Lone wolves vs a den of tigers
I don't own any copyrighted material, except my own OC's: anyone else's OC's will be acknowledged in their introduction chapter
A cave two miles away from the village
The black clad armored men rushed into the cave as two standing at the mouth closed two heavy doors behind them and locked them into place. Despite the girls best efforts to struggle out of their grasp, it was no use. Whoever these men were, they were in their prime, and more than capable to hold on to them. Then then felt them roughly drop them onto their asses on the stony floor. As the two winced in pain the bags were roughly ripped off their heads.
"Good job men. You got the one we needed. The faunus was extra." An old and bearded man with a damaged left eye said as he walked out of the shadows with a cane
"Who are you? What the hell is going on and why did you kidnap us!" Ruby yelled angerly
"Do you really think I will tell you that? You don't survive long in this business if you make rookie mistakes like that." The man said, pacing back and forth in front of them
"P-please let us go… we have done nothing to you…" Velvet plead meekly
"You are right, you have done nothing to us. However, for what we require you for, our relations is not going to affect a thing. Do not worry ladies, you will not be harmed and will be well treated. We require you alive and well. Men, put them in their cells, and try not to rough them up too much." The old man said as two masked men grabbed the two girls
As the two were dragged away, Ruby tried to fight back. Despite this the men dragged them in and gently put them in their cells After that they cut them free of their bonds, then exited and closed the doors behind them. When Ruby tried to move the locked door, she found it impossible. These were thick iron doors with a small barred window to look into the hall. She sighed and looked around the room, and it was surprisingly well formed. The well carved walls and floors in addition to the door indicated that they had operated in this cave for a long time.
"Velvet! Where are you!?" Ruby yelled, and her voice echoed through the hall
"I'm over here Ruby!" Velvet replied, having been put in the cell directly across from her
"They didn't hurt you did they?" Ruby asked with concern
"I'm fine. What are we going to do?" Velvet asked, fear tinging her shy voice
"I don't know Velvet. I really don't know" Ruby said solemnly
Meanwhile with Cao and Tetsuo
The two Ronin rushed up a small well used trail, hot on the trail. Sweat formed beads and dripped off their heads under the exertion. By the time they arrived at the entrance of the cave, they already were feeling the burn. The two hide behind some bushes and observed their opposition, not wanting to jump in too fast and cause problems. Two fully equipped guards in black unmarked armor stood in front of a large reinforce door they would not be able to break.
"Time to jump them and take the key." Cao whispered
"That isn't honorable." Tetsuo answered quietly
"Ruby and Velvet are captured by an unknown force and your first concern is to the most honorable action? These scum deserve no honor." Cao growled
"This one time I will agree to your dishonorable ways. But if you speak of this to anyone, I will kill you." Tetsuo sighed as he relented
"Deal." Cao said, not questioning his threat in the slightest
With a nod the two readied themselves to charge. Then with the sudden speed and force of a strong wind they burst from the bushes, shoulder charging the two guards and slamming them hard into the door. The sudden force nearly knocked the breath from their lungs and caught the two completely by surprise. The two then reached for their katana's, but that gave the guards just enough time to recompose themselves. The two guards pushed them off and in one quick motion drew their blades.
"These guys are good." Cao said in surprise
"So much for you dishonorable plan." Tetsuo shot at him
"Jab at them, not me! We are on the same side this time!" Cao yelled
The two Ronin then drew their own blades, and then two dueling pairs formed. Tetsuo looked over to see Cao's eye's turn full black, and he smiles. Then with surprising precision he began to perfectly parry and counterattack each of his opponents strikes. After a few exchanges like that Cao went on the offensive and swung at weird and unorthodox angles and directions. This approach did produce results quickly as the guard was unable to guard properly and began taking cuts his armor couldn't properly protect against. Cao somehow was able to angle his strikes where they slipped between the folds of the armor.
