Police cars sped past her, heading towards the wreckage she and Blake left behind. A few gave her odd looks, but none stopped. Civilians could still be trapped in a building after all, although Yang doubted anyone aside from the White Fang was still alive back there.
Yang continued to move forward. Her legs felt like overcooked spinach, and the rest of her body was slowly freezing to death, but she never stopped. Stopping would mean giving up. Stopping would mean letting Blake die.
That wasn't something she could do.
The only clue she had was the road itself. It was the only way in and out of the cul-de-sac, so there was no other way that the truck could have went. Eventually, it merged onto the highway, but Yang was hoping that the truck would park somewhere before then.
Rain continued to pour on her already soaked body. Thunder rumbled through the sky, and she could see the flashes of lightning. This wasn't really the time to be outside.
Her scroll dinged in her pocket. She made the mistake of bringing it out once, and was rewarded with a dozen worried texts from Ruby, plus several dozen texts from Weiss that were… considerably less nice.
A few cars splashed her, mostly police, yet she still pressed on. The highway was quickly coming into view. If Viola hadn't pulled off the road by now, she wasn't going to.
A lightening flash illuminated the inside of a small building. Inside, Yang could see a white truck, identical to the type used by the White Fang during their attack.
Bingo.
There was two doors leading in, one garage door, and one smaller door to the left. Unsurprisingly, both were locked. Yang peeked through the windows, searching for Blake and her captors, but she couldn't make out anything in the dark.
Frowning, she walked over to the small door. She raised a hand to punch off the lock, but then remembered that she was out of ammo. Instead, she kicked the handle. Once, then twice. On the third time, it broke off, and the door swung open.
When she tried to walk through, she had to grab the doorframe and rest. Just kicking the door had drained most of her strength. Maybe she should wait until…
No, Blake needed her.
Yang lifted her left foot, and brought it down. Then her right, then left, right, left, until she resumed some semblance of her normal walking rhythm.
The warehouse seemed to be abandoned. Cobwebs cluttered the corners, the few shipping containers were old and rusting, and the whole building smelt of human waste. She kicked over a few old cans of beer, but there didn't seem to be any other signs of the White Fang.
Turning the corner of one of the shipping containers, Yang saw the truck, sitting in the middle of the floor. It looked dented, lightly burnt, and otherwise damaged, but there was no sign of Blake.
Yang slammed a hand into the side of the truck, ignoring the pain that shot up her arm. Where was she? Where had they taken her?
"You hear that?" Shit.
"Grab the rifles, let's go."
Footsteps sounded out from behind her. Yang took cover behind the truck, but she wasn't sure what she was going to do if they found her. No ammo, no aura, no backup.
"Dent in the truck." Whoever was there could see it? That meant faunus, which probably meant White Fang.
Well, at least she was on the right track.
"Think it's her?" someone said.
The other person replied with a snort. "We're screwed if it is. Did you hear what those guys were saying?"
"What? You really think they were being serious?" He laughed. "Come on, no one girl is going to take out fifty soldiers."
"Then where is everyone?"
Yang saw the barrel of a gun poke past the back of the truck. She grabbed it, pushed it up, and threw a punch into its holder's stomach. The man stumbled back, holding his arms around his middle.
"Son of—OVER HERE!" he yelled, and Yang tried to attack him again. Before she could get close, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet tore through her knee. She dropped to the ground, stifling a scream.
"Got her!" The second person called out. Yang lifted her head, trying to get her leg to function. Her shooter, a soldier with two small ears poking out from his hair, shot out her other knee.
"Not so tough now, are you?" He brought the barrel of his gun to her forehead. It was a shotgun, twelve gauge from the looks of the barrel. "You think you're so big and strong, but guess what little girl?" He leaned in. "You're done."
"Go fu—" Another shot, this time to her hand. Blood sprayed everywhere, and although she could still feel and move her hand, it was clear it wasn't going to heal.
"Geez, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" He walked over to the first guy. "You alright?"
He held out a hand, which the other man, shorter, with an oddly thick goatee, took graciously. "Fine, just winded." He looked at her. "Is she down?"
"Yeah, she's down," Small-ears replied, and pumped his shotgun. "Let's make sure she doesn't get back up." He pushed the gun against her forehead. Yang closed her eyes, wishing that her last sight wasn't some dingy building in the middle of nowhere.
