Sorry this took so long, thank you all for sticking around liking it and continuing to read this story. This story is not dead. I was trying to write this during some changes that were happening, and it just took a long time. (Looks at last update time) A really long time. No recommendation this time around mainly because I read so many things but season 9 really took me in. I'm sure people have complaints, and some people are very into it. There were parts I really liked and some that just felt a little off, but overall, I definitely recommend giving it a go.
Beta Reader: BlackJackHero
"Ars, what do we do?" Reese looks to her old leader only to be met with equal confusion and worry. "Arslan?" she shakes the taller girl. "Arslan!"
Snapping quickly into focus, "We need to speak with headmaster Lionheart right away." The noble lioness turns and sprints towards the main building leaving the delivered products, Reese following closely behind. Pushing some straggler students aside, they swiftly arrive at the infirmary and without a second thought throw open the door.
"I'm telling you, if he knew he would've never sent-" Qrow stops talking seeing the girls rush into the room without knocking.
"Ms. Altan, Ms. Chloris, what can I help you with?" Questions Leonardo, taking in their expressions. "What's wrong?"
"Sir look at this," Reese marches forward presenting her scroll with the video already starting to play.
The headmaster and Qrow watch in stern silence, but aggravation shows when Lil' Miss brings out the knife and the girls start to beat on Jaune. Leonardo quickly rises to his feet casing aside the table and paperwork that are over the bed, aura raging wildly around his form, "She Forgets Herself!"
"Shit this is bad. Do we have the manpower for a raid right now?" asks the unlucky man.
"No, even weeks after the mass hoard attack, we still find ourselves stretched thin. I even have third and fourth years still deployed," he begins his habit of pacing back and forth responding. "She knows this, that's why she is so brazen. She would never do this kind of thing if we had even half of our numbers nearby."
"Who is she looking for anyway?" Qrow asks, causing the three other people in the room to look at him.
"Please close the door Ms. Altan," Leo instructs his student, getting confirmation in return. "Qrow, do you know about The Wave?"
"Yea I remember them," he glances at the two girls in the room before looking back at Leo, who waves for him to continue. "They procured "special" items and either kept them or sold them off to the highest bidder. I remember they had a pretty big smuggling ring. Heard a team of yours took them out a couple years back."
"Yes, well we thought they were wiped out. That was until Ms. Chloris here informed me that her mother is very much alive and rebuilding," he motions to the green-haired girl.
"Mother?" Questions the experienced huntsman.
Reese nods, "Lemon, Lemon Pickerel."
"As in The Wave's top dog, Lemon?"
"Yea," she says solemnly, "The one in the same, and before you ask, she has made it very clear she won't be helping me."
"Wait I know that last name, shit isn't a soul in Mistral that doesn't. You telling me she married the huntsman that killed himself after catching that serial killer?" He takes a swig from his flask not noticing the clenching fist of the young girl. "Shit that's rough, I'm sorry kid I know how it feels, can't pick your family."
"He didn't kill himself," seethes out the green-haired girl. "I was there. That maniac came back!" she lashes out at the older man.
Arslan quickly cuts her off, "Reese not the time, sorry to say but we have more pressing matters. Sir, if we are short, I don't suggest a raid but an extraction. Us plus team SSSN and Mr. Branwen here should be able to get it done."
"Sadly, team SSSN set out for Beacon last night, they are unavailable," Leo opens a scroll and begins to look through available personnel. "Qrow take to the street, see if you can find where the boys are being held, we only have so long before Lil' Miss will resort to heavier hands," Leonardo starts for the door.
"You're not coming," Qrow states with finality. "Not like that, they only let you walk around the grounds right now." He points to the right arm of the headmaster still in a sling and missing everything from the forearm down. "Plus, you have important duties here. We'll make it work with just the three of us."
Pointing at the girls, "Change into something inconspicuous and be on standby. I don't know how long it will take to find them, but we will go at night, and we will be going quickly. You girls killed anyone yet?"
"No sir," they answer in unison.
"Well shit, that makes this a little harder, but we'll just have to cross that bridge and all that," adds the grizzled huntsman.
Walking over to another table in the room, the headmaster grabs a teapot, "If I am unable to accompany you at least allow me to assist in this way." He hands the teapot to Reese, "I know this item brings up unpleasant memories for you, but you will find it useful."
"Leo that's-" Qrow begins.
"She knows about magic items, think about who her mother is,"
"Wait a sec-I'm sorry, Magic items?" Arslan asks. "You told me The Wave was primarily a smuggling ring," turning an accusatory stare onto her partner.
"They were on the surface, but they specialized in the procuring of magical items scattered across Remnant. They would catalog them and sell them to the highest bidder," The headmaster answers. "It took us years to even catch their coattails, but two years ago they were wiped out."
"Clearly not if her mom is still doing business and Lil' Miss somehow caught on," Qrow points out taking another swig from his flask. "Is the green one, ok?" He motions with his chin at Reese who is staring at the teapot.
