Hey guys boy this chapter took forever to write, it left me quite literally drained afterwards. I'm kind of glad to be returning to canon now as my creativity has been bleed dry. Still I'm happy how this chapter turned out and hope you guys enjoyed it. Also the ending to season 2 was great I loved the Velvet joke they put in and who is that masked person? Yang's twin or her mother? God the wait for season 3 will be unbearable.
I don't own RWBY if I did it would not be as popular.
Jaune frowned as he looked over the base and could only marvel that Ruby had escaped this place, let alone with him on her back. Looking for a way in he smiled seeing a tree branching out over the fence, the drop to the jump was high but he was sure that his aura would protect him or failing that heal him. 'Come on Jaune you're the only one who struggles with aura, even Ruby could do it and she was in a different body!' he thought, furiously. Climbing up the tree he took a deep breath, boosting his confidence before leaping from the branch. Landing he rolled like he'd seen Ruby do a couple of times and gritted his teeth waiting for the pain that never came. Blinking he looked down at his legs just in time to see them briefly covered in a faint white glow before the light disappeared.
"I-I did it," he whispered in disbelief.
"You heard the announcement the Captain wants everyone in the hanger ASAP, this better be important," growled a gruff male voice.
"Sergeant I'm telling you I saw a flash of light from over here," said another male voice.
'Oh crap,' thought Jaune panicky as he searched for a hiding spot, eventually settling on climbing up the drainage pipe. Looking down he saw a trio of armed men walking around below him, unfortunately his poor grip on the pipe was beginning to loosen. 'Not now just a few more minutes,' he begged, silently. Unfortunately lady luck wasn't smiling on the poor blonde today and his grip finally slipped as he fell to the ground.
Looking up he saw the trio pointing their weapons at him, "umm…don't mind me I'm just dropping in," he joked with a laugh.
The older male looked unimpressed, "boy you're in a heap of trouble," he said before Jaune felt something hit him in the back of the head and everything went black.
Red sighed as she walked down the streets, her eyes constantly darting from corner to corner searching for danger. 'Guess I'm not as much of a hero as you after all, right Ruby?' she thought, sadly. Her mind elsewhere she didn't notice where her feet were carrying her until she found herself in the middle of the shopping district. Looking around she noticed numerous decorations on the stores, mostly skeletons, witches and pumpkins with faces carved in them. Red frowned, 'this is…Halloween! But that was ages away, have I really been gone for that long?' she wondered. Walking through the area she heard her stomach grumble as the smell of freshly baked filled her nose. Looking into the bakery window Red felt drool start to run out of her mouth as she pressed herself up against the glass.
"Well someone looks hungry," laughed a male voice behind her.
Eyes widening Red spun around and nearly fainted at the sight that greeted her. 'Why is he here? Anyone but him,' she thought, fearfully. Backing up slightly she just stared at him, unwilling to trust herself to speak.
He just smiled, "what's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"The name's Ellis nice to meet you," his said, holding out his hand.
Red just stared at it dumbly before her brain started working again, "my name's Re-nee, Renee Rose," she lied, shaking his hand.
He smirked, "well then 'Renee' want something to eat, my treat."
"No no that's fine I should get going anyway," she replied, hastily waving her arms for emphasis.
Immediately her stomach gave a large growl in protest, causing Ellis to laugh and Red to flush in embarrassment.
"It seems your stomach disagrees," he said, grabbing her hand before walking into the bakery.
Ignoring his protesting passenger Ellis walked up to the counter, "can I get a muffin and a bag of cookies for my friend here?"
Paying for their orders he dragged Red to a nearby bench before handing her the bag, "so 'Renee' mind telling what's wrong," he asked, gently.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, gruffly grabbing a handful of cookies and shoving them into her mouth.
"I'll bet," he scoffed, taking a bite of his muffin.
"Why do you care anyway? You just help out random people on the street?" she shot back, aggressively.
"The expression on your face. When I saw it, it looked just like one of my friend's when she was in over her head, which happened quite frequently," he explained with a laugh.
"Oh really and you didn't have anything to do with it?" snapped an annoyed Red.
"Well maybe a little," he admitted, sheepishly.
"Somehow I seriously doubt that," she huffed.
Glaring at each other they both burst into laughter, drawing surprised looks from those nearby. As they finally got themselves under control the duo fell into a comfortable silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts.
"Your friend, can you tell me about her?" asked Red.
