Broken Apart Ch. 9: Protection
First off, I'm finally off my terrible Chromebook. Now, I have a MacBookPro {am I doing this writing thing right yet?}. Now I'm gonna issue a challenge. Somebody here should try and guess who Mr. Columbi is based off of {hint, his nickname is a clue}. Otherwise, not much to address. Except thank you to everyone for getting me to 60 followers! I still haven't even do more propper chapters then prologuing. Let's resume.
Distrio patiently awaited on his target to walk into view. Another error would not be permitted, as he understood the consequence. He watched as the man strolled into view, and smiled.
Distrio placed down a single hand on the barrel of the rifle, and felt his semblance come into play. Silence, that was his semblance. Anything he touched instantly made no noise. A useful skill for an assassin to have, and one that he took full advantage of.
He leveled the sights at the man, and calmly rested his hand on the trigger. He slowly pulled it, and felt the weapon go off. The bullet traveled through the air, and went straight through his taget's chest. After he watched the target dropped, Distrio reached his hand up to his headset.
"Mission complete," he said simply. "Target's dead."
"On the path to redemption," Torchwick replied. "Get moving, Sniper. We still have other contracts for you to complete." Distrio hung up, and picked up his rifle. He waved his goodbyes to the structure in front of him, and took off.
Airship: Ruby and Yang
The sisters sat across from each other in silence. Neither of them really knew what to expect, but neither of them were being quiet for that reason. They just were sick of flying at that point. So many trips in the past few days and they had really become desensitized to it.
The airship finally went into a hover mode, and slowly lowered itself to the ground.
"Looks like the bull stops here," Yang remarked.
"That joke still isn't funny," Ruby replied easily. Yang frowned, but rose to her feet. Ruby followed suit, and watched as the door was let down.
Both girls walked out onto the airfield, and looked out at the garden that was in front of them. It was large, and mostly populated with hedges, trees, and white flowers. The hedges were styled to look like everything from Grimm to people, and everything looked well cared for.
"This place looks familiar," Ruby remarked.
"It's not like someone only gets targeted for an assassination once," Yang replied easily. "I'm sure we've been here at least once before." Ruby nodded, but couldn't shake the feeling that she should know this place. Pushing the thoughts aside, Ruby turned to face Yang.
"The New Faunus Rights group have sent over four agents," Ruby said. "Our first priority is to find them so that-."
"Ruby?" A hesitant voice asked. "Yang?" The sisters turned around, and let out a small noise of surprise. Behind them was a bull Faunus and a lynx Faunus with whom they had no prior affiliation with. But accompanying them was Sun Wukong and Blake Belladonna, their former teammate.
"Blake!" Both sisters said in unison. They both ran towards Blake and wrapped her in a hug. Despite having seen her so recently, both Ruby and Yang had already pushed Blake out of the thoughts of seeing her soon. So this early revisit was a real treat to them, and just seeing Blake made their hearts soar.
"Hi guys," Blake said, very delicately hugging both of them back. "Can you get off of me now?" Ruby and Yang complied, and backed away from Yang.
"Ahem," Sun coughed. "I'm here too."
"Hi Sun," Ruby said, waving at him.
"I never liked you," Yang said bluntly. Sun dead froze, a rare moment where the monkey clown was left without a joke or a witty response.
"He does have that affect on people," the bull Faunus said bluntly.
"He sure does," Yang said. "Hey, who are you two?"
"I'm Lyria Spots," the lynx Faunus said. "And my disgruntled partner here is Tauran Brownfur. We're the two that originally got tasked with the mission, but then we noticed who the attempt was on. So we decided to inform Blake and Sun, since they are a pair, and see if they wanted to come along. Obviously they agreed."
"Thanks Lyria," Ruby said, walking over to shake her hand. "I owe you one."
"Give me a reason to enjoy this stay here, and I'll be in your debt," Lyria joked. Ruby smiled, and walked over to shake Tauran's hand. She whimpered slightly at the sheer size contrast from his hand to her hand, and slowly shook it.
"Yes, my hands are large," Tauran said. "But I'm not just all bulk, Rose."
"Rose?" Ruby asked.
"Those that deserve respect get their last name first," Tauran said easily. "From what I can tell, the Ember Sisters are more then deserving of that title."
"Oh," Ruby said, blushing slightly at the large man's praise. "Well, thanks. Can I still call you Tauran?" The bull laughed, and his laugh had the same deep tone to it that his speaking voice did.
"Sure thing." Yang greeted Tauran, and then the six stood still for a moment.
"So," Ruby said slowly. "We should probably go and meet who it is that we're protecting."
"Meet?" Blake asked. "Do you know who we're meeting?"
"Uhhh," Ruby and Yang said in unison. "No?" Blake just shook her head, and smiled.
