The sun was just starting to rise when their decidedly unhygienic technical pulled up at the gates of a little town called Wayside. The bandit's certainly hadn't been worried about getting rid of the smell of blood and alcohol on top of the already rather thick engine fumes. Now that it had been commandeered by their little group for a night and coated in a layer of pandoran dust, and the occasional splatter of pandoran fauna, it was probably the foulest vehicle Weiss had ever been in.

Not that that was saying much, she supposed. After all, she'd been in nothing but the finest of armour plated limousines driven by armed professionals all her life. Regardless, she hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep between the dust, the engine's ridiculous roar and Yang's even more ridiculous snoring.

Blake had driven the car through the night because she had patently refused to allow either Weiss or herself to be in anything piloted by Yang ever again. Thank Shodan for small favours, Weiss supposed. Yang hadn't even been able to land in the correct hemisphere, so Weiss doubted her chances of navigating the canyon strewn wilds of Pandora, let alone in the dark.

And so with eyes barricaded by rather large black bags, Weiss gazed upon 'Wayside'. It lived up to its name, she supposed. She could see the place where once upon a time a large concrete Dahl wall had surrounded the town, meaning it was probably a former outpost for mineral surveyors. Now though, the wall had been torn down by subsequent car crashes, fire fights, explosions and the occasional oversized corrosive creature that decided to take up renovation as a hobby

Strangely though, the gates at the front of the town still stood. A massive, slightly rusted and dented, but still impressively intact set of double doors loomed over their vehicle. Two large machine gun turrets were positioned above them, all eighteen of their combined barrels pointed at the little technical.

"If you fella's are from Blood-Humper's group, tell Hass that we already paid his fees this week!" A man with a loud speaker shouted from the top of the gate.

"Weiss." Blake said to get her attention. The kidnapper, and she was definitely the very definition of a kidnapper no matter what she claimed, asked, "Would you awaken Ruby and Yang for me?"

Weiss gave her an annoyed look, and considered telling her to go kiss a skag, but decided against it. The only reason not to do it was because Blake asked her to. Besides, if those men on turrets decided to start shooting, Weiss definitely wanted Ruby and Yang to be there to shoot back.

Blake stood up in the driver's eat, resting her arms in view on top of the driver's canopy. In her usual monotone, she called up, "We are not representatives of the Blood-Humpers, and we have had no dealings with anyone named Hass!"

Grumbling as she climbed over into the back seat, and her hands were still cuffed behind her back making this extra difficult, Weiss took great pleasure in kicking Ruby's shin.

"Ow! Hey, what the fuck man, that hurt!" Ruby glared at up Weiss through half sleepy eyes. "Yo Blake, got any more rope so we can tie her legs together?"

"No," Blake replied, "I would like her to be able to walk by herself. However, I would recommend awakening your sister, as there is a chance we will be fired at shortly. Also, I would appreciate you gagging Weiss."

"What?" Weiss snapped her head around.

"Sweet." Moving far faster than any person had the right to, Ruby grabbed Weiss by the hair, pulling on it hard. As she screamed out in pain, some wet, soggy fabric was shoved in her mouth, making her throw up just a little in her mouth. "There, done. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"I cannot deny you permission to do anything," Blake replied, keeping an eye on the gates ahead of them. "How ever, as there is a chance we will soon be fired upon, I recommend maintaining a state of consciousness, as well as awakening your sisters..

"Yang? You're joking right, she's not waking up even if it's an earthquake." Ruby jumped in the gunners seat. "Whelp, whenever you're ready cap'n."

Blake tilted her head. "I am always ready."

"If yer not Blood Humpers, than what are you doing in one of their cars?!" The man with the megaphone called down to them.

"We landed aproximately fifteen hours away from here in an escape pod!" Blake called up. "We killed the previous owners of this technical, and drove here! Also, unless the Blood Humper's territory extends eight hundred kilometres to the West coast, I doubt this is one of their vehicles!"

"Wait a second…. are you calling me stupid?!" The man atop the walls shouted down after a moment, sounding annoyed.

"...I do not believe I said that." Blake looked over at Weiss and Ruby. "Did I imply that?"

Weiss only said, "I hate you," but it was muffled by her gag, so it only sounded like, "Hi hae hu."

When Blake looked to the turret, she saw Ruby asleep again.

Finally, she looked back up at the man on the wall. "I apologise! I had no intention of suggesting you were mentally deficient, or highlighting the fact if you indeed were!"

"...What?" The voice called back down.

Blake paused, before repeating, "I said, I apologise! I had no intention of suggesting you were mentally deficient, or highlighting the fact if you indeed were!"

"Oh… uh, sure. I, um, understood that." There was a confused pause. "Um, well, you can come in if you like. Just, uh, forwardtabulate the vehicle in."

Blake paused, and seemed like she wanted to reply to that, before she sat back down in the driver's seat, and steered them through the enormous gates. She spoke over her shoulder as she did, "Weiss, wake them both up again."

Weiss shot her another glare, and huffed in disdain.

Blake looked back at her. "I do not know what that means."

Weiss rolled her eyes and gave up. What's the point in passive aggression when the other party doesn't even understand it?

She walked to the back of the technical and nudged Yang's face with her foot. When there was no response, Weiss nudged harder. Oh come on, she growled to herself, before kicking Yang in the stomach.

Yang snorted and brushed the foot away before rolling over.

Weiss's eyes narrowed. Shuffling backwards on her rear, she grabbed the bolt that kept the tailgate up, and fumblingly undid it. When it was open, she awkwardly stood up, and rolled Yang out of the back of the car with her feet.

Thud.

