Here it is! The beginning of the end! I'll be putting up another chapter right after this one :)
I apologize for the delay - was suffering through a lack of confidence there. BUT I'm ready to close this story out and move on to some other exciting ones!
THANK YOU so much to Mr. Blender, who is consistently my sounding board and reads the plethora of random stories I send his way. (If you haven't checked out his stories, you really should!)
Blake sat anxiously in the airship as it flew her towards her destination. It was more than a little unnerving for her to be sitting in a moving vessel with no pilot, but she had been assured many times that the autopilot would take her safely to the destination, where she could then jump out onto the rooftop.
They had decided to have the ship fly some thousand feet above the building, solely to minimize any possibility of detection. It wasn't that big of an issue to her; it just made the fall a few seconds longer.
As air rushed by the open cargo door, she found that she wasn't the least bit worried about the descent to the building. She knew that she could make the landing easily, even from this height. No matter what the distance, she was confident in her ability to land on her feet.
Right now, she was more concerned about Yang.
She couldn't really be sure how much sleep her partner had managed to get last night. Blake had fallen asleep in Yang's arms with the blonde calmly rubbing one hand up and down Blake's back. The motion was soothing in a way Blake couldn't even begin to describe, and had lulled her into a content sleep after only a few minutes. But when she had awoken this morning that warm hand was still steadily running its course, as if it hadn't paused for a second through the night.
Their morning had been somber, with hardly more than a few sentences spoken between them. Blake could feel that Yang wanted to try to convince her out of going one last time – she could even see it in the way the blonde looked at her and feel it in the words left unsaid. Honestly, she was grateful that Yang had never brought it up, because she wasn't entirely certain she would still go through with it if given another chance to back out.
But everyone was counting on them now…everything hinged upon her succeeding in her part of the mission. Blake wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let these people down.
So, they had made their way to the airship Blake would be using that day – finding Professor Ozpin already waiting there for them. Yang had appeared nearly inconsolable as she wished Blake good luck. But after a hasty hug and a loving kiss, the blonde had somehow managed to let Blake get onto the airship without her.
Blake didn't enjoy doing anything without her partner by her side, but she really didn't like the idea of Yang fighting today without her there to watch the brawler's back. While she had faith that Weiss and Ruby would look out for the blonde as best they could, in a battle where the odds were stacked heavily against them there was no guarantee that the pair would even be able to keep themselves out of danger long enough to aid Yang.
Plus, she knew exactly who Yang was going to go after…
And Adam shouldn't be considered an easy opponent for even the most skilled of huntsmen.
She took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind of these worries. The single best way she could help her friends and teammates right now was by finding the controlling drug as quickly as possible. The entire outcome of their plan hinged upon her success – and the lives of those dearest to her depended upon how quickly she could accomplish her goal.
Moments later, the sound in the cabin changed drastically as the airship switched over to hover mode. Peering out the door, she could see the Capitol building directly below, separated from her by a thousand feet of wispy clouds and clear air.
Standing in the doorway, she could see the destruction of downtown spanning in front of her – massive piles of rubble which used to be towering buildings still smoking from the damage inflicted upon them. And the Capitol below her, eerily preserved amongst the ruins.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and slowly let herself fall forward out of the ship.
Cold wind pushed up against her as she plummeted towards the ground, arms and legs spread out to create as much wind resistance as possible.
She opened her eyes and looked around, eyes watering from the wind blowing into them. She was able to spot the small crowd of huntsmen assembling outside the Capitol lawn amongst the ruins of downtown Vale. Yang was in that group…somewhere. Preparing for a fight to the death that would not end in their favor if Blake didn't search quickly enough.
In front of this group was an even larger army amassing outside the Capitol's front entrance. From this distance, Blake could only make out the Atlesian Paladin's clunking frames moving forward into place. To anyone looking at the matchup, it would be very easy to declare Cinder's army the hands down winner.
