Access Power

"You're very good at tracking." Ilia stated.

Ren stood to his feet and nodded at her. "It's really not that hard when you're tracking more than seven wagons and twelve or more people on foot."

"Well it's not like they would really cover up their tracks... considering they took out a village like it was nothing." Jaune added.

Ever since they started tracking down the people who attacked the village, Yang noticed something. It might of been her imagination, but Yang was pretty sure Ilia was getting really close to Jaune and Ren. She seemed so interested in every little thing they did, like she had never seen boys her age outside her village before, which might actually be the case. It was starting to get irritating.

"So Ilia.. What do you do? Are you a huntress or something?" Ruby asked.

Ilia tilted her head in confusion. "What's a hunter?.."

Yang scoffed and turned away from her, crossing her arms. She could not possibly be that oblivious to the outside world. Didn't her village hire hunters and huntresses to get rid of Grimm moderately recently anyway? Everything this girl did just seemed suspect to Yang.

As Ruby valiantly explained what, in her opinion, a hunter/huntress is, Ren signaled for them to keep going. The group tracked down the convoy almost all day. In the late evening, they finally found the twelve mechanical wagons parked. Jaune and Ren checked all the wagons.

"Well the wagons are empty.." Ren said.

Jaune sighed. "Each one has a metal cage in it. Capable of holding ten to maybe fifteen people per carriage." He crossed his arms. "So we're not sure where to go from here, cuz they went on foot from this point and we can't really tell which direction."

Jaune and Ren stood talking about what the groups next step was. Meanwhile, Yang and Ruby searched around the trailers to see if there was any sort of clue. Suddenly, Ilia called out to Ren. They all grouped around her.

"Look at this." She held out a piece of shirt. She pointed at the trail through the woods in front of her. There were tiny scraps of cloth along the trail. They looked like little pieces of someones shirt.

"Awesome! Someone left us some bread crumbs!" Ruby exclaimed.

Yang tapped Jaune on the shoulder. He backed up so they were shoulder to shoulder,

"What's up?"

Yang whispered. "I didn't want to say this in front of Ilia, I'm not accusing her or anything, but this might be a trap." Jaune slowly nodded. "I'm just saying, stick close and keep an eye open."

Jaune put his hand on Yangs shoulder and smiled. "I understand. Thank you, and I will. Let's keep each others backs." Yang smiled and blushed. She was glad to hear Jaune had faith and trust in her like this. The issue with Ilia still stood, though. She sure was trusting of some random strangers that pulled her from a well. She knew nothing about them. She sat wrong with Yang, and that wasn't changing anytime soon, no matter how friendly she was.

They followed the trail of shredded cloth for about an hour until they reached a small wooden cabin in the middle of the forest. Ren was being a little brash. He kicked in the door, guns at the ready. They were surprised to see it was empty. Almost literally. Not only was there no one inside the cabin, but it looked as though no one had ever lived there. The only furniture was a sink in the corner and a wood stove. Other than that it was completely bare.

"Okay, now I'm really confused..." Jaune said.

"You sure the cloth led us here?" Ruby questioned.

Ren sat against the wall and groaned. "I'm no pro tracker or anything, but this is definetly where the cloth was leading us. Its no coincidence."

"What if they knew we were after them and the cloth was a distraction?" Yang asked. She was looking at every possibility, considering the situation.

Ren nodded. "Maybe so... We might just have to go back. We'll lose an hour of progress but we might not have a choice. If this IS a distraction, then it worked, and we have to make up-"

"Hey!" Ilia shouted. Everyone looked at her. "There's a hidden panel here!" She stated cheerily. Ren went to her side and knocked on the area of wall she pointed at. You could her it was hollow. Ren tore the panel open, revealing a large metal lever. Yang glared at Ilia. Okay, now that was a little suspicious. Right when they're about to move on, she just happens to find a hidden lever? Yang was hoping, NO, PRAYING for any little piece of evidence to take this chick down. They way she giggled and glowed at Jaunes every little movement bothered Yang a TON, sure. But at this point even an idiot could see something was up. Ren, Jaune, and Ruby were oblivious to these little conveniencies staring right at them. But not Yang.

