A/N: 2020 had been a rough year for a lot of us, with the COVID situation and other factors that may have affected all of your lives heavily. I first and foremost wish all of you that you have came out of this year unscathed and strong. If you are suffering, I hope circumstances will turn better for you as soon as possible. 2021 is a new year, I hope it goes well for all of us.
With that out of the way, the first chap of 2021 is now here, special thanks to furaiz's beta-reading despite the busy stuff he has to push through first.
Being a Huntress was a career choice that Ruby had dreamed of becoming ever since she could remember. She would take out Grimm, soulless creatures that sought nothing but the end of the living, and to arrest criminals that had wronged people left and right. She was well on her way by sheer fortune as she was invited by a headmaster into one of the finest institutions across the world, yet she had never imagined that it would lead her into a situation where she was wading in sewers, the dark waters splashing across her knees while the subtle yet invasive sweetly putrid smell almost made her want to pinch her nose.
Ruby would fully admit that she may have embellished the idea of being a huntsman, a person that would protect those that cannot defend themselves and she had to constantly remind herself that she was in this mess because Touma was caught in a bind, leaving her team with no choice but to comply with his plans. The person who made that scenario was wading right in front of her, someone who subverted almost everything she expected of a huntsman. However, everything about this mission was starting to claw her mind and gut, as if warning her about something dire.
"Okay… listen up you three," Motoharu spoke up as he adjusted a small brown pack on his back, his head turning towards her and her two teammates and his face lit up with a small dust lantern, "The four of us are going to infiltrate this facility with two objectives; Capture Therestina Kihara and to acquire as much intel as possible in relation to the Covenant."
Weiss's face cringed at the smell, her hand over her nose and mouth in an attempt to mitigate the effect, despite that, she kept her eyes forward as she replied in a muffled voice, "Don't you think we are a little outmatched?"
"Hmm?" Motoharu whipped his head around, the lantern creaking at the sudden movement.
"Ugh damnit!" Yang hissed, with her usually free flowing blonde hair tied up in a ponytail in an attempt to avoid the nauseating waters filled with unknown elements. Her three companions looked at her with raised eyebrows, earning them a sheepish smile while holding out her hand, "My bad, anyways… Weiss is right, those mechs aren't exactly easy to take out."
"Yeah, you're right, fighting those mechs and other unknowns isn't exactly a good plan, but unfortunately, that's the plan we got, besides, you guys know we have some backup," Motoharu said with a wave of his hand as he continued his wade through the murky.
"You mean the White Fang?" disapproval dripped from Weiss's words, while she had worked with them not too long ago, she still couldn't swallow the fact that she was working with the lowest of the lows in her opinion.
Ruby winced at the tone as she added, "I'm a little worried about it too. Not that I think they can't do good but… they did hurt people before-"
"Hurt? They killed people, Ruby," Weiss stressed sternly.
"Yes, but they have their reasons to do so, whatever their goal was, they deemed that the people they killed were an acceptable cost," Motoharu reasoned calmly causing Weiss's eyes to flash in indignance, her cheeks flushing red and her jaws set rigid.
"There is no justification for murder, no matter the circumstances," she stated and Ruby agreed. While she did sympathize in some ways for the White Fang, she could never agree with the fact that killing anyone was seen as an acceptable cost.
Motoharu chuckled with his head bobbing up and down, "Fair enough, but looking from the White Fang's perspective, it is entirely justified. But, I'm not here to discuss the morality of the White Fang. All you need to know is that along with Stiyl and the others, they'll be running a little distraction for us."
"... Oh, but… umm… wouldn't the Kiharas have detection systems in place?" Ruby asked as she tapped a finger to her chin. It was clear as day that the operation was simple, the White Fang and some of the huntsmen would attack this Kihara lab directly, forcing attention to the bold attack while her team would slip in to do what was needed in the shadows, "I mean they are supposed to be all 'high-tech' and all, aren't they?"
Motoharu's mouth flashed a small shrug of the lips, "A fair deduction, but you've probably already guessed that we knew about it too, didn't you?" Ruby blinked, realising that her words may have had unintended implications and before she could even rescind it, Motoharu continued, "The problem is the method of how we're gonna get in, you let me worry about that. What you three should understand is that the target, Therestina is… inexperienced, but no less dangerous than any other Kihara. While we are here to remove her from interfering with our primary objective, she may have resources, intel that could direct us to the Covenant."
"And doing so will let us finish this whole thing once and for all," Yang muttered as she carefully made sure that her hair wasn't brushing the sewer walls.
Ruby found herself nodding at her sister's words, the whole experience as her first 'technically not official' mission as a huntsman had been a less than pleasant time for the lack of better words. As she continued wading, feeling the unpleasant moisture invading her boots, Motoharu's briefing continued to echo through the sewers, "We'll be moving as a unit altogether. Therestina is pretty well-known in her sphere as one of the best mech researchers and developers of the Kiharas, so we can't take any chances. Any unknown mechs must be eliminated with extreme prejudice. Now, any questions?"
"... Just one," Weiss's response drew a wave of a hand from Motoharu, "This facility, there isn't a map of it, is there?"