Followed by snoring.

This is ridiculous. Turning around, Weiss made her way to where Ruby was sleeping on the turret. Weiss kicked her in the leg, unbalancing the girl and making her fall down into the back of the car.

"Ow! Seriously Weiss, what is wrong with you? Blake, can I shoot her?"

"No." Blake replied, immediately turning to face Ruby and reaching for her gun.

"Can I hit her? I promise not to break any bones~"

"No physical harm is to come to Weiss Schnee."

My hero, Weiss thought sarcastically.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. Yo Yang, bandits, six o'clock, time for so-"

"Action! Finally! Booyah!" And just like that, Yang was on her feet, throwing punches and kicks in the air before stopping and blinking. "Damn it Ruby, I thought I told you to stop doing that!"

"Then stop destroying all the alarm clocks I make for you!"

"They shot at me!"

"Well they wouldn't have to if you weren't such a deep sleeper."

"I am not a de-"

"Signal."

"Well… Shut up." Yang jumped back onto the trailer. "So where are we and what's going on? Things to kill yet?"

"We have arrived at a town with a Fast Travel Network node." Blake informed her. "If you wish to go to the city of Opportunity, I recommend use of the Fast Travel Network."

"Cool. Good luck on the whole kidnapping thing. Sorry Weiss, I would rescue you except waaaaaay too much work keeping you gagged the entire time," said Ruby.

"Once again, I must emphasize this is not a kidnapping."

"Yo! Dude on the wall, this a kidnapping or is this a kidnapping?" asked Ruby gesturing at the tied up Weiss.

"Huh? 'Thought she was a live bounty or somethin'." The guy replied.

"Same thing," said Ruby. "So in other words, totally outvoted."

"There is only one individual in this group capable of determining whether or not this is a kidnapping." Blake replied, then without waiting for a reply, pushed Weiss so she stumbled a few stops ahead of her. "Walk in front of me."

"Totally a kidnapping," muttered Ruby under her breath as she yawned.

Weiss was inclined to agree. She had the sores on her wrists from where the cuffs had rubbed her skin raw.

Even without having been here before, it was impossible for Weiss to get lost. The town barely had ten real buildings, four of which had collapsed long ago. In their place stood a number of scrappy shanties, built as closely together as possible to conserve space. As their group was passing them, a number of poorly dressed children played across the roof tops in what looked like tag to Weiss. All the towns main structures were laid out in two rows of five buildings each, and right in the centre of it all was what looked like a Dahl made Fast Travel station. Someone had modified, and stripped the machine of all its Dahl identifiers, replacing the gun metal grey parts with Hyperion Gold licensing and internal components.

As they approached the node, a female voice greeted. "Hyperion: We don't care, unless you have money."

Weiss would have dove for the machine, and tried to get it to transport her somewhere her kidnapper couldn't follow, but Blake had already taken and destroyed her Echonet Device. Without it, she didn't have a license to use it.

"Stop here." Blake instructed Weiss, before turning to face Yang and Ruby. "I would prefer it if you two went first."

"Why, is it going to explode?" asked Yang.

"No, I just want to avoid you two seeing where we will be traveling."

"Hey, we had fun! Didn't we have fun? The threshers and then the bandits. Think about the things we could see, the stuff we could slaughter, the fun that's be the had!" Yang threw an arm around Blake's shoulders. "Though… um… after you drop Miss Snooty off. She's kinda a mood killer."

"Are you inviting me to join in your endeavor to hunt a vault?" Blake tilted her head.

"Um…" Yang glanced over at Ruby who merely shrugged. "Sure, a third person would be nice. You know, deal with more situations, more gear, more loot that we can carry."

Blake considered before answering, "Despite the fact that I have no desire for wanton slaughter, your offer is of some interest. After I have completed my current most obligations, and presuming I'm not assigned any more, I may join you in Opportunity."

"There's a guy in Opportunity, knows everything about everything, goes by the name Ozpin. If we're not around just talk to him." Ruby rustled away in a bag before drawing out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. "Here's our address, come look us up if you stop by, we probably won't be there for long though."

Blake took the offered information, and folded it up before zipping it up inside one of her side pockets. "If you would please use it first."

"Just one thing, if you get captured by Schnee or Atlas, please eat the paper. I'd rather not be hunted down across the entire galaxy," said Ruby before noticing Yang's gleeful expression. "Oh dear, would you look at that, gotta go, bye!" Grabbing Yang in one hand and reaching out for the fast travel station with the other, a buzz sounded and a red light flashed. "Um… Blake, it's not working."

Blake tilted her head at the machine, before stepping forward only for it to buzz at her as well.

"Unauthorized User." A serenely pleasant female voice came out speakers. "Please wait where you are so a Hyperion Employee can arrive to forcibly clear you away from valuable Hyperion property, you penniless bottom feeder."

Blake's head shifted in the other direction. "I'm certain I updated my Fast Travel pass immediately before embarking on the Hindentanic."

"Probably lockdown due to the whole space station thing." Ruby brushed past. "Mind if I open this up, maybe I can rewire it and hack into it or something."

"I would prefer it if you refrained from tampering with my system," came a second female voice from the machine. "That and Jack has probably installed something inside to make it… unpleasant if you failed."

"Who is this?" Blake asked the machine. "Are you responsible for invalidating our passes?"

"No, your friend is correct though. Due to the attack on the Hidentanic, fast travel is currently restricted, however, I do have the ability to get you past that," replied the voice.

Blake turned towards Yang and Ruby, and said lowly. "I find this incredibly suspicious."

"Well are there any other fast travel networks near here we could use?" asked Ruby.

