A/N: I didn't actually have a plan on when to release this chapter, but since it's Christmas, I thought I might as well put this one out - just to let you know I'm still alive. I should be working on this story more, but I recently got invested in another story-writing venture and am still debating whether or not to put it up. Enjoy, and expect the next chapter soon.
Also, just a friendly note that OC submissions are still appreciated, and even if you don't submit one, be ready for heavy OC plot in the future, and for not-so subtle references.
Into The Ring
Present Day…
The surveillance video continued to follow Cinder and the rest of her team until they left the apartment, which then paused on the last second of the video before clicking off. For a few moments, everyone was considering this new piece of information that T had never divulged before, until it was Tanner who eventually spoke up.
"You had the whole damn apartment bugged?" he asked T accusingly.
"No, I simply reprogrammed the security system in the apartment to transmit its data archives and live recordings to me – as well as the guards in charge of the apartment." T stated, twirling the damaged frame of his Scroll in his fingers. "The camera's in my apartment block were the only ones I had to set up myself."
"It's really not that surprising, coming from T." SK shot back at both Tanner and the hacker, folding his arms as he leaned back into his seat.
"Well, at least we know what this thing is now." Jay stated from across the oval table, picking up SK's bracer and holding it in the air so that the light from the holo-screen behind them made the large melted dent on its surface clearly visible. The boy then put it back on the table and slid it across the glass top of the table back to SK, within arm's reach. "One question though; what did you hope to gain out of leading Cinder on like this?"
T took a brief pause as his line of sight flickered in between Qrow and the blonde sitting across from them. "Frustration. I had control over where and when we would fight. The idea was to make Cinder chase ghosts and run in circles only to find nothing. I ran the calculations," his words were directed towards Qrow this time. "-a clear mind plays a larger part in winning a fight than you'd normally think. By making Fall frustrated and giving her no breaks in between our offensives, I calculated that her chances of slipping up increased significantly." Pausing, T raised a hand to rub his good shoulder. "I just wasn't able to calculate the side-effects of an angry Cinder."
"And we all saw how that turned out." The orange-eyed teen stated with a single bark of laughter, followed by a dense silence as he realised that this was the type of interrogation he was going through. "Ok, the city's on fire, everyone's on edge, no time for jokes." He muttered to himself.
"It'd be a lot funnier if you'd actually tell us what happened, instead of giving us off-handed comments like that." Qrow said in reply, which surprised Tanner because he didn't mean to be heard.
"In a moment, Qrow; first, I would like to inquire about this…Raiden Alexander." Glynda inquired as she knitted her fingers together and rested her chin on top of them.
Picking up the damaged bracer, SK spoke while keeping his eyes on the piece of armour. "I doubt you know nothing about him." He said as he ran his fingers over its surface. "Vale Intelligence has got to have records of a man like him."
"They do." Qrow replied curtly. "We just want to know what you know about him – that's how this arrangement works."
"Well the short version is that he's an asshole." Tanner stated, nonchalant like it was the most obvious fact in the world.
"But ya'll don't have to worry 'bout him no more." Mason said as he propped his feet up on the table and let out a sigh of relief. "We showed that noob what-up and put him in his place."
"If you don't take your feet down off the table in the next five seconds I'm going to put you in your place." Jay hissed through gritted teeth with a glare.
The redhead then swung his feet off the table and leaned across it as far as he could, a hand on either side of his body. "Try me, bitch." He whispered threateningly.
Jay looked like he was about to actually take up that offer, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder from Glynda before he could rise out of his seat. The two shared eye-contact for a second before the blonde let out a sigh of frustration and leaned back into his chair. "So what's the long version of his story?"
Tanner's eyes turned to T, who was already typing away at his Scroll before he placed it against the glass table, causing several zigzagging lines of light to appear and stretch to the holo-screen, causing it to flicker for a moment before changing to a profile of the Shadowcaster.
"Raiden Alexander, age seventeen. Dropped out of the Sanctum Academy during his second year at the age of fifteen because he felt that they were 'holding him back'." T explained in a neutral tone of voice. "He's been living as a mercenary for hire since then. His Semblance is a form of umbra-kinesis that allows him to manipulate shadows into everyday objects."
