Rogue Huntsman
Manor
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Arex made her way back to the treeline with the others, red crystal still nestled in her hands as the rest of her tech rested in her pockets.
She wasn't about to try to fit that Dust in with the rest, so it was looking like she'd have to carry it.
A realization that only reminded her of her plans to eventually get some sort of pouch or holster at her waist for these kinds of extra things… or at least wear a hoodie with a pocket.
"Do we have a way in?" she asked quietly, eyes tracing through the myriad of colors in front of her to try to pick out Dante and the rest of Ray's team at the front.
Why did it feel like she was the only one out of her comfort zone here…?
Even Ruby looked surprisingly calm. Which seriously brought down another level of realization that showed just how inexperienced Arex really was with fieldwork.
"Just a whole lotta guns and one boy promising to remove the problem in a few seconds flat," Yang replied, tossing a gesture over her shoulder to Dante behind her.
"Basically, he's making the opening," Blake explained.
"I'm going down there and clearing the area in less than sixty seconds, that way the first flock of enemies are taken care of, and we can worry on getting inside. Personally, I'd walk through the front door considering… well… circumstances," he said, shrugging. "Though once I take care of them, we'll find a way in," Dante said, hopping up to his feet.
"R-Right…" Arex was just… not going to argue against that. He was easily the most experienced one out of all of them here, even she could tell that from how little she's interacted with him.
That one experience in the diner was really enough to prove it.
"What are we doing in the meantime?" she asked.
"Take the minute to scout for a better way in," Kyzal spoke up, never taking his eye away from his scope as his barrel drifted almost unnoticeably. He was still tracing movements.
"And make sure no one is sneaking up on you guys to actually, physically, realistically murder you," Dante added.
"Agreed, so pair up," Gabriel ordered, Arex following his gaze as it flicked over everyone standing in the small group. "And then pair up with another pair, just to be safe. I'll be staying here with Kyzal to keep his back watched. He's been mapping out the interior from what he can view through the windows."
Dante nodded. "Now that we've got that sorted out, come on down in about a minute."
With those last words, his sword apparated into his grip with a burst of white and black Aura. And with a quick aim, he tossed his sword and vanished in a streak of his Aura over the wall a fair distance ahead of them.
"Blake and I want this one," Yang's voice cut in through the lingering tension of their group's silence. Arex's unease from wondering what was happening over the manor wall caught back up with her as two arms picked her up off her feet, the poor girl stiffening in another startle.
"Don't make decisions for me," she heard Blake say just as an ambitious blonde's face nuzzled into her cheek, and Arex squeaked a little in an attempt to lean away.
"Besides, it's best you let big brother handle the first wave. He's like… a super ninja. Those guys will go down easily," Ciel commented.
"Not only that," Leo started, "but with how quickly he can disable the enemy units silently, we'll still maintain some element of surprise."
"Your brother was correct earlier with his statement," one of the girls from LMKN added. From what Arex could make out through Yang's snuggle and her own attempts to squirm out of it, it was the one wearing the wide-cuffed black dress and tight-fitting matching attire.
Including four inch heeled boots. Though the chin-length ash hair was what Arex noticed first, bangs swept aside and held by a hair clip.
On top of that, she was the one wearing the gray blindfold Arex noticed on the ride in…
"While the enemy might have anticipated our arrival, it's very likely they are unaware of our exact location currently. Instead of charging down there altogether and causing a ruckus, we'll still maintain our element of surprise," the ash-haired girl continued.
"He's dropped eight guards around the exterior so far," Kyzal commented into the small crowd. "Better get a move on or we won't be able to take advantage of that surprise element."
"Then we might as well stay in our teams to save on time," Weiss said, Arex struggling to see where exactly the girl stood. But she sounded close. "Ruby, handle your sister, we'll move around the eastern side of the gate to see what we can find."
"Rodger." Ruby's chiding voice sounded a lot closer than Weiss' as Yang's face finally pulled away from Arex's to look at her sister.
"You can't make me let her go," Yang deadpanned.
"Well she can't breathe," Ruby voiced back, two small hands trying to push their way between Arex's aloft body and Yang's wrapped arms.
It wasn't that she couldn't breathe…
"Her face just got redder," Blake commented idly from wherever she stood on the other side of Arex. "I think she can breathe just fine."
N-Not helping-!
"Aww, you got her to stop struggling so much." Yang's eyes turned back to Arex's, and all the girl could think about now was just how bright red her face felt.
"C-Can you put m-me down?" the phoenix finally asked, hands finding the strength to press into Yang's shoulders to push herself away.
Or try to.
The blonde's face turned to meet hers again with an obvious pout. "Fine fine."
Yang sounded dejected, but Arex's feet finally rested back on the forest floor to balance her light frame again.
It was almost enough to distract her from what was still heavily weighing down on her mind, if only just slightly.
Which was probably what they were trying to do.
"Splitting up now. We'll meet back in forty seconds," Yang voiced to the rest of team LMKN, popping Arex a small smirk before stepping backward and working her way through the trees.
Arex's head slowly dipped a little, gaze drifting to the ground. Did she… really look that anxious?
To the point where they were actually trying that hard to take her mind away from what was happening?
"Don't worry, Arex." Ruby's hand lightly squeezed her shoulder, and when Arex looked over, all she could see was a believable, innocent hope in the girl's silver eyes. "We'll get her back."
Guess she really did look how she felt if Ruby was trying to make promises like that.
"Thirty seconds now… How many did handsome take out already?" Elisia asked.
"Twenty-two," Kyzal's voice spoke back. "Right about on-schedule."
"Well, he certainly knows how to impress…" Arex heard Elisia say with a sigh. "What a way to spend my Sunday…"
"There's a sunroom with a lot of glass on the eastern side of the estate," Weiss shared under their dwindling time constraint as Dante wrapped up the last of the guards. "Keeps us from walking into an unknown room without knowing what's on the other side of the door."
"We can align with the map data we already have once we're inside," Arex said, stepping past the heiress to see if the other half of their party came back with anything else.
"Unfortunately, we found no other means of entry," the ash-haired girl spoke up as she returned with her team. "It would seem the sunroom is our best point to enter."
A small automated plated machine floated up over her shoulder as she spoke, something Arex's attention immediately fell onto as a glowing white v-lined visor turned to her.
It was pretty big, housed in an elongated, flattened, diamond-like black shell with white lines of light pulsing from inside it. Two small arms were hanging beneath its underside, bent forward at ninety-degree angles with closed off holes in its palms.
Something told Arex it was equipped with more than just scanners.
"That yours?" Arex asked curiously, her gaze lingering on the way the robot floated in idle around its blindfolded partner.
"Yes," the girl simply responded.
The small machine floated toward Arex, then glowed as if it was about to speak. "Greetings. I am Support Unit SOL 004, assigned to Bailey Lianna to provide support on and off the battlefield."
It… it spoke, using a mechanical, but still semi-human voice.
It extended its small arm to Arex, who just looked at it in a few long moments of confusion before poking it lightly with her finger.
She wanted to know what it was made of.
"Fourth unit made… Remind me to ask Bailey more about you after all this," Arex said, bringing her hand back to her side.
"Acknowledged, Beacon Academy Student Arex," it responded, floating back to Bailey and hovering over her left shoulder again.
Another AI, huh?
Arex didn't think there were any others on campus.
"We're set to move in." Gabriel's voice spoke up from where he and Kyzal were, Arex turning her gaze up to see the two of them standing on a tree branch just over where they were grouped.
"You know what to do once you're inside. Now don't die or get anyone else killed," Kyzal tacked on, turning a short gaze to his partner for a moment before leaping forward over the estate's surrounding wall.
Gabriel followed close behind after a small nod to the rest of them.
"Alright kids, let's go do our best! And stuff!" Elisia's arms were in the air, but it drew on more awkward silence and staring than anything else. "I'm new to the whole teacher thing, alright? Isn't that what teachers do? Try to be encouraging or whatever?" she asked them.
"Are you sure you work at Beacon?" Yang deadpanned, staring incredulously at the TA.
"Hey, professor Dravus is the one who's the teacher, I'm just his TA and fill in for him when he's busy. So again, like I said, still fairly new to all this. Now come on already, handsome's probably going to give us a lecture about making him wait if we don't get there soon."
"Then we need a fast way in for everyone," Blake said, tapping the nearby locked gate with her index finger. "Quietly, too, so we can keep to the whole 'surprise' deal."
"Yeah yeah, don't need to tell me…" Elisia said with a roll of her eyes as she walked up to the gate.
The rabbit faunus walked up to the gate control and tapped it briefly, freezing it solid in a flash of frost and crumbling it to pieces soon after. The gate had given off a sound to signify its unlocking as Elisia pushed the door open and motioned her hand into a bow to usher the others inside.
The small display centered around an element. Something Arex hadn't really seen before from the TA.
And now that she did… the phoenix regarded the shattered, still frozen pieces of metal and internal wiring on the ground with a momentary stare.
Elisia was another Affinity user…
"All right, lots of heads to crack, one girl to rescue." A harsh crack of knuckles sounded as Yang stepped forward through the gate, everybody filing in soon after her in a loosely compact pack. "Let's catch up with Dante and tear this place a new one."
She cocked a smile back at the others, but Arex flinched a little when it felt like it lingered on her amidst the rest.
"Come on little chickling, we've got things to do. No time to stare off into space," Elisia said, patting Arex on the shoulder.
Chickling?
"You want to get your partner back quicker, right?" Elisia asked.
The phoenix nodded tinily to that, her legs finally moving as Elisia ushered her inside to follow RWBY and LMKN to the far side of the mansion grounds.
They ran across the grass once they were through the gate, and if Arex wasn't in the mindset of getting Kit back, she might've actually appreciated the gardens and the fountains they were rushing past.
It… was a very aesthetically pleasing wide area covered in colors and filled to the brim with depth. Lines of cherry blossom trees marked pathways leading to and around the manor as well.
But Arex was more focused on following the girls in front of her, cutting through the pink-petalled trees to make their way around the glass corner of the estate. The entire place had a Victorian feel to its architecture, bearing colors like white, black, and gold.
And-
A pile of knocked out bodies, apparently.
"What took you guys so long?" Dante asked with a smile as he sat atop the mound of men.
"Sorry to disappoint, Princey. But we were scouting too," Yang joked back, stepping around the pile to find Kyzal and Gabriel standing by a few supporting pillars by a framed door.
The wall making up this side of the house was just about entirely made of glass.
One of the guards underneath the pile started to stir, letting out a groan before Dante brought up his leg and planted it into the man's face to knock him out again.
"And? What'd you guys find? Any way in besides the front door?" he asked, crossing one leg over the other.
"Just this glass section, so we're not entering a wing of the estate blind," Arex summarized, making her own way around the pile to get to the door.
The room through the clear glass looked like a lounge of sorts. The first thing she spotted out was its vacancy of any figures, which was the most important thing.
The other was to trace the door for any sort of electrical locking system, and peering at the frame from the side, the door was connected to a keypad near its handle.
'Hold your scroll against the keypad.' GHOST's fragment pinged from Arex's scroll, the girl doing as the message said once she read it over.
The digital numbers on the pad pulsed for a moment before several of its holographic buttons were quickly pressed in a short sequence, the light across the top of it flashing green just as the door unlocked.