Tetsuo then activated his semblance and let his opponent come to him. The guard tried an iajutsu strike, but Tetsuo easily dodged with his faster reaction speed. Soon after the guard began to attack in a very traditional and standard style. This cause Tetsuo to raise an eyebrow as he dodged and counterattacked. Simple bandits or thugs don't have large reinforce doors, samurai armor, or fight in a way only a samurai school could teach. Even Ronin didn't have the resources required for all of this. Whoever they were fighting had to be connected to a clan in some way.
"Can you hurry up and kill him Cao! Now is not the time for this fancy stuff!" Tetsuo said as he slashed up the arm of the guard
"If your master's methods were so much better, then why have I cut mine more and in less time?" Cao replied as he parried an overhead slash
"Don't you dare besmirch his name in this moment!" Tetsuo roared as the sudden burst of anger allowed him to cut the arm off of his guard
"Coming from a Ronin who got kicked out of his clan? That's a lot of loyalty coming from someone who failed his clan!" Cao shot back, using the confusion to then cut out the throat of his opponent
The two squared off against each other as the guard was reeling cause of his lost arm. However, when he tried to use this moment to attack the two, both the Ronin swung for his neck and simultaneously cut his head off. The two then swung hard at each other, locking blades as they tried to dislodge the other from his position. When that didn't work the two then swung wildly at each other in anger, and yet neither was able to land a blow. Finally, the two stopped and fell face first into the dirt in exhaustion.
"Fuck you." The two said in unison as they panted on the ground
Inside the cave, a large meeting room
The old man Ruby and Velvet met sat at the head of a 6-person table. The remaining five were already seated, each wearing jet black kimono's with no trim or mons. Everyone had a mask of various kinds over their head. On the table was the only indication of their allegiance, the roaring head of a tiger, the symbol of the Sotora Clan.
"Master Zuri, operations have continued on as per your orders. However, the usual suspects have been hindering our efforts to ramp up for war." A woman at the end of the table said
"To think one of the most powerful military clans in the Wakano Covenant could have so many pacifists. It is truly disgraceful and a sin against our ancestors." Old man Zuri replied
"We need to act against them in a more direct manner. We cannot keep kidnapping their loved ones and blackmailing them. If we killed some of them, then the others would back down." A younger member said
"A Sotora does not back down from seeing those he cares about killed. All that does is rile him up and makes him a far greater opponent. We would be hindering ourselves further by doing that. They will die as martyrs and only strengthen their cause." Zuri answered calmly and simply
"Forgive me master. I did not think of the consequences." The young samurai replied
"With experience comes wisdom. You will understand these things in time. To close this meeting, everyone will continue their operations as scheduled. If anything is holding you back, eliminate the problem. This is for our clans ancestral honor and any cost is worth paying." Zuri said as he stood
The other samurai stood, bowed and then left in a single file line. When the all left he smiled to himself. By surrendering to peace to end the war of the slaughtered, in his eyes the Sotora became weak. They viewed the Wei with fear and anxiety, not anger and hatred. They worried about taxes and proper marriages over battles and duels. The Sotora's were made for war, and if he had his way, he would ensure war would return to the region. To finally annihilate the Wei off the map.
Outside the Cave
After regaining their strength, the two argued till they were blue in the face and called another truce. Continuing to argue, even if justified, was not helpful. Who knows what they were doing to the girls inside that cave? However first they had to get in. The guards had no key and there was no lock or handle on the outside. They attempted to cut the hinges with their swords, but to no avail.
"Looks like we will have to think outside the box." Cao said
"Goodie." Tetsuo sighed
"I imagine there's a secret entrance. Usually shadowy organizations have those for supplies, stealth and escapes." Cao said
"Of course, you would know that." Tetsuo answered snarkly
"At least one of us does. Now get looking and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary." Cao ordered, and the two got to work
The search was long and difficult to say the least. Tetsuo wasn't used to this kind of action and the rock face looked like any rock face he's seen. All the progress he really made was grumbling about Cao's dishonorable tactics more and more. Cao however faired better, and his eagle eyes found a point of rocks with a small faint outline of a door. He then looked around for a switch, till he finally found it after accidently pulling on an outward jutting rock.
