Second part/chapter of An Unexpected Incident is finally live, folks. I'm not too sure on how many parts/chapters there will be, but my guesstimate suggests somewhere around ten or so parts/chapters. Something close to that number. Not terribly sure.
Ah well, we'll find out soon enough. I hope you all will enjoy Part II.
Good God, the smell of smoke and burnt flesh assaulted Ruby's nostrils.
The sight was too much to bear. Ruby shut her eyes and turned away, away from the terrible and unholy horror that which laid for all daring eyes to see. She found herself glancing at Yang, who stared at the carnage before them, her lilac eyes wide and filled with a disgusted, shocked horror. Weiss looked sick, enough that she turned away and started to, what sounded like, cough and choke. As for Blake, she just stared; she stared and stared at the carnage, as if she saw this happening before and still couldn't believe her eyes that it happened again.
"It's like a Grimm attack here," Yang muttered, shaking her head, her stare glued onto the scorched horror such that it looked like, in Ruby's eyes, the horror was staring back. "Only, only people did this…"
They all heard Weiss heaving, which somehow gave Blake the will to break away from the bombing site. Ruby turned to a collapsed Weiss―who was bent over on her knees―and reached for her, but Blake came over to her first.
"Hey, are you alright?" Blake rubbed her back.
Weiss wiped the thick, drooping saliva off of her lips. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine. God, I'll never get used to that smell…"
"Yeah," Blake muttered with a resigned nod, not a hint of sarcasm or hostility to be found in her voice. Ruby found Weiss' comment odd, though considering the Schnee Dust Company's history with the White Fang…
Bangs became fireworks as Ruby and her teammates saw a screaming woman with rabbit ears running towards their direction. More bangs and the woman contorted in agony as she collapsed on the ground. Her body shook as holes blew out of her back. Ruby gazed at the woman, then noticed movement tugging at the corner of her eye. She looked, and her worst fears became true.
A group, at least six strong, peered into the stage area carrying assault rifles. Ruby's eyes widened upon sight of their white cloaks, which were splotched with red, and their faceless white masks that accentuated their small yet conical cloth hats, and the dark body armor they wore over their torsos and legs. A glance at her teammates and they were just as equally surprised―especially Blake.
"I got the furry," one of the armed terrorists scoffed at the corpse. "Damn, I hate these cleansing missions."
"The sooner we finish this up, the sooner we can get out of here," another said, shaking her head. "Besides, it's not like you're associating yourself with these freaks."
He sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I just don't like getting close to their ugly mugs. They freak me out."
"Hey!" a third one cried, pointing at Ruby and her teammate's way. "We got huntresses!"
"Already?" The two terrorists finally noticed and they and their companions raised their guns at Team RWBY.
Ruby kept Crescent Rose lowered in a passive stance, but she was pretty sure the rest of her teammates adopted more aggressive gestures. Especially Yang and Blake. A glance and she saw that Yang's eyes were already crimson and Blake's face was scrunched with fury.
"Are you the ones responsible for the bomb?" Ruby said, stepping forward first ahead of the others.
The female terrorist came forward, nonchalantly bringing her hands up. Out of all the terrorists, she seemed to be the one calling the shots. "What does it look like, kid? You think we came here with flowers and cookies?"
"They don't look like they got furries in their group, Violet," one of the terrorists said. "I mean, didn't the Elders say we just shoot up as many furries as we can before the authorities show up?"
"Well, the Elders didn't account for a hunter team being here." The terrorist, presumably Violet, gazed at them, her assault rifle slightly lowered but high enough to react to anything Ruby and her teammates could have tried.
Ruby could practically feel the arrogance and annoyance dripping from her voice. "Listen, we're just going to give you kids one chance to fuck off and stay away from our business. We don't have any business with the hunter academies, and since none of you are furries we're thinking about just letting you kids go."
Ruby stared at them. Who the heck was this woman, acting all high and mighty like that? She opened her mouth, but then Yang stomped beside her and Ruby fell silent.
Yang gazed a terrible glare upon the terrorists. "So you monsters bomb a festival, shoot innocent people like they're animals, and then decide you get to allow a team of huntresses to leave unscathed?" She shook her head, growling and gasping through her teeth as Ruby saw tears rolling down her cheeks:
"When I'm through with all of you, you assholes are gonna wish the Grimm had ripped you apart instead!"