"Let's see what it does..." Ren said. He pulled the lever to the right. A loud sound of two pieces of metal crashed behind them. They turned to see the wood stove was slowly moving to the left, Revealing a huge square hole. A mechaniical whirring started, and a large elevator platform raised from the hole.

"What the heckin heck..." Jaune said. His eyes met with Yangs. He shrugged. Yang crossed her arms and exhaled deeply.

The group stood on the platform and waited. Nothing happened.

"I guess... it's not automatic?.." Ilia said.

"Maybe you have to put the lever back?.." Ruby guessed.

Ren put his hand on Ilias arm. "Look, Ilia, I know you want to get to the bottom of this as fast as we do. But... maybe you should stay behind... Y'know, keep a lookout? Besides, we'll need someone to go get help if things go wrong." Ilia frowned as she slowly nodded. She got off the platform and walked over to the lever.

"Good Luck down there..." Ilia said quietly as she pulled the lever back. A few mechanical clicks and the start of loud whirring later, the platform began to lower. Yang squinted at Ilia one last time before the floor raised to block her line of sight. The wood stoves block slid over the top of the hole, blocking them off from Ilia, and any source of light. The rest of the ride was pitch black. Jaune pulled a huge glowstick from his bag and cracked it. It began to emit flourescent green light. The platform made a slamming noise as it finally reached the bottom. They came to a stop in front of a long corridor of rusted metal walls that ended with an equally worse for wear Metal Door with a huge latch. They went up to it and opened the latch. As they swung the creaky door open light flooded in, nearly blinding them. They came into a room thats walls were lined with jail-like cells. Long lights hung above them that lit the room.

"This has to be it.." Ren stated.

"But where are the prisoners?.." Ruby asked. Ren shook his head. He went up to the closest cell to his left. The door was open, and inside he found a dirty used shirt that had a huge chunk missing from it.

"Here's our bread loaf..." Ren said casually as he tossed the shirt aside.

They walked to the opposite end of the room and opened the similar door on the furthest wall. It led to a similar metal corridor, only this one had lights.

"This place is givin me the heeby jeebs..." Ruby whined.

Jaune chuckled nervously. "You aint the only one, Rubes."

The next room they came into was what appeared to be a throne room. Now they were really confused.

"Okay.. What the actual hell is going on here?.." Yang shouted.

"OOh Wouldn't you like to know." A creepy males voice said from behind them right before the door slammed shut. They all turned to see a tall and skinny guy in a brown trench coat standing there with a wicked smirk on his crooked face. His looks just screamed evil. "Is this the part where we explain our evil plans?.." He asked coyly. Ren cocked his guns.

"It's four versus one... I believe this is the part where you explain SOMETHING, Asshole." Ren stated as he pointed his guns at the brown haired deviant in front of them.

"Well excuse my rudeness, mister prince. My name.. Is Tyrian Callows. At your service." He said this sarcastically while giving a brief bow. "Or, at your Dis-service, I should say. Hahaha!" He cackled and it was like scratching a chalkboard.

"Besides, it's techinically two versus four." A different, more gruff voice said from behind them. They quickly turned to see another man standing behind them with his arms crossed behind his back. He was more gentlemanly in nature and looked to be way more polite in general.

"Seasoned old dudes or not, you still think the two of you can beat the four of us?.." Ruby asked confidently. Tyrian cackled again and the older man smiled.

"Hello children." The older man greeted. "Pleased to make your acquaintences. I am Doctor Arthur Watts. I know you are all very confused, and to put it bluntly, very daft. So I'm going to make this brief. You have been manipulated and led here for a purpose. We are going to steal your powers using a machine I created." He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "My... Associate here is now going to administer a paralysis posion to each of you that will render you unable to move for multiple hours." Just as he finished, Ruby let out a screech as she hit the ground.