Sylvius sat back on the bed. His back pushed into the pillows Kit was nestled against, her eyes staring down at her bare legs curled in front of her.
Tavi had changed her into a nightgown. White, like her hair and tails. It was made of silk, nearly reached her knees, and it didn't have any sleeves. It fit her perfectly.
Just like the necklace did.
"Oh, look at this." His shifting on the bed caught her ears as he tilted his crimson scroll toward her.
Her eyes slowly drifted to it. A camera feed filled his screen, showing a collection of figures standing outside one of the doors downstairs.
Kit's marigold eyes focused on the one in front and widened slightly. She didn't want them to widen. She didn't mean them to. But her breath caught in her throat as she choked down the urge to sob.
That was Arex…
Arex was here.
W-Why? Why couldn't she have stayed away…? Why couldn't she have forgotten about her?
Kit's fingers instinctively clutched into the bed as Arex led a group inside. The phoenix made her way over to the built-in scroll in that lounge, standing with a tiny bounce just in front of it. The girl quickly plugged in some kind of device, finding a port beneath a panel.
"Clever. She wants into the system," Sylvius commented, turning the camera feed back to himself. Kit's eyes followed it. She wanted to watch… but when he turned to look at her, she found herself silently looking back to the bedsheets beneath her legs.
"Her name's Arex, as I've found out." Kit shivered softly as she reached down, drawing her legs into her arms and holding them against her. "She's a smart girl. Owns a bakery shop. Hides a cute little forge in the back of it. Did you know she takes contracts from research organizations and renown blacksmiths?"
Kit tried to ignore the intrigue in his voice. The sound of him knowing all the answers. Of knowing everything there was to know about something.
The sound of him taking an interest…
"She has a cute little following. Well, I wouldn't call it little, really," he said. He knew about that, too. "If only they knew who the real Sparrow was. Hesitant, self-conscious, afraid. Just a bird bundled full of anxiety."
P-Please… stop talking about her.
"It's a wonder why you seem to like her. Sure, she's cute and has an Affinity, but what else do you see in her?" he asked. His eyes turned to her. She felt them.
But Kit kept her head tucked low, close to her legs, where she clutched them tightly to her chest.
"Have you kissed her yet?" His voice sounded curious, but she knew what he was doing. Those gold eyes were searching her. Scouring over her skin.
Looking for anything that could look like a reaction.
She didn't have it in her to blush at that.
"Of course you haven't," he assumed. He was right, to assume. "And you never will. Because you hate taking what you want. You're too scared to."
She knew that. She knew he was right… and that hurt. It hurt to know that, no matter how much she hated him and ran away from him, he knew her.
She wished she'd done more with Arex, before watching her disappear too.
"I wonder… What do you think she'll do if I let her into the whole system?" Sylvius asked aloud. His voice fell into a tone of intrigue as he shifted on the bed.
Moving closer to her.
"I might as well. I'd love to see what she'd do with everything I have in here," he said with a gentle hum. His body leaned into hers, and she curled up into herself a little tighter. Her tails tucked into her legs, shaking as they squeezed between them and curled up into her body.
Why did Arex have to come for her…?
"Onyx and Saph should be the first they meet. What do you think, Kit? Think they'll last more than ten minutes?" he asked again. She didn't respond. "Who knows? Maybe they can stall it out. Those two work well together."
Kit just curled up tighter.
"Tell you what," Sylvius said. "Why don't I message everyone to let her through? She's a certain someone I want to reach this room in one piece. Untouched. Sound good? You get to see Arex, maybe even touch her one last time."
Kit just held her breath and stifled another urge to cry. She just wished Arex never stepped foot in here…
That she didn't come for her.
"I'll call it in. I want to meet this Arex of yours, anyway."
Red ash.
Who knew the sky could turn this red under the chaotic blight of a desolated mountain…?
Sparks of red still blistered the air on the surface of my skin, rolling in tresses of light down my blackened arms as I lifted my glove into view.
Ahrulian's cloth was still glowing…
Still biting into my hand and siphoning whatever energy it could down my arm like a vampiric drain, starved for all its life.
"How does a girl like Scarlet put up with this?" Those words left my mouth as I closed my fingers, clenching into the scarlet energy burning in my clothing as I turned my eyes to the red sun.
Haven't seen a sight like that in a long time…
Red ash drifted down from where the mountaintop used to reside, drifting seas of red-scorched dust parting around my feet as I walked along the shallow depths of the crater's slant.
You'd need roughly thirty thousand crates of Atlas' new high-yield radial Dust bombs to even come close to dealing this much damage in one blast.
And here's this skinny girl strolling around with it boiling in her skeleton.
Must've taken a lot of time and stress to build that kind of Affinity feedback up so high. Either that, or her energy has one of the highest charge rates across the spectrum.
Guess I'll have to find out.
"She awake?" I asked, boots clearing the edge of the crater as I walked my way back to the forest's edge.
Inuba was kneeling next to a resting Scarlet and a propped Anoel against a tree, most of the cuts I saw inside the building still shining red in the light of the polluted sun.
"Ms. Rubine is ready to awaken any moment now. As for ms. Anoel… It will take some time," Inuba stated with a quick glance before looking back to Anoel.
Ano's eyes trailed up to me for a moment, and all I could see in them were twin lakes of dark, dreary blue.
"She has numerous fractures in her wing bones that I'm currently working on mending, along with some more internal injuries. However… oddly enough, there were signs of fractures elsewhere before we retrieved her. It's as if someone else mended them quickly to piece the fractures back together at least."
"Sounds sadistic," I said, bringing my eyes away from Anoel's to glance down to where Scarlet rested on the ground.
Her frame shifted slightly, and after a moment, finally opened her eyes to the tingling feeling in the rest of her body.
"Not at all. The best way to describe what I'm seeing is… more of a quick patch job, I believe. Someone had been set on healing her before we made our intrusion."
"Break her just to heal her," I elaborated on my previous comment, something that still stood. "If that was their version of compensation for what they did, I'm ecstatic to see their compound razed to ash."
The energy in my glove sparked again, drawing Anoel's eyes to it as I clenched my fingers harder into my palm.
I needed to get rid of the excess.
"What I meant was that the man you… erased seems to be more of the precise type. Rather than create fractures, wouldn't it have made more sense for him to keep her intact? His temperament speaks differently as to the injuries Ms. Anoel sustained."
"If he really cared, she wouldn't be this hurt, or hurt in general." My voice fell in volume as I unclenched and clenched my red-sparked fingers, dragging my gaze down to see Scarlet finally sitting up, red streams of light emitting from the hand she weakly raised to her forehead before dying down. "Do you want this back?"
My question fell in a blatant, heavy voice as I lifted my gloved hand, pale skin reflecting the sunlight beneath an energized, disrupted layer of scarlet hues.
Her eyes traced down my arm for a moment before twin rubies stared at the shattered glow for a few long seconds, before shaking her head no.
Didn't want her residual energy back, huh?
So this was an outlet for her.
"Don't look," I muttered, turning around and taking a few steps back into the clearing. Ash still sifted thickly through the distilled air in front of me, hovering in an almost static, motionless cloud residing over the entire blast zone.
There was always a particular beauty in destruction. Whether it was watching something burn and glow in an ember hue, or watching stars fall from the sky and reflect over an ocean's waves, we always found an affinity in seeing the abnormal.
This wasn't any different.
Crimson dirt drifted and flowed around my knee as I lowered it to the ground, planting my hot hand into the dirt and tainted grass of the clearing to erode it all away.
Red embers flaked off the grass as a spreading, corrupting light flickered through the windblown blades around me. A trickle of light dripped from my arm, molten lines of coursing energy raining down the surface of my skin and through my fingertips as I drained what was still left of Scarlet's energy into the ground.
Letting it bore itself deep into the base of the obliterated mountain.
When I was done, I stood myself back up in my blackened circle, ash drifting with me as I took my steps back to the three just at the tree line.
"We need to get her back to Ly's," I said, bringing my eyes back to Ano's dipped head.
"Understood, but, is your means of travel… safe? Given how you travel, she's still sensitive to injury, and if there's a large amount of harsh movement..."
Safe? What modes of transportation weren't safe?
"I'm not running her back, if that's what you're asking," I replied, my own eyes tracing the woman's wings for a moment to see the way they fell like dead weights against the forest ground. "We'll walk back to the city, then get something with actual wheels to make this smoother."
"Thank you. Ah, one question before we depart."
"Why not ask it on the way?" I asked, moving over to where Inuba knelt in front of Ano to stop beside them.
"W-Well, I was going to ask if you'd like to carry her back instead of me doing so."
"I'll handle my partner," I said, leveling my eyes on the kitsune staring back at me. "You can carry Scarlet. Her legs are still too numb to walk on her own."
Besides, I almost gave her whiplash anyway just carrying her here. Inuba should at least weigh in and carry her for the return trip.
"Of course. I was going to release a few of my tails to carry them both back to leave you 'hands free', but this will do all the same," she said, flashing a smile.
Seriously? Why does that magic even exist…?
"Do whatever you want with your tails." I crouched down and slipped my arm beneath the sore bend of Ano's legs, finding perch just beneath her knees before slipping my other hand down to her back, between her wings.
The black appendages were too long not to keep them dragging along the ground, which wasn't going to help her injuries in the slightest.
So faded lines of lime green light began to trickle back over my glove and slip out into the feathers of her wings, working to build a network of a delicate exoskeleton just beneath their surface.
This was going to be a long walk.
"This scroll's not going to work…" Arex murmured to herself, disconnecting GHOST's anchor point for entry. She couldn't get through to the mainframe from here, which meant she couldn't use it to piggyback her way to the actual epicenter of the localized grid Sylvius had set up for his mansion.
She didn't know if it was because this scroll had a specific purpose or if Sylvius just knew where they'd be coming in. And she really hoped it wasn't the latter…
But either way, the scroll they found first only had access to the room they entered at. Its functionality stopped there.
Which meant they had to find a different console.
"There's another set of scroll tv's in the room down the hall to the left," Kyzal informed, Arex quietly pocketing the few devices she had to get GHOST into the system as she looked over.
The sniper was peering out into the hallway, which looked like it spanned both ways.
"Then we'll take her there and guard her if it has the access she needs," Yang replied, walking up to Kyzal at the door frame and peering out after him. "Oh…"
"Yeah. 'Oh'," Kyzal echoed, leaning back into the room to detach his scope from his rifle.
That… wasn't a good sign.
Gabriel was the first to share a glance with the dark sniper, walking past him and through the group to peer out into the hall.
"What are we looking at so far?" Bailey asked as the rest of her teammates followed behind her.
"Two contacts. Looks like a game room. Centralized billiards table, and from what I can tell, glass display cases bordering the walls. Oh, and the two are playing pool," he listed off, quietly pushing himself back toward the group from his lean out into the hall. "If those encasements start breaking, do mind the glass."
"If they break in the first place, anyway," Blake commented from the side.
"They'll probably break…" Ruby murmured.
When Arex glanced back, she noticed the cat faunus and their blue-haired TA wandering around the edges of the room they were currently holed up in.
It only had two doors. One leading back out into the gardens, the other bringing them further into the building. And comparing the room they were in to the digital layout Ray gave Arex, they weren't on the right path yet.
And Arex couldn't tell how many rooms away they were from the hallway Ray used to leave the building, which connected to the main door at its front. Their side room was a fair distance away from where the main hall likely resided.
