Forever Fall
[Disclaimer, this is a RWBY AU and RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth and the dearly departed Monty Oum. This is inspired by artwork on Dishwasher1910s Deviantart Page, IE the Team PJRP, Future Ruby, Future Jaune, Penny Persephone, and Pyrrha the Fall Maiden.]
"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause"- Yang Xiao Long
Chapter 03: Clubbing
Yang
"You really want to mess with me Junior?" I growl at him as he stands behind a wall of thugs who have their swords drawn and pistols raised.
"Blondie sir I didn't do anything this time!" he shouts. Last straw! Fire courses through me as I explode into rage and activate Ember Celica the two shotgun gauntlets blasting a path straight through the young henchmen and giving me a clean shot at the nearly forty year old mob boss.
"Tell me what I want to know Junior!" I shout at him as two of his associates, replacements for the twins come at me from the sides. Not today pipsqueaks! I twist sending a spread of rounds at the one to my right, and bringing my legs up to kick the one on my left sending both sprawling. My fist slams into the ground and I rocket myself back up. "Come on Junior… I'm not in a good mood, tell me what I want to know about Emerald Sustrai or I swear this room will be red with your blood, not one of your henchmen's this time."
"I… I don't know… she… she… she took some of my men off the street, never heard from them again, I… I think she got them to do the bank job that was on the news last week. Other than that I've been getting reports that she's been in the area, nothing more than that…" Junior quickly spits out. I grumble before disarming Ember and slamming him in the gut with my right arm. He hurks and falls to the floor barely conscious and don't you dare get back up again. I step away and direct a glowing red glare at the still standing henchmen. They back off in an instant sliding their weapons back into holsters and scabbards so they can get away faster.
I walk out of the club and stare at the upgraded Bumblebee waiting for me. A glance to my left and my right shows me I'm not alone. I growl at the henchmen my eyes becoming red once more.
"Back off or your history… I'm done playing games with you mob creeps, and you can bet your life that once this war's over I'll come back personally and see you in your graves," I spit at them as I continue towards the bike.
"Well, well, well… What do we have here? The brawler running away? That's not very usual anymore," Emerald's voice says as she slides out of the shadows of one of the alleyways. Her… hiss my thoughts and I turn to face the source of the voice.
"Are you ready to die you Dust damned whore?!" I scream at her. Ember Celica arm themselves as I fire off two rounds to blow away the henchmen between her and I. My footsteps ring out across the pavement as I send blast after blast directly at the woman. As the smoke clears the figure fades into nothing I feel my anger building and in response my semblance flares to life and flames billow off me once more. "Come out and show yourself! Stop with your Damned Mind Games you Whoring Witch!"
"Struck a nerve have I?" Emerald questions from right beside me, and as I turn my head to see her own red eyes staring back at me from behind her lime green bangs. A lance of pain shoots up my arm as I look down to see one of her kusarigama buried in my mechanical arm. The sound of sparking power cords draws Emerald's attention from me and she looks down at my arm. I smile at her before drawing back my other arm and curling my fingers into a fist.
"Adam may have severed my right arm, but I lost the other to a Minotaur," I growl at her as I slam my fist into her face throwing her off of me and leaving her weapon stuck in my left arm. A grunt of pain escapes my lips as I tear the kusarigama from my arm and toss it aside. "You know there was a time when you could inflict a great deal of pain on anyone you came across. Guess you're losing your touch Emerald… I would have thought you could only grow in your skill, not lose some of it."
"Getting cocky are you Xiao Long?" Emerald growls back as she draws the other kusarigama and flicks it into pistol form. "How about a couple of bullets then?"
Emerald squeezes the trigger and the pistol fires off rounds over and over again as she charges forward at me. I duck to the left and let the other bullets hit me, draining my aura ever so slightly with every hit, but increasing my strength by an unknown factor as well. Ember Celica send more Burn Dust shells flying after the green haired woman backing away from me.