"There isn't, Yuiitsu said that all Kiharas more or less keep their labs private, even from each other. Don't worry, I got a few things we can use," Motoharu answered as he jerked a thumb at his bag but Weiss shook her head.
"But then why are we in the sewers? I was expecting that you have an idea of some… 'backdoor' entrance or something like that," Weiss pointed out.
"Because it is a common feature among the Kihara labs, they all have several things in common; Archive room, main labs, vaults and of course… a backdoor entrance for discrete uses, that's where we're going," Motoharu held his scroll under the lantern as they finally reached an intersection, his shades glinted off the light as he turned his head towards each fork before turning right and wading into the swallowing black.
"So we just need to get in, and take her out while her mechs are distracted by the White Fang?" Ruby surmised, she shook her head trying to understand the plan. It was simple by design and efficient, but there was one detail that kept nagging her at the back of her head, "How is the Church going to get her attention then? I can't imagine them having anything to, well… get her attention."
"Ahh… that… Torchwick and I hatched a little deal involving some Atlas Cavaliers," Motoharu answered with a wry grin.
"Atlas Cavaliers!?" two voices exclaimed and Yang's eyebrows rose with surprise and amusement. After all, it was rare enough that Ruby and Weiss were of the same mind, however, the latter was clearly not amused.
"Wait, how do you know about Atlas Cavaliers?" Weiss asked as she placed a hand on her hip.
Her partner could only laugh sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as she muttered, "Ummm I kind of… looked it up when I heard that they made a really cool high-caliber explosive dust cannon that uses magnetism. I mean, the Atlas Cavalier, though not made anymore, is currently the only mech to use that kind of technology."
Weiss's eyes showed no signs of being impressed as she slowly placed her hand on her forehead and slowly massaged her temples with a tired sigh. Motoharu and Yang both held amused grins as the former said, "Well, I assure you, that they'll have enough firepower to give us the distraction we need, so we gotta get to the 'backdoor' and..." Motoharu's scroll blinked as he trailed off, using the light source to illuminate the dark tunnels. Eventually, the circle of light landed on the platform above the river of sewer water.
Almost everyone sighed in relief as they climbed out onto the platform, Ruby still grimacing as she felt the moisture invade her feet and from the sounds of groans from her teammates, they were definitely agreeing with her. As their footsteps splattered over the steel platform, the four of them finally trudged to a large metal door, simple with no electronics.
"Huh… here we are," Motoharu remarked and as he turned to them, "Ladies, take five, we'll breach when I get the go ahead."
Ruby shared a look with her team and nodded, and soon enough, the three of them stood a fair bit away from the door with the lantern now sitting between them while Motoharu was in front of it, murmuring into his scroll. The three stood in silence, with the flowing water filling up their ears until the leader of the three suddenly asked, "Do you guys think what we're doing is… right?"
Yang and Weiss blinked, the former jerking her thumb at Motoharu as she answered, "Look Rubes, I don't like that guy but I'm going to have to go out on a limb and say, 'yeah'. The Kiharas are the literal bogeymen, not saying I agree with the reasons why Motoharu is targeting them but…"
"Even then, arresting one of them can't be anything but good," Weiss added as she folded her arms, "And as much as it pains me to even work with the White Fang, the goal makes it an acceptable compromise."
Yang frowned as her lilac eyes surveyed Ruby, her hand planting on her younger leader's shoulder as she asked, "Is there something wrong Rubes?"
Ruby shook her head, "No it's just… well… I… It's nothing, nevermind."
"Doesn't sound like it's 'nothing', Rubes. Is everything okay?" Yang squeezed her sister's shoulder.
Ruby opened her mouth as she struggled to articulate her thoughts and feelings, drawing blanks until she finally mumbled, "It's just… something doesn't feel right about this."
"... Ruby, though I'm no fan of anyone in this city, Motoharu's mission is a logical step into finishing all this," Weiss pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"I know, I just… I keep feeling like we're going to walk into something bad, you know?" Ruby replied, her hands waved around as if trying to support her point.
While Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner's strange wording, Yang nodded sagely with a small smile, giving another squeeze as she assured, "It's okay Rubes, I get it. It stinks here… literally and figuratively, but we can always fight it out, right?"
"But what if it's a trap, or… or like we're just doing this because Motoharu says so?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, I understand, we're going in blind and all, but we got Blake and Touma to watch our backs through the drones, remember? And you know how good Motoharu is," Yang gently said before placing her hands on her hips, "Besides, Touma is injured and Blake is stuck there, we gotta do our part if we wanna get them home."
Ruby blinked before slowly nodding, though that ominous feeling didn't subside from her chest, she could see that Yang was right. It was hard to deny Motoharu's combat prowess and she couldn't just stand back and do nothing, something bloomed in her chest, it wasn't hope, but it made her feel that she had to do this mission, one way or the other.
"Alright, break's over, Weiss, get ready," Motoharu's voice suddenly rang towards them and the three young ladies nodded to each other and quickly gathered at the door and with a small signal from the most experienced huntsman here, Yang turned off the lantern, plunging the four into darkness.
