I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to the fine people at Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 6: Evasion
Facing down a Tachyon wasn't something Yang was looking forward to doing when she went on this journey with her sister to Vale. All she knew was that at one point she was going to be facing one of these beasts and she needed to be ready, not just for herself but also for her sister.
Of course, she wasn't planning on protecting the two other girls who also managed to crash land on this planet, but given how each of one of them was at least partially responsible for keeping both her and her sister alive, she was more than willing to include them into the group of people she protected.
Her aura still hadn't managed to fix her up enough so that she could walk, but she still had the capability to drive and that meant she had a vital role to play in getting everyone out of this mess alive. Meaning, first order of business was dealing with Weiss and getting Blake out of the Beast's range.
"Blake! Take this and get Weiss out of the wreckage, we're leaving this place once I get Ruby out of here., make sure you can stabilize her aura, While I'm getting Ruby out. Now hurry!" Yang exclaimed, dropping a medical kit and firing a few shotgun rounds to attract the Tachyon's attention to herself.
Maneuvering Bumblebee all over the wreckage, she dodged the two tethers sent out at her with a few evasive moves. Turns out she still handled like a dream, effortlessly dodging the two tethers and allowing her more than enough room to formulate her own plan. In Bumblebee's storage unit, she had left a piece of Earth Dust that she and Blake had recovered from their earlier visit to the abandoned colony.
If she could figure out a way to activate it in a volatile manner, she could trap the beast and finally be able to escape. The Tachyon had more than managed to convince her that this was a beast that none of them were quite ready for and as such, their only hope lied in escape. All that mattered now was making sure Ruby could get out too.
Putting the pedal quite literally to the metal, she got a new idea. Rushing at the Tachyon, she flipped on the afterburner on Bumblebee and dodged the laser shots pointed at her, before landing between the Tachyon's legs with the storage unit she had thrown which landed right between the Tachyon's legs. "Fetch!"
Sharply turning the afterburner, the fumes reached the storage unit Yang braced herself and… wasn't moving? The Tachyon had managed to recall its tethers and had now essentially stopped Yang from even moving by latching them onto Bumblebee. Desperately trying to escape, she tried shooting the Grimm with Dawnbreak, only to find the shot captured by the Grimm like before and now being aimed right towards her head.
But before she could even think about blocking, a ricochet shot from behind the Grimm bounced off the roof of the wreckage and struck the storage unit, activating the Dust and trapping the Grimm in a rocky prison. As the Tachyon bellowed in agony, she looked to the navigation deck to find her sister, looking down at her with her weapon holstered and a weak smile.
"RUBY! Come on let's go!" Yang exclaimed, unable to control her joy at finding out her sister was alive.
"It's good to see you too! Is Weiss okay?" Ruby asked, managing to slide off the railing and jumping onto Bumblebee.
"Blake's currently dealing with her, once she gets her aura stabilized we're getting the hell out of here!" she hurriedly explained while using her shotgun gauntlet to bust a hole through the ship, giving them another exit.
Hearing the beast let out an anguished scream of agony, Yang felt it was more than time for them to leave.
"Where's your charge mod?" Ruby asked, gesturing to the more barebones appearance of Yang's arm as the two of them escaped from the ship.
"It got destroyed, I overused it," Yang replied with a sigh as they converged on Blake's position. "I'm sorry Rubes, I know you would've wanted me to use it a little more carefully- "
"No! It's okay! Knowing you, I knew that even if you overused it wasn't going to be for something useless," Ruby replied, giving Yang a hug.
Accepting the hug, Yang slowed as they finally arrived at Blake's location.
"Thanks Rubes," Yang said to her sister, before heading up to meet with Blake.
"Is she good?"
"Yeah. Just make sure you don't try any 'sudden moves'. After all, I don't want you to end up destabilizing her aura again." Blake replied, closing up the medkit and picking up Weiss's unconscious body.
"Haha, very funny. Now how about we get out of this place?" Yang laughed at the jab, before taking Weiss from Blake.
"No arguments from me."
"Rubes, I'm going to need you to hold on to Weiss for me. Think you can do that?" Yang announced, setting down Weiss on Bumblebee.
"Uhhhhh, sure!" Ruby replied sheepishly, earning a look of surprise from Yang. What had gone down between the two in the time she was with Blake?
Putting the question out of her mind, Blake got on board Bumblebee and quickly plotted a course for them to follow. Hearing loud screaming from the inside of the ship, fired up the engines.
And in good time too, as she heard the sound of rocks crumbling and noticed an ionic smell in the air. But that didn't matter. Right now, evasion and survival were much higher priorities because there was one thing that they couldn't afford to lose. Each other.
Blake got lucky with the Tachyon. If it wasn't for Yang's incredible resilience and presence of mind, her and Weiss would have been just other nameless bodies lost to the unforgiving badlands of Vale. It was clear that these lands were nothing like the expanse of Mistral. Where there was security in knowing that the expansive greenery was as much her ally as it was her enemy, Vale felt like she was exposed and vulnerable at all times, with no real places to hide or gain an advantage. Out here there was a simple rule, fight or die.