"The next closest one is only half a day's travel from here, however we will have to cross several territories controlled by various middle of the range bandit clans."

"Sounds like fun, let's do it!" Yang was already on her feet, walking towards the exit.

"You will find the exact same travel restrictions there." The woman warned them. "At least hear me out before you make your decision."

"Yang." Ruby grabbed hold of her sister's hand.

"Oh fiiiiine, but there better be things to kill!"

"Thank you." Somehow, the machine breathed a sigh of relief. "There are two other crashed escape pods near here, but unfortunately, one has already been visited by the Blood Humpers to the south of here. I would appreciate it if you could visit both sites and check for survivors."

"I say we visit the bandit camp first!" Yang was back on her march out the door.

"Well it's bound to take less than a day," added Ruby with a shrug. "And we have a technical so it'll be even faster. Blake, you in?"

Blake hesitated, before turning to stare at Weiss.

She shifted uncomfortably under the gaze, glaring right back.

Eventually Blake looked up at the sky. "It would seem to be the least objectionable thing to do."

"Wonderful!" Was that the audio of clapping hands ripped from an old movie? As the applause died down, a soft beep was heard. "I have updated your echo devices with the the locations of the two escape pods as well as the bandit camp. Oh! And before I forget, you can call me Angel."

"..." Blake stared at her echo device for a moment, before turning it off and removing the batteries.

"Do we need to stock up on anything?" said Ruby.

"Basic medical supplies to treat the survivors, and extra water." Blake answered.

"We can trade in the guns we looted as well, unless you want them?" said Ruby.

"You two may keep two thirds of the proceeds." Blake replied without glancing at either of them, now looking intently at the Fast Travel Node.

"Sweet! More mooooooooooooney! I'll sell the stuff, you grab the boring things," yelled Yang as she ran off. "Meet you at the technical in ten."

With a sigh and amused shake of her head, Ruby followed.

Pyrrha knelt down, fingers tracing the technical tracks before standing back up and entering the escape pod. No bullet holes, no explosive residue, no sign of struggle and nothing left behind. Potentially unconscious for the entire duration and considering how they approached the entire situation on the Hindentanic, they were certainly smart enough to keep him unconscious.

Tapping her echo locator, all major and minor settlements in the immediate area were highlighted and she frowned. One set of tracks leaving, and no settlements in sight. On the map at least and considering Hyperion had a monopoly on Pandora and only idiots tried to survive without funding…

Fanaus? If that was the case, things did not bode well.

With a sigh and shake of her head, Pyrrha walked out and jumped onto the technical that had been moonshotted in. All her men jumped in and the engine purred to a start.

"Where to, Captain?" asked the driver.

"Follow the tracks for as long as possible."

"Yes, ma'am!"

They drove on in silence, everyone tense, guns at the ready. At the same time though, no one dared to fire a shot in case the noise drew out more creatures, or even a grimm. For her part, Pyrrha just reviewed all the information she had from the security footage from the Hidentanic to the few audio files she had of the engagement. Varkids were run over, skags became road kill, but she blocked it all out. All that mattered now was getting Jaune back.

It just didn't make sense. It felt like a kidnapping, but they came so close to killing him as well. Shooting out the windows, spraying down the entire place with bullets not caring who they hit and just plain wanton destruction. She was missing something, a piece of critical information and it was right there, waiting to be found if only she'd open her eyes.

"Ma'am, technical sighted, ten o'clock!"

Pyrrha waved her hand over the echo device, shutting down all the open recordings before tapping the side of her visor, deactivating the entire thing. Pushing open the roof hatch, she hauled herself up, bracing herself against the side of the turret while taking out her assault rifle, eyes scanning the area around them. At some point, they had made their way out of the city onto the dirt road and the sun was setting behind the abandoned technical. That made things a bit more difficult, but the challenge would be nice change of pace.

Stopping a good ten yards out, the other vehicle circled to the other side, before gesturing to Pyrrha. With a nod to the gunner, she leapt onto the ground, assault rifle at the ready as she slowly approached. Dimly, she was aware of others making their way out to surround the vehicle from all directions. She squinted against the sun, making out what appeared to be corrosive marks against the side of the abandoned technical, a door half eaten by the acid. And enough bullet holes along the side to fill three Bandit SMG clips.

All it took was a flick of her wrist and the thin bar along her left arm spun open, revealing a circular shield made out of multiple overlapping circular plates, almost looking like cogs in some complex machine. With a nod to the person on her right, they began approaching slowly. Taking up position on either side of the door, Pyrrha gave a second nod and her partner threw the door open while she slipped in front, shield to keep her safe and assault rifle braced on it.

Nothing.

"Clear!" called Pyrrha as she shoulder her rifle. "Search the area, see if there's any clues."

Climbing into the passenger side seat, Pyrrha opened all the drawers, rummaging through them all, but it was full of chip bags and what appeared to paper that had been turned to goop by the corrosive grenade. Hands roaming around under the seat, she felt something metallic and drew it out, blinking in surprise at the echo recorder.

"Get back you sons of bitches! You won't take me alive!" screamed Jaune's voice from the echo recorder, as the gunfire in the background continued, before being drowned out by an explosion. "Ha! That's the best you've got? I'm Jaune Badass Arc! Fire, fire fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire~!"

Pyrrha stared at the echo recorder in her hand.

"The burning heat of this flaming car only inspires me to reach new heights never before seen. My fiery soul will match it and exceed it!" More gunfire could be heard, causing the recording to crackle and hiss in her hand. "I am the harbinger of truth and justice, gaze upon my magnificence!"

