This continues to be a bit of an experiment as I am trying to think about this as a film rather than a written story. There is an awful lot of cross-cutting in this one. I would be grateful for comments on whether this works or not or whether anyone has any suggestions on how better to achieve the effect I am looking for.
It is quite hard work writing heist/action sequences so while I will try and update regularly this is likely to be a story with two- or three-week gaps between chapters.
Again, italics indicate that Fox's telepathy semblance is being used
On boarding the train, Jaune shouted at Velvet, "Velvet, can you drive the train."
She said, "Can I drive the train. Maybe."
Jaune moved into the carriage and using Fox's semblance told her," Start the train when I tell you."
Velvet cursed to herself. A problem of being a brilliant technical person in as many areas as she was meant that people expected you to be brilliant in all areas which were remotely technical. She stared at the panel and grabbed the instruction manual which was in a side panel.
"Start the train now Velvet."
I'm doing my best, Jaune."
By a process of elimination, she pressed a button which started the train which lurched forwards.
"That's the wrong way Velvet."
"Sorry, Jaune" replied Velvet as she worked out how to put the train into reverse. "Could someone get to the front of the train and let me know if we are going to hit anything.
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Ruby had managed to grab on to the back of the second train. She held herself tight against the back of the carriage, but out of sight through the window. She was still in touch with Fox and Jaune.
"I'm aboard. I'm not certain what to do next. The carriages are too small to wield Crescent Rose. There seems to be enough headroom for me to go on top, but they will hear me moving."
She then heard voices from on top of the train. "Frack, we left the back engine behind."
A female voice replied. "Better report to the Lieutenant."
She heard a click on a communication device and the first voice said, "Sir, the intruders detached the back engine and two carriages."
She could not hear the lengthy reply, but the first voice replied, "Understood, sir."
The first voice said into his communication device, "Perry, slow down to thirty miles an hour and activate the bomb. We don't want then getting past us. Sapphire, Bronze, blow up both lines to ensure that they can't use any of the points to get round us or catch up with the bomb train."
Ruby relayed this back to Jaune and added, "It's time to stop the bombs."
She jumped on the top of the top of the train and swung Crescent Rose at the two White Fang members on the top of the train. Surprise was total and neither had time to warn the rest of the White Fang members on the train of her presence. She then weighed up the choice between staying on stop and going through the train.
Just then a third White Fang member with a bazooka emerged on top of the train and fired at Ruby. She activated her semblance and dodged the missile. A few seconds later the firer had gone overboard. She looked at the side of the train and saw an arm leaning out of the window preparing to throw a grenade. She reacted instantly and dealt with the threat. The grenade fell on the track the train was passing over, and nearly knocked the carriage off the line.
She decided to make for the engine and used her semblance to speed towards the front. Ruby was taken by surprise when the train suddenly slowed down and she nearly fell off the train. She grabbed hold of the front of the train and saw an alarmed glasses wearing Faunus who was driving the train.
The Faunus slipped out of view, and she heard shots. She swung Crescent Rose and broke the window. She swung in and saw that the Faunus had dropped his weapon and had his hands behind his head with a weapon at his feet. The firing had been at the control board of the train, and it was clearly going nowhere.
The Faunus said, "I surrender."
Behind him there was the sound of an explosion. She and the Faunus were propelled out of the window. Her aura protected her from damage and the Faunus was shaken rather than severely injured. He clearly had some aura and had been prepared for the explosion. The train itself lurched off the track and luckily fell towards the tunnel and not on to the other track.
One thing was clear. The engine was going nowhere and without Glynda they were not going to be able to move the train out of the way.
She reported back to Jaune.
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Jaune communicated to Velvet the need to move the train onto the parallel track. He inwardly thanked that the designers had envisaged the risk of breakdowns and the possibility of establishing smaller settlements in between Mountain Glenn and Vale so that both lines had two sets of tracks.
Velvet thought back at him, "Jaune, I can't operate the points from here."
"What options do we have?"
"It is a good thing that my younger brother is a trainspotter. Jaune if you can drive the train, I can give you a chance of changing lines. You will have two minutes from when I say the word."
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Fox was warned by his ADA device that Torchwick was approaching and that he had shut the door to the next carriage behind him.