Luckily Blake was pretty good at adapting. Be it outer space raiding or the wilderness of far off planets, she was comfortable enough to fight in them. Vale would be no different. In fact, it might be a little easier, given how the small team she had seemed to pretty driven towards keeping each other alive.
The only time she had ever felt such camaraderie was… back when she was with the White Fang. Back when she was still deluded about her purpose. Back when she thought all that she was doing was going to bring the change she wanted for the Faunus. When she hoped the violence would improve the lives of Faunus; all it seemed to do was bring fear.
The only change she seemed to be bringing was in justifying the fear humanity had for the Faunus. Sure, people respected the Faunus but that was more out of fear than genuine respect. That wasn't what she wanted for the Faunus. that wasn't what she wanted to change when she joined the White Fang. And so, she left.
Now all she could hope was that among the Hunters, she could correct some of the wrongs she had committed and maybe, just maybe try to improve the general perception of the Faunus, the right way.
For that, well she would need a team and so far all of them seemed to genuinely want her well-being. Yang was directly responsible for saving her life and Ruby was currently making the MAD to fix Blake's combat rig. Even the Schnee, chose to abandon her own safety to save her life.
However, she wasn't feeling safe in the abandoned town she had taken refuge in. Strangely the Grimm presence had been almost completely wiped out, but the surprising thing was the number of modules she had found around the place. Removing it from the dead spinal matrix of a fallen creep, she found a module for a pistol. Seeing as how Gambol Shroud had two pistols for its weapons, such a conversion wouldn't be too hard to make.
Especially with the tinkerer they had on their side.
"Ruby?" she asked, coming up on the tinkerer.
"Hi Blake! Are you doing okay?" Ruby sakd, cheerful as ever.
"Better than before at least," she admitted. "Uh I just wanted to ask, when you're done with my combat rig if you could help me alter my weapon? I found a mod for a pistol and hoped you could help me out with- "
"Say no more! I'll get to work on it right after I'm done with your suit!" She replied with a grin.
It was odd to meet someone so full of life, so naïve and genuine about wanting to help. It reminded her a lot of herself actually. Before she had chosen to destroy that version of herself by running off with Adam. In a strange way, Ruby represented what Blake might have been, had it not been for the White Fang.
But eventually, someone like her would have to face the fact that the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Ruby would have to learn that in this unforgiving world, there was little room for mercy and that the real monsters weren't the ones with scary fangs or big guns but the people among them.
"The MAD is ready Blake, let's get out whatever that Adam guy did to you." she heard by Ruby, breaking her out of her thoughts.
Watching as Ruby took out an aura lock tool, she had taken from her crafting station she had from and placed it on her exosuit, Blake nervously swallowed as she allowed it to lock her suit again. Whether she liked it or not, she was going to have to face Adam eventually especially if she wanted to remove whatever influence type Adam still had on her.
That still didn't make it any easier. in fact, it made it even harder. Breathing heavily, she tried her hardest to calm down, but the rigid state of her suit left her mostly unable to move, even if she wanted to . It was almost certain that the influence Adam had on her was in the core systems of her suit and seeing as how it was directly tied to her aura, taking it off wouldn't be solving anything. This was something she had to purge from her own aura by herself.
At least she wasn't alone, as was evident by Ruby's decision to call Yang.
"Yang! Can you come over here?"
"Sure, thing Rubes! What is it?" came a reply from outside the door and sure enough, the blonde came over, carrying a huge box.
"What are you doing?"
"Scavenging for supplies, we need to restock on food after all. I found a bunch of REMs. I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of strawberry filled onesin this box. Why did you call me anyway?"
"We're going to remove all the modules which have been affecting Blake's combat rig. I think it might go a little easier if you stay with her since she's going to be relieving some painful memories."
"Sure." Yang dropped the box and went over to Blake. Despite the fact they had only known each other for two days, Blake was already feeling much safer, knowing that Yang was around.
The blonde's presence had a much more liberating effect on her, making her feel somewhat free of the chains of guilt and shame she had bound herself with. Her smile had an odd way of reassuring Blake that in the end it was all going to be okay. As she flashed that exact smile to Blake and sat down right next to her, Blake immediately she began to calm down.
"Hey, I don't know what this Adam guy did to you, but I do want you to know that we're all still here for you. You aren't alone. me, Ruby, even Weiss will be by your side no matter what." Yang said, squeezing her hand.
Those simple few words 'You aren't alone' had already taken away so much of the fear and worry that had been building up in her mind over the last few days because if there was anything she feared, it was facing Adam alone again. Not after the things he did to her.
"Alright Blake! I hope you're ready!" came Ruby's cheery voice from behind her as she felt a metallic device being put on her head.
Steeling her nerves, she gave a thumbs up.
"Here we go!" Ruby said, as she flipped a switch and activated the machine.
She was only briefly able to hear Ruby mumble something to Yang before her vision faded and showed her an inner vision of her aura.