However, the tunnel was once again illuminated in a blue hue as upon the door was a subtle hum that managed to reverberate over the rushing of water and a spinning glyph covering it. Motoharu pulled out a small device with a cylindrical shape and a square base, the cylinder was bright red from the dust and it pulsed as Motoharu carefully placed it on the door. With a click, the device beeped once and the four of them backed away from the door.
"Alright… on my mark," Motoharu raised his hand and the four of them stood beside the door, their bodies pressed along the walls of the sewer with nothing but the dull blue light of a glyph and flowing water of the sewers accompanying them. Suddenly, the sewers shook, dusty particles rained on the four huntsmen as they heard a rumbling sound that seemed to drum through the walls and ceiling of the sewers.
"Mark!"
As if on command, the cylinder suddenly beeped louder and shot into the door, the glyph pulsing in response as the metal door seemed to shudder and all of the sudden, the area around the device began to glow a hot orange and with a thunderous roar with metallic whining, a large hole appeared where the device was the centre off with the perimeter glowing an angry orange from the controlled destruction.
Immediately, Motoharu ducked in and one by one, Ruby and her team followed their weapons raised and ready for action, the room they entered was completely darkened but it lacked any form of movement and Motoharu silently whispered, "Into formation, go."
The four of them moved towards the unbreached door, Motoharu and Yang taking point, Weiss at the centre while Ruby with her Crescent Rose in rifle form took the rear. As they reached the transparent door, Motoharu quickly tapped onto the console next to it as he pulled his scroll out and held it close by. After a beep, the door smoothly opened without resistance and the four of them pushed forward. Each room they visited, they cleared with swiftness and precision with little resistance as it was as lively as a ghost town.
Despite the lack of contact, Ruby could hear her own deep breaths as if trying to keep her heartbeat steady as she kept her barrel of her Crescent Rose down, but ready to flick it upwards at any moment's notice. However, the rumbling and banging that seemed to be hiding behind the walls could only indicate that the White Fang had begun their assault.
"Hold it," Motoharu's whisper rang into her head as the four of them entered a room filled with machines, connected by belt-like objects which reminded Ruby of an assembly factory, "Two targets… ten o'clock, do you see them?"
Ruby's eyes landed on what looked like strange spider-like mechs hanging from the machines above them, each one had a piercing orange eye at the centre of their body, slowly scanning the room as if they were security cameras.
"I see them… I think we should just sneak past them," Ruby suggested, but nonetheless she leveled her rifle in case Motoharu disagreed.
The senior huntsman only grinned and nodded, "Good call, no need to put the attention on ourselves just yet. Alright, follow me."
The four of them weaved through the machines, using the shadows to hide from the eyes of the surveilling mechs. Within sight, the four of them could see a large open door and as they began their approach, Motoharu suddenly shot his fist up to stop them moving as rumbling and banging seemed to intensify elsewhere, and the machines hanging from the ceiling suddenly jerked towards that direction as they made warbling noises before quickly scuttling towards the White Fang assault.
"Easy… let'em through," Motoharu whispered and the four of them drew back into the shadows of the large stationary machines. The scuttling slowly grew louder overhead and as the metallic footsteps rang on the machines above them, Ruby raised her Crescent Rose's barrel at the small gap between the machines as one of the mech's paused over them. Her ears picked up more clicking beside her, mind in no doubt that it was Yang's shotguns also becoming primed and ready. The buzzing from the mech above seemed to even overtake the chaotic sounds from the White Fang assault.
Ruby pursed her lips as she lined her sights at the mech, her heart pounding in her ears as she slowly moved her finger to the trigger. She knew that the moment she squeezed that trigger would be the moment the mechs descended upon them like rain. Despite this, Ruby and her team still had the tactical initiative. She felt the urge to just pull her index finger back while egging the mech in her mind to move on but the mech remained in place, it's eye scanning the area back and forth as its fellow mechs continued scuttling along past it.
Ruby's finger was all that could decide her team's fate and she couldn't care about the consequences just yet. It was either to take the initiative or to just let the mechs find out they were there and just as her finger was about to squeeze, the mech suddenly darted off and followed the other mechs. Immediately, her finger flew off the trigger and her lungs let go of the breath she didn't know she had held.
"... They're gone," Weiss muttered and no one disagreed with the relief in her voice.
Ruby nodded as she lowered her rifle and realized that the weapon was a lot heavier than she first thought, "I've never seen mechs like those."
"They're nasty, they don't move normally," Yang explained as she eyed the area where the mechs disappeared to.
Motoharu chuckled as he replied cheerfully, "That's Kihara mechs for you, even huntsmen have trouble against them."
"...Umm... wouldn't your team and the White Fang have trouble against them, then?"
Ruby's question gave everyone a pause while Motoharu shrugged, "Their job is to distract, not to invade legitimately. Besides, as long as we deal with Therestina, we can deactivate the mechs, they just need to hold out until then." Motoharu then turned to the three of them, his grin widening as he gently quipped, "No pressure, right?"
