Trapped
Chapter 6: Mission
By Lightningstrxu
Weiss summoned a glyph beneath her feet; it took the shape of a clock face, hands spinning rapidly. With a flash of yellow light, she felt the glyph empower her.
Weiss rushed forward with unnatural speed Myrtenaster poised to slay her foe.
Jaune tried to raise his shield in time, but couldn't react to the sheer speed of Weiss's strike and took a stab to the chest causing him to flung back a fair distance and fall flat on his back.
"Jaune!" Weiss shouted. The yellow glow on her body fading as she walked over to him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Weiss." Jaune grumbled as he sat up. "Why'd you stop attacking?"
"I launched you back nearly twenty feet with that attack." Weiss motioned with her rapier pointing to where Jaune had started versus where he had ended up. "I was making sure you were okay."
"Weiss." Jaune sighed. "If I were Ruby what would you have done?"
"I don't see what that has to do with anything." Weiss stamped her foot on the ground indignantly.
"Answer the question, Weiss."
"Fine!" she huffed. "I would have pressed the advantage, punished you for losing your footing by freezing you in ice so you wouldn't be able to get back up."
"And the reason you didn't do that?"
Weiss hung her head down.
"Because I'm giving you preferential treatment." She sighed dramatically. "Again."
"Exactly." Jaune nodded. "You wanted to train together so we could both improve. I'm not going to get any better if you hold back against me."
"Sorry…" Weiss sighed again. "You are fine though right?"
"Yes!" Jaune laughed. "You could always kiss it better if you like." Jaune patted the struck area on his chest.
Weiss's face turned red before shooting her boyfriend a harsh glare.
Boyfriend…Now that was a word that Weiss thought would never ever apply to Jaune Arc, and yet by some mysterious quirk of fate, it had happened.
Six weeks ago Jaune was nothing more than a close acquaintance, more Ruby's friend than hers. Five weeks ago Weiss had nearly frozen to death, and the day after was almost bisected. But here she stood alive and well thanks to him. Three weeks ago they had danced, they had kissed, and now here they both were, the most random couple in all of Remnant.
Weiss smiled before holding out her hand for Jaune.
"You're not that hurt dolt."
Jaune reached up and took her hand, he then pulled suddenly knock her off balance causing Weiss to fall rather ungracefully on top of him.
"What was that for?" Weiss snapped while trying to untangle herself from him.
"Oh just pressing my advantage." Jaune planted a quick kiss on Weiss's lips causing the heiress to let out a rather adorable squeak.
Weiss scrunched up her face in mock annoyance, a show just for him.
"If you're going to press your advantages at least make something of it." Weiss giggled flirtatiously before wrapping her arms around Jaune's neck pulling him into another kiss.
Jaune had learned many things about Weiss these past few weeks, one of which was she was much more affectionate than he would have thought someone like her would be.
Jaune's hand traveled down Weiss's back before giving the heiress's rear a squeeze through her skirt.
"Hey!" Weiss flinched pulling back from the kiss. "I never said you could touch there."
"You never said I couldn't either." Jaune smirked.
Weiss paused a moment, her face contemplative. She shrugged.
"You're not wrong." She smiled before bringing her lips to his again.
Yes, Weiss was very affectionate indeed.
"Hey Weiss, Jau…Ohmygoshsorry!" screamed the voice of Ruby Rose as she entered the training hall.
As long as the two of them were alone that is.
Weiss was gone from his arms in an instant somehow managing to stand and be nearly ten feet away from him in a fraction of a second. Jaune wondered if in her panic Weiss somehow accidentally used Ruby's semblance instead of her own.
"Hi, Ruby!" Weiss said through clenched teeth. "What can we help you with?"
Ruby stood there head down and hood drawn over her eyes.
"Is it safe to look?" Ruby asked sheepishly.
"Of course it is." Weiss said trying to keep from snapping at her partner, it's not like Ruby had walked in on them somewhere private. "Nothing was happening that would make it unsafe to look. Right Jaune?"
"Uh right." Jaune said taking the oh so subtle hint. "We were just sparing." To be fair making out with Weiss was something of a duel in its own right.
"But…" Ruby began.
"You saw nothing!" Weiss shouted perhaps a little more harshly than was necessary.
"Eeeep!" Ruby somehow shrunk even further back into the safety of her cloak.
"Weiss." Jaune admonished as he stood up and walked over to Weiss, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Can we just be thankful it wasn't Yang?"
The brawler would have given them pointers.
Weiss took a deep breath and then exhaled, taking a moment to move past her embarrassment.