The criminal said, "While Neo is enjoying making our captive imagine she is being tortured, I want to try an experiment with her semblance and yours."
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Velvet had got out of the train and approached the tracks she concentrated hard on Anesidora while touching the tracks. A hard light version of a set of points appeared and she communicated to Jaune, "Go."
The train started and she concentrated on holding the image for as long as possible.
As the train approached Pyrrha came behind her and said, "I'm sorry" as she pulled back the ears which Velvet had unthinkingly left dangling on the tracks.
Velvet cursed to herself at her carelessness and was relieved as the train used the points to transfer to the other track. Just as the last set of wheels had made it on to the real lines the hard light points failed.
She heard Jaune say via Fox, "Good work Velvet, can you do the same when we are past the train. I would like to have an overtaking option up my sleeve."
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Deary was gritting her teeth. She had no reason to expect mercy from Roman or Little Miss Psycho and Roman had taken delight in telling her that the Vale forces had more immediate concerns that protecting her civil rights. She was trying to remember her training on how to deal with torture. This had been in the days before Adam had split with Sienna Khan and her band of revisionists.
She suddenly heard the voice of Adam Taurus in her head. "Remember, where the information you have is time critical, think about what the most misleading but not clearly wrong answer you can give them is. Have a fallback position where you can pretend to have broken. What does Roman know about and what doesn't he know about?"
Deary thought hard as she saw little Miss Psycho start on her horns. She thought, "Roman must have told them about the bombs. He did not know about the stolen Atlas robots on the other train which were coming up after the Grimm or the lead lined coaches on that train which the lieutenant and the other fighters are on."
The voice replied, "Tell them what you know they must know because Roman talked about plus a few details on the numbers of people on the other trains. You can up the numbers on further interrogation."
Deary nodded to herself and started telling her interrogators everything they must know already plus a few made-up insignificant details
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Fox passed on the results of the experiment to Jaune. "I don't know if we can trust them boss, but Neo distorted the script we fed her so that it sounded like Adam Taurus was talking to the deer Faunus and she did not realise that she could be heard by me when she had her internal monologue responding to the voice in her head."
"But she can't talk."
"She can apparently distort words in people's heads said by others."
"Fine, Fox."
"Jaune, if she is telling the truth then Atlas lied to us about what was on that train which got raided."
"What did you expect? The best we can do is to give Ozpin and Oobleck the chance to decide between keeping silent, blowing the whistle, or raising it with Ironwood in private."
Fox directed a thought at Jaune alone "Are we going to have a make a choice between the civilians and avoiding an explosion in the centre of Vale?"
"I still think that we can manage both."
"What's the play, Jaune?"
A message was received from an approaching bullhead. Jaune listened, smiled, and said, "Fox, let me talk to Weiss and Roman."
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Jaune heard the message from the incoming bullhead telling him that they were on the approach run. He was still in touch with Cardin through Fox, "Cardin, open the doors of the station and leave a clear run to the tracks."
"They are open. You can't get a bullhead through them though."
"That's not what I am aiming for."
He then sent a message back to the bullhead, "Yang, confirmed flight of the Bumblebee with two passengers."
"Who are they?"
"Weiss and another person."
"Who?"
"You've never been formally introduced."
Fox thought at him "When are you going to tell her?"
"As late as possible."
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Yang wondered about this form of wording but trusted Jaune's plan.
The bullhead got as low as it could over Mountain Glenn. Yang revved the engine and checked that the sidecar was attached. She had bullied the pilot into pushing the safety protocols and demanding preferential treatment from air traffic control and had made it back to Vale two hours ahead of schedule. It turned out that she had been justified as she was needed. The bullhead turned side on to the station. She put on her helmet and sunglasses. Velvet had sent her schematics of the station and a suggested route along the tracks.
She drove out of the bullhead while it was still thirty yards off the ground. The landing was perfect, and she accelerated through the doors of the station and drove down the steps into the huge arrival hall and then down the escalators to the train tracks. Cardin's team had ensured that there was a clear run. The bodies of the White Fang operatives had been moved out of the way. She took full advantage of it. The side car meant that she needed all her skill to deal with the escalators.
