A/N: the excuse for the delay this time (for once) isn't "I was busy." In fact the opposite: I was trying my best to not be busy. Went on vacation, to Canada specifically. So hurray for dodging responsibilities, like updating this.
B/N: I have no idea when I'll ever update a fic or add a new one. Damn you life.
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A flash of light, and suddenly four figures were present.
Sitting in his command chair like a Goa'uld passing judgment from its throne, Colonel Lionel Pendergast initially regarded the new arrivals with professional indifference. But upon confirming who the four were, he rose from the chair to approach them. All around the large yet cramped room, a dozen airmen went about their tasks, most only sparing a short look at the other end of the bridge.
Coming to a stop a meter away, the greying master of the newly refitted USAF Prometheus clasped his hands behind his back and nodded in greeting. "Welcome aboard SG-1."
"Good to be here. Like the new chair?" O'Neill asked, digging his hands into his pockets as he glanced around. The view outside the bridge window caught the Colonel's attention, causing the man to ignore the rest of the room.
"Very much Colonel. Ronson's suggestion of new chairs throughout the ship was implemented nicely." Pendergast replied evenly.
"I'm impressed the new sensors are tuned so well. The Asgard didn't spare any expense this time. New sensors, new hyperdrive, new beaming system, its amazing." Carter complimented, letting her eyes wander to the various displays. Unlike her commanding officer, she kept herself at attention.
"Indeed." Teal'c agreed, maintaining a close impression of Pendergast's own pose.
"Yeah, lets hope this trip will be smooth, for once." Daniel Jackson said, muttering the last two words to himself as he made zero attempt to keep the others discipline.
O'Neill was snapped out of his infrequent hobby to playfully rib the man, letting a smile cross him at the younger man's irritation. "You can give the whole persecution thing a rest. Already said I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier."
"Anyway." Pendergast said, regaining the men's attentions, "SG-3 and SG-9 boarded an hour ago. Your luggage and the extra supplies have already been beamed up, and your quarters are prepared. We're free to depart anytime." he explained crisply.
"Perfect. If you don't mind sir, I'd like to look over some of the systems on board." Carter stated, relaxing her posture just enough to start moving. When Pendergast waved a hand towards an unused terminal, she gave a quick salute before strolling over.
"I'm gonna go brush up on my notes. Diplomatic mission and all." Daniel walked out, knowing when he wasn't needed.
Extracting his hands from his pockets, O'Neill quizzically asked, "Is the mess still in the same place? I could use something to eat."
"Same location Colonel." Pendergast confirmed.
"Great. Alright, you do your thing.' O'Neill said, moving before he finished talking. Teal'c said nothing, but unlike the other three he nodded respectfully at the Colonel before walking off after the man.
Once the lackluster excuse of a meeting was over with, Pendergast returned to his chair. As he sat back down, he gave his helmsman a single order.
"Engage hyperdrive."
O'Neill felt his stomach lurch when the Prometheus tore into another dimension, but he paid no attention to the sensation. Memory gave him a path, protocol provided the silent reply to any personnel he crossed paths with, and his mind offered a silent war of expectations versus reality. He knew the food was going to be bad, a minor sacrifice to essentially living the life of his childhood heroes.
He waited until his feet carried him to a reasonably empty area to speak up. "What's on your mind?"
"I am hungry as well." Teal'c said in his distinctive monotone, no doubt staring at O'Neill's back with the intensity of a marble statue.
"Yeah, sure you are." O'Neill spun on his heels to lean against a wall.
"I admit to some curiosity however." Teal'c replied evenly.
O'Neill let his head tilt back, giving the bulkhead an empty look. "This is the part where you ask me why we're heading off into the great unknown when we could've just gated to the planet, right?"
"Correct. I found it strange General Hammond agreed to Jaune Arc's request so quickly. Are you not concerned as well?" the slightest hint of emotion filtered into his tone, though the rest of his body might as well have been made of stone.
