Volume II: Episode 11: Winter's Soldiers
"Mother, my teacher told me to-"
The sound of glass shattering broke the air.
"Aaaaah!"
"Stupid girl! You're too loud for this early."
"Willow? Oh. Dear, must you make such a mess? Blood is always a pain to get rid of."
"Don't you 'dear,' me, you gold-digging hyrax. She had it coming."
"Yes, and I'm sure you'll agree once you're sober enough to walk straight. Come now, Winter. I'll have Klein bring the medical kit."
"Thank you, Father."
"Don't thank me, girl. Why didn't you use your aura? What are we spending all that money on those worthless tutors for if this is the result?"
Time passed.
"I got it! Winter, did you see? I got it!"
There was an echoing slap, and Weiss tumbled to the ground.
"Quiet, you boob! That much noise will only get you killed against the Grimm. Again!"
Winter slammed her hands down against the navigation station and the holographic map built into it. Her breath was ragged, her eyes were wide, her hands were shaking. She couldn't tell if she had been sleeping or not.
Another flashback, another accursed flashback. Always the same, always different. They were getting more frequent these days. Ever since that day when she had found Weiss at Park Place, she had been hounded by mental instability. She had hidden it well enough from her compatriots, but inside, her nerves were wearing away.
All these secrets and lies were tearing away at her soul, and she didn't know how much longer she could keep on like this. She needed to talk to someone, anyone, about what was happening, but she couldn't. There was no one in the four kingdoms of Remnant or Menagerie that she could trust to hear this without risking their lives in the process.
She looked down and noticed an inconsistency.
Reaching over and grabbing a microphone, she spoke into it in a calm, authoritative voice. "Pilot, adjust your heading three degress to starboard."
The speaker near the microphone replied back with the voice of an Atlesian Knight. "Roger roger."
Winter reexamined the map as the course changes were made and was pleased with the result. In but a few hours, she would be landed safely in Vale, where her sister was. With any luck, Weiss would never know that her elder ever visited the city.
It was better that way.
"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced," Pyrrha said as she stood back with Ren and Nora at the edge of the training room Team JNPR had claimed.
"Shield up," she said, nodding approvingly as he took up his fighting stance. "Keep your grip tight." Her eyes glanced down. "Don't forget to keep your front foot forward."
"Right," he muttered apologetically as he adjusted his footing.
"Ready?" she asked rhetorically. He gave a short nod. "Go."
At her command, Jaune thrust Crocea Mors forward. "Hyah!"
"Again!"
"Hyah!" This time, he lashed out with a diagonal slash.
"And again."
"Hyah!" Jaune finished the sequence with another diagonal slash.
"Okay," Pyrrha said proudly. "Now, I think we can take a break."
Jaune relaxed, and Pyrrha walked up to him. The redhead placed her left hand comfortingly on his shoulder and reached up with her right to his chin, tilting his head back up to lock eyes with him.
"I know this can be frustrating," she said tenderly, "and it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much since we started training, and I know this is just the beginning."
"I know," he assured her softly.
"Jaune, I-I..." - she looked down and shook her head before lifting her head and meeting his gaze again - "...I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune."
"Thanks, Pyrrha," he said with a grateful smile. "You're amazing, you know that? I don't know what I'd do without you."
She blushed and pulled away. "And you'll never have to," she promised. She tilted her head and pulled away, drawing Miló and Akoúo̱. "Now, let's see how well you can perform with an opponent."
Off to the side, a fuming Nora turned and stormed out of the room.
Ruby had her thoughts turned north as she walked through the halls of Beacon Academy. Weiss had reported to her that her sister was en route to them at that very moment, and after consulting with General Ironwood, he confirmed something else for her. Winter was not there for Weiss; she was there because he had called her there for a very special mission, and he had called her to Vale because he needed his most loyal and trustworthy people on that mission with her.
"Ruby, this is perhaps the most dangerous assignment I will ever send you on. Which is why it's volunteer only," said General Ironwood calmly as Ruby stood before him.
"Understood, sir. I volunteer," replied Ruby instantly.
"Denied. Let me finish," Ironwood told her sternly. "This mission has two objectives. The first is to secure a newly discovered archeological site, clearing away all Grimm until a more permanent security force arrives and checking it for any surprises. The second - and arguably more important - is to monitor Specialist Winter Schnee and discover the exact nature of her treason. This will most likely require you to lie to her face, and should the worst come to pass, you might have to fight her. Do not try to kill her - she's too good for that - merely retreat and try to contact help. The rest of Apricot will not be briefed on this aspect of the mission; it will all be on you."
He turned and looked at her. "Now, do you still want to volunteer?"
"Without a single doubt, sir," she replied with absolute and total conviction.
He looked at her strangely. "Try not to get yourself killed, Ruby."
It was at that moment that Nora threw her into a nearby empty classroom.
"How could you?!" the Valkyrie demanded.
Silver eyes blinked in confusion. "Hah? Nora? What? How could I what?"
The carrot-top had her pinned to the wall and was glaring at her through tear-filled eyes.
"Don't play dumb with me, Ruby," Nora declared, her voice low and dangerous. "You know what you did. Jaune may be dense when it comes to Pyrrha's feelings, but he's a guy, and I know your sister knew. We were teasing Pyrrha about it months ago when Yang got her car."
Pyrrha's… "feelings"? The word tumbled through Ruby's mind, and in its wake, a thousand different scenes of the red-haired champion played out before her. That secret little smile she gave when she suggested they keep secret the discreet help she gave Jaune in his fight against the Ursa Major in the Forever Fall Forest. How proactively helpful she was to him all the time, always the first to offer him encouragement or assistance. The quiet smile she always wore when Jaune was around... that quickly turned into a blush whenever he complimented her, which came easily and often. How strained that smile looked in recent months. The well-hidden glee she took in single-handedly beating Team CRDL into the ground during Combat Course at the beginning of second semester...
"-and she's just too nice for her own good!" While Ruby was lost in thought, Nora had let her go and started pacing and ranting, arms gesticulating Noraesquely. "She can't even bring herself to spit it out, even now!" She spun, and green eyes kept Ruby pinned in place as she held up her thumb and forefinger a half-inch apart. "She was this close to kissing the idiot, I know it! But she won't. She'll just suffer in silence. Because of you."
Ruby froze, unsure what to do. She didn't want to hurt Nora. She was her friend, her teammate.
But... so was Pyrrha.
Quick! she thought frantically, then asked herself what was fast becoming her fallback question. What would Raven do?
Without another thought, she dove out the window.
Oh, shoot! she thought. I'm in uniform. I don't have Crescent Rose!
She brought her arms up to shield her face as she crashed into the trees outside the building, her aura taking the brunt of the damage.
"Bad..." - thump! - "...landing..." - thump! - "...strategy!" she scolded herself as she tumbled through the branches. Once she hit the ground, she refrained from getting up immediately. Instead, she lay there, staring at the branches above to collect her thoughts for a moment as people walked by.
No one paid attention to the girl who had just jumped out of the third-storey window. Why would they? This was a Huntsman academy, after all.
Finally, she got to her feet and dusted herself off. She'd go visit the Atlesians! Far away from Nora while the lightning-charged hammer-wielder cooled off.
She was half-way to the docks when she heard the door slam open across the campus, and Nora's shout echo after it. "Where is she?!"
Ruby ran even faster, then became a blur as she used Petal Burst to shoot towards a waiting transport... only to nearly get clotheslined by one of the security personnel.
"ID," he demanded, clearly unimpressed.
She fumbled for her student ID and showed it, tapping her foot impatiently. The guard scanned it and compared the photo to her face, then nodded. She tried to step past, only for him to hold his arm out to block her again.
"Security scan," he explained as he raised an electronic wand and began waving it over her.
"Come on, come on, come on..." she muttered, glancing over her shoulder. She could see the tiny redhead in the distance, running toward her with murder on her mind even now.
"You're-" - Ruby zipped past him - "-clear."
She almost hit the wall when she ground to a stop inside the passenger cabin. The pilots looked around to her from the cockpit, and the other people in the cabin seemed mildly surprised as well.
"Fly, you fool!" barked Ruby as she desperately strapped herself into a free seat.
"We're on a schedule, lady, and we don't change it for no one," replied one of the pilots hotly.
