Chapter 31
There was almost no noise as each of the girls hit the ground in their own fashion. Yang, being the tank of the group, didn't even bother trying to soften her landing as she tucked and rolled as soon as her body made it to the ground. Blake latched Gambol onto a nearby branch and used it to swing to the ground. Once both Blake and Yang were on the ground, they darted through the woods heading for the nearest tower. Ruby and Weiss, who had jumped slightly after their other two team members, knew that they should take the high ground to cover them. Ruby hooked her scythe onto a nearby branch and swung around it two whole times before allowing her blade to slip off of the branch and for her to land on another branch beneath it. Weiss created a glyph almost immediately after she jumped from the ship on which she rode down to one of the branches in the trees. They, too, began their journey toward the closest tower after they were sure the other was safely out of the ship with them.
"Team RWBY, check in." Ruby said after placing the earpiece onto her ear.
"Weiss checked in." Weiss stated over the scroll from her ear piece.
"Blake, here." Blake stated immediately after.
"Kickass, ready and waiting." Yang said boisterously through the scroll.
"You'd better not be that loud after we enter the base." Weiss scolded.
"Duh. At least until someone sees me…then anything I do is their fault." Yang said sarcastically.
"Can't argue with that logic." Blake joked.
"We're less than fifty meters out. Scout the area and report back." Ruby said.
Blake took the time examine the state of the tower. "It's pretty obvious that they're being controlled by the way they move…but this place looks like it's on lockdown. How are these guys able to make this place look impenetrable?" she thought as she watched the almost zombie-like movement of the guards.
"This place looks way different from the last time." Yang said.
"How so?" Weiss asked.
"This place has been set up for an assault. It's like they're expecting an invasion. But they look like they're moving so slowly. It looks like everyone here is sick." Yang described.
"The power of mind control can be a scary one. If this monster is as strong as Lionel said, then he can probably make each of these people here literally work themselves to death. They might be slow, but constant improvements to the base non-stop – no food or rest – can happen pretty fast when there are enough people." Weiss explained.
"What happens when they do finally work themselves to death?" Yang asked.
"Then, as long as that monster has enough power, he will force the corpse to keep moving until it decays." Weiss answered grimly.
"That's fucked up…" Yang said.
"I the only way we're going to get in here is to in from the side. We need to find a bridge that has the least amount of guards." Blake stated.
"I know how." Ruby said as she watched a new guard emerge from the tower, grab the body of a former guard and throw it over the bridge. "It looks like when they do decompose enough, the body will simply stop moving, no matter how much power the monster has. Then a new guard has to come out to take the old one's place." Ruby explained.
"Sooo…we wait for them to all just die off? Isn't that a bad plan on his part? Why is he just letting them die and then replacing them over and over again? They'll all be dead in a week's time." Yang stated.
"One week from now and that thing will probably be stronger than the entire White Fang army. It doesn't care." Blake said to Yang. "So, Ruby, how does that help us get in?" She asked the leader after she explained it to Yang.
"If we can kill all, or most, of the guards on one of the bridges, but make it look like they collapsed from decaying, then we can use the opportunity to sneak in while a new guard makes their way outside. I doubt they're lined up inside waiting for one of the guards to die." Ruby explained.
"Good idea." Weiss said as she began making her way to her teammate.
"Everyone, get to my position." Ruby said.
"Already on it." Yang said.
"I'm right behind her." Blake stated.
"Weiss, do you have any glyphs you could use for this sneak attack?" Ruby asked.
"I do. I can activate a small Glyph under the bridge so fire very small, but compact bursts of energy though the bridge into their bodies. It's too fast and small to be seen or heard until it hits you." Weiss explained before she arrived next to her leader's side.
Weiss had Myrtenaster pointed behind her and toward the ground in her left hand as she held her right hand forward. The white vial on her blade lit up causing her right palm to light up with a small glyph on the back of her hand. She created four glyphs under the bridge that were nearly impossible to see unless you were looking directly at them. Blake and Yang soon landed behind them and waited for Weiss to make her move.
"Give me a moment to aim the glyphs at each of them." Weiss said as she slowly moved her right hand, presumable to tilt the glyphs slightly.
"It's cool, do your thing." Yang said as she leaned in next to Ruby. "Rubes. What's the plan after we get inside? We heading for the smart Grimm to try and kill it or are we searching for Lion?" She asked as she continued to watch Weiss work.
"I want to try and kill that monster, but I think it would be smarter to head for the Knight-General first." Ruby stated.
"Better to be safe than be sorry. Beside, Lionel knows more about this think than any of us do." Blake stated.
"You're right…I just don't want us to wait for too long and let this Grimm get stronger than any of us can handle." Yang commented.
"I understand. But the time it takes us to find Lionel shouldn't give it much time to gain power. Then, when we have Lionel, we can launch an even bigger attack." Blake explained.
"True. You're right." Yang said with a sigh.
"C'mon. You'll have your chance." Blake said as she placed a hand on her partner's shoulder.
"I'm ready." Weiss said.
"Do it." Ruby stated to which Weiss flipped her hand to have the palm facing upward. Within just a few seconds, all four of the guards on the bridge began to fall.
"What did you do?" Yang asked in amazement.
"I sent a small surge of energy to their hearts, causing them to either burst on contact or continue to beat faster until it induces a heart attack." Weiss explained as they all watched the final guard try to keep himself held up to no avail.
"You're scary, you know that?" Yang stated jokingly as she jumped onto the bridge and ran for the tower.
"Yes, I do." Weiss said as she followed behind Blake who jumped second. Ruby followed close behind the rest of her team, covering their rear flank.