A quiet groan left O'Neill while he looked around, checking for crew members in the vicinity. Satisfied at being alone for the moment, he leaned against a wall. "Can you keep a secret T?"
The flat look Teal'c answered with made O'Neill close his eyes and thump his head against the wall.
"Ask a stupid question…" he muttered before shaking his head. "Alright. I think Hammond is discharging the kids."
"For what reason?" the larger man questioned, lifting up an eyebrow. To O'Neill, it had the same weight as a dropped jaw.
"My guess is a way to stick it to Kinsey." he pursed his lips at even recalling the politician, "That slimy rat pulled some strings to get the kids enlisted in the first place. The deal Hammond made was they work for us until we found their homeworld. Now that its found, he doesn't have any reason to keep them in the fire."
"As I recall, it was a gambit to discredit the SGC." Teal'c spoke, the gears in his head turning.
"Yeah, to take over again. Just like trying to get the Army involved. Like those Ranger idiots can do a better job than us." he shook his head again. "So, I'm figuring we're gonna have to break the news to them sooner or later. Gonna have to give it the bandaid treatment. Lucky us." O'Neill groaned, rolling his eyes.
Teal'c creased his brow. "Are you not worried about the Creatures of Grimm?"
"No, why would I?" O'Neill turned his head lackadaisically. "Its a bunch of werewolf and bear things, no big deal. Wonder what they got for fishing..." his eyes glazed over, possibilities turning over in his head.
"You have not paid attention to the tales they have told." Teal'c noted.
"Did I ever tell you I once caught a forty inch Pike?" O'Neill asked him. The Jaffa creased his brow a few degrees. "Coulda swore I did. Anyway, that's because the Pike wasn't forty inches, it was fourteen. Tell me Bra'tac hasn't made up stuff in his stories." he challenged with a light tap on Teal'c's chest. The slab of muscles under the shirt didn't yield to the contact.
"He certainly has." he conceded.
"Everyone makes their own stories more impressive than what they really were. Besides, since the kids had…" O'Neill lifted a fist with curled fingers. "A pair of handguns, a spear, a hammer, and a sword." he listed each weapon with a raised finger.
"And two shields." Teal'c corrected.
"Yeah those too." O'Neill crossed his arms. "If those do the trick just fine, then these Grimmey things aren't so bad. Hammond used it as an excuse to send them along on their own, not because he thought we couldn't handle some wildlife. Trust me, it'll be easy."
Teal'c thought over his wording for a moment. "What if you're wrong?"
"Doubt it. But hey, wouldn't be the first time." O'Neill shrugged off. Hearing a crew member's footsteps caused him to reluctantly stop leaning on the wall, stretching for a moment. "As long as its not another Replicator swarm or Perdition Rift kind of thing, I'm fine with it. Who knows, maybe they'll have the Lost City somewhere." he said as he started walking down the hallway again.
"O'Neill." Teal'c said, stopping him in his tracks. When he turned around, the Jaffa pointed to an adjacent hallway. "The cafeteria is this way."
00000
Fwip-wash.
The orange bolt struck the target dead center, impacting the snarling face. Immediately the skin boiled, the fur igniting into short lived flame. The searing ball of condensed plasma burned through the unnatural flesh, swiftly burrowing into the side of its head. The extreme heat flash vaporized all that it touched, a brief flash of the universes terrible wrath vented upon the target. The boney plate was spared outrage incineration, but it too was scorched. A raging inferno could not have caused this much damage, not this quickly.
Reeling from the unexpectedly painful blow, the Beowolf staggered as one of its paws was brought up to protect the injury. Its fearsome gaze was turned away from the humans it menaced a moment ago, something bearing a stark resemblance to pain in its roar. It failed to react when the swift enemy darted up to its shaken form, gauntlet covered fists impacting the hide with a resonating boom. Three blows were all that was needed to finish off the wounded Beowolf; it died without getting more than a short glimpse of its prey.
