The medical wing wasn't nearly as busy as Neo feared it would be. The doctor wouldn't be stretched thin, and her wrist may actually get everything it needs. Besides, y'know… a hand…
"Alright, let's see what we have here," A doctor approached that Neo didn't recognize. After a quick visual pass, she saw his badge said 'High Vale Medical', and pointed to it.
"We all do what we can. Not every inured person can afford to wait for Atlas's airships," The doctor told her as he unwrapped the bandage where her right hand used to be. "It seems you may be one of them…"
"Is it that bad?" Weiss asked him.
"Flesh is not supposed to be that color," The doctor informed her, "How long ago did she lose her hand?"
Weiss crossed her arms nervously, "She lost it in the explosion that took out the wall… We were… just a bit too close."
The doctor didn't ask questions, just took another look at the damage. "And the only care its had since is binding the wound with ice. Given our current situation, we don't have time for proper observation and care… It may be easier to remove the affected area."
"You mean amputate more of her arm? Up to where? Her elbow?" Weiss was possibly more anxious than Neo at this point.
"I won't know until I can asses the damage closer, but I doubt I'll have to go that far," The doctor assured, "Only another inch, maybe inch and a half… The infection, though present, appears to be on the surface at first glance."
"There's no way to save what's left?" Weiss continued her concern.
"You can wait for the airships and see if a fully stocked Atlas hospital can help, but it would be a gamble. The infection could get much worse," The doctor informed her.
Before Weiss could even open her mouth again, Neo violently waved her good hand to get her attention. 'Already lost hand,' Neo signed quickly, 'Let doctor do what needs do.'
"What's the verdict?" The doctor asked, not knowing sign language.
"Do what you have to do," Weiss conceded.
"I'll have to put you under," The doctor informed Neo, "I will literally be rooting around your exposed flesh until I know where to… start."
Neo nodded and laid back in the bed, hoping she would be asleep soon.
Qrow sat in Ozpin's office, his back to the elevators as he looked through the windows towards Vale. At first glance, it was easy to convince himself nothing was wrong, that nothing had changed. But little things were wrong. No airship activity. Lights not coming on in office houses. None of the hustle and bustle of a kingdom at its height.
Ozpin's desk alerted Qrow of an incoming call. He spun around and answered, curious who would call in this situation. Appearing to be sitting on the other side of the desk, the holographic image of General Ironwood lit into existence. The General must have been sitting at his own desk to make this call.
"Thank god, Oz," The General began, "I was starting to think you didn't-… Qrow? Where's Ozpin?"
"He didn't." Qrow's response was quick and sharp.
Ironwood's head dropped. "Damn it, Oz…"
"The question is, what are we going to do next?" Qrow wondered aloud.
"A better question is, who says you get to replace Oz?" Ironwood accused, pointing to the collapsed cane in Qrow's hand.
"Only you would be so arrogant to think I'm doing anything of the sort," Qrow scowled, "Get over yourself, Jimmy."
"Someone has to take charge," James countered.
"You've been trying to take charge since long before Oz was gone," Qrow shot back.
James scowled and attempted to backpedal, "We don't have time to squabble, Qrow."
"You're right," The aged huntsman stood and nodded, "Ozpin didn't build this brotherhood so we would fight over who gets to lead. Call back when you're ready to be an adult and talk about what's actually important." With that, Qrow ended the call.
Once holo-James had vanished, Qrow spotted Glynda in the room as well. "One could argue you hanging up like that isn't very 'adult' itself," The blonde witch pointed out.
"How would you deal with him?" Qrow asked her, "He's always had a big head. It only got worse after he managed to convince the world councils his troops single-handedly saved Vale and Beacon during the attack at the 40th Vytal Festival."
"He… was the first person the councils went to for rescue operations…" Glynda admitted, "But his heart is in the right place."
"Is it?" Qrow pondered, "You could have made that argument once, but… I'm not so sure anymore."
"Why is that?" Glynda asked. "He's done nothing to provoke suspicion."