Ruby glanced out the window. She could see Nora's eyes then as her tiny legs pumped her across the campus grounds. They were definitely filled with killing intent. It wouldn't be long now before the full weight and fury of the pint-sized pummeler would rain down upon Ruby's face like the hammer blows of her father's fists.
She never realized it until that moment, but her dad could get pretty scary when he went against the Grimm.
"RUUUUBY!" cried out Nora as she stepped upon the landing pad, dragging two of the security guards with her as they tried in vain to hold her back.
Before Ruby could unlatch herself, the cabin bay doors slammed shut, and the telltale sound of engines roaring into action flooded the passenger cabin as the airship lifted into the sky. The sniper let out a ragged breath and resisted the urge to chuckle madly. She had come far too close to a physical altercation there.
Instead, she settled for breathing a sigh of relief.
"Hey, you're Ruby Rose, aren't you?" Curious green eyes beneath orange bangs with blue highlights peered at her with interest from the next seat over.
Dumbfounded at being recognized, Ruby nodded, noting the other girl was wearing an Atlesian school uniform. "Yeah."
"Aren't you supposed to be running into danger?"
Ruby hung her head. Did everyone know about that?
She turned her attention to stare back out the window and avoid her shame. They were approaching one of the big Atlesian air cruisers, and as they approached the hangar bay, she noticed something odd. Mixed in with the various Atlesian military small craft was a ship that looked out of place, a needle-like vessel with six wings - four large and two small - capped with engine nacelles.
A few minutes later, she found herself showing her ID to security onboard the air cruiser - she still didn't know which one - and stepping off the shuttle onto the vessel proper.
"How the heck do you even have clearance to be here?" The question pulled her from her thoughts. It was the girl from earlier, a cat tail swishing back and forth in time with her curiosity..
"I'm... not entirely sure," admitted Ruby.
"Huh," was the girl's response. She shook her head. "Anyway, name's Neon, Neon Katt. Call me Rainbow. Since you don't know how you're cleared to be here, I'm guessing you're here to dodge that girl chasing after you and probably don't know your way around. Wanna hang?"
"Um, sure?" ventured the bloodcrowned Huntress hesitantly, thinking about how to avoid the inevitable name confusion with her team.
"Great!" Neon cheered. "Follow me."
"Or she can follow me instead," offered a calm, male voice.
Ruby turned and saw a soldier with dark hair, a mustache, and a beret approaching. He seemed to be smiling. The fact that he had called her out specifically was suspicious though.
"Oh, hello, Sergeant Dial-Tone!" said Neon as she somewhat ironically went to attention.
"I'd say 'at ease,' Rainbow, but I think that wouldn't have nearly the same effect it should," chuckled Dial-Tone as he came up to them. "Heard from some of the security guys on the ground that your clearance checked out. Which, considering who was on your tail, is fortunate. Ironic though, considering what you're infamous for."
"I know, right?" agreed Neon. "I thought for sure she'd be running towards that girl and her impotent midget rage."
Ruby's eyes went wide, but before she could deny that Nora's rage was anything but impotent, Dial-Tone kept talking.
"Guess it wasn't enough action for her. I bet you lien to liederkranz, though, that if a riot ever breaks out between the students, she'd be right in the thick of it," observed the mustached man. "Seriously though, I need to talk to Miss Rose. Think you could give us a minute or two?"
"A whole minute?" asked Neon curiously. "That long?"
"That short," corrected Dial-Tone. "Security guys also say that her friend has a similar clearance level and might be coming up here to ice her for… Well, that's under the table, isn't it?"
Ruby blushed like a lighthouse, and Neon was grinning like the cat that caught the canary. No, wait, that was racist. Probably. If Weiss found out about that, then she'd have two of her friends trying to kill her. And that would still be better than the lecture she'd get if Yang found out.
"Oh, I've got to hear about this," said Neon cheerfully before walking a safe distance away.
Ruby looked up at Dial-Tone in worry. "Am I in trouble?"
"Oh, yes, a lot of trouble, but it's not necessarily the bad kind. You've got a real healthy taste for danger, Miss Rose," he answered before reaching into one of his larger pockets and bringing out a small package sealed in dense plastic. "I came to talk to you, though, because I've got to get off the airship for other duties, but I also need this returned to the headmaster. Figured you could handle that for me, since your ride is my ride out."
Ruby gingerly took the offered package. "Is that legal? I don't want you getting in trouble."
"I checked, and it is," replied Dial-Tone. "Didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at first. Then I found out you were the one who brought it in."
Ruby froze and looked up at him. "How did you know?"
His smile grew a little mischievous. "You just told me, right now."
The crimson-themed Huntress could feel the floor dropping out from under her.
"You're not a bad liar, Miss Rose, but you should really learn how to play poker better," advised Dial-Tone. "Still, you're just getting started, Young Rose. We will be watching your career with great interest."
He clapped her on the shoulder as he passed, snapping Ruby back out it. No sooner had he passed her by, though, than did she have another visitor. Neon was looking at her strangely.
"Dial-Tone tell you something he really shouldn't have known and knocked the wind out of your sails?" she asked knowingly.
Ruby nodded. "Yeah."
Neon shrugged. "Don't worry about it. He's in communications, so he hears all sorts of things. He's smart too, so he can put those bits together real well. It's a neat trick, but that's all it is."
The bloodcrowned girl sighed in relief. "So this is normal?"
"As a heart attack," replied Neon cheerfully, her tail flicking about in clear amusement. "Now, it's time for the grand tour. Where should we go first?"
"Headmaster. I need to deliver this to the headmaster," replied Ruby quickly. "Is he on this ship?"
"No idea," Neon shrugged, "but he should be. This is the Tapfer, after all."
Ruby blinked. "This is the flagship?!"
"Wow, a lover of danger, and dumb lucky to boot," said Neon in mocking appreciation. "After we drop off your package, you need to meet my team."
They made to leave the hangar, but just before they reached the exit, Team APRC entered with a woman in an odd uniform with white hair and blue eyes. It made Ruby's blood run cold yet again. It couldn't have been anyone other than the arch-traitor, Winter Schnee.
"Friend Ruby!" greeted Penny cheerfully. "You're with us!"
"What?" asked Ruby. "With you for what?"
"A mission. What else could it be?" replied Aska rhetorically. "You're Vale's representative on this, remember? General Ironwood ordered it personally."
"I don't have my weapon!" pointed out Ruby.
"Rocket locker is already on the way," Rufus informed her in a slightly modulated voice as he stomped by in his Vulture powered armor, the one that couldn't double as a suitcase.
"I'm still wearing my school uniform," protested the girl.
"I have several sets of spare clothes on board," offered Winter before looking at Neon. "I apologize, student, but we'll have to take your compatriot for now."
As Ruby was about to make another excuse, Ciel gently took her by the arm and led her along with the group. "Come on. I'll fit you for the change in clothes."
As the group boarded the six-winged airship and the hatch closed behind them, Neon couldn't help but give a little internal cheer. Oh! So not only does she run headlong into danger, not only does she have secret fights with short people, not only does she have mysterious clearances, not only does she hold a diplomatic post, but she's also becoming one of Winter's soldiers?! I've got to tell the others. This is too good to believe! She's an international woman of mystery!
Aska "Shadow" 'Roku' kept her calm as Winter's personal transport flew through the air. She was sitting in the back cabin with most of the rest of her team - and Ruby Rose - but her mind was elsewhere. She needed to center herself, needed to remember why she was doing this, why she became a Huntress. She needed to remember this, because the reasons why she became a ninja were self-evident.
She had become a ninja because her family had been ninja, her whole clan was. Was. That clan was gone, wiped out by the traitor Benigumo and the Future Genesis Chemical Corporation. Their old village, Koryu Village… well, clan politics apparently spilled over, and so did the Grimm.
It should have been vengeance that drove her, but it wasn't. It couldn't be. Benigumo Koryu was dead, and so was the FGC. Everyone she could have taken revenge on was either lying six feet under or rotting away in prison.
No, instead of a life of training to take revenge, she had instead found herself looking forward to a life of luxury. She and her brother Kogetsu lived in Atlas Academy itself, after all. They never had to want for anything but what they were denied by parental consent, and that was never anything vital.