Yang stood up straight, for the moment refraining from retracting Ember Cecilia. She looked over the dissipating ash with some amazement, but no small amount of concern as well. Nevertheless she glanced over to her awaiting friends, the leader of the missing team clutching the alien weapon carefully. "Nice shot."
With a quiet breath Jaune brought the head of the Staff up so it was pointed at the sky, looking over the results of the test with mixed emotions.
"How's that for irony." he murmured. He clicked something on the haft, making the segmented head clamp up.
"Hmm?" went Ruby from beside him, taking her eyes off the short display. The staff was held away from him, as if the blond didn't want it closer to him than necessary.
On the other side of Jaune, Pyrrha spoke up. "Normally these things aren't very effective."
She held Akoúo and Miló close during the so called test, easing out of a combat stance once it was over. Over her back was the girls' clothes duffel; without an Earther gun of any kind, there wasn't much reason to not take the bag.
"Looks like it worked fine to me." Yang commented, stomping back to the gathering.
"Perfect opportunity this time. Normally, well, you try aiming this thing." Jaune joked, leaning the staff in her direction without loosening his grip. The blonde waved him off, briefly turning to her sister for what to do next.
With the task completed, Ruby saw no reason to stick around. She turned to trudge off, ignoring the ache in her muscles from her extreme workout. Her pace was deliberately slow, until she confirmed Jaune and Pyrrha were following. Yang's heavy footfalls were the most distant, and a quick swing of her head confirmed she was trailing the temporarily assembled team. Even then, she didn't move with any sort of speed.
Of Jaune, she saw him tugging the staff's harness over himself as Nora had initially done, letting his P90 dangle limply. Earlier she noticed him reloading the weapon in spite of how useful it was, likely from wanting to be prepared. But as he drew Crocea Mors once again, her eyes lingered on the alien staff a few seconds longer than she had to.
It was a clunky tool, that much was certain. While shooting it Jaune had both hands on the haft, one wrapped securely around a small latch in the middle. The snakelike head was pointed at the Beowolf, but he had the rest of the shaft nestled into his armpit while its counterweight waggled behind him. His posture looked awkward, his expression grimacing throughout the test. However, she saw the staff hurt a Grimm with a rare kind of intensity. Knowing an Aura gave no protection against such a weapon made a cold shiver crawl down her spine.
Unwittingly she started to trudge through the thin brush faster, heading to where the rest of the group waited. The sooner they returned to Beacon, the sooner this day would be over with.
She heard the others before she saw them, heard Nora first rather. Rounding over a small hill, the red huntress caught sight of the awaiting four, standing around with the orange haired girl happily chatting away with Weiss and Blake, Ren silently watching her gesture wildly with the second duffel over his back. Leaving her teammates behind wasn't something Ruby did lightly, but after doing the majority of the work she felt they needed a breather. The other two were winded, though not nearly as bad. They would keep the Grimm off them as they recovered.
While Ruby saw them first, Blake heard her coming well before the others. A sideways glance at the steadily moving line interrupted Nora's stream of one sided conversation, leading her and the rest towards the returning group. To the red toned girl's relief, Ren looked entirely calm now. No sign of the simmering anger from earlier was visible, after Jaune snatched up the staff.
"How'd it go?" Blake inquired as they formed up once again, her bow flicking as she automatically listened in to the surrounding forest. Lacking her sensitive hearing, Ruby had to move her head around to check for activity. A flicker of movement caught her attention, tension briefly flooding her. It vanished as quickly as it arrived when a bird took flight from a small tree.
"Better than the P90." Jaune reported, shaking his head with a small smile. A wry shrug from Pyrrha confirmed his tale.
Neither Ruby nor her team understood why Ren raised a brow, or why Nora clamped her hands over her mouth to stop a snort.
"The one planet in the galaxy where staffs are better than guns, and we're from there." the redhead said, sparing an unidentifiable look at the thick trees.
