in captivity could prove to be useful. They might be willing to give her something of value if she went to free him.
"I'll get him out." Yang said.
This surprised the two Faunus. They weren't expecting a total stranger to want to help them.
"R-really? You would free my brother? Truly?" Amelia's voice was filled with hope. Her eyes glowing with with anticipation.
"Yes, but not for free." Yang said with a business like tone. It wasn't that Yang didn't feel for their plight or the the humans who were enslaved. Just the opposite actually. She most definitely empathized and sympathized with them. However, she also learned to be pragmatic. They had something that they could offer that could aid her in her quest for vengeance. And honestly, she learned her lesson about just helping anyone from the kindness of her heart all the time. Yes, as painful as the past was, it was at least a good teacher.
"Ah!" Nathan exclaimed. "There's the rub. Though I'm afraid we don't have any thing that is worth a lot."
Yang shook her head. "Monetary gain is not something I'm interested in. No. What I want is something I consider to be much more valuable."
With a raised brow, Nathan asked. "And that would be?"
"Information."
He looked puzzled. The wolf Faunus wasn't expecting that. However, it seemed like a fair trade to him and she seemed like a woman who was waging a war with the current form of this continent's White Fang Brotherhood. Yes, this woman could get those fanatical freaks of their trail just by agreeing to tell her what he knew and potentially, getting his fiance's brother back. All in all, everyone gets what they want.
"Alright. Fair enough. What do you want to know?" He said letting go of his lover and turning to meet this stranger's gaze.
Yang smirked. "I'd like to know about that compound that's just back that way." She said while holding out her thumb behind her.
"That place? That place is...strange."
"Strange how?"
"That place just feels...wrong. Every time I was stationed there I always got goosebumps. Like, there was something evil happening there that was being hidden." Nathan said as he wrapped his tail around himself. "Doesn't help that the human slaves as well as the deserters would come in, but never come back out."
"Interesting. This might be something worth looking into." Yang thought.
"Anyway. Enough about me and my feelings and whatnot. You want concrete info. So, here's a little something for you." Nathan took a seat on the grass. His lover following him.
"Something tells me you want to take out that place. Well, if you want to do that, then you should get rid of their communications. Unless you fancy yourself having to fight White Fang soldiers from the surrounding camps." He advised.
"I already knew that." Yang stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, but I'm guessing you thought it would be enough to just take out their substation right? Well, wrong. The communications room has a back up generator hidden somewhere in the same room with the equipment."
Yang cursed herself. She hated it when her plans would fall out and she'd have to spend time making new ones. This tiny set back wouldn't deter her though. All that was needed was to find someone knowledgeable of that room and interrogate them.
"Do you know where this room is? I didn't see any room labeled 'Communications Room'. Are there people with different uniforms I need to look out for?" Yang asked.
Nathan shook his head. "No. Everyone has the same uniform there. They do that to keep people like you from identifying key personnel. However, lucky for you, I know what one of them looks like. As for your first question. Yes. I just happened to stumble across it without anyone knowing. It'll be on the interior of the second floor. A plain, gray door with an I.D. scanner next to it. Probably kept it off the blueprints so outsiders wouldn't find it."
The golden-haired warrior frowned. This whole thing was just frustrating. She begrudgingly admired their efforts to keeping anyone out. Also, hearing that the door has a scanner, didn't help things. It meant she couldn't just twist a knob and open the door. She could easily breakdown the door, however, she threw that plan out the proverbial window. It was just far too noisy of an approach.
"Dammit!" She cursed. Slamming her fist into the tree behind her. Annoyed as she was, she still kept her strength in check. Wouldn't do to scare her very cooperative informant. Also, trees being blown in half and falling tended to make a lot of noise in a forest.
She'd have to go with another way. Finding this man would literally be killing two birds with one stone. Sighing, she turned to Nathan. "So, what does this guy look like."
The wolf Faunus smirked. "He's a deer Faunus. The antler on his right side is chipped. He also has thick, chestnut brown hair. The man looks tired all the time too."
"I see. Thank you."
"Unfortunately, that's all I know about that place."
"No. You've told me more than enough. However, before I leave. Tell me where the place you were running from is. I am a woman of my word after all." Yang stated as she folded her arms.
"It's off to the west. Near a flowing river with a waterfall behind it." Amelia said. It was clear this woman was very eager for Yang to get her brother back.
Yang nodded. She turned to leave.
"Wait!" Nathan said.
Yang stopped. She tilted her head toward him slightly while having her back to him. "Yes?"