A life of privilege and peace, all because James Ironwood walked into their lives. It should have made her happy; it really should have. But no matter what the legal documents said, he was not their father.
"Ah!" cried out Aska as she hit the floor.
"Pathetic," derided the instructor.
"She's trying her best!" defended Kogetsu.
The instructor struck out with a low sweep, knocking the boy to the ground hard to join his twin sister.
"Now, now, we mustn't get them too bruised up," said one of the doctors, the FGC logo prominent on his coat. "After all, their sixth birthday is coming up soon, and that means more tests. In fact, let's start a few right now. Operation: Black Moon is already going so fast. Why not keep up the pace?"
The instructor grunted. "Fine by me."
Aska and Kogetsu were both grabbed by the collars of their training gis and marched out of the dojo. The FGC wanted them trained as ninjas, probably to kill people. What the tests were for, though, they didn't know.
They were brought to the lab again, and the instructor began to strap them onto the tables.
"Don't scream this time, and you won't get beaten again," he told them.
The door was smashed in with a terrific crash. The doctors and the instructor all drew their weapons. A man, tall and strong in a white coat, strode through the door. The FGC personnel didn't waste time, they opened fire.
It was somehow too late, the man moved like lightning, and his pistol fired the whole way. Auras shattered, and blood was spilled. Rifles fired in report, and the whole room shattered.
All they knew was noise, and then silence. How could something last forever, and be over in the blink of an eye? There was blood in the room, but it wasn't theirs, and the man's coat was still white.
He ran over to them, his expression worried. "Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"
"Who are you?" asked Kogetsu as his binds were undone.
The man smiled a warm and kindly smile. "My name is James Ironwood. I'm with the Atlesian military, and I'm getting you two out of here."
And he did. True to his word, he got them both out that day. He stayed with them too, never letting them out of his sight, always protecting them. They traveled with him wherever he went from then on, since he was the one raising them. When he couldn't teach them something, he would get the best tutors he could.
He was everything a father should be, but… but Aska wanted more. Her real father was dead, but she could still carry on the family legacy, her family legacy. She was a ninja, not some Atlesian officer, and she never would be. She didn't belong there, so why should she make the slightest effort to fit in?
"Was hältst Du von Ruby?" asked Farsight in the tongue of her ancestors.
"Sie ist ein nettes Mädchen und kann unglaubliche Kekse backen, aber ich frage mich schon warum Papa ihr befohlen hat uns zu begleiten." answered Aska in pitch perfect Mantellian with a high-altitude Atlesian accent. "Ich kaufe es ihm nicht ab dass sie nur Vale vertritt. Dafür könnten sie jeden schicken."*
Farsight nodded, and Aska went back to meditating on her goals. She was an outsider who would never belong or fit in among her peers. There was no possible way she could assimilate. She was a lone wolf who had become a Huntress in order to survive in the world without anyone.
"Aska, are you thinking about asking anyone to the dance?" inquired Bladerider cheerfully. "Or hoping for someone to ask you?"
"I was thinking about Jazz, actually," replied Aska with a blush. Jazz - or Flynt Coal - was the leader of a fellow first-year Atlesian team, Team FNKI. He was... so cool.
She couldn't trust anyone but herself. That was just how the world worked. But who was she anyway? Roku was just a pseudonym. Aska Koryu? Aska Ironwood? In the end, she was just a shadow without a friend who couldn't care about anyone.
"Hey, Shadow, don't you think we're missing something?" asked Mad Dog rhetorically, and then he glanced at Ruby… Ruby! They couldn't let her go into battle without a callsign! That was just uncouth and bad for team cohesion.
"What are we going to call you?" asked Aska meaningfully.
"Huh?" was Ruby's dumbfounded response as she looked about in confusion. "Uh, 'Ruby.' What else would you call me?"
"Headlong!" declared Bladerider happily, though Ruby visibly flinched at that.
"Mechhead," offered Mad Dog.
"Wind Flower," put forward Farsight.
"Reaper." Aska nodded assuredly.
"Is that really necessary?" asked Ruby.
"Of course," said Specialist Schnee as she entered the cabin. "The autopilot will have us at the LZ in five mikes, so get ready to move out, all of you."
Aska and the rest of Team APRC - save for Thundercracker, of course - got up and began checking their gear, though the specialist kept talking.
"You need a callsign, Miss Rose, for many reasons, but chief among them is that we all have them." At that, the white-haired woman pointed at herself. "For instance, while we're on this mission, I must insist that you call me Targeter."
"Um, okay, Targeter," replied Ruby, still very clearly not entirely comfortable.
"You'll get used to it," said Targeter briskly. "Now, since we all have them, and this is a mission, you'll need one too in order to maintain proper comm procedures. The suggestions from the others weren't bad, but they don't seem to be clicking either."
Aska walked over to the doorway alongside Ruby as it opened on final approach.
"I just don't see what I need a callsign for," said the Valish girl. "I mean, my real name is pretty short as it is. How are you going to find another word that sums up all that I am just as well?"
Targeter began to reply when Ruby's eyes flicked to the side for a split second, and then, just as quickly, she brought Crescent Rose up and fired. Aska's keen eyes - and the sensors built into her glasses - tracked the shot to a Beowolf in a field with a perforated skull that dropped to the ground in a heap before dissolving into the aether. The bloodcrowned girl, for her part, just looked alert while scanning the area.
"Snapshot," said Aska, the word coming to her lips on instinct.
Farsight, Mad Dog, and Bladerider all nodded along with that. Even Targeter looked pleased in some cryptic fashion. Ruby just looked at them strangely, though of course she wasn't Ruby anymore, was she?
"I do believe it is decided then," confirmed Targeter. "Congratulations, Snapshot, on your new callsign."
"Wonderful!" cheered Bladerider. "You are now part of the tribe."
"Just what I've always wanted," muttered Snapshot in still very visible confusion.
They hit the ground soon after that and began sweeping the LZ for any Grimm that might have been missed by the airship's sensors and guns. There weren't any, which was strange. Beowolves almost always worked in packs, so where were the fellows of that one that Snapshot had downed?
"Farsight, find an overwatch spot and start nesting," ordered Targeter before drawing her saber, Edelweiss, and pointing at a patch of the vine-covered hillside. "We'll be exploring the bunker that recon identified."
Farsight did as ordered and soon disappeared into the green foliage despite her blue clothing. The remaining four members of the team followed Targeter as she led them to what Aska's optics were identifying as a large armored door that was slightly open. There was a lot of concrete on the ground as well, though it was covered in more of those vines. They had landed, appropriately enough, in the middle of an old landing pad.
When they got to the door Targeter tsked. "These vines will be a problem in time. Recon cracked open this door not even forty-eight hours ago, and it's already this overgrown. Stand back for a moment, students. We'll have to do this the hard way."
They obliged, and soon, there was a white snowflake glyph expanding out on the ground. From that glyph came the ape-like form of a Bergingel Grimm. Though, unlike a true Creature of Grimm, this construct was white and cyan and as blindingly bright as the real thing was pitch black.
"Wow!" gasped Snapshot as she watched in wonder. "How did she do that?"
Aska leaned over so that the Valish girl could hear. "This is a secret technique of the Schnee family. Their semblance, unlike almost every other, is hereditary. In addition to all its other abilities, they can summon constructs of their defeated foes."
"Huh, so Weiss could do that?" asked Snapshot. "Theoretically, I mean."
Aska looked at her in amusement. "There is no theory about it. That is as certain as the dawn."
"Uh, no, it isn't," said Snapshot pointedly. "Weiss barely uses her semblance these days, remember?"
Aska caught sight of Targeter's reaction, and it wasn't good. The Specialist tried to hide it, and she mostly succeeded, but Aska had learned from years of speaking with General Ironwood how to read people who were controlling their emotions, even someone like Targeter. She was hit hard by that bit of news, and deeply too.
"Cover your ears," ordered the specialist, and they once more followed her order as the summon put its hands into the now cleared door seam and pulled it apart.
With great effort and a tremendously loud racket, the door was finally opened. After that, they stayed outside for a few minutes as they waited for the air inside to circulate and for any Grimm drawn by the sound to come running. None did. Again, there was nothing.
Where are you? wondered Aska in concern as years of training screamed at her to ready herself for a fight that didn't seem to be coming at all. On instinct, her hand drifted up to grip the tsuka of Magorox from where it protruded over her shoulder.