"Hall to the right leads to an exterior window and some more interior side rooms," Kyzal informed again, pocketing his sniper's scope somewhere Arex was pretty sure wasn't that deep of a pocket.
Despite that, it still just kind of disappeared once it was out of sight.
"Which means we have to engage," Gabriel finished, leaning against the door frame now next to Yang, looking back at the rest of the clustered group. "Whenever you're ready to lead and tank, mister Experience."
He gave a small, ushering gesture and a tilt of the hat to Dante, before stepping away from the doorway and back into the group.
"Right… Human meatshield, coming right up..." the immortal said, taking a few steps forward. "Ciel, Leo, guard the entrance. No one in or out unless it's us and you know it's us."
"Got it." Ciel signaled with an "ok" before she and Leo took steps back towards the entrance.
Elisia and the others followed behind him, Arex tucking herself into the middle of the group with the TA being the only one to walk next to him.
"So handsome, we all know you're good for offense. What about defense? Got a few tricks up your sleeve?" she asked, slapping his back soft enough to avoid being heard.
His gaze glanced to her as they walked before facing forward again. "A few."
The group stayed quiet, more or less. At least, all the small sounds of movement they were making were muffled by the crack of pool balls at the center of the room they were approaching.
And with the addition of idle chatter coming from the two ahead, it was enough cover to get a little closer.
"Whoops. Sunk all my stripes again," a female voice spoke out, the quietest tap of a pool stick lowering down to the hardwood floor filtering down the hall.
That, and the sound of several rolling pool balls falling into pockets.
"What happened to 'no cheating', Saph?" The other voice was male, about the same age as the girl he was talking to.
And from the sound of it, Arex was pretty sure the two were around her age as well… or a little older, actually.
"Come on, I was just having a little fun," Saph replied, a series of quiet thuds slipping back out into the room coming soon after. "I'll rack."
"Sure, sure, but when I break, I don't want to feel any kind of breeze, alright?" the other stated, Arex coming to a quiet, slowing stop as the figure with the voice passed the entrance of the hall in front of them.
Moving himself around to the other end of the pool table.
"And if you don't, you'll be none the wiser," Saph spoke back in a teasing voice.
The two sounded like they've known each other for a while, given how familiarly they spoke. But the mentioning of a breeze caught Arex's attention.
It… honestly sounded like wind manipulation. Something an Affinity was able to do, if that girl had one.
"Okay, now don't break your stick this time," Saph teased with a laugh, the sound of her hanging up a wooden rack coming from the room now.
"No promises."
The harsh crack and scatter of pool balls echoed out into the room soon after, a couple getting sunk into one or two pockets before Arex caught sight of one of them skipping over the edge and bouncing across the floor.
"Shi-"
"I got it, I got it," Saph spoke up again, her steps following after it.
Arex just stopped with the rest of the group, her body immediately tensing as that ball bounced their way and quickly rolled to a stop at Dante's feet.
Saph's footfalls came to their own stop as the running girl caught sight of them just at the hallway entry to their room, shoulder length blonde hair and ruby eyes being the first identifiers Arex noticed from her.
That, and the way she didn't startle at the sight of them.
"Oh, the guests are here…" she muttered.
"Yep…" Dante spoke, kicking up the billiard into his hand. "We're here alright."
He tossed it back at the girl, a slim hand lifting to catch it before tossing it back onto the table.
"Onyx." The girl took a step back into the room to lay her pool stick down across a surface of black felt, glancing to her right just as the other teen came into view from the hallway.
Messy, chin-length black hair, and steel gray eyes. Aside from that, he was noticeably taller than the girl he was stepping up next to, but only by about half a foot.
"Ah, so we do," Onyx replied, his eyes calmly scanning over the teens halted in a small cluster down the hall. "Sorry to inform you, but the master of this house isn't letting in visitors today."
"We politely ask of you to turn around," Saph added, Arex noticing the way she scanned her eyes over the group around her.
She was counting them.
"Here's me asking you politely to not get in our way. The Master of the house is about to pay his dues. And I'd rather not waste energy making a mess along the way," Dante countered, crossing his arms.
Oh… good… he was antagonizing them.
"We've been asked to keep an eye on this wing," Saph replied, her eyes finding their way to meet with Dante's own, but Arex couldn't help but flinch when the girl's gaze lingered on her as it passed by. "So, we'll be in your way whether either of us like it or not."
"Don't waste too much energy on us either," Onyx added, his own eyes continuing to roam over the rest of the crowd. "He's expecting you to get through."
Dante brought up his sword and pointed it at the duo, black Aura clinging to his body. But after a brief moment, the Aura broke off from him like ash and vanished in the air as he relaxed himself, letting out a sigh.
"You almost made me jump the gun just to get by you. Knowing how meticulous your 'master' is, I'm betting he would have liked that," he said as he crossed his arms again. "Don't stand in our way. I won't ask a third time."
"And we've already asked you to leave. But seeing as you haven't," Saph replied, lifting her hand as she took a step back behind her black-haired partner. "I'm afraid we'll have to make you."
"That's too bad…" Dante said. "Well boss, what do you want me to do?"
Arex froze up, those words getting directed at her as she flinched a little in the middle of the group.
Saph's red eyes turned her way from the room ahead of them as she positioned herself behind her partner. "Oh, so that's her…"
Onyx's own eyes flicked to the phoenix after the comment, peering past Dante. "She's… smaller than I thought she'd be."
"Ignore them. Arex… How do you want to do this? Immobilize them? Or… get through them by any means?" Dante asked seriously.
"I'd say separate them," Kyzal spoke up instead, glancing down to Arex for a moment before lifting the barrel of his gun to align it with Saph's head. "But I just make callouts. Not the plans."
"The question still stands… How do you want us to get through? Down for the count? Or done for good? One takes more time, the other gets us through quicker," Dante asked once more.
"I say knock them out," Ruby voiced now, being the one to stand closest to Arex's side as she noticed the girl's unsure silence.
"I'd rather we not kill them," Weiss added now too.
"I-I'm with them…" Arex finally mustered the will to say, shying a little further away as Onyx and Saph took note of her voice.
"She really isn't much, is she…?" Saph asked to herself, watching the 'leader' of the group stutter. "But kind of cute."
Dante's gaze slipped away from Arex now to look at the two in their way. "Oh, I wouldn't go underestimating her so easily. Sure, she's a bit awkward, but she packs one hell of a punch when she means to. So don't piss her of."
P-Please don't say that… Arex just shrunk even more now, noticing the intrigue in Saph's eyes.
"Well, she's the only one with a free pass from the head seat here," Onyx stated. "To be 'escorted and unscathed' were the words he used. So, Saph, be sure not to hurt her."
"Got it." Saph's intrigue didn't so much as falter the more Arex felt the girl's stare trace over her tensed up frame.
"Getting to her means getting through me and the rest of us. And trust me…" Dante said as he pointed his sword to them, "that's not going to happen."
"I suppose we have no choice then," Saph replied, and Arex immediately began to feel a soft breeze flutter through her hair.
It was unnatural enough to notice, despite how faint the shift was. Being with Kit for however long they've already been together for meant she was getting more acute at noticing shifts in air flow. But that caressing wind rapidly turned into a surging gale, the air from outside ripping down the corridor and transforming it into a violent wind tunnel.
The footing Arex had with the floor went from awkwardly iffy to zero in the matter of a second as the window behind them was forced open.
Her light weight would've been thrown back too as soon as the gale started, if it weren't for a pillar of black, glossy stone rising from the wood just behind her to stop her from sliding.
The rest of the girls around her didn't exactly have the whole 'less dense' problem Arex did, so RWBY and LMKN managed to keep their footing in varying ways once they felt it falter.
That quickly lead to several of the floorboards beneath them suffering from a collection of embedded, sharp weapons.
More unfamiliar black stone swept across the floor and manifested up into another pillar close to Arex's front, blocking her off from the wind still forcing her back against the pillar behind her. And before she could move, the rest of the hallway suddenly vanished behind encroaching walls as that stone around her built into a sealed encasement.
"A-Arex!"
And then the floor gave way beneath her, forcing a startled yelp out of her throat as she fell.
"She out?" Saph asked over the wind.
Onyx subtly closed his hand, veins of black stone connecting his fingertips to the polished wood floor at his feet. "She's out."
"Good. Light the rest up."
The black stone spread from his sneakers to encompass the rest of the floor around him. And through the wind, the room just behind him grew slowly encased in a crystalline-looking layer of obsidian.
Then as the wind picked up, spiked shards grew out of every surface of the room and broke away, throwing themselves into the gale storming down the hall.
"Ruby! Take your team and go after Arex! Bailey go with them! You'll be able to help them out better," Dante called out, extending a hand forward as shards of black shot like a maelstrom down the hall toward them.
"Got it!" "Understood."
Numerous white and black colored Aura Swords rapidly generated at their front to counter and pierce through the shards of obsidian hail flying their way. But the hail surged in quantity and speed as the wind picked up, forcing a continuous volley to graze past him and hurtle toward the group just behind.
Another hand immediately shot out toward them just as Yang punched a hole through the floor at her feet. A barrier of numerous tightly knit white and black hexagons formed together to defend against the onslaught, each shard breaking against the shield like droplets of frozen rain while his short lapse of attention shattered a couple extra shards against his arm and chest.
By the time he turned back to the two in front of him, the team he assigned had already leapt down to the floor below.
"Well well… Looks like I'll get to have some fun after all…" Dante commented before dropping the barrier.
"Seems like it," Saph's voice replied through the wind. "It's funny though, how you thought we'd have to go through you to get to her."
Dante cocked a smirk behind his shield. "You're up here with us, she's down there with good company. I'd say you just about screwed yourselves in a sense."
"You're right," Onyx replied this time, the black stone engulfing the room around him beginning to spread down the hallway. "She's in very good company."
Another flex of his hand brought more spikes out of the spreading obsidian, cutting through the wind this time to lurch forward from the sides of the group.
All while swords and shards continued to clash at their front.
A massive double edged sword larger than its wielder blurred in to match one side of that attack beside Dante, intervening and easily walling off the new hail of incoming shards. The black sword was also almost as wide as its wielder, Nori, which allowed the ultra greatsword to be used as a shield against the projectiles.
The massive sword had no crossguard, and a single large bolt held the blade and hilt together.
Dante's other side was quickly blocked by the rapid spin of an expanded staff, small bursts of vibrant purple energy erupting from where each shard connected with the silver weapon violently spinning in Gabriel's hands.
"Left your side open buddy!" Nori commented as he plunged his massive sword into the ground and leaned into it to push back against the wind and hail.
"I figured you had it covered!" Dante told him as he kept projecting sword after sword to counter the shards.
Gabriel grunted as he kept an unnatural footing in the raging atmosphere. "Dangerous gamble to take, Dante."
"If you can make an opening in the wind, I can take a shot at Saph," Kyzal spoke out calmly, keeping his back to Gabriel's to let his partner handle the wind while he kept his scopeless sniper tucked against his shoulder, barrel down for now.
He'd been waiting for an opening in the wind, some sort of fluctuation, but none had come up yet.
"Nori, you got this one?!" Dante asked.
Nori cracked a smile. "Hell yeah brother! Just give me something to work with!"