Motoharu then beckoned them to another door, opposite from the direction the mechs moved to and began making his way, leaving Ruby and the others to look at each other warily before following him. The procedure remained the same; enter, clear, rinse and repeat. It got to the point where Ruby could understand the efficiency of the method, far from what she expected of a huntsman in any capacity.
It was until Motoharu suddenly flung his hand out and muttered, "... Main Lab… judging from the relative location… probably this room."
"So, we're busting in there or what?" Yang asked.
"We're going in blind, Yang. We don't even know if it is actually the Main Lab or if our target is even in this room in the first place," Weiss hissed with her eyes rolling in exasperation.
Motoharu chuckled as he pulled out a new device from his bag and attached it to his scroll, making it look like it is some sort of black and bulky camera. He placed it gently at the door and with a click, the scroll lit up and the huntsman smirked as he removed it and placed it back in his pack, "Found it, that tracker Yuiitsu gave us is pretty neat." With that, he signalled the three to hug the wall around the door, Ruby pursed her lips as Motoharu across her gave her a pointed look and instructed, "Okay, Therestina is in this room and she's got a couple of those juggernaut mechs with her. Ruby, Weiss, we got the initiative, she'll be behind a terminal at our two when we enter. Ready?"
Ruby looked down at her rifle and the magazine attached seemed to glow with the non-lethal dust bullets she bought for this part, non-lethal but effective. With a grim but determined nod, she steadied her stance as Motoharu responded by placing a demolition charge on the door and then held up a detonator.
Motoharu silently held up three fingers, putting one down each second and as the last finger went down, Ruby looked away as she heard a click followed swiftly by the door booming loudly. Ruby then looked up and pushed into the room, her rifle raised and immediately her silver eyes caught sight of an orange haired woman, clad in a mechanical purple suit that looked like a bulky humanoid brawling machine.
Crescent Rose's barrel immediately homed towards Therestina and like clockwork, she squeezed the trigger, her rifle thundering as it shot a purple bullet. The nearest cylinder-headed mech to Therestina jumped forward, a blade flashing as it batted the bullet away smoothly. Its two fellow mechs jumped forward, brandishing rifles or blades as the floor shook from their weight.
"Ahhh crap, not these guys," Yang groaned beside Ruby.
"Ruby, you take charge, just keep them busy, I'll handle Therestina," Motoharu called out and immediately he leapt forward, easily weaving through the wall of juggernaut mechs, turning them towards him as he made his way behind them to their master.
Something clicked in Ruby's head at his words, she didn't know why or she didn't know what, but in her chest, she felt a surge of something intense as she transformed her Crescent Rose into its signature scythe form as she let out a surging call, "Go, don't let them get to him!"
"YEAH!" Yang's excitement, whether it was settling the score or just to finally punch something, surged with her aura as she leapt towards her nearest target and began her engagement.
Weiss silently took in Ruby's order as she moved to engage another mech and Ruby focused on hers as she pulsed her aura and zoomed forward in a flutter of rose petals, her scythe banging away to gain speed and momentum. With a quick shift in her footwork and scythe handling, her Crescent Rose's blade quickly hurtling towards the mech which is still turned away from her.
As Crescent Rose was about to reach its target, the mech suddenly turned, its blade flashing as it deflected the scythe like a ball bouncing off a stone wall. Ruby felt her weapon rattle in her hands as the sudden force almost made her lose balance completely, but this wasn't the first time she had to deal with the situation as she pulsed her aura at her legs and jumped over the hulking mech, twirling her scythe as she made a stance.
The mech turned and stepped towards her, its blades immediately chasing towards Ruby as she flicked her Crescent Rose to deflect the blows, however, as the scythe made contact, it still managed to deflect the blow, but Ruby still felt the alien-like feeling of the scythe's haft rattling in her hands. Despite this, Ruby managed to use the momentum and swung her scythe at the mech's cylindrical head. This time the mech didn't even bother to block it as the scythe barely bounced off its head and the mech even shuddered from the blow, but there wasn't even a scratch.
Ruby clicked her tongue as she immediately pulled her scythe over her body as she intercepted the mech's retaliation twice, pushing her backwards and eventually forced her to jump back as she swung her scythe just to create distance. She had never seen a mech or even Grimm, this durable before, let alone completely shrugging off her attacks. At the corner of her eyes, Yang was brawling with her mech and doing a far better job, managing to land a few dents to the mech's armor, but they were hardly significant while Weiss's was struggling as she used her glyphs to either defend or enhance her thrusting capabilities with the rapier.
Ruby knew they couldn't simply just take out the mechs through their own power alone, at least not individually. As the mech dashed forward, Ruby mirrored its actions before quickly ducking under its mid-aimed strike and as it turned to slash downwards, she leapt up, backflipping and landing closer to her actual target, her sister.
"Yang, let's pull back, I got-" Ruby started as she kept her eyes on her opponent.
"Don't worry, Rubes! I got this!" Yang hollered back before roaring and charging into her respective mech for the umpteenth time. Even in Ruby's peripheral vision, she could tell that Yang's usual sharp movements seemed to be a lot slower and sloppier. She might not be a martial artist like her sister, but even Ruby knew that her sister was on the backfoot.