Tearing her attention away from the two armies, she focused back upon the roof, which was rapidly approaching her. She had to wait until she was even closer…closer than any normal person would want to be if they falling from the sky towards a solid object.
A hundred feet away from smashing into the building, she summoned one of her shadow clones beneath her feet. She shoved her legs down against the clone, propelling herself back up into the air and slowly her descent by a fraction. She summoned another, repeating the process again and again. Several clones later, she landed in a crouch on the pebbles littering the empty rooftop.
She decided against trying the door to the roof, assuming that it would lead to a narrow staircase that would be difficult to avoid detection in. Instead, she raced over to a tall fan that fed into one of the building's air conditioning ducts. Using the edge of Gambol Shroud, she quickly pried back the cover and dropped down inside, pressing her arms and legs firmly against the sides to lower herself noiselessly into the heart of the building.
Many people didn't like to use the ventilation system to infiltrate a building, but to Blake they had always been the obvious choice for entering stealthily. Plus, they fed into almost every room and there were always exits placed in strategic locations. But maybe people just didn't like the claustrophobic feeling or all the dust…
Her feet finally found the bottom edge of a shaft spanning horizontally across the building. Dropping herself gently, her feet made no sound when they touched the bottom of the metal vent. Crouching back down, she could now walk slowly through the vent as she searched for the best exit.
She could feel her heart racing as she slowly progressed through the air ducts, being careful to make as little noise as possible. She could hear movement in the hallways below her – feet rushing about and frantic voices calling out. But all of the noises seemed to be headed away from her, and were eventually replaced with silence.
If she would have had to guess, she would say that their plan of drawing everyone outdoors to fight was working. Unfortunately, that meant that her time to find what she was looking for was already beginning to waste away. And she hadn't even really set foot in the building yet.
Finally, she found a room off of the main hallway on the top floor that was unoccupied and seemed to be as good a spot as any to begin her search. Carefully, she removed the vent cover, pulling it in towards her when it popped off. She then slithered out of the rather small opening and dropped to floor with a soft thud.
Moving to the door, she leaned her ear against it to listen for any movement in the hallway. Hearing nothing, she cracked it open and quickly glanced in both directions to find the hallway clear. This particular hallway was lined completely in glass on the outer wall with what usually would have been a spectacular view of downtown Vale. Today, however, it offered the perfect vantage point to see the battle brewing below.
She moved closer to the glass to take a closer look at the two forces staring each other down. From this distance, she could just barely make out Yang – though her partner simply looked like a ball of fire standing on the lawn.
The battle hadn't yet begun…she still had time to end this early.
Unfortunately, the building was massive, designed to house all of the members of government in one convenient location. It was not intended to make a break in quick and easy. Finding the right room would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Undeterred, she stalked through the halls, making sure to keep her ears peeled for any sign of trouble. One by one, she opened the doors along the hallway, poking her head inside just long enough to see if she could spot anything that seemed to be out of place. So far, she was only finding empty rooms and regular office furnishings.
After she had checked the rooms on the top level, she reached the staircase to descend down one floor. Taking the stairs two at a time, she paused for a second to listen again before opening the door to the next level – just because the top floor was empty, didn't mean that this one would be as well.
But as several precious seconds of silence passed, Blake decided that it was clear enough for her to risk it. Shoving the door open, she found the hallway was also devoid of life, much to her relief.
She resumed her method of rapidly scanning through the rooms, opening and closing the doors as swiftly as possible.
Suddenly, she was thrown from her feet as a huge blast slammed into the side of the building, completely obliterating one of the outer offices she had just been in.
After pulling herself upright and dusting off her clothing, she waited another few seconds for the cloud of debris to clear, revealing a gaping hole in the side of the building – bricks and glass breaking apart and falling to the ground below. Her heart rate increased tenfold as her ears began to pick up the sounds of explosions and gunfire drifting in through the new 'window' in the building.
The battle had begun.