As T finished that sentence, Qrow held up a hand to signal for him to stop. "We already know all this. We want to know what you know about him." He stressed the word for emphasis.
At first, Tanner didn't understand what the old reaper meant by that, but it clicked to him after a momentary silence. They want a fucking review of his fighting skills.
"…He's very quick on his feet and adaptable with his fighting style." The brunette said with a sigh. "Generally used his Semblance to form physical weapons instead of using it abstractly." the more Tanner spoke though, the more sense it made why they would ask about Raiden's performance on the field; they were teachers, first and foremost.
SK was the next to catch on, following up his explanation. "Might be because of a lack of imagination, might also be because the Semblance put a lot of strain on him. The whole time we fought, h-he carried himself with a lot of…confidence."
"That's one way to put it." Tanner said as he propped his head up on one hand against the table.
"Anything we're missing out on, T? Mason?" the black-haired rogue asked, ignoring Tanner's remark.
Shifting in his seat, the orange-eyed boy was caught off guard as Mason spoke next. "He's not worried about wasting ammunition, fires a lot without aiming. 'Course, once he runs out of ammo, he's got to fall back on his Semblance, which puts a strain on his Aura."
There was a brief pause amongst the members of the strike team before SK spoke up. "Mason, that's probably the most intelligent thing you've said all month." His tone carried across how equally stunned he was at the berserker's ability to put together a sentence that made sense.
"Yeah, well don't get used to it, scrubs." The redhead said while running his fingers through his afro.
Tanner then turned his attention back to T. "T, anything you want to add?"
Instead of responding, the hacker picked his Scroll back up and began typing away at it. As he finished, he placed it back on the table with a, "Why don't I just show you?"
Back Then…
It was a light techno beat which gradually got louder that roused T from his slumber. His heavy eyelids opened slowly to look out the front window of his modified Bullhead to see it slowly descending in between a mountain range.
The hacker wasn't too sure when his flashback had ended and dreamless sleep took over, but he knew it wouldn't be the last he saw of those memories. They came back to him now and then, but they recently became ten times as vivid with the installation of one of his newest neural implants – giving him the ability to record and playback instances with his cybernetic eye. One thing he had not accounted for when he had it drilled into his brain was the possible side-effects that came with it.
"Ah, good. You're up." Overwatch's neutral voice spoke in his ear. It was still funny how the hacker used to jump at the sound of her voice all those weeks ago. Before Overwatch, he had little use of the sub-dermal communicator he had surgically implanted along with the rest of his modifications, but now…
Now it was almost like it was too noisy.
"How far are we from the waypoint?" he asked Overwatch, keeping his voice low as he got up out of his pilot's seat to peer into the passenger compartment. Sure enough, the rest of his team were trying to find ways to keep busy. Tanner and SK seemed to be talking about their weapons and fighting technique, while Mason swung his head back and forth to some tuneless heavy metal blaring from his headphones. Even without having to use his cybernetic enhancements, he could still hear the music reverberating out of the Faunus' headphones from across the airship. None of them seemed to notice him, however, which worked to T's advantage as he really didn't want any more questions until after they had landed.
"We are making out descent for landing now. And, assuming no one else is home, we shouldn't encounter any other airships this far away from the main Kingdom." Overwatch continued as T got back into his seat and deactivated the auto-pilot. He turned to Dimples briefly as the dog gave him a low whine of concern. In response, T quickly ruffled the dog's fur before placing his hands back on the flight controls.
Deciding to take care of the landing process himself, T also considered the best way to let the rest of his team know they were approaching their destination. They had been through a lot, so the last thing they needed was something that could set them off. "Overwatch, do me a favour and put Everlong on the loudspeakers inside the ship – full volume."
As he made a hard right just before a mountaintop, Overwatch confirmed his command with a quick, "At once, sir. Now playing, 'Everlong' by the Food Fighters." Before the loud bass suddenly caused the walls of the airship to vibrate along with the surprised shouts of his teammates.