"Go now." Yang said as she silently jogged inside the tower after the two guards on the inside both looked out at the forest. Each of her teammates took no time following her lead down the staircase, Weiss using her glyphs to soften the step of each of her teammates.
"Do you remember where you're going?" Ruby asked.
"Of course, it'll just take a bit of hiking." Yang said sarcastically. Once they reached the bottom level of the tower, which was underground, they each waited for Yang's next instruction. They stopped at a large, bolted, metal door. "Yeah…I thought so." she said as she melted the locked enough to jimmy them off, opened the door, and looked to her left and right.
"What is it?" Weiss asked.
"We'll have to take one of these hallways to get to the main supply line. Then we take that hallway to the service elevator. Just know that there is a shitload of turrets in those halls and they're probably going to be on." Yang stated.
"Is that the only way in?" Ruby asked.
No, but the other way is way more obvious and probably on the highest alert right now." Yang stated.
"What makes you say that?" Blake asked as Yang closed the door and walked back to her team.
"Because the other way the route that the White Fang obtain their food and other stuff. But I'm assuming this Grimm hasn't bother placing an order for any of his soldiers." Yang said.
"But why would that make it the most guarded?" Ruby asked.
"Because it's the only place large enough for mechs and vehicle to get through. Basically, it's the only opening big enough to allow the possibility of an invasion. Since this thing isn't going to use the entrance for supplies, it's just going to throw a ton of guards out there." Yang explained.
"I suppose you're right. But right now, everyone needs to get away from the door." Blake said to which the girls did not hesitate to move up the stairs and hide in the lockers and bathroom stalls. Sure enough, the door opened followed by four guards as they made their way to the stairs and began climbing them.
"Wow, it didn't take them very long at all to replace those other four." Yang said.
"Indeed. Let's head back down." Weiss stated as they each began to head back down the stairs.
"So, one of these hallways should take us to the main supply line?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, that's right." Yang said as she opened the door to take a quick look through both of the hallways.
"We should take the left. I hear less commotion that way." Blake stated.
"Okay, to the left. Everyone, move." Ruby said before they ran through the door toward the supply line.
"That's it ahead." Yang said.
They each stopped in the small service hallway right before they exited to the supply line. "The turrets are active up ahead." Blake stated.
"What are we going to do now?" Ruby said.
"Seeing as how there was only one reasonable path to take, no one can blame us for the more 'compromised' route of infiltration." Yang said smugly before jumping into the supply hallway and firing her Ember Celica. One of the turrets in front of her blew up, but one loaded its' guns and began to open fire on Yang.
"You dunce! Get over here!" Weiss yelled as the bullets ate away at the glyph she placed in front of Yang. The brawler just made it back to the rest of her team before Weiss's glyph could take no more.
"What was that? Did they destroy your glyph?" Ruby asked in shock.
"Yes. The turrets have dust infused bullets, with electron–ionized bullet casings. It will tear through semblances and auras." Weiss yelled.
"What should we do?" Blake yelled.
"Hold on!" Ruby said as Weiss activated her semblance, creating a white glyph on Ruby's forehead. The silver in Ruby's eyes began to glow as a second glyph appeared beneath the team, lifted them up, and began to move just as fast as Ruby.
"What is this?" Blake asked as they flew down the hallway blocking stray bullets with their weapons.
"I can strengthen the semblance of most people by combining some of the purple dust into the white glyphs. I can even get some interesting results from mixing them." Weiss stated.
"So Ruby is pushing this glyph right now?" Yang asked.
"Yes, with her aura." Weiss yelled.
"Guys, the turrets are beginning to compensate for my speed, they're shots are becoming more accurate." Ruby stated.
"I got this." Yang said as she pulled the bandolier of slugs off of each of her gauntlets and replaced them with an orange slug that had a yellow dust primer. She cocked her weapons and began to take aim at some of the turrets ahead of them. She began to fire Ember Celica but was missing most of her shots due to the speed. Each shot fired exploded in an electrical flame as the sparks of the electricity began to jump out looking for a conductor.
"You're not even hitting them." Blake said in a confused manner when the turrets slowed their firing.
"I know. The electricity in them fries their circuits momentarily. Definitely long enough for us to get passed." Yang explained as the glyph came to an abrupt stop and disappears. They each landed onto the ground staring at four different White Fang lieutenants. Two women and two men, but they all looked like they still had in control of their minds.
"They're not in control. This Grimm is funneling his power into their bodies to give them more power while controlling." Weiss yelled as she saw their eyes glow a bright purple.
"This electricity only lasts about three more seconds on these turrets and I've got eight of them in view." Yang stated.
"Yang, focus on the turrets! Weiss and Blake, attack the lieutenants. I'll cover both sides." Ruby yelled as Yang jumped into the air and fired at all the turrets around them again.
"Alright, let me know if you need to tag out!" Yang yelled as she began to use what little time she had between stunnings to do damage to the turrets.
Weiss and Blake began to use their signature 'checkmate' style of combat to keep the White Fang lieutenants away. Ruby began to assist Yang every chance she could before checking in on Weiss and Blake and assisting them with a few rounds.
"We're going to need to switch out or else they'll just wear us down." Yang yelled as she continued to attack the turrets.
"Guys! Over here!" Blake yelled as she pointed passed everything to an unknown Grimm at the end of the hall.
"No, don't believe it! Your eyes are purple, its' trying to get in your mind again!" Weiss yelled as she kept her own purple dust active to combat the invading purple dust.
"I've told you before! This will not end the same." A growling voice echoed out, sending a burst of energy to all of the purple dust.
"Oh, shit…" Yang whispered as her head began to ache painfully.