Been applying not only for jobs but also volunteer positions. And wouldn't you know it, but even most of the volunteer positions don't bother replying! Well, except for one, thankfully. Currently am in the process of (hopefully) being accepted so that I can finally gain some practical experience to beef up my resume.
That was one thing in particular I really should've done during high school and college, but sadly, I was one naïve dumbass. I have no one to blame but myself for taking so damn long to try correcting it, but I am definitely going to try. Wish me luck!
Now, onto the chapter!
Chapter 16
As he looked upon his team's current foe, Jaune calmly assessed the situation during this relatively calm moment.
Said foe, a short woman whose petite form belied her strength yet suited her agility, had surprised him somewhat by how well she'd been doing so far against his friends. Though Pyrrha, Nora and Ren were only first year students, they were all obviously talented and took things seriously. To so deftly hold the advantage against any of them much less all three was definitely not something the typical criminal would be able to do.
This fact combined with the woman's rather colorful appearance only confirmed in his mind that she was working for or with Roman Torchwick. That meant they'd been on the right track, more or less, which filled him with some minor amount of relief – he'd worried their search would drag out too much to be practical.
But his relief was tempered by the woman's threat level. Not only had she held her own more than well enough against his team, she'd even proved to be good enough to respond to his own moves.
However, to be fair to himself, it wasn't as if he'd been going all out. Indeed, if he had done just that, there'd be a lot more collateral damage… not to mention casualties – to use all his available might would, after all, put his friends at risk due to their sheer proximity. That he'd been able to cut loose just enough to only result in the destruction of that parking structure was a genuine miracle in his eyes.
Alas, it wouldn't be enough. He may have the advantage in strength and overall speed, but the woman was much more flexible and agile and certainly more skilled than most others that he's gone up against. Combined with her acrobatic way of fighting and impressive use of that umbrella, it was something of a challenge for him to adjust to her moves.
"…" Once more, he made a sound that not even he himself could fully identify. But it was enough to make his own friends tense up a bit while the woman readied her umbrella, her slender but toned legs shifting, no doubt ready to respond to whatever he may do next.
But even then, the woman now wore an almost challenging smirk on her face. Despite how she clearly prepared to move at a moment's notice, she didn't seem too interested in actually moving just yet.
Did she, perhaps, expect him or his friends to start trying to talk her into surrendering? Into giving up the location of her allies?
It was most likely – he's encountered more than a few people who just loved to talk during battle for one reason or another, though usually as a way to try and distract him. And of course, said attempts always failed.
He wasn't sure what this woman was intending to do by buying time, assuming that was even her motive here, but he wasn't about to grant it.
Putting on a sudden burst of speed, Jaune practically flew towards the young woman, whose eyes widened in shock at his sudden approach. He wasn't going particularly faster than before, so it looks as if his guess just now was on point.
He could see her now begin to leap back to open up some distance between them, but then the woman looked confused in mid-action as she noticed his own leap falling a bit short.
Ah, but of course, his leap wasn't a full one. After all, he hadn't been intending to try hitting her directly just yet.
First, he intended to distract her a bit.
He stabbed his right sword into the ground at an angle and then with a grunt, cleaved forward. The result was a solid portion of the ground being literally ripped out and thrown at the woman. Then with his left sword, he swung twice and cut several of the pieces of flying debris into smaller pieces so that the spread would go further out.
Even with the veritable roar generated by this action, he was still able to listen closely for whatever response the woman would have. And sure enough, he could hear her just barely gasp followed by the sound of her footwear clopping against asphalt.
Using this to essentially pinpoint her, Jaune then put on a much greater burst of speed and circled around, tracking the woman as best as he could.
The woman had tried moving as far as she could to her left to avoid the debris and he nearly met her head-on. Seeing him up close and personal for the second time certainly seemed to scare her to some extent, but not enough to dull her reflexes as much as he'd hoped, for when he tried stomping on her left foot, she reeled it back right before impact and then did a flip to avoid his follow up swing.
Now that he was putting in noticeably more strength, however, his swing still managed to blow her away, though not enough to impede him much.
Performing a spin, Jaune traveled right after her and swung his blades several times in rapid succession. Just like before, she managed to recover and continue her dodging, but as she did so he made sure to pay even more attention to how her body moved.
The way she twisted at her thin waist. The way she pivoted on her toes. The way her muscles tensed and moved within her legs. The way she kept her arms and umbrella close to her body in case she needed to truly guard. He studied all this with an intense yet ultimately clinical gaze.
Alright, he thought. He got it now.
After she dodged his brief assault, he took a half-step forward before launching a new wave of attacks. He swung first with his right sword horizontally, forcing her to bend as if trying to do the limbo. Then, putting on a burst of speed again, he used the same leg he'd done a half-step with to suddenly lash out and kick her directly in between the legs.