"Ru-" Ren was interupted as he yelled as well and hit the ground, shaking. Yang slowly turned and watched as Tyrian smirked. A large scorpions tail protruded from his backside. It struck Jaune in the chest so hard and fast it knocked him off his feet. Jaune tumbled back and fell to the ground. His tail was lightning quick and there was nothing they could do. Yang looked down at Jaune and panicked. She had to think fast. Tyrian took a step towards her. Yang put up her right arm in a defensive stance, as she suspected, he struck her arm with his tail and she hit the ground. Yang had a plan. With her arm covered, he didn't know it was cybernetic. Yang laid on her side and pretended she was paralyzed like the others.

The older man, Arthur, walked up to Yang and knelt. She prayed in her head that he didn't notice she wasn't paralyzed. He sighed.

"Quite the exciting day. Our lord will be proud of our success. I'm not particullarly fond of failure. And neither is she." He stood and threw Ren and Ruby over his shoulders. Tyrian grabbed up Jaune and Yang and they carried them to a large room filled with more jail cells. Yang turned her head slowly. She could see three people in cells, they weren't moving. They must've been struck by the paralysis as well. Tyrian tossed Jaune and Yang in a cell. Arthur threw Ren and Ruby in the cell right next to them. Yang stayed perfectly still and waited carefully, listening.

"Boot up the machine. Tell Hazel to get ready for a few more." Yang then heard Tyrian scoff as he and Arthur left the room, slamming the door behind them. Yang quickly stod to her feet and pulled up her right sleeve. There was a large, needle shaped hole in the plate of her cyborg forearm. She took a deep breath. Yang kneeled beside Jaune and turned him over. He couldn't move his body or talk. But she could tell he was surprised she was moving.

Yang whispered, "Jaune, I blocked his stinger with my metal arm and pretended I was paralyzed. I'm gonna get us out of here. First I have to get us out of this cell." Yang set Jaune down softly against the cells wall. She looked around for something, anything that could help them out of the cage. If only they didn't take all their weapons, she could just blow a hole in the cages lock- wait.

"There's no lock?!" Yang looked at the metal cells barred door carefully and noticed there was no lock or latch on the door. She pushed on it softly and it swung open with ease. "Those frickin idiots!" Yang exclaimed. Yang made her way to the door she heard them leave through and slowly and quietly cracked it open just enough for her to see out of. On the other side was a huge lab with a massive machine at the end of the room with all sorts of wires and tubes going in and out of it. At the bottom of the machine was what looked like a dentists table with a huge needle attached to a tube on it. Next to the machine was a large control panel that Tyrian was currently operating. Next to him was Arthur, writing something of an equation on a whiteboard. On the other side of the room, drinking a large pitcher of water, was another man she hadn't seen yet. He was bigger, and looked a whole hell of a lot stronger. He had shorter, charcoal colored hair and a beard of the same color. His arms had tons of aged scars, some of which looked like needle holes.

"So they're stealing peoples strength, and pumping it all into that guy?.." Yang whispered to herself, trying to piece together what was going on. "Why, though?"

"I'm getting the rest of the males." Tyrian said as he waved at Arthur. Arthur nodded. Yang quickly rushed back to her cell and quietly closed her cells door. She didn't know what to do. She realized their weapons, and plenty others, were sitting on a table close to Arthur. But, it didn't matter if they were dead before they got to them. She needed an out, and she needed it fast.

Tyrian came in and grabbed up Ren from his cell. He then came in Yangs cell and tossed Jaune over his shoulder. As soon as Yang heard the door close she got up and went back to peeking through it. Tyrian sat Ren Jaune and two other Males, she guessed from the village, against the wall next to the machine. He brought four tubes with needles on them to each of the boys and stuck them in their forearms. Arthur typed something into the control panel. The huge machine made many mechanical noises then made a pop before it sounded as though it shut down. Yang was panicking bad. She was pacing and shaking and deciding whether or not to charge in there and go for her gauntlets. Then she heard something that gave her a little hope.