Yang coughed, extra loud to get attention. "Seriously, what's the big deal with these staffs anyway?"
"I'll explain some other time." Ren said simply, checking for Grimm as well. Jaune sighed and rolled his shoulders, forcing his bemused smile down. Nora didn't put much effort into stopping her giggle; Ruby wasn't the only one relieved at her keeping the maniacal cackling from earlier in check. Weiss and Blake meanwhile glanced to the blonde, wearing identical looks of confusion. She merely shrugged.
Instead of letting the meeting continue, Ruby said, "The camps only a little bit further." as she began walking backwards, spinning to the right direction once she saw them turn after her.
She kept her pace down until she saw them all moving, not quite in single file. Yang was immediately behind her, with Nora at the tail end. Jaune stayed to the side along with Blake, adjusting his pacing as needed. The faunus could have lead the way back, but Ruby took the lead for a couple of reasons. Being worn out from fighting a Geist alone was the main draw, and after her sister the red toned girl was in the best condition out of the team.
The big issue on her mind were the first years; she didn't need any special powers to know there would be problems once they got back. They had disappeared for several hours, made exactly one call to confirm they were fine, and were now returning with four people who looked and acted like soldiers. Explaining any part of the day was going to be hard.
"So what does the staff do? You said back on Earth its like the horrid little Zat weapons?" Weiss spoke up from the middle, interrupting her train of thought. Taking a peek, she saw Jaune slow down to match her speed. The staff bounced against his back as he walked, though her eyes briefly fell to his hip holster.
"Shot this orange stuff, it hurts Grimm like a shotgun shell. Made it real easy to get a few hits in." Yang added with a small chuckle, idly giving the empty air in front of her a couple of mock punches.
"Not a one hit kill sadly." Pyrrha commented as she kept a lookout.
Blake gave her an intrigued took. "Sounds useful. A one two attack sort of thing."
"Yeah, good for a certain cherrypicker." Nora sniggered from the back.
Immediately Yang stopped to whirl around, causing the entire group to pause and look at her.
"What was that!?" she snapped, stabbing a finger at the orange haired girl.
Nora was grinning, looking confident. "You stole a kill after someone else put in the work to wear it down. You're a cherrypicker."
"I am not!" the blonde yelled indignantly, features contorted with anger. From the front Ruby started to warily scan the forest; if her sister's anger didn't draw in Grimm, then her shouting definitely would.
"Well…" Blake trailed off, frowning contemplatively. Replacing Myrtenaster to her waist, Weiss crossed her arms.
"You did leave us on our own to grab the missile." she pointed out. The glare turned on her was met by a defiant expression.
"See?" Nora smiled as she gestured with an arm held wide, holding the hammer so it rested on her shoulder.
Ren carefully cleared her throat. "Pyrrha and I wore the Nevermore down for you to finish it off." he said, to which she flippantly waved him off.
"That was the plan from the get go. 'Sides, I helped too remember? Even did it without taking the one missile we had." she finished by casting a fresh smile at the fuming Yang.
Hearing rustling leaves, Ruby drew Crescent Rose from her back as her sister glowered. She wasn't the only one; Blake and Pyrrha had both looked up with her, weapons at the ready. Glancing to them, she met the redhead's gaze, who nodded. Pointing the sniper rifle upwards just in case, she let the former champion change her grip on Miló, so it was held overhead. In one smooth motion she flung the javelin skywards.
The escalating squabble came to an abrupt halt when a loud screech reached them. A heartbeat later the meter wide Nevermore hit the ground in the middle of the group, plaintively squawking while the bronze tinted weapon had it skewered. Its body went limp, dissolving into ashes a second later. Pyrrha waved a hand, and the javelin flew back into her grip.
As she tapped it on the ground to knock the dust off, Ruby cleared her throat. "So, you guys wanna stay here, or do you wanna get back?"
"Fine." Yang grumbled, slumped yet glowering.