"I'm sorry Ruby." Said Weiss. "We shouldn't have been doing that here in the first place." She said bitterly while giving Jaune a sidelong glance.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"You started it!" Weiss turned to face him, hands on her hips.
"You chose to continue it." Jaune countered.
"Well I…"
Weiss's counter-argument was cut off by Ruby breaking out into laughter. She pulled her hood back.
"You two are just so cute together." Ruby finished laughing wiping a tear from her eye.
"Thanks?" Weiss and Jaune spoke simultaneously.
Ruby positively beamed, she couldn't be happier that both her BFFs and yes you can have more than one, had found happiness together.
"Oh right." Ruby shook her. "General Ironwood sent me to find you two. He has a mission for us."
"Mission?" Weiss cocked her head to the side. "Do you know what it is?"
"No." Ruby shook her head. "He said he would brief us in about…" She checked her scroll her eyes went wide. "Five minutes ago!" Ruby vanished in a cloud of petals.
"Ugh, that girl." Weiss sighed.
"I guess we should go after her." Jaune shrugged.
They both made their way down the hallway, regretfully Ironwood's office was on the other side of the campus. Even sprinting as they were, it took five minutes to reach there. Opening the door, they made their way inside.
"Ah Miss Schnee, Mr. Arc." The general sat behind his desk. "How nice of you to join us."
"Sorry General Ironwood." Weiss said as she took a seat.
"We ran as fast as we could." Jaune sat down as well. Weiss gave a quick glare to the red-hooded girl sitting next to her. Jaune looked to his left to see Blake pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"Anyway." Ironwood coughed getting the rooms attention. "You are probably wondering why I called you all here."
The four young Hunters all nodded in response.
"For the last three weeks, there have been a string of raids in the city of Tempest. These raids have resulted in the loss of large quantities of dust, as well as disturbingly high amounts of chemicals have been stolen."
"And we're supposed to find out the culprit?" Jaune asked.
"If possible." The general nodded. "Mostly you four will be going as support for Winter and…" he sighed. "Qrow. They have been there for a few weeks now, but they feel your assistance would be useful. You will leave in two hours, a dossier will be sent to each of your scrolls with more details than we have time to go over. You are all dismissed."
"Yes, sir." All four of them stated before standing and leaving.
"Alright team!" cheered Ruby, always excited to go out into the field. "Let's pack up and move out."
"Yeah." Jaune exclaimed trying to mirror Ruby's enthusiasm giving her a high five.
Weiss rolled her eyes before heading back with Blake to pack.
#####
Several hours later Jaune sat hunched over a bucket, sick to his stomach.
"Why did we have to take a train to Tempest?" Jaune groaned. Weiss sat next to her ailing boyfriend, but sitting as far away from him as the seat would allow.
"There, there." Weiss patted his back reassuringly. "Just keep it all over there please."
"Thanks dear." Jaune said bitterly.
"Wouldn't you still be just as sick on a bullhead Jaune?" Ruby asked slightly at amused at the new couple's interactions.
"Yeah." Jaune sighed. "But at least the trip would be faster."
"Unfortunately you can't fly around Tempest." Weiss interjected. "The winds are too fierce; it's how the city got its name."
"How do people even live there?" The train rocked again causing Jaune to heave. Weiss grimaced and inched further towards the edge of her seat.
"Tempest is a domed city, it's completely climate controlled." Weiss said in a matter of fact manner. "It's actually quite the tourist attraction, maybe if we have time afterward, we can go visit the Hanging Gardens Jaune. The greenest place in all of Solitas, I've heard it's breathtaking."
"A giant city whose only reason to exist is to slap Mother Nature in the face that sounds very Atlesian." Quipped Blake dryly as she looked up from her scroll.
Blake had been reading the mission details since they left Atlas. A mutual decision made by the team through the sacred tradition of 'not it.'
"Hey!" Weiss scowled at Blake.
"Have you found anything useful Blake?" Ruby asked looking over Blake's shoulder.
"So far all I've gotten through is the list of everything stolen, as the general said its large quantities of dust and chemicals whose names I can't even begin to pronounce." Blake ran her finger along the screen.
"Any suspects?" Jaune asked looking up from his bucket.
"I'm getting there." Blake frowned. "It looks like it's the White Fang, according to the report. Your uncle Qrow fought one of them briefly."
"Did he whoop butt?" Ruby smiled.
"No looks like the suspect got away. Let's see." Blake's eyes scanned the text on the scroll. "Large sunken in eyes, messy brown hair…" Blake's word's slowed as she read the description. "Ring…of…feathers…" Blake's scroll fell from her hands clattering on the floor. "No…it's not him…."