Who would have thought it? Yang Xiao Long, badass huntress, survived a train wreck, Adam, fought off an army, yet she was going to be killed by some shmuck with a cheap gun.
Blake was still out there, still in desperate need of help. Yet, for the first time in her life, there was nothing Yang could do. She was going to die.
No, not for the first time. The first time was all those years ago, staring at red eyes in the dark. This wasn't so different from that. The red was lines on a mask, the dark not quite as strong, but close enough. Only this time, there wasn't any uncle to save her.
"See you in hell," Small-ears said, and then pulled the trigger.
BANG!
…Only instead of her head turning into a pink mist, Yang heard a yelp. Another gunshot echoed out, and she opened her eyes.
Both her attackers were lying on the floor, weapons scattered around them. To the right of her head was a black mark on the ground, where the shotgun blast had actually hit.
"Yang!" It was Ruby's voice. Suddenly her vision was filled with the terrified visage of her younger sister. Yang grinned.
"Hey Ruby," she croaked, her voice barely audible.
Ruby didn'tt respond, she just grabbed her arms and brought them too her chest.
Weiss came up behind her. "Ruby, is she—oh no," she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. To her surprise, Yang saw tears in her eyes. Weiss didn't cry, ever.
Yang's vision began to cloud hwith black spots. The feeling of the rough cement and her sister's body faded from her skin. The door to death was opening to her, and the gatekeeper was beckoning her in.
You're delirious, again, was the first rational thought to come back to her. Yellow light flickered around Ruby, as red flickered around her own form. The two colours mixed, forming the flame that would bring her back to life.
As this was happening, Yang felt… something, ghost over her skin. Like a cool autumn breeze, or an air conditioner kicking in during the summer. Not enough to really cool her down, but enough to make the heat bearable.
The two soldiers got back to their feet. Goatee picked up the rifle and started firing at them. Ruby didn't, couldn't move, but Weiss threw up some kind of force field before the bullets could reach them.
Small-ears picked up his shotgun and tried to flank the trio. Weiss fired a blast of ice at him, which he narrowly dodged. Goatee continued to shoot, keeping Weiss from dropping the shield.
Yang could feel her hand grow back, and her knee snap back into place. Still, she found that she couldn't move said limbs, meaning she was still helpless while someone else saved her life.
Again.
"Damnit! I'm out!" Small ears cried. "Cover me!" The volume of fire on their position intensified. Dust flew out of Weiss's rapier, reinforcing the fading shield with shards of ice. It was a temporary measure however, as several large chunks landed on her chest and face.
"Ruby! I need help!" Weiss yelled. Ruby lifted her gaze, but her hands didn't twitch.
"She's still healing!"
"She can wait! We're about to get killed!"
Ruby rolled her eyes, like she was being asked to take out the garbage, rather than two armed terrorists. She let go of her hands, taking the cooling sensation with her. Pulling out Crescent Rose, she leapt at Small ears.
"…Not quite what I meant." Weiss sighed, and leaned around her ice shield to launch a bolt of lightning at Goatee. To his credit, he barely looked singed afterwords.
Ruby, meanwhile, dodged a shot from Small ear's shotgun. He tried to clobber her with its butt when she got close, but Ruby merely dodged under his swing, and introduced her scythe to his head.
It was a very quick meeting.
Goatee took one look at his newly unconscious teammate, and decided that he liked not having a concussion. He threw his weapon to the ground and held up his hands.
Weiss smirked. "Smart man."
Ruby reached down the grab her hand, intending to continue the healing process. Yang instead used it to pull herself to her feet, feeling her Aura begin to recharge. She wasn't fully healed, not even close, but enough was fixed for her to move.
Kinda like a car battery, now that she thought about it.
"You okay?" Ruby asked, concern written across her face. Yang gave a terse nod in reply.
"What were you thinking?" Weiss shrieked. Her voice sounded like some sonic torture device. "You could've died!"
Yang whipped her head around the face the heiress. Her eyes were blood red, and her aura created a wasteful display of fireworks. "They have Blake! I couldn't just sit around and do nothing!"
Weiss snorted. "And if you died, how much help would you be then?"