She waved at Cardin and then hit full speed as she hit the tracks. She passed the part of the train which had been derailed and caught up with the train moving in reverse. Both she and the train slowed down as two figures hopped off the train.
She saw two figures waiting for her. She recognised Weiss but did not recognise the person next to her who was wearing Atlas armour.
Weiss with her normal grace jumped on the bike and started riding pillion with Yang. "Well done, Ice Queen. Who else is coming aboard?"
"Don't be angry."
She felt the sidecar suddenly become heavier and looked to check that her passenger was safely aboard. The Atlas armour disappeared and an all too familiar face with multi-coloured eyes and hair smirked at her and winked. The last time she had seen the face they had been trying to kill each other and the small woman had nearly bested her.
"You have got to be kidding me, Jaune."
"Needs must when the Grimm drive. If it helps, I am having to work with Torchwick."
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Glynda Goodwitch was in contact with General Ironwood in Atlas. He watched an extremely angry woman who was clearly straining to avoid being as forthright as she wanted to be.
"James, we have reason to believe that four or more Atlas robots are on the way to Vale now under the control of the White Fang. Have you or the SDC lost any recently in Vale and what do we need to know about them? If they attack Vale, then this will be a disaster for Atlas/Vale relations. We have at most thirty minutes before they arrive. If you want our full assistance in relation to this morning's events, you need to help us avoid a disaster here"
The man grimaced. "We thought they all had been destroyed in the hijack of the SDC train. They are prototypes with lead lined cabins designed to shield life signs from the Grimm. They do have some flaws which Polendina has identified…."
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Jaune said to Yang, "The reason she is with you is that if our plan works, we need to persuade the White Fang that the Grimm are following them in and are deadly enough to wreak real havoc. If they don't believe that they will travel at full speed to Vale while they will probably only travel at twenty miles an hour if they think the Grimm are following the trail of scared humans. We need the time to evacuate the centre of Vale and prepare for the incursion."
"She had better be as good as you think she is."
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The person in the back of the bomb train had played the explanation of the plan narrated by Adam Taurus to the humans imprisoned in the train. It was quite clear that being told that instead of being held for ransom that they were intended to be killed in a terrorist attack on Vale had raised their stress levels significantly. He got ready to film the aftermath of the first explosion to ensure that the Grimm followed the train into Vale.
The train had slowed down as it approached the first set of triggers and now drove over them.
He heard the explosion from above ten seconds later and smiled.
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Above the line, Glynda was in the bullhead. Luckily, the communications network was working with at worst a delay of three seconds. While Fox was now out of range of Cardin in using his semblance, the electronic communications link from Jaune to Cardin and from Cardin to her was working.
Her bullhead was fifteen miles away from above the tracks between Mountain Glenn and Vale. She saw the first explosion and activated her semblance. She was going to need to preserve it in case the train reaached the centre of Vale but provided she could deny the larger Grimm access then perfect repairs would not be necessary.
She directed the larger rocks to hit the Alpha Grimm and tried to ensure that they landed so that the gaps would not allow larger Grimm access.
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Underneath Weiss got ready to activate the first gravity glyph. She hoped that with Glynda above the combination of their semblances would avoid too much rubble on the track and keep the largest Grimm out. She hoped that Neo's illusions would be sufficient to convince the White Fang that the plan was working.
Jaune had assured her that he could not see Bumblebee and certainly Weiss could not see the train although she could hear it.
The explosion went off and she activated her semblance. As far as she could tell she had avoided any large rocks falling on the line. She could see some startled Grimm falling on to the line, but they were mostly Beowolfs and Boarbatusks. Nasty for civilians but not for the IMF hunters and huntresses.
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In the bomb train ahead, the driver waited for the dust to settle and saw that a number of Grimm had already landed. He slowed the train to ten miles an hour to avoid losing the Grimm. He was pleasantly surprised that a Goliath seemed to have landed and was chasing the train. The nearest pursuer was a Boarbatusk.
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There was of course a lot of dust and debris. Weiss was alarmed to see a Goliath on their tail until she heard a voice doing an Adam Taurus impersonation, "The chasing train is the Goliath, and we are a Boarbatusk."