"Blake?" Weiss asked concerned
Blake didn't hear Weiss as she was still muttering to herself in panic.
"If he's there then the others might be there as well, she will definitely be there."
"Blake!" Weiss snapped. "What is it?"
Amber eyes locked with ice blue.
"Russytt Strigidae!" Blake hissed out.
Ruby reached down to retrieve Blake's scroll and leafed through the information.
"Who's he?" Ruby looked to Blake who was still having a mild panic attack.
"Blake breathe." Jaune called out trying to calm down the cat faunus.
Blake took several deep breaths to focus.
"There are people in this world who believe the faunus to be nothing more than monster's in the guise of man." Blake sighed. "That the White Fang is nothing but bloodthirsty monsters."
Blake's cat ears drooped as she shook her head.
"But sadly stereotypes and generalizations like that do have some root in the truth."
"And that is?" Weiss asked intrigued.
"Russet Strigidae is one of the four monsters of the White Fang, collectively known as Team DSRT (Desert). They are ruthless, and will not stop till all human life is extinguished. They were the perfect strike force when collateral damage didn't matter."
"Doesn't sound any different than Adam." Ruby commented.
"No." Blake shook her head. "Adam want's to subjugate humanity, they want to destroy it."
"Who are they?" Jaune asked, motion sickness temporarily forgotten.
"Dirge Diamondback, Sahara Serqet, Russytt Strigidae, and Tuscan Samehada." Blake listed off the names. "I've only ever met two of them before, Russytt and his partner Serqet. She unnerves me most of all."
"Do you know anything about them?" Weiss spoke up. "Weapons they use, or possibly a semblance."
Blake shook her head.
"I never saw them in action." Blake closed her eyes. "I've only seen the aftermath." Blake shuddered.
Ruby placed her hand on Blake's.
"Don't worry, when we get to Tempest we can tell uncle Qrow and Winter everything you know." Ruby smiled. "If these guys are that notorious then Winter should be able to use Atlas resources to find out something."
"Yeah, my sister can do anything." Weiss said as she straightened in her seat filled with Schnee pride.
"Like my uncle." Ruby snickered.
"Ruby!" Weiss snapped while Jaune chuckled.
"Oh my gosh Weiss!" Ruby's eyes widened in sudden realization. "If they get married we'll be sisters!" Ruby let out a little squeal of glee.
"Ruby that not how…"
"Let her have this one Weiss." Jaune whispered.
"Yes, we'll be the best sisters." Weiss smiled, Jaune smiled, even Blake managed a small smirk.
Once again Ruby's exuberance had managed to lift their spirits. They would need it after all, Tempest was still five hours away.
#####
Tempest, a domed city, located in perhaps the most inhospitable part of Solitas. It stood in defiance of nature itself, a technological marvel. The Hanging Gardens a symbol of beauty and man's ingenuity. All of those things and more lay waiting to be discovered.
Except for the fact that good ole drunkle Qrow insisted they meet in some hole in the wall dive bar to discuss strategy.
"Where even is your uncle anyway?" Weiss complained as she looked around the bar. Poorly lit and separated into two distinct sections, smoking upstairs, and as the oh so colorful sign on the wall informed the wuss section took up the bottom floor.
"I don't know." Ruby shrugged looking at her scroll. "He said he would meet us here at." She reread the text. "Forty-five minutes ago." Ruby's forehead hit the table as she sighed.
"Why even meet here." Jaune asked between coughs, due to the veritable cloud of smoke the billowed down from the upper floors. "Who designed this place?" Jaune groaned.
Weiss reached out to pat his back again.
"Qrow's afraid that our rooms are being monitored." Blake added. "It's what I would do. Meeting in a public place makes it both harder to overhear a conversation and allows us to see if anyone is trying to listen to us."
Blake scanned the bar; so far no one seemed interested in their presence.
"Well, he better get here soon!" Weiss griped. "I'll be washing the smell of cigarette smoke out of my hair for weeks if we stay here any longer."
Ten minutes passed and still no Qrow.
"Where's the bathroom?" Ruby fidgeted in her seat.
"I think the women's room is on the second floor." Replied Blake peering out into the dimly lit bar.
Ruby glanced up at the hazy smoke filled the upper floor. Maybe if she held her breath and ran really fast, she would be fine.
"I'll be back." Ruby stood up and pulled up her cloak to cover her mouth. She sprinted across the room and up the stairs, quickly finding the bathroom. It was a lot cleaner than she expected. Then again Ruby was pretty sure that she, Weiss and Blake were the only girls in the building.
After answering nature's call, Ruby washed her hands and started to make her way back downstairs. As she reached the top of the stairs her vision blurred suddenly feeling dizzy, she stumbled forward about to fall down the stairs.