"Look. Just thought you should know that the slaves all have shock collars on. You're going to have to find the remote to get them off before you can get them out."
"Do those collars have GPS or alarms on them?"
Nathan and Amelia looked puzzled at the masked stranger. Nathan shook his head.
Yang turned head back and began walking again. "Then I don't need that remote."
Once she fully disappeared into the forest, Yang changed into her bird form and flew off to the west.
It didn't take her long to find the camp with the slaves. The lion Faunus woman was right. There was a waterfall behind it. "Excellent. That waterfall is making a lot of noise. It should drown out some noise that I might make."
She spied a cage full of people. Yang didn't even need to fly down to see them in great detail. Her birdlike vision allowed her to see everything. She could see how skinny they all looked. They were definitely giving them just enough food to keep them alive. She also spotted circular devices around their necks. There clothes ripped apart and not a single one looks like they've had a good shower in quite some time. The dirt and specks of dried blood were a good indication of that.
Yang saw that there was only one guard watching them. It seemed they were sure of themselves that these people wouldn't be able to escape. However, they didn't account for Yang coming in and busting them out.
Yang decided to land on the roof of the building that the metal cage was attached to. Somehow, seeing people like this up close, was much worse than being at a distance. In all honesty, it made her blood boil.
A small, human boy began whaling loudly. He was desperately clawing at the shock collar around his neck. Yang winced upon hearing his cries. She focused her vision more intensely at the collars. She could tell by the way the metal seemed to be biting into the skin with tiny folds of flesh just hanging off of the collar, that it must be quite painful. Not just that, but it looked rather difficult to breath. No wonder the poor child was crying.
Yang watched as a woman, whom she figured to be the boy's mother, urgently try to quiet him down. The panic in this woman's eyes was strange to her. Never had she'd seen a mother look so panicked about calming a child down.
Crimson eyes shifted at the movement caught in her peripheral. It was the one guard that she spotted from far above. From the way he was bearing his teeth, she could tell he was pretty pissed off about the boy crying.
"Shut that brat up. Now!" He barked. It was bad enough he had to be around the human filth and the deserter. Now, he had to deal with some kid crying. This whole thing was giving him a headache.
The guard's presence startled her. Panic had now turned to full blown fear. She turned her attention back to her child. "Fai, please. It's okay. Please stop crying. Mommy is here." She said as soothingly as she could. Holding the small boy close to her to comfort him.
It didn't work. He kept crying and thrashing around to get the collar off of him. The mother was starting to have a difficult time trying to control him. Her heart began to beat faster as she saw the guard approach her.
"P-please. I'm trying my best. He's jus-" She was interrupted by guard slamming the butt of his rifle to the side of her head. It caused her to yelp in pain as she hit the ground.
"Shut up you filthy human bitch." Looking down at the child with disgust and contempt. He kicked the small child in the stomach with great force. Certainly enough to at least bruise a rib or two. "Shut the fuck up already."
If he thought that kick would make the boy stop crying, he was sorely mistaken. It only caused it to be worse. "Alright. That's it." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a device. He pointed it at the noisy, writhing child.
The woman's eyes went as wide as a pair saucers. Tears swelling, she held on to the Faunus' leg. "Please. You don't need to do that. He's just a child. Please have mercy. Do what you will to me. Just leave my boy alone." The mother pleaded.
For her efforts, she received a sharp punch to her face. She was once again face first in the ground. Something heavy slammed on top of her head. Keeping it down to the ground.
"Don't touch me whore!" He said while twisting and grinding the heel of his boot into the head of the mother. He grinned as he pointed the device at the boy. Pressing a button, the collar lit up for a moment before letting loose a continuous current of electricity through his body.
His crying was instantly stopped. The muscles in the boy's body completely seized up. He was now experiencing almost complete full body paralysis as the waves of electricity invaded his musculature. Even breathing was nearly impossible. That wasn't all either. No. The pain was the worst part. Fai was still mostly aware of all the pain running through his entire body.
The collars were calibrated to only induce twenty milliamps of current. Not exactly enough to kill, but more than enough to be excruciatingly painful.
Yang, in that time, had flown down to the backside of the building so that she had access to the opened chain-linked door. This whole thing mortified her. She didn't know that the White Fang were capable of such cruelty.
Changing into her humanoid form, Yang crouched down and peered around the corner to see if there were any other guards around besides him. She could see the mother desperately trying to remove his boot from her and reach out to her child at the same time. Tears running down her face as she was forced to watch this man torture her child. Yelling and pleading for him to stop.