Ellis just leaned back with a thoughtful expression on his face, "she wasn't the strongest or the fastest, in fact she had no real power at all."
A grin began to spread along his face as he continued, "but she was determined, loyal and stubborn to a fault. No matter how bad things got if I needed help I could always count on her to back me up."
…is it not strange how often, in the later stages of the game, the King finds himself abandoned by his Queen, his religious advisors, his castles and his knights, yet defended by a few loyal pawns?
Getting up from the bench and with a thoughtful expression she handed the bag back to him, "thanks for everything Ellis I won't forget it."
"It was just a bag of cookies," he said with a wave of his hand.
"No it wasn't," she replied before sprinting off.
The white haired boy smiled as he watched her go, "cya later Red," he whispered.
Yang and her teammates watched as three bullheads surrounded the non-descript building, landing troops on the roof and at the entrance. It wasn't long after that a stream of smoke rushed towards one of the aircraft before the entire bullhead exploded. Upon seeing this the other two retreated and left the rocketeers to the ground forces, whom began to breach the entrance doors.
"Did they just take out a Bullhead in one hit?" exclaimed Weiss in shock.
"With weapons like that it's no wonder the White Fang wanted their support," said Blake.
"Guess we should be glad they had a falling out huh," agreed Yang.
Seeing the front entrance turning into a warzone the trio of huntresses approached from the back of the building, hoping to sneak in. However there was no exploitable opening for them unless they made one themselves, announcing their presence to the whole place. Approaching the last door Yang growled as it was securely locked, not even Blake could pick it. Taking a quick breather Weiss and Blake began to compare different strategies to break in when Yang noticed something on the wall. It was a metal device near the door with the imprint of a hand. Her curiosity getting the better of her Yang placed her hand on it and was shocked to see it light up, a blue line moving up and down her hand. Not long after a green light popped up and the door swung up, leaving them all briefly stunned.
"Yang what did you do?" asked Weiss, confused.
"I don't know I just put my hand on that wall panel and it opened," she replied, equally confused.
"Does it really matter? We need to keep moving," reminded Blake.
They both nodded and followed the Faunus down the red illuminated hallways, the sounds of the fighting getting fainter the further they went in. Eventually the team hit another locked door and once again Yang spotted a similar looking panel. This time Weiss tried it only to get a loud beep and a red light, they both turned to Yang as she placed her hand on it. Sure enough a green light showed up and the door opened once again to reveal a small room. As the group cautiously made their way in a screen suddenly came to life, causing all of them to jump as they whirled to face it.
"Aura scan completed authorization confirmed, Welcome Captain Leah how may I assist you?" announced a computerized voice.
"Whose Captain Leah?" whispered Yang.
"I think you are Yang," whispered back Blake.
"What but I've never been called that in my life," informed the blonde.
"You really want to tell the machine that?" shot back Weiss
"Point taken," agreed Yang before turning to face the computer.
"I need a map of the building as well as the location of Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc," she ordered.
"The VIP's last known whereabouts was in the Vytal branch HQ back on Earth," it replied as a map appeared on the screen.
"What do you mean last known location," asked Blake.
"My apologies you do not have proper authorization," said the computer.
"Consider any questions from my two teammates to be asked by me," ordered Yang.
"Yes Captain, the VIPs escaped the holding facility and their current location is unknown as per your report. Would you like to review it?" it asked.
"No, now how did they get to Earth," she responded.
There was a brief pause as if the machine was confused before a response came, "the portal of course, as you are aware there is no other option."
"Where are we and where is the portal?" asked Weiss.
Two red dots appeared on the map, one labelled auxiliary control room and the other simply portal. Nodding the heiress took a picture on her scroll, thankfully the flash was covered up by Blake quickly closing the door.
"Why was she captured?" questioned Yang.
"The science department wanted to examine the effects of having two different auras on the body, while also preventing her from going Feral," informed the machine.
"What do you mean Feral?" said Blake
Leah and her companion were in the process of reporting to command when the alarm sounded, "what's going on?" demanded the commander.
"Control what the hell is happening!" she roared into the intercom.
"Our main outpost in Vale is sending out a distress call. Uh Captain you're going to want to see this I'm patching you through the security camera footage now," informed a worried voice from the other end.
They watched as a screen flashed to life revealing two teens, a 20 something women and a very recognizable man wearing a fedora hat before the camera footage turned to static.
"That's Roman but if he survived then that means…" she trailed off as the screen switched to another image.
