RWBY: Glowing Embers
Chapter 2
oxoxoxo
Ben sat behind the wheel of the APC Team EMAD had stolen from the White Fang as he parked it a block away from the small ramshackle house along the dockside of Vale. This had been the address that Masque had given them, but something had to be wrong here. This place was way too run down to be the home of the city's greatest information broker. The building itself looked dilapidated, the brown paint on the walls peeling at many points. The structure was only a single story high, with a worn tin roof that he was all but certain let the rain in whenever the weather turned sour.
Rick poked his masked head into the driver's seat. "You sure this is the right place, big guy?"
"This is the address." Ben muttered. "If he is in there, we'll need to get him out."
"And if it's not?" Micca asked, her hood down, revealing her face.
"Then I get the two of you out of here as fast as I can." Ben said simply. "You remember the plan?"
"You know it." Rick said, flashing a thumbs up. "Micca and I go in, get Masque and bring him out to the APC, we load him and his stuff in, and bring him to the lair, making sure to blindfold him just in case he just wants to know where we live."
"I just wish I could go in there with you guys." Ben muttered.
"Told you already, bug guy," Rick said, patting the soldier on the back. "A guy your size with your kind of firepower is just not right for a stealth mission."
"I know..." Ben muttered. "Just get in there and get Masque out before the White Fang shows up."
Rick snapped a salute. "Yes sir. Ready Micca?"
The snake nodded, pulling up her new hood. "Diamondback is ready. Let's move."
Rick smirked and the two of them ran to the back of the APC, Rick kicking open the door as they both burst out, hitting the ground running. The distance to the small house was short, but it was too quiet for Rick's liking. That said, he could see why Masque set up shop here. This place was just far enough out of the way that he could never be seen unless someone knew where he was, but at the same time, it was also just far enough in the city that he could manage his information empire. Something was making Rick feel somewhat uncomfortable as he walked through the empty streets towards Masque's supposed home. It was almost too quiet. Part of him knew that this was what Masque wanted, somewhere he could run his network from without being bothered, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder where the ambush would come from.
"You alright?" Micca asked. "You're a lot quieter than usual."
"I don't usually get chatty until combat starts," Rick explained. "This part of the mission is too crucial for us to get spotted because I was running my mouth and cracking wise."
"That's... actually sensible."
"I try my best, now come on, let's get this over with."
As they closed the distance to Masque's front door, both Axman and Diamondback drew their respective axes, a single headed woodsman's axe and a larger double headed axe respectively, and took up their positions on either side of the door. Diamondback reached for the handle and gave it an experimental twist. "Door's unlocked, Ben. Do we proceed?"
"Affirmative." Ben replied over his scroll, his voice heard through their earpieces. "Keep your eyes open, I really don't like this part of town."
"Got it." The snake girl replied. She and her psychotic comrade shared a nod before turning the handle to the door and throwing it open, Axman immediately leaping through the door, axe brandished, Diamondback following behind him, weapon shifted into its rifle form, a barrel emerging from above the head of the axe as the two blades sifted to form a sort of bipod as it shifted to its rifle form. "Room clear." She reported.
Indeed, the room was empty, and looked for all intents and purposes just as she expected. A small, dilapidated wood walled room with three boarded up windows and a set of flickering lights on the ceiling. However, of all the lights, there was only one that wasn't flickering, a single light that shone down on the far left corner of this single room from the door. "Not sure how this place still has power." Axman mused.
"It seems almost too easy..." Diamondback responded, walking to where the light shone. She felt along the floor, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she did. She blew it aside and resumed her investigation, running her hands along the cracked wooden floorboards. Never had she been more thankful for her gloves, as she couldn't recognize most of the stains that covered the floor and didn't want that, nor the splinters these boards would certainly give her, anywhere near her hands. In her disgusted musings, she idly ran her hand over a loose board, the sound of it striking the nearby boards jarring her out of her thoughts. Turning to Axman, the two exchanged a nod before she reached under the board and lifted it up, pulling up a metal cable as she did. The second the cable was pulled, the floor beneath them began to shift. The floor immediately to the right of the cable split apart and slid in opposite directions, revealing a gleaming metal trapdoor beneath it. The door gave off a long hiss as it opened itself. Once the sound of the opening door ended, it was replaced with the sound of tapping keys from within.