"Ozpin must have sent you," she said softly. "Only he has the sense of humor to do this." Blake raised her voice so the sisters could hear her, and then started to walk. "Come on, we'll fill you in on the details."
Schnee Conference Room
Weiss was sitting calmly at the head of the table. She had been required to go to the conference room as it was the most secure room in the house. It was perfectly in the center, equidistant from the roof, subbasement, and all four walls to ensure that you would have to fight through multiple layers of security just to get to it. Plus, the room was both fully proofed of bullets and sound. Weiss' parents had informed Weiss that the people they had to negotiate with were too important to not make these modifications.
Weiss however, was nervous. She had been previously informed of who the New Faunus Rights group and who Beacon {as they decided to see as to whom was sent to look after Weiss} and that made her afraid. It was so soon after she had met up with her former teammates, and that didn't sit well with Weiss. She had been so close to accepting Ruby's offer after one day with her. Weiss wasn't sure that if Ruby were to ask her again, she'd be able to say no.
Weiss head some people stop and talk outside of the door, and she gathered herself. Luther opened up the door, and the six people assigned to her security detail walked into the room.
"Weiss!" Ruby and Yang called out instantly. Both girls made a move to ran at Weiss, but the heiress calmly raised her hand to stop them.
"We have unpleasant matters to discuss," Weiss said calmly, turning into the dignitary that she was trained to be. "I'd rather save any kind of informal greetings for another time." Ruby and Yang paused, and slowly stepped back. "Take a seat, all of you." Weiss gestured to open seats around the rectangular table, and the six of them complied.
"Now," Weiss said instantly. "I was informed of all of you and your accolades, apart from those that I helped achieve, so there is no need for introductions."
"Aw man," Sun said, casually kicking his boots up on the table. "I love hearing about people I already know." Weiss raised up a glyph, and pushed his boots off the table, flipping Sun over at the same time.
"Keep your boots off the table," Weiss ordered easily. "Otherwise, the consequences could be worse." Sun got to his feet, and sat down. Weiss smiled at her control of the situation. She would never actually punish Sun for kicking his feet up on the table, she just wasn't a fan of his. "Now, tell me, what is it that you know of my situation?"
"You were out in the garden," Blake started, taking control of the situation. "Your bodyguard, Lincoln I believe, saw something and pushed you out of the way. A sniper round was fired, and luckily you were not hurt."
"I can't say the same for Lincoln," Weiss said sadly. "He'll live, but we had to have an operation to get the bullet out. He even assured me he'd be back to work tomorrow. Sometimes I think it's a good thing that I have crazy protection." Weiss shook her head, but then refocused her attention. "What do you think of the shooter?"
"Our turn," Ruby muttered. "Okay, so there was no sound from the shot. That means either some really high tech, or a silencing semblance. We shopped around on the market to see, and there are only a few people with access to that. We ran over some resources, and came up with a name." Yang tapped something out on her scroll, and slid it into the middle of the table. A single holographic image came up, and it revealed a man with a green cloak, two daggers, a bandana covering his face, and a sniper resting in his arms.
"Distrio Columbi," Yang started. "AKA, the Sniper. He comes at a high price for two reasons. One, he doesn't miss. Two, he has a silencing semblance. Now, Mr. Columbi was spotted at the prison break of fifteen criminals, including one Cinder Fall. Our theory is that Torchwick hired him a few months back, and kept him under wraps until he was needed."
"Interesting theory," Weiss said slowly. "But don't you think that you're connecting too many dots that aren't meant to be connected?"
"Nope," Yang said. "I talked to my connections, and Distrio would never disappear for this long unless he was being paid to keep quiet. Only a few people actually have the money to do that. One of them is Torchwick, who'd want Cinder out and you dead."
"Before you say anything," Ruby said, placing her hand on the table and sitting upright. "Yang and I work within this realm, and we're the only ones that do. We have the connections, and we know our stuff. So don't question us. If there was a candidate as likely, we would tell you." Weiss sighed, and realized that there were correct.
"Excellent analysis," Weiss confessed. "Now, I will have to inform you of the details of you on protection as this is why you're here. I apologize in advance for the terms, they are my father's and not my own."
"I've had to protect some real assholes," Tauran snorted. "I'm sure that it'll be fine."
"Right," Weiss muttered. "At all times, I must have three people accompanying myself, along with Luther and Lincoln. The other three are allowed to investigate freely as they so choose. When I am retired to my quarters, three people are required to retire to there along with me. There are no Faunus/human ratio that is necessary. It is late today, and so my retiring will come now as it's been fairly eventful today. Who will come with me?" Ruby and Yang instantly stood up, and looked over at Weiss.