Emerald flicks the kusarigama back into its melee form and tosses the chained weapon out managing to catch one of my arms and hold it despite my strength. Not again! I pull backwards, twisting my body as well to pull Emerald off balance and towards me. She groans as she slams into the ground and loses her grip on her other weapon.
"Such a weak display Emerald, I'd have thought you could at least give me a challenge," I growl at her. As I step closer and aim Ember at her head, now it's time you pay for your crimes! "Any last words you ungrateful Bitch?"
"Wrong one," Emerald whispers by my ear as she shoves me off balance and the Emerald I'd been aiming at disappeared. I stumble and turn closing my left fist and swinging, catching the green haired woman in the jaw and sending her to the ground.
"You're mine now witch!" I hiss as I fire Ember Celica in unison at point blank range into the woman on the ground. Emerald screams in pain before rolling to the left and sprinting away from me. "No! Get back here!"
I charge after her and continue my barrage of fire. My arms heat at the firing and I deactivate the two gauntlets as I jump to tackle the woman. Emerald vanishes into the alleyway and as I enter it I find only the red goggled henchmen staring back at me.
"Hey there pretty lady, hows about you turn around and we won't slice you to pieces?" one of them offers. I grin wildly at them, oh Dust they have no idea…
"You're pretty funny, but shouldn't you at least take me to dinner first?" I question smugly.
"Dinner?" one of the questions happily.
"Yeah, before we get physical?" I say my shit eating grin only growing as I reactivate Ember Celica and in two steps close the distance between me and blast him backwards with a timed shot of the gauntlets right as I hit him in the chest. I spin in mid-air and kick the second in the gut and they both drop like stones. Pathetic… at least it was fun to waltz right through them, now where did Emerald go off to?
I continue on down the alleyway trying to pick up any trace of the green haired harpy. Damn she got away again! I must be losing my tracking edge if she can lose me so easily… Someone's behind me. Ember Celica activate and I turn ready to shower the unknown with Burn Dust rounds only to find Blake standing behind me, her black cat ears swiveling around atop her head.
"What are you doing here?" I growl at her as I take a good look at her. The years had been kind; Blake is covered in muscle from head to toe, just as lithe as the day we met at Beacon. Her ears twist more freely, suggesting she no longer wears the bow. Scars crisscross her throat where someone decided to try and end her. A modified Gambol Shroud hangs off her waist and packets full of ammunition line the belt. Almost unnoticeable armour plates are slid into the black leather jacket and white shirt she's wearing. Her black jeans have armour plates strapped around the thigh and now she sports greaves over her shins instead of leaving them bare. Her arms are wrapped in Gambol Shroud's ribbon just as usual. She's nearly my height now, still a little bit shorter than me though, even with the ears.
"Emerald's gone Yang… she slipped away when you started pulverizing those two numbskulls back there," Blake answers quietly. I growl and shove her out of the way, intent to get a move on and maybe find some trace of the green haired woman. "You're not going to find anything down there, she slipped onto a hover bike and shot away at full throttle. I tried to tag her with a Dust tracking round but she was moving too fast even for me to hit. I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't long gone by now."
"Shut it!" I shout as I slam my fist directly into the wall smashing it and sending cracks spider webbing through the outer surface. "You don't get to talk anymore. You ran away, left Ruby, left me, left Weiss to fend for ourselves. You thought the school would fall so you ran. As far as I'm concerned you're a quitter Belladonna, I can't believe I even once trusted someone like you to watch my back. Now get outta my sight I've got a fugitive to find, and unlike you… I don't walk away till the job's done."
I continue walking down the alley and manage to make it the next street before finding out Blake hadn't lied about Emerald booking it on a Dust Repulsor Bike. With a growl I turn around and make it to the Bumblebee and rev up the engine. If I can't have Emerald I might as well drop by and see Ruby, she and Weiss are having a dinner party right?