"True enough, but Oz didn't trust him as much as he used to," Qrow told her. "I don't know. Just a feeling, I suppose."
Glynda shifted her weight nervously. "We can't start fighting each other. Not now."
"I know," Qrow sighed, "We'll only win by fighting together."
"I will say this," Glynda shrugged, "You remind me of Ozpin sometimes."
"How so?"
"You always seem to know more than you let on," She replied. "For what it's worth, I think he trusted you more than he trusted anyone else."
The desk alerted them to another incoming call. Qrow sighed, "Let's get this over with." He sat back down and answered the call, Ironwood showing up yet again. "Well?"
Ironwood took a deep breath. "Other issues can wait. We need to discuss the fight ahead."
"Good," Qrow nodded.
When Neo awoke in the hospital she could already tell another day had passed. Looking out the windows, she could see the sun sitting on the eastern horizon. She had woken up at dawn. Steeling her nerves, the colorful criminal looked down at her arm to see the result of the operation. The initial tearing had been right at her wrist, and it appeared more than the 'inch and a half' had become necessary to remove. While she still retained full use of her elbow, nearly half of her remaining forearm was now gone, her arm ending at a metal cap meant to aid the installation of a cybernetic prosthetic.
Neo shook her head, trying the clear the last of the fog from the hospital drugs. It looked like her arm was in order to her, and she didn't want to stay in bed any longer than she had to. She found her feet and her coat, managing to throw the latter on. She didn't bother rolling or pinning the hanging sleeve up. Perhaps later. Or perhaps she'll get a new coat. It didn't really matter.
The girl's feet brought her naturally to the door to WBRN dorm. She noticed it was already cracked, as was many of the dorm room doors. According to the electronic locks, a master override had opened all the rooms. For refugees, of course, Neo realized. She knocked on the door, now conscious of the possibility of other people in the room. The door was answered by a young woman not much older than Neo herself.
"Can I help you?" The girl asked.
Neo traced an 'x' over her lips with her finger, hoping to convey her muteness.
"You can't speak? Hold on," The girl grabbed a pencil and paper from inside.
Neo instinctively reached out with both arms, her right sleeve hanging limply long before it reached the pencil.
"Oh… um… here…" The girl held the paper against the wall, handing Neo's left hand the pencil.
It took a moment with her left hand, but Neo managed to write legibly, 'used to be my dorm Need to grab something'.
"Oh I see! Of course! Come on in," The girl opened the door the rest of the way.
Neo stepped inside and could see an entire family had stuffed themselves into the room meant for only four teenagers. "Who are you?" The mother asked.
"She was on this rooms team," The girl who had answered the door told her mother.
"It's rude to answer for other people like that," the mother scolded the daughter.
"She's mute though…" The younger girl replied softly.
Neo had already begun to ignore the family, bee-lining for the desk. She pulled the false front open on Reaper's secret fridge and began to pile the various bottles into her arms. The family's amazement at not knowing the contraband within arm's reach was also ignored as Neo picked up the glasses and left the dorm.
Neo knew where she wanted to go next. She was soon outside, walking around far corners of campus. A familiar outdoor table came into view. A table where her and Reaper had spent many a lunch before Neo turned herself in at her lover's suggestion. If there was any one place in this entire school that was theirs and just theirs, it was here. Neo sat down and set up a glass of the drink.
Her seclusion didn't last long, as before halfway through her first glass Blake slid into the seat across from her. "One for me, barkeep?"
Neo shrugged and set Blake up with a glass. The vodka was already mostly empty before they started, so it didn't take long between the two of them to finish it. Weiss eventually found the two of them, frowning at the bottle but saying nothing.
"Are you two still lucid?" Weiss asked them.
"Yes," Blake answered.
'Unfortunately,' Neo signed.
"I just finished speaking with Qrow," Weiss told them, "The General's ships are almost here. There will also be a space on the ship for us to discuss… certain things."
