Chapter 34
Author's Note: YAY! Final exams are finally over. Now I can relax during the week, except for work, obviously. It's been a while since I've done an author's note, but I hope you're all enjoying the story and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it). The story is finally reaching its' climax and I'm so excited. Thirty-four chapters...that's thirty-four weeks in the making. I am stoked! And, as always, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
"So, do we have any idea where Lionel's at?" Weiss asked.
"Not really. I imagine the only way we can find out would be to get to the Central Intelligence Room." Blake stated.
"Do we even know where the Alpha is? Because if he's hiding, trying to gather his strength, then it would probably be in the most guarded place in the whole outpost." Weiss said.
"Which would be the Central Intelligence Room." Ruby finished.
"How do we get there from here?" Yang asked.
"We have a map of the area, but I'm more concerned about actually fighting." Ruby said.
"We can't just run away." Yang said.
"I'm not saying we run away…but we had planned on attacking with Lionel at our side. Now we don't know where he's at and we're all in pretty rough shape." Ruby said.
"I'm inclined to agree. What do you propose?" Weiss asked.
"How many Atlesian Paladins do you think they have here?" Ruby inquired as she looked at Blake.
"When I was in the White Fang, we didn't have any. The information that Lionel gathered when he was here last had a ledger of the inventory here." Blake said as she pulled out her scroll and opened the information that Lionel had sent everyone when he returned to Beacon. "It says that there aren't any here, but, at the time, they had an order for ten of them to be sent here. Why did you want to know?" Blake asked.
"Because they used Omni-dust as their fuel, right?" Ruby asked Weiss.
"That's true!" Weiss said as she caught onto Ruby's Plan.
"If we can find out where they keep the Omni-dust, then we can use it." Ruby said.
"If I can load that stuff into Ember Celica, I could do some real damage." Yang said.
"I have something that could help." Weiss said as she began to look through her supply pack. "Here." She said as she pulled out a small device and turned it on.
"Isn't that for measuring the purity of dust?" Blake asked.
"Yes; a DES or Dust Electron Scanner. But this is my personal one. This would cost upwards of 8,000 lien to purchase." Weiss stated.
"I don't follow; how will that help us?" Blake asked.
"Dust inherently gives off an electromagnetic pulse. The purer the dust is, the stronger the pulse it has. These devices measure dust by reading the magnetic signature that it emits. This one is so expensive because of how sensitive, and by extension, how accurate it is. Omni-dust lets off an incredibly strong pulse, so by simply having the device turned on, I can find out where the Omni-dust is when we get close to it." Weiss explained.
"That's great! How close do we have to get before it starts giving us a clue to its' location." Ruby asked.
"I've only ever tested this on my family's dust, which is quite pure. Of the few times I have had the opportunity to scan Omni-dust, I had to be within sixty feet of the source. Since, we don't know how pure the White Fang's dust is, and the fact that the signal will have to travel through walls, we will probably need to be within twenty to thirty feet of the source." Weiss stated.
"So do we have any idea where they might keep their Omni-dust?" Yang asked.
"Probably where they would keep their other fuel supplies. This side of the outpost is the West Wing, and from the map, it looks like it houses most of the supplies for their soldiers; food, water, weapons, armor, and medicine. I say we had to the East Wing…that's probably where the mechanical equipment is built, maintained, and repaired." Blake said.
"How do we get there then?" Yang asked.
"From the sonar that the distress signal was giving off, we got a pretty good layout of the West Wing, but the East Wing is almost completely in the dark. There are two ways to get there, but only one that would be reasonable to take. One of the doors is south of our location, but it also leads to the Central Intelligence Room, and it is in the same direction that we came from." Ruby stated.
"So that's a no-go." Yang said.
"Right, the other is North of us, basically on the other side of the outpost from where Central Intelligence Room is. If we could just walk there, undisturbed, it would probably only take about ten minutes, so it isn't that far…" Ruby said.
"But, we're going to meet some resistance. What do you think we should do? Waste an hour trying to sneak to the door or run out guns blazing?" Yang asked.
"Actually, I was thinking about something else." Ruby said as she turned her head to Clark.
He raised his eyebrow and sighed almost a second later. "I can try…but I don't know how much more I can do…" he said.
