Blake and Yang were waiting for them in the hallway outside their rooms.
"Hey," Yang said, "We got your message. We managed to get a hold of Jaune and Pyrrha. They were out doing their nightly training, but they're on their way."
That was good news, Ren thought. They were going to need all the help they could get. As he took out his scroll to unlock the door, he heard the girls go into their room across the hall, except for Blake, who stayed out in the hall. He opened the door to the room he, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora shared, and his eyes widened. "Oh, no." he groaned.
"What is it?" Blake walked over. She gasped when she saw the mess. Desk and dresser drawers were strewn about, and the beds were toppled over. There was blood splattered all over the floor. Her bow twitched. "This can't be happening, Nora's crazy, but she's not a murderer!"
"No," Ren said. "That's not blood. It's the sap we had to collect from Forever Fall for class." He pointed to the four empty mason jars littered about the floor. He grabbed Stormflower out of his closet, kicking an empty box of pancake mix out of his way. On a whim, he walked over to Nora's closet. An empty pill bottle lay on the floor in front of it. "Damn it, Nora!" He cursed as he picked up the bottle. His suspicions were confirmed.
"What is it?" Blake asked again.
"It's nothing." Ren said. "We don't have time to waste. Are the others ready yet?"
Blake gave him a funny look. "Why are we in such a rush? Why not wait 'til she tires herself out? It would be a lot easier."
"This is Nora we're talking about." Ren said, pointing to the abstract tree sap finger painting covering the walls. "Think of how much more she can do in that time. Can you see what's taking your team so long to get dressed? I'll be out in a moment; I need to find something."
"Right" Blake walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Ren pulled a chair over to his closet. Using it as a step stool, he began rummaging on the top shelf. He retrieved a small, rectangular cardboard box about the length of a pencil and hopped back onto the floor. He put the box in his pocket and left the room, carefully closing the door behind him. As he did, a muted rumble accompanied a tremor strong enough to make the building shake for a full five seconds. It caught him off guard, causing him to nearly lose his footing. The situation was worsening.
Blake knocked on the door across the hall. "Are you guys ready yet? You're taking forever."
Weiss' voice boomed from inside the room. "Ruby, they're all the same color, just pick a damn cape!"
"Guess not," the faunus sighed.
Footsteps echoed from down the hall, and Ren looked to see his two other teammates Jaune and Pyrrha running to meet them.
"Sorry," Pyrrha said. "We rushed over as fast as we could."
Jaune was winded from sprinting back to the dorm. "Yeah, so. . . what is going on exactly?" Again, the building shook beneath their feet, throwing Jaune off balance and onto the floor.
"Earthquakes?" Pyrrha asked with a confused look on her face.
"Yeah," Blake said, "Nora's the epicenter."
Jaune regained his footing, "Nora's causing this? Ren, is she okay? What happened?"
"Syrup, tree sap, cookies, and Ruby's coffee. Also, don't go into our room." Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged worried looks. Ren continued. "We need to stop her, or she's going to get herself hurt. We've already tried chasing her down, but she'll destroy everything in her path, including us, to get away."
Pyrrha sighed. "I know destruction is one of her guilty pleasures, but this is a little much, don't you think?"
At last, team RWBY's door opened and the three girls joined the others in the hallway as another tremor rocked the building.
"Well," Pyrrha pondered a moment before continuing. "At least most of the other students are away for the break."
"Good." Blake added. "The last thing we need is for someone to try and stop her, only to wind up getting themselves killed."
"You mean like what we're about to do?" Yang bellowed.
"Yang! Knock it off!" Ruby glared at her older sister.
An explosion thundered, violently shaking the building. All the lights faded, and the hum of the air conditioning waned as pitch blackness and eerie silence over.
"Well, that's great." Yang remarked as the emergency spotlights flickered on.
"We need to get moving." Weiss said. "That came from downstairs."
The group ran down the dimly lit hall and took the staircase down to the next floor. A thick cloud of dust two feet high cloaked the hallway floor. Ren noted it was almost impossible to see his own feet.
"Weiss, are you sure it came from this floor?" Ruby asked as the group carefully made their way down the hall.
"Of course I am!" she proclaimed. "Have a little more faith in me, would-ahhh!" She squeaked as a series of tremors threw her to the floor. The others had to brace themselves against the wall to avoid being thrown off their feet. Cracks rippled through the paint on the walls as the building slowly lost its integrity. "Okay, maybe I was wrong" the heiress admitted once the tremors ceased.
"We need to hurry and find Nora before the building collapses." Pyrrha urged, trying to get the group to focus.
"Right, let's get going," Jaune said as he took off towards the stairwell. The rest of the group followed behind him.
"Jaune, slow down," Ren warned, concerned about the poor visibility, but the warning came a moment too late. The blonde disappeared down into the dust cloud with a yelp.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called.
"Ugh, what a klutz," Weiss complained.
Barely make out the edge of the massive hole Jaune fell through, Ren carefully crouched near the opening, failing to make out anything of the room beneath. He looked up to Pyrrha. "Take the stairs, I'll go after Jaune."
Without waiting for a response, he descended after his leader, careful not to catch himself on the sharp debris lining the edge of the hole in the floor. Falling farther than he expected, his feet slammed hard into the uneven floor. His legs buckled under the force of the fall, and as he collapsed he winced as something sharp sliced deep into his arm just below his left shoulder. He covered the bleeding gash with his hand.
"Jaune?" The veil of dust was much thicker here, completely obscuring his sight so he could barely assess the wound on his arm. He applied pressure with his hand, hoping the bleeding would stop soon. His lungs burned from inhaling the tainted air. "Jaune, can you hear me?"
He heard Jaune coughing not too far away. Ignoring the pain from his twisted ankle injured in the fall, he carefully got to his feet, "Jaune, are you all right?" he coughed.