Years Ago
'I hate this part of the day,' Reese thinks to herself, looking down the line of young girls dressed in ballet leotards she stares at the woman waiting for them. Since she snuck out of the school once, things had changed, her days consist of being woken up and going through a special set of classes; self-defense, hacking, social engineering, escaping, chemistry, and fencing were added to her already heavy load. The ballet, gymnastics, and dancing classes are even worse with her new standards.
The line moves forward, and her mind moves to her new room, a hose with a shower head and a drain in the middle. Gone is her comfortable bed and now she has a table with a thin sheet and plastic pillow, easier to clean, they said when she complained. She flinches, reaching down, tenderly touching the inside of her right thigh. She gently traces the raised outline of the still fresh tattoo, grimacing at the spider the raised edges form.
Lady Beat stands in front of her, gray-blonde hair in its usual beehive, tall, silently intimidating, and always testing, for what? Who knew? It was there though, the small little sparkle in her lavender eyes highlighted by that dark blue mascara. The gold dust glitters off her skin as she pours today's "tea" from that pot Reese's mom sold them so long ago.
Reese continues to stare at the pot until a quick movement draws her attention back to the woman wearing the knee length skirt, white blouse, and long gold scarf. The older woman simply motions to the cup in front of the young green haired girl, 'Brothers I hope it's not that bad today.' Taking the cup, she moves to stand with the other girls that were singled out from the regular class, and soon each one of them tips the cups to their mouths and swallows.
Lady Beat walks the line making them open their mouths to check that they swallowed the tasteless "tea". It starts when Reese arrives back at her room, bile invades her mouth, and the severe cramps begin tearing away her insides. She can't stop the small spasms, and the nasty leaking that haunts her through the night, before she passes out, she continues to clutch her stomach and cry to herself.
The waking alarm is what brings her out of the slumber, her body aches and smells. Another alarm goes off signaling that the young girls only had thirty minutes to clean themselves and the rooms. Without thinking Reese throws aside her now soiled clothing and grabs the hose, spraying water on herself and her room, using the scentless soap to clean everything. After finishing she lines up outside of her room waiting for the teacher to collect the young girls for today's lessons.
Looking across the hall she notices her neighbor isn't in front of the door and doesn't come out even as the teacher approaches. The woman pauses in front of the door, waves a key and peaks into the room. Upon closing the door, she presses something on the frame and the light above turns red, she quickly moves on signaling for Reese to follow her to today's lessons.
Present
"Reese, are you going to tell me what's going on with that teapot?" Arslan asks from her room with the door open. "I get it's a magic item, which is world altering, but what can it do?"
"Yea sorry about that, I would've told you eventually, but it's not-" begins the green-haired girl only to be cut off.
"I understand, it's not the kind of information you want traveling around," walking out of the room Arslan is wearing form fitting black pants, shirt, and a bandanna to cover her bright hair.
Reese is wearing something similar without the bandanna, instead the shirt has a hood that can be drawn to cover her shocking green hair, "Yea... the teapot can magically generate any gas or liquid."
"That's insane and dangerous. I can't imagine what the wrong people could do with that."
"I've seen the wrong people use it. Remember how I told you I went to Madame Browning's in Vale." The blond girl nods in response, still stunned from the revelation. "Well one of the teachers used it every day to build our resistance to poisonous substances, some of the girls died from it."
"But it does have its own set of restrictions. It takes a lot of aura and it can't produce an infinite amount, and most importantly you have to know the chemical formula for what you want," Reese finishes as she sits down staring at the teapot.
"That doesn't seem too terrible, those are things that can be worked around with a cheat sheet and a group," Arslan points out.
Shaking her head, Reese lifts the pot and whispers "CO2". A small wisp of smoke begins to flow from the small opening. "Magic Items are kinda picky. For this one it's not enough to just read the formula you need to understand it and trust me, it knows the difference," Reese cuts the effect and points to the scroll on the table.
Arslan grabs the scroll and moves to the aura meter, "That little bit of smoke cost you seven percent?"
"And it would continue to drain aura if not turned off, a lot of people have died from losing the items. The aura drain would continue even if the person were separated from the object. You can't stop the effect someone else triggered."
"Ok maybe these things aren't that great. Why do people want them then?"
"My mother once told me it's their potential that drives people. Smart people know how they work, clever people know how to use them, she would say," Reese sighs out.
Arslan watches as her green-haired teammate falls into what can only be called a funk, thinking of her old life. Trying to distract her friend for now she looks at the things the boys ordered, "Hey, what's this?" The blonde lioness picks up a small package examining it, "Says from Nora and Ruby."
"That must be Jaune's quiver and gloves," Reese points out, sitting up a little clearly thankful for the distraction. "You should bring them, we have to travel and move light."
"Meaning we can't bring their full loadouts," Arslan nods. Walking over to Jaune's room she opens the door, ducking in. It takes a couple of minutes before she appears holding his medical pack, "Just in case."
Nodding soberly the green fairy responds, "We should probably request some boosters. The guys are gonna hate those, they hurt... a lot." She emphasizes earning a wince from her partner.
They sit and continue to compose a small list of little items that can be brought along, including the parts of the boys kits they can manage to bring without weighing them down.