Man or woman, a kick down there hurts like hell. And as his boot made contact, he could tell by how her expression almost comically contorted that, yes, his kick especially hurt.
It launched her through the air at breakneck speeds, great enough to create a small sonic boom that certainly grabbed the attention of his teammates, who were having a bit of trouble following his and the woman's speed just now.
As she flew through the air, he jumped right after her and kicked downwards with his left foot, aiming for her stomach. She just barely maneuvered her umbrella so that it guarded against his attack, but even then, his attack sent her spiraling towards the ground and she hit it hard. And unlike Nora's attack earlier, the girl wasn't able to roll with it.
"J-Jaune, wait-!" he heard Pyrrha call out. However, he didn't give his redheaded teammate time to finish whatever she'd been about to say, for he then twisted himself in mid-air so that he started going into a spin, a spin that was further accelerated by the perfectly vertical swings of his swords.
He went downwards at a high speed towards the woman and he lashed out with both swords, fully intending on finishing this fight here and now.
But to his surprise, in this moment of what was clearly desperation on her part, the woman formed some kind of physical illusion before his very eyes, a perfect copy of herself that took her place and was immediately shattered under his might while the real one grabbed onto the ground and hurled herself away.
Undeterred, however, upon landing, Jaune simply concentrated his aura into both arms. Unlike back during initiation, where doing this had put an immense and terrible strain on his attacking arm to the point of broken bones, torn muscles and internal bleeding, the training and recovery he's done since then has strengthened his body considerably, especially after healing from the wounds suffered at the docks.
As such, focusing only this much aura into his arms and swords didn't take a toll on him this time and he took advantage of his increased robustness to promptly swing his blades horizontally and unleashing waves of pure aura at his target.
Compared to the one that destroyed the parking structure, these two swings were noticeably weaker yet still packed plenty of power, exploding with such force upon hitting the ground near the woman that simply being near the epicenter of the explosions was enough to take a visible toll on her remaining aura.
Even so, she used the momentum to get back on her feet and assume a combative stance. The look in her eyes has changed now and it was just enough to make him not immediately follow up.
A second lull in the action now occurred and Jaune once more assessed the situation.
And as he did so, his teammates finally ran up to him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out his name with a certain sense of alarm. "J-Just what are you doing?!"
"What do you mean?" he asked, his gaze never leaving the woman, who remained where she now stood.
"Those attacks just now… if they'd struck her head-on, it would've hurt her severely! Maybe even have killed her!"
At those words, he spared Pyrrha a quick glance. The redhead looked appalled, upset even. Another quick glance to Nora and Ren who hung back just a bit confirmed that Pyrrha wasn't the only one taken aback by his actions.
And in the face of such words, Jaune could only remain silent, at least for a moment. "I know," he eventually said. "That… that was the general intention."
Indeed, it was. Once again, his instincts for this kind of thing were spot-on. True, this woman clearly didn't want to keep on fighting him if it could be helped, but that didn't mean she was going to just completely change her way of life.
He could just tell – this was a woman who, much like Roman, wasn't going to stop being a criminal. She would never stop hurting others if it meant getting what she wanted, even if that was simply a bit of entertainment.
Moreover, she clearly wasn't going to give up Roman nor the White Fang. Whether that was out of a genuine sense of comradery or something much more detached yet pragmatic, he couldn't tell… but looking at things from an equally pragmatic perspective, there wasn't really a need to question her. Combined with her lack of remorse for how she hurt others and committed crime, there wasn't a good reason for him to not strike with the intent to kill.
Alas, he didn't say any of this. He felt he didn't have to. To him, it was obvious. And he was hoping his friends, no matter their feelings, would at least understand this much.
But it didn't seem like they did.
"Why?" Pyrrha demanded even as she too kept an eye on the unknown woman. "Jaune, we can't just go around doing things like that! As aspiring trainees, we're supposed to be better than that!"
Jaune blinked. Then he turned back to her, looking and feeling completely perplexed.
Can't just…? Was Pyrrha not aware of what duties huntsmen and huntresses had? The extent of what must be done at times?
He was boggled, truly, he was.
But not so boggled as to leave himself open – the woman, having sensed some conflict brewing here between them, had tried to make a move, but the very instant she shifted her posture, Jaune cleaved forward with a swing so powerful that the resulting move created a small vortex just like before. Its sudden appearance was enough to throw the woman off, even drag her a little closer and he used this chance to jump forward and go on the attack yet again.
"No!" Pyrrha cried out.
"…?" He made a slow sound of bewilderment when he felt a certain tug on his blades, especially his left one just as he swung it down.
Having moved even faster than before, he'd been certain that this swing would truly find its mark, would put this enemy down before she could potentially escape and eventually commit even more evil deeds.