Having enough of this and determining the coast was clear, Yang began to move toward the guard as quietly as she could. If she was making any sound, it was most certainly being drowned out by the commotion in the cage and by the waterfall not far behind her.
Once she got into the slave's line of sight, she raised one finger to her mask at the spot where her mouth would be. Telling them to remain quiet of her presence. If the camp was alerted to her, then it would make everything difficult. She wouldn't be able to fight them off and protect the slaves at the same time.
Closer and closer she came to the guard. Now, she was nearly within arms length of this man. Reaching for the knife that rested on her right leg, she silently popped the button off on the scabbard and pulled it out.
Her mother convinced her to equip herself with one. It was much quieter than her fire sword that she could conjure. Raven had stressed to Yang that sometimes, assassination is far better than confrontation. This was one of those times.
Now, she was so close that she was practically on top of him. It was time. Time to end this torture. Yang slowly rose up from her crouching position. Once she reached her full height, in one, lighting fast motion, Yang clamped her left hand over the guard's mouth and shoved the knife straight through the back of his head. Right through the medulla oblongata. Causing flaccid paralysis. This prevented him from firing his weapon from an involuntary muscle contraction.
Feeling the body go limp, she quickly removed her knife from the now dead Faunus and reached down to grab the gun he was holding with her left hand. Preventing it from falling to the ground and causing an accidental discharge. She still wasn't out of the woods yet. Noise was still her worst enemy.
The woman that was underneath the guard jumped as she was startled by his corpse hitting ground in front of her. However, she quickly got over it and began crawling as fast as she could to her son. She wrapped her arms around her now unconscious child. His breathing was labored as he wheezed. Crying, the mother cradled her son's head to her chest.
Yang knelt down in front the pair. She eyed the collar around the boy's neck. Reaching out to it, she stopped as the mother immediately pulled her child away from her hand. Though the action was just a touch bit annoying, Yang completely understood. Problem was, they were now on a tight time limit. She didn't have time for the mother to become completely calm.
"Ma'am." Yang whispered as gently as she could. "I'm not going to hurt him. Or you for that fact. I'm here to help you. I just want to take the collar off."
The woman looked at her. Uncertainty still strong in her eyes.
Yang sighed. "Okay. How about this? I'll take yours off first." They really didn't have time for this.
She thought for a moment. Then shifted her eyes towards the corpse of the man who was torturing her child. After coming to the conclusion that the person in front her had killed him, she nodded to the suggestion. Though she still did not completely trust her.
Yang reached out and grabbed the collar around the mother's neck. She began to squeeze down on it. Though it was made of steel, the metal crinkled and crumbled as if it were a soda can. Yang then began to pull her arms in opposite directions until a small plink was heard. The halves of the collar fell down. The woman let out a soft sound as she took in a sizable gulp of air. Her breathing returning to normal.
Yang narrowed her eyes at the sight of the woman's neck. Signs of small lacerations from the metal cutting into the skin, as well as bruising with the collar's form imprinted on the skin. "Definitely painful. Likely wont heal completely for some time."
After herself being freed from the barbarous device, she felt good. Pain still flared around her neck, but she was at least freed the collar's oppressive hold. Now knowing the woman in front of her was telling the truth, she held out her son. "Please. Free him"
Yang smiled underneath her mask. "Of course."
After taking off the boy's collar, she went to breaking off the remaining slave's collars. With all the slaves finally freed, she crouched down in front of them and silently whispered. "Alright, don't celebrate just yet. We still have to get out undetected. So, to that end. I want you all to do exactly as I say. Got it?" All of them nodded. They wanted out and if getting out meant doing what they were told by their savior, then that's exactly what they would do. "Good."
Yang saw a lion Faunus among the group. Unlike Amelia, this man had a lion tail instead of ears. "You Amelia's brother?"
His eyes widened in surprise. "Yes. How do you know her?"
Yang retreated from the group and picked up the rifle and any ammo she could find from the dead guard and handed it him. "No time for that. I'll to you when we are away from this place. And since you're the only one in this group with any kind of martial training, you get the gun. Use it only when you have to."
Reaching the entrance of the cage, she looked around. After making sure everything was clear, she gestured for everyone to follow. With everyone in tow, she led them through the back and into the forest. She knew that a lot of them didn't have much energy, but they needed to move as quickly as possible. Every second counted. Every second that passed only increased the chances of someone finding the body.