With both hands over his ears, Tanner scrambled to the cockpit before fixing T with an angry glare. "T! What the hell?" he shouted over the bass of the music.
"We're approaching the compound." T stated casually as he made Overwatch dip down slightly.
"What?!" Tanner shouted right into his ear, which was being protected from both the heavy bass and the Atlesian's annoying voice by his earpiece.
"I said," as the brunette spoke, his left hand moved from the flight controls of the Bullhead to pull up a holographic display that had multiple bars pulsing to the beat of the music. With two fingers, T slid them along the display, causing the volume of the music to decrease. "We're approaching the compound. Get ready."
"You couldn't have thought of another way to alert us about this?" Tanner continued shouting even though the volume had lowered to a suitable level. However, T did not respond to the question, feeling that it was just a trivial thing and that his attention was better suited on piloting the airship.
Eventually, Tanner turned around while making a loud, annoyed sound, and T was left alone in the cockpit…for about three seconds.
"Hate to break it to you," SK began as he poked his head into the cockpit. "-but I think the marauder back there's still in his own world."
Giving him a squinted look for a second, T got out of his seat to take a look at what SK meant. The rogue made room for him as he peered around the edge of the dividing wall that separated the cockpit from the passenger's compartment. Looking to where the redhead last was, the hacker found that Mason was still exactly where he had last been, metal music still blaring.
"He mustn't have heard you." SK commented as he leaned against the wall next to T.
T took a moment to consider his options before shrugging and taking his seat once more. "Let him be, he'll cause less trouble that way." After saying this, T reached forward across the co-pilot's seat to undo the safety belts that secured Dimples, allowing the dog to get out of the chair he had been sitting in for the past few minutes and roam about the passenger compartment of the airship.
After a second, the rogue took his place in the co-pilot seat next to him. "Do y-you mind?"
The hacker gave no reply as he turned the Bullhead into a loop around a hill to face a flat crag along the mountainside, with a dirt path that led down the mountain, but disappeared into low-hanging mist. On it, a single house stood, silent and ominous in the light of the early morning.
"Is this the place?" SK asked as T took the airship in low for a hover over a clear spot on the crag. Dust and dirt scattered as the engines blew hot air into the ground in order to slow their descent, before T eventually killed the engines and allowed the cloud of dust to settle around them.
"Welcome to the compound." T muttered as he got out of his seat, followed closely behind by SK. Pressing a hand to a button on the side of the hull, the doors of the airship shuddered for a moment before opening three-quarters of the way. Ship still needs some work to perform at maximum efficiency.
With a gesture of his hand, SK and Tanner got the message and got off the airship, beaten only by the hacker's enthusiastic shepherd dog. "Unload your things and wait for me before approaching the compound." He explained before walking over to Mason. Without touching the berserker, T whipped out his Scroll and began remotely connecting to the Scroll Mason was using to play his music.
At first, he considered turning the volume even higher, but reconsidered when he got a better idea. Searching through the list of songs available on Remnant's network, he specifically selected a song from a child's television show about friendship and kindness.
He swirled his finger around the button to play that specific song for a second before tapping on it, and watching the look of confusion that appeared on the redhead turn into one of pain and anguish as he clasped his hands over his ears and screamed in pain.
"Make it stop!" he wailed as he rolled back and forth on the deck of the airship.
Complying with his request, T lowered the volume of the song to near-zero and stood still as Mason slowly and shakily rose to his feet.
"What the hell, mate?" the redhead shouted angrily at directly at T's face.
"We're here." T simply stated. "Off."
"Yeah, yeah. You don't have to tell me twice." Mason grumbled while rubbing his ears, picking up his stuff and hopping off the Bullhead.
"I already did." T mumbled to himself as he followed right behind the berserker, being sure to close the hatch to the airship behind him. "Overwatch, remain in sentry mode and run a quick diagnostic on the systems – I want this airship combat-ready in an hour." He said as he pressed a finger to the earpiece he was wearing.
"Affirmative, Captain Ástarsorg." Overwatch replied as T rounded the airship to gaze out into the scenery that the crag overlooked.