Cold water shocks him back into the waking world with a groan, Jaune looks up to the face of a smirking, scantily clad girl around his age. It quickly turns into a scowl as Jaune shows no visible reaction to her exposed form. "Can you guys stop? I told you I'm saving my first time for a girl I love." His answer is another dust knuckle across the face, letting off a sizzle against a very thin layer of aura.
"Again?" the woman looks at him, before back handing him, shattering the small field. "Lil Mis was right about you." She grabs his hair at the roots, yanking his head up and taking pleasure as blood dribbles from his mouth. Before yanking him around violently and mounting him on the chair, "Am I not pretty enough for you? Not your type?"
"Don't take it personally, prettier women than you have tried to breach that wall," Cardin yells. This causes the girl to turn away from Jaune, distracting her enough for him to raise his hips and send the spider woman falling over. She tumbles ungracefully from his lap, hitting her head on the ground, her aura flares and she stands back up, holding the back of her head
Both boys give a small smile, Jaune's sheepish and Cardin's smug, faces bloody and swollen. Letting out an angry roar, she marches over giving each boy another hard punch, sending them to the ground. More girls appear from the shadows and begin to beat on them, each with their own set of dust knuckles.
"Enough!" The click of heels accompanies Lil Miss's entrance. "I don't need you bustin them boys up any more than they already are." Ending her strut in front of the two of them, she motions with her head for them to be put back upright. "Almost time for another film, boys. Y'all ready?"
She lazily paces in front of them, "Course that's if you don't give in to my demands, or if your friend doesn't come through on her end. What is this, day five?"
"If we go by the beatings, I think we're at seven," Jaune manages between whistling breaths, something clearly damaged or broken.
"Wait, are you counting the times they tried to take your swimmers?" Cardin responds just as haggard.
"I like your bite, boys," she says, fanning herself.
"Lady, I got more than bite in store for you when I get out." Cardin manages.
"Be nice Cardin," Jaune adds. "We'll have to turn in something for the reward."
"Cute," the older woman responds flatly. "Look boys, just work for me. We'll use Winchester's family to expand in Vale again. And you, Arc, can sire the first students of my next Academy, the pedigree alone is enough but that aura of yours- wooo weeeee. That's the icing on my cake."
"Not taking the pitch lady," Cardin speaks up.
"Sorry, like I said I'm saving myself for that special girl, and not that you ladies aren't lovely and all, but the last thing I want is to ice your cake." Jaune adds.
"That ain't smart boy, we've been real nice about this so far. Only drug we've hit you with is the aura suppressant. We've pulled a few nails, split some gums, broken some things, you know the light stuff, trying to keep things clean. Now, your defiance and your friend's pace are pushing the limits we've set for ourselves," Lil Miss eyes them pointedly. "Stuff 'em with the food, we'll be switching to heavier tactics after tonight's video."
"That was light?" Jaune asks a little hysterically. "I have one toenail!" He manages to yell, before they tilt him back, preparing to pour gray swill down his throat. "Coconuts! Coconuts!"
The women holding Jaune's chair look at him curiously as he begins to repeat himself. "What is he on about?"
The blonde gives them a defiant smile as he answers. "Sorry, that's my safe word."
One of the two tilting his chair back smiled cruelly as she replied. "I'll make sure to keep that in mind, Stud."
With that, the girls began to pour the gray sludge down his throat.
"Fuck you spider bitches are nuts!" Cardin gets out before the same happens to him. A crow watches the boy struggling against their captives, not letting out a sound but its eyes narrow.
Arslan sits fidgeting with Jaune's new quiver, going over a few of the functions she could make out from the jumble that is instructions from the red heads back at Beacon. "This thing is kind of amazing, it prints arrows at an absurd rate. Not just plain ones either, it can make dust arrows and some other stuff, but I can't interpret that part of the instructions."
The mace part of Guillotine sits on Reese's lap as she messes with her scroll, "Does aura have an effect on that thing?"
"Yea, but again it's a part that I can't really understand."
"Maybe it's in code or-" the cawing of a bird cuts the conversation. Reese quickly checks the message, "It's coordinates, and they lead into the forest to the east of Mistral."
Arslan stands, tucks the gloves in her pocket, attaches the quiver to her leg, and her chakrams across the small of her back. Reese hooks the teapot to her waist, places her pistols on her thighs, and the mace across her back. The girls quickly leave the room, heading for the docks where a bullhead hovers waiting for their arrival.
"We need you to drop us about 3 miles away from these coordinates," Reese instructs while flashing her scroll for the pilot.
Soon the bullhead is hovering slightly above the dark tree line, the gust from the vehicle shaking the trees. Both girls jump out aiming for a high branch on a nearby tree and landing without any of their usual flare. The bullhead turns back towards the city and silently hovers back towards the standby location, a few miles back to avoid detection.
The girls descend the tree without issue, landing with soft thumps. "Glad you know how to keep things quiet," a gravelly voice calls out from the darkness of the tree branches. "Hope you got everything you'll need to get your boys back," Qrow drops down, landing just in front of the Haven students.