"Oh no, sir, it's too much!" came a strained, but monotone voice.

"His blazing spirit is too much, we won't be able to hold!" came another.

"Retreat, we must… retreat," added a third.

"When they talk about the badass crew of Vault Hunters, they talk about me! Jaune Arc! You think you can run from justice? Think again villains!" A series of explosion ran through the recording for a solid minute before everything died back down. Then Jaune's voice came back in, strained and wavering ever so slightly. "It appears they found my one weakness, a bullet made of eridium to pierce my very soul. If you find this recording, please, tell Pyrrha to come to the north, there's a small village there, hopefully I'll be able to get treatment there…"

Pyrrha just stared at the recording, wondering what it was she had just heard and whether or not her breakfast had contained any illegal drugs in it.

"Um… Ma'am, you alright?"

"No sergeant, I do not think I am." She handed over the echo recording. "Listen to this and tell me what you think."

A little over five minutes later, they both stared at it.

"I… have no idea," he finally managed to say.

"But it's a fake right?"

"It's got to be, but…"

"It's so bad?"

"Yeah…" Sergeant James snapped his fingers. "It's the faunus, they find it hard to comprehend human emotions and so when it came to acting…" He gestured at the recording. "Obviously, Jaune was overdoing it on purpose to make ensure we would know it was a trap."

"That does sound like Jaune," said Pyrrha. "Alright, mobilise everyone, we'll keep following the tracks into the forest."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Shield in hand, assault rifle at the ready, Pyrrha marched forward, her visor easily enhancing the meager light in the tunnels to give her vision. Spiderant blood dripped from her shield, some bits of carapace still clinging to it from where she had squished one against the wall. For the past five minutes though, things had gone silent. Perhaps they had moved out of the nest, but there was something slightly off about the entire thing.

It was…

The chittering. There was something about it, tugging at a memory of when she was deep under the earth, getting ready to open the Vault for the first time. A soft chittering much like this one that slowly grew louder, more scattered, more confused as the Vault slowly opened only to reach an all time high pitch as Grim flooded out. Then, silence.

Now!

Pyrrha pivoted on on foot, assault rifle firing in a wide arc just above her squad's head, emptying the magazine in a matter of seconds. Black creatures dropped from the ceiling, but she was already on the move, diving to one side as a white mantis scythe sliced through, narrowly missing her, but not the guy beside her. Sliced clean in half at the waist, he didn't even have time to scream.

She kept on moving, constantly weaving, diving, reloading and returning fire whenever possible. All around her, screams and mad firing echoed through the tunnel as her squad returned fire. Movement came from the corner of her eye and she ducked low, shoving her shield up and under the arm. If that thing could cut through armor and bone in a single swing, her shield would not survive. Gun muzzle shoved between two plates, she unloaded half her magazine straight into the creature's body, purple blood splashing onto her armor with a hiss.

Dropping her gun, she drew her dagger, slamming it into the joint just below the mantis like claw. Foot against the things chest, she ripped it free and spun it around, gripping it as though it was a long sword.

All around her, human bodies lay on the ground.

On either side of her, a five creatures stared back at her. Each one was a head taller than her, thick heavy plates like a spiderant king and with the same basic body shape and legs, but with a torso that was vaguely human. Plated, mantis claws with arms and the face of a spiderant, their eyes glowed an eridium purple.

Spiderants then, ones that had been touched by the Grimm.

Her grip tightened on her makeshift sword as silence descended. Half a shuffle forward, already anticipating the lunge from the creature as she easily parried and slipped to the left, shield slamming into its face. Her right arm came up, claw in hand as she spun slicing its head clean off as she dashed past. Turning around, she faced the three remaining creatures, no longer pincered between the two grounds.

The ambush was good, but they were still animals.

She slowly backed up, pretending to limp as she did so and just like the animals that they were, they pounced. She kept moving back, dancing out of the way, claw and shield moving in tandem to keep the blades away from her. The corridor narrowed, ceiling dropping lower until only one could get at her at a time.

Heels digging in, she raised her claw, catching the double downward swing on the flat of the blade. Her knees buckled, but she held firm. Shoving up with her all might, she threw the blades to the side, throwing the creature off balance before dashing forward, slamming her shield into the thing's throat with enough force to crack the plating, almost cutting through entirely.

Pyrrha didn't stop though, she kept pushing forward, dragging the entire body with her as she adjusted her grip on her claw, holding it like a lance. She rammed it into the one creature and slammed into the next before crashing into the bend in the claw piercing through all three bodies before embedding itself in the wall, pinning them all three. Stepping back, she ripped both claws off of the nearly headless one before stabbing it through her Grimm kebab.

As the two remaining creatures struggled uselessly, Pyrrha walked towards the corpse of her first kill, retrieving her assault rifle and knife before dragging its body back. Settling down, she watched the last two slowly bleed out while she carved up the corpse. A new set of armor and a sword made from its body parts would be worth a fortune.

And it'd keep her alive.

One thing didn't make sense though, why had they attacked like that? Had they trespassed on their territory, or had something set them off? They were large things, probably able to leap like a spiderant and in a small tunnel system like this? It didn't quite fit.

She tapped her echo device, switching through the various modes on her hud before blinking when she settled on infravision. The entire place was a cool blue except for a trail of red along the floor that stretched well past the battlefield, only to abruptly stop when it got to the bend. Looking up, even the ceiling was coated in the stuff. Climbing onto a boulder, she reached up, running a gloved hand over the ceiling before rubbing her fingers together. Slick, slightly sticky and… the barest hint of a spicy scent. It was like nothing she had come across before, but neither were the creatures.