The two vigilantes turned to face one another before the familiar synthesized voice was heard from within. "If the two of you are done gawking, the door is open, come in."
With another shared nod, the two vigilantes stepped through the trapdoor and into Masque's lair. The lair was much bigger than the shack it was under, being the size of Rick's lair, with a pair of beds in the corners of the room and a truly massive monitor in the center of the wall to the left of the door. The massive monitor was surrounded by an entire network of separate screens, ranging in size between a scroll or a television screen, each one displaying a different scene that seemed to be taken from a security camera somewhere in the city. However, rather than look to the screens, Diamondback and Axman's gazes were drawn to the figure standing in front of the screens. They could only assume this was Masque, as his familiar green robe and golden mask gave that away. The robe covered his entire body, extending from his hood down over his shoulders in a cloak that ran down to his feet. This didn't seem to be difficult, however, as one thing about the information broker that the two vigilantes had immediately noticed was how short he was. The man must have only stood about five foot five and based on the frame covered by his cloak, he couldn't have been too bulky either. "I was wondering when the two of you would get here." Masque said, voice distorted. "I told you the streets would be empty, everyone is too focused on the Vytal Festival to notice you moving me out of here."
"I hope you've packed everything you need." Axman said. "The rest of this stuff is going to be tricky to get out of here."
"You need to learn to listen better." Masque replied, stepping up to his network of screens. He pressed a series of buttons on the console and produced a small computer chip from the machine. The second he removed it, the entire network went dark aside from a single screen, a scroll. Masque reached up and removed it from the wall, the green clad arm emerging from his robes confirming the suspicion that Masque was a thin man. He placed the scroll in a pocket under his cloak and turned to the Axman. "I told you, everything I need to bring with me can fit in just one bag." He said, gesturing to a moderate sized bag in the corner. "I simply need the three of you to get me from here to your place of business."
"If you can call it a business." Diamondback muttered, producing her own scroll. "Ben, we have masque, how is our escape looking?"
"Not as good as we might have thought. The White Fang just rolled in, you're about to have two trucks worth of company." Ben said through the scroll. "I'll fire up the APC as soon as you two get out of there and we'll make ourselves scarce."
"How did they find Masque?" Axman asked.
"I have a theory about that," The information broker answered, picking up his bag and removing a pair of daggers he placed in his cloak. "I'll tell you when we get out of here. Come on, I already have a distraction ready."
"Define distraction." Axman said as Masque led the way back up into the dilapidated shack above his lair.
Masque tossed him a small remote. "A second after we're out of here, press the big red button."
Rick smiled as he looked over his lovely new present. "I like you already."
"Just remember to let us get out first." Masque said in response, pulling out his scroll. "I've got cameras set up just outside, looks like we've got about twelve soldiers out there plus one leader, small one in a snake robe."
Micca's heart sank. Wun was here? What was she doing here? She knew her sister and commander had managed to escape the Abyss, but what was she doing in Vale? A hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts, the masked face of the Axman looked her right in the eye. "We'll get out of here quickly, hopefully we don't need to deal with these guys."
Micca gulped, but tightened her grip on her axe as she converted it back to its melee form. She gave a single nod as she and Masque moved to stand next to the door as Rick moved to stand in front of it. The shadows passing over the filthy windows of the shack told them that the White Fang soldiers had passed by them. This would be their best chance to escape. Rick and Micca shared one last nod before they burst into motion.
(Music begins here. Song: "Guitar Gangsters and Cadillac Blood" by Volbeat)
With one kick from the Axman, the door flew off its hinges. The two vigilantes charging out of the shack with the information broker in tow. The White Fang immediately noticed, Wun giving the order to open fire. The soldiers gladly obliged, dust rounds flying from their guns at the trio.
"Hit the button now!" Masque ordered.