"Woah there young'un." A deep male voice called as a hand wrapped around her wrist stopping her descent. "You almost had a right powerful fall there." Ruby felt herself being placed into a chair.
Ruby's vision came back into focus; she shook her head trying to clear her dizziness. Sitting across from her sat a rather rugged looking older man, he looked like he had walked out of one of those old cowboy movies that she and her dad had watched when she was a kid. From his wide-brimmed hat, snakeskin belt, and spurred boots.
"You alright there Lil Lady?" the man asked concerned.
"Yeah." Ruby said rubbing her head. "I guess I got little dizzy."
"Well, it's no wonder child." The man chuckled. "Runnin up those stairs as fast as you was, holdin yer breath."
"I didn't want to breathe in the smoke." Ruby sunk down in her chair, face red with embarrassment.
"Haha, so you'd rather suffocate then. Not a wise move there Lil Lady." The man pointed at Ruby. "You a Huntress ain't ya. Aura should protect ya from most minor environmental hazards."
"Really?" Ruby cocked her head to the side intrigued.
"Hell if I know." The man guffawed, amused by his own statement.
"Oh well thank you for helping me." Ruby stood up, for a brief moment, she was sure she heard a faint rattling sound before her vision swirled again causing her to collapse back into her chair.
"Hold on a moment there, yer still a bit loopy in the head."
"Yeah." Ruby said weakly, holding her head.
"Just a moment, Lil Lady." The man stood and walked away, he returned a moment later placing a glass of water on the table. "Drink up."
"Thank you." Ruby reached for the glass before taking a big gulp. She definitely felt better.
"It's no problem, Lil Lady." The man smiled. "I wouldn't be much of a gentleman if I let a pretty lil thing like you get hurt."
"Oh." Ruby blushed slightly, not quite sure how to take the compliment. "It's Ruby, by the way, my name that is. Ruby Rose."
"Can't say that isn't a fitting name."
"Well, I should really get back to my friends." She stood and smiled. "Thank you Mister…?"
"Names ain't important child." The man gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Just a drifter making sure a beauty like you stays safe."
"Oh well. Thank you." Ruby replied red-faced, not used to being complimented in such a manner. She turned around.
"Miss Rose if you don't mind me asking? What kind a weapon is that?" He pointed to Crescent Rose "I'm kinda a gun aficionado, and I ain't never seen one quite like that."
Ruby turned silver eyes shining with enthusiasm.
"Really of course!" She drew the gun from behind her. "This is Crescent Rose she's a high impact sniper rifle." With a dramatic little flourish, she unfurled it into its scythe form. "It's also a scythe." Ruby trembled with excitement, proudly displaying her baby to the drifter.
"A mighty fine weapon you've got Miss Rose." The man whistled appreciatively. Reaching to his right side, he drew his own weapon from its holster. He held up a huge revolver. Ruby doubted she could even hold it with both hands. "It's not quite as flashy as yours Miss Rose, but Ol'Eastwood here has never let me down." with a flick of his wrist the gun shifted into the form of a bowie knife, and with another, it changed back to a gun.
"Wow!" Ruby exclaimed eyes wide. "Nothing wrong with simplicity though."
"True." The man nodded.
"What kind of ammo do you use?" Ruby stared at the revolver with fascination.
The man flipped the gun in his hand holding the grip out to her.
"Take yerself a look."
Ruby folded Crescent Rose back into its gun form and put it away. Hand trembling with excitement she took hold of the gun. She gave an almost lustful moan as she cradled the weapon in both her arms like a mother would a child, earning an amused smirk from the drifter.
Slowly Ruby popped out the chamber and removed a round from the chamber, eyes wide as she gazed at it.
"These are the same rounds I use." Ruby stared at the large bullet awestruck that someone could use them in a handgun. "I would break my wrists if I tried firing this."
The man laughed uproariously.
"Of course it would, tiny lil thing like you." The man smiled as he held out his hand.
Ruby nodded returning the round to its chamber and handing the gun back to the man which he then holstered.
"Ruby!" Jaune called as he came up the stairs coughing fiercely. "Where…There you are." Jaune walked over to the two of them. "Where have you been? We were starting to worry."
"Oh sorry, Jaune." Ruby looked down shuffling her feet awkwardly. "I got dizzy all of a sudden, and almost fell down the stairs." She pointed to man. "This really cool guy saved me."
"Aww shucks yer gonna make me blush Miss Rose."
"Then we got talking about guns." Ruby started bouncing in place excitedly. "You should see his gun Jaune, it's this huge revolver and it…"
"Okay, Ruby okay." Jaune held his hand up cutting off the incoming rant. "Thank sir for helping her."