Jumping down, she picked up her weapons and bent down, examining the tracks she had been following. Fresh and very clear, to the point that she could have probably followed them without her visor. Add on the way the entire place was painted down with the substance, this was totally an ambush.

Heh, it's been a while since she'd walked into one of those. It was almost refreshing.

The first place they checked had a distinct lack of survivors, but a notable abundance of corpses. A gun fight had clearly taken place, a very one-sided one at that. The people who'd emerged from the pod must have signalled for help, only to be met by bandit technicals that drove around the dented hull, filling it with lead from every angle and making escape impossible. Those who fled inside were then trapped in a contained space when a electric grenade was thrown in.

All their possessions were taken, and the attackers had returned to their home base, satisfied with a good day's wage.

Angel had offered some dull platitudes about what a pity it was over Ruby and Yang's echo devices, confirming Blake's suspicion that they were being tracked through them. When Blake suggested turning the devices off, Yang rolled her eyes in a way that typically indicated annoyance, amusement, or both, while Ruby told Blake to stop being so paranoid.

Which was a strange notion coming from someone who grew up on this world where every rock and crevice could be hiding armed gunmen, assuming that the rock itself wasn't actually just a disguised creature out to consume you. Blake would think that in such an environment, paranoia could be considered a necessity for survival, right alongside water, food, and shelter. When she expressed that opinion, all three of her companions had simply rolled their eyes.

The worst part was Blake didn't even know if that meant they were amused, annoyed, or both.

And now Blake was positive it wasn't just rocks, skags, Grimm, bandits, and mysterious Angels out to get her, but seemingly fate itself. Less than twenty eight hours ago, Cronovich standard time, Blake had betrayed her fellow faunus of the white fang. In order to access the Fast Travel Network she needed to get herself and Weiss to safety, Blake would have to search a heavily defended and even more heavily infested secret tunnel network that was the home base of the exact same group she'd just betrayed for survivors from a ship she helped destroy.

And here she thought the most difficult part would be getting off the ship with Weiss intact.

"Stop here." Blake ordered Ruby as the opening to the caves came in sight. Ruby was driving because Blake didn't want to, and Yang wasn't allowed to.

"Um… why? It's just a cave," said Ruby.

"...This cave is infested with Grimm, it is safe to say we are unlikely to find survivors here."

"Sweet! Let's lure one out, hopefully we'll get Death Stalker, the stingers on those things and the poison sell for so much. Onward my faithful companions, to glory!" yelled Yang.

"No." Blake said flatly, and reached over to pull the handbrake up.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease~"

"If you insist on driving into those caves, it will have to be without Weiss or myself. On a more important note, it is impossible that we find survivors in there, thus we have completed Angel's request. We should return, and inform her all the survivor's were dead by the time we arrived."

"But-"

"Yang, she's got a point and my arm is still injured enough that I can't use Karl," said Ruby.

"Come on, we just go in, take a peek around and then get out if things get hairy! We've gone into way worse situations with way worse information in the past." Yang tapped her echo device. "Yo, Angel, this cave is safe right?"

"Unfortunately, this is far enough away from most civilisation that I don't have a lot of information on it and sadly, bandits don't update the Hyperion network," replied Angel. "However, from what I do know, it is not very dangerous at all."

"See? Safe," said Yang.

Blake hesitated for a moment, before saying, "Either her information is wrong or she's lying to us. I can say this with one hundred percent factual certainty: those caves are not safe."

"This is Pandora, nowhere is safe," replied Yang.

Blake glanced at Yang and Ruby, before settling her gaze on Weiss. Could she tell them? The only thing protecting the Faunus of Pandora being wiped out by Hyperion or Atlas was secrecy. Handsome Jack couldn't drop an army of loader bots on their doorstep if he didn't know where it was.

To reveal that information to humans, let alone a Schnee was…

Did she really have a choice though? If she led Weiss into there, the most she could hope for was the White Fang not realising she'd betrayed them and welcoming her back with open arms and cuffs for Schnee.

"We can't go in there." Blake said firmly.

"Yang, let's just go, if I wasn't injured I would be in there right now, but you don't have any covering fire," said Ruby.

"I'm out voted aren't I?" Yang ran a hand through her hair. "Damn it, I was looking forward to getting some sweet, sweet loot. Grimm fur or carapace is worth a lot, you know."

"Yeah well, ther-"

"Wait," came Angel's voice. "I'm getting a distress signal coming from inside, give me a second to patch into it."

A minute later, a deep baritone voice came over their echo devices, "If there's anybody out there that can hear this, please help. We came in here seeking shelter and I think there's a King and Queen Spiderant outside, a corruptor and a burner I think. If you can hear me, please help, there's five of us here and three kids. Please help!"

"Yang, pass me that pistol," said Ruby as she approached the cave. "And you'll want to go back to your Jackob's shotgun, that incendary one will be useless."

"Hey, I'm not a rookie you know, give me a break. Usual tactic then?"

"Usual tactic, let's do this!"

"Hell yeah!" The two sisters shared a high five as they walked towards the cave.

"Wait!" Blake called. "Don't go in there."

"I have managed to triangulate an approximate location of the distress signal," said Angel. "The amount of rock is messing with my readings so you may have to search around a bit."

"Right, gotcha, doesn't seem too far in." Ruby turned to Blake.

"If you go in there, I will take the car and leave both of you."

"Later then," called Yang with a backwards wave.

"Your sister will die if you let her go in there wounded." Blake warned. "If I can smell her blood from here, others will too."