The crag they currently rested on was near the top of a hill. Like the many other hills that surrounded it in this one mountainous part of Mistral, it didn't have a name, though T often thought of it as home. The morning mist was just beginning to settle among the various flora-covered hills, making the green of their trees appear orange, red and bright purple. If T were to walk over to the edge of the crag, he wouldn't be able to see the uneven terrain below through the dense mist. Instead, the cyborg just took a moment to relax for the first time in the last couple hours, staring into the horizon where mist met the rising sun, and painted the sky gold and pink.
Not many other houses dotted this part of Mistral, as even though it was prime property for its view, it was still quite far away from the major city and lacked the protection it offered. Still, it was part of Mistral's conquered territory, and there were sweeps of the area once a month, but it did little to provide protection for the people that lived here, meaning that they'd have to fend for themselves.
Taking in the morning mountain air, T relaxed his shoulders, even though the motion gave him phantom pains in his right shoulder. It was part of his breathing exercises, and served to relax him more than it did cause him pain. No more than two seconds passed before a gentle nudge in his knee brought him out of his momentary serenity. Looking down, T saw that Dimples had rejoined his side, looking at him for a direction of what to do next.
"Go." T said in a gentle voice. "Get ready. We'll be moving out in a few hours." the dog gave several heavy breaths in response before running off to the airship, disappearing behind one of its engines.
After the quick moment to himself, T turned away from the view and made his way to the house.
The house looked like nothing more than a simple cabin on the outside, primarily made of wood, with the only odd thing about it being the three-metre tall signal tower standing next to it. However, like most of T's things, there was always more to it than its outward appearance portrayed.
The rest of his team was standing a good five metres away from the house, all eyes on him and expecting him to give them the signal that it was alright for them to enter. Good thing they stopped too, they would've set off the proximity mines.
Taking his Scroll out of his pocket, T quickly opened up one of his custom-made applications and disabled the proximity mines temporarily, ushering the others to follow him to the front of the house as he grabbed a couple of his more important bags.
It was a short walk to the front porch of the house, which led to what seemed to be a normal door, but was actually…well, it actually was a normal door. It just also happened to be lined with explosives inside the wall of the building and had an electronic magnetic deadlock instead of a normal handle.
All it took for T to unlock the door was to place his Scroll against its scanner, and the light on it changed from red to green. With a twist of the metal handle, T pushed himself in first before holding the door open for the others, who, except for Mason, reluctantly stepped into the building.
Upon entering the building, the team was met by a room which branched off in three different directions. One path led up a flight of stairs to the floor above, while the other two were openings on the right and left that led into separate rooms.
"Leave your things in the room on the right." T ordered as he turned to walk into the room on the left. "Do not go upstairs or into the basement – anywhere else in the compound is permitted."
The room on the left hadn't been much before T had claimed it years ago, but now it was his personal study. An entire windowless wall had been lined with hard-drives and backup generators, while half of an entire wall was taken up by holo-screens and computer monitors.
It was a lot like the one he had set up in the apartment, except much better assembled and with nearly four times the processing power. Of course, he only had a couple months to throw together the one in the apartment. This one…he's had years to perfect this one.
Discarding his bags carelessly off to one side, T quickly plugged his Scroll into the port connected to his supercomputer. They didn't have much time before their window of opportunity to strike at Cinder came, and he needed to be sure that his plans were as close to flawless as possible.
Meanwhile, the others dropped off their stuff in what looked to be a living room, outfitted with a holo-screen television, a wide couch that looked like it could fit three people, two personal armchairs, a couple lamps, a coffee table, and a few other things that made this room feel quite cosy.
With a sigh, Tanner flopped backwards onto the couch next to his duffel-bag. "I need a break." He mumbled as he began rummaging through the contents of his bag.
"I hope we get rooms." SK remarked as he took a moment to stare at one of the paintings that hung on the walls. It was a landscape portrait, but it didn't look like it was of Vacuo or Mistral. Instead, the distinct red trees reminded him of a place travellers talked about from Vale, where the trees were always in autumn and the sap was considered a delicacy. "Because if we don't get our own rooms, I'm happy to sleep on the roof."