"What're you thinking, Rubes?" Yang asked.
"We can use his semblance to get there faster. You said it's not teleporting, but we seem to get from place to place pretty fast. Do you think you would be capable of getting us there or would it cause to much of a strain on your body?" Ruby asked.
"Under normal circumstances, I would be very worried about my health at this point. But, if we're able to get Omni-dust, I can use it to replenish my power. That was actually my goal the whole time…I need Omni-dust." Clark said.
"Why? I know you're a Knight, but how often do you go on hunts anymore?" Weiss asked.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you why I need it." Clark said to which Weiss stared at him.
"I figure at this point we've deep enough down the rabbit hole not to have secrets kept from us. Is this really necessary?" Weiss asked in annoyance.
Clark remained silent as he looked at the annoyed heiress. "Do you want my help or not?" he asked.
"I'm going to be perfectly honest, I don't trust you. Why were you captured by the White Fang? It wouldn't make any sense for them to come and kidnap you unless you were really important, so I don't think that's what happened. But, it also wouldn't make any sense for you to be on a mission out here on your own since all of the knights now know the situation, especially with the shape you're currently in." Weiss explained.
Clark only stared at her as she continued to question him.
"Furthermore, why do you need the Omni-dust? From my experience, the Knights seem to be able to get their hands on as much as they need. What could you even do with it? It would be a much better idea to let us get the Omni-dust, find Lionel, give most of it to him so he can attack the Alpha while we provide support. The only thing you've done is get captured, have your semblance stolen, and kept secrets from us. What game are you playing?" Weiss asked angrily.
Once again, Clark remained completely silent as he stared Weiss down. "Do you want my help or not?" he asked again, this time more sternly.
"Weiss, you've made a lot of good points, and I'm definitely on the same page as you…but if he's willing to help us get to the Omni-dust, we need to take it." Blake said.
Weiss looked at Blake momentarily before looking back at Clark. "Fine. But I expect answers when we return home." She stated.
"You'll probably get them before then." Clark said as he stood up and walked to Ruby. "May I see your scroll?" he asked.
"Sure." Ruby said as she handed him her scroll. He remained silent as he studied the layout of the building, calculating the turns and the distance. He handed her scroll back and walked to the door.
"Make sure you're all connected." He said as Ruby walked up to him from behind and placed her hand on hand on his back.
"C'mon guys." Ruby said as she looked behind her. Weiss sighed and walked up to Ruby and placed her hand on the young leader's shoulder. Blake followed behind Weiss, placing her hand on the heiress' shoulder.
"Getting real tired of the headaches that follow this shit." Yang said as she placed rested her elbow on Blake's shoulder. "Alright…we're all good to go." She said.
A sharp pain shot through the girl's heads as they seemed to flow through the hall at incredible speed. The distance was much greater this time around, so they each had to endure a headache for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Finally, they each fell to their knees in a large room that had medicine lined on the walls. There were stretchers and five beds in the room, but no one was present.
"That has to be one of the most annoying semblances to have in the world." Yang complained as she grabbed her head while remaining on the ground. she looked up to see her teammates in similar positions, waiting for the pain to subside. Clark was sitting against the wall with blood running down his face from his eyes and nose. "Are you sure you're okay?" Yang asked him.
"Yeah…I'm used to it." Clark said as he grabbed a roll of gauze from the counter and wiped his face with it.
"Where are we?" Ruby asked.
"At the last room before the East Wing. Though technically this room is connected to both wings." Clark said as he pointed to the other side of the room. "That door will take you back out to the hall, but we'll be in the East Wing then." He stated.
Ruby pulled out her scroll to examine where they were. The scrolls also emit a sonar wave, so where ever the scroll moved to, it would continue to generate a map of their current surroundings. "I see what you mean…the last door on the right leads into here but crosses over to the other wing so that people from both sides can get in here. That makes sense…this is a medical bay from the looks of it." Ruby said.
"It's rather annoying how abandoned this room is. People are dropping left and right outside from being worked to death, but the Alpha doesn't care one bit. I know I shouldn't feel bad for the White Fang, but…" Blake trailed off.
"No, you should feel bad for them; what the Alpha is doing should make you angry. The White Fang is a bad group, but most of the people who joined did it because they had no other option." Yang said.
