SHONEN ALLIANCE
RE:BIRTH
OPENING THEME: GOLDEN TIME LOVER (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood)
One of the Homunculus was dead. The myth of their invulnerability proven a falsehood. For those fighting for Amestris's salvation, such a revelation should have been a tremendous victory, yet the escape of the two henchmen of the Dark Saiyan had done a great deal to spurn that victory.
Far from Central Amestris two of those would be saviors were unaware any great victory had even been claimed. Ruby Rose and Colonel Vine waited in the very same room where Vine had slain General Graham.
Ruby sat in the very same chair she'd been tied to during the exchange with the deceased General, dozing peacefully . The rope that had held her waiting for when they'd once again need it to serve that purpose when the Führer arrived.
Vine sat on the floor, his back to the room's back wall, allowing him to watch the entire room and every entrance from his position. Though he'd managed to steal an hour or two of sleep, his ill ease mostly kept sleep at bay.
The risk they were taking couldn't be overstated, a fact he'd tried to drive into the head of the young huntress with questionable success.
General Graham had been one of Bradley's inner circle. He'd been high enough on the totem pole to know exactly what their enemies were plotting, and because of him, Vine and Ruby now knew it too.
That was an advantage, to be sure, but for the moment, they were limited on what they could do with it. Vine was a full day's train ride from his bunker and the opportunity to securely pass the message along. At that moment, he'd have loved nothing more then to have boarded a train bound for Central.
Unfortunately, that option had died with Graham.
First, Vine would have to face the Führer.
Uneager though he was to drag the girl into further danger, he had to admit, he had a respect now for the young huntress he hadn't before. Childish as she could be, the fact she was going with the crazy plan Vine had hatched spoke to her courage, if not so much her intelligence.
Letting Bradley know how much either of them knew of his secret had the potential to be dangerous, so Vine wanted to avoid that any way possible, but Ruby's captivity represented an opportunity Vine was certain Bradley would see the advantage of.
Captured as she was, Ruby represented a bargaining chip their enemies wouldn't easily be able to replace.
Bradley had seen the outworlders' power. It had been on full display during Duel Academy's invasion, and he knew full well that theirs was power Amestrians could not even dream of matching. There was no doubt that the Führer understood the threat they represented.
This meant that underhanded tactics were a necessity, and few schemes were more underhanded, or more effective, then a hostage. A hostage that Graham had nearly killed due to his own short sightedness.
The plan wasn't without risks. If Vine had had any means of guaranteeing he could pass his information to Hughes, Mustang, or the Elrics before death caught up, he never would have taken the risk. Unfortunately, in such a dangerous game, risks were always something that had to be accepted.
A soldier's entrance tore the Raging Blast Alchemist away from his thoughts.
"Sir, Führer Bradley's train will arrive in 20 minutes," the man reported.
Quickly, Vine was on his feet, directing the soldier.
"Remember, if you ever want to leave here alive, don't breathe a word of what you heard from Graham to Bradley. I'll handle the Führer."
"No more, please… I couldn't eat another cookie…"
Ruby seemed to be having a pleasant dream as she snoozed in blissful ignorance on her chair. Vine almost felt guilty, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her awake. The young woman woke with a start, bolting to her feet.
"Are we under attack!? Where are they!? Let me at 'em!" She started to chase after her imagined foe, prompting Vine to grab her red cape to prevent her from running away.
"Ruby!" his voice cut like a knife through Ruby's dozy haze and she instantly stopped her struggles, turning to look back at the Alchemist.
"Oh, I have to be tied to the chair again, huh," she sobbed.
"Yeah, you do."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Not for the first time since the operation Vine wondered if he should be concerned about how easily he slipped into the cold, cruel persona he used to fool his opponents.
Bradley's disposition seemed as pleasant as ever as two soldiers led him to the waiting alchemist, but there was no doubt that pleasantness was barely skin deep.
"Thank you, gentlemen," Bradley thanked the soldiers with a king's grace, "you can leave us now."
The soldiers didn't protest, immediately departing to leave Vine and Bradley alone. Vine decided to take the initiative.