Dante brought up both hands as they quickly became layered in black, twisted segmented armor, forming claw like fingers. Oddly enough, the minor transformation allowed more swords to be formed at a much faster rate. With that, he shifted most of his defensive focus over to Nori's side to prevent the hail from harming him.
With some freedom, the monk-like Nori quickly raised up his sword and brought it behind him, letting out a loud bellow as he swung. The force of his explosive swing traveled outwards to counteract the gale of obsidian and wind, creating something of a small cut within the barrier of rushing air and jagged stone.
Kyzal had his opening, snapping his barrel over Gabriel's shoulder.
In the silence of that spliced wind, the sniper threaded a bullet through the opening slit. And the loud, echoing sound of metal puncturing skin ripped through the air before a bodily thud silenced the violent torrent of projectiles.
"Saph!"
The breaking of shards stopped soon after, and with visibility coming back, Kyzal took another shot at the girl clutching her bleeding shoulder on the floor.
Only for the bullet to drill to a stop against a rising wall of black stone to keep it from meeting its target.
"Glad you didn't aim for the head there," Gabriel commented, reaching a hand out to lower Kyzal's barrel.
"So is he," the sniper replied. "An Aura of air doesn't do much against bullets."
"You two gonna stay and fight, or what?" Dante asked.
"You saying you need help with this?" Gabriel asked, glancing forward for a moment to see the last of the room ahead of them seal away behind a spanning black wall.
Completely blocking the hallway off.
"No… But dude, what could you possibly need to do right now that's more important than this?" Dante asked, finally lowering his hands as he faced Gabriel.
"We're going to clear a path for Arex's group to make its way back up to this level," Kyzal replied, voice almost deadpanned in its casual demeanor. "In other words, we're going ahead."
"That's… Actually a good idea… Don't get yourselves killed," Dante told them. "As for the rest of us, we're going to bulldoze through them. Clear out what we can until we get to the main hall."
"What will we do about the two of them?" asked Musashi.
Dante rubbed the back of his head, thinking momentarily about what to do.
"Alrighty… We'll split them up. Fighting them together won't do us any good. Not with how well they synergize." He then turned to the dragon faunus and asked her something. "Your Semblance works like you said it does Musashi?"
"Of course it does. But from what I've described to you, it's but one of five different sequences."
"Doesn't matter, so long as it works. You, Kaliel and Nori take on Mr Obsidian. We'll take the other one." Dante said as Elisia stepped up next to him.
"Considering Saph's Aura isn't hard enough to absorb my rounds, you'll all be through in a few minutes," Kyzal replied, his eyes still taking in the integrity of the wall ahead of them.
"I think a big sword should do the trick, no?" Gabriel asked, flicking his hat up for a moment to look over at Nori.
"Righto. Crushed rock...!" Nori met Gabriel's gaze before taking his weapon up and dashing at the wall. "Coming right up!"
With another quick and powerful swing, Nori swung his ultra greatsword into the wall of obsidian, shattering it entirely.
"Thank you, Nori," Gabriel stated, reaching up to give a small dip of the hat as he followed after Kyzal through the shattering wall.
The broken rock cascading into the room clattered to the floor in a scattering mess as the two made their way in, Saph managing to get up onto her feet by then just as Kyzal darted by.
"Excuse us!" Gabriel called out as he passed them, flashing Saph a wink before holding up a cluster of three cards and whipping them into the ground, a blinding flash of white light erupting from where they hit.
Then they were gone.
"Let them go," Onyx muttered, standing next to Saph after helping her to her feet. The effects of the ringing flashbang fading. "They have the others to deal with."
"Yeah, yeah… I just want to know how he knew," Saph replied, steadying herself as the crumbling obsidian wall ahead of them fell away, her gaze still lingering on where the dark sniper's form ran through.
"He didn't. It was probably a lucky shot," Onyx replied flatly, reaching behind him to pick up his pool stick and reinforce it with his obsidian.
"I wouldn't underestimate Kyzal as to sum that up to luck. He's got a keener eye than you realize," Dante spoke as he stepped up with the others.
"More like a cheat," Saph cut back, placing her hand on the pool table behind her before slamming it forward and over her head in a sudden up draft; firing it at the ones coming through.
Just behind it, Onyx spiralled together and shot a razor-tipped spear through the center of the wooden table, knowing Dante's chest was just on the other side of that precise point.
But amidst the seamless maneuver, Onyx saw something utterly bone chilling.
Dante was smiling. It wasn't an ordinary smile either, but a twisted one, like something a demon would possess upon staring down at its helpless prey. His hand, still cloaked in that shadowy, twisted armor, grabbed the spear out of the air, twisted around and tossed it right back at Onyx, faster than it had been sent originally.
A blast of air pushed Onyx's own chest out of the way of the projectile, letting it pierce straight through the reinforced wall behind him and into the next room over.
"I'm not liking this, Onyx," Saph quietly said, watching as the airborne billiards table split in two from a central cut from Nori and crashed to the floor in halves.
Onyx used his makeshift staff to cut into the floor and regain his balance, instinctively making his way back to Saph's side. "Neither do I."
Musashi and Dante took the lead, readying themselves to move in the next few moments.
"Remember the plan?" Dante asked.
"Of course," Musashi replied. "Who do you think I am?"
"Right…" Dante said, twirling his blade twice. "You two are lucky my boss handicapped me. Otherwise we'd be through already."
"What, you mean the cute one?" Saph asked, giving him a challenging and incredulous look. The bullet wound in her shoulder was gone, but the hole in her blouse stayed. "She doesn't look like the type to bark orders. So I'm surprised you're so adamant about her."
"Fact is she asked me to do this for her. As such, it's my duty to help her any way I'm able to," Dante said. "Even if it's me doing all the barking. She's got something more important to focus on than you bozos."
"Of course she does," Onyx replied instead, glancing over to see an awkward grimace crossing over Saph's features. "Saph, he didn't mean it the way you're thinking."
"She does seem to be a bit of a sub…" the girl murmured under her breath.
"Yeah, but that's not what he meant," Onyx reaffirmed, stepping in front of the girl now as the obsidian from the floor quickly swept over his legs and covered his body in armor.
"Ooooo! Twinkly! My favorite! Unfortunately big guy, you won't be getting the honor of being crushed by me," Dante started as he crossed his arms with a smile, nodding to his side. "She'll crush you though."
Without warning, Musashi surged forward past Dante and grabbed Onyx by the face, moving past Saph and tossing him towards the opposite side of the room, where Nori and Kaliel followed.
Saph went to move, but a light tap of a foot was heard and a wall of ice erupted between her and the other side of the game room, where the billiards table used to be. It cut her off from Onyx, leaving the girl with only Dante and Elisia.
"So, handsome, you want dibs on this one?" the rabbit eared TA asked.
Dante shook his head. "Oh no, not this time."
"Eh?! Why not?!"
Saph immediately tried to break through the ice as the two argued, driving her hand against the wall to try to crack it with a surge of wind.
But the only thing she managed to do was bruise her palm.
"Because you've seen what I can do plenty of times. It's my turn to see more of what you're made of," Dante replied.
"Oh, so you're that eager? Dinner first at least before we get to the good stuff," Elisia said with a coy smile.
"Oh my god, just please stop flirting…" Saph groaned, yanking another pool stick her way with a dash of wind as she took a step away from the dividing wall of ice. "You're bad at it."
"Of course he is. He's a little dense after all," Elisia said.
"I was talking about both of you," Saph stated.
"Meh… I think I'll take her afterall handsome. Watch closely now~" the blue-haired faunus said in a sing songy voice as she poked him in the cheek, letting out a cloud of glittering ice from her fingertip. "Alright youngster, let's see what you got."
Arex's sneakers hit the black stone-tiled floor first, landing with a soft tap as she tried her best to kill the momentum with what little prep she actually had.
The lights in the room she dropped into were dim, half the lighting as the floor above and without any natural lighting from windows either.
She would've thought it was some sort of wine storage, given how the wall she glanced to first was lined with bottles of it. But as she snapped her gaze around with her risen heartbeat, she noticed a polished bar counter rounding around the corner behind her, and an open floor in front of her.
A collection of single and double couches were scattered about, but in the middle of them was an open, almost glass-like floor. What looked like Dust-powered LED panels sat nestled just beneath it.
Her heart rate finally began to calm down as she noticed how alone she was in the room, which meant no one was waiting for her. And as she caught sight of a DJ booth connected to the adjacent wall, the harsh, crumbling sound of the ceiling nearby opening up startled her again and she jumped away from it.
Only for Yang to land with a crouch, blonde hair streaking slightly with a fiery, yellow glow as the girl's eyes flicked to her.
"You alright?"
The blonde quickly stepped aside, worriedly glancing to Arex for a moment before looking up at the hole she made and catching a certain falling Ruby out of it, scythe clattering to the ground.
"Whew, it was like an ice storm up there, but sideways!" The young girl quickly scrambled out of her sister's grasp just as Arex collected herself, realizing Yang was still glancing her way.
"Yeah, just didn't expect to be singled out, is all," the phoenix replied, three more sets of feet softly hitting the ground.
It was kind of characterizing to hear, actually, for Arex. The first was an obvious click of heeled boots, which meant Weiss came down too.
The next two were the softest to fall, almost invisible in sound.
When Arex glanced over, she caught sight of Blake and Bailey standing up from their drop. One floating AI following after them as he lowered down to Bailey's blindfolded side.
"Would've thought they'd have someone waiting down here for you," Blake commented, stepping slightly away from the small group and into the room as she scanned a pair of amber eyes around the area. "Anything invisible?"
"Analyzing…" SOL spoke up as he floated over the dance floor and quickly scanned over the premises. "Enemy units above us engaged in combat with the remaining Beacon Academy students. No current enemies residing within this section."
Well, that was relieving.
This section didn't seem to mirror the room sizes or shapes of the floor above. It was a fairly large, open area spanning back pretty far before walling off at two double doors. Leaving plenty of space for the dance floor.
"Proposal: Beacon Academy student Arex should make use of the server room 25 meters ahead of us," SOL stated as he floated in front of Arex.
Arex followed the way SOL moved with her eyes for a moment before glancing to Bailey, giving her a curious look. "He can pick up things that hide from scanners, right?"
"He can. SOL isn't only just a support model, but a scanner model as well. He's very useful in detecting or seeking out enemies, allies, or resources needed for a mission," Bailey stated.
"Right…" Arex murmured, wondering how the AI distinguished what it meant for something to be a 'resource' as she looked ahead of them again.
Blake was already making her way to the set of doors ahead, Yang absently following after her partner.
Weiss, Ruby, and Bailey stayed closest to her.
"I'm just going to state what we're all probably thinking, but getting to the server room can't be this easy," Weiss spoke up, catching Arex's attention as the heiress's own eyes gazed ahead of them.
"Not unless he doesn't care if we find it," Blake commented back, placing a hand on the door just ahead.
"Hypothesis: Sylvius Maestro is intentionally allowing us access to server room. Unknown if there are security measures in place within the room itself," SOL stated.
"So… he wants us to access it?" Ruby asked, folding her weapon away. "Kind of sounds like a trap."
"SOL, can you tell if this is the only server room in the manor?" Arex asked, starting to make her way forward too as everyone caught up to Blake and Yang at the door.
"Scanning… No other servers found within the manor."
"And you're certain about that?" Weiss asked.
