Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
Alright, now it really picks up, so why don't we get right into it eh?
I'd just received word that Gazini had, using his all-seeing eye, located Cinder atop the library. It'd be an interesting place for a fight, but it had to be done. Unless we could get her on the ground somehow.
"You guys ready?" I asked my temporary teammates, Barnabas and Roy.
"Ready as I'll ever be" Barnabas replied.
"I guess I could say the same" Roy replied.
"Good to hear" I said.
"Are you?" Barnabas asked.
"I sure as hell hope so" I replied.
Thunder led us to a hidden room. Inside were multiple helicopters with two propellers each, all lined up perfectly, glistening with polish. A loaded machine gun was positioned on either side of the open interior of each vehicle.
"Roy, you can fly right?" Thunder asked.
He nodded.
"Alright, I'll fly Pyrrha and Gazini. Roy, you fly Nicole and Barnabas. Follow me to the library. Try not to shoot the guns if you don't have to, we want the element of surprise if we can get it. Roy, since you're flying I don't expect you to land it, so just set it to auto-pilot and jump out when you reach the roof. Can you manage that?"
"Of course" He replied.
"That's good to hear." He turned to Gazini and Pyrrha, "I'll drop you two off at the door, then join the fight. Alright?"
"Sounds like a plan" Pyrrha replied. She was the only one who said anything.
"Alright," he said, "like they say in the movies, let's kick some ass!"
We all smiled a little at his motivational speech, then each boarded our own helicopters. I held onto a gun so as not to fall, my back to Barnabas. As we lifted into the air the ceiling opened, revealing the sky. Fire had already begun to rain down yet again.
"Looks like we're fighting them at full force" I called to Barnabas.
"Looks like it" he replied.
As we flew so did the bullets of the warring Heishi below. I could hear them bounce off the metal coat of the copters, flying right past me into the heavens above. It was rather terrifying, and ultimately I decided to stay back, away from the opening.
"You okay?" Barnabas yelled back at me.
"So far," I replied, "You?"
"Holding up" He called.
We neared the library shockingly, but thankfully, quickly.
"I'm setting it to auto-pilot, get ready to jump" Roy announced over a microphone. Where it was, I didn't exactly know.
I leaned out, staring at the ground below. We were almost above the library. My heart pounded in my chest as I anticipated the coming fight. I clutched the handles of each of my suitcases between my fingers, hoping against hope that none of us would get seriously hurt, or worse, die.
That hope diminished when the helicopter gave a sudden jolt, caught fire, and fell. I saw Roy leap out as it fell, but Barnabas and I were forced out thanks to the sudden movement.
As we fell I focused my aura, protecting myself from the exploding helicopter before me.
I landed, crushing the pavement below me. Barnabas wasn't far. As we stood a crowd of Heishi gathered around us, weapons drawn as they prepared to fight.
"What now?" Barnabas asked.
"We don't have much of a choice, do we?" I replied, knowing that he'd understand. Clearly he did, because in the next moment we collided, without another word, with the surrounding clones.
Bullets flew; blood spilled from carcasses and stained every substance it touched. The air was filled with sparks and the sounds of metallic blade collisions.
I sliced through a Heishi's head, then fired a bullet through the lance blade into another incoming solider. In mere seconds I was drained, and yet I had no choice. I had to keep going.
Every now and then I caught a glimpse of Barnabas. He'd encountered the man who'd invaded the arena, the one he'd shot in the leg. I saw it now; the man's gun had two barrels, one that shot bullets, the other in which a slender blade extended from. The body of the gun was long and thick, with padding underneath it so it could be held comfortably in one hand like a sword. Barnabas seemed to hold his own against the man, although he was covered in more blood than his opponent. Who's blood though, who could say?
Through the crowd of angry warriors and my bloodied vision one other familiar face did appear. Rocco Trask. Or at least a clone of him. He walked slowly, and the group parted just for him, lowering each of their weapons. We stood face-to-face, mere meters apart. A smile curved his lips as four long blades stretched out from a ring wrapping around his robotic wrist.