"Much obliged." The man said flatly giving Jaune a slight scowl that went unnoticed.
"Come on Ruby let's get back before Weiss pulls her hair out worrying."
"Alright." Ruby nodded. "Thank you again, sir."
"No problem Lil Lady." The man gave a tip of his hat. "Excuse me, young man, you said Weiss right? That wouldn't be Weiss Schnee now would it?"
"Yeah, why do you want to know?" Jaune asked defensively.
"Hold on now I meant no offense." The man held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "I just remember her having a right beautiful singing voice, and I was wondering if I could have an autograph."
"Can he Jaune? He did help me." Ruby looked to Jaune with pleading eyes.
"It's really up to Weiss." Jaune sighed. "But I guess we can ask."
"Alright." Ruby smiled. "She's just right downstairs. If you want to come along."
"Of course." The man stood and followed the two young hunters down the stairs.
"Ruby!" Weiss snapped. "You were gone for nearly twenty minutes."
"Who's that?" Blake asked pointing to the man as she eyed him warily.
"Oh this guy, I started to feel sick upstairs, and he stopped me from falling down the stairs." Ruby pointed to the man. "He happened to overhear that we knew you Weiss and he wanted an autograph. If that's okay."
"I suppose that's alright." Weiss said hesitantly.
"Well if I ain't the luckiest sumabitch in all of Remnant." The man laughed. "First I was just gonna have a fun little evenin with Miss Rose here, and now as I live and breathe Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna fall right into my lap."
"How do you know my name?!" Blake shouted.
"Ruby get away from him!" Jaune called hand flying to Crocea Mors.
"What?" Ruby asked in shock as she felt something wrap around her neck and the cold steel of a gun placed to the back of her head. She looked up at the man eyes widening in realization, he didn't have a snakeskin belt he had a snake tail, rattlesnake to be exact, and it was currently wrapped tightly around her neck.
"Now now, there ain't no need for weapons." The hammer on the gun clicked back. "Unless Y'all want to find out what exactly is going through Miss Rose's mind right now."
The man's tail rattled and Ruby's vision swirled again, only still standing due to the man's tail holding her up. Jaune fell to the floor throwing up.
Weiss and Blake fared better but still held their heads as a wave of dizziness passed over them.
The civilians, what few there were in the bar passed out.
"Now toss your weapons over here and hands where I can see them." The snake faunus demanded as he removed Crescent Rose from Ruby and tossed it across the room.
Reluctantly Weiss and Blake drew their weapons and threw them at his feet before placing their hands on the table. Jaune recovering from sudden vertigo managed to throw his sword down as well.
"What do you want?" Weiss glared at the faunus eyes burning with hatred.
"Hmm, I want a lot of things Miss Schnee." The snake grinned. "But how about we start with your autograph like I wanted." He reached into his back pocket and procured an old pocketbook with a pen attached to it. He tossed it onto the table.
Weiss retrieved the book and opened it, its pages old and worn. The contents of the book were nothing but the names of women, some had check marks next to them, others didn't. While others had lines crossing them out.
"What is this?"
"Just a list of huntresses who have caught my attention over the years." The man chuckled. "A check mark means they've enjoyed an evenin with me. One's crossed out mean's they're no longer available. If you want I could add a check mark next to your name Miss Schnee if you happen to want to have some fun later that is."
"Son of a bitch." Jaune Stood and took a step forward only to fall over as the man's tail rattled again.
"Woo boy you have a powerful weak stomach there son."
"Jaune!" Weiss called worried.
"Now sign the book Miss Schnee!" the man shouted squeezing Ruby's neck harder causing the red-hooded girl to gasp.
"Okay." Weiss relented. She leafed through the book, disgusted by the alarmingly high number of check marks, and judging by his tone she doubted any were consensual. Her heart nearly stopped when she finally reached a blank page. On the page opposite the blank were two names she knew all too well. Winter Schnee, thankfully unchecked, and Pyrrha Nikos a dark line through her name.
"Who am I making this out to then?" Weiss sighed pen in hand.
"Dirge." The man said flatly. "Dirge Diamondback."
"No." Blake whispered as her cat ears went flat and eyes widened in fear.
Standing before them was one of the four monsters of the White Fang, with Ruby at his mercy.
And there was nothing they could do.
The tail's rattle sounded again.
Well that was different to write. I've created a fair amount of villains in the past, but this is the first time I've actually wanted to actually see them be punched in the face while writing for them.
Well let me know what you think, do you like Dirge, hate him, like to hate him. As always read and review.