Chapter 36
"Seriously, though…what was that?" Yang asked as she examined the rubble.
"It was a paladin." Blake stated.
"Okay, are these different mechs that keep attacking us or is it the same one?" Yang asked as she tried to move some of the debris.
"Pretty sure it's the same one. The few scratches and dents that I can see look to be in the same place." Weiss stated.
"It's definitely the same person piloting it, at the very least. He has the same stench." Blake said in annoyance.
"What's up? You sound pissy." Yang inquired.
"Nothing. We need to focus on getting to the objective. What's the new game plan, Ruby?" Blake asked with a sigh.
"I'm thinking. Patch yourselves up and I'll get back to you." Ruby stated while contemplating her next move.
"You good, Ice Queen?" Yang asked.
"I've been without my beauty sleep for quite a while and I'm covered in dust…" Weiss stated in a snarky yet sarcastic manner. "However, I won't be passing out if that's what you mean." She finished with a smirk.
"That's what I like to hear. Blakey?" Yang asked.
"I'm okay. It'll be a lot better when we get back and I can finish my book." She said with an indifferent tone.
"What do you guys think happened with Clark?" Yang asked as she pulled out a bottle of water.
"He used us and threw us away when it suited him. That's all there is to it." Weiss stated as she sat down and crossed her legs.
"I don't think it's fair to say that about him. Most Knights general tend to be rather cryptic and lonesome." Blake stated.
"You think he had a plan?" Yang asked.
"Yes." Blake replied.
"Then he should let us help him. Or at least let us know what the plan is…he shouldn't just blow us off like that." Weiss complained.
"That's just the way these things work." Blake said.
"I suppose, given the circumstances, I can't blame him entirely." Weiss said with a sigh as she, too pulled out a bottle of water to drink.
"Guys, we're pretty close to the Central Intelligence Room. But, we're either taking the air ducts or blasting our way through the wall." Ruby said followed by her, Blake, and Weiss all looking to Yang.
"I can probably bust a few walls…if you ask nicely." Yang said as she flexed her muscles.
"Pretty please?" Ruby said jokingly.
"Anything for my adorable baby sister." Yang stated as she walked up to the wall. She checked her right gauntlet to see the number of pulse slugs that were loaded. Content with the amount of ammo, she pulled her arm back and swung at the wall. Unlike most of her pulse explosions, which are generally violent, this one radiated through the wall, causing a slight vibration, before the wall seemed to be blasted in the direction that she punched. "How's that?" Yang asked.
"Very well controlled. Impressive." Blake said as they each walked into the next room. "Ugh. I know what this room is for." She stated as she held her nose.
"You don't need faunus senses to smell that…why are men's bathroom's always so revolting?" Weiss asked in disgust.
"Yeah, yeah…let's just go. Where to, Rubes?" Yang asked.
"Over there." Ruby said as she pointed to the wall to their left.
"There are quite a few guards circling the hallways around these rooms. Have yourselves ready for when we break through that wall." Blake said as she waved Shroud.
"Would you happen to know how many?" Weiss asked.
"At least thirty. But they don't know which wall we're going to come out at, all they can hear is the noise we're making. They're most concentrated around the doors." Blake explained.
"From the map we've generated, there are six rooms in this section of the hall. Taking into account the destroyed door behind us, then there are five more." Ruby explained.
"I've got an idea." Weiss said as she activated a series of five glyphs, four of which flew through the wall. The fifth one flew to the door to the bathroom and rested against it.
"Oooohh…you're gonna blow them up?" Yang asked.
"Precisely." Weiss said. "Whenever you're ready, let's do this." She finished.
"No more waiting then." Yang said as she walked up the wall where Ruby had pointed to. Like before, she pulled her hand back, putting her back into the punch, before swinging with all of her might. The wall vibrated like before and Weiss took that as her queue to unleash her own devastation. Within just a second or two, a rapid series of explosions went off all at once followed by Team RWBY running out into the hall with their weapons at the ready.