After another few minutes, the specialist ordered them to enter the facility with headlamps and flashlights out. She took up the lead, and Bladerider followed, then Snapshot, then Mad Dog, and finally Aska herself. As her heeled boots hit the concrete of the bunker's floor, she realized that she should perhaps start thinking of herself as Shadow.
They began a thorough search of the underground base and took note of everything they were seeing. "Base" was the appropriate word here, since it soon became abundantly clear that this was no mere Great War era bunker. Everything was strangely preserved, as if it had been built to a far higher spec than normal.
"I bet my brother would love this," murmured Aska under her breath.
Somehow, Snapshot had heard the comment, and came rushing over with her eyes wide. "Wow! You have a brother? What's his name? What does he do? How come I've never seen him before?"
Banking away from the overexcited Valish girl, Aska gave a simple and honest answer. "His name is Kogetsu, he's a ninja, and... he's a ninja."
Snapshot looked like she was going to say something else, but she stopped and thought about it before sighing. "Of course."
She looked around at the rest of the team even as they continued to explore. "So I know Farsight has a lot of brothers, and I know Targeter has a brother, but do either of you have brothers?"
"I have two," answered Mad Dog simply.
"I, sadly, am an only child," reported Bladerider with a melancholy note.
Snapshot rushed over and embraced her. "Oh, don't cry. It gets better, I promise."
Bladerider blinked. "Don't you have an older sister?"
"I didn't know what else to say," lamented Snapshot.
"Then perhaps you should be quiet," suggested Targeter in a tone that made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion.
It was an hour and change into their search when they found something truly extraordinary, though. Something that made it impossible for any of them to stay quiet. Even Targeter had her breath taken away when they pushed open that sealed door.
It was row upon row of pods with people in them. Passive, sleeping, living figures dressed in what looked like simple patients' clothing. Beside the pods were tiny lights indicating that power was still flowing into them.
"These look familiar," muttered Bladerider with wide eyes as the group began to walk into the room.
"I wouldn't go that far," replied Mad Dog as his eyes scanned the tubes. "After all, this tech looks like it flew straight out of the history books, but… it's all style. What it's actually doing is something incredible."
Aska stopped in front of one of the tubes and held her surprise in check. What was in there - who was in there - wasn't possible. No, it was perfectly possible; it just had to not be who it first appeared.
Snapshot slid up next to her again and looked inside curiously. "Is it just me, or does he look like an older Spruce Willis?"
The rest of the team stopped and turned to look as well, and Penny gasped. "How?! How is that possible?"
"Simple," replied Targeter, though even she sounded in awe. "It isn't."
"How?" asked Mad Dog pointedly. "They never found the body. Heck, they didn't even find the airship."
"What's more likely?" countered Winter. "That he would be found after all this time in stasis, or that it is merely a lookalike. Snapshot said it herself; he looks like Spruce Willis."
"Ma'am, what are the odds that someone can have two lookalikes in a hundred years?" inquired Mad Dog leadingly.
Aska looked around. "Better question. Why are any of them in stasis in the first place?"
Specialist Targeter nodded at her. "You're right. Let's get back to the surface, but stay on the lookout for anything that could be a clue."
They weren't able to find one before Farsight interrupted with a transmission.
*Original Valish (English) translation of Ciel and Aska's little talk. The Mantellian (Deutsche) was an after the fact translation generously provided by Legion0047 with editing done by walkir .
"What do you think of Ruby?" asked Ciel in the tongue of her ancestors.
"She's a good girl, she bakes some amazing cookies, but I wonder why Dad ordered her to go with us," answered Aska in pitch perfect Mantellian without the slightest hint of an accent. "I don't buy that she's just Vale's representative. They could send anyone to do that."
Farsight noted that 151 minutes had passed since mission start when the complication arose.
The complication in question was a group of unmarked green and grey Skygraspers flying nap-of-the-earth and approaching stealthily. There were no other missions scheduled in this area, and a quick check proved their transponders were disabled.
"Farsight to team," she whispered. "Inbound unidentified Skygraspers."
"Understood," came Targeter's crisp, clear voice. "Maintain overwatch. Keep us updated."
She nodded, sighting down Blitzjaeger - a lighter counterpart to her usual Distant Thunder for more mobile or close quarters operations - to their apparent landing site.
Her eyes narrowed as personnel began disembarking from the airships. The distinctive green outfits were unmistakable.
"Farsight to Targeter," she reported. "Update: Newcomers appear to be MECH. Permission to engage?"
"Denied," was the immediate reply. "We're moving into position. Weapons tight until I give the signal."
"Understood," she acknowledged. She shifted slightly in order to adjust the angle of her shot to account for MECH's approach angle. A handful of MECH troopers moved toward Specialist Schnee's airship... but otherwise seemed disinclined to tamper with it.
MECH was a recent thorn in the Atlas military's side. Cropping up only a few years ago, they were well-funded, well-equipped, and well-trained. They typically engaged in corporate espionage and theft of military hardware and advanced technology.
"Stay with me, Klara," said Ciel as she ran through the snow towards the waiting medevac VTOL with her classmate from the Albion Mountain Combat Praxeum mounted firmly over her parka-clad shoulders.
Klara Simpson merely gurgled in reply, but she did reply. That she could do that at all was a miracle. Her face was a mangled wreck, like much of the rest of her body, the reason why as evident as the smell of cooked pork that wafted into Ciel's nose with every ragged breath she took.
She slowed down just enough so that when she reached the medevac, she could turn around and set Klara gently into the waiting arms of the medics that began to bundle her up alongside the rest of the casualties from the battle. If they could get her into treatment fast enough, she would live. The door was still open, she realized through a mind that had been awake for close to 27 hours.
"Come on!" yelled one of the medics. "We can't leave the doors open, and you combat students need to pull out."
Ciel was going to respond, but then a cry came through the air. More flying Grimm were coming, and there weren't enough people left at the firebase to man the anti-airborne artillery while they were being attacked on the ground as well. If the medevac took off, it would do so without covering fire.
Klara wouldn't get that treatment she needed for her burns. She wouldn't even get out of the combat zone.
"Go! I'm staying!" she yelled back, and then without waiting for a reply, she turned and sprinted for the gun she had seen firing the least in the last wave.
The VTOL was beginning to take off when she reached the 5-inch gun platform. They wouldn't wait for her; that was good. The gun was an older model, manually loaded and operated, intended for a crew of five. The breech was open, and the ready rack was half-empty, only around two dozen air-burst shells. The armor-piercing shells normally stored in the ready rack alongside them were all gone, presumably used against the Megoliaths that had spearheaded the attack. It would do. She hauled one of the 5-inch flak shells out of the ready rack and raised it into the breech before slamming it closed. Ciel slid into the gunnery seat and peered through the glass sights, feeling a sense of calm fall over her, despite the cold. Standing still like she was, she was beginning to feel the freezing polar wind on her face, and that she could still feel at all was a boon from the Blessed Lady of the North herself. Spinning the handwheels, she centered the large Teryx leading the formation in the crosshairs, adjusted upwards and slightly to the left to account for range, angle, wind, and the Coriolis effect, and stamped the firing pedal.
BOOM!
The 5-inch shell soared into the sky, the proximity fuse detonating it as it neared the Teryx, ripping through its soft underbelly and severing its neck with shrapnel. It wasn't enough to stop all of them, but she could tell they were angling for her now, not the medevac.
She leaped out to throw another shell into the breech, her gloved hand ramming it home.
BOOM!
Ciel brushed a loose lock of hair out of her eyes as she scrambled for another shell out of the ready rack.
BOOM!
She almost climbed out when a hand patted her on the shoulder, and she heard the breech closing.
"You're good!"
BOOM!
The corporal left in charge ordered a retreat an hour after that when they ran out of ammunition for the artillery. The firebase was lost, but the medevac was long gone. It would be another 63 hours without sleep before Ciel joined them, the medics having no trouble by that point holding down her bleeding and broken body.
Four minutes later, MECH troopers began approaching the entrance to the facility, armed with some form of grenades.
"Farsight to team," she said as she lined up the shot. "MECH troopers approaching with grenades. Engaging now."
"Acknowledged."