"What do you mean he's not 'COMPATIBLE'?" Arthur yelled. Yang watched as he got in Tyrians face, looking very mad.

Tyrian put his hand on Arthurs chest and pushed him back. "Watch yourself, Old Man!" He cleared his throat and slid the control panel so it faced Arthur. "You built this thing. So you know damn well as I do that there's a point zero zero one percent chance someone could be either too weak or too strong for the machine... And its most likely the blonde one's too weak."

Arthur pulled the panel closer to his face and scoffed. "Toss him back in the cell and grab another one." Yang was confused, but glad. Jaune was never the strongest out of their class, so it kind of made sense. What didn't make any sense was that all these random village men were stronger than him. That didn't quite add up, but she didnt have time to worry about that. Yang went back to her cell and played dead again. Tyrian came in and tossed Jaune next to Yang. Yang waited until she heard Tyrian grab up some other poor sap. As soon as he was gone Yang hopped up and went back to the door. She was out of time. She had to go for her guns. It was the only way.

A hand clamped over Yangs mouth from behind. She quickly swung her right arm back to elbow her attacker but they wrapped their other arm around her waist. It was Jaune. They backed away from the door.

Yang whisper-screamed, "Jaune?! How are you moving?.."

"I... Uh.. the poison must've worn off when they stuck me or something? I'm not sure. Anyway, I have a plan to get our weapons back, but I need you to do me a favor... You can't see what I do."

"Jaune what the hell are you talking about?" Yang asked nervously. This was the first time in their lives as a team Yang was genuinely concerned for Jaunes mental health.

"Just trust me Yang, OKAY?!" Jaune used a serious and stern tone Yang wasn't used to.

Yang shook her head and sighed. "O-Okay I guess. "

Yang did as instructed and turned her back to Jaune. She waited five minutes before saying anything as she was told to.

"Jaune?.." Yang called out quietly. She turned around. Jaune was standing in front of her holding her Gauntlets and His sword and new armmor he had wrapped up. Yangs eyes went wide and she tilted her head.

"Jaune... How'd?.." Yang couldn't quite make out the words that would be enough to sum up her utter confusion.

"Let's just say they didn't see me, alright..." Jaune said as he handed Yang her gauntlets and her belt lined with shot gun shells.

Yang couldn't help but wonder what the hell THAT was supposed to mean.

"We have to save Ren..." Jaune stated. Yang nodded. From the other room, you could hear the machine starting up again.

"Let's do this!" Yang said excitedly as she cocked her shot-gauntlets, 'Ember Celica'.

Jaune put on his new armor that he had declined to until this point. He simply put that it was better now than never. They looked like upgraded versions of his old armor. There was something a lot more different about his new shield though. It was a lot thicker, and seemed wider too.

"Let's go..." Jaune said as he drew crocea mors from its sheathe.

"Top priorty is taking the scorpion guy down first..." Yang replied.

Jaune took a deep breathe and turned towards the door. Yang got beside Jaune and the two kicked the door in together. Yang rushed Tyrian, but Jaune got to him first. It was like Jaune teleported from next to Yang to in front of her and it really threw her off for a moment. Like lightning striking a car, Jaunes sword was hilt deep in Tyrians chest and blood was flooding out on to his hands.

"What the-" Tyrian tried to cough out, but Jaune twisted his sword and slid it out of Tyrians chest. Tyrian hit the ground dead. Yang was a little surprised Jaune could be so brutal. She had seen him kill plenty of Grimm, but she had never seen him take another life. Jaune quickly retook his stance and faced Arthur, blood stained sword pointed at his face. Yang shook it off and put her back to Jaunes and facing the one she believed was called Hazel.

"You think you little punks are hot shit, don't you?" Arthur said, seething with anger.

Hazel cracked his knuckles while locking eyes with Yang.

"This'll be fun.." Yang groaned.

Hi! Thanks again to all my readers. How did Jaune grab their weapons without being seen? Hmmmm. Please leave a comment if you have any questions or concerns. See you guys next week.