Ruby and Blake picked off what few White Fang that they could see. "The paladin is on the other side of these rooms. We need to hurry." Blake said. They each began to run down the hall, taking a left at the dead end, and continuing on their journey.
"Things are really going our way! I love it!" Yang exclaimed as they finally reached those doors that they have been striving for. The sign above the door said two things: 'West Wing' with an arrow pointed up indicating that they would keep forward to reach that destination and 'Central Intelligence Room' with an arrow pointed to the left.
"We are doing…quite well…" Weiss said with slight hesitation.
"There's no one on the other side of that door. We can move forward." She said as she pushed the door open, checking just to make sure. Confirming that she was right, she opened the door all the way before each of them walked into the small room and faced the doors to the Central Intelligence Room.
"Blake?" Ruby inquired.
"The Alpha is definitely on the other side of that door. But…that's it. Just him." Blake responded, slightly confused.
"Someone's a little ballsy." Yang said in her usual confident tone.
"Weiss? What's wrong? You seem a little out of it." Ruby stated.
"I'm fine. Isn't Lionel supposed to be here?" Weiss said to change the subject but making no effort to conceal her discontent.
"I don't think so." Blake said.
"Do you guys wanna wait for him or just go to work by ourselves?" Yang asked with a smirk.
"Please…I insist…" a voice growled throughout each of their ears. It sounded like he was speaking into each one of their ears simultaneously.
"What the fuck?" Yang yelled.
"I don't think waiting for Lionel is a viable option, unfortunately." Blake said as she put herself in a fighting pose, followed by each of her teammates.
"Let's go!" Ruby yelled as she busted through the door with her team. The Alpha looked just as the hologram did when Lionel presented it to them before. Many aspects of a Grimm, but still humanoid like. "His aura…it's so unsettling." The young leader stated.
"What am I feeling?" Yang said as they each waited for the beast to make a move. The Central Intelligence Room was a complete mess. There was obvious damage that was caused by Lionel from his previous visit with Qrow, but there was no doubt that something drastic had changed…though they couldn't quite place their finger on it. There were Grimm eggs hung on the walls and ceiling and most of the lights had either dimmed or gone out. It looked like a nasty infection had spread throughout the room. And the Alpha was simply standing in the center of it all, unmoving.
"You're feeling despair. Fear. Anxiety." Blake said. "I'm all too familiar with this headspace…" she stated.
"So his aura provides the aspect of passive mental warfare. Great." Weiss said.
"Normally, I would absorb power as great as yours. But…I will not take that chance. You will die." The Alpha growled as he flew forward toward the girls. Each of them jumped out of the way in their own direction. The beast followed Yang, attempting to strike her before being bombarded by a high-powered rifle.
"Get away from her!" Ruby yelled as she fired her weapon.
The alpha yelled violently, "Then it will be you that–" an explosion knocked the beast against a nearby wall.
"Don't even try it, freak!" Weiss yelled as she readied another Omni-dust glyph. The Alpha stood back up with noticeable burn marks on his body. "Don't give him a chance to attack!" the heiress yelled.
Each of the girls did just that while they had the opportunity. The Alpha began running toward Blake who was quickly on the other side of the room leaving a clone in her place. The Alpha was none the wiser as he attacked the clone before a violent explosion knocked him against one of the destroyed computers. He looked back to see Blake on the other side of the room, aiming Gambol in his direction. Yang had finished cocking her gauntlets with Omni-dust, to which the Alpha had noticed. Finally, Ruby pulled the bolt back on her rifle, allowing the clang of the metal to ring throughout the room.