She caressed the trigger and absorbed the kick of Blitzjaeger against her shoulder. Compared to Distant Thunder, the .80-caliber rifle's recoil was a fair bit stronger, thanks to lacking an extra two feet in length and several dozen pounds in weight, but she could take it. Even with that force pushing her back and a spent case flying into the brush, though, the results on the other end were much more dramatic, as the round punched through the aura of the MECH trooper she'd aimed at and still had enough energy to send him tumbling to the ground.
She was already moving. Fire and reposition was the order of the day.
The position she had left was already being plastered with gunfire. They had a way of tracking her. That was less than ideal, but she could work around it and maybe lead them on a merry chase.
She didn't worry about the rest of the team as she ran, trusting that those kids would get out alright. They had Specialist Targeter with them, but they also had Snapshot. That little sniper would probably see them through a lot and make sure none of them bought a single piece of real estate along the way. Moreover, Targeter would remotely activate the airship's emergency transponder, as per standard operating procedure.
Farsight got into another position and flicked through the vision modes on her scope. There was a group of them coming after her through the trees. She tracked them, and soon those trees were bushes.
BOOM!
Bushes didn't do much to defend against .80 Colton.
She repositioned again, and this time, there wasn't any barrage of gunfire. Instead, there were a series of thumps that sounded through the forest. Farsight's eyes widened, and her mind reached for her memetic.
Precognition on!
She could see mortar shells falling down from the sky and moved to avoid them. MECH seemed to be plastering the area with them, but she could move ahead of them and prevent being blown up. So move she did, and when those explosives hit the ground… they didn't explode.
It hadn't been her eyes playing tricks on her. They really didn't explode. That meant either one of two things. Either they were duds - all of them, which was unlikely - or they were gas shells.
Farsight bolted to the side, trying to get out of the firing area and ahead of the shells, but then, the wind shifted. She had just enough time to realize what was happening before she tumbled to the ground. Darkness consumed her soon after.
When Rufus woke up, it was dark. Worse, his helmet was gone, along with all the optics he had crammed into it. He wasn't naked, though, which was definitely a plus. A strip search would have been very awkward. And inconvenient.
He sat up on the thin mattress and looked around. He was in an eight-by-ten cell. The door was solid metal, and there was a bare sink and a commode in the corner. A small red light drew attention to a corner of the ceiling, where a camera hung.
Well, this seems familiar, he noted, thinking back. Had it really been less than two years now?
"The human's awake." The voice was muffled, but close.
Still groggy, Rufus looked around in confusion. The room was dark and cramped, but it wasn't long before light spilled in as the door cracked open. It was then that he realized just how bad his situation was.
A lithe young woman - a girl, really, no older than he was - walked in, wearing a horned Grimm mask that almost completely covered her face, exposing only her lower jaw. Her arms were bare, revealing a mocha complexion speckled with darker spots.
The White Fang.
He scrambled away from her, pressing his back against the wall as she approached. "What are you going to do to me?"
"Do?" she replied. "That depends on your father. I understand he's a Huntsman. Trains SDC security personnel."
It was true, but he didn't respond.
"I bet he gets paid a lot, teaching those goons how to fight, how to hunt us down like animals."
"Then maybe you should stop acting like animals!" he snapped. His dad had told him some of what the White Fang had done, but only the barest details. Arson, murder... kidnapping, obviously. No one was safe, not even the faunus they claimed to be fighting for if they were deemed "race traitors" for having the audacity to not be a frothing lunatic.
In the blink of an eye, she had him by the shirt, slamming him against the wall. "You don't know what you're talking about," she hissed, her face red with rage. She paused, obviously getting ahold of herself as her skin shifted back to its previous shade of brown, then she backed off, letting him down. "No matter. Your father works for us now."
"So, that's all I am?" he spat. "Leverage?"
"Oh, you'll earn your keep," she assured him, leaning in and whispering in his ear. "I hear you're a bit of a gearhead, even made some special weapons for your dad. Well, you'll make them for us now."
With that and a contemptuous sneer, she turned and walked out, unconcerned that she had just turned her back to him.
Rufus sat there, fuming impotently, but did nothing. After all, if they wanted him to make things for them, they'd have to give him access to tools eventually. That would be the time to make his move if he wanted to get out of there alive.
Hmm... Rufus took stock of his situation. The thin mattress sat on a metal rack on legs bolted to the wall and floor. The commode and sink's pipes were exposed, and the security camera was maybe two feet out of reach. Most importantly, as he'd noted earlier... he was still wearing his undersuit, laced with control circuitry he could repurpose. And if he didn't miss his guess, that door probably had an electronic lock...
I can work with this.
Winter retained her cool composure as she was escorted through the MECH base, despite the bag over her head blinding her. Instead, she put her mind to the task of memorizing the path the guards guided her down. They were smart. Although one stood beside her, hand on her arm to guide her, the others stood behind her, presumably weapons at the ready as they were when they put the bag over her head. She tried slowing her pace. Many people were unprofessional and would prod a recalcitrant prisoner with their weapons, revealing their exact positions, but these troopers weren't so easily provoked; her sidelong escort - unarmed, leaving her without an enemy weapon she could easily procure - merely pulled her arm more insistently.
Eventually, she was forced into a chair, and her wrists cuffed to the arms of it.
"That's enough," a deep, rough voice said. "Take the bag off. I want to see her face with my own eyes."
That voice... she thought. No, it can't be.
As the bag was removed from her head, she blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the lighting of the room. It was bare, a table in front of her, and lit by a light from above. An interrogation room.
"Well, well, well, Specialist Schnee," the voice commented. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised they sent you on this mission. I'm glad to see your career is going well."
She stared at the man seated across from her. He was familiar, achingly so, though the scars across his nose and down the side of his forehead were new. He had been her commanding officer once, a mentor, a teacher, a better father figure than Jacques Schnee had ever been, and a closer one than the General. The memories assaulted her, and she felt her control erode.
"Colonel Bishop?"
"We're extracting?!" Winter asked, peering through the pouring rain down into the darkness below the airship. "But... what about the colonel? He's still down there!"
"Your call!" the pilot shouted as he wrestled with the controls against the gale-force winds rocking the airship. "But I don't know how long I can hold it in this weather!"
BOOM!
That had to have been the dust repository.
Winter glanced back into the passenger compartment, at the injured and the civilians. She took another look out into the darkness. She closed her eyes and turned away, then looked at the pilot..
"Get us out of here," she ordered.
"No!" Winter shook her head in denial. "You're dead! I- I-"
"Left me to die," finished the late - or not so late, apparently - Colonel Leland Bishop. "No hard feelings, Winter. We had our orders, after all - the civilians were the priority - and you followed them, like a good little soldier should."
Winter flinched as she again thought back to that night. "Colonel-"
"Water under the bridge, Specialist," he interrupted, waving it off. "And I'm not a colonel anymore. Call me 'Silas.' You made the right call, much as I wish it were otherwise. Had you tried to save me, it would have ruined your career, if not killed you outright, and that would have been such a waste."
"And yet... MECH?" she asked. "Did what happened really reduce you to this? Petty theft?"
The ex-colonel gave a booming laugh. "'Petty'? I'd hardly call multibillion-lien hardware and technology 'petty.'"
"Fine," Winter acknowledged. "Grand theft. Why, Colonel? Why are you doing all this?"
"Ahh, Winter. Mechanical and Electronic Collections and Holdings is merely providing a service," Bishop - Silas - explained. "Why, if your family's company didn't work so hard to drive every competitor out of business, we wouldn't have a job."
Winter ground her teeth at that. Father, once again, you continue to make things worse.
"All I offer is a competitive edge, a fighting chance, and everyone loves an underdog," Silas continued. "In fact, when you next see your father, please extend him my gratitude. After all, business is booming, and it's all thanks to him."
"So, this really is all about money?" she spat.
Her former mentor's face went still, and he shook his head. "No," he said quietly. "No, of course not. I had funding, money I'd stashed away in case of an emergency. I could have lived the rest of my life off of that quite comfortably if I'd wanted to. It's about power, the power to resist."
That caught her by surprise. "To resist what?"
"There is a secret network," he explained, "a conspiracy spread throughout the world like a cancer, with no allegiance to any kingdom, with hidden goals and motives. They've wormed their way into every level of society in every kingdom, disguising themselves as Huntsmen, soldiers, and ordinary joes."
