Trapped
Side Story
Duel
Winter sat in her shared room with Qrow, arms crossed over her chest and finger tapping impatiently.
"So let me see if I have this straight." Winter said with brow furrowed. "The reason you plan to meet in some ridiculous dive bar is so you can test the quality of their liquor."
Qrow shrugged while reclining on the bed.
"They claim to have the best whiskey in Remnant, what kind of guy would I be if I didn't rise to the challenge."
Winter rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration letting out a sigh.
"Why do I put up with you." She muttered.
"I'm handsome." Qrow smirked.
"I can find better." Winter countered.
"I'm charming." Qrow suggested.
"I have had better conversations with Grimm." Winter quipped, a smug smirk on her face.
"I can do that thing with my tongue."
Winter's response was to use a glyph to knock him off the bed.
"Unbelievable." She huffed.
Qrow managed to pull himself back onto the bed.
"Maybe I should do it again, you seem uptight."
Winter scowled at the man.
"We are meeting my sister in half an hour!" Winter snapped.
Qrow opened his mouth to speak, but much to Winter's relief her scroll buzzed, she glanced down at the message.
"There has been another break-in, a dust processing plant." Winter read from the scroll.
"Great what did they get away with this time?"
"He didn't get away?" Winter shook her head. "He's still there; He's demanding I meet him personally." She stood retrieving her saber and fastening it to her hip.
"And you're just going to walk right up to him." Qrow stood. "It's obviously a trap."
"I'm aware Qrow." Winter sighed. "But I will not allow a challenge such as this go uncontested." With head held high Winter strode out the door.
"Damned Schnee pride." Qrow mumbled to himself before following her out.
#####
It wasn't difficult to make it into the plant despite being surrounded by police officers. In fact, they had practically begged them to go inside.
Qrow and Winter walked down the hallway leading into the main center of the plant. Winter gasped at the sight.
The floor of the plant was littered with the bodies of factory workers and police officers. Each dispatched with a single puncture wound to the chest.
Standing in the center of the carnage was a lone figure. A young, sickly looking man, not much older than herself. As Qrow reported, he had messy brown hair, large sunken in eyes and a ring of feathers around his neck.
Winter's eye twitched as she saw him; apparently, her partner had forgotten to mention a few details.
"When were you going to tell me that he was a cyborg?" Winter glared at Qrow motioning to the man.
Beneath his White Fang uniform, it was apparent to anyone with functioning vision that both of the man's arms were metallic silver and where normal feet should have been there were instead mechanical talons like a large bird of prey.
"I didn't notice." Qrow shrugged.
"How drunk were you?" Winter asked incredulously. "Never mind." She shook her head.
Winter walked closer to the man saber in hand.
He stood there gently swaying back and forth with eyes closed. He held a rapier in his hand and was currently holding it as a conductor would a baton, leading a symphony only his mind could hear.
"Russytt Strigidae!" Winter barked out. "By the authority of Atlas, I place you under arrest for the crimes of theft, conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and murder. Lay down your weapon and come peacefully. Resist, and I am authorized to use lethal force if necessary."
Russytt opened his eyes.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo." The faunus chuckled gleefully. "At last you're here Miss Schnee." He bowed with a flourish of his rapier. "And you've brought your lover as well it seems."
"What?" Winter's grip tightened on her weapon. "How do you know that?" Winter demanded pointing her saber at the terrorist.
"Told you we weren't a secret." Qrow chuckled.
"You are quite right Mr. Branwen." Russytt smiled. "But I believe you are not involved in this conversation, this performance was meant to be a duet Miss Schnee, were you so afraid to come alone?"
"I couldn't have left him behind if I wanted to." Winter glared at Russytt. "And I never agreed to come alone."
"It was implied, you dunce." Russytt pointed his rapier at Winter. "Never use the police to send a message; I knew I should have called you personally." He pulled out his scroll for emphasis.
"Please, like you could call…" Winter was cut off as she felt her scroll buzz, the faunus pushed a button on his scroll and the buzzing stopped. "How?" Winter demanded forming a glyph beneath her, poised to strike at a moment's notice.