Yang lifted a fist, intending to punch Weiss in her stupid nose. Before she could do so, Ruby grabbed her arm and hung off it. "Knock it off you two! We've got other problems."
The trio turned to the surrender soldier, who quickly averted his eyes. Weiss stomped over, and flicked her sword against his jugular.
"You took a friend of ours," she growled, pressing the blade against his skin just hard enough to draw blood. "Where did you take her?"
Goatee spat a wad of phlegm at her face. It landed on her forehead, and slowly slid down until it sat at the tip of his nose.
"That," she said, wiping it off. "Was uncalled for." She pointed her sword at Yang. "Do you see that women? She wants the same thing I want. The difference? I'm being nice about it."
Goatee laughed, a harsh sound that resembled choking more than anything. "Nice? You're a Schnee. You wouldn't know nice if it crawled up your tiny little—"
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, as Weiss proceeded to freeze his private parts solid. All of them.
For the first time, Yang realised just how angry Weiss really was. This wasn't "Mildly annoyed" Weiss, this was, "You die now" Weiss.
"SON OF A—!" he screamed, before Weiss smashed the hilt of her sword against his face.
"I'll ask one more time. Where. Is. My. Friend?"
"I don't know!" he replied, trying to push the ice off with his hands. "They don't tell us where the main base is! Please! Just let me go-o-o…" Oh god, he was crying. "I-I just want to see my kids again…"
Weiss's expression softened. She dropped a miniscule amount of fire Dust onto his frozen legs. "Put some aura into that. Slowly."
He did as she said, and the ice began to melt. Not quick enough for him to escape anytime soon, but he wouldn't be losing anything either.
Not that he likely had all that much to begin with.
"I'm going to go… look, at documents," Weiss said to Ruby. "You two… have fun." She walked to a small desk, presumably where the two soldiers were before Yang arrived.
Ruby turned to her. "Yang…"
"Don't say it."
"I wasn't—"
"Not a word." Yang sighed, wincing when she breathed in. Her ribs were still hurt, or at least sore.
"I just wanted to ask—"
"I'm fine!"
Ruby went quiet. Yang felt a quick pang of guilt, but ignored it. She left through the door she entered in, her movements far quicker and smoother than they were before.
The rain was still going, although she could see the sun peeking through the clouds. Somehow, the night had passed.
Yang sat down on the curb, kicking a rock into a drain. The city was slowly waking up; cars rumbled out of driveways, school buses picked up kids. A few onlookers stared and her and the building behind her, several still in pajamas. The gunshot's had likely awoken many of them.
A strip of red shells landed next to her.
"I was asking if you needed more ammo."
Yang wordlessly clicked the bullets into her weapon. It felt good to have firepower again.
"You know we' ll find her, right?"
Yang couldn't meet her eyes. Ruby sighed, and sat down next to her.
"How are you so calm?" Yang asked, staring into a puddle, and her own reflection. "They have Blake, and we don't really know why."
Ruby shrugged. "I am scared; I'm just not focusing on it. If we're going to find Blake, we need to keep focus."
"I wish it was that easy."
Ruby tilted her head, and grabbed her shoulder. "Yang, it's not your fault."
"How is it not!?" Yang stood up, spreading out her arms. In the corner of her eye, she saw a few scrolls recording her. "I'm the one who couldn't stop Viola, I'm the one who nearly got killed here, I'm the one who didn't let you guys come with, how is this not my fault?"
Ruby grabbed her in a tight hug. "Because it's my fault too!"
"Ruby—"
"No!" She pulled away. "I should've insisted we went together or that you didn't go at all or something!" Much quieter, she added, "I'm her leader, keeping you and Blake safe is my job."
Keeping you safe.
Keeping you safe.
"I DON'T NEED YOU PROTECTING ME!" Yang roared, flames flying of her raging form. Her hands were balled into fists, and her eyes had turned red.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean—"
"I'm not a-a girl in pigtails anymore! Stop treating me like I am!"
"I'm not!"
"I can handle myself! I don't… I don't…" Yang fell to the curb, her aura turning off, and her eyes returning to their normal colour. "I'm sorry…"
Ruby blinked, slowly setting down beside her. "It's—it's okay; just tell me what's wrong."