"Did you actually see them?" Arslan asks quickly, invading the bird man's personal space.
"Woah, calm down. They aren't actually going to kill the boys, they still want the information, and their deaths would bring the might of Mistral's huntsmen down on the Spiders," he tries to calm the lioness.
"How bad was it?" Reese asks, gaining Qrow's attention.
Sighing, he begins to explain, "I found them a couple days ago and the spiders were using some standard and non-standard torture methods. Pulling nails, beatings, shocks while wearing some...questionable attire. But things seemed to turn for the worse around that time. Lil' Miss has been encouraging the girls to try 'harder'. Whatever that means."
"It means light mutilation, heavier drugs, little sleep, and isolation. They'll probably be in separate rooms now," Reese answers. "They'll keep their contact to a minimum and try to convince them they've turned on each other."
"Well fuck," Qrow answers taking a swig from his flask.
"Should you be doing that?" Arslan questions.
"You have your process, I have mine."
"We should get moving," Reese cuts them off, heading into the brush toward the facility. "The longer we wait the more they go through."
"What's eating her?" asks the veteran huntsman. The lioness just shoots him a flat look and quietly follows Reese into the brush, making sure to roll her eyes for good measure. The group of three spend the trip in silence until they finally approach the hidden building. They watch vehicles and guards exit and enter some kind of hanger, while hiding in the trees.
Qrow motions for the girls to follow him to a small clearing deeper into the trees. Kneeling down he pulls his scroll switching it to low light mode as he presses something on the screen, then he drops it on the ground and a projection of the building they were watching pops up. "This is what I've spent the last two days putting together, after I found the place. So green, you said they would split them up?"
He points to a room on the second floor, "This is where they were kept before." Moving his hand to a room a bit deeper into the facility, "This is where they are keeping the big one, sad to say I couldn't find the other blondie."
"They wouldn't move him too far away, if claiming they turned on each other didn't work, they would still want them to hear the other one screaming," Reese states with a hard stare.
"They teach you that in torture 101?" Qrow quips.
"Yes."
Qrow silently stares at the map for a few seconds, "So... You'll be entering through this lookout balcony on the second floor. I'm going to go to the opposite side of the facility and cause some trouble. When I do, that will be your cue to move."
"What about guards?" Asks Arslan.
"They should be looking my way. You two should be able to take advantage of the moment. Once you find them, get moving to the hangar, grab a vehicle and then haul ass out of here."
The girls nod in unison, and Qrow vanishes into the tree line. As the minutes compound they begin to grow nervous until an explosion is heard and felt as the trees, ground, and bushes shake around the girls of AACC. The outline of smoke rises above the outline of the building, and Reese turns to Arslan mouthing 'What the fuck?'
Arslan just nods towards the building, crouching low, and ready to run. Reese soon follows suit, and they takeoff, keeping low to the ground using the shadow cast by the fire to cover their approach. Closing in on the building, Arslan throws her chakram sticking them into the wall, giving them something to jump to the balcony without causing any noticeable noise. Aiming for the ledge both girls grip it and after pausing Reese pulls herself up to get a look, only to be met with the heels of a guard.
Looking up, she sees his back as he watches the smoke and light coming from the opposite side of the building. Lowering herself back down, she motions to Arslan, who pulls something from the quiver on her thigh. Reese holds up three fingers, two, one, and jumps up, quickly covering his mouth and Arslan touches the arrow to the man's neck, causing him to spasm and crumble to the floor sparks jumping across his body.
Moving to the door they open it just enough to peer down the hall. A few more Spiders walk back and forth between doors further into the building. Waiting until the thugs stop walking the halls, they nod at each other, and Arslan throws two small balls at the wall causing steam to erupt imitating a pipe bursting. The hall quickly fills with the gaseous water, blocking the cameras Qrow had pointed out on the map earlier.
Moving through the steam, placing their hands on the left wall using it to turn towards the boys, they bump into two spiders while exiting the cloud. Driving her aura coated fist into the solar plexus of the first guard, Arslan expels all the air from his lungs, and a hook to the temple robs him of consciousness. Looking at Reese she watches as the green haired girl finishes choking the guard she confronted, with her leg in the shape of a triangle around his neck and an arm.
Reese stands back up looking at Arslan, "If you know any strangulation moves you should use those. Aura protects a lot of things, but it doesn't stop a lack of air."
"These guys don't have any aura though."
"They don't because they're grunts. I can almost guarantee that any women we run into will have aura. A bunch of the girls from Brownings joined Lil' Miss."
"I know a few chokes... Are you worried about seeing someone you know?" Arslan asks.
Reese shakes her head, "We weren't really encouraged to form bonds. I'm just worried about what they're doing to the boys. Come on."
Another explosion shakes the structure, and a Spider stumbles out into the hallway. Catching themselves they stand looking right at the two Haven students. Without warning or callouts, he raises the SMG slung around his body, and fires.