"You're our former teammate," Ruby said. "We were in the same room as you for almost six years. We've got this." Blake looked at Tauran, Lyria, and Sun with her eyebrow raised. The three of them gestured for Blake to go ahead, and the Faunus raised her hand.
"Why not?" She stated. "Complete the team." Weiss lost some of the color in her face, but tried to hide it.
"Very well then," Weiss said. She rose to her feet, and gestured for the other six to follow her. "I'll show you to my quarters and to the guest quarters as well. Well, guest quarters situated next to my room."
Hallway
Weiss walked down the hall, and pointed at one of the doorways.
"Tauran, Lyria, and Sun, you three will be staying here," Weiss said. The three of them opened up the door, and checked inside.
"Seems plenty big," Tauran observed.
"Don't worry," Weiss said. "All of the rooms are of absurd size just in case."
"See you in the morning, Schnee," Tauran said.
"Goodnight." The door closed behind the three Faunus, and Weiss turned to her teammates. "Here is my room." Weiss held her arm out to the left, and walked towards a room. She popped open the door, and the four girls entered into the room.
The room was massive. It had two beds set up, along with a couch and a sleeping bag. The couch was closest to the window and one of the beds was furthest away. The entirety of the room was white, and very little of it was covered with anything personal beyond a few pieces of art. Weiss had certainly been careful about making sure that all of the photos of her time with RWBY were kept hidden.
"I will take the bed the furthest from the window," Weiss said. "The rest of you should sort out where it is that you'll sleep."
"Dibs on bed!" Ruby and Yang called out in unison. Both of the sisters stopped, and stared at each other. They held out there hands in a fist, and took a deep breath in. "One, two, three, shoot," the said in unison. Ruby's hand was still in a fist, while Yang's rested in a scissor pattern.
"Dammit," Yang mumbled.
"Haha!" Ruby said happily. She jumped onto the second bed, and went to work taking off her boots. Yang turned towards the couch, but saw that Blake was already lying on it.
"Son of a bitch," Yang muttered.
"Daughter of a pussy would be more accurate," Blake said easily. She got a little bit more settled in, and closed her eyes. She was asleep instantly.
Yang just sighed, and laid down in the sleeping bed. She curled up, and closed her eyes. Weiss watched as Ruby looked over at her sister and Blake, and sat up in her bed.
"Guess I'm up first," she muttered. "Weiss, do you want to get changed?" Weiss nodded, and elegantly strolled over to the bathroom attached to the room. Ruby remained seated, and carefully looked out of the window. She wanted to ask Weiss to rejoin her and Yang, but she was afraid. If she asked Weiss, it was entirely possible that Weiss would just send both her and Yang away and get unaffiliated hunters. That was not something that Ruby would risk.
Yet.
The bathroom door opened up again, and Weiss walked back out. She was dressed in her lace blouse, and she entered her bed silently.
"Are you going to sleep?" Weiss asked Ruby.
"I'm taking watch," Ruby said instantly.
"That's ridiculous," Weiss told her. "I don't need a watch."
"Well you did get shot at," Ruby replied easily. Weiss sighed, and stubbornly sat up. "Yeah, I figured you'd do that." Both girls sat in silence, but then Ruby looked back at Weiss. "Can I hug you?" Weiss stopped from surprise, and then shook her head.
"Why?" Weiss asked.
"Because I missed you," Ruby whined.
"Ruby, we didn't see each other for a day."
"I still missed you," Ruby muttered. Weiss sighed, and gestured that it was okay for Ruby to hug her. She eagerly ran over to Weiss, and gave Weiss a hug. After a few moments, Ruby stopped and returned to her bed. Weiss had been very careful to not hug Ruby back, no matter how badly she wanted too.
"So what about your parents?" Ruby asked. "How're they holding up."
"Fine as far as I know," Weiss said simply.
"Well I feel like they'd have to be pretty concerned."
"Not concerned enough to come and see me," Weiss said, her voice suddenly catching. It was true. Her parents had refused to stop their meeting to see their daughter who had been shot at. Insisting that their business was simply too important.
"I'm sorry Weiss," Ruby said softly.
"No," Weiss said. "They have done nothing for me in a month. I've done nothing but see tutors and be shot at. I hate this life, I hate it." Weiss froze as she realized what she had said, and Ruby's eyes grew wide.
"I thought you had done other things..." Ruby muttered.
"No," Weiss said sadly. "I've only been used for entertainment. I've just been stuck in this place, forced to abide by my parents idiotic rules." She shook her head, and instantly tucked herself into her bed.
"I'm tired," Weiss said, her voice sounding nothing but sad. "Goodnight."
"Night," Ruby said. Weiss closed her eyes, and Ruby just thought over the information that she had been presented. She wasn't sure as to what she was supposed to do with it, so Ruby just watched for any outside movement.
End: Questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated.
