RWBY: Son of Salem

Chapter 45

Marek

"You just couldn't keep this rivalry between us, could you, Calavera?! You had to rope in children to fail with you!" Cordo shouted as she tried to bat at the airship once Maria got it under control.

Once Maria distracted Cordo again, I managed to lift Ruby up slowly until she was able to grab the top of the cliff. She pulled herself up and onto the cliff and turned around to help me back up. "Ruby, can you hear me? Are you guys okay?"

"Are we okay?!"

"I know, we were supposed to lay low, but listen! I think I finally found a weakness!" Oscar said.

"Well, we're all ears." Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha limped over to us.

"Guys!" Ren rushed over to his team.

"The cylinder on Cordo's cannon rotates and locks in a giant Dust cartridge everytime she changes attack styles." Oscar said.

"We noticed."

"Right, but her missile launcher doesn't lock in, it pops out!" Oscar pointed out. "Without her shields, one well-placed shot could detonate the missiles while they're still in the launcher!"

"We could destroy the entire cannon... Oscar, that's brilliant!"

"Can you... make that kind of shot?" Pyrrha asked.

"We'll only get one chance before she catches on." Ruby replied. "I'd have to be practically staring down the barrel of her cannon."

"Well, I've got a way to guarantee that." Maria pulled the airship around and stopped in front of us.

Ruby rushed over and got into the ship, glancing back at me with a smirk. Maria took off before we could say anything, however.

"Hey, Cordo! I've got one missile left and I know exactly where I'm gonna stick it!" Maria taunted.

"One missile you say?" Cordo chuckled. "That's a shame, Maria, because I have plenty!"

The cannon popped out of the mech's arm, ready to shoot. I heard Ruby take the shot but saw the cannon lower back into the arm. "You thought you could fool me?!" she readied the cannon again but shot lightning dust from it instead, barely hitting the ship.

"Ruby!" I watched helplessly as the ship started heading for the trees.

Cordo shot some of the lightning near us, causing us to move as a cloud of dirt and dust covered us. Once clear, I saw the airship crash into the trees.

Qrow saw this and jumped over the cliffside, changing into his bird form and flying over to check on Ruby and the others. "Very clever, but even the smartest apes can't compete with the intellect of man." Cordo laughed.

A few minutes passed before Ruby emerged from the trees. "Surrender for your crimes, and accept your punishment."

"No!" Ruby told her defiantly. "We're going to Atlas. Bigger people than you have tried to stop us and failed, but we're supposed to be on the same side! We're supposed to use our power to protect people, but you just use yours to look down on everyone! We didn't want to steal from you. We did it because you gave us no other choice! Now I'm giving you one last chance to stand down and hear us out."

There was a moment of silence as Cordo thought about Ruby's words. "I've heard enough..."

She aimed her cannon at Ruby and started to charge it up. "Ruby!" I started to run to help but before I could, she used her semblance to go inside the cannon.

"She's NUTS!" Nora yelled.

"The missile launcher springs out... but the raw dust gets locked in!" Jaune said.

"What?! No! NO!"

A few seconds passed before Ruby emerged from the cannon. Ice and stone covered the cannon, and making it useless. "Ruby!"

Ruby was falling through the sky, her aura broken. As she fell, Weiss used her black Glyphs to slow her fall. Qrow managed to catch her.

I finally got over to her and saw she was okay. "Told ya." she smirked.

"Oh, don't tell me I missed it!" Maria said.

Cordo tried to lift the arm but it was no use. "No! No, no, no, NO! You! You're never getting to Atlas! Do you hear me?! NEVER! All forces converge on my position and eliminate these pests at once!"

"Crap!"

"Everyone on board! We're making a run for it!" Maria said.

"What about Yang and Blake?"

"Ma'am, we've been trying to reach you! Argus is in danger!" one of the Atlas military personnel said.

"What?"

"It's a Leviathan! It began its approach during your battle! We need you!" I looked out over the ocean to see the massive Grimm slowly approaching us.

"Oh no..."

End of chapter 45