Charging forward Arslan's aura lights up as bullets bounce helplessly against it. Taking a few seconds to close the distance, she ducks to the side and slips her arm around the gunman's throat, grasping her other arm, and applying pressure. The man goes limp in her arms and she releases him letting his body slump to the ground.
"Like that," Arslan motions down.
Laughing lightly Reese responds, "Yea like that, but he was loud so you might want to grab that gun." Arslan raises and eyebrow in question at her smaller teammate, "Aim for legs and shoulders, once they are down-"
"We can close in and knock them out," Arslan answers, picking up the SMG. She hands it to her green haired teammate, and watches as the nymph checks it over. Reese ejects and replaces the magazine, then passes it back to the lioness. "I think we will get some resistance, but most will be heading towards whatever Qrow is up too."
The muffled sound of gunfire wakes Cardin, his vision blurs as he looks around the room, head pounding he groans. Taking a bit of time, the large boy begins to struggle trying to break his bonds which keep him in place against the chair. Wincing, he feels his broken hands protest any movement that might aid in his escape, "Well shit. Still no aura either."
Talking causes his mouth to fill with blood and saliva, he leans over spitting out the combination adding to the stains on the floor. Running his tongue around the inside of his mouth lets him easily feel the gaps where a few of his teeth were pulled, 'Guess it lucky they didn't go for my tongue yet, been mouthing off enough.'
The sound of muffled gunfire grows closer and faint yelling rings in his ears, barely registering. The door flies off the hinges making him dive to the floor to avoid the sudden projectile, the impact making him yell out in pain. A sweet smell invades his nostrils, and he feels drowsiness start to set back in as two figures enter the room, clad in black with their mouths covered.
One of the figures leans over him and he struggles to fight them off as they place something over his mouth. He squirms around trying to shake it off while holding his breath till he has no choice but to breathe, only to feel fresh air enter and clear his lungs. The figure over him reaches down and he feels the bonds break, and she, because he notices the figure is female, says something to him but between the pain and drowsy state he can't make it out with his destroyed eardrums.
She turns back to the other woman at the door, who has a teapot at her feet with something coming out of it, 'I must be going crazy.' The taller woman leans out of the door and begins firing down the hall, before looking back at them and pointing at him. Suddenly the smaller woman takes out a small injector full of glowing fluid, looks at him with eyes of apology, and sticks his shoulder.
The world explodes, agony the likes of which torture can't compare to wracks his body. Spasms run up and down his muscles leaving him no room for thought, he is screaming but can't hear himself, and the only thing that stops him from passing out is the following immense relief that floods his body. A few seconds later his hands crack back into place, he can't help but shake as he feels the fractures in his feet mend, and finally his hearing restores itself in full.
"Cardin. Cardin!" the woman standing over him yells.
"Reese?" he asks, voice hoarse from screaming.
"Yea," she helps him up to his feet, helping him steady himself. "Sorry to ask, but can you move?"
The large boy closes and opens his hands, adjusts his weight on his feet, and feels his aura, "Yea…I think I've got enough in the tank. Sad to say I don't think I'll be much help right now."
Reese looks him up and down, seeing the various stains, and terrible state of the things that were once his clothes. Beneath the rags, fresh scars mar his body, reminding her that they were not fast enough to stop them from laying into the boy's bodies. Stealing herself, she looks into his eyes expecting some kind of blame or admonishment, only to find relief present in his indigo eyes.
"What's next?" he asks, looking at Arslan who is still ducking out of the door firing. "And what's with the teapot?"
"Don't ask me," responds the lioness, looking back at the two. "Reese is running this Op."
Looking down at Reese, he nods, waiting for her to speak.
"Right, now we find Jaune. If I'm right he shouldn't be far," Reese kneels, pulling up the map. "They would want to keep you guy within hearing distance, form of psychological torture." Pointing to their current position on the map she begins to trace to different rooms running the possibilities through her head while remembering Lady Beats training. "Here."
"Hey Cardin," Arslan calls out, getting his attention and throwing him one of the SMGs wrapped around her person. "You can still give us some cover."
Nodding to try and give his throat time to recover, he glances down at Reese only to see her injecting herself with the glowing liquid. The memory of the pain flashes through his mind, and he reaches for the fairy-like girl, only to withdraw in surprise. 'She isn't even flinching.'
Standing back up Reese moves to the door drawing her pistols, scooping up the teapot she whispers to it and the sweet smell in the room disappears. The teapot then starts to billow out steam, and she throws it down the hallway triggering yelling from those who could only be the spiders. Waiving Cardin over, his foot hits a person knocked out on the floor, and he notices there are quite a few just outside the door not dead but sleeping.
"Arslan, on you. We're going to the second right from here and looking in the third and fifth room on the left," Reese instructs.
"Why those rooms?" Cardin can't help but question.
"They both share a main shaft with this room, making it easier for you to hear each other, and for them to hit you with gas. Plus, they are around the same size as this one with no known purpose assigned in the layout Qrow gave us."
"Brothers, you've got this shit nailed down."
"Yea she does," the lioness shoots a smirk over her shoulder, before charging into the smoke. "Stick close."