"Sure, soon as…" Nora caught the two males of her team sending guarded looks at her, and she closed her mouth to start walking again.
It wasn't long before Blake picked up, listening intently. "I hear them."
Ruby picked up speed, but after a couple seconds of thought she frowned. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Pyrrha and Jaune meet her look. "You guys should hang back a little, they… they aren't in on the secret."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Jaune spoke up, he and the others silently falling behind the other team.
Pushing her nervousness aside, Ruby kept on the familiar path. They were getting closer; she recognized some of the trees now, and with the uphill walk more and more boulders were coming into sight. Through the gaps in the trees, she spotted the mesa they landed on. A little further and later she saw the relief worthy outline of the Bullhead they arrived with.
Just as she rounded the natural path, a body flew in front of her. Having chosen to keep Crescent Rose in hand for the rest of the trip, Ruby had the weapon in rifle form in the time it took to blink. Said blink was the time the unknown human shaped form to fly several more meters, until a tree broke his momentum. The figure yelped as he bounced off to land on the ground, going limp with his face in the dirt. A long groan left him as he feebly twitched.
Distantly aware of the other's weapons being trained on the teen, the red huntress lowered her own weapon to collapse it into carrying form. Weiss discreetly waved the formerly missing team down, whispering assurances as Yang and Blake quickly searched for whatever attacked the leather jacket wearing body.
Trusting the others, Ruby slid her scythe onto her back as she lowered herself to one knee. As gently as possible, she placed a hand on his shoulder to lightly shake the teen. A fresh moan left him, but the touch was enough to make the effort to get up. His shaking arms pushed on the dirt, painstakingly getting his torso up so he could crane his neck back.
"Hey Val." she preemptively greeted. Once the underclassman opened his eyes, he blinked repeatedly.
"Ruby, uh." Valentine Trail greeted awkwardly, a puff leaving his lips to clear the dirt.
Rising to her feet, she held out a hand to help. Coughing awkwardly, he accepted the offer, and she easily pulled him up to end his make out session with the dirt. When she let go he swayed unsteadily, evidently still dizzy from the thing, or person, which sent him flying. When he checked himself over, his empty hands started to swipe at the dirt; whatever hit him did so hard enough to make his axe Foe-Smiter leave his grip.
"So, what happened?" she asked after a moment, frowning in concern. Once he regained his balance Valentine chuckled bashfully, averting his gaze in favor of inspecting the tree which broke his fall.
"I was, um, sparing with Raoul. I told him to don't hold back, and he… didn't." he admitted, a flush to his cheeks while he shrugged.
"Oh." Ruby got out, briefly looking towards the camp. She didn't see the big teen, but there was no doubt he was close.
"Yeah, not my best idea. But hey, had to kill some time somehow." Valentine shrugged when she returned her gaze to him. "I mean, I got all my work done, we got the camp packed up…"
"Wait, you did?" Ruby interrupted, holding up a hand to stop him. Her brow furrowed until Weiss loudly cleared her throat.
"I caller earlier, told him to be ready to go by the time we got back." she quickly explained.
Valentine frowned at the light flush to the pale girl's cheeks, his gaze falling to her wringing hands. "Yeah, that was weird. So." he faced Ruby once again, keeping the frown in place. "What exactly is going on?"
"I…" the red huntress took her eyes off him, staring at a tree in the vain hope it could help her come up with a response. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying and failing to keep her cool.
"Its complicated." Blake saved her, a quick wave catching the underclassman's attention. "But its nothing to worry about." she explained, holding her hands up placatingly. When Valentine shifted his questioning frown to her, the Faunus smiled unconvincingly.
"Yeah, what she said." Yang said loudly, planting her fists on her waist to show some confidence. Weiss smiled too, the second or third most fake since the day began.
The teen blinked once, raising an eyebrow. "Um…"
"Its fine, honest." Ruby insisted, suppressing a gulp. To her relief, Valentine seemed to buy it.