"Oh please, you think you Atlesians would have learned by now, especially after the fall of Beacon. Your technology is not infallible. Hoo, hoo, hoo." Russytt chuckled as he gloated. "Who else should I call?" the rapier-wielding paused a moment, a metallic talon tapping the ground as he pondered.
"Oh, how about your dear sister, wouldn't it be nice to know how she and her new boyfriend are coming along?"
Winter's eyes narrowed this man knew too much.
"Oh, it was nice of you to donate so much so that boy could impress darling little Weiss."
"Silence you cur!" Winter launched herself forward, expending the glyph she had summoned previously.
"And so the show begins." Russytt raised his rapier to parry.
Winter just flew past him, summoning another glyph she bounced off of it, racing back towards Russytt, a strike aimed perfectly at his back.
To Winter's shock Russytt's head swiveled around to face her, the mechanical arm that was wielding the rapier shifted to face backward as well.
Their swords met with a metallic clang.
"I should have expected a Schnee to stab me in the back." Russytt's eyes narrowed. "I thought you better than this Winter. But it seems you're no better than the rest of your ilk."
Winter took a step back. She watched as he took a moment to realign his neck and limbs and turned to face her.
"You sure you don't want a hand babe?" Qrow called leaning against a wall, while he may have looked relaxed he was prepared to step in at a moment's notice.
"Don't call me that!" Winter snapped. "And no, this one is mine."
"At last you rise to my challenge Miss Schnee." Russytt raised his rapier, and with a flick of his wrist, the blade began to pulse a soft hum sounding as it swirled about.
Winter's eyes narrowed, examining the weapon, she had never seen a rapier quite like it. Like her sister's it had space for dust on the guard, only two cartridges though so he would lack the same level of variety that Myrtenaster had.
But lack of variety did not mean weakness, the opposite in fact. It meant specialization. Her opponent knew precisely which two dust effects he would want and would be able to use them to devastating effect.
They charged at each other their blades clashing for a brief moment. Winter recoiled as the strike resonated within her. It had been only a simple parry yet it struck with such force.
The duelists danced around each other probing each other's defenses waiting for the other to make a single mistake.
That moment came seconds later when much as Winter would be loath to admit she misjudged her attack. She had thought him vulnerable on his flank, years of combat experience had told her so, but she hadn't accounted for the way his head could almost freely rotate or the angles his mechanical arm could strike from.
The tip of Russytt's rapier grazed her left cheek, she could feel her aura buckle and give as the tip of the sword cut through leaving a thin red line in its wake.
Winter faltered as she took a step back from him, wiping the blood from her wound with her sleeve.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo." The faunus laughed in victory. "I've struck first blood Miss Schnee."
"It will be your last strike!" Winter roared. "This I swear."
Several glyphs formed behind her, and from them the ghostly forms of several small Nevermores emerged flying at the amused owl faunus.
With a casual flick of his blade, Russytt unleashed an arc of electricity dispelling the summoned Grimm.
Lightning dust that was one of her foe's tricks revealed. But it did not tell her how he could piece her aura. Qrow had suspicions of aura piecing dust, but it was exceedingly rare and highly regulated. Not impossible for a criminal such as him to obtain, but unlikely.
The actions of his rapier also didn't conform to what little she knew about such a rare type of dust. Aura piecing dust made it as if aura didn't exist, phasing right through it, but Russytt's blade did not phase; it had cut through wearing her aura down in an instant.
Winter raised her saber glyph forming beneath her she rocketed forward. She would cut him down.
Russytt jumped into the air contorting his body, so his back was to Winter as he sailed over her, it should have been an impossible angle to strike from. Not so for the cybernetic warrior as his neck and limbs twisted to place a precision strike against her right shoulder.
Winter dodged at the last moment receiving only a grazing cut, but still enough to draw blood.
"Didn't you swear that would be my last strike?" Russytt asked as he landed, neck and arm almost immediately realigning themselves. "Of course a Schnee would go back on their word."
Russytt cackled loudly before becoming consumed by a coughing fit.
"Damn it!" he whispered between coughs.
Winter didn't hesitate she would not waste this opportunity. She charged with all the speed she could muster, but even weakened as he was he parried her blade.
The faunus glared at her, absolute hatred in his eyes. His blade unleashed a wave of electricity, Winter jumped back to escape the elemental attack.
