A/N: Short chapter for y'all this time, but not to worry! I plan on getting the next one out as quick as I can. In fact, I plan on being close to finishing this story by the time September rolls around. Anyway, it's late/early, and I have some more writing to do. So the usual thanks to the usual people. Please leave comments, I love them. See ya next time!
The shrill wailing of sirens was deafening as it reverberated off the walls of the mine. Ruby knew they had to have perfect timing if they were going to have any chance to evade arrest at the hands of Yatsuhashi and Brazilian authorities.
"Alright, this is far enough." She announced just as the faint shouts of multiple law enforcement officers exiting their vehicles echoed through the tunnel. She turned to her sister, who was carrying the body of the deceased White Fang member over her shoulder while her other hand kept a firm grip on Blake's. "Yang, put him down."
Yang nodded and heaved the corpse off her shoulder, flinching slightly when it hit the ground with a sickening crunch. "There, now what?"
Ruby turned to look at the entrance to the mine about a hundred feet back where some cars were just visible, and back to her friends. "Do you two trust me?" There was a moment of pause where she half-expected them to say no –especially considering recent events –before they both nodded in affirmation. "Okay, I need you two to keep going. When I give the signal, cover your ears and run like hell. There's an exit at the end of this tunnel, a car will be there, waiting for you."
"How do we know what the –" Yang stopped as she watched her little sister pull out a gun from her satchel before handing it to her. "Oh."
Ruby saw the concern and confusion flash behind both Yang and Blake's eyes, but rather than argue, they both simply nodded their heads and turned away. With one final deep breath, Ruby turned back to the entrance, squared her shoulders, and held the gun out in front of her. She watched as the police, led by Yatsuhashi, approached the entrance to the tunnel, and waited for the agent's triumphant grin to turn to abject horror as he noticed where she was aiming.
He had just enough time to start running for cover when she pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through the air as it sped toward its intended target. Ruby didn't even take the time to see the impact before dropping the gun, turning and covering her ears. She could have sworn, though, that she heard the resounding ding of the bullet tearing through the steel tanks before the world seemed to start shaking all around her.
She remember running and the taste of metal in her mouth as she struggled to breathe before everything around her went black.
*(OoO)*
Weiss knew something was wrong when the distant rumbling of an explosion mad its way down from the mine to the dilapidated shed she and Pyrrha were hiding out in. They had just gotten back from a trip to the British, Canadian, American, Russian, Indian, and various other embassies, and had barely walked in the door when the tin walls around them seemed to start shaking. Her sense of dread was only exacerbated when Yang and Blake stumbled through the door, covered in dust, and accompanied by an auspicious lack of brunette con women.
She sat completely still, a sort of numbness filling her body, as Yang, with the occasional help from Blake, recounted the events of their meeting with Adam and the disastrous turn it had taken. Once they were finished, all four of them sat around the small coffee table in the middle of the shed for what seemed like hours in silence, none of them willing to voice the one question that was on all of their minds.
What do we do now?
The sun had just passed its zenith and was beginning its slow journey westward when the somber atmosphere of the hideout was shattered by the ringing of a cell phone. They all sprang into action as they searched for the source of the ringing, and hope once again filled Weiss when Yang traced it to the satchel Red had given her.
The brawler frantically dumped the bag's contents onto the table, revealing notebooks, various supplies, and an assortment of technology –including the cell phone in question. Yang picked it up, casting a nervous look to them all as she turned it on speaker mode and opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off as another voice spoke from the phone first.
"Is it done?"
Blake covered her mouth in shock, while a look of pure rage twisted Yang's face. Weiss turned to Pyrrha, who mouthed Adam in clarification, causing the heiress-turned-transporter's eyes to widen in shock. Her surprise doubled when a different, much deeper voice came through the speaker. One she recognised from her trip to Sao Paulo.
"There's been a… complication."
"That's Yatsuhashi." She quietly informed the rest of them.
"She must have cloned Adam's phone during the meeting." Pyrrha deduced.
"What kind of complication?" Adam growled.