They simply ignored her and disappeared into the cave, echo device lighting the way. Blake stared after them for a moment, before deciding to make good on her promise to leave. Hopping into the driver's side, she reached for the ignition only to find the keys missing. Then there was a flash of white, and Weiss jumped out of the car. The Schnee heiress sprinted for the cave entrance as fast as she could with both hands behind her back.

As she jumped out of the car and chased after her, Blake made two mental notes: always cuff prisoners to a railing, and learn to hotwire vehicles.

Before she entered the mouth of the cave, she took off her sunglasses and pocketed them. She didn't take the time to let her eyes adjust to the shadows, instead relying on scent to lead her to Weiss.

The princess hadn't make it far in. Blake found her tripped over and sprawled onto her face, slowly rising without her hands to help her up. Weiss was grunting curses through her gag, and while she wasn't extremely loud doing it, in the empty confines of the cave where the sounds echoed off the walls without end, the soft sounds she was making seemed impossibly loud.

"Be quiet." Blake hissed lowly, dragging Weiss to her feet. "There are predators in here that track by scent and sound, and you will not be able to fight them restricted as you are."

Weiss gave an annoyed groan, but shut up when Blake's fingers dug into her shoulder.

"You need to be silent." Blake stressed, before leading them through the dark towards Yang and Ruby's scent.

Her eyes soon adjusted to the dark, and she found the two of them slowly easing forward, constantly sweeping the area, guns at the ready.

"You two." She said as she approached, using a deeper register to speak than she normally would. High pitched sounds like whispering actually carried further than just speaking in a quieter voice, and lower sounds traveled shorter still. "We need to leave immediately."

"We're almost there," hissed Yang, "just stay silent and come on."

"Ruby is injured. Many Fau-" Blake cut herself off. She wasn't going to able to stop the two without killing them, and she was unwilling to do that. "Very well, we'll compromise. Ruby will take Weiss to the technical, and then drive it to a distance of five miles while Yang and I locate the survivors."

"Had worse," muttered Ruby. "And why'd you bring her along? She's just going to get in the way."

"She tried to run away." Blake answered shortly, growing frustrated. "And it doesn't matter if you've had worse, you reek of blood and all you can do is give away our position. The compromise I suggested is very reasonable and is less likely to get all four of us killed than entering this cave with two incapacitated individuals in our group."

"Ruby, listen to her, we don't know what's in here and Bastion is close by, who knows what manner of Grimm infested things roam here."

"But Yang!"

Blake flinched at the loud whine. "Be more quiet." She growled.

"I'll be fine," hissed Ruby. "Especially since I can handle myself."

"I know you can, bu-"

"But nothing." Ruby glared at Blake.

Blake knew that among humans the appropriate response to enormous amounts of frustration was to scream, start an argument, or let their rage out by attacking something nearby, not necessarily related to the cause of their frustration. All three of these options fell under the broad category of tantrum, and were generally considered very childish.

Having stopped being a child for quite a while now, Blake unclenched her fist and stepped into Ruby's path. Reason. Human's can be reasoned with. She reminded herself. Occasionally.

"Ruby, please stop and think about this. No one here is questioning your capability, so if you find my suggestion that you stop getting in your sister's way offensive, I apologise. If you do not understand my motivation, then let me explain that more important to me than anything else right now is insuring the survival of the member's of this group. When I ask you to go to the car and take Weiss with you, it is because I am trying to help you, I am trying to help Yang, and I am trying to help myself."

She paused before continuing, "Currently, you are a liability. Do you understand?"

"Fine, whatever," spat Ruby as she grabbed Weiss and stalked towards the entrance.

"Make sure Weiss doesn't escape." Blake called after her.

Yang placed a hand on Blake's shoulder and shook her head. "Just let her go, she needs some time to cool down and sorry about that by the way, she's used to being the one who calls the shot and well… It's always been the two of us. Just let her take charge and make it feel like she's the one who makes the ultimate decision, but come on, we've got people to rescue."

"First, we'll need to find Spiderant leavings." Blake told her. Wasn't Yang older than Ruby? Didn't leadership typically fall to senior members in the typical human family? Odd. Especially considering Ruby didn't seem particularly intelligent.

"Does it matter, we have a rough location already from Angel," said Yang.

"It will help us approach undetected." Blake answered. "Currently we both smell of sweat and motor fumes. By rubbing the ant leavings over ourselves, we will disguise our scent and as long as we remain silent, be able to pass by the Grimm and Spiderants uncontested."

"Or we could just kill them?"

"...Well, yes we could but the gunfire will signal our approach to the fau-bandits." She corrected herself. "It's an unnecessary risk."

"And we have no idea what's down here," sighed Yang. "Ugh, is it too late to leave now? Actually, don't answer that, Ruby will kill me."

That seemed a harsh thing to kill someone for, though Blake wasn't sure she expected much else from someone who named their weapon and doted on it like a child.

"Come on," she instructed quietly, leading them forward into the darkness.

"It's quiet, too quiet," whispered Yang in her best action hero voice. "It's Grimm hunting season."

All Blake did was glance at her.

"No? Don't know that one either? Hm…" Yang rubbed her chin. "How about, 'Eh, what's up doc?'"

Blake tilted her head. "I never went to medical school."

"I swear, when we get to Opportunity, I'm going to drag you to the movies," sighed Yang. She suddenly held up a hand. "Did you hear that?"

"Did you only just?" Blake tilted her head.

Yang glanced over at Blake and cocked an eyebrow. There was weird and then there was this. She'd have to talk it over with Ruby later, but for now, an eye on their companion would be enough and a loaded gun at the ready.

"Where is it coming from?"

"Presumably from a Skitter corpse."