After a few hours of traveling, Yang had concluded that they were far enough away for them to take a break. "Alright, We'll take a ten minute break here." Most of the group sighed in gratitude. Looking at them all, she was surprised they were able to travel this fast for as long as they did. Especially in their emaciated states. "Guess the promise of freedom gave them the strength they needed."
The lion Faunus she rescued came up to her. "Amelia sent you. Didn't she?"
"Her and her lover did. They both told me about you." Yang replied.
Yang had strange feeling in her gut. She looked up to see a black bird, circling around them in the sky. She smirked. "Oh! Did I make you worry?"
The Faunus looked a bit puzzled. His gaze followed her's to see a raven flying around in circles. He shrugged. Thinking she just really liked birds since she was a bird Faunus herself. "Look." He interrupted her thoughts. "I am really grateful for you helping me. It's thanks to you that I get to see my sister again."
"No problem."
"However, I think I will go to them now." Before Yang ask if he even knew where they were, he held up his hand and smiled. "I don't know where they are now, but I know where they are going to be. So, I'll just meet them there."
"Well, alright. Do what you think is best."
"Before I go. I would like to know the name of the woman who saved me. If you don't mind of course."
Yang stayed silent for a few seconds. Still watching the raven flying above.
Thinking that he had in some way offended her or made her uncomfortable, he was about to give out an apology, but was stopped from doing so when she spoke.
"My name's not exactly important. Not looking for any recognition or anything like that." She brought her gaze away from the raven and onto the group in front of them. " 'sides, I'm fine with being a mystery woman."
He chuckled. The Faunus understood why she wouldn't give out her name. "Fair enough. I wish you the best in your endeavors."
"The same to you." Yang replied as lion Faunus walked away into the forest. Really hopping that he made it back to his sister.
After a few more hours of traveling, Yang had brought them to the front of a town. She turned to the group and said. "Alright folks. This is where we go our separate ways. The people in here should help you. Just be nice enough to warn them about the White Fang."
As the freed slaves passed Yang, each one of them expressed their gratitude. The last one to come up to her was the mother of the boy that was being tortured. In all this time, he still had yet to regain consciousness. Which was worrying, but Yang was sure that a good doctor would be able to help.
"Thank you so much for saving my son. I will never forget you or what you have done." She thanked sincerely.
"You're welcome, though you should get a doctor to look at your son and yourself. Don't think you have to worry about that though. Pretty sure the doctor they got in there is gonna wanna do a check up on all of you."
The woman gave Yang a small bow, before following the rest of the group into the town. Once everyone was gone, she turned into a bird and flew off towards the tribe. Her mother had left long ago. The idea of her mother worrying and coming to check on her gave a warm feeling in her chest. Yang really did appreciate the gesture.
Landing, Yang changed back to her humanoid form. Once she raised up to her full height, she was meet with her mother's crimson gaze. Removing her mask, she grinned at her mother teasingly. "Did ya miss me?"
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Well, I was just wondering where you were, didn't expect to see my daughter leading a herd of sheep to safety." Raven coolly countered. "Which begs the question. Tell me, sheep herder. What made you want to help them?" Raven couldn't help the shit eating grin that appeared on her face.
Yang pouted. She didn't' expect her mother to actually be a shit talker. She might have to rethink about teasing her mother about teaching children. Just didn't seem like a great idea now.
Yang hung her mask at her hip. Seeing Raven gesturing to walk with her, Yang started following her through the tribe. She gave her mother all of the details of her little mini adventure.
After listening to her daughter, Raven was actually impressed. Yang learned how to be pragmatic and come to know the importance of the usefulness of others. It also pleased her to know that she was able to save those people without alerting anyone. It meant the training was paying off. Now that her daughter knew that not everyone in the White Fang were on board with Adam's leadership, she would have to do further research so that she doesn't kill the ones who are against him and could potentially aid in her quest for revenge. This pleased the older woman, because it meant that Yang could now work on her skills in information gathering. A very essential aptitude to hone.
All in all, Raven was quite happy with her daughter's progression. She only hopped that Yang would continue to grow quickly. They really didn't have the luxury to afford any lengthy road bumps.
Qrow was currently downing the liquor from his flask. The harsh liquid felt like shards of glass cutting the walls of his esophagus. It was just the way he liked it. He was never a fan of that soft wine crap that Winter seemed to enjoy once in a blue moon. That stuff was piss water as far as he was concerned. Qrow needed something that had a hefty punch. It was why he loved liquor so much.