But instead, as he felt Pyrrha work her semblance over his swords, his swing was slowed ever so lightly. The surprise he felt at this very instant was just strong enough to prevent him from fully powering through her semblance and so he ended up unable to correct his swinging speed in time.
The woman had managed to regain her balance and move to the side a bit and then thrust her closed umbrella right into his chest. Given his current position in the air, he was unable to simply charge through it and so he was knocked back.
However, he was able to land on his feet not even a few feet away and simply went on the attack again.
The woman used her semblance to make a copy of herself whilst also disguising herself by blending into the background. Truly, her semblance was a dangerous one. But alas, the few times she's used it so far in this battle had been all Jaune needed to see to 'adjust' to how it worked.
And so, it would work on him no longer.
Even as Pyrrha still tried to slow his swings down and with Nora and Ren swiftly approaching him, Jaune powered through her semblance and cut through the physical illusion as though it wasn't even there. Before the illusion could even begin to shatter as a result, he was already following up his swing with another horizontal slash, this one practically tracking the unknown woman as though locked onto her like a missile.
Except Jaune was no missile. It's just that he's finally gotten used to how she tended to move and think during battle. As such, predicting how she'd move and where to wasn't too hard a thing for him to do now.
The woman's eyes widened as his blade neared her and she ceased in her running to now jump back as quickly as she could. Even then, his attack would land. Her aura shall be shattered and in all likelihood she'd lose an arm too.
Except, just like with Pyrrha, his friends chose to intervene. Nora somehow managed to close the distance between them and grab onto him and tug just enough to skew his aim just as the woman raised her weapon to guard.
The result was that he ended up cutting through the entirety of her umbrella at an upwards angle. And just as he did so, he channeled some aura through his arm and to his blade, unleashing a small wave of aura that crashed into the woman at virtually point-blank range.
Even as Nora successfully managed to drag him back, the following explosion certainly depleted the woman's remaining aura as it launched her across the street.
He would've immediately given chase as the woman managed to expertly roll and end up back on her feet, but by this point, Ren and Pyrrha had also caught up with him and together, the three of them practically held him back just long enough for the woman, her gaze now wild and truly afraid, made a run for it.
"…"
He could've easily broken out of his friends' tight and desperate grasp, but to do that would likely hurt him and he's vowed to never do so. As such, he reluctantly allowed himself to be held down for the moment.
And all the while, he merely thought about what to do next.
Most likely, that woman will go back to Roman and inform him of what happened. Given how pragmatic the thief is, he'll likely have those under his command start packing things up and try leaving to yet another location… but to do that in a hurry would certainly make a lot of noise.
And in an abandoned place like this, that would stand out. So, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.
This thought was enough to allow some of the tension he felt now bleed away… but the same couldn't be said of his friends' naturally wild emotions right now.
"Jaune?!" Pyrrha looked at him with something akin to horror, but there was also a sense of hurt and betrayal there too. The same could be said of Nora and Ren as they all let go of him after a moment. "Just why would you try doing that?!"
In the face of their emotional states, Jaune inwardly winced. Having gotten caught up in the moment yet again, he'd ignored how most people tended to react to things like this.
Back at the docks, things hadn't become tense between him and the others primarily because they'd been occupied fighting the White Fang so they hadn't been there to see him attempt to permanently put Roman down.
The same naturally couldn't be said for right now.
"I…" he began, suddenly unsure of himself.
But Pyrrha didn't give him a chance to keep talking. "You attempted to kill that woman! Yes, she may very well be a criminal and yes, she may have attacked first… but even then! That doesn't give any of us a right to retaliate like that! We're trying to be huntsmen and huntresses! There are lines not meant to be crossed, no matter what!"
"Yeah!" Nora chipped in, looking positively upset. "Operating by that whole 'eye for an eye' thing could never work out!" She said this with an intensity unlike anything she's demonstrated before, looking truly angry. Given what she and Ren have told him and Pyrrha about their past, it seemed they've seen their share of darker things humanity can do. They've seen this and clearly disagreed with it.
He turned away from the two girls, however, to look at Ren, who looked as if he had something to say but couldn't bring himself to actually do so.
As he looked into his fellow male's eyes, he could see a war of emotions within him. There was shock and hurt there, just like with Pyrrha and Nora, but something more.
Not quite understanding, but close enough. Yet even so, it was obvious by expression alone that the raven-haired teen didn't approve.
Jaune then looked away for a second, peering quickly in the direction the woman had run off in. With every second that passed, that was an advantage the woman and Roman could exploit to get away. The tension he felt from before was now returning.
They had to move. Now.
But even so, he couldn't just let this stand.