Winter felt a chill run down her spine at what he was describing. It sounded insane. It was insane... but Leland Bishop had always been a man of facts, of evidence. If he believed it… but she was a woman of facts as well.
She rallied. "Surely, Atlas-"
"Has already been infiltrated up to the highest levels, both civilian and military," he interrupted gravely, leaning over the table toward her. "You don't believe me. That's understandable."
"What you're saying sounds like madness."
"That's because you haven't considered all the possibilities, haven't considered all the cultural markers this group leaves," replied Silas coolly. "For instance... where do you think this whole trend of callsigns came from? Isn't a little odd that it's so recent, and yet now everyone has one? Even you have one, Winter, or should I call you 'Targeter'?"
"Whatever you prefer, sir," she offered icily. "Still, do you really expect me to believe that General Ironwood is in on this?"
Silas leaned back. "No," he acknowledged. "The good general is most assuredly not one of them. He's too straightforward, too honest. Which is one reason he's ill-suited to this sort of shadow war. Moreover, to learn so many of his closest, most trusted subordinates have betrayed him...?" He trailed off meaningfully.
Winter suppressed a wince. He was right. Something like that would break the general. One more reason to keep things secret until the last possible moment.
"There's a war coming, Winter," Silas continued, "and it's going to be the side with the most advanced technology that will prevail. MECH will be that side. I'd invite you to join us, but..." - he paused and shook his head - "...I would never ask someone to choose between loyalties."
"No… I suppose you wouldn't," she agreed, a lump in her throat. Not like her father had. "Thank you."
"My men will escort you back to your cell," he said. "Once we've recovered what we want, you'll be free to go. I'm glad we had this chance to catch up. Goodbye, Winter."
"Goodbye, sir."
"What is this?" asked the interrogator as he threw down the small metal disk onto the table between them.
"I have absolutely no idea," answered Ruby honestly. It was the device Dial-Tone had given her just before they started on this mission, the device she'd taken off of Starscream. They'd removed it from its original packaging, of course, which was a shame in her opinion.
The interrogator slammed his fist into the metal of the table. "Don't play stupid with me, little girl. Why would you be carrying something this advanced if you don't even know what it is?"
Ruby raised an eyebrow incredulously. "If you don't know what it is, then how on Remnant am I supposed to know what it is?"
"Are you saying you picked it up in the facility we captured you in?"
"...yeah, sure, let's go with that."
Before the interrogator could respond, a deep thrumming sounded from just outside the interrogation room. The interrogator turned to look, and Ruby seized the opportunity. She reached out, well within the slack of the handcuffs that bound her, and snatched the disk from the table, then slid it into one of the large, hidden pockets in her borrowed uniform.
Sure, it wouldn't be hard for them to find it by searching her, but if she was lucky, whatever was causing that noise would give her the chance to escape, and seconds might count.
She heard gunfire from just outside the door, and the interrogator clutched at his hip for a weapon that wasn't there.
He froze as the sound of metal on metal echoed in the air, and Ruby's eyes widened as she saw the tip of a long, curved blade emerge from his back. The blade withdrew, and the man gurgled, slumping to his knees. Metal on metal sounded again, this time with a meaty thunk, as the man's head was severed from his shoulders, and the door was sliced in half, revealing...
"Raven! You're here!"
Raven paused in surprise at the voice. She looked closer. It was Summer's second daughter. "Ruby Rose," she said. "What are you even doing here?" She had expected Starscream, not MECH and certainly not Summer's little girl. That beacon must have been on the fritz.
"I, um," - the girl shrank back into the chair, embarrassed - "got captured."
"I see." Raven nodded. Well, that answered that. She turned and started walking. She had a lesson to teach. Shooting her? That was just rude.
"Where are you going?" she heard the girl call after her, rushing to catch up and leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake..
"I'm going to find whoever's in charge here and have a few words with them about acceptable behavior," answered Raven matter-of-factly.
"No, wait, please!" the girl begged. "I have so many questions."
Raven spun to glare at the girl, a rebuke on her lips. That was a mistake. The girl's pleading silver eyes pierced her soul as assuredly as they could pierce any Grimm. You really are a Little Summer, she thought ruefully. She sighed and relented. Slightly. "Fine. One question."
She tapped her foot impatiently as the girl paused, apparently at a loss as to what to ask now that the opportunity was before her. Raven wasn't sure what had possessed her to agree. After all, with who and what she'd left behind on Patch, it was obvious the girl would ask-
"I, um, well..." the girl blurted out, "there's this girl, my teammate, she's, like, totally amazing: kind and sweet and wonderful and a really strong fighter. And I just found out she's in love with my boyfriend. What do I do?!"
Raven stared incredulously. This? This was what she chose to ask? Not why she had left, not Ozpin's secrets, not even tips on fighting? This? Advice on... on human interaction? That didn't involve sharp implements? At least, she was pretty sure the girl wasn't inclined to murdering the competition, or she'd have done it by now. The bandit queen closed her eyes and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, only to remember the mask she was wearing. She could feel a headache coming.
"You already know what I did, Little Summer," she pointed out, giving the girl a flat stare. After all, this tiny girl was the living proof of how well that had worked out. "Why in the world would you ask me for advice?"
"I... I guess you're right," the girl said, looking crestfallen but thoughtful. Good. Maybe she'd stop looking to her of all people for advice.
"Now," Raven said with a curt nod of satisfaction, turning on her heel again, "let's go teach these fools a lesson."
"No, wait!" the girl disagreed. "We have to go save the others!"
"'Others'?" Raven asked, noticing at that point the Atlesian technitian's uniform the girl was wearing, then shook her head. "Never mind. They're not my concern."
Ruby watched as Raven continued to walk off. She growled, then stomped her foot. "Argh, fine! I'll go save them myself."
She turned down another corridor, not particularly caring which direction she went. She was a Huntress now! She didn't need Raven! She would find and save them herself! Somehow.
Penny studied the cell door closely. She was faced with a conundrum. The door was steel, and around six inches thick, with hinges and bolts equally durable. In other words, it was too strong and heavy for someone to brute force it open unless they had a convenient semblance.
Or, like Penny, was a combat ready robot custom crafted with top of the line components.
She looked up. The problem was the camera in the corner. She kind of didn't want a rogue organization with a penchant for stealing advanced technology knowing that she was, well, the kind of thing they liked to steal. That could only end badly.
Hmm, she mused. Maybe I can try what Arslan did in the semifinals two years ago...
That had been a wonderful match. The Golden Lion's opponent had relied heavily on his semblance, which allowed him to create living statues to fight alongside him from the ground. But Arslan had some way of figuring out their weak points, striking just right to break and shatter them.
Penny studied the door, trying to figure out the weak points, the stress lines. Maybe she could-
An alarm klaxon blared. "Evacuate," a voice ordered over the loudspeakers. "Evacuate. Do not engage the enemy. Evacuate."
-or she could just forget all that and take advantage of the confusion to escape. She smiled happily and grabbed the door, her fingers digging furrows into it, then pulled, tearing it clean off its hinges. Stepping out and tossing the door aside, she looked around.
"PENNY!"
She turned at the sound of her name. "Ru- Snapshot!" She waved.
Her Beacon friend rushed up, Crescent Rose in her left hand, Blitzjaeger slung over her shoulders, Magorox and Edelweiss hanging from the tool loops on her borrowed jumpsuit's hips, and tossed Penny her backpack with her right hand. Penny caught the backpack and donned it, feeling the comforting weight of Floating Array on her shoulders once more. She frowned.
"Um, Snapshot?"
"Yeah?"
"You, um, you have, um..." Penny trailed off and pointed at her own cheek.
Ruby blinked, then reached up and wiped the blood off. "Oh, heh. Sorry, Pe- uh, Bladerider. It's, uh, it's been a messy day."
"I- I can see that," Penny acknowledged, noting the blood spattered all over Ruby's borrowed jumpsuit. She shivered.
"Come on," Ruby said, seemingly unconcerned. "Let's find the others and get out of here."
"Affirmative!" Penny agreed, shaking off her unease.