"Affirmative," the floating unit answered.
"Well, if it is a trap, it's a very… odd one," the heiress said, the five of them getting a glimpse of a hallway as Yang slowly pulled one of the twin doors open.
"Considering he's giving us whatever's on his servers and letting GHOST in, yeah, I'd say that's 'odd'," Blake replied, calmly stepping into the corridor.
The furnishing moving forward at least matched the floors above now. Red carpet, dark wood floor beneath, gold and white colors for the walls, and white wooden doors occasionally nestled in intricate framework as the hallway extended forward.
"It just… seems to be a hefty sacrifice for him," Weiss replied, helping Blake check the rooms they passed as they went.
Whatever glimpses Arex could catch, the adjacent rooms seemed to house either libraries, lounges, or dedicated game rooms.
One of which had another pool table inside.
"Hefty, but it might not contain everything," Arex spoke up this time. Judging by the scan from earlier, it was starting to look like the server room was behind the double doors at the end of the hall.
A literal straight path to their destination.
"Well, he is one of the smartest and wealthiest individuals in the kingdom," the heiress said, her own gaze meeting Arex's for a moment before returning to the doors they were passing. "I can't say I'm not curious what he has stored away."
"Whatever the case, we're getting Arex to that server room then we're all finding our way back up to the main floor," Yang said, glancing back from where she walked ahead of the phoenix and the two beside her.
"Yeah, we still have that map to go by too," Ruby added on, glancing down to Arex's pocket. "We just need to find the main hall. The others should make it there too."
"That's if either of our groups don't run into anymore Affinity users," Arex replied softly. Her gaze turned uncertain as she thought about what that entailed.
Sylvius knew about Affinities, and he was finding people who possessed them. Onyx and Saph upstairs were the first two they ran into, and both of them had some sort of elemental prowess.
There was a high chance the rest of the opposition here was going to be the same.
But what sparked Arex's curiosity and concern the most was what he must have on Affinity users in his servers. And… whether or not he knew Arex had one too, considering he could find them and collect them like this.
On top of that, Arex's mind kept jumping to how and when Sylvius entered Kitsuki's life. It had to be early on. Far before Beacon.
He knew about her Affinity, and mentally scarred her too.
Arex just… wished she knew how long Kit had been hiding from him for. Or if she managed to get away from him at all…
"Definitely a server room," Yang spoke up from just ahead of her, the quiet swing of a door filtering into the hallway as the blonde peered into the room at the end of the hall.
The intricate walls of the area quietly bounced Yang's voice around as Blake moved through the door, hand held over her shoulder. Her fingers tightly grasped the handle of her weapon as she slowly stepped inside to look around.
From where Arex stood, she could only pay attention to the cat faunus's facial expressions as the girl scanned the inside.
"It's clear," Blake quietly voiced, stepping back again to open the other double door leading in. "No mechanical defenses either, from what I can tell."
"Oh, good. No turrets… or robots…" Ruby whispered, but Arex caught the tiniest twinge of distraught in her tone.
She probably wanted to see something cool.
"Assuming there's nothing in the software, that is," Arex said, keeping her voice soft as she moved past Ruby and stepped between Blake and Yang. Bailey had stepped inside already with SOL, while Weiss and Ruby followed just after Arex went in.
"I would assume that device Ray gave you needs a main console?" the heiress asked, Arex's step faltering for a moment as Weiss reminded her of it.
"R-Right, yeah, it does…" she murmured back.
Arex's eyes traced over clean bundles of wires threading over the walls and down corners, glowing with a faint luminescent pulse of golden light every few seconds. A quiet hum filtered into her ears the further she stepped in, dropping down a stair or two to make it to a console in the middle of three walls of hard drives.
The entire room was bathed in that golden glow.
It all reminded her of the digital archives back at Beacon and the CCT. Just towering walls and columns of hardware, humming and glowing softly in little lights.
What one man had that needed this much digital space, though… was something she was a little curious to look into. But that was a job for GHOST, once she got here fully.
A mildly shaking hand quickly reached back into her pocket and pulled out her scroll, opening the screen to let GHOST's limited form text her while she worked to open one of the panels beneath the console.
'Find a compatible port to plug the tether into. It'll do all the rest.' The AI's fragment instructed her clearly.
Sounded easy enough, she guessed. Arex gently placed the panel she peeled away onto the ground and knelt down onto the floor, ducking under the console to brush around internal wiring to see one of the motherboards.
Pulsing light gleamed across the circuitry above her, something that really confused her. This kind of electrical flow was never really visible, but everything inside this server room seemed to be amplified in some way.
The insulation in the wires she noticed earlier was thicker than normal, too. But even that didn't contain whatever was pulsing through each bundle.
"Found something that might work," Arex murmured, reaching up to move her scroll down to lie next to her as she pinned a cluster of wires to the side. A static tingle seeped into her hand from the contact, almost numbing in its trickling touch.
But it only reminded her of the feeling her body underwent when Sylvius took Kitsuki on that sidewalk.
This energy was his, somehow.
The girl put a little more pressure into keeping those wires aside as she picked up and lifted the tether's port to the board, gingerly lining it up before connecting it to the console's system.
Nothing happened, not for a few seconds before a small holographic panel flickered to life.
'Establishing connection…'
It remained that way for a couple of moments before the message changed, bringing with it a small electronic tune and a glimmer of hope.
'Connection established.'
"Is it stable, though?" Arex wondered, looking down at her scroll before crawling out from under the console. She quickly picked herself up and brushed herself off, leaning down again to peer at the tether and the rest of the console.
With the field up that Sylvius had surrounding the place, Arex was worried GHOST's connection might get compromised over time.
It locked out electrical signals and transfer of data. This tether had to be strong enough to counteract that.
Before Arex suspected nothing was able to penetrate the dead-zone, the lights in the room suddenly dimmed, rapidly changed color from left to right and shining with a bright blue instead of gold.
And as it did, small, holographic cyan embers fell from the ceiling beside Arex and froze before gravitating toward one another and exploding into a blinding flash.
When it died down, the feminine form of GHOST was standing there fully-sized. Her figure sporting the same dimensions as her physical body back at the Vault.
"About time," the AI's voice spoke calmly. "I was beginning to fear the worst had happened to you all."
"Well… not yet, anyway," Arex replied. GHOST's calm voice acted as a startling reminder of how fast Arex's heart was still beating in her chest, despite the calmness of the last few minutes in the lower level of the mansion.
Everything just felt so… tense. She felt tense.
It was all out of her comfort zone.
"You all see the glowy girl too… right?"
Ruby's non discrete whisper pulled Arex's attention for a moment, but she could only offer a small smile to the girl looking dumbfoundedly at GHOST's digital form.
"Seems like Arex has been holding out on us," Yang said, Ruby's elbow still anxiously bumping at her side as the short girl stared widely at Arex and GHOST. "We should probably bother her more often. See what else she has."
Please don't…
"Arex, I'm sorry I haven't been much help to you at this point, despite my best efforts. I've been faced with a barrier that's more of a physical limitation than a digital one," GHOST said, an apologetic tone matching the expression she held. "I can sense all your devices, but they're just out of my reach."
"I-It's fine," Arex replied quickly, bringing her gaze back to the AI. "This whole place is off the grid. There's nothing you can do about that unless we get you in… I'm sorry that took so long."
The AI waved her off, giving her a small smile as she did so. "That's not your fault. Accessing this mansion's camera system has shown me what kind of threats you've faced, and what you have yet to deal with. The eastern wing is littered with unconscious guards. Was that you?"
"That would likely be the team above," Weiss responded, stepping her way over to Arex's side to be the first to take a closer look at the AI. Though, she was reacting fairly calmly to the presence and image of it.
"It comes as no surprise to me that Renegades' latter half is the cause of all that mess. They're currently making their way to a stairwell that leads to this level now," GHOST commented lightly, flashing a wider grin.
"Wait. Just Kyzal and Gabriel?" Yang asked, holding up her hand for a moment to stop the AI. "Did they run into anymore of those element people?"
The AI nodded in response. "They have a knack for this from what I can tell, but I can't see any obvious Affinity users amongst the guards."
"Okay, that I can believe just fine." The blonde lowered her hand with a satisfied smile and gestured for the AI to continue what she was doing.
GHOST turned to the wall of hard drives next to them, eyeing it critically before gesturing to it curiously. "I'm assuming this is what you brought me here for?"
"I… guess so. Ray wanted me to hook you into the system while I'm here, maybe shut it down from the inside and steal a few things," Arex replied, still giving Yang a concerned glance from what she mentioned beforehand.
"From what we've gathered, Sylvius has a lot of information on Affinity users and their elements," Weiss said. The heiress lifted her hand and slowly lowered the curiously reaching one of her partner beside her, Ruby trying to discreetly touch GHOST's hologram. "I would be lying if I wasn't curious as to what that information may involve as well."
GHOST gave the phoenix a half glance before her grin widened a little further. "Ray asked you to bring me here for more than that. I know what he's after, and it's more than just a little information..."
Arex's head tilted in confusion at that. She'd been scatterbrained ever since Kit was taken, and thinking too intuitively was… uncomfortably hard right now.
Her prying into the console was just muscle memory and familiarity.
GHOST brought her left hand to the center of her chest and pushed it though. When she pulled it out again, two distinctly different embers were resting in her palm, one burning with a very angry red hue, and the other glistening with a light, amber glimmer.
She held them in her palm before cupping them with her other, free hand.
"We're taking everything," the AI stated adamantly, "and leaving him with nothing."
Arex's figure jolted for a moment in that realization before she made a startled, "o-oh…"
"Taking it all would likely fill in a lot of blanks about what he's been up to," Blake said, moving to appear at Arex's other side to look at the two differently glowing embers GHOST pulled out.
"By 'nothing', does that mean we get to punch a bunch of things on our way out?" Yang asked, an excitedly blunt voice taking over. "And I'm not talking just faces here."
"Your records tell me that I don't need to give you an answer to that, Miss Xiao Long," GHOST replied as she sported a slight smirk. "Smash everything."
Ruby squeaked a little. "She has your records…"
Yang, on the other hand, just looked sickeningly happy, and almost prideful.
GHOST brought her cupped hands to her mouth and whispered to the embers, before opening her fingers and letting them fall to the floor.
The second they touched the dark stoned tiles, the orange and red glows both bursted into two copies of GHOST, each possessing a radically different style to her main form.
"Arex, I'd like to introduce you to the protocols that you haven't met yet," the central GHOST said confidently as the two clones stood beside her.
Right. GHOST mentioned all her protocols when they first talked.
It was one of the few things Arex could probably recall clearly right now.
"H-Harbinger and…" Arex looked to the orange one with the first name in her mind then looked to the red one, hesitating and trailing off when the copy turned to her with a sinister smile. There was a devilish gleam to the AI's eyes, and it almost made Arex forget the name of the protocol. "Ordinance."
GHOST turned to her orange clone and looked her dead in the eyes before muttering a single command. "Clear it out. Extract everything."
The clone simply nodded before placing a hand on the wall of drives and dove inside.
The entire room suddenly pulsed with the same burning citrine glow the protocol adorned, causing some of the circuits in the server room to sputter and spark as the clone went to work cleaning all of Sylvius Maestro's files.
GHOST then turned to her other protocol, the crimson girl staring maliciously at the wall in an excited, yet intimidating posture.