"He isn't fully powered yet, so use the Omni-dust!" Ruby yelled as Yang appeared in front of the beast before plunging her fist into his gut with a powerful uppercut. The punch was immediately followed by the Alpha being shot into the air by a powerful Omni-dust pulse. Blood was gushing from his abdomen when Weiss' Omni-dust glyph appeared in front of the monster, exploding and blasting him into the wall close to the ceiling. He jumped out of the hole in the wall, landing on the ground with a growl before Blake began to fire at the back of his legs with her Omni-dust rounds. He fell to his knees as Blake threw Gambol at the Alpha's head, wrapping his neck with her ribbon. She pulled as hard as she could, lifting his head up while he remained on his knees.
"This one's all you, Rubes…" Yang said as Ruby appeared in front of the kneeling Alpha. She aimed her rifle right at his head with all the discipline she could muster before squeezing the trigger. A loud clang rang throughout the room as blood splattered all across the ground. The Alpha's body fell to the ground as a dark red, almost black, blood spurted from where his head used to be.
Each of the girls walked up the Alpha's body. Yang nudged his arm with her boot, wondering if he was going to get back up. "That was…easy?" Yang stated in confusion.
"I agree. Quite anti-climactic." Weiss said as she looked around the room.
"What now?" Ruby asked.
"We go back to Vale and tell everyone that we kicked ass!" Yang said assertively.
"No. There has to be something more to this…" Blake said as she examined the Alpha's body.
"Yang, how is your shoulder feeling?" Weiss asked.
"Uhh…it still hurts but I'll be fine." Yang responded.
"Aren't you supposed to be immune to pain? At least for a while?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, I don't know what's different this time." Yang stated.
"Guys, where's Lionel at? I figured he would be here." Ruby wondered.
Blake checked her scroll and saw that the signal disturbance had vanished. "I could give him a call if–"
The door swung open, revealing three figures, causing the girls to immediately reenter their fighting stances. "Hey, hey…look who it is." Qrow said with a smirk.
"Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby exclaimed.
"You four did an amazing job. I can't believe you killed the Alpha!" Lionel said.
"You sure took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?" Yang said sarcastically.
"I took the scenic route. And met an old friend along the way…" Lionel said as he glanced at Clark.
"Sorry about ditching you three like that. The Knight-General and I had a plan…but from the looks of it, I should have just stuck with you. Good job." Clark said in an exhausted tone.
"It's cool. I'm just ready to get back and take a shower." Yang said as she stretched her arms.
"Speaking of which, are you sure that this Grimm is actually dead? The fight was…well, easy." Blake inquired.
"Kids just don't understand modesty, do they. You killed the monster and saved the day and the first thing you say is that it was easy. Priceless." Qrow said as he, Lionel, and Clark walked to the Alpha's body to see the damage.
"Looks dead to me." Lionel said.
"Ha! I made sure of that!" Ruby said confidently.
"What about the White Fang? Have they snapped out of it? Are they coming to attack us?" Yang asked as she walked up to her uncle.
"They're all unconscious. The kingdom of Vale has already deployed troops to this outpost. Everything will be sorted out soon." Qrow said as he slapped Yang on the back jokingly.
"Sweet. We'll all be home soon…I can't wait!" Yang exclaimed in an almost whining tone. They each began to laugh with the exception of one heiress to which Ruby noticed.
"Weiss? Are you okay? You haven't said anything. And you look…mad." Ruby asked.
Weiss sighed. "Yang didn't that hurt? When your uncle slapped you on the back." Weiss asked.
"No. I guess winning gave me enough strength back for my semblance to kick in. You've been really concerned about me…what's up?" Yang asked.
Ignoring Yang's question, Weiss moved on. "Blake, when the Alpha attacked you, you created a clone to dodge him…but how did you manage to do so from the other side of the room. I thought there was a limited distance." Weiss questioned.
"I assumed it just happened in the spur of the moment. I'm not entirely sure." Blake responded.
"I thought Qrow was at another outpost…and…" Weiss trailed off as she looked at Myrtenaster, which was holstered on her side and a calm smile came to her lips.
"Are you okay Weiss?" Ruby asked as she placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder.
"Yes. I understand now." Weiss said softly after noticing her Omni-dust had not depleted.