Rick nodded with a wide smirk under his mask and pressed the button.
Behind them, the shack exploded in a burst of fiery brilliance, showering sparks and hot metal all about the area and throwing any White Fang members nearby to the ground. Wun looked from the running vigilantes to her disoriented soldiers and growled under her breath, pulling out her scroll. "Bring the trucks around!" She spat. "We're going after them!"
It took only seconds for Micca and Rick to reach the APC, Ben throwing the rear hatch open the second he could see them. "Let's go! Get in!" He urged, the three passengers piling into the truck. As they strapped themselves in, Ben climbed back into his seat and gunned the engines, the truck roaring to life as it sped away from the annihilated shack, immediately turning towards Vale. Behind them, a pair of White Fang APCs roared around the corner after them, Wun standing atop one of them.
The roof hatch on Wun's APC opened and a White Fang soldier climbed out, LMG in hand. Wun jumped back, landing behind him as she gave the order. "Aim for the tires!" She ordered, shouting to be heard over the wind. The soldier nodded and opened fire, several high speed dust rounds flying from his weapon.
Ben cringed as he swerved about the road, attempting to avoid the rounds. "If someone could deal with that, it would be much appreciated!" He ordered, throwing the wheel to the side and swerving down a rural road. "I need those guys off our tail before we get back to the city!"
"I thought you'd never ask." Rick said, getting up from his seat. "Mind if I borrow your gun, big man?"
"Knock yourself out!" Ben said, swerving off the road and into a field.
Rick smirked as he grabbed Ben's sword, immediately converting the massive blade to its LMG form. He pushed open the back hatch, immediately pulling it back and ducking as a burst of fire tore through where his head had just been.
"Be careful!" Masque demanded. "You have other passengers!"
"Looks like I'm doing this the hard way..." The madman muttered to himself. He smirked wider beneath his mask. "That just makes this more fun!" He said, sticking Ben's weapon out the hatch. Slamming down on the trigger, Rick began firing blind at the APC behind them.
Wun's eyes widened as the storm of rounds flew at her truck. "Take cover! Evasive action!" She roared. She released her grip on the APC and allowed herself to be pushed back by the momentum of the vehicle, grabbing onto the back of the truck as it swerved to avoid the incoming fire, the rounds expanding to massive spheres on contact with the truck, each impact shaking the truck and threatening to dislodge her. The cobra grit her teeth and held on as the rounds soared past, tearing up the landscape and throwing up clouds of dirt.
Rick pulled Ben's gun back to reload. "Diamondback! Give me a hand here!"
Micca nodded, converting her axe to rifle form, resting the axehead turned bipod on the rear hatch as she took aim, Rick laying down covering fire with Ben's gun as she did. The White Fang gunner emerged from the truck's roof hatch and took aim just as Micca did, aiming for a particular target on his enemy's vehicle.
As one, the two pulled their triggers, Micca's shot hitting its mark on the enemy APC's front tire, the combination of the blown tire and flying over a bump at high speed sent the truck into a roll. However, the gunner got off a burst of his own fire, a stream of three shots that smacked Rick right in the face, throwing him back into the truck, his aura and mask being the only things to save his life as the protective field flickered grey and white before dying out, Rick groaning as it did.
Wun felt the distinctive bump of the tire being blown out and immediately burst into motion, running along the rear of the truck as it was flung into the air and leaping off before the vehicle could roll further and flatten her. Arms outstretched, she managed to catch the edge of the other APC and pull herself back up. "Caroline is going to kill me for that one..." She muttered, pulling herself onto the roof of the truck.
Micca pulled the rear hatch shut and was immediately at Rick's side. "He's down for now, no aura left." She reported.
Ben cursed under his breath. "Think you can take out that last one without him?" The soldier asked.
"It'll be difficult, but I might be able to." The snake replied, gripping her rifle tightly.