Ruby knew Yang would be like this, trying to be reliable and self-sufficient but somehow it still annoyed the young red-clad leader as she let out a click of her tongue. If that was the case, then it would have to be plan B and just as she was about to execute it, her mech opponent leapt towards her, its blade swinging down like a guillotine and Ruby hopped back, easily avoiding the attack.
The mech quickly flicked its blades upwards from the smashed tile floors, flicking bits of rubble everywhere as its blade danced at Ruby's position who was matching the mech's attacks with her own dance with Crescent Rose, each twirl and spin deflecting and glancing off the offending blades as she backstepped every other attack. However, despite being pushed back, Ruby was patient waiting for an opening, her eyes following the mech's shoulders, limbs and blades.
All of the sudden, the mech swiped and with a battle cry, Ruby knocked the blades up with her scythe, her aura bursting like a heatwave as she felt her scythe buckle in her hands but it was enough to send the mech off balance and taking that opportunity, Ruby dashed past it to her next target, her Crescent Rose singing a metallic piece as it cut through the air into another mech that was facing her partner at its midsection.
Crescent Rose didn't scratch it, but Ruby's lips still twitched upwards at the result, the mech stumbled from the sheer force of the young leader's attack. However, Ruby can't savour the small victory as she quickly ordered, "Weiss, go help Yang, if you can use your glyphs on her you-"
Before she could finish, the mech Ruby left pounced on her while the other mech jumped at Weiss, the two managed sidestep their attacks and with a flash of a glyph underneath them, both of them cried out in effort as they knocked their respective mechs back once again, though this time only to buy some space. The mechs jittered momentarily before they began to circle the two huntresses, their backs facing against each other.
"I'm doing fine, if you haven't noticed," Weiss muttered, her rapier pointing at one of the mechs as she followed its circling pattern.
"Yeah, but you weren't really taking it out," Ruby retorted, her eyes flicked behind her before she teased, "Not even a scratch!"
"Oh shut up! Not like you did any better," Weiss growled, though she wouldn't admit it, Ruby had a point and it did not make her stress levels any better.
Ruby's short chuckle quickly turned to focus, "But seriously, Weiss, I need you to go help Yang, if you guys work together, we can at least take one of them out."
"Right and somehow you're going to deal with two of them?" Weiss snarked back.
"No," Ruby admitted with a small shrug, "But it's better than all three of us doing nothing to them."
Weiss's eyes narrowed as her aura pulsed, ready to throw down glyphs as her mind tried to make heads or tails out of Ruby's reasoning, "This doesn't sound like a good idea, give me some time and I can definitely take one down!"
Ruby bit back a groan, unwilling to wait for Weiss to make up a strategy, behind the mech she faced, she saw Yang grunt in pain as she was sent stumbling from a backhanded smack by her mech and now Ruby was definitely convinced of her own plan. She drew a breath as she carefully figured out how she was going to lay it down for her partner, "Weiss, you have to trust me on this one."
"Are you-"
"It's not a request," Ruby's tone was nowhere near a shout, yet it snapped Weiss's mouth shut, her eyes widening at the sudden assertion of her partner.
While a little annoyed that she had been effectively silenced, Weiss felt a little kindling of pride in her partner as she quickly shook out of her stupor as she muttered, "Fine, we'll do it your way."
Ruby's lips twitched, at least Weiss was willing to follow her on this, and to think that she was supposed to be the harder of the two to convince, "Ok good, I'll distract them, think you can get out and get to Yang?"
Weiss merely gave a short huff, but said nothing more and the two young huntresses tensed, one waiting on the other to make their move. With a grunt, Ruby's Crescent Rose clicked and clanked into the rifle mode as she knelt down into a shooting position and fired off a shot to which the mech easily deflected and in one smooth motion, the two huntresses switched places like a backwards waltz and Ruby fired at the second mech.
As the first mech charged, its blade raised, Weiss's rapier flared as it out a ball of flames straight at the attacking mech. The huntress then leapt after it and as expected, the flames were quickly dissipated by the mech and it was all she needed as she landed on the mech's cylindrical head. A glyph appeared underneath her boots and she leapt, the mech's head jerked backwards from the force of the jump but it quickly regained its composure as its attention returned to the fearless leader of RWBY.
At least, that was what Ruby liked to have thought, but handling two mechs at the same time was definitely a challenge and slightly nerve inducing, compared to almost every Grimm she faced, these mechs were no joke, as she heard the two sets of footsteps slowly come to a stop, she swallowed as her Crescent Rose became her signature scythe once again.
This was it, all she could do was survive and hope that her two teammates could carry out her orders while she held the line. The two mech leapt and Ruby's aura pulsed as she hopped back twice, each time the mech landed, a loud clang resounded through her. She winced at the harsh noise and the mechs showed no quarters as they immediately charged in, swinging their blades and forcing Ruby spin her scythe defensively.