The order that GHOST gave Ordinance was far more sadistic than what she gave Harbinger.
"Once it's done, break it," the AI coldly muttered. "All of it has to go… so do your worst."
"I wanna help." Yang's arm shot up to volunteer herself, the flash of her golden gauntlet catching most of the attention around her anyway.
GHOST turned to Yang just as Ordinance dove into the system behind her, eyeing her with an amused gaze. "I can make sure these systems cease to function, but you can keep them that way."
Yang just smiled at that and lowered her arm, crushing her fists together with a crack. Something that brought a wince out of Arex nearby. "Just let me know when, Glowy."
"Oh, and girls? Once we're all done with this, I've detected a couple of machines stopping me from accessing this place permanently. They're generators of some sort to keep the deadzone live," GHOST commented informatively. "I can give you an updated map that'll lead you to them, and if you take them out for me, I can help in more ways than this."
Yang's smirk only grew wider as Blake's eyes rolled, knowing the blonde was already hooked. From what Arex could see, the girl really didn't need to be told twice.
"We can handle that," Ruby said, speaking for the first time since GHOST's full form showed up. She'd been speechless since then. "How many machines?"
"Four, Ruby," Weiss answered for her. "If you had checked your map, you would have been able to count them for yourself."
"It looks like they're spaced out evenly in the four cardinal directions of the manor," Blake added as well, eyes focused on her own scroll.
"Right, well…" Ruby shrunk a little, but Arex noticed a confident smile take its place on her face to push out the awkwardness from before. "Perfect for the four of us while Arex and Bailey do their thing getting to Kitsuki."
Arex watched Ruby's eyes flick over to SOL floating nearby just as the robot turned to her, realization passing through her gaze.
"Right right, sorry. I forgot. You too, SOL," Ruby quickly added, giving the floating robot an apologetic wave of her hands and a friendly smile.
"Acknowledged."
GHOST was pretty impressive, Arex had to admit. So it wasn't too weird to see Ruby's attention so narrowly focused.
The phoenix was actually a little glad to see how awkward Ruby was being. The girl was a leader, but she still acted in this kind of childish way despite it.
It made her feel a little better about the scattered, anxious way she'd been acting from the start.
Arex gently plucked the blinking tether out of the server room console. A stark contrast to the crushing, smashing, and blazing that happened just a moment ago.
Courtesy of Yang and one angry red GHOST protocol.
"We'll take care of the generators. So don't worry about them," Ruby reaffirmed, stepping up to Arex as the girl straightened up. "And also don't worry about us getting split up either. We're sticking together."
The phoenix slowly nodded to that, glad she didn't need to ask the reaper what her inter-team plans were. "Just… be careful. If you run into anymore Affinity users, try to take things slow. I don't know how many Sylvius has here," Arex warned.
"Oh, I'm kind of hoping we run into a few," Yang said, wading her way through a broken shelf of crumpled, smoking hardware to shake off her gauntlets. "After seeing what they can do upstairs, I want to have a go with the next set."
"That's if we run into any." Blake stepped in now too, Arex busily pocketing the tether she used to get GHOST temporarily into the system. When she finished, she looked up to a set of amber eyes glancing to her.
But they turned away as soon as she noticed.
"We can assume Sylvius has his more important machinery guarded. However, in the event they're not, it'll make our job quicker to resolve." Weiss stood with Bailey off to the side, the two of them looking toward the door they came from.
If there was a stairway back up to the main floor, it was linked with that hallway they started from. That was their way up to regroup with the others.
"Update: Detecting a significant increase in the quantity of unconscious guards as we ascend." SOL's voice stated. Arex noticed a small nod come from Bailey in return to the information, but couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking.
She'd been with them ever since going below the first floor, but hadn't really said much.
The stairs were polished darkwood, keeping to the theme of the rest of the manor. And as they made their way upstairs and out into another recreational room, Arex's eyes immediately fell to the floor as she stepped over a scattered mess of glass shards.
Her light footing kept her from stepping on any of the pieces and breaking any, but the gritting sound of boots crushing glass into the wooden floor quickly followed as soon as Yang stepped out of the stairwell.
"Looks like a tornado blew through here…" Yang commented amusedly.
Black-armored guards like the ones out front lay in unconscious heaps across the floor of the room they just entered. Several of them were folded over the ornate furniture strewn about the room, but some of them lay half-smashed through glass display cases lining the walls.
Arex would've mistook the area for part of a museum, if she didn't already know where she was. And if the squads of unconscious men weren't thrown through the displays.
Kyzal and Gabriel really cleared the path for them...
"I almost feel bad for the damage done to his priceless artifacts," Weiss said, brushing aside a few stray glass shards with the tip of her heeled boot to get to one of the broken encasements.
"Almost," Arex commented quietly, catching the one keyword Weiss used as the heiress inspected a wooden idle resting with the shards of glass.
"Okay. Bailey, right?" Ruby spoke up, stepping ahead of the small group as she turned on her heel. With the way paved clear of armed enemies, for now, Arex straightened up a little as Ruby aimed her gaze at the rest of the group.
Thankfully, it was mainly at the blindfolded girl to Arex's right. Ruby looked like she was just about to get serious. If she wasn't already.
"That is correct, Ruby Rose. Do you need something?" she responded plainly.
"Yeah. There's a generator a few rooms over from here. If we follow the map, we can work through the mansion clockwise and take them all out," Ruby stated firmly, holding up her scroll to show off the map. "Can you look after Arex?"
Do I really seem that helpless…? Arex straightened up just that little bit more in her rigidness, turning her gaze away from Ruby now to look around the room again.
Part of her was glad Ruby was worried, though. Arex wasn't actually sure she'd be much of a presence in a fight… so maybe the comment was warranted. That didn't stop it from being a bit of a wakeup call, though.
"Of course. My intention was to keep watch of her and assist her as needed."
Arex did her best to suppress a sigh.
"J-Just get going," she offered up, albeit tinily. The phoenix didn't have the confident voice Ruby had, but the girl seemed like she heard it easily either way. Arex was pretty sure Ruby was waiting for her to say something anyway. "The sooner your team can get the field down, the sooner GHOST can get some leverage in this area. Just be careful. Bailey and I can find Dante's team again and make our way to Kit," she reasoned.
"You be careful too," Ruby said. The cockiest little smile formed on the reaper's face as she voiced that, and Arex was a little envious of how confident the girl seemed to be. Whether it was in her own ability, or just her team as a whole.
It was noticeable, in that startling, respectful kind of way.
"We'll make our way to you as soon as we're done," Blake promised, Arex glancing to the raven-haired girl for just a second before she watched Ruby's team cross to the other side of the room.
Yang didn't miss the opportunity to wave and wink, though, just before she was out of sight.
Arex was actually thankful she held back any embarrassing comments before disappearing. Which was a little out of character for her, as far as the phoenix knew. But knowing how tense Arex must've looked… it was probably for the better to leave them unsaid.
"SOL, transfer shared administrative rights and privileges to Arex for the time being," Bailey's voice ordered. "Should we separate for any reason, you are to go with her and provide her support."
The blindfolded girl's comment quickly brought Arex out of her thought-filled daze as her gaze snapped to Bailey beside her.
"Acknowledged," the little machine replied, catching Arex's attention too with a startled snap before she watched him float toward her and hover just over her shoulder.
"A-Are you s-sure about him coming with me?" Arex asked, her voice soft but pressing. "I don't even know what he can do, aside from his scanning capabilities."
Bailey seemed to nod. "I'm certain. Simply Leonard's brother instructed me to keep watch of you as the only other combatant capable of keeping you completely safe should we separate from the main group."
Simply… Leonard?
"And should the two of us separate, SOL is perfectly capable of supporting you with both offensive and defensive maneuvers, and will allow me to keep track of you as you go in order to regroup. As it stands, your safety and your partner's safety are of the highest priority at the moment," Bailey listed off.
Arex was a little put off by how casually she delivered all that information, almost like this was her job. And Dante was paying her to keep an eye on the phoenix.
With how seriously they seemed to take favors, Arex really wouldn't put it past them to take something like this as if it was a job.
She was… actually thankful, for that.
"R-Right…" Arex took a small breath, trying to catch and recall most of what Bailey said in her little moment of silence. It didn't do much for her. "Thank you, I guess. W-We should go find Dante's group…"
Kyzal and Gabriel were off doing their own thing, so regrouping with Dante and moving forward was the next step. The only one she could see, at least.
"Beacon Academy Student Dante located 72 meters ahead of us. Scanning… Conflict is present," SOL informed, floating just ahead of Arex as she glanced to the door opposite the one RWBY took.
"Conflict?" Arex's voice was still soft, but she was glad it didn't sound as lost as it did before. She was having trouble with keeping it even.
"Are they engaged with the enemy?" Bailey asked.
"Negative."
"Then what's the issue?"
Arex felt a small weight settle in her stomach. She really didn't want any complications… she just wanted Kit back and that was it. She knew it was short sighted, but that was all she could think about right now...
"Analyzing… Reverberations seem to suggest Beacon Academy Student Dante and Teacher Assistant Elisa Fey are arguing."
Was… was that it? Arex turned a confused gaze to SOL for a moment before looking at Bailey. That didn't sound like a complication.
"What could they possibly be arguing about right now?" Bailey asked.
"Analysis of the vibrations seems to suggest their argument is over who defeated their enemies the quickest. And… which evening Soap Opera is 'better than the other'."
O-Oh…
Arex's brow knit together as she turned her gaze down, her fingers tightly fiddling with the hem of her sweater and the red crystal she'd been unconsciously absorbing. Right…
"At least we know where they are," Arex offered, stepping lightly past Bailey to start making her way toward the door. Her movements were hesitant, but careful, knowing her anxiety would only get worse if she made any noise with her steps.
"72 meters… That's the rendezvous point for our portion of the group. They're waiting for us to join them," Bailey stated as she looked down a little at Arex. The phoenix was easily shorter than the girl, given she wore sneakers and Bailey stood in heeled boots. "Then we'll have to hurry as well."
Without warning, Arex felt herself suddenly swept up mid-step and held tightly in Bailey's arms, quickly breaking the phoenix's focus on the ground and locking her body up.
A-A little warning…? P-Please?
"Time is of the essence. SOL, lift primary Semblance Restrictions," Bailey stated, sounding almost as if she wasn't holding a startled Arex against her chest.
"Acknowledged."
"Brace yourself. We'll arrive in less than a minute," Bailey said, looking down at the phoenix, even with the blindfold on.
Arex was starting to wonder if the girl really could see through that thing… considering Arex was starting to get flustered now that her shock was fading. "N-Not exactly sure w-what you want me to do…"
"I recommend you keep your arms around me in order avoid… separation."
W-Why was there a pause there? Did she have to pause?
Without really being able to say anything, Arex wrapped her arms around Bailey's back to take a semi-tight hold of the girl. She didn't know if it helped that much, given how tightly Bailey was holding onto her.
But, she did it anyway. Her scattered thoughts really couldn't think of much else to do.
Bailey lowered herself to the floor slightly as her legs charged up with white crackles of energy. Arex could've sworn she felt it travel up into her through Bailey's arms, but she couldn't tell if that was just her nerves racking her body.
The energy quickly grew in presence until Bailey bolted off down the corridor, Arex snapping her eyes closed as they went from standing still to surging forward in a fraction of a second.