Slumping her shoulders, Ruby barely averted a sigh. It wasn't over yet.
Quickly clearing her throat, she turned to her friends to waved them out of the way. She would have loved to avoid this meeting, but other than leaving a team here for an hour or more, she saw no way to prevent it. Yang and Weiss were all but cringing as they stepped aside, the latter turning to gesture behind her. After a moment of inaudible murmuring the white toned girl narrowed her brow at the other team.
A powerful shove had Jaune stumbling, tripping over himself as he came into sight. His surprise turned into indignation, briefly twisting around to jerk his arms up. Whatever the response was made him groan, tilting his head back to rub his face. Blake offered a sympathetic look, which didn't seem to work. When Ruby pointedly cleared her throat once again, he whirled around to lock gazes with Valentine.
The red huntress could understand why Valentine was staring. Even without factoring in the literally otherworldly uniform, Jaune had a submachine gun dangling from his chest, a staff on his back, and a sword on his hip. It wasn't often someone went out as heavily armed as he was. Clapping her hands together, Ruby caught both of their attentions. She had to force a smile on, painfully aware of how easily this could go wrong.
"Jaune, this is Valentine Trail. He leads Team VERE." she held both hands at the first year with the raised eyebrow. "Val started here a couple months ago, we brought him and his team out here for a training mission." Taking a quick breath, she reversed her stance so she was pointing at the blond instead. "Val, this is Jaune. He's a friend of mine from way back, we… bumped into him and his team by accident earlier. We're giving them a ride back to Beacon, its why the missions being cut short." she chose her wording carefully.
Jaune cleared his throat and extended a hand to Valentine, adopting a disarming smile of his own. "Hi, nice to meet you mister Trail."
Valentine kept his confused frown directed at the stranger in front of him; Ruby could see the gears turning in his head, no doubt noticing the holes in her story. But the important parts of Jaune being her friend, coupled with the (loose) truth of her statement, gave him enough encouragement to reach out to grasp his hand.
"Hi. Uh, so you're Ruby's friend." Valentine greeted carefully, giving him two shakes before letting go. His own eyes kept roaming over Jaune's bizarre outfit. If Jaune was bothered by the teen's staring, he didn't show it.
"Yeah. My team and I, they're back here." he jerked a thumb at the gathering behind him.
Blake was the last one obstructing the young leader's view, and she reluctantly stepped aside. Upon being revealed, each of the three reacted in their own way. Ren had a palm resting on the stock of the P90, one hand adjusting the clothes duffel before perfunctorily nodding. Pyrrha took a moment to straighten her vest, tapping the tips of her boots on the ground. Nora smiled and lightly waved, answering the stranger's attention with a cheerful, "Hi."
"Huh." Val raised his eyebrow at the oddly dressed trio. "She never mentioned you guys before."
"They've been out of Vale for a while, so that's why I never told you about them. Its a surprise visit, otherwise we wouldn't have a problem." Ruby explained, bringing her hands together while she wore a hopeful smile.
"Yes, that's it. Old friends who didn't call ahead." Yang spoke up, grinning as she walked up to playfully elbow Jaune, who halfheartedly winced. Ruby hoped Valentine would buy the story. She knew how weak her explanation was; the one thing she made sure of was telling him the truth.
"You guys from Atlas or something?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. When Jaune opened his mouth, her guts clenched in fear. With so much going on, she didn't think to bring up what the teen's semblance could do.
Before her friend could make a terrible mistake, Yang clapped on his shoulder forcefully.
"Nah, he's from Vale. I'm sure he'd love to tell you what he does for a living, but they've traveled a long ways today. So, how about instead." when Jaune tried to speak again, she clenched her hand hard enough to indent his flesh. "We get back to Beacon, then we'll play story time over lunch or something, okay?" she finished with a wide toothed smile, plainly forced. Instead of fighting back, the blond just cleared his throat, sending a quick peek at Yang in hope of dislodging her iron grip.