Just as he was about to take another swig, he realized that there were no people on this street. He put the cap back on and placed the flask back in his pocket. Qrow didn't like this. This particular street was usually populated with street vendors and customers. Now, it was a ghost town.
Pulling out his weapon, he sensed that someone was watching him. Someone with a high level of aura. Harbinger's blade folded forward and out came shotgun barrels. He instantly pointed them at the window on the second story of a building and pulled the trigger.
Glass shattered as a person jumped through the other window. Now that his ambusher was out in the open, he could see a large man with rippling muscles and dark skin. His hair reached down to his shoulders. Qrow gathered from the amount of graying in this man's black hair, that he was about his age. He wore a beige colored fur cape over a simple brown shirt with signs of the sleeves being ripped off from the shoulder. A pair of black pants that covered his boots all the way down to the ankle.
Qrow's eyes widened in disbelief when the man turned to face him. Those mutton chops. The very strong jaw that sat on a square shaped face. However, it was the scar that ran down what use to be his right eye that Qrow recognized the most. "Vandham!? But, you're suppose to be-"
"Dead?" Vandham interrupted. His voice was coarse. The pitch so low that it was as if he had a bass guitar for a set of vocal cords.
He chuckled sinisterly. "Come now Qrow. You of all people should know that it would take more than Grimm to kill me."
Changing Harbinger back into its bladed form, Qrow held it out in front of him. Pointing it's tip at Vandham. "The hell do want now? Why are you here? Revenge?"
Vandham rose up. He pulled out two objects from his back, underneath his cape. One was a small circular piece of metal and the other was a pole that was the length of a human forearm. Activating some kind of mechanism, The circular object turned into a larger vision of it. Producing a shield not too unlike the ones vikings used in the past. The only real exception was that it wasn't made from wood. From his metallic pole, small parts of metal slid down on either side. Allowing two axe heads that were nine inches long to come out on both sides.
Holding his shield out in front of him while keeping his axe hand behind it and close to his face, he grinned evilly. "Don't think I've forgotten about this scar you gave me. About the eye you took."
Qrow shifted his stance. Now he was holding Harbinger with both hands. His right foot shifted behind him while the left remained forward. "Well, looks I'll be taking the other too. Since it seems your so keen on being blind."
Smacking the front of his shield with his axe three times, he yelled. "C'mon Qrow! Let's get this ball rolling!"
Ren was merely sitting with his legs crossed. Eyes closed, he focused his mind on forming simple two dimensional shapes. Eventually, he began to visualize three dimensional objects. Spinning them, flipping them, this was per his routine when it came to his meditation. Pulling a frown to his face, he felt some sort of disturbance. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of aqua irises peering into his pale pink ones.
Ren sighed. "Yes Nora? What's wrong?"
"I'm bored!" She said without breaking eye contact. The orange-haried girl grabbed her longtime childhood friend by the shoulders and began to shake him. "Reeeeeeen! C'mon! Let's get out there and do something. All this sitting around is driving me batty!"
Ren chuckled. This was classic Nora. Loud and overly dramatic. Always needing to be moving.
Before Ren could respond, the lights had suddenly gone out. His eyes struggled to see in the darkness. The very limited night-vision that he possessed as a human had yet to kick in.
"WOW!" Nora shouted.
Ren recoiled from his partner's voice. The sheer volume causing a painful ringing to echo in his ears. The quiet young man began rubbing his ears to comfort them.
"Nora. Do you really have to be so loud?"
"Ahhhh stop yer belly aching Ren. With the power out, that means we HAVE to go out and do something!"
"All right Nora. We'll go outside and do whatever is that you want." It was best to just give into Nora's demand. Otherwise, she would never leave him alone. Although, it might actually be nice to do something with her. The two of them never really have any alone time together.
Before either one of them could get up to prepare to leave, they heard a metallic ping coming from between them. Now that they're vision had adjusted to the darkness, they could barely make out an object that was in similar shape to that of a can. Then, all of a sudden. The can starting making a hissing sound as gas streamed out from the top.
Both Nora and Ren began coughing as their lungs took in the gas. Putting their arms over their noses, they tried to move away from the gas, but found that their legs refused to heed their mind's command to move. A sudden wave of exhaustion and sleepiness began to envelope them. Ren immediately realized what was happening.
"Nora! We have to get out! This is sleeping gas!" He shouted. Hearing no response, he looked to see Nora already completely unconscious. "Shit!" He mentally cursed. Of course Nora would go out first. She was much smaller than he was.