She heard Jaune say "Please keep ahead of the Grimm as even though Roman says that we look like Grimm, but they can still sense auras. I believe that the terrified hostages in front of us are more attractive to the Grimm, but let's not risk it."
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Jaune knew they only had one shot at rescuing the hostages. If they went too early the train would simply accelerate and crash in the centre of Vale. They also needed to ensure that all the Grimm which were going to emerge had done so before they took their one shot.
The White Fang had now triggered nine explosions and they were six miles from Vale. He hoped that Roman was right when he said that the White Fang had decided that there was no point in blowing holes in the ground less than five miles away from the centre of Vale and that there was only one bomb to go. The normal hunter patrols did aim to keep that distance as free from Grimm as possible and so it seemed a reasonable bet. So far despite some near misses Weiss had kept the track clear.
He and Ruby had moved outside of the carriage. He ordered Velvet to speed up the train. He tapped Ruby on the shoulder and thought at her, "As soon as you think you can make the shot let's go for it." She nodded and unfurled Crescent Rose while he activated his semblance to boost her speed and range.
She said, "Hang on, Jaune. Neo do your stuff." and activated her semblance.
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The driver of the White Fang train was a little unnerved by how close the Goliath was getting but still thought that he had a comfortable distance. Suddenly he saw a Lancer swoop down in front of the Goliath. His eyebrows raised and he reacted slowly when a bullet shattered the window and so had not moved when a second bullet hit him in the chest.
Immediately thereafter Ruby and Jaune landed. Ruby went straight into the cabin, but Jaune hit the front of the train. He gripped the broken window and held on for his safety until Ruby pulled him through.
He vomited. It was annoying that although he had mostly conquered his motion sickness travelling with Ruby still set it off. He held her by her shoulder and waited for a message from Yang.
He also sent a message to Velvet, "Tell me how to slow this train down."
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Yang speeded up once Ruby had started doing her thing. The plan had required that the driver was not spooked by the Boarbatusk, but she needed to keep ahead of any other Grimm. It had also been frustrating not to drive Bumblebee at full speed.
She could see the carriage in which the humans were being kept and saw that there was also one White Fang member who was talking into a walkie talkie. She assumed that he was puzzled by the shot of a Lancer breaking the window of the train and wanted to know what had happened
She fired a burst from Ember Celica to break the windows but then realised she was going too fast to reliably make the shot to kill him. From out of the side car the criminal menace leapt through the broken window and after a short fight knocked the Faunus unconscious and then finished him off with the parasol.
Yang then sped ahead while Weiss loaded Myrtenaster with an ice dust crystal. They got level with the carriage connection between the hostages' carriage and the rest of the train. Weiss fired and the link between that carriage and the rest of the train froze. Weiss then loaded a more explosive dust crystal and fired again. The brittle connection broke and the front of the train disconnected itself.
Yang sent a message to Jaune, "Separation achieved."
She saw the train slow down as the brakes were applied. Gradually the two parts of the train separated as the brakes were applied and the part attached to the engine which Jaune and Ruby had commandeered came to a halt. The front part still had residual momentum.
Her eyes narrowed when she saw the front path of the train start gathering speed.
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Jaune put his hand on Ruby's shoulder and activated his semblance to boost her powers. Ruby waited until the first of the real Grimm were close to her and activated her silver eyes. The nearest Grimm disappeared and those further away who were lucky enough to survive ran away. Ruby slumped to the ground almost but not entirely exhausted.
He then heard Yang say, "There must be another driver at the front of the train. It has just speeded up again. Me and Weiss are off again to try to stop the rest of the train."
He sent a message to the team. "Velvet full speed to the station. Ruby, could you and Neo check that the hostages are OK and release them?"
Roman sent his own message to Neo, "Neo, play nice with the humans even if they do need a change of underwear."
Back in the train Neo showed an imaginary Vale Secret Service badge to the hostages to calm them down as Ruby clambered into the carriage.
Ruby joined her and said, "Ok, you are safe now. I will now release you."
Ruby was a little shaken up as otherwise she might have engaged mind a little more before deciding that Crescent Rose was an appropriate way of releasing the traumatised prisoners from their chains.
Neo stamped her foot and showed Ruby the key she had taken from the dead guard.
