It took a while, but I finally have another chapter of this. Hopefully, it isn't awful.
Unbeknownst to the Huntresses, their enemies weren't as many steps behind them as they had hoped. Across Vale, the truth about the events at and outside of Beacon was starting to be uncovered. It had only been a matter of time given who they were up against, and now that time had come.
Thanks to the intel that the Malachites had been able to scrape together, the Officer who allowed the bus to leave Beacon, was now tied to a chair in Roman Torchwick's lair.
"It's quite simple, all you have to do is tell us who was on that bus," Roman told the badly beaten man, as he watched him from the corner of the room. He was content to do the talking, while Neo broke their captive.
Neo had returned to join him after her escape from Beacon, and now she was back in business. While Roman spoke to the Officer, she circled him and played with a knife that she was more than willing to use. While she wasn't capable of speech, she was an expert at making other people talk.
"I can only name one, I didn't recognize the others." the Officer said, clearly fearing for his life. He was willing to give Roman all the information he wanted in exchange for his life, but he didn't have much to give.
"I didn't ask for excuses," Roman growled at him, dissatisfied with the response. He needed all the information he could get to avoid Cinder's wrath, so he wasn't planning on going easy on the Officer.
Roman's reaction was all the motivation Neo needed. With a flick of her wrist, she sliced off the man's ear with her razor-sharp blade. He screamed in surprise and agony, which put a sadistic grin on her face.
"Who was on that bus?" Roman demanded, feeling no sympathy for the freshly mutilated Officer. He would let Neo dismantle the man piece by piece if that's what it took to get what he wanted.
The officer momentarily stopped his cries of pain, to give the best answer he could. "I recognized Pyrrha Nikos. The rest of them were just other prison officers. I swear, that's all I know" he blurted, throwing Pyrrha under the bus to try and save himself.
"Nikos, that bitch was a thorn in my side for years," Roman commented to himself, recognizing the name instantly. Thanks to her, many of his people were arrested and many of his plans were foiled.
After a moment of thinking about Pyrrha, Roman turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "And she's the only one you recognized?" he asked, irritated by the lack of information the Officer seemed to have.
"She was, I swear. Why would I lie to you?" the Officer responded, hoping that it would save his life. Roman could have all the information he had to give, all he cared about was getting out alive and as intact as he could be.
"Then perhaps I would be better off interrogating her," Roman responded, upon realizing that the Officer was of little use to him. He needed answers and it seemed that Pyrrha would be able to provide them if he and Neo got hold of her, unlike the useless their current captive.
Neo nodded in agreement and her sadistic grin returned as she caught on to what was about to happen. Their captive had reached the end of his usefulness but they couldn't just let him go, so he would have to be disposed of. She liked disposing of people.
"Does that mean you'll let me go?" the Officer asked hopefully. He wanted to believe that they would let him go, especially since he'd give them all the information he had.
Roman laughed at the question. "Well you could say that," he said jokingly, before turning his attention to Neo. "Have your fun. But don't drag it out too much, we have work to do," he instructed, dooming the bound man to a horrific death at the hands of the small psychopath. Neo was on him in an instant, not even giving him a chance to beg for mercy.
With that, Roman left Neo to do what she would with her latest victim. While she was doing that, he had to find a way to capture Pyrrha. He needed to get hold of her and he needed to make her talk, otherwise, he and Neo would be next on the list of people Cinder wanted dead.
Meanwhile, Raven was sitting in her office watching through CCTV footage from the Prison. The Malachites had managed to obtain some of the footage that was recorded just before the power went off. She was paying particular attention to the events that took place in the canteen, and everything that happened with Yang.
She was so focused on watching the chaos unfold, that she almost didn't notice her phone ringing. But it was rare for anyone to call her, so the unusual occurrence managed to draw her attention away from what was unfolding on the screen in front of her. She didn't recognize the number call was coming from and took a moment to consider who it could possibly be and what they could possibly want, before deciding to just answer and deal with whoever it was.
"Who is this?" she demanded once she answered, not wanting to waste any time with whoever was on the other end. It was either going to be a waste of her time, or something incredibly important.
"It's me Rae." responded the voice on the other end. It was a voice she knew well but hadn't heard in a long time, but it was not a pleasant surprise hearing it again. It was Qrow, and he didn't sound particularly happy about talking to her either.
"How did you get my number Qrow?" Raven demanded, furious that her brother would dare call her. He was dead to her, so he had no business contacting her. He should have known better since she'd made it perfectly clear that she would kill him if he crossed her.