"Well, you guys do that." Mason spoke while clapping his hands together. "I'm going to go do some online shopping." Tossing his bags to one side, the redhead pulled out his Scroll and began trying to get a good Scroll signal.
"Yeah, whatever." The rogue breathed out as he walked over to the opposite end of the room, where a doorway led to a kitchen. "I'm going to have a look around." He muttered to himself before disappearing around the corner.
"Yo, T!" Mason hollered as he fell into one of the single-person chairs in the living room. "What's the password for your Scroll thingy?"
A moment passed in silence before T responded, calling back down the hallway. "I just gave you access. Try again."
As the berserker took a moment to refresh his connection status, Tanner suddenly rose from his seat on the couch, tossing his open bag aside as he angrily marched into T's study.
"Where's my other bag?" the brunette asked with a hint of anger in his tone to T, who had his back turned to the swordsman, crouching down to tinker with one of the hard drives.
"What other bag?" T asked, unintentionally vexing the brunette.
With a rough hand, the swordsman grabbed T by the shoulder and spun him around while forcing him to stand. "Look, I remember grabbing four bags when we left. Four. Now, there's only three."
"Really should have asked that before we left." T replied calmly.
Tanner's hand snapped back to his side as he put the best snarl he could. "I had a stack of sweet magazines in that bag!"
"We don't have time to waste – I don't have time to waste carrying around your extra luggage." The hacker snapped back.
"I had an important book on Glyphs in that bag!" Tanner snapped back. "I was going to use those for the fight!"
"I don't remember ever seeing you use Glyphs before."
"Well…that's because I'm learning." The brunette defended, taking a step back with his tone of voice. "I can use them, I'm just not naturally born with it like the Schnees. From what I can tell though, they would've come in handy for the fight if you hadn't thrown away my book!" his voice slowly rose in tempo and volume as he spoke.
Pausing for a moment, T followed up Tanner's defence with a hand on his shoulder. "Stick with what you know – it's safer that way. We cannot afford a single slip-up when we go against Cinder – experimental Glyphs included." Taking a few steps back towards his supercomputer, he placed a hand on the holographic keyboard and caused several tabs and windows to open up on his monitors. "Besides, I'll get you another one." Pointing to one of the holo-screens, T drew the brunette's attention to a hardcover copy of 'Advanced Glyph Use and Other Spells'. "This good enough for you?"
Tanner took a moment to read the details and summary of the book that appeared on an adjacent holo-screen before glaring at T. "This doesn't change things."
The hacker never broke eye-contact with the swordsman as his fingers flew across the keyboard to place the order for the book. "It's already been bought. I'll tell you where to find it after the fight."
Taking a step back to put some distance between himself and T, Tanner turned around for a moment to return his face to a neutral expression before turning back to face T. "When is this big fight anyway?"
"Roughly four hours from now." T responded as he turned around to get back to work.
"Four hours?" a voice asked out of nowhere. While Tanner searched around frantically for where the voice came from, the hacker calmly turned his head in the direction SK reappeared in. "You're telling us now that we're going to have to go up against Cinder in four hours?" the rogue practically shouted. "That's…that's…actually, that's quite a while away." His voice slowly grew quieter as his brain thought of how much time four whole hours gave them.
"There's still a lot to take into consideration before we go." T stated as he removed his Scroll from the port attached to his computer. With a few quick taps, the hacker activated a set of holographic projectors that were stuck to the ceiling of the study. Together, they created several flat screens of light between himself, the rogue and the swordsman. "Cinder picked up a new ally yesterday that'll be joining her for the fight: a man named Raiden Alexander." As he said this, a quick profile of the aforementioned man appeared, as well as several pictures and surveillance camera shots of him. There was even a video of him that played in the corner of the light screen, which showed the man fighting off a group of armed thugs with only his hands. "The man can manipulate shadows into just about anything he can think of, so we'll need to pack ammunition that'll produce light in order to minimise the amount of shadow he'll be able to work with."
"Do we know the extent of his power?" Tanner asked as he began studying the profile before him. T only replied with the shake of his head as he pulled up several more pictures of the man's Semblance in use, drawing whips and swords from his own shadow.