"…It's a wonderful thing, to have such standards," he began neutrally, careful to not speak too quickly. To let his tension show would only lead to bad things. "But it's not realistic. There's nothing wrong with having ideals and doing one's best living up to them, but there will be times where huntsmen and huntresses will be left with no choice but to deal with those that the law would be unable to do anything about. Killing… it's not something I like to do, you know. It's not something I'd ever be comfortable doing, but to let the likes of Roman Torchwick, this mystery woman and the more fanatical members of the White Fang continue to run wild would only endanger the innocent… and that, more than even the act of killing, is something I absolutely cannot stand for."
He looked them in the eyes slowly as he said this. Obviously, this wasn't going to make them change their minds, let alone even really placate them. Life didn't work that way – one couldn't simply bend the will of others in a single minute.
There will be further discussion, even outright argument, about what had just happened later. Of this, he had no doubts. And when that time came, he'd welcome it gladly.
But his words were able to at least pierce through the fog of emotion that had overcome them and while they still clearly didn't approve, he could tell that they understood a little bit. His friends along with many others back at Beacon were quite idealistic, even the likes of Weiss and Blake albeit to a lesser extent, but they weren't so idealistic as to be naïve. They knew the world was not so simple a place to live in.
"…Come on," he said as his friends took a collective step back. "We still have much to do."
When he turned and started to run at a brisk pace in the general direction the woman had gone in, there was a slight delay before his friends followed.
It was a good thing they couldn't see his face, for if they could, they'd have seen the slight hurt in his expression now.
Weiss had continued her trek at a decent pace. Admittedly, there'd been a bit of a lag at first – even after having reconfirmed her resolve, the sight of so filthy and horrid a place this area was had made her almost physically nauseous. But she'd been able to sort of just… tune out all the grunge and filth and squalor enough to keep on going, even if the sight of some things that definitely didn't look like simple litter gave her some slight pause every now and then.
And now, as she continued to explore the more open streets as she went further east, she began to slow down a bit, her white hair whipping around from the chilly breeze that now ran through the district.
She now came to a brief stop in order to catch her breath; she's been using her semblance continuously to speed through the area and the constant usage of her glyphs was beginning to tax her.
But there was another reason for her stopping – she'd come to the realization someone was following her.
Not at a particularly fast pace or anything, but consistently enough. As her mind went into overdrive, she began to estimate just when exactly this unknown person had been stalking after her and the implications that they might have been doing so ever since the very beginning rankled her considerably. It just went to show how much more she had to learn about being a top-notch huntress.
However, this was also something of a good thing(?) for her. It meant that she might be on the right track, a thought that was further reinforced by what had seemed like the sounds of explosions not so long ago.
So, trying not to appear like she was in the know (a hard thing to do for her, who liked her intelligence being known), she decided to go for a stroll rather than the mad dashing she's been doing, appearing for all the world as if she was merely taking things easy in order to preserve her power.
As she did so, she made sure to listen keenly for any signs of the person still following her and sure enough, if she focused just hard enough, she could hear the slight pitter-patter of feet against the hard asphalt along with the occasional crunch of something – old cans, rotten snacks, needles and more – being broken underfoot.
Also, there was a bit of panting too here and there. Looks like whoever was following her – a man, by the sounds of it – had had more than a little trouble keeping up with her speed, a possibility that filled her with a bit of pride…
…Or so she was desperately hoping – the alternative was that the man was a pervert stalking after her for other reasons than what she's initially assumed. This was a possibility her mind refused to entertain for long, but alas, it did and she had to do her best to not shudder.
Nonetheless, she retained her composure and began to lead the follower on a brief walk through the area before eventually turning down a nearby alleyway.
Doing so, she intentionally made her short strides even shorter and stepped with an increasing lightness as to trick her follower into thinking she was picking up her walking pace and was thusly getting further away from them.
And sure enough, just as she'd hoped, the follower picked up their own pace, ready to give chase yet again – and as this person, a man just as she'd thought, rounded the corner and into the alleyway, he nearly walked right into the tip of Myrtenaster, which she'd silently drawn.
The man, a Faunus and a bum by the looks of it, let out a sound of surprise and as he did so, the ragged clothe he wore over his body lifted just enough to reveal what was underneath. He was mercifully clothed, sparing Weiss what would've otherwise been a horrible sight… but in doing so, it exposed an all too familiar outfit underneath what was obviously a disguise.
A White Fang uniform.
Weiss' icy blue eyes narrowed and she immediately acted, With a flick of her left wrist, she whipped Myrtenaster around and swatted the White Fang grunt right in the cheek, her weapon's flexible yet solid blade hitting like an actual whip and drawing a loud cry of pain from him.
The man staggered to his left and the heiress did a half-circle to her own left so that the man was now right up against the wall while she occupied the spot he'd just been in.
She expertly maneuvered her weapon back into its former spot, which is to say that it was once more aimed directly at his face, just inches away, in fact.
Despite her having the obvious advantage, once the man recovered, he certainly wasted no time glaring hatefully at her. "You bitc-!"