Valentine blinked; he may have been less observant than what was ideal, but there was no way he could miss the subtext of the situation. So when he slowly nodded while frowning, Ruby could finally sigh in relief.
"Ooh, kay. So, we're heading back?" he asked, pointing towards the Bullhead.
"Yeah, sure. We'll be along in a second." Ruby agreed brightly, briefly turning her head to the side and cupping a hand by her mouth. 'Tell them.' she mouthed.
As Valentine turned to walk off, Yang leaned in close to Jaune to speak softly. "His semblance makes him a walking lie detector. If you lie, he'll know."
The explanation made the color drain from his features, eyes widening as he jerked towards the brawler.
"When were you going to say something?" he all but hissed.
"Was gonna tell you earlier, but well..." she shrugged instead of finishing, giving the path behind them a lazy nod. Jaune took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment as he exhaled.
Weiss snorted as she took it upon herself to inform the other three, each of them blissfully out of the loop. Briefly matching eyes with Blake, Ruby tilted her head to the Bullhead's direction. The heiress was doing better than when they came in, but she still preferred to have her dark haired friend behind the controls. As she joined her in walking, the red toned girl promised to get her some cookies too. Mentally she amended the thought to give everyone cookies.
Catching up with Valentine wasn't difficult, since he wasn't moving with a purpose. When he paused at a clear patch of dirt, the teen flicked his boot up. The handle of his axe sailed into the air, and he fumbled the initial grip before snatching it back. He took a second to twirl it into the air before sticking the weapon onto his torso again. Ignoring the display, Ruby glanced around the small clearing for the other three. Raoul was never hard to spot; the pillar of chainmail was standing nearby the Bullhead with his mace slung away, scroll out as he methodically read whatever was on the screen. Sensing movement, he glanced up at the returning trio.
"Hey guys." he greeted blandly, putting the scroll away as he appeared completely at ease. Ruby idly wondered if he even used a weapon to send Valentine soaring away.
"Hey man. I have to ask, did you have to hit me that hard?" Valentine questioned caustically, crossing his arms as he leveled an annoyed look at his teammate. The big teen shrugged, his mail rustling with the movement.
"You said don't hold back." he replied. The young leader groaned.
The question of where the other half of the young team vanished to was answered when Blake looked up; when Ruby followed her gaze, she found two pairs of eyes and two sets of stubby ears visible on the top of the aircraft. As she watched, their indistinct forms were returning to normal.
"Hey guys, where've you been?" Elise asked.
"We were getting worried." Erik added.
Disregarding Blake's huff of annoyance, Ruby waved them down. In a blink the Kettu twins vaulted over the top to land beside their teammates, both giving her identical looks of curiosity.
"You guys okay? Any problems?" she asked them.
Valentine rolled his eyes at the two before turning back to her. "Nah, nothing major. The Grimm around here are weird though. I know I said this earlier, but you missed out on what else happened."
"Like what?" she replied, Blake giving her a short nod before strolling to the open passenger hatch. The twins watched her for a moment, perhaps plotting to mess with her in some way.
Raoul spoke up. "Lot of Grimm about an hour ago. Saw some bigger ones in the woods, but they didn't come here."
"Plenty of smaller ones though."
"They were in a real hurry too."
Ruby forced the gulp in her throat down. "That's good. Now listen." she steadied herself under their expectant looks, shuffling her feet. "Some old friends of ours are coming back with us. They've had a long day, so could you please take it easy on them for now?"
"Friends?" the twins chorused, heads cocking to opposite directions.
"From where?" Raoul asked, frowning.
Valentine shrugged. "Dunno. They look like Atlesian troops to me."
Ruby cleared her throat, hearing a small crowd's worth of feet approaching. The four glanced towards the new arrivals, no doubt picking out the same details which bothered her so much.
"I'll explain it later, I promise. For now, please?" she asked, hoping this would be the last hurdle of the day.
00000
To be continued...