"You know, there's an irony to the fact you don't trust me with whatever you're scheming, yet I somehow continue to have to clean up your messes."
Bradley's friendly façade immediately disintegrated, replaced with a fierce, unnerving scowl. "You're referring to General Graham," his tone made it clear that he wasn't asking a question, "the man was a fool to be sure, but I'll admit, I'm curious what made you decide that executing your commanding officer was a good idea, Raging Blast."
"This is one of those situations where show is better then tell."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
He led Bradley into the chamber where Graham and he had had their confrontation. When they entered, Bradley's lone eye widened in an indication of surprise.
Ruby Rose sat in her chair. Strong rope held the young huntress in place, binding her wrists behind her, wrapped around her upper abdomen to keep her back securely against the chair, and binding both of her ankles to their corresponding chair leg, while a a thick knotted cloth had been tied over her mouth for a gag. Crescent Rose leaned against the far wall, well outside the reach of the distressed damsel, and her red cloak hung off of it. It had been necessary to fully bind Ruby for the sake of selling their scheme, but it wasn't a ploy without dangers. If things went south, after all, Ruby had slim chance for escape.
"So, is this girl the reason you were alluding to earlier?" Bradley demanded.
"Indirectly. Graham lost his head because he was enough of a fool to point a weapon at me, but this girl was the reason for it. Her name is Ruby Rose, and I'm sure you've picked up on the fact she's not exactly from around here."
"I was under the impression the outworlders had all left."
"I was too, until our troops caught this little brat spying on us. If I had to guess, she's probably an advance scout. Seems the outworlders may not be as done with us as we thought. Graham wanted her executed on the spot. Guess he thought shear power of ego alone would be enough to take on the Super Saiyan."
"And you objected."
"Of course I objected. You saw how the outworlders worked to save those Obelisk Force soldiers. Our enemies were about to take care of all of our problems for us, but those goody goodies couldn't accept that. That actually intervened to save an enemy. Imagine the edge we can gain by having one of their friends at our mercy."
This part of the scheme wasn't difficult to sell. Vine had no doubt he was telling the truth, after all. There was no way the likes of Luffy or Goku would be willing to sacrifice an ally for victory, meaning having Ruby as a captive all but assured the Lunarian Alliance would be hamstrung.
"Unfortunately, Graham decided this little disagreement was worth starting an altercation over. Shame he didn't turn out to be enough of a man to… 'argue his point'."
"So it would seem," Bradley acknowledged as he stepped forward analyzing the prisoner. It was difficult to read what he was thinking, but Vine wasn't to concerned about that at the moment. Bradley had turned his back on him. The Führer, whom Vine knew was plotting a genocide of Amestris' people, was unaware of his actions.
This time, the opportunity was worth the risk. Silently, he draw his sword and prepared to strike. Without hesitation, he rushed forward, swung his blade, and was shocked as the sound of clashing steel rang out.
Vine had been too focused on his opportunity, and failed to notice the portal that had opened. Bradley had moved to avoid whoever came out of the portal, and as a result, not only had Vine's assassination attempt missed its mark, it had inadvertently saved the Führer from another blade that had sought him. Vine found himself staring into a pair of angry, golden eyes belonging to a fair young woman, dressed in black and with a black bow tied in her long black hair.
"Blk!" he heard Ruby cry into her back before a vicious kick from his assailant caused him to stagger backwards, disoriented by the blow.
Bradley stepped forward as Vine reoriented himself, allowing his vision to clear as he faced a new unexpected complication.
"Well well," Bradley mused, "seems you made the right call."
Vine was barely even paying attention to the Führer. At the moment, he wasn't even overly concerned whether he had gotten away with his botched assassination or not.
The three women who had emerged from the portal were strangers to the Raging Blast Alchemist. The black haired woman had been joined by a regal looking young woman in white and a well built blonde bombshell with a fiery glint to her eyes. Strangers or not, however, Vine wasn't completely lacking for an idea of who they were. Ruby had brought up her team, and her hope Histoire might recruit them to join the fight.
