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Chapter 27: revealed to ourselves
~Soap
"You and the rest of your team are aware of the plan?" I asked into the radio.
"Yes, Larry and Ivory are on their way out to meet Yang and Drake now." He said on the other side of the radio.
"And you've scouted out and secured the location of a sniper's nest?" I asked.
"We've actually found two possible locations; one on the North side of the base and one on the South. Both have excellent sight lines on the building we suspect has our VIP's and multiple escape routes; should the need arise." He replied.
"In your opinion, Huntsman, which position would be optimal?" I asked.
"The south. The building in question has more exits and windows on that side, however, there's more open ground between the nest and the building and, not too mention, less cover in the nest. Also, the north side has a landing pad that's currently empty; but that could change in a moment's notice."
"Then I would suggest splitting up; two from my group are on their way to you now to help you out when things get crazy." I said.
"When things get crazy? Surely you aren't planning on gambling with death, are you?"
I said nothing. Instead I just smiled madly and stared into the camera on the device. It didn't take long for Sebastian to get the hint.
"You can't be serious." Sebastian sighed heavily. I heard him quietly ask himself, "Why me? Just why me?"
"Because you came to ME for help in convincing Ozpin to let you after your sister, and you also got me interested; so you get ME for help."
He sighed again, "Who are you sending me and what do they look like? I need to know who I'm working with so I can plan accordingly."
"Look for Sam, she's from my team. She's about 5'2", has red-brown shoulder length hair, royal purple eyes, and has a pair of 10 foot long, pure white hawk wings. Other than that, she looks like a standard White Fang grunt; mask included."
"Anything on the mask and what is her weapon?" Sebastian asked.
"There's nothing on the mask; and it's weapons, plural. Her main is a custom .50 caliber sniper rifle built in such a way that, if needed, it can perform the duties of an anti-material/personal/air/tank rifle."
"Can I get some sort of visual or at least a general idea to go off of in regards to her weapon? I have a feeling that's going to be how I find her."
"Probably." I confirmed. I had to think about this because honestly, there was nothing else in the world that came close to how Sam's weapon looked. "Hmm. Combine a Istiglal Anti-Material Rifle with a SRS, then strip that to the bare minimum as far as parts go. If it wasn't needed to keep the gun together or function, other than the sight or suppressor, she removed it. She also has a custom MP5K smg for mid-close range firefights and a shotgun baton for any close range emergencies."
Sebastian's face was one of bewilderment, "Why does she carry so much? Why not just find some way to combine them like my bow and cutlass combo: Bianca."
I rolled my eyes and laughed, "Have you forgotten? My team and I are bounty hunters, not huntsman and huntresses'; we do things a bit differently than you do. Among them, not naming weapons, how well we use our semblances, carrying more weapons than necessary, and being a bit reckless; but that might just be us. Also, we are talking about Sam here; I wouldn't be surprised if she found some way to turn them all in to some sort of car."
"OK~. What about the other one?" He asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Do you know team RWBY?" I asked.
He perked up immediately when I asked this, "Yeah, what about them?"
"Then you're familiar with Ruby Rose and her appearance?"
"I am." He said confidently.
"Good. She's coming with Sam to help assist you."
"I take it she's disguised as a White Fang solider as well?" Sebastian asked.
"Yes she is. Although, I will say it now, you will not recognize her."
"Why not?"
"The technology I gave her made sure of that. I would advise that you just look for Sam." Just then, I heard something behind me; it was Blake..singing? 'Huh, she has a nice voice.' I thought to myself.
"Make sure you fill those two in on what's happened since you guys disappeared from Beacon. By the way, I would suggest splitting yourselves up: Ruby and Victor, and yourself and Sam."
"Why?"
"As soon as things get to where we'll need help on the ground, Sam and Ruby will jump down to help us out. Plus, at that point, we'll only need one person to cover each side." I paused, "If that's all, let's get this show on the road." I said, moving to shut off the radio.
"Affirmative."
"Let's move girls. We've got work to do." I said as I approached Sarah, Weiss, and Blake.
I reached out my hand and helped up, first Sarah, then the others.
Once she was standing, Sarah discarded her short-sleeved, zip up, hoodie revealing both her, white and light red long sleeved t-shirt, and her soft pink and white cat ears to the outside world for the first time in a very, very long time.
"Hey Sarah?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you always leave that hood on and hide your ears? I mean, yeah I kept mine in a bow, but I did eventually stop."
"Originally, I hid them to keep myself from remembering the memories of Carrie and the constant reminder that she somehow lived through our first encounter; but at that point, it was nothing more than habit. After that mission though, I didn't have anything left to hide them with. Left with nothing to use to keep me from hiding from myself; there was nothing I could do but embrace it and move on...