"Found it." Cao said to his companion in a hushed tone
"Took you long enough." Tetsuo said as he came over to Cao's position
"Just keep quiet. We don't want to make it easier for them to defend this place." Cao said and walked into the tunnel
The tunnel was only slightly higher than the height of a normal man, and only slightly wider as well. Despite this it was smooth and well made in every way. It also was pitch black, forcing the two to move slowly. After 15 agonizing minutes, they finally found the other side which lead into a small supply room. The two rushed out and quickly killed the workmen and guards in the room. Whether they caused enough noise to alert anyone was unknown to them.
"So now where do we go? We have no idea where they are?" Cao asked
"We can always check for a map." Tetsuo replied bluntly
"I highly doubt they would have a map lying conveniently around for us to find." Cao said skeptically as he began to search the bodies and the room
Despite their best efforts, no such map was able to be found. Knowing the longer they stayed in the room, the more likely they would be caught, they decided to move on. They slowly opened the door, and each looked down their side of the hall. When no one was seen, they then took a right and began to quietly walk throughout the place. Quickly they found the place was quite large, and the many turns and rooms were more like a labyrinth than a base.
"How big is this place?" Cao whispered
"I don't know, but they must have been in here for ages for it to be this big and this well built." Tetsuo answered quietly
After several hours of blundering, sneaking and avoiding people, they finally found something promising. A large reinforced door with cage lines in the center lay before them, line ones you'd find in a jail. They snuck up to it and slowly and gently opened it. When the looked in they found row upon row of jail cells, many filled with prisoners of various kinds. A guard lay asleep near the door on a chair, next to a caged off lever.
"Looks like they have a open all cells switch." Cao muttered
"How do you know that? You know what never mind, I really don't want to know." Tetsuo whispered back
"Now we kill him and cause a jail break. That should cause a nice distraction." Cao whispered and snuck up to the guy, pulling out a tanto
The guard stood no chance as Cao quickly pulled his head back and slit his throat. After a bit of searching he found a set of keys. It took Cao ten minutes to try all of the many keys on the ring till finally he found the right one. After the cage unlocked, he lifted it up and pulled the lever. All the cells doors then suddenly opened, and all the prisoners were confused at first. After that however there was a mad dash for the door. Tetsuo and Cao moved out of the way as alarms began going off and chaos began to happen across the cave.
"Let's go." Cao said
"Lets." Tetsuo replied with a nod and they rushed deeper into the jail
"Cao? Tetsuo?" A female voice called from the back of the jail
"I know who that is!" Cao said as they rushed and found the two women
"Tetsuo!" Velvet yelled in joy as she rushed up and hugged the Ronin
"I'm here Velvet. No one will harm you now." Tetsuo answered with a blush across his face
"Let's get out of here. Those prisoners will not distract them forever." Cao said, and the group rushed out
The group ran as fast as they could towards the supply room and the tunnel. After reaching it they closed the door and locked it behind them. They then rushed through the dark tunnel as fast as possible and out into the woods. To speed things up the Ronin grabbed their female companions and threw them over their shoulders to move faster. As they rushed off Zuri stood atop the rockface and watched them escape.
"Should we pursue them mi lord?" A samurai guard asked from behind him
"Let them go. We have other options to blackmail Azolum with. Ones that will be far easier and more effective." Zuri replied
"Then what are your orders master?" the guard asked confused
"Find Azura Sotora and bring him to me." Zuri replied as he watched the group disappear into the thick woods, hopefully to safety
Alright enough two parters for now. Still now with this group of black clad villians, both parties journeys are going to get far more dangerous. Next time we are back with Yang and Azura as they try to make up for lost time in the worst way possible. I hope you all have a good day and see you next time.