"Oh, that works as well."
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Jaune briefed the team on the likelihood that they would be facing Atlas prototypes once they reached the station and on his fears that the White Fang might have planted enough explosive dust to make a breach to allow the prototypes through to the surface even if the train did not get there.
The front of the train had had a ¼ mile start on Yang and a bit longer on the engine driven by Velvet. The train also had a top speed of around one hundred miles an hour which it could reach in a minute. It would be within the city walls in 3 minutes and at the station in 4 minutes.
Yang knew that she and Weiss were the only realistic hope of stopping the train before it could blow up within the city limits and activated Bumblebee's combustion dust boosters to catch up. Weiss reloaded Myrtenaster with ice dust and took the shot. She froze the wheels of the train and it overturned coming to a stop.
Yang turned the bike round as she overtook the train while Weiss reloaded with Gravity dust. The driver must have survived and in desperation detonated the dust bomb. Weiss used the gravity dust to try to protect the engine which Velvet was driving from damage.
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Inside the train Jaune felt the heat of the blast and ducked. To his amazement the train was still going. He went back through the train and found that although the one carriage they had attached had lost most of its roof it was still on the tracks and the passengers were uninjured.
Roman ostentatiously rose from where he had ducked and dusted off his jacket and hat. "Vale is paying my dry-cleaning bill."
In Jaune's head he heard Weiss say, "Thank me later."
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Travelling in a bullhead above the route of the underground railway, Glynda saw an eruption one hundred yards from the walls of Vale. She used her semblance to prevent any damage being caused to the city by the explosion and tried to reduce the visible damage to the ground.
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On the other set of trainlines the Lieutenant ordered his men into the Atlas prototypes. The last message from the bomb train suggested that things had gone very wrong indeed. Even if they could not now lead Grimm into Vale, he would have his revenge on those who had thwarted the plan. Even now it was possible that the robots could cause a breach in the centre of Vale by firing into roof of the abandoned terminus.
As the train drew to a halt the prototypes left the train and moved to confront the Vale operatives. The person leading the charge was the old Vytal Festival winner Pyrrha Nikos.
The Lieutenant smiled and told his comrades "Killing the sweetheart of the humans of Remnant will mean that the day has not been wasted."
The robots lifted their arms to fire their weapons. Suddenly the red-haired woman gestured and concentrated and just before the weapons fired, they moved from being aimed at her to being aimed at each other. One operative failed to stop the shot and took out the neighbouring robot.
Despite straining the remaining robots ended up in a group hug and to add insult to injury a rabbit Faunus produced multiple swords from a hard light rucksack to take out the legs of the remaining robots and the robots exploded as they suffered an electrical failure.
The Lieutenant had lost his aura but was still alive. He decided to play dead and see if he would have a chance to take out an opponent. The Vale operatives approached the debris and he heard one say, "Goodwitch was right that these had a problem with magnetism."
He wondered who had betrayed them. They had made certain that Torchwick had not known about the robots. Maybe Cinder Fall had betrayed both Roman and the White Fang. Suddenly he heard a voice which he knew well. If he could kill a Schnee then something could be salvaged.
He waited until she was near and rose to attack her. He felt two bullets hit him and he fell to the ground.
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Jaune turned round and saw that both Fox and Roman had fired at the huge Faunus. Fox said, "I detected a residual aura flaring."
Roman said aloud, "I needed that. I think me and Neo have earned a bonus and a trip to Mistral."
While the train sequence was one of my favourite sequences from the series, when writing about it the number of illogicalities mount up. First, if the Grimm were following the train, how were any of the White Fang members going to survive the Grimm let alone the explosion at the other end? Second, just because a few holes in the ground appear why would the Grimm follow the train? Third, how did an unconscious Roman avoid being eaten, killed in the explosion and then make it to the surface before Glynda sealed the breach to be handed over to Ironwood?
On the other hand, rule of cool trumps many illogicalities and I for one am happy to have seen Zwei used as a missile to destroy Grimm.
Clearly Velvet is the Benjy/Simon Pegg character from the films, Fox is the Ving Rhames character and Roman is going to be the outsider thrown into the team so will be the Jeremy Renner/Henry Cavil equivalent.