It was structured much like… her house in Menagerie. Looking on at the house, she wondered whether or not her mother and father even knew what had happened to her. It had been so long since she had even bothered to even call, and ever since she left Adam, she had been more concerned with surviving and getting to Vale.
Seeing no other place but her house as the only place worth of interest in her aura's landscape, she entered the place.
Unlike much of her past, her life in Menagerie was mostly untainted. She remembered the days she spent as a little kitten, running around the halls of her house. Free of any responsibility or guilt. Back then she didn't have to care about surviving. All she had to do was live.
Hearing soft excited whispers in her house, Blake was taken back to when she was just a little girl. The memory was a simple one. It was the first time her mother made Tuna and rice for her. She vaguely remembered asking Kali about the strange piece of fish that was mixed in with her rice.
She also remembered her mother's strong yet firm arms, holding her back from simply devouring the fish, even feeding it to her when she eventually ended up having no idea how to eat both food items together.
What she would've given just to have those same arms wrap around her once again. Just to have them secure her one more time and tell her that they were still there for her and that they would always be there for her.
But did she deserve it? In her own mind, she couldn't help but deny the fact that she was anything like the soft, sweet girl her parents had when she was a child. What would have her past self said to her if she had seen how far she had fallen?
Would she have scoffed at herself, thinking it would be impossible? Or looked at her with fear at what she turned in to? That very thought brought tears to her eyes as she remembered everything she lost when she had chosen Adam over her parents.
Wiping them away, she continued down the hall noticing red tints across the house. Was Adam's influence spreading even here? Looking back, she noticed that to her horror the path she had traveled had turned a bloody red and the once clean and pristine house that lay behind it, was replaced by the image of a tattered and broken down house. Seeing a figure approach from the flames, she shuddered as she was able to make out Adam's familiar visage.
Parlyzed with fear, she watched Adam slowly walk closer and closer towards the hallway, a smile on his face the entire time.
"Relieving happier memories?" He asked, his left hand on his sheath.
Finding her voice, she responded.
"I thought I made myself clear Adam, you weren't welcome any longer."
"Awww, Blake… I still remember when you said I was your happiest memory. Seems like that was just another lie. I wonder how many more of your promises were also just that." He shot back, his smile fading into an expression of dismissal.
"I didn't make that promise to you. I made it to the Faunus I saw in Menagerie. the one who was also training, always fighting, always improving. Not because he wanted to bring about senseless murder and violence, but because he believed in the true vision of the White Fang."
"The true vision?" Adam laughed. "Oh Blake, it seems like you've been disillusioned by your time away from the White Fang. I think it's time I reminded you just what that was."
Watching as he drew his blade and sent an aura slash her way, Blake finally broke out of her fear and pulled up her own sword blocking the impact. Adam sent another downward slash, which she responded with a horizontal one. but as she prepared for the third, she was blindsided by a lunge from the Bull Faunus.
Thrown into the room behind her, she watched as the ground around Adam cracked and faded, with the hallway she had once been in beginning to fall apart behind him.
"See, the thing is Blake, I haven't lost my drive towards making sure the Faunus come out on top. You have. You used to be a fighter, driven by a cause, my cause. But now? Now, you're nothing more than a weak coward. You accuse me of having lost my drive, but I think you really need to ask that question to YOURSELF!" Adam snapped, slashing at her.
A wave of red energy came across the room, this time striking her square against her chest, throwing her against the desk in the room.
"Seems like your best skill hasn't changed from before. I'm shocked at how I even thought you were a fighter." He sneered before landing another slash on Blake's body. "You can't run forever Blake. Sooner or later you're going to have to face me. And when you do, it's going to be just you and me by ourselves."
She was losing this fight. On her own, she was nothing against Adam. He was just too strong and far too driven for Blake to come out on top. It had been foolish to even try to remove Adam from her exosuit. And now she was going to die, in her own mind. The very place she could trust the most was now going to become her tomb.
The sting of defeat, however, was being waived off by a strange warmth in her right hand which was even more strangely without her weapon. Soon that same warmth spread all over her body. Breathing heavily, she wondered just who gave her the strength.
A voice, Yang's voice rang in her head, loud and clear.
"You're the one in charge here Blake, not 'Adam'. He's nothing more than an intruder."
An intruder. That's all Adam was. He wasn't her mentor, nor her friend or her partner anymore. He was nothing more than an unwelcome guest. And her family was more than well versed in dealing with those people.
"You're wrong Adam, I'm not alone. Not anymore at least." She said, standing up defiantly. "And you are no longer welcome inside my head."
Taking a page from Yang's book, she gathered up as much aura as she could and slammed the ground with her fists. Altering the dimensions of the room, she made the ground beneath Adam give way and let it take him to the place he deserved to stay in.
Far, far away from Blake.
A/N: Another chapter another day. I'm sorry the upload schedule isn't consistent but I do have some exciting news once this arc is over. Again huge shoutout to 0neWhoWanders.