It was then he understood what was happening. It was the assassin. He was here. Knowing it was already useless to try to get away, he reached for his scroll. Unfortunately, the gas was now taking its intended effect. The screen was terribly blurry. Suddenly, his arms lost their strength. Causing him to drop his scroll. Finally, Ren collapsed to the floor. Darkness invading his vision. The last thing he saw was a vague outline of a boot before he joined his partner in peaceful slumber.
"All too easy." Gavrilo said. His voice muffled from his gas mask. His mask offered superb military grade night-vision. So seeing in low light areas wasn't a problem. He looked down at the two. He was hopping there would be more bodies, but it would seem that Ruby Rose is somewhere else and Jaune Arc was also not present.
Gavrilo shrugged. He was use to things not going exactly as planed. Things often don't anyway. The true mark of a great assassin was the ability to adapt on the fly.
After stepping out of the room, he walked a few feet before taking off his mask. The gas was far enough away and the grenade had long since stopped producing it. He placed the mask in his coat. Reaching to the right side, he pulled out a pair of night-vision goggles and placed them over his eyes.
With his vision in the darkness restored, he began to stalk the hall. His target was in the room that was at the end of the corridor. Once he reached the door to the room where his target was, he went to reach for the knob, but instantly pulled back his hand when he saw it twisting. Quickly and quietly, he bounded the corner and hid.
"Wonder if the others know what's going on." Ruby said as she exited the room.
"Uh, I don't think so Ruby. I'm pretty sure it's just a power outage. Nothing special." Weiss said as she followed. She knew she was suppose to stay in the room, but she really didn't want to be alone. Even though she sure that this was just a normal power outage, her gut was telling her that something was very wrong. As if she were in imminent danger.
"Perfect" He thought. The two of them had their backs to him as they walked to where the others laid sleeping. He slithered silently through the darkness as if he were part of it. Gavrilo silently crept closer and closer. Now, he was close enough to reach out and grab his target. Flicking his wrist, a very thin, needle like dagger came into his waiting hand. The blade itself was nine inches in length and was coated in blue dust.
Weiss squinted her eyes. Something was definitely wrong. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end. Her instincts now yelling at her that she was about to die. Weiss swiftly reached to Myrtenaster. She spun around and made for quick thrust all in one motion. Parrying a blade that was just about to be impaled in her.
The sound of metal and dust clanging against each other caused Ruby to spin around. She saw her partner with her weapon drawn and some shadowy figure jumping back. In an instant, she was by her partner's side. Crescent Rose drawn and folding into its scythe form.
Gavrilo chuckled darkly. "Impressive. You have keen instincts girl. They saved you from the killing blow of my Misericordia. However, they only delayed the inevitable."
"You must be Gavrilo. Didn't think I would be meeting the assassin my father sent to kill me so soon." Weiss spat as venomously as she could.
"What! He's here already?" Exclaimed Ruby.
"Oh dear. Looks like Jacques must have had someone spying in on our conversation. No matter. It won't make any difference. You will both die here."
Ruby moved closer to Weiss' ear and whispered. "I know this is going to sound dangerous but, could you shoot some burn dust? I bet he's wearing night-vision. So if we could produce some immediate light, then we can blind him and get an advantage. Then I can use my semblance to attack him."
She didn't like the idea of having them fight inside a burning building, but fighting in darkness was almost suicidal since he had the advantage of sight over them. Nodding, Weiss activated the revolver mechanism. Once it landed on red, she turned her rapier into its gun mode and shot a single round into a wall. It exploded and produced fire. Now the two girls could see just fine.
At the sound of Gavrilo screaming in pain, Ruby used her semblance to quickly close the distance between her and him. She raised her scythe. Preparing to attack him. However, she felt something make contact with her aura. Then suddenly, she was thrown back by an explosion of water. Her aura flashed as she landed on her back next to Weiss.
"H-how?" Ruby asked.
"Did you really think I would be so amateurish that I wouldn't realize what you were going to do? I took off those goggles before you started talking to each other. I'm not the mindless Grimm you fight so much." He said as he removed his arm from his eyes. He had used his arm to hide the fact that he wasn't wearing his goggles anymore.
"Ruby! Are you-"
"Weiss! Above you!" Ruby interrupted her.
Weiss brought up her rapier and aimed a thrust upwards. Gavrilo jumped off from ceiling as he narrowly avoided the deadly tip of her weapon. Landing a few feet behind her, he pointed his dagger at her back and pulled the trigger that rested just underneath the small hand guard.