"Wait…four hours from now is roughly mid-day…" SK thought out loud before directing his voice to T. "That's…pretty clever, actually. With the noon sun right over us, the shadows won't be too long."
"Yeah, so long as there are no clouds in the sky." Tanner remarked with a snort.
"Not even I can predict the weather." T added as an off-handed statement. "In the meantime, follow me." He demanded right after tapping a single button on his holographic keypad and causing all the monitors to show segments of a single screensaver, displaying the image of an orange and black fox made out of triangles and geometrical lines.
Following the hacker, the group made their way back to the central room where he gestured for Mason to follow them back out the front door. As they exited the house, T led them around its side to a hatch in the ground.
With the swipe of his Scroll, the magnetic lock holding the doors shut opened – as indicated by the change in light colour from red to green. Grabbing the handles of the door, T threw the hatch open before descending down a set of wooden steps.
Even without his enhanced vision, T could have navigated the basement in complete darkness. Unfortunately, the others couldn't, which was why he flipped the circuit breaker upon entry, causing a set of overhead panel-lights to flicker to life with a stark-white light, revealing what the hacker considered the third most important stockpile in the house.
Before the group were three alleys, created by four shelves loaded with weapons and ammunition. Every inch of the surrounding walls, in fact, were lined with munitions that T could recite from memory – every single pinch of Dust. The walls of the basement were reinforced with a strong metal alloy that seemed to have been recently polished with the way it reflected the light, while the floor seemed to be made of carved granite.
"Holy shit." Tanner exclaimed out loud as he moved to inspect the pipelines that T had remodelled to work as Dust dispensaries. "How much Dust do you have in this place?"
"Close to seventeen tonnes." T stated, nonchalant as ever. The hacker didn't even have to turn around to see the brunette's jaw go slack. "I've had years to build up the supply." He explained without giving the others and their expressions of surprise much regard.
"This is enough firepower to last me a lifetime." SK muttered to himself as he ran a hand along an Atlesian-issued sub-machine gun.
"I bet I could blow all this in about…seven days – minimum." Mason said in challenge. "Heck, I could blow this is seven minutes if that's the challenge here."
"No one's challenging anyone to a Dust usage contest." Tanner raised his voice, trying to be the middle-man here. "Besides, I could burn all this in seven seconds if that was the case."
"We need everything we can get his hands on for the duration of our campaign against Fall and her allies." T cut in, opening a bulletproof crate with his boot before reaching in to grab a vial of blue Dust. "Cinder has more friends than I initially thought. Not to mention, we're probably being hunted by the Mistrali government as well – which means Dust will be harder to acquire, legally."
Gesturing with one hand to a rack loaded with weapons from all over Remnant, SK asked, "What are these for?"
T paused for a moment as he reached into a nearby box to pull out a yellow Dust crystal and toss it to Tanner. "Emergencies."
"What's in the other room?" The brunette asked as he twirled the crystal in his left hand while pointing to the door on the other side of the room with his right hand. The door in question was a sliding door made of a metal frame with a mirror as its base.
"That room is off-limits." T stated as he walked in front of Tanner, blocking his direct line of sight of the door. "Anyone that tries to enter will be shocked with sixty-thousand volts of electricity."
The redhead let out a snort, followed by a quick chuckle. "You must have something big to protect it behind a lethal dose of zappy-zap."
"You have no idea." T muttered to himself, turning away from the others to grab a couple clips of Dust rounds that he shoved into his pockets before turning back around. "Let's finish the tour of the rest of the house so we can begin planning the attack."
"Wait," Tanner quickly stopped him before he could begin his ascent up the flight of stairs. "-I thought you said we aren't allowed in the basement, so why show us what's down here."
"You're not allowed here without my permission." The hacker clarified. "And supervision. If you even try to break in here without my permission, you will also get hit with sixty-thousand volts of electricity." T threatened with a hiss at the end. "Now come on. I need to show you where you'll be sleeping."
Four Hours Later…
Standing atop a hill, Cinder surveyed the location she had arrived at, according to the address that T had written down on the back of the photograph he had clearly left for Neo.
