BRRRRRRRR-SCHTING!
Blake's silhouette had launched itself at the unknown airship just as its nose-mounted gatling turret opened fire on the dock. The wrenching ping of metal severing metal interrupted the weapon's heavy staccato, and the only remaining sound was the hostile airship's engines fluctuating to compensate for the sudden loss of mass.
Ruby had already jumped out the window following my command, sprinting toward Blake's silhouette, Crescent Rose extended. I would have followed suit, only if a two story drop wouldn't break my fragile legs. The stairs were too slow, and I would lose track of my allies. Thinking instinctively, I stood up on the window ledge, crouched downward, and willed myself forward-
FWOOM!
-and my feet touched down on rough asphalt, though not without momentum. I stumbled forward onto my hands and knees, but I didn't let myself stop. That would lose time, and too many different things could happen in that time. I righted myself and willed myself forward again-
FWOOM!
-this time while maintaining stride. I was already catching up to Ruby, and getting buffeted by her flower petal wake. One more forward dash should-
FWOOM-THUNK!
-overshoot her and slam me directly into the side of a gigantic metal shipping container. Great job, Tenno.
"Oooh, that sounded like it hurt; are you okay?" Ruby asked as she caught up. I nodded and waved her off, looking skyward for any sign of the disarmed airship's position. My eyes caught Blake's silhouette dashing over the stacked shipping containers on the other side of the dock, disappearing as she dropped from the containers.
The hostile airship could still be heard, but its engines were powered down, as if grounded. I pressed myself to the shipping container and leaned over the side to assess the transport craft and its crew.
"Ruby," I began, turning toward her, "we have multiple injured civilians from the transport, some possibly deceased. You will need to offer them aid to the best of your ability. I will-"
"What!? Why me?" She interrupted me, the fool, "I want to find Blake first and go after the bad guys!"
"Ruby! Just shut up!" I yelled, completely out of patience for her or anything else, "I will go after Blake because I can't help the civilians! Now go!"
Ruby glanced from me to Blake's last location a few times before steeling her expression, nodding, and dashing out from behind the container. Flower petals billowed from her cape.
I willed myself forward twice, once horizontally and once at an upward angle. This landed me on the container Blake was running on moments before. I followed her path behind another container, keenly aware my legs were already protesting, revealing an open area enclosed on three sides by double stacked containers. In the center of the area was the hostile aircraft, roughly fifteen armed people in white shirts and dark pants, and Blake holding a one from behind with a blade to their throat. I couldn't hear them over the aircraft's idling engines, but Blake said something to cause the other armed people to briefly lower their weapons.
She also was not wearing her bow, and her feline ears were fully visible.
Then Blake's hostage exploded something at their feet, the shockwave sending me flying off the cargo container and crashing hard onto the asphalt dock. The impact blew the wind out of me, but I suffered no cuts or scrapes like I was expecting.
A brief moment later, Blake landed a few meters away from me, stunned from the surprise blast but mostly unharmed. I pushed myself up, limbs straining already.
Another explosion shook the dock, toppling double stacked cargo containers and pushing others away. Debris from the hostile aircraft flew into the sky, raining metal scrap and chunks of slag onto the dock. The people with the white and black outfits poured from the gaps between containers, guns raised towards us and the civilians.
"Hold your fire, you trigger happy mutts," A man dressed in a white trench coat and black bowler hat stepped out from the containers, merrily twirling a cane. "You flea bags focus on securing that Dust. Leave no witnesses. The Boss and I will take care of the wannabe Hunters."
Blake had since recovered and dashed between the advancing thugs and injured civilians, weapon drawn. I willed myself toward her twice, already focusing Void energy into my hands. We had better chances fighting together.
"Tenno. What are you doing here!?" Blake asked through clenched teeth.
"Getting you back to Beacon. Your leader's orders." I replied.
"Not when her partner is a racist jerk." She countered.
"Yang punched her through the wall, giving her a concussion and a nasty bruise."
"She did wh-" Blake's exclamation was cut off when one of the containers vertically split and burst apart, revealing a woman wearing a red dress and balancing a flame in her hand. She strutted to bowler-hat-guy's side, staring directly at me the entire time. They exchanged some brief words before settling into a combat stance.
Ruby appeared at my other side, Crescent Rose fully extended.
"Torchwick's mine!" Blake exclaimed, charging through the thugs and immediately locking combat with bowler-hat-guy.
"Ruby," I commanded, "The civilians are still your responsibility. Stop the trash mobs from reaching them."
"You mean the White Fang?"
Finally, a name. "Yes, do whatever is necessary."
"Got it!" Ruby then dashed toward the White Fang thugs attempting to bypass us toward the supply ship housing the injured workers.
That just left me and the red-dress woman. She wasn't wearing much in the way of clothing, and had practically nothing resembling armor. A glass-cannon, perhaps. Her high-heeled shoes also put her at a movement disadvantage. Strangely, her hair covered one of her eyes. Was she concealing a weakness, like a scar or old wound? Either way, her lack of depth perception and full peripheral vision should be easily exploitable.
She made the first move by throwing the fireball directly at me. I dashed to the left toward an unharmed stack of cargo containers and retaliated with a quick blast of Void energy, forming a bolt-like projectile rather than a beam. The woman sidestepped the projectile easily and flung a horizontal blade of flame too low to duck under. I dashed again, barely avoiding the tip of the fire, and countered with two more Void bolts. She sidestepped one into the path of the other.
It somehow didn't make contact. I must have just barely overshot.