Weiss screamed in pain as the blue blade her opponent's stiletto slammed into her back. It exploded into water, drenching her and throwing her down the other side of the corridor. Light blue flashed around her. Signifying her aura had taken a hit.
Gavrilo kicked out behind him. His foot connecting just underneath Ruby's chin. He red aura flickered as she stumbled back. Groaning in pain. However, she quickly composed herself and used her semblance to speed out of the way of his dagger and getting around to his back. He rolled forward just as Ruby was about to take a swipe at him.
He turned to meet the scythe wielding girl. Grinning as she sped towards him, he moved out of the way her attack. He had yet to reform his blade from the dust inside the hilt of his stiletto. Even if he did, he would not dare to try block or parry his opponent's weapon. It was much too big for that.
Ruby was growing more and more frustrated. She just couldn't land a single hit on him. He moved just before she committed to an attack. What made things worse was that smug, slimy grin he held. Snarling, she began to make her attacks even more fierce, but it was a fruitless endeavor. Gavrilo just kept dodging.
Narrowing his eyes, he watched Weiss beginning to get back up. It would do him no good if she were to come back into this fight. Her glyphs could become dangerous to deal with and he couldn't afford to give her time to summon.
Hatching a plan, a yellow blade rose out from the hilt. He backed himself against the wall.
Thinking she finally had him, she swung her scythe down vertically, However, she had played herself into his trap. He rolled out of the way. Allowing the scythe to hit the wall. The blade of her weapon came to a stop halfway down the wall. It wouldn't take her long to pry the oversized weapon from the wall, but it was enough to give Gavrilo the time he needed to kick the back of her head. Propelling it forward. Forcing her to slam face first into the wall.
Quickly, he aimed Misericordia at Weiss and fired it. The yellow blade hit her chest just as she was getting one of her glyphs ready. Electricity exploded all around her body. The fact that she was drenched in water from the blue dust she was hit with made things worse. Weiss let out a scream of agony as bolts of electricity sparked around her. Once the dust had run its course, she collapsed to the ground. Smoke coming off of her body. Auraless and in excruciating pain, Weiss was effectively taken out of the fight. Gavrilo could now kill her at his leisure, but first. There was a certain scythe wielding brat he had to take care of.
After recovering from that kick, Ruby had finally pried Crescent Rose from the wall, she turned to face Gavrilo, however, she went pale at the sight of Weiss' smoking, twitching form. "Weiss!" She yelled in panic.
Before she could move to check on her partner, a red blade came thrusting toward her. She barely had time to dodge the attack.
"If I were you. I would worry more about myself than her." He taunted.
Ruby growled at him. She sped towards him again. This time however, she turned her weapon to its gun form and shot down when she got right in front of him. Propelling her over Gavrilo. Changing Crescent Rose back into scythe in mid-air, she landed behind him and swiped at him.
Gavrilo easily sidestepped out of the way. Her weapon nearly connected with his head. He spun around and sent a kick into Ruby's chest. She let out wheezing gasp as the air was forced from her lungs.
Seeing him come for her again, she let out a desperate attack to try to keep him away from her. Yet again, he moved right before she committed to the attack. At least she was able to keep him at a distance so she could catch her breath.
Once she caught her breath again, Ruby began to reengage him. Unfortunately, her attacks were now lacking their normal speed. She was tired. This wasn't good. Ruby would need to end the fight quickly. She had to end the fight. She made a promise to herself. A promise to protect Weiss. A promise she wouldn't not fail at upholding.
She swung down vertically again. Gavrilo grinned. He had her now. She over committed and she didn't have the energy to pull back fast enough. This created an opening. An opening that he gleefully went for.
Ruby's eyes widened in the realization of her mistake. However, it was far too late. She felt something pierce her. What followed was searing pain. She looked down to see Gavrilo's weapon impaled into her liver. He pulled out his weapon and Ruby crumbled to the ground. Blood starting to stream down to the floor.
"Do you know why it was so easy for me to dodge all of your attacks?" He asked. He watched as Ruby placed her hands around her injury in a desperate bid to stop the bleeding. His victory was assured now. There was no need to rush things.
"It's because your weapon is ill suited for this environment. It's too big for it to be effective in these narrow corridors. Your attacks were restricted to just vertical strikes. Even with your semblance, you were very limited into where you could go. Which is forwards or backwards. All of this made you easy to predict." He stated while cleaning off her blood from his stiletto dagger. Lecturing her like she was still a small girl in school.