"Indeed. And even if literally every person in the White Fang were terrible people, slavery is never the right punishment. I can't think of anyone who I hate enough to force them to work to death." Weiss stated as she pulled out her DES to see if they were yet close enough for a signal.
"Thank you. I appreciate the sentiment." Blake said with a sigh before finally standing up. "Any luck?" she asked Weiss who was looking at her scanner.
"No. We're not close enough yet." Weiss stated as she stood up as well.
"Blake, is there anyone outside? Or close by?" Ruby asked as she reloaded Crescent Rose.
"Not very close, but there are plenty of guards patrolling the halls…and I'm sure they're on high alert." Blake said as she made her way to the other side of the room to stand close to the door. She pulled out Gambol Shroud and checked to see if she needed to reload and, seeing that she was locked and loaded, readied herself for an attack that could come at any moment.
"Do you guys have anything you need to take care of before we keep moving?" Ruby asked as Weiss was replacing the dust in Myrtenaster.
"I'm good to go." Yang said as she examined Ember Celica.
"As am I. Do we intend to simply walk the halls until I get a reading?" Weiss asked as Ruby walked over to Blake to crack the door open.
"That's all we have to go on right now, so yeah. You're all ready?" Ruby asked as Yang and Weiss made their way to the rest of their team. Clark followed close behind as he was becoming slightly more debilitated with each use of his semblance.
"Are you sure you're okay, Clark?" Blake asked.
"I'm not going to just fall over out of nowhere…but that's about as 'okay' as I can get right now." Clark stated monotonously.
"Blake and I will take point. Yang and Weiss, cover our flank. Clark, stay in between the four of us." Ruby said as she slowly pushed the door open, allowing Yang and Blake into the hall to cover both sides.
"Clear." Blake said before Ruby, Weiss, and Clark entered the hall to get into the aforementioned formation.
"If the East Wing mirrors the West Wing, then we should head to the center hallway. That will give us the best chance to get a reading. We should pass four intersections, and on the fifth one, we take a right." Ruby said as they began to move forward.
"What's the plan if we get caught?" Yang said.
"Guns blazing." Blake said as they neared the first intersection. "There are guards heading this way from the right." She said as they each took cover behind the corner near the first intersection. The guards appeared a few seconds later but turned in the direction that the group was going. Ruby looked at Weiss and gave a hand signal for an attack.
Weiss nodded her head and summoned a blue glyph. Two projectiles fired simultaneously, both of which impaled the guards right in their backs. As they fell to the ground, Ruby used her semblance to rush to their side, catching them before any sound could be made. She made another hand gesture, signaling the rest of her team to catch up with her. "Put his body in the room." Ruby said as she picked up one of the bodies and carried it to the closest door; Yang followed close behind with the second body. Upon opening the door, they saw that it was a bathroom to which they hid both of the bodies in one of the stalls before reentering the hallway.
Blake suddenly ran to the next intersection as though she was startled by something. "What's wrong?" Yang asked as they each caught up to her.
"All of the guards they I can hear just suddenly broke their patrol routes and ran to the Eastern-most area of this Wing." Blake stated as she glanced around the corner to view a guard running parallel to them every so often.
"Do you have any idea why?" Weiss asked before an alarm began to sound throughout the entire base.
"What does that mean!?" Yang asked over the siren.
"I don't know! But we should take advantage of the chaos!" Blake said as she waited for the next few guards to pass. She signaled for them to begin moving to which they all darted down the hall.
The intercom made a raspy electric sound before a voice began to speak. "Lionel has escaped. Repeat: The prisoner had escaped! He is without power, shoot on sight!" the voice rang out.
"Fuck yeah! No one can keep him locked up!" Yang yelled as they kept running through the halls, passing the third intersection.
"What do they mean he is without power?" Ruby asked.
"I'm kind of worried about that, too. The fact that they even managed to capture him in the first place means that they found some way to overpower him." Weiss stated as they came upon the fourth intersection.
"Where do you think he would head to?" Blake asked.
"I would think he would want his stuff back before leaving." Clark stated.
"The White Fang keep their new weaponry in the mechanic's warehouse. Wherever they're keeping their Atlesian Paladins, they're keeping his gear there, too." Blake stated.