"Skitter? Never heard of one of those, then again, never been here before either," said Yang as she raised her shotgun. "They dangerous?"

"Extremely. Despite their large size they have a reaction time equivalent to a creature half its size, and its talons only require a little over one pound of pressure per square inch to pierce most steel."

Yang whistled in awe. "Remind me to make a bayonet out of that baby." She glanced down at her echo device. "Says it's to our right."

They looked at the seven tunnels before them, then glanced at the three behind them and that wasn't even counting the one that came in from high up the wall. The glowing 'shrooms helped somewhat as long as you didn't get too close to them. Magic shrooms that spit acid in the most literal sense were not your friends. Even with her echo device keeping track of where they had gone, she still doubted her ability to get back to Ruby.

"Any idea which tunnel it is?" asked Yang.

Blake sniffed once, twice, and then bent down to examine some marks in the mud. After a moment she stood up and headed down the second rightmost tunnel. Okay? At least she looked like she knew where she was going. With a shrug Yang followed, making sure to glance over her shoulder every so often in case something snuck up on them.

As they moved forward the dripping grew louder and louder. Yang was just about to take another step when Blake held up a hand. "Stop." She warned, looking at where Yang was about to stand.

"Wh- Ooooooh, cool!" Yang bent over and picked up the severed arm that she had almost stepped on. "Need a hand?"

Blake tilted her head. "What use would I have for it?"

Yang used the severed arm to facepalm. "You need to get out more."

"That is extremely unhygienic."

"Hey, if it works, it works. So, where's the rest of the body?"

Turning to face the other way, Blake led them forwards just a bit, before reaching into one of her pockets and taking out a small flashlight. "Presumably among these."

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn, I wish I was here when this went down." It was hard to tell how many bodies there were thanks to missing heads, more legs than arms and torso that had been cut in half, but the entire floor was coated in a thin layer of blood. Most of the bodies had been cut clean in half through the torso in a single slice and one guy's head had been mangled beyond recognition. Or maybe it was a girl, it was kinda hard to tell through the half chewed mess. What really took her breath away though, was the three creatures impaled against the far wall by one of their own wicked looking claws. Straight through the torso into the stone wall. Walking over, she grabbed the claw, put one foot to the wall and pulled.

It didn't budge.

"Okay, screw that, I want to talk to whoever did that!" She stepped back, playfully using the impaled corpse as a boxing dummy. "And by talk I mean fight and by fight I mean kick their ass to Solaris and back."

"These men are Hyperion." Blake said from where she was crouched by a lumpy pile of flesh. Reaching into it, she removed a black and gold paulron with a large 'H' emblem. "They might be the survivors Angel wanted us to track down."

"The recording mentioned something about kids." Yang glanced down at her echo device, scrolling through the various menus. "This is within the search area and if these skitters took out this many Hyperion troops, I think we can back out. But not before we looting!"

"Looting is important." Blake agreed. still searching through the bloody remains. "I see no signs of children having been here."

"Perhaps they went after the survivors like us," said Yang as she pocketed some bullets and two grenades. "Any of the weapon serviceable? Ruby may be able to strip them for parts."

Together they found a few intact submachine guns, several pistols and a sniper rifle. "I don't think so." Blake contradicted Yang's suggestion after a moment of thinking. "These men don't seem like a search and rescue team. Though I'm not sure Hyperion even has standardized search and rescue units."

"Well somebody survived." Yang pointed at the bloody footsteps. "We should at least check that out."

"...Agreed."

"Shame I don't have a knife to carve off one of their blades," sighed Yang as she began moving forward. "Let me know if you hear anything with that freaking thing of yours."

Blake tilted her head at Yang, before stepping around and moving ahead in front of her. "It is always unwise to leave home without a knife." She said as she offered one to Yang.

"Sweet!" She turned back, grabbing of the corpses of the skitters on the ground and began slicing through a forelimb. "Time to get a bayonet on my shotty."

"I don't carry any adhesive strips." Blake watched her with some interest. "I will not be able to help you fix the claw to your barrel."

"Don't worry about it, I'll just carry it for now," said Yang as she slung the limb over her shoulder. "Lead the way, oh fearless leader!"

"I experience fear." Blake held out her hand. "My knife, please."

Yang opened her mouth, only to close it again as she handed back the knife.

Blake slid the blade back into a sheath on her belt, and then continued forwards through the cave. She was almost as weird as Crazy Earl. Almost. Together, they moved down the tunnel, weapons at the ready, a soft skittering sound echoing through the cave.

"Is that why they're called skitters? That sound they make?" whispered Yang.

"Yes. Their vision is limited, but their hearing and smell are excellent. If you find any of their fecal matter, rub it into your skin and clothes. It will disguise your scent. Their bile would be better."

Something very sharp pressed itself against the back of Yang's neck. "Personally, I find their blood to work perfectly fine," said a voice.

Blake startled, spinning around with her machine pistol raised. She hesitated when she saw Yang being held hostage. After a moment she asked, "Are you the survivor?" without lowering her gun.

"Yes. I'm curious why you two are here," she said, easing the blade over Yang's throat.

"We're looking for survivors from the Hindentanic."

"And it's just you two?"

"And two others waiting at our vehicle," said Yang. "Look, I'm as much of a fan of a good hostage scenario as the next person, but that thing is kinda really sharp and kinda really scary."

All of a sudden Yang was spun around, a pair of green eyes staring straight into hers before she was suddenly released. "I apologise, being in here has left me… on edge."

"I would advise you to leave even if that weren't the case." Blake suggested.

"This place is a maze and unfortunately, my echo device was ruined in a scuffle," she replied with a shrug.