"If we had been in the open, then you would have stood a much better chance." He smiled sadistically at her. "Which is why I choose to force you to fight here."
He kicked her so she would be on her back. Oh, how he adored the look of fear that always flashed in his victim's eyes as they realized that they were about to die."You probably thought you would be the hero to save the day. Well, you were wrong. This isn't some fairy tale, brat. This is the real world. And in the real world, all the heroes that I know are either dead or in prison. There is no happily ever after."
It took every ounce of strength Weiss had to look up. When she did, panic took her over when she saw the assassin standing over a defeated Ruby. Why had this happened? Was all the training she did for nothing? She cursed her weakness. She needed more power. More power to protect Ruby. More power to take back the family company from her father.
"And now it's time to bring this little game to an end. Don't worry. This will be painless." He cackled darkly. "Well, mostly painless."
Tears streamed down her pale face as she closed her eyes. There was nothing she could do. It wasn't fair. None of this was. If she just had more power, she could save Ruby. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live! Live with Ruby. Live to see the rest of her team again. No. Not team. Her family.
She opened her eyes to she Gavrilo raising his weapon. Readying for the killing blow. "No. Please no. I just need more power. Just need more." She whispered out.
Time seemed to have slowed down for Weiss. A loud ping went off in her head. She felt something powerful filling her body. Something dreadfully frigid. Sheets of ice began to form around her. This power was filling her more and more until it was too much to contain.
Before Gavrilo could bring his weapon all the way down on Ruby, his back was hit by a freezing maelstrom of wind. He looked behind him to see that Weiss was now back up on her feet and surrounded by ice. It wasn't just the sudden appearance ice and freezing wind that scared him. It was the blue fire-like energy that was emanating from her scathing eyes that spooked him the most.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"
Omake
Both Nathan and Amelia had managed to make it to a port town. From here they could go back home to Vale. However, they couldn't leave with Amelia's brother.
"Do you think she did it?" Amelia asked her fiance.
"I'm not sure Amelia, but I think she could help him. She felt very strong." He replied.
"You guys miss me?" A voice called out.
Both Amelia and Nathan turned to see that the mystery woman had most certainly succeeded in freeing him.
"Daniel!" Amelia shouted as she ran to embrace her brother.
Daniel laughed as he opened his arms and embraced his sister. The two siblings were finally reunited.
"Guess that woman really did make good on her promise." Nathan said.
Daniel looked up to see his soon to be brother-in-law. He grinned. "Yeah. She did. That lady also got the other slaves out too. But enough about that. Let's leave that whole thing behind us and head back home."
The three Faunus pooled together all of the lien they had and bought themselves tickets to an airship. They would leave Anima behind. Never to return again. Leaving to live out the rest of their lives together. As a family.
A/N: I'M BACK Y'ALL! Listen. I'm not gonna sit here and make excuses for the long wait. However, I did say that I wasn't just drop this story. I am going to finish it.
So a couple of things. Ghria's semblance is just increased muscle mass. It makes him much stronger. However, it's like kaioken. It drains him like crazy. Kali's is literally the opposite of Qrow's. Good luck. However, it only affects herself and those she has bonded with. Thing is though, good luck runs out. So Kali really can't rely on it. The inspiration for her semblance comes from Japanese mythology of cats being a sign of good luck. Another thing. Not everyone is going to have a semblance. That create too many powers for me to keep track of. So, I'm just going to try to keep the powers to a few. It's easier to write that way.
I just want to say that this is a mature rated story for a reason. In canon, the White Fang weren't menacing at all. If anything, they just felt like a small nuisance. Nothing big. Adam himself was also incredibly underwhelming. He wasn't very threatening at all. His voice even cracked like he was still going through puberty. So I'm fixing that. Here, the White Fang are a real threat. Maybe not so much to Yang, but definitely to almost everyone else. RT needed show what happens when a madman takes control and they failed.
Also, the citizens of Menagerie have some form of a backbone. So those guys are ready to throw down. I do wonder if you good looking folks like I did with Kali and Ghria. Basically made Kali into a ninja. Blake got her ninjaness from somewhere.
Made the Omake to give closure to that small story line. Didn't want to just leave it hanging. Also, What Gavrilo said about heroes and what not. Yeah. Got that bit from MGS1. When Solid Snake is talking to Meryl.
Just before I go though. A little spoiler for all of you who want Neo. Expect her somewhere between 3 to 5 chapters.
And with that I want to say goodbye! It's good to be back.