She could hear in the distance that her partner and her sister were bickering and that was enough to make her uncharacteristically growl internally before Ruby had to turn her full focus to the advancing mechs and as they continued their flurry of attacks, Ruby realised she'd rather avoid their strikes than face them head on.
Ruby couldn't just rely on her semblance here, she knew the moment she disengaged was the moment her team would be pincered and her gambit would go down the drain along with her teammates' safety. Still, she had to believe that her choice was the right choice and she could control the two mechs to keep their attention on her so long as she had them in her sights.
To her, it seemed like that despite their obviously powerful combat capabilities, their tactical prowess was less than impressive, even then, Ruby couldn't afford to make a mistake as she leveled her Crescent Rose across her body in a foreignly defensive position, something she rarely took, if ever.
"C'mon, c'mon," her whispering chants to the mech or herself, Ruby wasn't sure, was all that kept her in the rhythm. The mechs were slowly advancing as she slowly stepped back like a wary animal watching a threat.
Ruby's labored breathing slowly calmed down and the grip on her scythe tightened as she lowered her stance the moment the mechs stopped and raised their blades. It was beginning, the mechs lurched forward and in a split second, everything became a blur too fast for Ruby's eyes to follow but her arms and legs moved on instinct, successfully diverting each of the mech's strike off-course with her scythe and suddenly, her body crouched, her hood ruffling from a slashing attack before she flipped over a low strike and then used her scythe as a jumping pole, pushed herself up and away from the mechs.
The mechs remained relentless as they pursued her and as they reached her next position, the deadlock establishing itself once again and Ruby's combat trance reiterated. However, her arms were screaming at her and her aura flared at every clang, her pursed lips slowly turning into clenched teeth, she wasn't tired but she felt fatigue starting to burrow into her body and mind.
All of a sudden, a resounding clang unlike any other left Ruby's hands bereft and clenching air causing her to stumble backwards before seeing something flicker, forcing her to roll backwards. She tried to stand back up, but her vision was blocked by her own hood and her body just moved, her hand quickly grabbing at her signature red hood and ripping it off as she pushed herself sideways.
Her vision was now filled with the greyish floor, littered with scratches from the fighting and as she stood up and surveyed her situation, her mind finally caught up to what had happened. Never, in all her experience of combat did she feel this naked, her scythe and her hood were behind the mechs.
She had held them off this long, but her scythe was the cornerstone of her combat style and even with the aura simmering around her, she could feel the cold sweat of dread slowly encroaching her body.
"YANG, WEISS, ARE YOU DONE YET!?" Ruby asked, her voice wavered ever so slightly from the pressure.
There was no answer and deciding to take a quick glance, she saw both Yang and Weiss fighting the mech, but not together, both of them arguing and Yang's burning yellow hair was all the proof Ruby needed to know that they weren't doing much better than her.
Her jaws tightened and her body found itself zooming the two, she didn't know what to feel, but it was near foreign to her. She hated it, it made her want to spit it out and just punch something and as she zoomed towards them, "WEISS, ICE DOME, NOW!"
Ruby's voice was unrecognizable, Yang's hair turned off completely as she and Weiss turned to their leader, eyes wide before the latter quickly constructed the icey cage over the three with a flash of glyph underneath them.
"Rub-"
"Stop!" Ruby's shout effectively silenced her sister, and the leader's appearance held everything they couldn't expect of her. She was breathing heavily, her fists clenched and tufts of red fabric was bristling angrily at the neck of her cut clothing. She looked like a mess and with the shadows on the ice banging on the hardened dome, Ruby's glare had her two older teammates step back, a little wary of her unusual behaviour.
Ruby labored breathing slowly calmed down, her lips pursed as she tried to bury those feelings of boiling anger and she opened her mouth, her voice barely holding on from bursting, "I asked… no, I ordered you two to take out that mech together, what was going on?"
Weiss and Yang glanced at each other, the former answered slowly, "We just didn't agree-"
Ruby raised her hand to stop her partner, as she heard the pounding in her ears intensify, whether from her own heart or the mechs outside trying to break through the icy dome was unknown to her. With a sharp breath, she laid it out for the two of them, "I know we've had a tough few days, Blake, Touma… us. But I, no… we can't afford to keep butting heads at each other all the time. So shelve it, I need your heads in the game!"
Weiss and Yang stared at their younger leader, both at a loss for words as they find themselves nodding dumbly at her. Ruby herself couldn't believe she managed to spill those words without blowing up from frustration and taking those nods as a confirmation she asked, "Weiss, think you can accelerate Yang when you break off the dome?"
Weiss snapped out of her stupor and nodded and Ruby continued, "Yang get ready to take out one of them, just use everything you got!"
"Right… and what about you?" Yang asked while her aura began to slowly leak out.
Ruby glanced at Yang and shot a small smile, "You let me worry about that, just get ready. Weiss, on your mark."
Yang nodded and fell into a stance, facing one of the three shadows outside the wall of ice, and as her aura intensified like fiery roar, a glyph materialised around her. Weiss had her hands up ready in concentration and with one nod at Yang, the icy wall crumbled and in a burst of yellow and red, Yang and Ruby rocketed out, almost forcing Weiss to cover her face from the fiery burst of burning rose petals. The mechs barely made a single move, one of them was completely torn in half, its top and bottom scattering while Yang roared victoriously, her fist pumping with confidence.
