Ruby was almost paralysed with fear. The creatures were looking at her, and a few bobs of her head confirmed that they were tracking her movements. She felt that trying to run would just lead to a quick demise when it caught up with her. Instead, she did something that she felt would at least grant her a modicum of mercy from them.
She stepped out from behind the tree. Weiss was cringing, but she did the same nonetheless. The monochrome one stepped towards them, confidence showing in its posture. It stared at Ruby. One second passed. Then two, then three. It wasn't moving. Ruby decided to try speaking.
"Um… hello?" The creature didn't respond. "Can you understand me?" It tilted its head, and the others did the same. One second later, it nodded. "Okay… can you speak?" A shake of the head later, Ruby decided to ask a more pressing question. "What are you?" The creature turned to its brethren, almost as if an inaudible conversation was taking place. A few seconds later, it turned back to her and gave an ambiguous shrug.
"As engaging as this discussion is, we really should get going. Those artefacts aren't going to retrieve themselves." Weiss chimed in, looking disparagingly at the girl she was stuck with for the coming year. However, she couldn't hide her lingering fear, and her voice cracked, which Ruby picked up on.
"Weiss, I don't think these things are going to hurt us. They almost seem like they're lost." Ruby heard a Nevermore's cry in the background. "Besides, I think I have an idea for catching up with the others."
:-:-:
"Okay, the Kingdom of Vale is in that direction," Weiss pointed towards the city limits. "There will be a castle on a clifftop on the far side of the city. We'll be in that castle, so if you make your way there, we'll be able to help you when you arrive. Understood?" The four creatures nodded in unison, before dropping down from the high branches they were perched on to the ground. They looked back up to her before walking off toward the city's boundaries.
Weiss turned to her partner, who was trying to work out a trajectory. She felt the need to express her confidence in the plan.
"You are aware that this is a terrible idea, right?"
:-:-:
By the time the Tenno reached the city, the sun had reached the later stages of setting. They had scaled the city's smooth outer wall with relative ease, despite their disorientation. Now they were faced with a different obstacle. There was a trio of guards in between them and the main city. The trick surviving in an unfamiliar land with limited supplies was to ensure that any threats were either neutralised, or unaware of their existence. The former was undesirable, as they didn't want to burn bridges with a potential ally. The latter was impossible, as the alleyways would not provide enough cover for them to pass by undetected.
As it so happens, "impossible" was a Tenno specialty. An alarm went off in a nearby store, just around the corner. The three guards looked to each other before running toward the noise, unaware of the four figures slinking into the alley behind them. They also moved toward the alarms, sprinting together in near silence. What they saw as they crept out of the alley shocked them.
The store's front window had been smashed outwards, and lying in the shards was one of the guards. A quick glance at his vital readings indicated that he was dead. The sounds of a struggle inside were cause enough for the Tenno to take action. Equinox took out her weapon.
The Daikyu was unique among the Tenno's selection of bows. It had been designed to emphasise the importance of drawing a shot to its fullest tension before releasing the arrow. As such, it was well suited for the support of allied combatants through the elimination of dangerous enemies. Equinox favoured this weapon, as she could force a target to sleep while she lined up the perfect shot.
It was with this in mind that she rounded the corner and exposed herself to the four hostiles in the store. The two remaining guards were being held at swordpoint with their backs to the window. This was good for Equinox, as their presence gave her a degree of concealment. The hostiles had the appearance of Old Earth gangsters, with matching black pinstripe suits, tinted red sunglasses and hats that bore a resemblance to a Trilby. Two of them were armed with boxy grey pistols, and the two with the guards had katanas, which had been coloured bright red. One of the pistoleers was holding the shopkeeper at gunpoint, while the other appeared to be stealing some kind of chemical from the dispensers on the sides of the wall.
Equinox drew her bow, feeling the tension in the string. One step to the side brought her in line perfectly with her target.
She released.
The arrow sped through the air, reaching the store's back wall before the mobsters could blink. On the way, it had gone straight through one of the swordsmen's heads, before piercing through the heart of the one holding up the storekeeper. Before the survivors could work out what happened, she drew and loosed another arrow. This one went between the two guards heads, nailing the second gunman to the wall. A brief struggle was all he could put up before he succumbed to his wound.
By this point, the last swordsman had seen her, so she decided to do something special. Holstering her bow, she instead drew her melee weapon: the Lacera. Half-scissor blade, half whip, and constantly electrified, it was a useful tool in situations like this. She lashed out with the barb on the end of the whip, snagging the gangster's leg. A sharp pull sent him flying toward her, bowling over the two guards in the process. This would help reduce the number of witnesses. As the mobster came closer, she opened the scissor blades of her weapon.
The mobster barely had time to scream.
Once he was dealt with, Equinox spared one last glance into the store. The guards were picking themselves up, and the shopkeeper, a young woman with strawberry blonde hair, held up a small device between herself and the Tenno. The sound of a photo shutter was heard, and Equinox ran back into the alley. Reconvening with her siblings, she sheathed her blade. Without a word, they ran back through the alleyway.
They would soon make it to the castle.
:-:-:
Author's Note: So… how was that for my second fight scene? Should I raise the story's age rating? Am I capable of writing anything other than a Tenno curbstomp?
Also, yes, I'm sorry for the extreme delay between this chapter and the previous one. First, I had rehearsals, then I wounded my knee in a performance and had to heal, then I had a horrible case of procrastination.
On top of that, when the Second Dream hit it pretty much dashed all of the plans I had, so I've had to rewrite my planned story to account for the revelations of that quest. For reference, the Second Dream is canon to this story, but the Tenno seen thus far have not completed the quest. So (for now, at least), there shouldn't be any spoilers for that.
Oh, and the RWBY Volume 3 finale. I'm only crying a little.
Anyway, I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be out. Inspiration comes and goes for me, and it's not always the right inspiration for this story. That said, I will persist. I will triumph! I WILL HAVE A TVTROPES RECOMMENDATION FOR THIS FANFIC!
Ahem.
I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can.