Or collection of seconds. She really couldn't tell right now.
She didn't open her eyes again until she knew for sure they'd stopped. And to Arex, it felt like they stopped just a few seconds after they started running.
"Any discomfort in your joints?" Bailey asked.
D-Discomfort? Arex was more inclined to say she was more winded and unfocused than anything else. Her cradled body felt a little tense from the burst of motion, but other than that, she was just jittery from the unexpected pickup.
So she just shook her head in response, her gaze trying to find her surroundings again.
Bailey stopped her sprint and slid to a halt, scratching up the darkwood floors with her heels. A large doorway stood in front of them.
Arex felt herself get lowered to the ground once they reached it, her feet struggling to catch her light weight for a moment before she caught her balance again. After her stumble, Bailey let go and moved to the door, allowing the taller girl to push the dividing wood open.
"It's totally trashy by comparison! Dr. Sexy is a lot more entertaining and actually has a good dramatic story to it! Why do you think its on its sixth season now?!"
The phoenix had trouble distinguishing who was yelling, so she settled her dizzied focus on the nearby stairwell. A coffee table sat in the middle of the room here, beset by two large, gold-embroidered, velvet couches and surrounded by more display cases.
It… looked like the kind of room he'd sit guests down in. A place to show off and talk. With a few extra couches here and there, but it was clear the ones in the middle were the focus.
And the winding staircase leading to an upper floor balcony hallway just made it that little bit more extravagant. Now that she was looking up, too, Arex's eyes traced over the artistic paintings resting on the upstairs hallway wall, then fell on the chandelier above them.
The lights looked like Dust crystals. Glowing, almost twinkling in their gold encasements, but she honestly couldn't tell if they were real.
"Madson's Creek is just as good if not better! And besides, Dr. Sexy? Really? How does a show like that have any good writing to it?"
The other voice sounded like Elisia…
"Names are deceiving. It's just that simple." And that was Dante.
This was the argument SOL was warning about…
There was a "thunking" sound, like something was being hit. And the startling noise quickly brought Arex's straying gaze back to the set of doors to find it.
A glowing dagger plunged itself into the wooden door frame where she was standing, the tiniest squeak jumping out of her as she stood rigidly still.
She was starting to get way too jumpy… but the further they got into the mansion, the harder it was becoming to really calm herself down. Everything that was happening, it just felt so far away from her. And the longer they took… the more stressed she was getting.
All she needed was to see Kit. To know she was okay and unharmed. She wouldn't be able to think straight until that happened.
Not with knowing so little about Sylvius and what he was to Kitsuki.
"Oh. Hi," Dante said with wave, her gaze finding him with an outstretched arm on the other side of the double doors.
R-Right, yeah, that was Dante…
"If it brings you any comfort, I intentionally aimed for that spot so that it wouldn't hit you," he said.
"O-On purpose?" Arex managed to ask. Her voice held a remnant of that squeak from earlier, apparently still stuck in her throat from being startled. Again.
"Well, I didn't know it was you until the dagger was an inch away from hitting the door, so… In any case, my bad," Dante dissuaded, but it really didn't do much for Arex's growing nerves.
It… kind of just made them worse.
The phoenix shakily but semi-steadily stepped away from the door, keeping herself behind Bailey and SOL now as she glimpsed the rest of Dante's group behind him.
Elisia and the rest of LMKN all looked fairly unharmed, just disheveled. She wasn't about to ask about their Aura levels.
But it did look like they'd run into more than just the initial duo of Affinity users.
Arex went to say something, but caught her voice before it could crack again. The girl quietly took a breath and turned her gaze back to the stairs behind her, trying to turn her focus away from the small crowd of teens.
"We dealt with the server room," Arex informed, albeit softly. It was either that or lose her voice to another pitch a little too high for comfort. "Team RWBY's working to take down the disruption field while we move on."
"Disruption field, huh…" Dante replied.
"Oh, here we go," Elisia said. Arex slowly drew her gaze back to the others as the TA crossed her arms, the phoenix avoiding her crystal gaze in favor of dropping her own to the floor.
"Is it really just a distortion field?" Dante asked. "While my sensing of Aura is… not that great, I can definitely feel other flows of energy. And for some reason, the energy here doesn't feel right."
"I don't really know all too much about it," Arex replied, lightly grabbing her arm now out of nervous habit. "Just that it keeps electrical signals out. Apparently heat signatures too, and Aura signatures. It's like it's wiping the area off the grid from any outside observance."
"Yeah, I realized that much, but…" Dante continued. "A jamming field is static for the most part. But this field, and the energy inside… It's got an odd permeating flow to it and is making the air denser. Any slight change to your breathing at all?"
Arex's chest was tight, if that's what he meant. But she didn't know if it was the air making her feel that way or her anxiety. So, she didn't know how to answer him. "I can't tell…"
He paused a moment, looking outside the window before snapping his head back. "What did you send RWBY off to do again?"
That was… a little out of the blue, again. But if he was relating that to the issue with the energy filling the air, Arex hoped it wasn't going to be trouble if RWBY was just at that task alone.
"Just to destroy the generators keeping the field up," Arex replied, but her soft voice started to sound worried. "Why?"
"Hrmmm… Nothing. For now anyway."
T-Then why bring it up? Arex was immediately starting to second guess her decision to let Ruby run off with her team like that.
What if those generators weren't that simple?
"They get rid of the jammer, the better it is for us I guess," Dante said with a shrug. "Better yet, can you guys help them deal with the generators?" he asked, his eyes roaming over to Bailey and the rest of LMKN.
"You aren't looking to steal all the stronger opponents are you?" a tan skinned faunus asked, one of the other girls of the group in front of her.
She had horns on her head, now that Arex had a closer look at her. Obsidian black, smooth and jagged, kind of standing up straight, but Arex couldn't place the Faunus trait they might've come from.
They just… stood out in contrast to the girl's pale blonde hair. Violet eyes with black slit pupils turned to regard Arex's staring, though, the phoenix quickly took her gaze to the floor again.
"As fun as that sounds, Musashi, no. It'll just make things progress faster," Dante explained. "When you're done, you can link back up with us. Simple."
"Hmph."
Arex was starting to fidget again. Everybody here was just so… thirsty for something to fight.
"Very well then," Musashi relented. "Leave some for the rest of us then."
"If I can help it," Dante replied with a shrug.
Arex watched Bailey take her team and leave. She knew the girl was in the room when GHOST handed out the map data on the four generators, so she figured Bailey would just lead the rest of her team to the remaining ones.
Which just left her with Dante and Elisia… and one floating SOL.
"R-Right…" Arex realized she'd said that word a few too many times recently, but it was just another one of her nervous habits. Just… a more vocal one, when she couldn't really think of anything better to say. "SOL, what's left for us to search? We haven't been upstairs yet…"
Her voice didn't sound as hopeful as she wanted it to be, but she tried. For all its soft spokenness, she was pretty sure it was more desperate than anything else.
"The upstairs area has yet to be explored," SOL informed. "Previous analysis of lifesigns seems to suggest six life forms currently residing above us."
"Six? Sylvius and Kitsuki account for two, but the other four?" Dante asked.
"Unknown," SOL replied.
Dante let out a deep breath of silenced frustration, tapping his fingers against his thighs as if he were trying to calm himself down.
"Just keeps putting more crap in our way…" he grumbled. "Fine then. The three of us are going up, and we're going to deal with them."
"Just the three of us?" Elisia asked.
"Either we get him now, or he gets bored of waiting and decides to leave so he can continue his little 'game'." Dante's gaze turned Elisia's way before falling on Arex. "I for one am not going to let him have his way like he has been so far. We need to disrupt him now, or we'll lose our chance. And then, who knows what'll be bound to happen next."
Disrupting him now may have just been playing into his game anyway… but Arex was pretty sure it was their only option. If they could beat him at his own game, it meant she'd get Kit back.
Losing him now meant losing Kit.
"We'll go then," Arex said. Her voice lost some of its softness in favor of trying to sound firm, but the attempt was at least heard from the two in front of her.
"Are you sure that's what you want to do? We get split up and there could be trouble for you," Dante stated bluntly.
She… knew that. But what could she do? After all this to get her partner back?
"I'll be fine," Arex assured.
"Arex…" Dante started as he took her off to the side. "I… understand why you don't use your abilities. I once had reservations myself when I realized what I can do. But here, right now, there's no room for reservations. You have to compose yourself and give it your all."
Dante held her lightly as he said that, making sure everything was heard in his quiet voice.
But Arex just grew more tense under the warning, casting her gaze aside again as a look of confliction almost broke through the sure gaze she held.
"I know that…" the phoenix murmured. She wasn't trying to pretend like she didn't.
Dante's gaze grew firm now too. "And yet you're still shaking like a leaf. If you want something as badly as you do, like right now, then your only option is to throw everything that you have at that douchey princess."
"Doing that might hurt her," Arex quickly replied. That was her biggest worry. Her only worry. She wasn't thinking about herself right now, or Sylvius for that matter. Just… her…
"That won't happen," Dante countered. "I can guarantee it to you right now. Your only concern is protecting her. And with that in mind, there's no way you'd be able to hurt her."
Arex's look soured as he said that, the emotion falling from her eyes for just a second before she closed them.
That didn't stop it from happening in the past.
"I-If I do anything…" Arex quietly said, keeping her voice as steady as she could, "can you protect her?"
"I can. But I won't," he replied almost immediately. "That's your job little bird. Not mine. And regardless of what I'd like to do, that job is too important for a degenerate like me to do."
"I can't do that though." The phoenix's eyes opened again and turned to him, the tension in her shoulders only getting worse as her wings constricted around herself. "It's not going to work. N-No matter how hard I try, it just won't."
Her voice faltered with a broken tone of dread. She wasn't capable of doing that.
"Arex. I've always had a keen eye when it comes to people. Understanding how they are, why they do what they do, so forth. You're timid, and afraid, but that's alright. Everyone gets like that at times. Even if you say you can't do it, I know you can. You know why?" he asked, a half-cocked smile forming. But it was a real one, at least. "Because I believe in you."
That made oneof them.
"It won't work." Arex knew she sounded like a broken record, but she learned from her past that she couldn't control what she had. Wanting something never changed that.
"You do have the potential to," an unknown voice said, resonating through the floorboards. Arex locked up again as that sound echoed through the room.
Dante immediately turned toward the source of the voice, Arex's own gaze sluggishly following his to witness an inky darkness grow on the ground, and from it, a figure rising from the shadowy spot.
Arex grimaced as she saw the almost plague-like shadow melt from his appearance, dripping from a sharp-cornered, midnight blue cowboy hat. The blackness shadowed the rest of him for just a moment before it seeped away from his long-tailed coat, the tails of it reaching as low as his armored calves.
The color of it matched his hat, but the rest of his appearance was black, bone-white, and silver.
Through the melting shadow, Arex's eyes met with the dark, receding eyeholes of the man's bone mask, shaped like a human skull. Save for triangular holes at the corners of his jaw. More of that shadowy mist seeped out of them, like it was clinging to him and expelled through a breath behind the plating.
Black lines led Arex down his sleeves, past his black straps holding his coat tight and clasped, to his bone-plated, black-armored leggings and grieves. The armor was disturbing, to her, looking like sinew fleshed between seamless bone plating.