Following Reese's instructions, she charges forward semblance alerting her of anyone entering its range. Well placed shots send the spiders to the ground, with Reese electrifying them as they continue on their fervent march. Reese does stop to grab the teapot only to throw it down the next hall, before she reclaims her place as last in line covering the rear.
They make quick work of the people coming through the new hallway, stopping in front of the third door Arslan kicks it open exposing an empty room. Without a second thought she shifts to the fifth and strikes the door with even more force, the door didn't fly off the hinges it shattered under the might of her blow. Arslan stood there frozen at the doorway not taking a step forward
"What the fu-," comes a voice from inside. "Who the fuck ar-"
The lioness roars before vanishing into the room, and a loud crash follows accompanied by shaking. Looking into the room the remaining members of team AACC are greeted with a mortifying sight. Jaune; gashes, gouges, and burns all across his chest, bleeding from his mouth and ears, pants removed with deep cut lining his thighs along with screw holes, closing in on his exposed manhood. Face swollen, bald spots present on the sides of his head where they ripped out his chunks of the low hair.
"Fuck!" Cardin rushes over and unties their blonde leader. Looking closer at his arms, his right forearm is aglow with aura, and the ginger notices damage from needles. "He needs help!" Turning he sees Reese trying to calm the lioness as she presses the head of a scantily dressed woman further into the wall.
"Arslan! Let her go!" the woman flinches as her aura glows a dull gray to protect. Arslan rears back and drives the woman's head further into the wall, trying her best to break the spider assassin.
"Reese! He needs the booster!"
Looking wearily at her best friend, she turns away and rushes to Jaune's side, sliding down and pulling out two boosters, one for her and one for Jaune. 'I need to turn off that damn teapot.' She quickly sticks herself and Jaune, causing the latter to let out an anguished scream, pain wracking his form and causing spasms. This only seems to double Arslan's efforts as two more crashes sound out in quick succession.
"Why doesn't it hit you that hard," asks looking at the smaller girl.
"I built up a tolerance to the pain at a pretty young age," she says grimly.
A gasp brings their attention back on the blonde on the ground, before a white flash blinds them. Rubbing their eyes, their vision is restored, and they see Jaune sitting up, eyes wide and breathing deeply, and he turns to the side to vomit.
Much like Cardin, he sports a new set of scars, even on his lower body. Slowly getting to his feet, he almost falls over, but the larger ginger boy supports him. Jaune looks down at the pile of bile, "Looks like I won't be shaking that nickname anytime soon."
A crash draws their attention, and the trio turns and watches as Arslan drops the spider woman to the ground, her body limp. The lioness stands there looking at her hand and then down at the body of the woman. Her hands shake, before she closes them and her eyes, breathing deeply, she brings up memories of the waterfalls behind Haven and the temple her house is connected to. Opening her hands with her eyes soon following her determination is reset. "Ok Reese, where to next?"
Kneeling down, she pulls up the map again and traces a path to a large open area, "Hanger, we get there, secure a vehicle and get the flying fuck out of here. The bullhead that dropped us off isn't coming back to this shitfest."
Arslan walks over to Jaune and hands him the last SMG hanging around her shoulder, "Here, you guys are watching our backs."
"I should be able to-" Jaune begins.
"Nope, no fighting or semblances from you two. Focus on protecting and healing yourselves. Don't even try to use your semblances; you need to fully recover first," Arslan points at the two, hand on her hip daring them to defy her.
"Yes ma'am," both boys respond.
"Now grab some clothes from those guards," Arslan points at the downed men.
The boys quickly put on the clothes, check the guns they were given, and look to Reese who is picking up the teapot as the smoke stops coming from it. Clipping the teapot to her belt she reaches behind her waist, and tosses Guillotine to the ginger knight, "Here, in case they get a little too close."
Cardin catches the mace/flail part of his familiar weapon and stows it behind his back, nodding in thanks to the green nymph. Arslan takes the chance to pass Jaune the gloves and quiver, watching him look them over before slipping the gloves on and placing the quiver at his waist.
"Alright time to get moving, fall in behind me," Arslan directs, stepping out into the hallway.
One of the entrances leading into the hanger explodes, launching the two doors from their hinges against some of the waiting vehicles. Some of the spiders focusing on the hanger exit where the explosion occurred turn around to see steam billowing forth. Looking at each other in confusion, they begin to advance, soon noticing the flashes from gunfire.
Four bodies quickly appear, two facing into the hanger while the other two shoot back into the steam. "Why are they so much better than the other spiders?" yells the large red head holding down the trigger to his weapon.
"They have aura and got different training. They're from the Browning incident, you know the one that put Lavender on the map," responses the short girl with green hair.
The two blondes that are charging forward quickly split, one standing up to lay down covering fire, as the other continued forward cutting a lightning pattern to close the distance between them and the spiders who took notice. The lioness easily closes in without taking hits, jumps, and performs a split kick taking out a few of the thugs. Landing with a roll she throws two chakrams out striking down a few more before they find their way back to her hands. "Less chit chat, more escaping people!"