"So when we find the Omni-dust, we'll hopefully meet up with him?" Ruby asked.
"Correct." Blake said.
"Why are the guards running away from the entrance to this area? Do they have any holding cells down here?" Ruby asked as they neared the fifth intersection.
"No. They're probably running to where his gear is being kept!" Weiss said as she looked at her DES and noticed that there was no reading. She ran further down the hall and passed another intersection before finally receiving a small reading on her device. "It's over here!" Weiss said as the rest of her team caught up with her.
"We need to be careful. There are, at least, thirty guards coming up. They're defending something and are dug in deep." Blake said.
"They probably aren't even going to try to stop Lionel by themselves. They're staying together to have the best chance of killing him." Weiss said.
"From the sound of it, they are going to be in the hall in the intersection after the next one. Instead of having ten hallways like the other Wing, the last three halls are incorporated into one huge room used for housing their sensitive equipment." Blake explained as she ran up to the next intersection and saw no one. "Let's go!" she said as they each ran past it, finally making it to the final hallway.
Ruby took one look around the corner and barely managed to dodge a flurry of bullets. "It seems they could hear us coming, too." She said with a sigh.
"What now?" Yang asked.
"This." Clark said as he got in front of Ruby at the intersection. He held up Lionel's jacket and looked to Weiss. "Can you create a glyph to protect me from the bullets?" he asked.
"Yes. But what do you plan to do?" Weiss asked.
"Kill them all." Clark stated as he exhaled. "Are you ready?" he asked.
Weiss sighed and held up Myrtenaster to summon a glyph in front of Clark. He nodded before jumping into the middle of the hallway as bullets and a few RPG's devastated the walls ceiling, and floor upon contact with the glyph. He threw the jacket down the hall as far as he could and watched it land within a few feet from the soldiers. He ran to the other side of the hall before pulling a device out of his pocket.
"What was that?!" Weiss yelled in enraged confusion. "You had me make a glyph so you could –"
"TAKE COVER!" Clark yelled as he pressed a button on the device he pulled out while diving onto the ground. Within seconds, an explosion shook the ground; a bright blue flame exploded through the entire hall, only being stopped (barely) by Weiss' glyph. Some of the flames slipped past the circular barrier but was not an issue since the girls and Clark were taking cover behind the corners of the intersection. The sheer force of the explosion, however, was still enough to knock the girls onto the ground.
After the explosion finally passed, the girls lifted their heads to see Clark looking down the hall from on his stomach. "Bull's eye." He said with a laugh.
Ruby crawled over to glance down the hall and was awestruck by the sheer devastation she saw. The walls were decimated, revealing the rooms behind them. The ceiling had crumbled which showed the dirt and stone behind them, reminding her that she was deep underground at the moment. All of the rubble had collected onto the floor, which was also destroyed, but looked better than the walls and ceiling since gravity kept it in place. Though she was sure that the floor was just as unstable as the rest of the hall. "Oh my God…" Ruby said under her breath as she scanned across the hall.
Weiss, Yang, and Blake managed to walk over to Ruby, who had stood up and were examining the destruction as well. "Where did everyone go? Like I know their dead, but…where are the…pieces?" Yang asked in awe.
"Atomized." Weiss said before looking to Clark. "How did you do that?" she asked.
"First, what was that?" Blake asked.
"That was an Omni-dust explosion." Weiss stated.
"Did you destroy the Omni-dust in that room?!" Ruby yelled.
"No. I can tell the door is still intact." Blake said.
"Not to mention that the explosion was generated by Omni-dust. It didn't start out as a normal explosion. Where did you get the Omni-dust?" Weiss asked.
"Lionel's jacket is imbued with Omni-dust. It had a self-destruct detonator on it." Clark explained as he stood up and dusted himself off.
"I didn't even realize you took his jacket with you." Ruby said.
"Don't you think the time for questions should be later? Let's move." Clark said as he began walking down the hall.
"Don't you worry…there will be plenty of questions later." Weiss said under her breath as Team RWBY followed hi, down the devastated hall.
"The next order of business. How do we get through that door? Sorry to say…I'm not as strong as an Omni-dust explosion." Yang stated.
"Then I hope you're ready for another headache." Clark said with a grin.