"Yang, if you were to give her your echo device containing the information on the way we came, I'm confident I could lead us out of here without it."

"Must we? I was hoping to fight one of those skitters," said Yang.

"We can continue ahead without her."

"If you're continuing on, I'm following," said the lady.

"...I find this disagreeable." Blake said after a moment. "I would strongly prefer it if we were to part ways, Miss Nikos."

"As would I, fau-"

"Oh. My. God!" Yang hopped from foot to foot. "It's Nikos! Pyrrha Nikos! Wait till Ruby hears about you. About you!" Yang grabbed Blake's arm, tugging at her sleeve. "It's Pyrrha Nikos, Blake. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeehehehehe!"

"Um… yes… hi, I'm Pyrrha Nikos." She glanced over at Blake. "But as I was saying, I wouldn't be alive if I didn't make unusual friends and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

Blake tilted her head. "I would hardly qualify Yang as a typical human, so I agree with the sentiment of being willing to make friends with those who fall outside normal standards of behaviour. That said, I would strongly prefer it if we were to part ways."

"Come on Blake, it's Pyrrha Nikos!"

"Exactly my point of contention."

"You said it was dangerous and if it's dangerous, who better to help us then a tried and true Vault Hunter!" finished Yang.

"I find it difficult to think of someone who is more liable to shoot us on the first offer of currency."

"My vault hunting days are behind me," she replied simply.

"Instead you are currently employed by Hyperion, a corporation who is currently conducting experimentation on Faunus, actively hunting Faunus on the surface of Pandora, and farming Faunus by purchasing orphanages and exposing the children within to the Mark of the Grimm."

"There's evidence that being marked is dangerous. Handsome Jack wishes to understand it better and I wish to help correct the world that I messed up."

Blake was silent for a moment. "If the mark is dangerous, then there is less reason for you to travel with me. On another note, I do not feel that I am in need of correcting."

"I just killed five monsters that I can only assume were once spiderants, but since have been marked. A single marked human will not be an issue, I assure you," said Pyrrha.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're a faunus? Damn, why didn't you tell me? Cool vision? Or is it smell, or hearing? Oh! Oh! I know, super cool kung-fu moves, right?" Yang suddenly spun on Pyrrha. "Oh man, imagine if you were marked. I bet you'd be able to take down the Guardian with your eyes closed!"

"All of my senses are superior to a humans." Blake looked over at Yang. "And I did not tell you that for the same reasons you didn't tell me you were a human when we met."

"Or it's because she did not want you to know," said Pyrrha. "I'm looking for someone who I assume has been kidnapped by the faunus."

Blake looked across at her, but didn't say anything.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" asked Pyrrha as her hand shifted onto her makeshift sword.

"No." Blake stared straight at her, face impassive. "Earlier today, we encountered several humans murdered by members of the human Blood Humpers bandit clan. Would you happen to know anything about them?"

"No." The two stared at each other before Pyrrha began backing up slowly. "Very well, if I am not needed, I will continue searching. The tire tracks lead into this cave system so I assume they are still here since I found their vehicle a while back. If all else fails, I can call in a couple Hyperion moonshots."

"I'm unsure why you would inform me of this," was Blake's only reply.

All she got was a mysterious smile as Pyrrha turned and walked away.

Blake watched her go, and waited for her footsteps to fade from hearing before lowering her gun. "I would like to leave soon."

"That was Pyrrha," whispered Yang. "Eeeeeeeeeeehehehehehehe."

"Our conversation went for too long. We should leave before we are attacked."

"Damn it, I should have gotten her to sign my shotgun."

"Can we leave now, or do you still intend to hunt for Skitters?"

"Hey, she's leaving right? Come on, if we go back to the entrance, we may catch up to her!" Yang grabbed her loot and shotgun and ran back the way they had come. After a few moments, she heard Blake following along behind her.

By the time they got back to their vehicle, the sun was just past midday and Pyrrha was nowhere in sight. Yang immediately jump into the vehicle, yelling, "Ruby! Guess who I met? Pyrrha. The Pyrrha Nikos!"

"What!? You're lying." Ruby turned to Blake. "She's lying right?"

"Unfortunately, no." Blake replied, climbing into the back seat and inspecting Weiss.

"What! That's it, I'm never leaving you alone again. That's so not fair." Ruby glared at Yang. "Is any of that loot for me, at least?"

"Nope! Also, can you make this into a bayonet for my shotgun?" asked Yang as she dropped the severed claw at her feet.

"If you can get it whittled down to being a bayonet shape, I could probably attach it? But I don't know how to carve that thing."

"Sweet!"

"Hey, what are-" Weiss's voice was cut off by gurgling. When they turned around, they saw Blake had removed Weiss's bandage and had shoved her canteen into Weiss's mouth.

Blake glanced over at them. "She seemed dehydrated."

"Well try not to drown her," said Ruby as she went through the rest of the loot.

"Are you trying to drown me?!" Weiss shrieked when Blake removed the bottle.

"No." Blake answered before re-applying the gag. Then as an added measure she tied a bag over Weiss's head.

"If she was, you would already be drowned," added Yang.

Blake stood and turned to face the sisters. "I would ask you two to avoid mentioning who it is under this bag to anyone else from now on."

"Your kidnapping," said Yang with a shrug as her echo device beeped.

"How was it? Did you find them?" asked Angel.

"Sorry, nothing. Just some dead Hyperion guys," said Yang with a shrug.

"Hyperion? What are they doing here?" asked Angel.

"Who knows?"

"Who cares!" added Ruby. "Let's get back to the place with the guys and Yang can fill everyone in. No point in wasting daylight."