"Speaking of certain things…" Blake spoke up, "Do you really think we're ready for this?"
"Ozpin seemed to think so," Weiss reminded her. "Even if we aren't, how can we ignore it? Knowing what we know?"
'Can try ignoring it, for one,' Neo signed, getting her sarcasm across with the look on her face.
"No, Weiss has a point," Blake sighed, "I don't know if we're ready, but I do know that I trust Ozpin. I joined Beacon to try and balance out all my negative karma from the White Fang. I couldn't live with myself if I allowed this darkness to come, not if there's any chance I can help stop it. So why not try and save the world?"
Why don't you ask Pyrrha that? Neo grumbled, keeping her thought to herself. No use exposing someone who actually had a chance to stay out of this. I could still stay out of this myself, Neo realized. There will be a couple thousand people boarding those ships. And I'm an expert at vanishing in a crowd.
The ships were a lot larger than Neo had remembered. Then again, she really didn't have the chance to explore while breaking Torchwick out. Who was only still locked in there because of Ruby. Who, coincidentally, happened to be the same person who helped her free Torchwick later. And go on to make her happy in ways she never imagined.
Until recently, that is. She may just be up to taking this ship down in an instant if it could bring Reaper back.
She pushed those thoughts to the back of her head, however. Whatever she did next, getting out of Vale was the first step. So she filed onto the massive flagship along with everyone else. It was a curious sight to see once she was onboard. There were far too many refugees to confine to certain sections of the ship. This lead to civilians filling out sections of the ship only ever seen before by Atlas military, and interacting with military personnel.
Neo wandered aimlessly once on board, quickly ditching Weiss and Blake. Once again, she couldn't believe how much had happened in such a short time. An entire kingdom cleared out in less than a week. An absolute catastrophe where all the survivors could fit on just a few warfrieghters. All of the survivors… Neo at last confronted a thought that would have kept her from even boarding if she had it just a few hours before. If Reaper was still alive somewhere, how was she supposed to get out of Vale now?
Neo shook these thoughts from her head. There was no use having them now. One of two things would be true at this point. Either Reaper was alive, and that woman was way to stubborn to die in something so small as an apocalypse. Or Reaper wasn't alive, and none of this posturing mattered.
She might not be alive… Neo finally, truly considered the harsh reality. She had to figure out what to do next without Reaper. It shouldn't have been this hard, she lived many years of her life before Reaper was a part of it. But something about Reaper being gone left a hole in her like no one else who had disappeared in her life, and she didn't know how to handle it. All she could do for now, she realized, was try to keep her mind off it. So she set about wandering once again.
Neo quickly found herself in the launch bay for the one-man fighter ships, where the massive bay doors and windows gave a clear sight of Vale below. It wasn't as crowded as other sections, and Neo busied herself watching one of the pilots work on his craft. The small girl wouldn't call herself a 'pilot' by any means, but she had flown an airship or two in her time. Although she had never flown something like this, she could pick up the basics by watching the pilot from the ladder up to the cockpit. Her jacket was strewn across the tool table nearby.
"Neo!" Weiss and Blake finally caught up with the smaller woman, the heiress calling out to her. "I feel like we're always tracking you down these past few days…"
"We should really stick together," Blake agreed with her girlfriend.
Neo sighed. Her team mates had assumed she would join them on this suicide mission against the darkness. She still saw no good reason to go with them. Then again, she still didn't see a good reason not to go with them either…
Before Neo came up with a response, the entire airship rattled. Tools fell of shelves, a pilot fell off his plane a few spaces down, and Neo fell off the ladder and flat onto her ass. All eyes turned to the windows and met the sight of a flock of nevermore attacking the ship. The automated cannons were doing a lot against the smaller birds, but one Grimm was simply shrugging off the shells.
A massive nevermore that Neo marked as the same bird that attacked them previously. The damage across it's face was the same fire damage that the Maiden had caused it while saving them from the horde. It was this feathered beast that had shook the airship, flying beak-first into the starboard as if it would ram the ship out of the air.