Qrow completely disregarded the question and moved on. "Just listen, Rae. Someone attacked Tai, he's in a coma." he started to explain, trying to get to the point and avoid an argument with Raven.
"Well, it wasn't me. As much as I hate that worthless drunk, I wouldn't waste my time on him." Raven responded dismissing what she assumed was an accusation. Her opinion of Tai was even lower than her opinion of Qrow, but beating him into a coma would be more effort than it was worth especially given the state he drank himself into.
"I'm not accusing you, Rae. It looks like it was Yang, the description from the witnesses sounds like her and she's more than capable of doing it." Qrow explained. Raven was capable of doing it too, but he knew for certain that it wasn't her.
"So, she did escape," Raven said to herself, seeing it as proof that Yang was still alive and was no longer in Beacon. But one thing didn't make sense. "Why would she bother going after him? And why didn't she kill him?" she asked.
"I don't think she did it for herself, and I don't think she wanted him dead," Qrow responded, knowing more than what he had already revealed.
"What makes you so sure of that?" Raven asked. She was still irritated at having to talk to him, but she couldn't stop. Whatever information he had could be useful to her and Cinder. For the first time in a long time, she didn't want to murder her brother.
"Well she wasn't alone, and she doesn't let people live unless she wants them alive," Qrow told her. The witnesses hadn't just seen Yang, they had seen her accomplice too.
"For once, you're actually talking some sense," Raven responded, knowing Yang well enough to know she would have killed Tai if she wanted to. "Now, who was the accomplice?" she then asked, having an idea of who it was but not wanting to jump to conclusions.
"Don't play dumb Rae. We both know who it was." Qrow told her. Other than the two of them and Yang, there was only one other living person with any real connection to Tai, only one person who would have any real motivation to go after him.
"Ruby" was all Raven said. It was so obvious, especially after everything she'd seen in the footage from Beacon. She had plenty of reasons to hate Tai, she clearly had the skills to do it, and she had Yang's influence pushing her in that direction.
Qrow sighed heavily, then said "Exactly." Having to accept that fact, filled him with regret, as he blamed himself for what Ruby had become. He felt like he failed her, just like Tai had failed her.
The information Qrow was giving her was quite useful even if he didn't realize it, but his motivation for providing it was unclear. "Why are you telling me all this?" Raven asked.
Qrow sighed again, before answering. "Because I don't think they're finished, I think what they did to Tai was only the beginning. We messed those girls up, and now they're going to punish us for it," he explained. As far as he was concerned, they had turned the girls into the violent criminals they were and now they were going to pay for it.
"What makes you say that?" asked Raven, who was surprised by how accurate Qrow's assumption was. It seemed like he somehow knew almost as much as she did, so she had to get everything she could out of him.
"Well Yang already hates me and Ruby must hate me for not trying to help her, and I've heard rumours that Yang turned on you," Qrow explained. He had left the life of crime, but he was still close enough to hear the rumours from the underworld.
"Alright, but I still don't see why you're telling me this. I can handle Yang and Ruby and I have no sympathy for you and your fuckups." Raven responded, making it clear that her tolerance of him did not mean that the rift between them was closing up.
"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you when your daughter beats you to death." Qrow snapped at her. He had called because he really didn't want any harm to come to her even though she hated his guts, so although he wasn't surprised, he was frustrated by her dismissal of the danger.
"This conversation is over. And just so you know, Ruby was framed." Raven said, before hanging up on Qrow. She was done talking to him, but couldn't help pointing out the huge mistake he made in assuming that Ruby was guilty and not trying to help her.
In Atlas, Jacques Schnee was sitting at his own desk. He had assembled a group of the best hitmen in Atlas, and they were now standing in his office.
"I want you to find and kill my daughters by any means necessary. I'll make whoever manages it very rich," he explained to the group. He wanted Weiss and Winter dead, all they were to him now were problems that needed solving.
Most ordinary people would have questioned a man who wanted his own daughters killed, but the hitmen were not ordinary people, they were highly trained and extremely ruthless killers who valued money over morality. They had no issues with what they were being asked to do, eagerly accepting the task.
"Well, what are you waiting for? I want them dead." Jacques then said, wanting them to get to work immediately. It had the desired effect, and the band of killers raced for the exit.
The room emptied in seconds, leaving Jacques on his own. A rare grin spread across his face, as he thought about the impending deaths of the daughters he had grown to despise. He looked down at a picture of Winter which was lying on his desk, and said: "You won't survive this time you disobedient bitch."
If you love or hate this story/chapter, please feel free to tell me. I always like to hear from you guys, even if you just want to tear into me about my writing or anything else.