She merely poked him lightly right under his nose with the tip of her blade. That was all it took to get him to shut up, though it helped too that Weiss was levelling her own glare at him.
Blake was one thing – after all, the former White Fang member had proven herself quickly to be a loyal and caring friend. But current members of the White Fang, which obviously still held a great deal of hatred towards the Schnee family and by extension, her? Obviously, she wasn't going to be too forgiving of that.
"I will be the one to speak," she stated, no, more like commanded.
Off in the distance, what sounded like rumbling reached her ears. Looks like the fighting from earlier had resumed. It was getting a bit closer too, so she was going to have to hurry this along a bit.
"Tell me and I'll only knock you out," she threatened. "Where is your current base at?"
"Go fuck yourself, Schnee!" the White Fang grunt roared at her.
Weiss was unimpressed. To express this, she poked him just a bit harder than before with Myrtenaster. Given that every White Fang member has their aura unlocked, she could afford to not worry too much about drawing blood. "Are you really in a position to be insulting me? Now, where. Is. Your. Base?"
The man just growled.
The rumbling got a little closer.
Weiss sighed. "You've been following me for quite some time. Given my speed, that's almost commendable, but that's beside the point. You've likely been following me long enough to know that I'm not here alone. So, now that you're reminded of this fact, do you truly think your bravado is going to do you or your allies any good?"
"Feh, it's you and your little buddies up against a group easily a dozen times your size! You really think you got what it takes to beat us?!" the grunt yelled angrily.
"Maybe. Maybe not." Weiss shrugged non-committedly. But then she smirked just a bit. "But if nothing else, thanks for confirming the size of your group. That will be helpful."
The grunt now took the next few seconds to look positively shocked by his own stupidity. Weiss found a fair bit of amusement in this. Thanks to Blake and Tukson, she came to understand that, yes, the White Fang wasn't inherently evil… but it still didn't change the fact they're terrorists that have tormented who knows how many people over the years, especially her family in particular.
So, yeah, Weiss wasn't going to just let go of her hatred of the White Fang that quickly or easily.
She made a show of rotating her weapon's Dust chamber, setting it to the fire Dust. Of course, this was all just a bluff on her part – no matter what vendetta she may have against the White Fang as a whole, she'd never stoop to such a low level for any form of revenge – but this grunt didn't know that, now, did he? With any luck, this action plus a little spoken threat or two will help loosen his tongue some more.
And if that failed, then, well, she was going to have to figure that out.
"You're clearly not the brightest of the bunch," Weiss said with a huff. "I can only imagine how many poor decisions you make regularly. But if you tell me where your current base is located, then turn yourself in afterwards, I can assure you that you'd be just one step closer to changing that habit of yours."
As she was speaking, the rumbling was getting closer and closer. And as she finished uttering her words, her features morphed into a deep frown. The rumbling sounded too slow and methodical to be the results of a fight.
The now distracted look on the grunt's face indicated he had no idea what was going on either.
But then, the rumbling got even closer and now she could hear something else accompanying it – a faint whirring sound, like something she's often heard when the SDC's robots were up and about.
And at that particular thought, her eyebrows shot up as a terrible follow-up thought occurred to her.
She turned around and looked towards the alleyway's opening, where the street was at. So did her current captive, who had also been fully distracted by the noise.
The two of them, Schnee and Faunus, did so just as something huge came lumbering around the corner and seemed to look directly at them.
Weiss could only gape now.
Th-that was Atlas technology! She'd recognize it anywhere!
"Well now, isn't this a surprise?" came a voice from within the giant robot's cockpit. "Looks like my luck is finally turning around a bit~. Oh, and would you look at that – weapons are finally online!"
The giant robot – no, a mecha, really – raised its right arm and pointed it directly at her and the White Fang grunt.
Weiss hardly had a chance to fully comprehend what was going on when four missiles suddenly fired right at her.
Ruby wasn't oblivious to the sounds of fighting going on earlier when she'd been moving around. More than anything, she'd wanted to circle back and see what was going on, but her ever growing trust and faith in her friends had kept her from doing just that.
They were okay, she'd reasoned. They had to be. If they weren't, then they would've called her and the others right from the start.
It had been this that had kept her going, albeit with a bit more speed than before, a form of desperation at finding Torchwick and the White Fang and taking them down before things can escalate.
But just now, the all too familiar sound of missiles being fired and exploding upon impact – as a weapons geek, she knew her weapons pretty much inside and out – and she knew at that very instant that something has changed in the situation.
It wasn't a good change. She could just tell.
So, she'd skidded to a stop as quickly as she could, an action that caused the nearest walls to be blown apart from the sheer wind pressure her speed had generated, and she kicked off the ground and traveled to where the missiles had impacted.
She was fast, both with and without her semblance. And now that she's gotten a bit of a feel for how these alleyways twist and turn, she was able to really speed up now.