"Arslan, just pick one, climb in and start it up!" the blonde boy yells out still spraying fire as more spiders take notice of the invading group.
Jumping into the driver's seat of the closest vehicle large enough to hold all four of them, "How do I turn it on!"
"Are you serious!" Jaune screams only to get a glare in response. "Turn the key!"
"Everybody in, Ars floor it," Reese orders jumping in the bed of the vehicle.
"How?"
"Push the pedal, the thin one!"
"There are six of them!"
Jaune climbs into the passenger seat, and pops open the glove compartment pulling out a manual. Cardin finds his way into the bed still shooting at the surroundings as bullets come screaming back in response. Jaune quickly rifles through the book, "Top left pedal!"
The tires screech trying to find purchase on the slick ground of the hanger. Finally catching the car jerks forward, shaking everybody on board, Reese and Cardin getting thrown around in the bed, while Jaune and Arslan find themselves pushing back into their seats.
"Avoid the other cars! Turn! Turn!" Jaune screams.
Doing her best, the lioness begins violently jerking the wheel left and right barely avoiding the stationary vehicles in the way. The two passengers in the bed hang on with all their might as the car makes sharp turns, leaving tire streaks and slightly dented cars in its wake. "The exit Ars!"
"Can she drive?" questions the ginger knight, only to get a quick shake of the head from the nymph as she yells out more instructions.
"Just keep your foot down and turn where you want to go!"
"Jaune?" Arslan call to her fellow blonde
"What?" he asks in a panic watching the spiders dive out of the way of the speeding vehicle.
"Can we switch?"
"Not right now! There, go there!" he points to the closing hanger.
"It's closing!"
"Go through it!" yell three voices.
Jaune grips the dash and begins to flood it with the little aura he has managed to build up to this point, taking the cue, the rest of team AACC soon follows his lead. The aura clad car tears through the hanger door, hitting a bump that sends it into the air managing to catch an unsuspecting crow on the windshield. "Get rid of the bird, I can't see!"
"I don't think it makes a difference with your skills," yells the ginger from the back. "Ow, what I'm not wrong." Cardin looks down at Reese rubbing his freshly hit shoulder.
Reaching up Jaune manages to clear the bird yelling a quick sorry back to it. Arslan manages to avoid crashing into trees while weaving back and forth, trying to put as much distance between them and the spider fortress as possible. Soon the sound of more engines begins to reach their ears, as vehicles ranging from motorcycles to smaller caged cars make themselves known.
"Jaune! Your gun!" Reese yells to the boy in the passenger seat, who is looking through the book again.
"I know I- here! I'll do you one better, hit the panel just below the back of the seats. Cardin gets out of the middle."
Pressing the panel, it moves aside revealing a button, she presses it without hesitation. A whirring sound comes from below, the middle of the bed splits open and an attached machine gun rises up clicking into place before the floor closes again. Gripping the handle, the nymph depresses the triggers causing the gun to roar to life and send a stream of bullets at the pursuing spiders, immediately clipping the front of a motorcycle sending it flying into a tree.
"Beautiful," Cardin exclaims.
"Flirt later," Jaune yells, pulling out the SMG and shooting at one of the caged cars that manages to pull up next to them after ducking a few incoming bullets. Cardin quickly joins in on the defense targeting where the engine should be, and with the combined fire they send it up in flames.
"Where are we going," asks the steering lioness, only to feel Reese's scroll bounce in her lap.
"Busy!"
Jaune snatches it up before Arslan can even touch it, "Don't text and drive."
"Really is this the time?" She shoots back with a flat look.
Looking over the map, the blonde begins to pale a little, "We needed to turn about 200 ft back, there is a small clearing up ahead. We should be able to turn there and angle where we need to go, but..."
"But?"
"We can't turn at full speed, we will flip, and if we slow down-" an unguided missile flies by destroying a tree in their path, making the girl jerk the wheel to avoid falling flora.
"I got it, just don't slow down," yells the ginger from the back. Planting his feet on the side of the bed he aims a guillotine just over the panel. "Let me know when we are about to hit the clearing."
Seeing his intention Jaune stops firing and braces himself, "Now."
Firing the flail into the wooded area it knocks over a few trees before punching into the boulder the ginger was aiming at. With a small application of aura, the earth dust causes the head to cement itself into the rock. "Turn!"
Following the directions, Arslan forces the wheel to the left, sending the car into a dangerous skid while keeping her foot firmly on the pedal. The car's wrenches and creaking can be heard as Cardin's feet bend the side paneling. The boy strains against the force, the days of torture clearing doing a number on his strength.
"You're good," calls Reese from above as she still manages to shoot down some incoming missiles. "We need to have the headmaster talk with Atlas, they have a real problem with losing tech!"
Roman Torchwick lets out a sneeze watching the white fang grunts unload the mech he managed to obtain from the floating city. Pulling out a cloth he wipes his nose, "Huh, only once? Someone must be talking about me."
Looking up he sees them stumble holding some of the ammunition, "Hey be careful with that you animals, one bad dust reaction and we're all goners."