Just as they turned away from the direction Ruby had come from, they saw a MECH trooper fly across the corridor from a T-junction and slam into the wall. Seconds later, Winter stepped into the scene.
"Ah, Bladerider, Snapshot," Winter greeted them. "Excellent. This will make things easier."
After a moment, Ruby shook her head, then tossed Edelweiss to Winter, who caught the blade easily and took a moment to inspect the weapon. She looked over at Ruby. "Since you seem to have found our weapons, I assume you're responsible for... this?" She glanced up at the ceiling meaningfully.
"Um, sort of?" replied Ruby as the evacuation orders kept repeating.
Winter seemed curious about that but didn't ask.
"Let's move on," she said instead, turning on her heel and walking past the T-junction, and the two student Huntresses fell in line behind her. Gunfire echoed from up ahead, and they picked up the pace.
They rounded the corner to find both Rufus and Ciel, each armed with an assault rifle obviously appropriated from their... "hosts."
"Sorry, Mad Dog," Ruby said as she passed Blitzjaeger over to Ciel. "I didn't see your suit. I don't know what they did with it."
Rufus sighed regretfully. "Ah, well. I've been meaning to upgrade anyway." He reached up to and pressed a complicated sequence on his wrists and collar. "Done. Let's get out of here, shall we?"
"But... what about Shadow?" Ruby asked worriedly.
"I am already here," Aska informed her as she reclaimed Magorox.
To Ruby's credit, she didn't flinch. Much.
"Yay!" Penny cheered. "Now, let's get going!" She paused, then brought out Floating Array, sending the blades spreading out to amplify her weapons' sensor capabilities and feed into a holographic display.
Rufus smiled smugly. "And you told me the sensor interface was a waste of effort."
"Shut up, Mad Dog," Aska ordered.
"Looks like the hangars are this way..." Penny said, tracing a finger along the holographic map, "...which is that way." She pointed down the corridor.
She led them through the winding hallways of the base to the hangar bay, and Winter sighed as they arrived. "Of course, they took my ship," she said as she strode purposefully toward the docked vessel that seemed to be ignored as so many others were in the process of taking off. "Still, that simplifies things. Now, all we need to worry about is any air defenses they may have."
As they boarded and took their seats, Winter began firing up the airship and activated the emergency transponder. "Might want to strap yourselves in," she warned. "We're probably going to be flying under fire."
"Hurry up, you slowpokes!" cried Thundercracker as he streaked through the air at supersonic velocity.
They had gotten the emergency beacon from Targeter's airship just seconds before it had gone offline, but that had been enough. They knew the mission had gone south and the rest of Team APRC(T) was in danger. Penny was in danger, and it was on that horrifying note that they made best possible speed to the mission site, and after they put the screws on the MECH personnel they found there, they decided to make things not so horrifying.
They, of course, because Thundercracker wasn't alone in this. As soon as General Ironwood had heard about the emergency beacon, he ordered one of his best men to assemble a fast strike squad to mount a rescue. And that was how he ended up teaming up with Duke and his merry band.
"Relax, Thundercracker. We'll get her back," assured Duke from his own Skystriker, an actual one, not a robot in disguise. "We're not going to let them harm a single hair on little Penny's head, and if they do… well, we'll make them pay for it."
"And you're not just saying that for my benefit?" prodded Thundercracker. "What about the others? Are they expendable?" Duke was obviously cleared to know about the Decepticons, but Thundercracker wasn't sure if he was cleared to know about Penny's true nature.
"I think by your tone, you've already figured out the answer to that," replied Duke.
Thundercracker bristled at that. The little human had read him all too well. He was getting too close, too connected, too involved. He was forgetting why he was doing all this. It was all for the greater glory of Megatron and the Decepticon cause, and that's all that was needed… right?
They picked up a beacon on sensors, and Thundercracker's fluid pump leapt for joy.
"I've got them!" he cried, reading off the string of numbers that showed their bearing and turning to intercept it.
"Roger, Thundercracker. Let's see who's flying that bird," replied Duke.
The three elements of Skystrikers - plus Thundercracker - closed in on the beacon with Skygraspers bringing up the rear. Soon he was able to identify that it was Targeter's ship rising up from the ground, and that they weren't alone. Twelve fast movers were chewing up the distance like it was the final stretch of the Velocitron 5000.
"Brothers! The warbook's identifying those things as Firebat Drones. They're still in the concept stage!" reported Ace in disbelief. "How did MECH get their hands on top of the line MARS tech before the Iron Grenadiers?"
"Maybe we'll ask them and find out," quipped Duke before speaking again on a line that only he, Thundercracker, and the big airship could hear. "Unknown craft, this is Duke of the Atlesian military. State your name and purpose."
The reply was immediate, feminine, and dry as a desert world under four suns. "Duke."
"Targeter. Living up to your name, I see," said Duke cheekily. "But don't you normally do this without the whole base chasing you down?"
"Oh, shut up," threw back Targeter. "Just get these MECH birds off our tail."
"'Our'?" asked Duke pointedly.
"I didn't let any of the little ones buy any real estate," assured Targeter. "Now about our erstwhile hosts?"
Thundercracker was already flying off before the question was asked. He poured on the energon as much as he could, and to Unicron with the consequences! He was going hypersonic by the time he had closed the distance, and when he did, he unleashed a barrage of emerald energy blasts from his guns.
Two olive and grey Firebats were downed in that pass, but he was still going too fast for an effective dogfight. So he cut the engines and banked into a hard turn back towards Penny and his prey. In that giant arc which ate up the sky, he could feel the strain of air pressure on his body as that and G-forces threatened to tear his lift surfaces apart.
He hadn't felt this terrified in millions of years, but neither had he felt so alive!
Flying was what he lived for.
He poured on the air brakes and retro rockets, seeing his speed drop down as the Firebats turned to face him.
Got you, he thought with an imagined smile and a kick of the engines.
He dodged the one-inch shells from their autocannons, and pivoted into another blast with his cannons that clipped the wings of one Firebat to send it tumbling to Remnant below. Another got behind him, and he braked and went into a barrel roll that saw the attacking aircraft fly right under his canopy by mere meters. He fired off a burst, and his target exploded into a terrific ball of shrapnel and smoke.
"Two elements down, four to go!" said Thundercracker with a confidence he hadn't expected. Oh yeah. That's right. Keep all your eyes on me! Transform!
His body shifted in mid-air, and he became a humanoid figure grinning like a madman as twin plumes of flame erupted from his feet.
Two Firebats launched two missiles each, and they homed in on the Seeker. Heedless of the danger, he grabbed two missiles in his hands and kicked off the other two in large explosions. Like thunderbolts from on high, he put his all into his throw and turned the remaining two missiles around to be cast out to whence they came. Thundercracker didn't miss.
Four drones left!
"Two left!" reported Slip-Stream, and the transformer glanced to the side see two more smoke trails headed towards the ground with the Skystrikers truly entering the fray. "Thundercracker, want to make double ace today? Take down those last two turning into you."
"Double ace"? He'd made "ace" many times over by local standards if that was the case - except, perhaps, for being Ace, who must have felt really awkward at that moment - but he'd never taken any pride or joy in it. After all, at the end of the day it was just brutal survival in an endless war. He was into it now though, so something had changed. Which was ridiculous, war never changed.
Just like Slip-Stream said, the last element of Firebats was closing in, and they were opening fire.
Thinking quickly, Thundercracker called upon his semblance and smashed his hands together to create a massive shockwave that split the air with a deafening boom. Impossibly, the force of this shockwave was directed forwards, and the noses of the Firebats crumpled. On such small craft, that meant the whole drone control system went as well, and instantly, they veered off course on broken control surfaces to smash into each other.
"That's it! Sky's clear!" reported Duke. "Thundercracker, that was some incredible flying. Take up escort duty for Targeter's ship along with Slip-Stream and Scarlet. We'll take care of MECH's base of operations. Should be a piece of cake, now that their drone fighters are out of action."
"Reading you loud and clear," replied Thundercracker as he flew up to take escort position alongside Targeter's airship. When he got there, he looked and could just barely see a little coppertopped figure waving at him.
I told you, Penny, he thought melancholily. I told you I would do it.