"Well, so much for negotiations." Violet raised her rifle. "Kill them all!"
Multiple bangs reverberated throughout the stage area. Ruby already dashed towards the nearest terrorist in a flash of crimson and smashed right into him. He flew and crashed through two stands, lying limp on the remains of the third one.
Ruby saw Weiss propelling herself with a glyph and she skewered a terrorist through the left side of her abdomen. Then Weiss kneed her in the chest and kicked the rifle away from her reach. Blake left ghostly afterimages around two terrorists as they shot frantically at her and smacked their heads with the blunt end of Gambol Shroud's blade.
Ruby then switched Crescent Rose to sniper form and laid down suppressing fire on the other terrorists, forcing their heads down. Yang struck an unfortunate terrorist all over her body with terrible cracks before kicking her away to crash into the stand two terrorists were taking cover in. Then she dashed and snatched Violet's neck. To say Yang was furious failed to encompass the breadth of rage and hatred bubbling in her chest and fists.
"You want to know what I'm going to do to you, you bitch?" Yang growled, tightening her grip. "You're going to die a slow and painful death. You're going to feel the pain of every innocent that you murdered here today ten times over!"
Violet practically sneered through her face mask. "Sorry blondie, but it's not your day today. Now!"
A bang and a flash of white had taken both Ruby's sight and hearing. Everywhere she looked was a flat white plane, complete with terrible straining in her eyes and ears, a headache, and a loud ringing noise.
Her aura quickly cleared away the whiteness, ringing and pain and Ruby immediately spun around her surroundings. Apart from the few downed terrorists, that woman and her cohorts were nowhere to be found. All of Team RWBY was accounted for, thankfully.
"Damn," Blake muttered, holding her head as she found herself sitting on the ground. "They had flashbangs with them…"
Weiss nodded, blinking the white out of her eyes. "What did you expect? The Purity League is usually better equipped than the White Fang. Though," she pursed her lips, "even with the flashbangs it didn't seem like they were expecting to fight four hunters."
"So it wasn't the White Fang this time." Blake sighed, shutting her eyes. "Should've known the Leaguers were behind this. And we're dealing with Crusaders too, of all people."
Crusaders. The word alone made Ruby shudder.
Weiss nodded, finally getting up. "Well, judging by the placement of the bomb, their equipment, and the way they moved, in hindsight this attack seems too organized for a simple lynch mob, or even a motivated group of human supremacists for that matter."
"I almost had her," Yang muttered, staring at her empty hands. Then they became fists as she growled, "I almost had that bastard!"
"Well, is everyone alright? No one hurt badly?" Ruby looked at everyone, trying to shake the dull thudding out of her head. Everyone looked at her, looking no worse for wear. "Okay, good. Now, let's be careful of those flashbangs next time; those Crusaders could've shot all of us right then and there. We're lucky that they didn't."
The others gave their nods as they tried to let the concussions go away. Ruby sighed. Blake was right; in hindsight, the White Fang probably had no reason to attack a festival that celebrates faunus culture, or at least they may find it more troublesome. With the Purity League, though, FaunFest might as well have been an irresistible delicacy just waiting for the taking. The analogy alone ended up giving Ruby an upset stomach.
"We have to go after them!" Yang growled, her hands balling into fists. "We can't let those bastards get away!"
More gunfire shouted from further down the festival, followed by screaming. Ruby furrowed her brows and tightened her grips on Crescent Rose as she turned to her teammates.
"Okay, battle tactics! Yang will lead the charge while Weiss gives us support with her dust and glyphs! Blake, you'll flank them and take out anyone with either bigger guns or explosives! I'll deliver range support behind Yang! As long as we're quick and catch them by surprise, those assault rifles shouldn't wear out our auras! Are we good?"
Yang smashed her fists together, growling, "Just say the word."
"Well, at least this is a good test of your leadership skills," Weiss muttered as she loaded different dust vials into Myrtenaster. "We're going to need it."
Blake nodded at Ruby. "Understood."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Okay, Part III's technically finished and I could just post it now, but I'm going to wait for a few more days while I continue with writing the rest of the next draft of this fic.
Still, thank you for reading, dear reader. 'Till next time, fare thee well!
-Sda.