"You know with all this noise why haven't we seen any Grimm," asks Jaune looking around, only to get a groan in response. "What?"
As if summoned by some unholy force a beowolf jumps from the brush latching onto the side of the car. Acting quickly the blonde empties his clip into the head of the creature of darkness, sending it falling and disintegrating back into the shadows. Jaune turns to Arslan, who is looking ahead and pointedly ignoring him, "Yea that's fair."
After a few more harrowing miles they manage to shake and destroy the last of the chasing spiders and Grimm. Letting out collective breaths the three passengers finally start to relax a little, and soon begin to laugh in relief.
After calming down Reese finally brings up something that's been bothering her, "Hey Ars, what happened to Qrow?"
"Wish I knew, but I'm sure he got out alive," she answers looking back at her partner.
"Qrow was there?" questions Cardin
"Yea, he set off the distraction," answers the nymph.
"We should probably thank him, maybe a fruit basket or something," Jaune thinks out loud.
"Naw, he would probably prefer bar snacks, and a strong whiskey. Honestly, I think I could go for that myself," Cardin points out. "By the way Jaune, why was your arm glowing when we found you?"
"Yea, what was that about boss man?" Reese follows.
"I was using my aura to block the drugs from entering my system. It took about a day to get it down though, so I wasn't able to avoid the first few doses of the hard stuff. Luckily, they were too focused on other things to notice... what?" He finally looks at his teammates only to see them staring back with disbelief.
"I'm gonna hit Nikos when I see her," Cardin says flatly
"Same."
"Ditto."
"What; why?" questions the male blonde.
"For telling you aura's a fucking force field," Cardin says throwing his head back.
"Same."
"Ditto."
Thank you everyone for reading and hopefully I'll have another chapter out for you soon. Here is another little omake I thought up a while ago.
Omake: Afterparty Breakfast Orders
Arslan walks into the common room looking around for the rest of team AACC only to see he partner eating a bowl of cereal while looking at her scroll.
"Hey, did the boys not make it back last night?"
"Naw they said they were gonna crash with team SSSN. They were up pretty late doing whatever they do in their spare time," she answers while typing something on the scroll.
"What are you doing?" The lioness eyes the nymph with suspicion.
"Typing up a breakfast menu."
Sitting down with her own bowl of cereal she looks over the post Reese just sent out.
Please vote for your 3 preferred Dishes Poll closes in 5 minutes:
Two Sunny Eggs
Sunny Egg and Steak
Mango Smoothie
Chicken and Egg
Fresh Fish
Eggs Benedict
Protein
Order will be served 10 mins after poll closes
"I honestly can't believe you're still getting away with this," Arslan points to the screen.
"Blame them. They are always to tired to notice. Now go bang on the wall gotta start cooking," Reese instructs while putting her bowl in the sink and grabbing the folding table.
Sighing the lioness rises from her seat, "I'll get the drinks, Orange and Apple right?"
Soon Arslan is placing a pitcher of both juices down on the folding table set up outside of SSSN room while Reese reviews the orders.
"It's gonna be a good day," Reese chuckles to herself as the crowd gathers. "Ok people remember 1000 Lien per serving. The order will be Fresh Fish, with an side of Sunny Eggs, and a finisher of Protein."
"What if I only wanted the protein?" Someone yells from the back.
"Come back later and run the risk of missing or pay for the whole meal, your choice."
"You're running a scam."
"You want breakfast or not?" Arslan asks from next to the nymph with a raised eyebrow. "At least it comes with juice for when you get thirsty."
The girls of team AACC quickly collect the money and hand out drinks. Looking around Reese sends a quick message on her scroll, and it's not long before Neptune and Scarlett, each missing a shirt, hair hanging loosely appear opening the door.
They strike up a quick fishing conversation with Reese who is standing to the side. This gives the crowd a full view and some covertly snap photos when Scarlett yawns and leans his head onto Neptune's shoulder. Reese thanks the boys for helping her with some their know how and sends them back in.
"Ok for those who paid for Fresh Fish see yourselves out," Arslan point further down the hallway and a few people move on.
This time Arslan sends a message from her scroll wanting to consult about leadership. It takes a bit longer before the two blondes appear at the door both having been washing their faces in the sinks. The sound of crushing cups can be heard when stray drops of water start from their chins and trace the lines of their carved figures. Arslan thanks them and they head back into the room but not before telling them someone has a question for Cardin and Sage.
"Todays winner is Mint! She was the first one to put in a vote!" Reese calls out and a girl with black pigtails rushes forward waiving her hand.
They position her in front of the door as the two largest of the boys open the door, also in a state of half dress. A little more awake they lean on opposite sides of the door frame looking down at the small girl. They begin talking to her and wait for a response but instead of one she throws herself at them forcing them to both grab her as she wraps an arms around their necks. With a quick motion she bites their shoulders, leans back, and licks her lips looking them in the eye.
Reese quickly reaches for the girl only for her to shatter. Everybody watches in stunned silence as she skips down the hall humming to herself. Getting to the end of the hall she turns and shoots a wink back over her shoulder and the large stunned boys