She handed me her jacket and told me two words that made Weiss and Blake's eyes wide.
"Burn it."
"Are you sure, Sarah?" I asked her.
She nodded, "I'm sure."
As I burned the jacket, she reached up to the shoulders of her long-sleeved shirt, grabbed a handful of material, and ripped off the sleeves.
It had been a while since I had seen her this exposed. In fact, I think the last time I saw more of her skin than that was...well, let's try to keep this somewhat appropriate.
"I'm done running. This time, I'll make sure Carrie doesn't walk away." She said. All along her left arm was a beowolf scar that stretched it's way from her elbow to her wrist. I glanced at Weiss and Blake; both of them were staring at Sarah's right arm. I didn't look for I knew that if I looked, I would only get angry.
On the underside of her right arm, burnt into her flesh like a branding, was a single word. One that she knew all too well. "MONSTER"
Sarah turned and stared toward the White Fang base. When she did, I heard Weiss gasp again.
"Soap, your hair again."
I turned and looked at Sarah. Her right arm, from where the branding would be, was slightly glowing a blue color. I watched for a minute before I felt Sarah's memories starting to seep into my mind; as they did, the glow slowly changed to the color of blood.
I finally stepped in and put my hand on her shoulder. "Sarah." Instantly, the glow and memories stopped. She turned to look at me, "We'll get her. I promise." I hugged her.
As I did, I felt her relax in my arms. "thanks Chris" I heard her say quietly before I kissed her.
When we broke apart, I turned to Weiss and Blake, "Do you understand now why Carrie needs to be dealt with?"
They both shook their heads.
"Those words on Sarah's arm; she didn't do that to herself, someone branded her. That someone is Carrie's second-in-charge. That same person, is the very reason why Sebastian and his team came out here in the first place."
"Violet." Weiss said.
"Yep. Violet Wong; Human and Faunas trafficker, murderer, and part of the shadow organization that's been hunting me since the day that they failed to kill me when they attacked my village." I said. After a minute, I spoke again, "We should go before we delay this any longer."
They all nodded. Blake and Weiss donned their masks and Sarah took out both her weapons.
I let the girls get ahead of me. As I started to follow them, I thought I heard something behind me.
When I turned around and looked; I didn't want to believe what I was seeing.
Standing where Blake and Weiss were sitting earlier, was a girl about my age, facing away from me. She was about my height and had long, flowing blond hair that curled at the ends and reach down to her mid back. She was wearing brown shorts, a blue shirt, green running shoes, and a black jacket. On the side and back of her right leg was a scar that looked like it was caused by an...explosion.
'Oh no. Don't be her. You promised me that you wouldn't give in to their influence. Please no...
Across her back was a DSR-Precision GmbH DSR-1 sniper rifle; underneath the gun was a sigil that looked to be a shadow that was surrounded by light. In the center of the shadow was the depiction of a bloody blade.
She turned around and looked at me. She had coral pink eyes and a face that I recognized. It was the face of sadness.
"Shadow..." I said, not moving.
I felt my heart sink when she spoke.
"Soap...I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't follow through with my promise. It's taking everything that I have left to make sure that I don't attack you right now. Please, in the upcoming fight between us, the one that you know that we can't avoid; don't hold back. I want to be free of everything. I'm too far gone now that not even you can save me." She turned around and started to melt into the shadow of the tree. "Please brother... do that for me." Finally, she was gone.
"Shadow...
I heard someone approaching behind me. I turned to find that it was Sarah. "Soap," she looked behind her and saw that no one had followed her, "Chris, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, just thought I heard something." I said as I took her hand and we headed back to the others.
A/N: I suppose that I should include some sort of explanation as to what the hell is going on. Put simply, the actual plot of my story. Starting back in chapter 1; I started my story in the only way I knew how, start at the end and then fill in everything in between. Chapters 2-4 were nothing but backstory and world building and Chapters 5 and 6 were me trying to figure out what the hell I was doing. 7-9 was me figuring out how to write at least one of the girls of RWBY, fortunately I found that in Blake and while Blake and Weiss have probably gotten the most screen time thus far in the show, in my opinion Blake has the most hole riddled backstory; which gives me the ability to shape Blake how I want to. 10-13 was more character, world, and backstory building. 14-18 was me teasing the plot but not actually touching it. 19-22 was me adding more O.C.'s to the story; 23 and 24 was more teasing of the actual plot, or at least a little bit. And finally in 25, we have actually started it.
This will be interesting...