Yang took a deep breath, looked at Ruby, and almost lost her nerve. This was her sister. She couldn't burden her with her own crap.
Ruby noticed her hesitation. She sighed. "As your leader, I order you to tell me what's wrong."
Yang gave her a mirthless smile. "You're getting good at this."
She shrugged. "I try."
Yang sighed. "I'm… I'm just so… tired, of always needing to be rescued." She closed her eyes. "Qrow had to save me from the Grimm, Mom had to save me from Neo, Blake had to save me from Adam, and now you guys had to save me from those idiots."
She opened her eyes and stared into the rising sun. "Meanwhile, I'm making every situation we get in worse and worse and worse."
"No, you don't."
"Yes I do, Ruby. Think about it; I broke Mercury's leg—ah! No arguments!"
"But you didn't! He was walking around a day later!" Ruby insisted, slapping her knees with her fists.
"Trust me, his leg was broken." She smiled grimly. "Besides, I don't have that excuse for Cardin."
Ruby turned silent.
"I'm supposed to be a protector," Yang continued. "A big sister, a huntress, a… a hero, but I'm not." She let out a slow sigh. "I'm just… a little girl, who's in way over her head."
Ruby grabbed her shoulder, and pulled her into a hug. Yang brought her arms up and reciprocated. She was surprised at the hot tears falling down her cheeks.
"You don't have to be a big sister, or a huntress, or a hero," Ruby whispered. "You just have to be my sister, Blake's partner, and Weiss's teammate. That's it.
"That's all you have to be."
Neither moved for what felt like hours, until Weiss came out and said they had a lead.
Blake couldn't think of worse trip she had taken. Every time the truck hit a pothole, or merely bounced on the road, the metal surrounding her wrists and ankles cut into her skin. Drops of blood fell to the floor, the only colour she could see in the darkness.
She still remembered Yang's face as she sped away. Staring at her like there was nothing left to live for. It added guilt to the already unstable cocktail of anger, fear, and betrayal brewing within her. Yang had already been through enough crap this week; she didn't need this added to it.
Not that it was her fault, not really. It was Viola's. Viola, the name that once made her hope for normality, had instead dragged her back into the hands of the White Fang. Thinking of her made her blood boil, and the knowledge that she was there, in the cab...
However, there was nothing she could do. The cables were strong enough to stop a race car, and they were wrapped too tightly for her to wiggle out. If she had Gambol Shroud, and a free hand, she might be able to escape, but her weapon was left behind.
She was at the 'mercy' of her captors.
At some point, they pulled into a building. They pulled her out, and carried her to another car. Without a word, they continued driving.
Eventually, the truck again began to slow down. Blake slid across the floor, softly colliding with the cab. She could hear voices.
"We made it." Viola.
"Just. City's looking for us." Someone else, one of the White Fang. She didn't know who.
"He'll handle it; just go get the cell ready."
"Yes ma'am."
Blake heard two doors slam shut. The engine died, and light came pouring in through the back doors.
"Rise and shine kitty-cat. Someone wants to meet you," Viola said, but it wasn't her arms that grabbed Blake and lifted her. She tries to make it harder on them, worming around and loosening their grip, but it's no use. They just clamp down on her arms and legs, and carry her like a pig roast.
"You've been a bad kitty tonight, haven't you?" Blake glared at her, not amused at her attempts at humour. If she had a free arm, Viola would be missing an eye.
Viola smirked, and leads the entourage out of the garage and into the main warehouse. The lights are dim, (standard practise in case of attack) and the windows covered with a variety of cloths. What draws her eyes is the sheer number of people in the building.
Soldiers run drills with their weapons, medics patch together the wounded, and their stocks of food and weaponry are counted and distributed. This isn't any base; this is the main HQ of the White Fang.
What are they doing in Vale?
"Blake." Blake feels her blood freeze, and she slowly turns her head to face the speaker. No, no it can't be...
Adam stands in front of her, his arms hanging by his sides. He's wearing the mask, so she can't see his face, but she can feel the hate and the anger radiating off him. Viola grins, walks over, and kisses him, long and hard on the lips.
Blake felt like throwing up. Instead, she rolled her eyes and said, "This explains so much."