Well, Ruby's team had arrived, and it wasn't immediately clear how their timing could have been worse.
Not that Vine had long to consider that particular question. As it was, he had just enough time to raise his blade and brace his hand against the flat of it before the blonde's gauntleted fist slammed into the steel with enough force to slide Vine backwards a full foot.
If he could have thought of any way to explain the situation to Ruby's allies without compromising his own position, there was no chance to attempt it. The blonde's assault was as unyielding as it was vicious, forcing Vine into a desperate struggle just to keep a step ahead of the woman.
Her black haired companion was on the offensive as well, focusing her attacks on Bradley who was using his blade to deftly fend off the woman's agile attacks. She was quick and relentless, yet it was immediately apparent Bradley wasn't at nearly the disadvantage against her Vine was against the blonde. In fact, after deftly parrying one of her strikes, Bradley threw her off balance and sliced his blade clean through her neck.
"Hmm, a clever trick, girl," Bradley praised, turning and blocking an attempted sneak attack from the woman as the one that should have been decapitated simply melted into shadow.
"He saw through it?" she stuttered in disbelief as she distanced herself from the Führer.
"You can't slip anything past this eye of mine," Bradley declared with absolute certainty.
Vine found himself hoping the black haired young woman wasn't as out of her depth as the initial exchange had made her appear. Unfortunately, he was far to busy being out of his own depth to be worried about another fight.
Vine was barely managing to parry the blonde's punches with his sword, desperately looking for an opening to exploit. He found it when she drew back her fist to throw a haymaker at him. She swung for Vine's head, but her fist found only empty air as Vine slid under her fist and rolled behind her, planted his hand into the ground for leverage, and delivered a ferocious kick to the back of the blonde's right knee.
Vine had dislocated the knees of men twice the blonde's size and sent them crumpling to the ground with less force then he'd delivered to this opponent's leg, which made it that much more disheartening when the woman barely stumbled forward a bit.
"Well, worth a try. Alright, time to resort to fighting dirty."
"Nice try, but that won't stop me!" the blonde shouted, rounding on Vine, swinging her fist for his head again.
"Picking up on that, admittedly," Vine replied, rolling backwards to evade being brained by the woman's fist.
"Please let this work," he pleaded as he slammed his hands against the ground. The blonde had just managed to straighten herself when two snakes of stone erupted from the ground to attack her.
"Whoa, what the…" she shouted, jumping back. She punched the head of one of the snakes, cracking it, but not stopping it from biting down on her gauntlet before coiling itself around her arm.
"Alright, I'll give you credit! This is definitely better!" she shouted as the second snake caught her other gauntlet and began coiling around the other arm, "I hope you don't think this'll stop me, though!" she shouted forcefully as the snakes coiled around her body, restraining her.
Two gunshots rang out and the snake heads exploded, freeing the blonde's arms. The rest of her stone bindings didn't last much longer after that and she was quickly ready to resume her attack.
"You know, when the scythe is a damn sniper rifle, why should I even be surprised that the damn gauntlets are also damn shotguns!" Vine cursed angrily as he knelt, one hand still on the ground.
"So, any other tricks?" the blonde asked, turning to look at Vine. Her violet eyes widened with shock at the sight that met her.
"I got a couple, yeah," Vine replied, leaning nonchalantly against the oversized cannon he had pointed at the blonde.
"Crap" was all the blonde had time to say before Vine shot her.
The attack was less anything physically damaging then it was a loud burst of light and smoke, hopefully packing just enough of a punch to be disorienting. It was a tactic designed more to buy time then outright end a fight.
Vine needed some breathing room as his mind raced for a solution to the dilemma. Assessing his surroundings, he quickly found the other ongoing battle, and felt his blood freeze in his veins.
The battle was only still technically "ongoing" because at some point, the white haired young woman had joined her black haired friend. To her credit, the black haired woman could have been in worse shape. Several cuts over her body told the story of several close calls, but few were serious. One cut above her eye was bleeding pretty badly, but even shallow cuts bled profusely from that area.