Wun rose to a prone position on the roof of the second APC as a soldier opened the roof hatch. "Order the driver to get us closer!" She ordered. "I'll handle this myself!" The soldier disappeared down the hatch, Wun loading a special arrow into her left crossbow. Just as she ordered, the driver began to draw closer to the truck they pursued. "That's it... just a little closer..." She muttered. The second the truck was close enough, Wun fired, her cable arrow flying from her wrist mounted bow and embedding itself in the truck ahead of her. Wun smirked as she attached the other end to her own truck. The hatch opened once again and she barked another order. "Maintain our current speed and keep on them!" She ordered. "I'll get Masque!"
The sound of a single impact on the back of the APC was the first sign that something was wrong, and the sound of a pair of boots atop it was just one more bad sign. "We've got a boarder!" He declared.
Micca blanched at his words. These were mostly normal White Fang troops, out of all of them, only one would have done this, and it was just the one she was dreading. For a split second, she panicked. What were they going to do? Rick was unconscious, they couldn't just ask Masque to fight for them, and Ben was at the wheel. She was their only option to repel their boarder, but did she have it in her to fight her own sister? In a daze, she cast her eyes about the truck. Rick was on the ground, aura depleted, Masque was rummaging in his bags and Ben was gripping the wheel tight enough to break it. If Wun got in now, she would take them down with ease. Steeling herself, Micca made up her mind and shifted her axe back to its melee form.
(New Song: "Storytime" by Nightwish)
The APC's roof hatch had just been cracked open an inch before Diamondback made an aura fuelled leap through it, making a wide sweep of her double bladed axe, Cobra just managing to leap out of the way before she was hit. The White Fang assassin just managed to catch the edge of the truck and haul herself back on as her new opponent got to her feet. "Well, you're a new face." She said. "The Axman's new pal, or maybe Masque's?" She mused.
"I can't let you take Masque." Diamondback said, voice distorted. "Get off this truck or I'll remove you myself."
"Perhaps you don't know me." Wun said, rising to her feet, wrist mounted blades emerging from beneath her twin crossbows. "In the White Fang, they call me Cobra. My sister and I used to be the most feared assassins in the organization." She spat. Micca cringed internally at her sister's words. The poor girl didn't even know who she was talking to. "Without her... well, I need to get my name back to its rightful place."
Micca's heart sank at her sister's words. The sheer venom they held was stunning. "They call me Diamondback." She said, readying her axe. "And you need to get off this truck." Every word was pain to her, but they needed to be said. She had to give her sister a chance to get out of this.
She wasn't going to take that chance.
With a loud hiss, Cobra fired her remaining crossbow. Diamondback juked out of the way of the bolt, but the younger snake followed right behind it, stabbing at her with both blades. Diamondback leapt back and retaliated with a swing of her axe, one that Cobra leapt over with ease, the smaller girl stabbing at her opponent the second she landed. Diamondback sidestepped and slammed the pommel of her axe into Cobra's stomach, winding her and sending her stumbling back. Space created, Diamondback swung her axe in a wide sweep, one that Cobra ducked under and rolled forward, using a leg sweep to knock the taller snake to the ground.
With her opponent on the ground, Wun kipped up and drove her blades down toward Diamondback's masked face, the tan clad snake moving her head at the last second, causing her opponent's blades to impact the truck beneath her. The attack avoided, Diamondback kicked out harshly and knocked her opponent back. Cobra got back to her feet quickly, but Diamondback swept her axe along the ground, rolling onto her front and sweeping Cobra's feet out from under her. The White Fang assassin landed hard on her back, just managing to roll out of the way when Micca brought her axe down where she lay just a second before. She was about to jump back to her feet when the APC hit a large bump, throwing her off balance.
Diamondback seized on this chance, winding up and letting fly a massive swing of her axe. Cobra had barely regained her footing when the hit struck, catching her across the chest and sending her flying back. Not wasting a second, the vigilante surged forward, using a massive swing of her axe to sever the cable holding the two trucks together.
Wun just managed to grab the edge of her APC, climbing onto the roof just in time to watch Diamondback sever the cable. The two locked eyes for just a moment as Diamondback shifted her axe to rifle form. Wun's eyes widened. She knew that weapon anywhere. She froze, unable to do anything but stare. That was Micca's weapon. The young snake was barely aware as she watched her sister's weapon be pointed at the tire of her truck. She should have been panicking, trying to prevent this, anything, but all she could to was stare in disbelief.