Ruby, on the other hand, picked up her Crescent Rose, satisfaction blooming inside her chest as she heard the destruction of one of the mechs and quickly transformed the weapon into its sniper rifle form. As she rolled into position, she snapped her sights onto the remaining mechs and squeezed the trigger twice.
Two shots rang out and though the bullets weren't a threat to the mechs at all, it caught their attention. As the two turned to face Ruby, they were both blindsided by her teammates and their leader grinned, finally they were working as a team. Despite the tide turning in their favour, she knew she couldn't get complacent just yet, now it was time to finish this. Her aura pulsed in response as she returned her weapon into its scythe form and in a flurry of rose petals, she charged, suddenly eager to see her team finish their first successful mission together.
Roman slowly exhaled, a stream of smoke blowing past his lips as he watched the fruits of his preparation bloom before him. A whole platoon of White Fang church militants were brawling out with the swarm of mechs, backed by some heavy weaponry. It honestly looked like a battle of some kind of war, would've made a decent movie it had to say so himself. He felt a small tap on his elbow and as he turned, a nun nodded to him and handed him a scroll.
"Ah, Neo, thanks for all the hard work," Roman nodded to the nun as he picked the scroll up, "Anyways, you don't need to stay as Natilop anymore, you know? Got everything we need, right?"
Neo shrugged, her features cracking to her signature mix of pink, brown and porcelain white as she gave off a cheeky grin before sauntering forward to get a closer look of the action. Roman chuckled at his partner's demeanour before holding the scroll up to his ear, "So, to whom am I speaking to?"
"Why, none other than me!" a calm and suave voice responded. Roman's eyebrows were raised at the somewhat familiar voice as it continued, "Just let me get the others on… give me a sec."
"...If you are calling, I've assumed you've achieved your objective?" This time, the voice was far more elderly and Roman knew that voice all too well. He had told the Church several times that he was no fan of the Kiharas, but he had never said that business with them was off the tables.
"Gensei! It's been a while, how has Atlas been treating you?" Roman greeted jovially, his 'business' mode effectively taking over.
"Hmm… Roman was it? Has been a while indeed. Yes… I've been doing well, thanks to your efforts… I do apologize that it has gotten you convicted at Vale," the man replied cordially and Roman snorted, he didn't care for Gensei's exaggerated genuineness, but someone like him always paid the big Lien for any job.
"Bah… Bridge under the water, you've compensated me anyways, so let's call it even, aye?"
"...Funny time to be calling Etzali, I'm a little busy here!" Motoharu's voice suddenly chimed in, strained with effort as Roman could hear some sort of crashing from the blonde huntsman's line.
"My bad, my bad! Just thought all of you could use a pretty big update that just happened," Etzali said.
Roman raised an eyebrow and his free hand, though the men on the line couldn't see him, he gestured towards the brawling White Fang and huntsmen fighting mechs, "I'm a little busy here, Etzali, you know… making sure things go smoothly and all."
"Yeah, by the way, Gensei, Therestina put two and two together, now she's just being… difficult!" Motoharu mentioned before cursing lightly.
Gensei's chuckle somehow echoed over the chaos in front of Roman as he said, "She has always been a brilliant woman. A shame that she is no longer… necessary for our longer term plans. Ah… she had so much potential."
"Might I add, Gensei, you were the one who put her up on the silver platter, remember?" Roman recalled with a chuckle of his own.
"Have I? Well, I'm in my twilight years, my memories aren't what they used to be," his reply had Roman rolling his eyes, "But onto your point, Etzali, why call us?"
"... Our true target just entered the quarantine zone," Etzali informed and silence of the conversation followed.
Roman snorted, receiving a raised eyebrow from Neo as this was something he definitely didn't expect. He knew it would certainly throw a few wrenches into the plans, but at the same time, it opened new doors and a man like him could spot them with his eyes and ears closed. He had little doubt Gensei and Motoharu had similar thoughts, but there were a few things he had to confirm first, "Huh… unexpected… okay… Obviously not alone, right?"
"No… She's accompanied by Qrow and a few other huntsmen. No idea who they are, but from the looks of it, they are pretty green," Etzali reported.
Roman had never heard of that 'Qrow' guy, but he could tell that the name was significant enough to be mentioned. He fished a cigar from his coat pocket and carefully lit it as Motoharu replied, "Gugh! Yeah… That certainly complicates things, just hold on a sec!" Suddenly, there was a feminine cry of anguish coming from Motoharu's line and he continued as if nothing happened, "Alright, now, I'll just need you to sit still, I know it hurts, but for the sake of both of us… just stay quiet, don't want the others hearing on us now."
While Motoharu wasn't talking to them, Roman could hear Gensei sighing in pity and he had to admit that he wouldn't want to be in Therestina's shoes. At the corner of Roman's eyes, he could see the Church Faunus clad in military-like gear surging through the mechs with all sorts of explosions and gunfire and reported, "Might want to hurry up, those animals really are showing up why they are fanatics and all."