But as fast as she was now moving, the sounds of missiles and even more – was that a chain gun she was hearing now?! – continued without pause.
This was then followed up by the now equally familiar sound of ice Dust being used and on a large scale. And the only person she knew of who could use Dust on such a large scale was…
"Weiss!" Ruby cried out in worry as she practically flew over the short building directly ahead of her and landed in the middle of a large and really nasty looking street.
Her inner child – though the 'inner' part was debatable according to Yang – was practically retching at how nasty it all looked, but she didn't let that slow her down one bit and she shot down the street at literally hypersonic speeds.
Making a left on the next street, she could see the explosions now occurring the next block over, buildings visibly shaking from the impacts of whatever was now going on.
Worry growing, Ruby made another turn – and nearly plowed right into Weiss.
"W-Wah! Weiss, are you okay?!" Ruby exclaimed in surprise.
Normally, nearly crashing into one another like this would've gotten the heiress to lightly scold her, but this time around, Weiss just looked straight up relieved to see her.
"Ruby, we need to hurry and regroup with the others!" she proclaimed before practically grabbing her by the hood and pulled her away.
Ruby hardly had the chance to ask what was going on, for she got her answer before she could even utter a syllable.
"Hey, little red! Miss me?!" cried out the voice of Roman Torchwick from within what had to be the coolest looking mech Ruby had ever seen as it rounded the corner from where Weiss came.
Of course, the cool factor was offset epically by the fact Roman was piloting it. Oh, and the fact it was now firing more missiles at them.
Breaking free of Weiss' grip, Ruby barked out an order. "Bank right!" The two of them did just that, Ruby taking the lead as they ran right through the busted down door of the nearest building.
Of course, this didn't stop the missiles from blowing it to smithereens, but with their speed, the two partners easily got clear of the building before it could fully collapse.
Moreover, they now had some cover in the form of all the debris and dust.
Unfortunately, before they could do anything else, Roman proceeded to fire that chain gun that the other arm of the mech had and pretty much whittled down the other nearby buildings to scraps.
So much for cover. But at least, all the dust and stuff served to camouflage them a bit.
Ruby wasn't exactly looking forward to trying close range combat with that thing, so instead she kept her precious baby in its compact form while firing at the mech, the size of which was clearly visible to her even through this veritable fog of dust and debris.
She could hear her bullets hit their marks, even briefly see the sparks as said bullets scratched the mech, but that was all it ultimately did – just literal scratch damage.
She could hear Roman laugh over the speaker the mech seemed to have. "Gotta say, should've known you would be coming! Too bad I came prepared this time!"
He then activated something. No idea what it was, but the next thing she knew, all the dust got blown away – exposing her and Weiss to the mech and vice versa.
Her silver eyes widened in shock just as Roman wasted no time firing that chain gun again. And even with aura, there was no way she going to be able to withstand that hail of gunfire.
She and Weiss made a mad run to the side, Weiss forming those acceleration glyphs to further speed themselves up as the mech's aim proved to be fairly quick to follow.
"What even is that thing?!" Ruby howled over the near-deafening gunfire.
"A paladin!" Weiss answered. "I heard from father once before – it's supposed to be a new weapon the Atlas military was working on to combat the larger and tougher Grimm!"
Man, all that firepower just to kill Grimm? The Atlas military was hardcore!
She'd admire their love for big guns and all that, but considering those big guns were aimed at her and Weiss, Ruby could only feel terror.
A few seconds later, the gunfire ceased, allowing her and her partner a moment to pause and breathe. This paladin may be able to keep track of their speed somewhat, but it obviously had a limit to how well it could fire from a certain range. Combined with its fairly slow moving speed, it looks like they'd gotten clear of it for now.
"Okay! Any idea on how to fight that thing?!" Ruby asked in between quick gasps for air.
Weiss shook her head. "I don't know, I just knew it was being made! I'm just shocked the White Fang and Torchwick were able to get their hands on a prototype!"
Sheesh, that's a prototype?! Ruby could only imagine how scary the real deal would be!
But alright, no biggie (this was a lie), she's gone up against crazier odds before (another bold lie). She just had to figure things out for a second.
Let's see, usually against something that big, it was always best to target the joints or fire a concentrated attack against a single spot until it pierces through. Getting close enough to do the former though would be tough and super risky without backup though and as for the latter…
Ruby really wished Blake and Yang were here right now. Sure, they had to be on their way right now, what with all the noise this just caused, but whenever fighting for one's life, time always seemed to pass by super slow.
Deprived of a fair few options, she only had Weiss' support.
But her partner was strong. Under the right circumstances, that should be more than enough.
"Weiss, think you can make some glyphs?" she asked as the mech – the paladin – neared.
"What are you thinking?" the heiress asked in return.
Ruby switched Cresecent Rose into its scythe form, where its capabilities as a sniper rifle were much more apparent. "Let's see if we can crack its armor!"