"The bitch shot a bunch of old propane tanks and they exploded, causing the mine to collapse. I wouldn't worry though, she's dead."
"Have you seen a body?"
"We found the body of a man, though," Yatsuhashi replied, "yours, I presume?"
"That's beside the point." It was clear from his voice that Adam was putting a great deal of effort into controlling his temper. "Have you found any evidence of Red?"
"Not yet, but we're still-"
"Then don't tell me that she's dead!"
"He really has some anger-management issues." Weiss noted.
"You have no idea." Blake replied.
More than you think. Weiss thought as she focused on the conversation coming from the phone.
"Look, even if she did survive," Yatsuhashi reasoned. "She's got Interpol and all of the Brazilian authorities after her for murder. She won't get far."
"She better not." Adam said lowly, "Or else I'm going to have to get in touch with some mutual friends of ours."
A collective sigh of relief was released once they heard the click of the line going dead. A second later, Pyrrha snatched the phone off the table and plugged it into a laptop of her own.
"What are you doing?" Weiss asked as the crimson-haired woman popped the back off the phone.
"We need to work quickly." Pyrrha replied as she loaded up a program on the computer. Once the program was set up, she unplugged the phone, popped out the SIM card, and snapped it in half, much to the shock of those also present.
"Are you insane?" Yang shouted. "We could've used that to listen in on him."
"And someone as smart as Adam would undoubtedly see that coming and ditch his phone." Pyrrha explained. "Think about it: he saw every move you were going to make before you made it. So it stands to reason he'd see that coming too."
"So what are you doing, then?" Blake inquired.
"Red wrote a program that will use his phone to open a backdoor into every account he has accessed from it. Email, bank accounts, everything. From there, we can figure out who Adam's been in contact with. Best of all, it's untraceable."
Yang's eyes shone with a mixture of sadness and pride. "That's my sister."
"So what you're saying is, with this, we can track down Torchwick." Weiss concluded.
"Is it worth it?" Blake asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha replied.
"She means, is getting our money back still worth all this trouble?" Yang clarified.
"Of course it is." Weiss answered resolutely. How could they possibly be thinking about giving up now, after all they had gone through? "Clearly, Red counted on Pyrrha knowing what to do once we had the cloned phone."
"Look, Weiss," Yang said sympathetically. "No one wants this all to be part of some giant scheme of my sister's, and for her to walk through that door alive and well more than me, and I appreciate the amount of faith you have in her, but the fact is-"
"The fact is she asked you to trust her!" Weiss exploded. "I may not have been doing this kind of thin as long as any of you, nor do I pretend to have any idea what you've each been through to make you so quick to give up. That being said, I have been around Red long enough to pick up a few things, and I've learned that no one knows what's going through Red's head except for Red. You know if any of you, who claim to be her family, were in her place, she would hold out until she knew for certain there was nothing she could do. As for the money, do you really think someone like Red would go through all this trouble if that was all it was really about? There's something bigger going on, and, while she may not want to share what that is right now, I plan on helping her see it through to the very end. Money or no money."
Yang looked appropriately ashamed for her lapse in resolve and opened her mouth to respond when, yet again, she was cut off. This time by the sound of clapping.
In a flash, all four women were on their feet with Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha aiming their guns at the elderly gentleman standing in the doorway. His skin was wrinkled with laugh lines, and tanned by a mixture of long hours spent in the sun and his Latin descent. He wore a pair of fitted, worn jeans, and judging by the black button-down shirt tucked into them and the white clerical collar he wore, he was a priest.
"I must say, that was quite the speech, Miss Schnee." He said warmly in a thick Spanish accent.
"Who the hell are you?" Yang demanded.
The old man smiled as if he found the entire situation amusing. "An old friend."
"Wait a minute," Pyrrha's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You're the man who called Ironwood."
"Very astute, Miss Nikos." The man replied with a soft chuckle.
"How do you know-" Pyrrha began but was interrupted as he kept speaking.
"My name is Antonio Vergas, and I know who each of you are."
"With all due respect Padre," Blake intoned, "why are you here?"
"I came bearing a message," Antonio said. "From Red."