Pilots were scrambling to their stations. The hope was that manned, concentrated fire could bring the bird down. But Neo could already see it wasn't going to be so easy. It would take something powerful. While Neo was sure this ship had something like that, anything of that size and power would take time to charge. Time they didn't have, another few good hits and the ship wouldn't have the reserve fuel to keep overclocking the stabilizers to counter the bird-butting.
Anyone else would like to say it was the thought of all the survivors that spurned them to action. That they would act out to save the ship for completely selfless reasons. But Neo wasn't anyone else, and she could at least be honest. She didn't care about the rest of them, the men and women of Vale. But she did care about two of them, and as she locked eyes with Weiss and Blake, she finally made her decision.
Neo didn't want to risk her life fighting some dark witch. She didn't care to fight in a war, and she certainly wasn't bothered about saving the world. But she would not become the kind of person that would abandon her friends. She would not let them die. If they wanted to fight this war, so be it. She would join them, not because it was her goal, but because her friends would need all the help they could get.
But before all of that, Neo had to do something incredibly stupid to save her friends.
Before anyone could even think to stop her, Neo had jumped into the cockpit of a nearby fighter and slammed door closed. She was already halfway through the startup sequence before anybody could climb the ladder to try and prevent her stealing it. She was dedicated to this path, and very thankful for the speed and flexibility that allowed her to operate with one hand. She wouldn't dream of fighting in this thing without two, but she didn't need to worry. Her plan was far more idiotic.
She jammed the throttle to the max and gripped the stick for dear life. The engine roared to life, and she shot out of the flagship like a bullet. Neo was suddenly very conscious that she was effectively strapped inside a rocket with very touchy turning controls. It took a moment to get her bearings and straighten out after a less then graceful launch, but she sighted her target soon enough. The giant nevermore.
She flew straight at her target, which saw her and followed suit. Anyone on the ship would assume this crazy girl was playing chicken with a Grimm. And they wouldn't be as wrong as they would hope. At the last second, Neo pitched to one side and spun the right wing of the fighter straight into the left wing of the nevermore.
Neo didn't have time to assess what damage she caused the bird. She had her own bird to worry about, spiraling down after the right wing was completely torn off. She fumbled around the seat for the eject. These ships have eject, right? Her fingered gripped a small handle and she pulled with all her might. After a moment of disorientation caused by feeling like a bullet shot out of a gun, Neo regained awareness of her surroundings to find she was still several hundred feet in the air and beginning to fall.
Thinking quickly, Neo eyed a spot on the ground and activated her semblance. A quick flash and she was rolling on the ground, bruised but alive. The fighter crashed into a building behind her, mostly in flames by the time it came to rest. The small girl could hardly believe she had actually survived.
The cheerful thought was interrupted when the bakery in front of her was crushed by the giant nevermore. It had a large gash in it's left wing, showing that at least that part of her plan worked. The bird could no longer take flight, and the flagship was safe. Unfortunately, she hadn't succeeded in killing it. It was very alive. It was very pissed. And it was looking right at her.
Without a weapon or a plan, Neo wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this one. She was hoping the creature would be dead, and Atlas could send a crew ship down to pick her up. But nothing could get close while the bird was still alive.
It looked like Neo wasn't going to make it out of Vale after all. At least I didn't abandon my-
Before she could finish her thought, Neo was surrounded by a black wind. A black wind that smelled of blood and rose petals… She found herself in a storefront out of the nevermore's reach. Caressing her cheek was a mottled hand connected to an arm with cracked skin that resembled worn red leather stretched taut over the muscle underneath.
Neo's eyes followed the damaged limb up to a half familiar face. The right side of her rescuer's face featured that same melted skin, covering her cheek and her temple while leaving her mouth and most of her nose unscathed. The left side is what really left Neo speechless. She recognized in an instant that pale skin, dark hair, and vibrant silver eye.
An oh-so familiar voice put words to exactly what Neo was thinking, "This is real… You're real… right?"