Then he charged. I gripped my weapon tightly and did the same. My heavy sword smashed into his much smaller, thinner, but apparently just as sturdy, wrist blades.
"It's so nice to see you again" He said.
I didn't respond, I was already out of breath.
"The circumstances couldn't be better, could they?" He added.
I spun, moving aside as I did so. With my blade still locked against his own, I tried to, as quickly as I could, spin my weapon so that when the heavy sword's contact with his stopped, the lance at the other end would cut his back. But all for naught, as the lance blade merely bounced off his back. As it did so I remembered his armadillo shell. An attack to the back would be futile. For all I knew, an attack anywhere was just that.
We locked eyes for a moment as he regained his posture, and then all hell broke loose. The Heishi converged on me at the same time Rocco did. I spun my weapon all around me, ripping the tops of many soldier's heads off, firing too many bullets to count through their skulls.
Eventually as my arms grew tired and my need to focus on Rocco on his own intensified, I balanced Candace and Sherry on my upper back, leaned forward slightly, and spun it. In the same motion, I drew Tina the revolver from my back and fired several shots off in Rocco's direction. The randomized dust rounds threw him off, and along with the newly formed clearing around us I was finally able to fight him one-on-one again.
Two of the blades on his wrist had broken. He looked at them in disgust, then swung at me with the remainder of them. Candace and Sherry fell behind me, leaving Tina as the only weapon in my hand. I raised it, blocking his attack with the blade attached under the barrel. My feet skidded backwards into the dirt, but I pushed back as soon as I had good footing again.
His face was contorted into that of focused anger, with lips pursed together with so much force I wondered if his mouth would suddenly start bleeding. For the first time in a while, I was genuinely afraid for my own life.
I was losing energy, and soon he was overpowering me. I fell to one knee, barely able to keep my arms raised high enough to hold off his attack.
In a desperate last resort I stared deeply into his eyes. He returned the favor. With the last of my aura, I activated my semblance. Charm, as I liked to call it. My arms lowered quite suddenly with the large loss of power, but then I saw it. His face softened, his attack let up.
"Stand." I said kindly. "Step back"
He did just that, backing away from me and lowering his weapon.
I stood, never breaking eye contact. I aimed Tina right at his forehead, resting the blade against his nose. "Drop your aura" I said.
I could sense his sudden shift from all-out aura to none. In the last second, I shut my eyes, breaking contact. In that same moment I pulled the trigger, blowing a bloody hole through his now conscious and in control mind. A thick drop of blood drizzled down his face as he fell to his knees, then face first into the blood-stained dirt.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, out of breath entirely. Without a thought I fell to my knees and dropped Tina, too exhausted to even hold a gun.
The sounds of battle around me were quieting. I turned my head to see Barnabas still fighting the man with the sword-gun. His opponent was slowing and appeared to be more scarred than Barnabas now. I watched as he finished the fight, firing a shotgun shell into both the man's knees, then his gut, and topped it all off with an axe blade through his skull. He placed his foot against the now dead man's shoulder and pulled, yanking the axe with some difficulty from his head.
He stood, panting before the crumpled corpse of a man. He said something I didn't catch, then turned his gaze to me. He dragged both himself and his axe across the ground to sit down next to me. Both of us were out of breath, exhausted.
"Who was that guy?" I asked between breaths.
"Ike Falcon," He replied, "Rain's new minion"
"Huh." I said, "What did you say just then?"
He paused, "Um," he started, snickering at the thought, "I said, 'I told you to wait'"
I smiled, "Right," I replied, "From the arena"
He nodded, mouth gaped open as he gulped for air.
"Now what're you both sitting around for?" Someone asked. The voice was all too familiar.
I looked up into the eyes of a perfectly healthy Rocco Trask.
So there you have it. It's really going down now, I think. I don't really know what ya'll think of that, but it is what it is.
Also, new RWBY episode. Pretty decent actually, I'll admit. I was mostly impressed, especially after the disappointment that was the third volume.
Anyways, as usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!