Thundercracker groaned as he got up, his optics bleary and unfocused. His whole body was wracked with pain even still, even in the dark. Starscream hadn't even bothered to stay. He could still hear that terrible sound…
Quiet sobbing suddenly pierced his auditory sensors, and he recognized it as not being a memory. He turned his head and saw her in the dim light. She was crying; he'd never seen that reaction in a fellow inorganic before, that ugly messy sobbing. He didn't like it.
Impossibly, he found the strength to reach out a hand.
"Hey, Penny, don't cry," he said hoarsely, as if his vocabulator was burning out, which it probably was.
She looked up at him, green eyes puffy and filled with so many tears.
"Don't cry," he repeated. "Please don't cry, Penny. I won't let them hurt you again, I promise. On every ounce of honor I have, I promise, I'll protect you."
She looked at him strangely. "I chose this," she said in a broken voice. "I chose this so I could protect others. Including you."
"Then… then I guess we'll be protecting each other."
Ruby rode the rest of the way back to Vale in silence. Despite the kerfuffle with MECH, the mission - the main mission, that is - was completed successfully. But the secondary mission General Ironwood had given her... her gaze drifted to the cockpit where Specialist Winter "Targeter" Schnee flew the airship.
She still wasn't able to pin down the depths of Winter's treachery. The older woman was aloof, enigmatic, with only the occasional slip to show something had sent her off-kilter. After the escape, though, it was obvious. Something had shaken the specialist deeply, and Ruby had no idea what.
Soon, the airship landed in the hangar bay of the K.A.S. Tapfer. Ruby unstrapped herself, but before she could get up, Winter called back from the cockpit. "Snapshot, I'd like a word in private, if you don't mind."
"Um, okay," she agreed, bewildered as Team APRC made their way off the airship. Once they were alone, Ruby found the Atlesian specialist giving her an intent stare.
"Snapshot - Ruby - I know this can't have been comfortable for you," Winter said simply. "I'm sure my sister told you of... what happened during her visit home over break."
Ruby nodded mutely.
Winter looked away. "I can't go into too much detail, not without endangering you as well, so understand that what I'm about to tell you has another layer to it, a much more dangerous one."
"You mean the Decepticons," Ruby said bluntly.
"So, she told you about them too," Winter said. Ruby nodded. "Yes. Still, I need your word that you won't share what I tell you here with anyone."
Ruby licked her suddenly dry lips as she considered what the specialist was asking. This was almost certainly what General Ironwood was looking for. But a promise was a promise, and this would be more secrets for her to bear. Then again, even if she never shared what Winter told her, it would still tell her where Winter's loyalties lay, and that was what Ironwood wanted to know. She nodded. "You have it."
Winter looked at her searchingly, and whatever she found seemed to satisfy her, as her shoulders slumped in relief. "The Decepticons are ruthless. They place little to no value on human and faunus lives, or even the lives of their fellows, and I fear their real goals make them a threat to everyone on Remnant."
"Go on," Ruby prompted.
"The Atlesian Council approves of this new partnership," Winter said, distaste clearly evident in her voice. "General Ironwood is suspicious of them, but he doesn't know just how bad this really is."
"But you do," Ruby prodded. "Why don't you tell him?"
"To protect him," she said simply.
What?
"If the General knew what I knew, he'd feel obligated to act," Winter explained, "but we don't have the evidence to act. If he moves without evidence, the Council will crucify him. And if he learns of this and doesn't act on it, and it comes out, they'll turn him into a scapegoat. He needs that plausible deniability, to be able to sacrifice me if it comes to that. I can't have Weiss involved in my investigations either. If I'm caught, and they suspect her being involved, they'll eliminate her too."
That was logical, familiar even, but Ruby needed to fit a few more pieces into the puzzle. "Weiss said you told her the SDC handled the Decepticons'... personnel issues."
"The SDC does," Winter confirmed. "But only as a hiring agency. Officially, they're recruited by the SDC and hired by a front company for the Decepticons called Epsilon Holdings. The level of recruitment... it suggests that whatever the Decepticons are doing is... fatal. But without access to Epsilon's records or a way to contact their possible victims, the trail ran cold."
Ruby closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "Okay, I get it. But why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want you to understand the scope of what's going on here," Winter said gravely. "I want you to understand why Weiss can't get involved. I want you to keep my sister safe, even if she goes to her deathbed cursing my name. And if the worst happens, I want someone to know what's going on, so that my death won't be in vain."
Ruby stood in front of General Ironwood's desk on board the K.A.S. Tapfer and concluded her report, not just on the mission, but on the more important matter of her assessment of Specialist Winter Schnee's loyalties.
"You're asking me to take a lot on faith," Ironwood noted.
"I realize that, sir," she confirmed, "but I've been sworn to secrecy. I won't break that trust."
"I understand," he said with a sigh. "Someone who would... isn't someone I could trust."
"Do you trust me, sir?" she asked.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk and his chin on his knuckles, hands clasped. Blue eyes stared into silver. "...I do," he said finally.
"Then trust me when I say that Winter will not - has not - betrayed you."
"Very well," he said. "Your heart's in the right place, Ruby. I just pray your judgment is equally reliable."
"Thank you, sir," Ruby said. Then she remembered something and dug into her pocket, pulling out the thing she'd grabbed from Starscream all those months ago. "By the way, a Sergeant Dial-Tone gave this to me to pass on to you." She placed it on his desk. "I dunno, it seemed kinda... fishy?"
"It shouldn't," Ironwood assured her. "Dial-Tone led the team analyzing this device, and you are cleared to handle it. Per his report, as far as they can tell, it's completely inert."
"Inert?" Ruby frowned.
"Current theory is that it somehow links up with transformer biology," Ironwood said with a shrug as he gingerly picked up the disk. "But that doesn't mean we won't be keeping it isolated and secure, just in case. Anything else?"
"Um, the base we were investigating, if I may ask...?"
"Secure," he answered immediately. "When the emergency transponder was activated, reinforcements responded and were able to secure the site before MECH could do any major harm. Is that all, Snapshot?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Dismissed."
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
And the plot thickens some more!
It's broken pedestals all the way down here, and flashbacks for everyone.
Anyway, did anyone really think Pyrrha would actually be able to bring herself to spit it out, knowing it would probably hurt both Ruby and Jaune? Don't be silly.
Nora, on the other hand... well, she's been rooting for Arkos for a while.
Raven and Ruby remain... complicated, and this certainly isn't simplifying things at all.
And speaking of Ruby, poor girl is full to bursting with different secrets. I guess she just has a trustworthy face.
A lot of shout outs and homages this chapter too. See if you can spot them all.
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
We haven't had this many people contributing to a chapter since "Conversations With Killers." Hope things turn out as well at that chapter did.
Compared to the last chapter it barely feels like we modified this one at all for the final release. Which is a good thing, I suppose. A little odd though, usually we add at least 2,000 words to the chapter before we finish editing.
So, speaking of things that might have kept me up at night had I not been so exhausted after writing all of this, how about those Joes? I got to admit, the fact that they're basically a Light Side version of Hydra is something that I find to be profoundly uncomfortable. It's the sort of thing where I really hope I don't end up unable to continue because of a noticable philosophical disconnect like what happened with Tolkein and the orcs. (Yeah, I don't know how many people know this, but Tolkein was apparently extremely uncomfortable with them being an always evil race due to being Catholic and believing that everyone had a shot at redemption, and after the Lord of the Rings released he found it difficult to continue because he couldn't find a way to make it work and still make sense.)
Before anyone asks if there's any special reason why Penny doesn't have a flashback, there isn't. We just couldn't think of anything to put in there. Possibly we could have a flashback to her bundled up on the couch watching the tournaments out of Mistral, but that didn't seem particularly necessary like the other flashbacks.
Speaking of which, I still feel like I haven't completely nailed down Aska's feel, how she works while writing her. I do feel like she's getting there though. One more scene from her perspective should do it.
Also, show of hands, who was surprised by the idea that Winter was a spy and not actually a traitor like Weiss thinks? I originally intended for it to be a surprise in this chapter, but Cyc convinced me to go and make it so that it was explicit in "Cold" that she was still loyal and righteous. Now, some people picked up on that, and some people didn't, and I'm a little curious who got more enjoyment out of their perception of events.
Finally, random BGM note, but in that Thundercracker battle I was thinking "No Future" while Cyclone was thinking "Danger Zone."