Unfortunately, the blood seeping out from under where her left hand clutched over her right shoulder did indicate a severe injury, however, and her wobbly balance and the blood around the girl indicated it had been bleeding awhile.
The white haired woman hadn't received any serious wounds, yet, but it was clear that was less due to her having any serious impact on the tide of the fight and more a matter of not having spent quite enough time as Bradley's primary target. With Black's injury reducing her effectiveness, however, that wasn't going to be the case much longer.
White's weapon looked like some kind of rapier, and she moved and struck with a dancer's fluidity and grace, which meant nothing against the seemingly unstoppable force that was Führer King Bradley.
Ruby was still tied to her chair, but she was doing everything in her power to change that fact. Saying a silent prayer to any god willing to listen that Bradley was to occupied thrashing Black and White to notice him and Red, he hurried to the girl.
He'd already pulled off her gag when she noticed him.
"Where's Yang?"
"You mean Blondie? She's fine, but it'll take her a few seconds to figure out which way is up," Vine quipped as he prepared to cut away Ruby's ropes.
"Hurry!" she pleaded, "Blake and Weiss are in trouble!"
"Stop squirming! It's not exactly easy cutting a moving target!"
"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"
By the time Vine saw her coming, it was already too late. Yang slammed into him, full-body tackling him away from Ruby. The impact Jared Vine's sword out of his hand, causing it to embed into the floor in front of a shocked Ruby.
Yang's forward momentum only stopped when Vine's back struck the wall, causing her shoulder to slam into Vine's chest with eye-watering force. Vine felt something crack as the wind was forcefully pushed from his lungs, leaving him staggered and disoriented. Yang pressed her left arm across his chest, pinning his back to the wall as her right fist drew back to strike.
"YANG NO!" Vine heard Ruby's desperate cry less then a second before the savage impact left him in silent darkness.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ruby's plea had come a second to late. Yang hadn't even let her sister's kidnapper drop all the way to the floor before she had turned to see what the girl was talking about. Ruby's horrified expression made it immediately clear something wasn't right. Unfortunately, Bradley's sword carving a vicious gash into Weiss's thigh, dropping Team RWBY's ice princess flat onto her stomach left Yang no time to figure out what it was. Rushing to Ruby's side, she threw her arms around her little sister!
"Histy! Get us out of here!" she shouted, seemingly to no one.
"WAIT!" Ruby began to protest, "WE CAN'T…" that was all she got out before Yang dragged her backwards through a portal at the same time Blake dragged Weiss through another. Caught off guard, it took a moment for Bradley to react, and when he did, he threw his sword after Yang and Ruby. The portal closed moments before the sword passed through, causing the blade to continue its flight and stab into the far wall, against which no longer lent Crimson Rose and Ruby's red hood.
Team RWBY had slipped out of Bradley's grasp.
It wasn't immediately obvious if Vine was conscious or not, but he wasn't moving. His breathing was weak and raspy and blood seeped from a wound opened when his skull had crashed into the back wall. Damage that seemed tame compared to the sickening deformation where Yang's fist had struck him. Bradley had no idea if he'd survive, and even if he did, his usefulness was certainly finished.
Bradley retrieved his sword and loomed over the fallen Alchemist.
The Führer was no fool. Whatever game Vine had been playing from the moment he'd executed Maes Hughes, Bradley had never been convinced Vine was loyal.
What he had been was useful. He boasted two traits severely lacking in Amestris's top military brass, compitance and capability. It had always been the Führer's scheme to take advantage of that until the Raging Blast Alchemist had ceased to be useful, then finish the alchemist off personally.
That moment had come, and Vine's injuries insured he was no threat to Bradley.
In fact, they ensured he'd never be a threat again.
Without a word, Bradley sheathed his sword, turned and walked away. He'd have Vine transferred back to Central for treatment, but in his condition, there was no guarantee the Darcsen Alchemist would even survive the trip.
Colonel Vine had put his faith in the outworlders. It would be a fitting end if it turned out that one had killed him.
CLOSING THEME: KIMI NO NAMAE (Rising of the Shield Hero)