In order to not draw attention to her strike team or herself, Cinder had forced the others to trek all the way here. No one complained about the order, initially. However, Raiden had been constantly complaining for the last hour or so about his legs, while trying to engage everyone in pointless small-talk.
Because of this, she had given them a moment to rest as she tried to discern whether T was already here or not.
It was difficult to tell, to say the least. The address that the boy had scratched down had led her to the outskirts of Mistral, to a bit of flatland where a lone barn made of metal still stood next to a broken windmill.
When she had asked Neo, the girl had claimed to have never came here before or hear mention of it from T. It wasn't that Cinder didn't believe her – the cyborg was notorious for his secrets. No, it was the question of why T had led them here that confused Cinder. Clearly, it was an attempt to draw them away from the main Kingdom, but what made this place so special. She held a hand over her eyes to shield her vision from the noon-day glare of the sun, but still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary or overly 'T-like'.
Turning around to where Raiden was sitting on the grass, playing with his shadows, Cinder rested her hands on her hips as she looked to the others, who had also taken this moment to recover some of their energy. "Let's go."
With a groan of annoyance, the black-haired teen was the first on his feet. "Please tell me he's here so I can kill him already."
"With any luck, he will be." Cinder mumbled as she began walking down the side of the hill, heading in the direction of the barn's open front door.
As she approached, the ash-haired woman reached for the hilts of her bow-blades drawing one as she stopped at the building's entrance.
Nothing about this barn looked new – or in the least bit modified. Rust, broken windows and mildew were all clear signs of wear and age. If it weren't for the bright-red patches of paint that still clung to the walls of the building, she would have thought that the barn was supposed to be a rust-red colour.
"After you." Cinder offered in a polite voice, gesturing to the entrance as she turned to Raiden.
"Oh, why thank you. Don't mind if I do." Raiden replied sarcastically as he drew his longsword and began walking into the darkness of the building. With a tilt of the head, Cinder indicated for the others to follow before she brought up the rear.
Hesitantly, the others complied, with Neo going first while Emerald and Mercury walked side-by-side. Though there were no lights inside the barn, the light of the noon filtered in through the broken windows along the walls of the building, blocked only by several beams of wood that supported the upper floor and roof.
Other than that, the building was completely empty.
Or so they thought.
Cinder had just reached the centre of the building with the rest of her team when a high-pitched screech of static pierced the air, causing everyone in the room to cover their ears until it passed.
"What was that?" Raiden yelled at no one in particular, having a hard time hearing his own voice over the ringing in his ears.
It was then that a familiar voice filled the air. "Good, you've arrived on time." T's voice echoed through the empty space of the warehouse.
"T, always hiding in the dark." Cinder taunted. "Well, at least you know your place."
Out of her peripheral vision, the ash-haired woman saw Raiden lean closer to her. In response, Cinder leaned in closer to hear what the shadowcaster had to say. "He's not here. I can't feel his shadow – or anyone else's. Just ours."
"I'm not hiding." Just as T said that, the doors to the barn slid close. "I know better than to lock myself in a building with you."
"Yeah, how long do you think it'll take for us to break out of here?" Mercury asked, rhetorically.
"This barn isn't meant to trap you, it's meant to make you hold still long enough for the tactical missile to hit you."
It only took a split second for Cinder to realise what was happening, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked around to see that her companions had similar expressions.
"I'll be sure to dig you out of the rubble if you survive, so I can put a bullet in your head an end you once and for all." T stated before another screech of static indicated that whatever speaker T had been using was now off. The screeching sound passed after a second before it was replaced with the sound of a combustion engine at full power, slowly getting louder.
"We need to get out of here!" Emerald shouted frantically.
"No!" Raiden snapped back at her. "Quick, everyone, back to back!" the black-haired man ordered as everyone gathered in the centre of the barn. "Cinder, for once in your life, I need you to trust me."
"And if I don't?" Cinder asked as she held her swords in front of her defensively.
The roar of the incoming missile was now clear and filled the air around them, even though they couldn't see where it was coming from. "Then this is going to hurt, a lot."