Adam pulled away and unsheathed his sword. For the briefest of moments, he actually seemed to be smiling.
What the hell is going on here?
"Stop talking, if you don't want me to cut your tongue off."
Normally, Blake would cooperate. Tonight, however, she felt an unusual amount of bravery, or perhaps stupidity would be more accurate.
"You can try," she growled, all but spitting at her former partner. Adam's mouth curls into an ugly scowl, and he seemed ready to kill her right then and there.
Viola, again, must be trying to reset her karma, came to her rescue. "Adam, don't." She grabbed his arm. Surprisingly, it stopped him.
Who was this girl?
Viola pulled him in, close. They whispered quiet enough that she couldn't hear them, even with her ears. Whatever she said, it caused Adam to sheath his sword and step away. The glower remained.
He gestured towards the two men holding her up. "Why is she still conscious?"
The one holding her arms responded, "I don't know. We hit her with the drugs, but I guess they didn't work."
He eyed her still squirming form. "I guess not. Those bonds going to hold her?"
"They should."
He nodded. "Lock her up. Post two guards, three if she gets... uncooperative."
"Yes sir." They hauled her off to a modified shipping container. There was a heavy lock on a chain holding the door shut. The one holding her hands let her drop and pulled out a key. Blood rushed to her head, and she became acutely aware of the lingering pain in her ankle.
"Welcome to your room." She was tossed in, and landed hard on her head. "I hope you enjoy your stay." The door shut, and she was alone again, in the dark.
Blake slowly got to her feet. It was a massive struggle to move in her bindings, but she managed to hop over to the crack between the doors. All she could see was a thin sliver of light, but she put her ears to it and listened.
"So that's the girl, huh."
"What, expecting something else?"
"Well, she doesn't really seem like she's worth all this trouble."
"You got no idea what she did to us."
"Yeah, that's kinda my point."
Something, probably an arm, was hit.
"Look, don't ask too many questions. Adam's touchy about this, and I can't really blame him."
"What she do, kill someone?"
"Actually—Shh! someone's coming!"
"Identify yourself!"
A dark, familiar voice answered. "It's me."
"Oh! Sorry sir! I didn't recognise you."
"Just open the door."
Chains rattled and suddenly light spilled in to the darkness. Any joy brought by that was soon sucked up by the man that stepped through.
"Hello, my dearest Blake."
She stumbled back, trying to put as much distance between him and her as possible. Any bravery she felt earlier was gone, replaced by the knowledge of exactly what he could do to her.
He stepped forward, seemingly unconcerned and uncaring. Blake knew better, he wasn't missing a thing she did.
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to leave that island?" He drawled. "How many nights I've spent, unable to sleep, because of what you did to me?"
"I don't know."
He smiled. "Of course you don't."
Almost faster than she could see, Adam drew back a hand and flung it across her face. Normally, she would barely even notice the hit, but with her arms and legs bound as they were, it caused her to fall to the ground. She landed on her hip, which gave off a worrying CRACK as she landed.
"Now, from what I hear, the drugs we gave you aren't working." He pulled his sword, still sheathed. "So in order to keep you from escaping…" He brought the black bar up, and then swung it down on her head. She tried to move, but the cables again proved her undoing.
The second it hit, stars danced across her vision. The box grew darker, despite the light from the open doors. Adam's harsh laugh sounded like a demon.
"Oh, you think this hurts?" He leaned in, his mouth next to her ear. "It can never equal the pain you've given me."
"What did I do to you?" Despite the pain, Blake's voice was as steady as it could possibly be. She knew Adam, if she showed weakness, he'd push harder.
He smirked. "You know exactly what you did." He hit her again, this time in the stomach. Blake curled into a ball, nearly throwing up. "You can't run from it any longer." Another blow, again to her head. She felt one of her teeth splinter off and fall on her tongue. "And you can't run from me."
He drew back his arms for another blow, but before he could, someone knocked at the door.
"Adam?" It was Viola. "Torchwick needs to speak with you, something about the plan?"
Adam growled. Attaching his sheath to his belt again, he whispered, "I'll be back." Then he walked off, and closed the doors.
No one could see in.
Blake spat out the jagged remains of her tooth, awkwardly picked it up with her hands, and got to work.