Yang rolled her eyes, "Good. Then let's get the hell out of here before something crazy–"
In an instant, Weiss had flown forward to where Lionel was standing. It happened in what seemed like slow motion…Myrtenaster was completely penetrated Lionel's neck. Weiss pulled her blade back, spun in a circle, simultaneously slicing the throats of both Clark and Qrow. She pulled Myrtenaster close to her body and swapped the positions that she was holding it in so that the blade was facing downward, and embedded the tip into the ground.
"Weiss, what the fuck?!" Yang yelled as Weiss summoned a massive Omni-dust glyph under everyone's feet. Qrow, Clark, and Lionel held their necks in horror as their life slipped from their eyes, watching the events unfold. Weiss pulled her blade out of the ground swing the tip up to the ceiling. The glyph instantly began to glow before an explosion shook the whole room.
Weiss opened her eyes as she was awoken by a tickling sensation on her nose. She saw the ground and wiggled her nose to stop the sensation. When it would not subside, she tried to pull her arm to her face to wipe, what she assumed to be, hair from her face. Try as she might, her arm would not come any closer, but rather, the sound of metal rang throughout the room she was. She turned her head to be met with chains hanging from the wall which kept her hands from moving. She tilted her head down and shook her head back and forth until the noticed the small puddle of blood. She stared at it as a single drop of blood dripped off of her nose into the puddle.
"You're finally back." A familiar voice said from her right. Weiss turned her head to be met with Clark's bloodied form.
"What…happened?" Weiss asked as she began to examine the room which looked like a medieval dungeon. She looked to her left and saw Ruby, Blake and Yang unconscious, but in very much the same shape as her.
"Remember when I said the Alpha can invade your mind…well, that's what happened. When we found the Omi-dust, they began throwing canisters of gas into the room." Clark began to explain.
"But those didn't have purple dust in them." Weiss argued.
"No. But they did have Grimm spores mixed with them. Purple dust is only capable of manipulating someone's perception, like what they see, hear, taste, and so on. The Alpha uses Grimm Spores to actually control his subjects like slaves." Clark explained.
"Wait…are we under his control?" Weiss asked.
"It's not like we've been able to study his powers or anything like that…but to my knowledge, being able to come out of that trance you were in should mean you're in the clear. However, nothing is certain until the Alpha is dead." Clark stated sternly.
"What about them?" Weiss asked as she looked back to her teammates.
"They should be fine. As I'm sure you know, mind manipulation is much simpler when things are familiar to the subject...otherwise, they would simply reject what they were being shown." Clark stated.
"So he put us four in a fake reality together in the hopes of an easier time controlling us?" Weiss finished.
"Precisely. That fact that you were able to come out means that they will soon follow. They're probably just sleeping right now." Clark said.
"Alright then, onto the next issue. What do we do now?" Weiss asked.
"We need them to wake up before we make any kind of move. Otherwise, they're just going to slow us down. When that time does come, however, we can probably escape and regroup from this room." Clark explained.
"How so?" Weiss asked.
"The forest that surrounds this base eventually leads to a series of waterfalls and cliffs. This prison is built into the side of one of those cliffs. If we can get free, we'll find some way to blast a hole through the wall and dive into the ocean." Clark said.
"I have…reinforcements outside waiting on us. If we can blast a hole through the wall, then I can get through the signal interference and call for him to pick us up." Weiss said.
"That works for me." Clark said as a screeching sound filled the hallway outside of their cell. A loud clang followed before footsteps began to ring through the hall. The person stopped right outside of their cell, looking inside at the inhabitants. He was a tall figure who carried a calm, but confident demeanor. He wore a black trench coat with red and white patterns decorating the left shoulder, with a red shirt underneath. His outfit wasn't the most recognizable part, however, his mask was.
"Adam!" Blake said in a rage causing Weiss to turn her head to see Blake staring at him with fire in her eyes.
"Hello, my darling." Adam said with a sickening grin.