And the same material covered his visible hands in the form of gauntlets, both resting their fingers by the silver gleam of two black-holstered, silver hand cannons at his hips.
She wasn't in the right mindset. Not at all. But her eyes immediately gravitated to the weapon details of his firearms.
Whether it was out of interest or fear of when he'd use them… she didn't know. But they looked like slicked down, paneled, heavier-duty .357 cannons that fit nicely in the palm of his armored hand. And it looked like they were top-break to reload, instead of the usual side-break for the rounds. Polished wood made up the ergonomic grips she could see, but the barrels looked like they had to be twelve inches deep into his holsters.
High impact. V-Very high impact… She blinked and tried not to stare at the deadly guns. They almost looked unwieldy, but something told her the man in front of her could handle the kick of their recoils with ease.
"And yet, you deny yourself your true potential because of fear," he spoke, taking a few steps forward as the shadows dissolved behind him. "A waste really."
Arex instinctively took a step back in response to it, keeping her gaze as low as possible without looking away from him.
She didn't care about true potential. That's never meant anything to her. But what she did know was that fear ruled her life.
And it wasn't hard to tell he could probably smell it exuding from her chilled skin and shaking frame.
"And when did the Midnight Huntsman become a dog for a petty rich boy?" Dante asked, stepping in front of Arex.
Dante… knew him?
"My position is merely that of a collaborator. He has something of value to me, therefore I am trading my services temporarily in turn. Nothing more, nothing less." The hollowed eyes of his mask turned back to Arex, and she shrunk again at feeling his gaze on her. "Though I must admit, I am fairly surprised there was another like her. I was fairly certain that I studied the last of her kind twelve years ago."
M-My kind…? Arex's eyes slowly peered back at him through her raven hair, a tiny flicker of involuntary shock passing through her gaze. He… knew what she was?
"Yes, little phoenix," he said as he placed his hands behind his back. "I know all about your kind and have in depth knowledge of their abilities and biology. You're very fortunate however. If the last one I dissected twelve years ago genuinely had what I was looking for, I may have very well sought you out too."
The word 'dissected' twisted in Arex's gut as she took another hesitant step back, instinctively wanting to run from him. Was he one of the people who hunted Phoenix Faunus in the past?
She thought they'd stopped by now…
Dante's form calmly hid Arex's fully from view. "So? What's the pompous ass got that you want? Dignity?"
Their adversary chuckled at that remark as his head tilted toward the ground.
"No, young man. While he does not explicitly posses what I require, he potentially has a clue to guide me along the path. And that is reason enough for me to work with him temporarily."
What was he even after?
"Kidnapping people is even on that list?" Dante asked.
"What he desires and what he does are separate from my wants and actions," he said, one of his cold, boned hands dismissively waving.
"Then what does he want with Kitsuki?"
The Midnight Huntsman shrugged his shoulders. "I can only assume what he wants with the fox, but know not of what he seeks from her. In that regard, I need not ask questions to his motives."
"Tch… What a pain…" Dante muttered with a sigh.
So, he didn't even know what Kit was for… Arex didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Sylvius was keeping his reasons under lock and key.
But it only made her anxiety rise as she realized she had to get past this guy, to get to Kit.
"You gonna talk the whole time? Or are you going to let us through?" Dante asked.
"I intend to keep you here," the man replied. "And keep you I shall."
"Oh really?" Dante challenged with a smile, head tilting to Arex the moment after. "Looks like you're going to be the only one to get through for now."
O-Oh… great… Arex grimaced at that, but being anywhere away from here sounded better than staying for the fight. "J-Just try to be quick, I guess."
"I mean from here, you're going at it alone for the time being," Dante said. Arex already unfortunately knew that. "He's definitely not going to let all of us through. So it might as well be you that goes on ahead while we keep Skele-man here busy."
"That's fine," Arex reaffirmed. She knew she had to do that… but that didn't mean she couldn't be terrified to act on it. All she knew was that Sylvius was saving her for himself for some reason, instructing everyone else to take her to him.
She… guessed he was getting what he wanted, now. But at least she'd have backup, if that immunity didn't last.
Dante's voice caught her ears again. "Arex… Do you trust me?"
The phoenix looked up for a moment to find Dante looking back at her, question lingering in the air over her tense shoulders as she tried to piece together an answer.
Right now, she… did. All she could articulate for an answer to him was a small nod, though.
"Then no matter what, run, and keep running. If it looks like for even a second he's going to get you, don't slow down, don't react. Just keep going. I'll make sure you get through no matter what."
She slowly nodded again. She could fly… she moved faster when she flew, so she knew she could make it.
She just… hoped he was fast enough to help her get through.
"Okay." Her voice was soft again, but a part of it was actually sure of herself. The rest of it… was shaky with hesitance.
A comforting hand pat her back to ward away some of that hesitation, Dante's form stepping forward and away from her. Her eyes followed him as she stayed put, watching a quiet gleam pass over his sword as his pace quickened.
Part of her was still shook from the way the Midnight Huntsman calmly regarded them. Their adversary's own pace stayed at a steady walk, letting Dante close the distance between them just before dashing to meet him.
A blinding blink of motion obscured the two forms in front of Arex in an explosive clash, the girl only managing to catch a glimpse of Dante forcing his sword down on the Midnight Huntsman's arm, the still-image in Arex's eyes adjusting just slightly for her to catch what exactly the man blocked Dante's pearlescent blade with.
His… gun?
Dante got shoved back despite the energy forced through into the man's hand, a flourish of their adversary's coat brandishing as Dante ran back in.
The phoenix's eyes were starting to adjust to their movements. Maybe it was the adrenaline from watching them, or just the tension in her body trying to convince itself it was ready for whatever opening Dante was trying to give her.
But the girl's gaze flicked to a glint of light glancing off the Midnight Huntsman's gun as he twirled it, the silhouette of his weapon sliding around to collapse and extend into a solid shortsword to counter Dante's incoming strike.
Three streaks of blurred movements met Arex's eyes before her ears rang with a set of unbudging clashes of blades, the fourth collision forcing the man to turn as Dante forced him into a nearby wall.
The wooden support inside the interior frame creaked and groaned as Dante pushed the Midnight Huntsman into a slowly forming depression, trapping him with an unwavering force.
"That's your cue little birdie! Go on, go!"
Arex jumped a little as she stumbled forward, Elisia's voice bringing her out of her stressed out mind with a push forward.
The phoenix bit into her lip as she stared at Dante's sword locking the Midnight Huntsman against the wall, but her hesitation got shoved aside as she quickly fell into a dash and leaned into a dive.
If there was one thing she was actually good at in combat, it was her maneuverability.
With a burst of black feathers sliding out of her sweater, she vanished from the spot she was in and sped her way toward the winding stairs, planning to use the railing as visual cover just to get out of sight on her way up.
She'd only just cleared the floor of the room when she heard the unholstering of a second gun, and her eyes squeezed shut for just a second as she tensed up.
But a shot never followed it.
The phoenix frantically opened her eyes just before reaching the base of the stairs, glancing over to see Dante's hand locked in a vice grip around the wrist that drew that gun.
It was a hopeful, grateful image that only lasted a fraction of a second, before Arex refocused on preventing herself from slamming into the stairs and swooped up them.
She was out of sight as quickly as she could manage in a surge up to the balcony overhead, not looking back for anything…
Her frame fluttered up once she'd entered a hallway, her sneakers dropping to the floor with a skid as she reached a master bedroom set of doors.
And her breath caught in her throat as a sensation brought her back to the fresh memory of Kit being taken.
The door… she felt a trickle of the same electrical energy from that night humming just inside.
Co-Author: HydraFlow
Co-Author: andy2396
I'm part of a Discord server now? Link below.
Okay, so... big chapter, big raid, and now Arex is alone. You'll be formally meeting Sylvius next chapter through Arex's perspective.
On a side note, college has been pretty heavy lately, so I've been a little dead.
Let me know what you think. It's a lot of Arex.
For now, Favorite and Follow the story.
I look forward to seeing REVIEWS for this. You'll be introduced to a LOT of concepts of mine. Feel free to give me your thoughts.
Cya XP
Also! If you wanted to speak with me more freely, I'm part of a Discord server with a handful of authors. Feel free to drop in and say hi and stay if you want to stick around.
[ discord . gg / YU8A6Bp ]
Don't forget to remove the spaces if you do use the link. FFN is finicky with formatting.
Omake: by Xera Stark
Nira stared critically at the sight in front of her, slowly tracing every contour she was shown with crossed arms and a look of thought.
"D-Do you have to stare?" Rae asked.
The door to the changing room was safely closed and locked, leaving the two to mingle as much as they wanted inside.
Nira liked mingling, so she didn't mind taking her time.
Rae certainly did though…
"I wanted to prove Danni wrong, but I guess she could see through your shirt somehow and make an accurate size suggestion after all," Nira replied, tilting her head a little as Rae instinctively started covering herself up.
The girl's face reddened as it grew annoyed, disheveled blonde hair messily falling against her cheeks. "And that necessitates you staring at my chest for over two minutes?"
"Mhm. I wanted to make sure," Nira replied calmly. She was still annoyed about the fact Danni was right.
She wanted to be right…
The half-pint of a girl reached over to one of the hooks and plucked a bra off it, holding it up to Rae's covered chest with another tilt of her head.
"D-Does it not fit…?" Rae slowly asked, eyeing the way Nira's gaze lingered again.
Nira shook her head. "You need to uncover them."
"O-Oh…" the blonde stared for a few extra seconds before taking a breath and steeling herself, lowering her hands back down to her sides and averting her face.
With a little guidance from Nira, who knew a little too much on the subject, and a pair of skilled hands, the article was fitted and clasped in less than a few seconds.
Something that really threw Rae off, if nothing else. "Why are you even remotely good at this? Let alone fine with everything that's happening…?"
Nira's luminescent eyes turned up to Rae's as the shorter girl took a hanger out of a new shirt and fitted the article over Rae's head. "What do you mean?"
"Y-You're barely phased by the fact you're a girl, for one thing," Rae started, eyeing the half-pint in front of her as the girl slimmed down her shirt. "In fact, it's almost like you don't mind it."
"I don't," Nira replied simply, meeting Rae's gaze again before turning to find the shorts Ly had tossed in for Rae.
Rae's eyes fell on them the moment Nira picked up a pair of denim short-shorts, still getting over Nira's reply. "I'm not wearing those."
"Hm? Why not?" Nira turned back to Rae as she held up the new article. "It'll look really cute on you."
"P-Please don't say that…" Rae's face scrunched up at the mere thought of walking around with her bare legs on show.
"But it's true," Nira argued. With very unbiased points, might she add.
Rae's eyes fell on Nira again before narrowing. "Are you sure you're still the same person?"
That question still didn't phase the girl. Nira's head just naturally tilted at the query and met Rae's eyes with an innocent luster in her own.
"Am I really that different?"
"Yes!"
Nira just stared for a few more seconds before her eyes drifted down to Rae's uncovered legs, the girl having been standing in her new panties.
Rae instinctively fidgeted as soon as she noticed the shift in focus. "F-Fine. But I'm putting them on myself."
Nira seemed satisfied at that, smiling as she handed Rae the shorts and waited with the girl's hoodie in hand to complete the ensemble.
Later, she was going to make Arex buy her a pretzel.
She was getting hungry.