"Ren, over here," his bumbling leader called. "Follow me."
Ren rolled his eyes and limped in the direction of Jaune's voice. The dust in the air stung his eyes, further inhibiting his sight. "Jaune," he choked, "I can't see, what is it?" He wondered how Jaune knew where he was going in this hazy mess when he couldn't even see the damned hole he fell through upstairs.
"I can't see either," Jaune coughed. "Just trust me."
'The blind leading the blind, this should end well. . .'
They carefully made their way through the dark, dusty hall, led only by their familiarity of the building. With his slight limp, it was a challenge to find solid footing. Ren couldn't help but wonder how the building was still standing as it creaked and swayed above them, but the structure was a testament to Beacon's security measures. In case of a Grimm attack, a structure that couldn't stand this type of abuse would cost many lives.
"Hold on, here is good." Jaune said as he rummaged through the rubble on the floor.
"What are you-"
"This'll do!" Jaune interrupted. With the sound of a match striking, a faint glow emanated from Jaune's hands.
"Fire?" Ren asked, equally curious and confused.
"Nope, guess again." Jaune answered.
Ren gave up trying to understand his leader's antics, and watched as best as he could through the blanket of junk clouding the air. Jaune carefully lit a piece of lumber he had found on the floor. When the flame was strong enough, he lifted the makeshift torch up to the ceiling, triggering the emergency sprinkler system.
"Jaune, what the hell?" Ren exclaimed at the sudden shock of cold water drenching him in a matter of seconds.
"Just chill for a sec. Cardin showed me this." Jaune said, trying not to laugh as his torch hissed and sputtered a dying protest.
"This is no time for stupid pranks." Ren snarled, trying his best to shield himself from the onslaught of water.
"Relax, I could use a shower anyway." Jaune laughed. As suddenly as it happened, the sprinkler system shut off. "Huh," Jaune pondered. "That was quick."
"Jaune, what the hell are you thinking? How did that even work?" growled an aggravated Ren, trying to shake off the water weighing down his clothes. "Well, explain yourself," he demanded, but the tall blonde stood there with a smug expression, adding to Ren's irritation. 'Wait a minute.'
He looked around him in disbelief, marveling at the destruction he couldn't see moments ago, for the dust clouding the air and obscuring their vision was gone, washed away by the unwelcome torrent. Rubble littered the floor, entire walls were missing, but the ceiling here was still intact, answering why the sprinklers had worked. Pale moonlight peeked through cracks in the creaking structure and reflected off of the wet surfaces.
It wasn't often he found himself dumbfounded, especially by his blunderbuss leader. His expression must have betrayed him, because Jaune was doubled over in laughter. Having realized what a fool he'd made of himself, he crossed his arms and hung his head in a defeated sigh.
"Hey, I'm not that useless, am I?" Jaune laughed, tossing aside his burnt out torch. The haze of water in the air brought welcome relief to their irritated eyes and lungs.
"I never doubted you for a second." Ren's sarcasm was answered with a quick, playful jab to his shoulder. He pulled away and grabbed his wounded arm, hissing in pain.
"Whoa, Ren, are you alright?" Jaune gaped at the blood dribbling down Ren's arm. "I'm sorry; I didn't know you were hurt. Why didn't you say anything?"
"I forgot about it while I was trying to figure out your stupid plan." Ren sat down on a twisted steel beam from what used to be a wall and removed his tailcoat. He ripped the sleeve off of his black shirt and tied it around the sticky wound. "How did you come up with something so ridiculous?"
"Well, Cardin made me do that once so class would be canceled."
"That was you?" Ren said in shock, remembering the incident.
Jaune let out a hesitant laugh, "Yeah. He made me do it so he wouldn't be the one to get in trouble." Jaune took a seat next to Ren. "When Goodwitch was rambling on after I got caught, she spilled how the system worked. It's heat activated. After one minute it stops, and if the heat sensors don't pick up anything else, it won't go off again. It's a built in precaution to prevent a lot of water damage in case there isn't actually a fire. It's kind of a handy feature for a school, especially considering how Nora burns dinner every time she tries to cook."
The mention of Nora shifted Ren's attention back to the task at hand. She must have calmed down a bit, as it had been a half hour since the last disturbance. That or she was no longer in the building and on the loose on campus. Satisfied with his bandage, he took the other sleeve and wrapped it around his ankle to give the stressed joint a little extra support. Slipping his wet jacket back on, he rose to his feet, despite a throbbing protest from his sore ankle.
Jaune must have noticed his change of thought. "It looks like we're at ground zero, huh? Damn, you know, I'm happy she's on our side."
"Not today she isn't." Ren answered.
"Speaking of that," Jaune said as he got up. "Do you have the uhh. . ."
"Yes," Ren cut him off, showing Jaune the small box he retrieved from the room.
"So, do the others-"
"No, and I'd like to keep it that way." Ren started walking farther down the hallway, carefully watching his footing.
"Hey, Ren, uhh," Jaune hesitated. "Listen, I get that you're just trying to protect her, but they're her friends, too. They'll understand."
"That's enough." Ren shot an irritated glare over his shoulder at Jaune, who was quick to shut up. A chilly draft wafted through the weakened building. His wet clothes provided no shelter from the breeze, and he felt his skin prickle up at its teasing touch. "We need to keep going. When we find the girls, don't you dare-"
"I won't, I promise." Jaune put his hands up in surrender. He caught up to Ren and the duo continued down the corridor.
"So," Ren said, "Why didn't you warn me before you set off the sprinklers?"
"Well, Nora told me how much you love surprises-"
"That's a lie, jackass." Ren laughed as he returned Jaune's punch from earlier, and the two friends laughed it off as they continued their search.