Weiss glanced at her baby before nodding in understanding.
"Not running away, huh?! If nothing else, little red, you're gutsy," Roman called out as the paladin now actually ran right at them. It was definitely moving faster than is comfortable with her, but thankfully it was still pretty slow as befitting a mech.
He wasn't using that chain gun or the missiles or any other weapons it likely had – probably thought it wasn't needed what with them being right out in the open.
This worked immensely to their advantage as Ruby took aim, Weiss forming three of her acceleration glyphs directly in front of Crescent Rose's barrel.
Bracing herself for the recoil, Ruby fired five times in rapid succession. The bullets passed through the glyphs, gaining an immense speed boost as they rocketed towards the paladin.
She'd done her best to aim for the joints, but with how wildly the paladin was moving its limbs as it ran, aiming was hard. As a result, her shots were off their marks a bit and struck the paladin's upper arms and torso area.
The sheer force behind the bullets was immense, enough to actually stop and stagger the massive mech in its tracks, even damage it – but just not enough. It made some small dents, but that was about it.
The feeling of triump Ruby had felt at first was quick to die upon realizing this. "Oh… darn," she quipped.
Roman laughed. "Come on, red – this thing is meant to take on the toughest of Death Stalkers and the largest of Ursas. You really think your damned weapon was going to win?"
He didn't wait for an answer, however, instead just firing a few missiles with one arm while firing the chain gun function of the other arm.
He aimed with the latter at their flanks, hoping to keep them from moving much from their current spot that the missiles were aiming for. Ruby and Weiss knew this, so rather than try making a risky run for it, the latter switched to fire Dust and then took aim at the missiles.
Firing a blast of the fire Dust, it struck the tip of the center missile, making it explode and in doing so it triggered the other missiles, which now exploded too.
But all the while, Roman kept on moving towards them.
The paladin was now dangerously close and the two were left with no choice but to run directly away from it. The paladin fired its chain gun as it ran but doing so really skewed its aim. While this was a good thing in that their flanks were now somewhat open, the sporadic gunfire now kept them pretty much on their toes, so they were too focused on not getting hit to really bother suddenly changing direction.
"Gah! What is taking the others so long to come here?!" Weiss nearly screeched, though her words were just barely heard over the roar of gunfire.
"We just need to hold on for another minute or so! Gotta remember how large an area we all went our own ways to search!" Ruby yelled back.
However, she was in complete agreement with her partner. Seriously, just how much ground did Blake and Yang cover?!
But this was no time to whine – they had to take action and fast! While Roman here keeps them on the run, the White Fang back wherever they're at must be getting ready to make a run for it yet again and that was one thing they couldn't let happen!
Suddenly, there was a scream and it took Ruby a second to realize it was herself doing the screaming – Roman had launched a missile amidst all the gunfire and it nearly struck her dead-on. Instead, it had hit a spot just a foot behind her and the sheer power behind it was enough to send her flying forward. Weiss wasn't spared either.
Even though they hadn't been exactly at ground zero of the blast, there wasn't a doubt in Ruby's mind that they'd just lost a good amount of aura from that explosion. That paladin really was built to take on the Grimm!
But she wasn't going to just keep on running!
Practically growling – which sounded more cute than intimidating, not that she knew this – Ruby flipped around in midair and fired Crescent Rose in the opposite direction. The recoil was enough to launch her… right towards Roman.
The man seemed to stop laughing upon seeing her coming and as she managed to get past the continuous gunfire miraculously without a scratch, she fired Crescent Rose again just as she unveiled its scythe form, using the recoil to boost her momentum and launch an attack.
Unfortunately, her downwards swing didn't do much damage to the paladin. Certainly, it was better than the bullets from earlier, but it still did scratch damage. She was going to need a lot more momentum to pull that off.
"Tch! You sure are a stubborn one, red!" Roman cried out, mildly annoyed. The paladin then started to move suddenly, clearly with the intent of shaking her off violently.
Ruby managed to pull Crescent Rose free from the spot she'd struck at and Weiss, now up, used that black glyph of hers to pull her away before the paladin could really succeed in its current action.
"That does it!" Weiss yelled. "No more running! It's not getting us anywhere with this thing and that thug!" She readied Myrtenaster, rotating the cylinder so that the lightning Dust was now equipped.
Landing next to Weiss, Ruby took up a stance with Crescent Rose, smiling now. "I couldn't agree more!"
Roman, now coming to a stop with the paladin, just laughed. "A thug, huh? Guess I can't deny that too much – I bet all criminals look the same to you, ice queen. But I think you meant to say 'thugs.' Don't you agree, Neo?"
"Wha-?" Weiss began, only for someone to cut her off by way of Myrtenaster suddenly being slapped out of her hands followed by Weiss herself getting swept off her feet and thrown into Ruby.