"Yeah… heard you loud and clear. Speaking of which, looks like we have to move up the timetable, gents," Motoharu announced.
"Agreed."
"Roman, my man, need you to continue the assault, find and stash the weapon before the White Fang knows about it, will you?" Motoharu's request had Roman smirking, he had to admit, that the man certainly had a penchant for his line of work.
"It's going to cost you," Roman warned.
"The Lien will be there, now Gensei, think you can handle all the other assets?" Motoharu asked. Roman waved at Neo and she immediately took off, sauntering onto the battlefield with one objective in mind.
"If you are executing now, I'll be behind the schedule," Gensei replied.
"All good, 'Doc', just need the goods when the Covenant's out of the picture. Okay, looks like we're all at the point of no return," Motoharu said.
Roman raised an eyebrow, in some ways, the blonde huntsman wasn't wrong, at least for the huntsmen. For himself, he could see why this was also a point of no return for him and Neo, but he was willing to take that leap. However, whatever leap he made was calculated with every information he had on hand, he wasn't going to go in blind, no matter the situation. With one last glance at the fighting between the machines and the Faunus, he asked, "So… what are you going to do?"
Motoharu sighed as he shot a glance at a heavily breathing Therestina, her orange hair poured over her face gleaming with sweat. He couldn't blame her as she was essentially pinned to the floor thanks to the sword he stuck through her torso. It honestly wasn't a difficult battle if it was to kill her, but to capture a Kihara was far more difficult than it entails. Her eyes were screwed shut and her teeth bared as she clasped at the area of her wound, she had stopped struggling with her legs a while ago but she still held Motoharu's attention.
"Yeah about that, not gonna change much until after I get back," Motoharu answered to his scroll before hanging up and shooting a grin to Therestina, "Now where were we?"
Therestina's mouth twitched upwards, despite the pain of being impaled by a sword, she couldn't help but emit a short laugh as she asked, "So, what are you going to do to me? From the sounds of it, I'm about as useful as a wet tissue paper."
Motoharu tilted his head, pitying the mess of a Kihara in front of him. He knelt down to her, while pulling out some bandages and carefully began treating her while keeping the sword in her torso, "That's a good question, honestly, your old man's right. It's a shame to just waste you."
"He's a bastard, he knew I was desperate for the Lien and gave you the honey trap," Therestina spat before grimacing in pain from the treatment, "I should've known that Covenant was all just a trap, he knew I couldn't resist studying that rare Grimm."
"Yep, he's shrewd, guess there's a reason why he's one of the uh… 'elder' Kiharas out there," Motoharu agreed, "But that is neither here or now, right now, there is something I want."
Therestina snorted before hacking coughs and wincing in pain, "Please, what could you possibly want from me? You can just find the Covenant yourself, you bastard."
"No… I'm after something a little different, won't get another chance like this," Motoharu replied with a small grin, he stood up and turned his attention to the three trainee huntresses fighting the mechs, "Huh, your mechs really are top quality."
"Failures… they're failures…" Therestina croaked. Motoharu raised an eyebrow, a little sceptical of that analysis, he knew that Ruby and the others, despite their inexperience, were very good fighters. Those mechs that were currently facing them were no slouches, matching blow for blow and from the looks of it, the mechs were definitely on the upper hand considering Ruby's stressed face and her teammates' disjointed performances.
"Failures, huh? Why would that be?" Motoharu mused more to himself than to Therestina, "If it isn't its combat capabilities then… ah… that would explain why we didn't run into anymore of them, they're too expensive and cost-inefficient. Well either way, things can be improved and refined, mech aren't any different."
Therestina remained silent, save for her heavy breathing as she watched Motoharu nodding to himself while murmuring and rubbing his chin.
"Okay, Ms Therestina Kihara, I do have a bit of a job for you, kind of in your interest to join me, whaddya say?" Motoharu asked with a salesman-like grin.
The Kihara would've laughed, if it didn't hurt so much and instead just smiled dryly as she asked, "Really? You've… you've already backstabbed me once, why would I trust you?"
"Touche, I can't really blame you for that," Motoharu conceded with a sad nod, but his voice showed an abundance of confidence and energy and that immediately dropped Therestina's own smile immediately, "I know you're a brilliant scientist, but geeze, you aren't really bright about your situation, aren't you? Think about it, are you really in any position to bargain with what's knocking through your labs?"
Therestina's face seemed to mix with rage and pain, she knew she was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Did Gensei really screw her over? Almost certainly and by that account, she could also assume that most if not all other Kiharas were less than trustworthy. The White Fang would definitely do something terrible to her and Motoharu's offer was the only way out and the only way she could continue her work. It was an easy choice, she didn't even think twice as she resisted the urge to spit at Motoharu's face and simply grinded out three words, "Fine… I'm in."
"That's my girl!" Motoharu cheered as he laid his hand near Therestina's wound and whispered, "Now before we get to business, just a few things we need to do before we leave, yeah? Now, how do you deactivate those mechs?"