She flew through the rest of the rooms on the level, no longer proceeding with as much caution as before. If there was anyone still inside, they would surely be moving to safety now that the building itself was becoming the victim to stray missiles.
Once satisfied that this level was clear, she ripped open the door to the staircase and jumped down the flight of steps to the next floor. Without even pausing to listen this time, she pulled open the door to the next hallway.
She instantly froze when she found herself staring at the stained glass window directly in front of her - depicting a single white lily. A tremendous feeling of déjà vu came over her as she gazed at the flower, struggling to figure out where she had seen it before.
It looked exactly like the one currently sitting on her nightstand. The one Yang had given her in the…hospital…
Her eyes widened when she figured it out.
She had been here before.
The building had been much more neglected then, but she still remembered the inexplicably placed stained glass window. And she remembered the cabinet full of lilies she had found to be so strange, as Adam had stared over her shoulder.
The one thing that had been completely out of place in the desolated wasteland.
She sprinted down the hallway towards the last door on the right, knowing she was finally on the right path. Yang had shown her the route before…Blake had just needed a reminder.
Sliding to a stop, Blake found herself in front of what looked like a standard office door. But after twisting the handle, she found that this door was actually locked – unlike all the rest in the building she had tried so far.
Jamming Gambol Shroud in between the edge of the door and the wall, she had the door unlocked in no time.
Stepping quickly inside, she found that the room was much larger than it had been in her dream and all of the office furniture had been replaced by laboratory equipment. But in the same place she had found the lilies before, she now saw a tall cabinet filled with different vials, lined up neatly with names preprinted for each of the captured huntsmen.
After scanning the vials, she only managed to find Adam's – pulling one out of the cabinet and holding it delicately in the palm of her hand.
But the one for Cinder must be in a different location. She scanned the stacks of vials a second time, finding that Cinder's was, in fact, not there.
Another round of explosions rocked the building, setting her nerves on edge while she glanced quickly about her.
If it wasn't here in this cabinet, where would it be?
Her eyes lighted upon another case on the opposite side of the room – this one with a biometric lock placed on the outside. Nothing said 'important' more than a heavy duty lock like that.
Approaching the container, she pressed her own thumb to the scanner on the front, immediately greeted with a flash of red and a single beep. Frowning, she carefully looked over every visible inch of the cabinet, trying to find the best way to get inside. She tried summoning one of her shadows, but the space inside was too small, resulting in her clone being partially in and partially out of the safe at one time – disappearing instants later.
Trying again, she summoned a clone to the right of the cabinet. She only needed to get a hand inside for a second in order to reset the lock…
She managed to place her clone perfectly, but it disappeared before she had a chance to do more than touch the lock's internal mechanism. She tried a third, fourth, and fifth time, growling in frustration every time her clone disappeared before she was expecting it to. Finally, on the sixth attempt, she was able to pull the lock, hearing the satisfyingly friendly beep as the lock asked for her to enter the fingerprints it should accept.
After placing her thumb down again and pressing accept, the screen lit up in green light with the agreeable pop of the door opening reaching her ears. Pushing the door open fully, she looked closely inside and immediately furrowed her brow in confusion.
Before her lay a row of slightly different colored vials, labeled simply with a "C" and "A" on small white stickers.
"C" and "A?"
But she already held Adam's in her hand…
Grabbing one of each, she lay the three vials down on a countertop while she rapidly pulled open drawers looking for a syringe. Finding one, she stared down at the three vials, unsure about which one to use.
Taking a deep breath, she calmly injected herself with only the vial marked by a "C." Waiting for several seconds, she didn't feel anything out of the ordinary besides the slight throbbing in her arm where the needle had just pricked her. Taking that to be a good sign, she stuffed the remaining two vials into a pocket - just to be on the safe side.
She rushed back to the door, mind still reeling with unanswered questions. But she needed to get outside and end the battle first, then she would have time to figure out everything else.