Totally unprepared for what just happened, the two went crashing to the ground and Ruby looked up just in time to see a short woman that definitely hadn't been there before, looking down on them both literally and figuratively. There was something else there within those different colored eyes of hers, Ruby unconsciously realized, probably fear or at least something along those lines.
Of course, she didn't let her pondering slow her down and tried to get up – but this new arrival had the advantage of already being in a position to strike and so the woman poked Ruby hard in the chest with what appeared to be an umbrella.
"Ah ah ah, afraid not, little red," Roman called out from within the paladin. It lumbered forth now, some additional parts of the mech opening to reveal even more missiles. "Did you really think this paladin was the only surprise? Anyways, nice timing there, Neo. Now just keep them pinned for a second longer so I can lock on."
Ruby's eyes widened. Was Roman seriously going to fire all those missiles at her and Weiss?!
The woman – Neo – looked ahead of her, as if looking for someone, and then let out a quiet sigh of relief. This simple action was something Ruby tried to take advantage of, with Weiss also trying to get up too, but it was over and done with before the two of them could make any substantial move and Neo stomped a foot on top of Weiss' back, pressing the heiress hard against Ruby too.
For a split second, as she saw Roman bring the paladin's weapons to bear, Ruby thought in fear this might actually be the end… only for a battle cry to echo throughout the street followed immediately by several very familiar shotgun blasts being aimed at both Neo and the paladin.
"Ruby, Weiss!" cried out Yang as she came from seemingly out of nowhere, firing rapidly with Ember Celica, her blonde hair ablaze.
The paladin was unfazed for the most part, though some of Yang's blasts did detonate some of the missiles within the paladin's compartments, drawing some rather nasty words out of Roman. As for the Neo woman, the blasts were enough to get her to back off, giving Ruby and Weiss some space now.
The two wasted no time scrambling back to their feet just as Blake now entered the fray too, using the ribbon on one of her weapons to nearly slice at Neo's torso from a safe distance, further forcing the woman back.
Now back on their feet, Ruby smiled in pure relief as the B and Y of team RWBY now stood beside her and Weiss, and then a second later the four of them all turned to glare in unison at the paladin and the woman, who now moved further back so that the paladin was acting as one large shield for her.
Roman sighed. "Yeah, I really should've seen that coming – you four little shits against us."
"Make that eight," the voice of Jaune called out as he and his team now emerged from a ruin side street close to where team RWBY was currently at.
The blond leader and the others now moved directly next to RWBY, with Jaune in particular stepping forth so that he was near Ruby.
"You okay?" he asked.
"As good as can be now," Ruby said with a smile still, grateful for his presence. Surely, with both teams gathered, they could take this crazy mech dow-!
Roman sighed yet again, cutting off her thought process. "Figured you'd still be standing… sorry for sending you against him, Neo." The woman in question grimaced silently in response to his words. "But don't worry. Now let's see you brats try dealing with this!"
The missiles Yang's attacks hadn't detonated were still very much active. And now they were being fired.
Virtually all of the teens readied themselves, prepared to dodge in response.
Except they didn't; the missiles weren't aimed anywhere near them. They just… they just went far off into the sky, traveling right overhead.
But where-?
"…The other district!" Jaune then said, the blond teen's eyes widening for the first time in genuine shock.
His words were enough to get them all to just sort of freeze for a split second in shock and horror.
The area they'd initially passed through, where that lady Patrice and who knows how many others lived…!
As they all looked on in horror at the rapidly traveling missiles, Roman laughed darkly.
"So," he began viciously. "What're you gonna do now?"
As you can tell, even the paladin got quite the upgrade from canon. Or rather, it's now been made as tough as it SHOULD have been in the show itself. I mean, seriously, it was explicitly made to combat the Grimm. If it can be destroyed by a first-year team of huntresses, then that's a huge waste of time and resources. Sure, the one in volume 2 had likely been not as advanced as the ones that popped up in volume 3 plus RWBY and the others had the advantage of being able to think and plan on how to fight it, whereas the Grimm don't, but still. The paladin had felt very underwhelming. So, I intend to correct this.
Of course, in addition to the threat the paladin itself will pose in the next chapter, there's now also the missiles it had fired towards the nearest residential area. How will that turn out, I honestly can't say without spoiling… but as always, I will intend to make things as entertaining as can be.
On another note, sorry if this feels like it's dragging out. I know I said in the very first few chapters that this fic will be something of a slow-burner and whatnot, but not even I had expected the pacing to end up like this despite my own efforts. Granted, I could have probably put in the entirety of the paladin event in this chapter, but that would've been extremely and needlessly long. But don't worry, once this is over and done with, Cinder and other forces will be taking more active roles to move things along quickly enough.
Hope you guys understand.
Until next time, everyone. Take care!