"You bitch!" gone was the faunus's previous bravado, only anger remained in his voice. The hand on his left arm opened up, and he brought it to his mouth inhaling deeply. His coughing fit subsided.
"You would dare strike at me during that."
"You showed a moment of weakness, I would be a fool not to take advantage of your sickness."
Russytt grit his teeth in anger.
"Of course you would you vile Schnee whore! It is your fault I am sick in the first place!"
Winter narrowed her eyes, he was different, enraged. Would that make him an easier foe, or more difficult.
"Hey listen pal, I know I said I wouldn't get involved." Qrow called from his spot against the wall. "But call her that again and I will end you." He glared at Russytt.
"I can see by the look in your eyes, you have no idea what I am talking about." Russytt fumed growing more frustrated by the second. "Tell me Schnee, does the genocide of Longitude mean anything to you?"
"Longitude?" Winter asked confused. "What is that?"
"Exactly." Russytt's collar of feather's bristled. "Atlas has done everything they can to sweep that away under the rug."
Russytt paced angrily back and forth, metallic talons clacking.
"Longitude, a settlement in southwestern Solitas, carved out of the ice and snow. A place for faunus to call home, my home. Twenty years ago it was wiped off the map in only a single night."
"Twenty years ago? I was only a child!" Winter replied.
It was the wrong response.
"SO WAS I!" Russytt charged for the first time he was on the full offensive.
Winter clicked a button on her saber, causing a smaller blade to shoot out for her to wield in her off hand.
Even with two weapons it was an exhausting task deflecting Russytt's swift strikes.
"When I was four we discovered the dust vein, it would finally give us a chance to thrive."
Winter leaped backward calling forth several Beowolves.
"When I was five, Atlas embargoed us." Russytt snarled as he cut down the Grimm like they were nothing. "Why would they do this, a sizable bribe from your father to line the council's pockets, so he could take control of the dust away from us."
Winter summoned more Grimm hoping to wear him down. They failed.
"When I was six the first shots were fired, we would fight for what was ours." He reached Winter and thrust straight into her heart.
With her off-hand blade, she parried, but at the cost of the weapon which shattered.
"I was seven when the gas came." He whispered. "It ravaged my body, damaging my lungs and nerves."
Winter summoned a glyph to allow her to gain some distance between them.
"I swore I would destroy everything the Schnee held dear." He charged after her. "For years I trained, to master these limbs and gain the power to undermine you."
Russytt reached her, a glyph forming underneath the both of them.
"What?" Winter gasped in surprise. This glyph was not hers.
It was all the distraction Russytt needed.
His rapier plunged into her right shoulder, piercing through to the other side.
"You're not special anymore Schnee."
Winter knew now how he cut through her aura so effortlessly, she could feel it now. The blade vibrated in her shoulder at an almost ludicrous speed.
Sonic dust…
Qrow ran with sword drawn.
But it was too late; Russytt flicked the switch on his rapier unleashing a bolt of electricity inside of her, where aura could not protect her.
Pain and then nothingness…
Long side chapter is long because I hate myself and love all of you loyal readers.
Another member of Team DSRT makes his grand entrance, thoughts?
As always read and review.
And now a bonus.
Trapped Deleted scene.
Weiss stepped back into her dorm room, eyes shut and humming a tune. Her steps light as she seemed to float.
"Have a good time?" Ruby asked.
Weiss's eyes snapped open to see her team seeming as if they were waiting for her return.
"Yes I did." Weiss replied a smile plastered on her face. "And thank you Yang for arranging it."
"No problem princess." Yang said with a salute. "Did you get any?"
Weiss's face turned red.
"No!"
"Did you kiss?" Ruby asked eyes shining.
Weiss's smile returned bigger than ever.
"I'd say they did." Blake quipped in dryly.
"Maybe." Weiss said coyly as she removed her fur coat.
Her teammate's eyes widened.
"Uh Weiss?" Ruby began.
Yang just laughed.
"Maybe huh, well you've certainly got two big maybes on your neck." Yang snickered.
"Eh?" Weiss went into the bathroom to check the mirror.
There as plain as day against her pale skin were two sizable love bites. One on her neck, the other on her collarbone.
Weiss sighed as she heard her teammates laugh at her expense in the other room.
Time to invest in a scarf.