The woman let out a brief laugh and unleashed a stream of flame from her hands. I dashed backwards once and to the left once, placing me inside of an open shipping container. My legs were already weak from use, and I collapsed to the grimy metal floor. I massaged my legs in a feeble attempt to get blood flowing into them again.
SSSFFFWP.
The shipping container was suddenly bathed in an orange glow and becoming very warm. A bright orange line appeared horizontally along the interior of the container, dripping molten slag.
I immediately stood up and dashed out the opening I entered through where I failed to notice the red circle forming at my feet. A second later and I was airborne, tumbling uncontrollably to the center of the dock.
Landing on the asphalt hurt a lot more this time, rolling multiple times until I ended up on my back. My limbs barely obeyed my commands, not nearly enough to get me on my feet. I knew I needed help.
"Tenno!" I heard Ruby yell, and a quick gust brought her to my side. Her expression carried great worry, until she looked toward someone I couldn't see, and immediately became angry.
"Grr! No one hurts my friends!" She stood and charged, and then I heard what I can only describe as the sound of solid flame scraping against bladed metal.
For a few moments, I just laid there, staring up at the stars flickering from rising smoke. Then with a deep breath, I rolled myself onto my stomach and tried to push myself up. I only managed to bring myself to a kneeling position. Standing was out of the question.
Ruby was giving her all as she attacked the red-dress woman. Every strike she made never came from the same angle twice. Unfortunately, every hit that Crescent Rose made was met with a deft parry of flame. The woman was on the defensive, but she was undoubtedly in control of the battle, something Ruby wasn't catching on to.
The red-dress woman shifted to the offensive when Ruby stopped briefly to change Crescent Rose's ammunition. Multiple fireballs erupted from the woman's hands, and Ruby made the mistake of attempting to deflect the shots.
The fire seemed to bend around the weapon, and Ruby never realized how she was struck. Her body flew back further with each impact, and she was soon tumbling on the ground helplessly. She finally stopped in front of me, barely holding onto Crescent Rose.
Somehow, Ruby was still conscious. She tilted her weapon vertically and used it as a crutch to stand on. The red-dress woman was unharmed and sauntering closer to us.
We were out matched. The only option was retreat. Distant aircraft engines only bolstered that sentiment.
"Ruby," I managed to speak, "We… need to run. They have-"
"No!" Ruby cut me off for a change, "They will hurt more people if we give up! I'm not going anywhere!"
She was being foolish, driven by a hero complex strong enough to disregard death. I reached out to Ruby to try and… stop her, perhaps.
Then my hand touched her spine.
My senses caved in, compressed, and seemed to move from my body. Sense of self molded into something else, making contact with another, and merged seamlessly.
And now I- we feel alive, stronger than ever before!
I open our eyes. Energy flows through my core and our limbs like electricity. We stand up fully with her legs, readying my weapon with our arms. Reload a fresh magazine.
We lock eyes with my adversary, their advance halted.
Take advantage of their hesitation.
She sprints forward with our semblance, Crescent Rose twirling without effort. I slash forward, strong enough to break through their parry and send them back. We advance further, sending my adversary onto the defensive. My strength shatters their parries effortlessly, and we use our semblance to change attack angles. She slashes more, finally landing a solid hit to their side. I refuse to let up, and move in for-
No! Don't!
-they recover, sending fireballs our way. She dodges them, knowing a deflection would be unwise. I dash one way and then another, closing further distance on our enemy. We force her off the dock and toward the warehouses. An aircraft flies overhead, lacking strobe lights. Reinforcements. I need to end this quick.
We twirl Crescent Rose and plant it tip first into the asphalt, chamber a fresh round, pour Void energy into the weapon's Dust cartridges, and fire.
Streams of brilliant cyan energy explode from the barrel, all focused onto their target. One lands short, blasting chunks of road, dust, and dirt into the air. Another goes wide and impacts a crane. Groaning metal reverberates for miles, and the contraption plummets to the ground.
The last one pierces the dust cloud, impacting where my enemy last stood-
NO! WHY WOULD YOU-
-we waver as the sound of wrenching metal and shattering glass-
-NEVER WANTED THIS! GET OUT!
GET! OUT!
I gasped as my senses suddenly return. The surge of energy from whatever happened revitalized my body, and I stood up swiftly.
Taking stock of my surroundings, I could safely say the dock was thoroughly destroyed. Debris littered the ground, asphalt was cracked and melted in many different places, the cargo plane was surprisingly intact, and the bodies of the White Fang were littered around the cargo containers, most of them still moving.
I spotted Ruby at the dock's entrance, staring toward the warehouses. With a few dashes forward, I was soon behind her. She made no confirmation of being aware of my presence.
The unmarked airship had turned around back into Vale proper. Their reinforcements were on the retreat. We won.
I heard soft footsteps behind me. A quick glance revealed the owner to be Blake. She smirked, even though her clothes were slightly charred and had a few bruises forming on her skin. Somewhere along the line, she found her bow and re-covered her feline ears.
I sighed. "Ruby? It's over. Blake's safe and sound, and I'm pretty sure she's coming back with us."
Before Ruby finally turned around, she bent forward, clutched her stomach, and vomited onto the asphalt.
"Ruby!" Blake exclaimed and rushed to her leader's side. The girl doubled over and vomited again before pushing Blake away and sprinting down the road.
"Tenno, what happened to her?" Blake asked me with apparent concern.
I shook my head in response. "I don't know."
Author's Notes:
Took longer than I would have liked, but it's finally here. Told ya it was juicy.
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