"I'm sorry." Diamondback said as she pulled the trigger.
The impact was what shook her out of her haze. The second the bullet hit her truck's tire, the APC lurched as it went into a roll, Wun making a running leap for the enemy's vehicle, only to miss by mere inches, landing hard on the ground in a roll. The cobra looked ahead with rage in her eyes as Diamondback climbed back into the truck. She didn't know who that woman was, but if she thought she would get away with using her sister's weapon, she had another thing coming. The young snake pulled her scroll from her robe's pocket. "Commander, mission failed." She muttered. "The enemy got away. I'll gather the surviving men and bring them back to our base and make my report. You will want to hear this."
"Just get back to our Vale hideout." Caroline said. "We'll find another way to track down Blanch."
Wun hauled herself to her feet. "Yes ma'am." She grunted. Taking one last look at the direction her quarry had driven in, she turned away and made her way back to her men.
oxoxoxo
After bringing Rick back to the waking world, Ben asked him to take the wheel and guide them back to his lair. The psychopath gave a groggy nod and replaced the soldier, saying that he had a way back to his lair through the city sewers and they could leave the APC there. As Rick got behind the wheel, Ben walked back to the passenger section of the truck where Masque still sat. "How are you feeling, sir?" The giant soldier asked.
The information broker gave a heavy sigh. "I've known I would have to do this for some time now, but I didn't expect it to be so..."
"Difficult?" Ben suggested.
"Thrilling." Masque replied. "I didn't expect the White Fang to actually track us down."
"Welcome to the vigilante life." Ben said simply. "You kind of brought this on yourself when you chose information broker as your job." The soldier frowned. "I do have to ask though, what made you reach out to Aedan like that? He made it sound like the two of you only spoke when he needed information."
Masque let out a heavy sigh, a sound that was extremely eerie to Ben with the broker's voice modulator. "I should probably explain..." Masque reached a hand up to the side of his hood and pulled it back, pulling his mask off with the other hand.
Ben's jaw hit the floor at the same time as the mask as he watched the girl behind it shake out her neck length dark red hair. She had an expression of resignation on her face, large green eyes full of regret. "I'm... not the same Masque that Aedan always worked with." She explained. "My dad was the original Masque, his name was Olivier Dage, I'm his daughter, Emily."
"What happened?" Ben asked, shaking himself out of his stupor. "Did the White Fang kill your dad?"
Emily shook her head. "No, he died of natural causes." She said with a sigh, it was about a year ago, and he asked me to maintain his network after he died." She looked wistful for a moment. "At first, everything was going well, I was managing to maintain my father's network, gaining money for information, keeping tabs on all the gangs he had informants in, even managing to get a few of my own in rising gangs. Then... well, I got sloppy. I forgot to erase my connections to one of my newer informants. The White Fang found out the general location of my lair, and while I knew it would take them a while to track me down, it would only be a matter of time until they did."
"So you chose a client your father trusted?" Ben finished. "You reached out to Aedan and The Axman."
The girl nodded. "I knew Aedan was one of the few men my father trusted, and I knew I had an offer he couldn't refuse. I would work for him and he would give me shelter."
"And you would give us information." Ben finished. "You said you could help us take down the Fangbreakers, do you have anything new on them?"
Emily gave another nod. "I've managed to get a few informants in the group, I'm just waiting to hear any reports on higher ups, hideout locations or plans of action. It might take a bit of time, but we will hear something."
"Glad to hear we have some good news today." Ben said with a light smile. "If you'll join, then I'll be happy to bring you into our little group."
This time, Emily had a smile of her own for Ben. "Don't make it sound like you have the power here." She said with a smirk. "I know for a fact that the one in charge Miss Gaia, or as you call her, 'ma'am!'" The broker said, snapping a salute and imitating Ben's facial expression.
The soldier grimaced. "It's an old habit..." he muttered.