This one showing their own outnumbered security force exchanging fire with their attackers, focusing in showed all the invaders wore grim masks on their faces and had a bloody wolf emblazoned on their backs.
"Damn it the White Fang, how the hell did they find us?" she growled.
"Are these the terrorists you mentioned in the report?" asked the commander.
Leah nodded, "yes Commander, we used them as proxies to capture the VIP before breaking all ties and attempting to sabotage them. It appears that the plan didn't work."
"This VIP has proven to be more trouble the she's worth Doctor," he commented.
The doctor straightened up, "Commander you must understand, the potential benefits from her are astronomical, it could change our very lives. The numerous diseases that plague humanity gone without any sort of medical treatment, any wounded soldiers able to heal themselves on the field to name only a couple."
"Which mean nothing if there is no VIP to study Doctor," retorted the commander.
"Captain you know what to do," he continued.
"Sir, yes sir," she replied, saluting as the commander's screen shut off.
"All combat personal report to hanger A4 for deployment against enemy forces this is not a drill, as of this moment Winter Contingency has been declared," announced the captain into the base wide intercom.
Nodding to her companion they ran down to the hanger as alarms began blaring louder, "Captain on deck!" shouted a soldier.
The assembled soldiers all snapped salutes, "at ease soldiers, as you know Winter Contingency has been declared. Therefore you are being deployed to our main facility in Vale, the enemy is the White Fang a group of Faunus terrorists," she explained.
"They aren't as well trained as you but they out number you and have access to aura, do not underestimate them. Remember you have 20 minutes, good luck," warned Leah.
Turning to the doctor she nodded and he and his team began typing into their computers as the portal began to hum before emitting a soft blue light. Seeing this the army loaded their weapons and charged through only to disappear in a flash of blue light. As the last of them disappeared into the portal the hum stopped and the light died down, the portal becoming nothing more than an odd statue.
"20 minutes isn't enough time for them to evacuate the whole facility," pointed out the doctor.
"I know but it's as much as we can spare," she replied, gripping the hand rails tightly.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, he's a good fighter and leader," he assured her.
"Yeah," she replied, her mind elsewhere.
"Captain we have something you might want to see," came a voice from down below.
Snapping out of her stupor they both turned to see three men dragging along a struggling Jaune, 'of all the moments to pick,' she thought sighing.
"Recording from science department evaluation number 117 dated 3.5 years ago," informed the computer.
All three watched as the screen flared to life revealing a man in a lab coat walking around a machine of some kind. Neither Yang nor Blake noticed a quite gasp of shock coming from their white haired teammate at the sight of him.
"I'd like to thank everyone for coming and allowing my research to continue," began the man.
"That remains to be seen Doctor. Now skip the pleasantries and show us the results of your research, the council and I will decide if it is worth the budget we devote to it," ordered a male voice from off screen.
"Yes Commander," replied the doctor before sitting down in front of the machine.
"Unfortunately we have yet to discover how our aura's precognitive ability works but we have discovered that it is a passive effect that is constantly active, often called the 'sixth sense,'" he began.
Yang and the others watched as the screen flashed to two people in a room, one holding a card and the other guessing the shape on it. Their eyes widen as the person got it right again and again, 'that's more than luck something's going on here,' realized Yang as the screen returned to the doctor.
"In this state it can only detect very general threats however if it is being used consciously the subjects can use it to predict and detect future outcomes of events and not just threats. The ability's strength depends on the person, some can only predict cards while others are able to predict minute details of events months in advance," he finished.
"Doctor we were hoping for something more tangible then this, what about the other abilities and the…side effects?" questioned the commander.
"Unlike the previous ability this is not a passive one and for good reason as I'm sure you all know. Through my research I have identified five different stages in the development of our aura in humans as well as the basics on how it affects the body," he continued.
Suddenly the screen was replaced by a picture of a human head, the team watched as it zoomed into the head until it reached a picture of a brain glowing with a soft blue light. No one said a word as they stared at the screen, waiting.
"This is the brain of an individual whose aura is dormant as you can see there are no irregularities," came the doctor's voice.
Once again the screen zoomed in and they saw blue networked structures with lights moving though all of them.
"What are those lights?" asked the commander.
"It's a person's life, experiences, memories, it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique and human," replied the doctor.
"Doctor we don't have time for you to beat around the bush," growled the other voice.
"Those are synapses, electrical impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death," he answered.
The team was silent was they absorbed this latest bit of information with wide eyes, it was clear that earth medical technology was years ahead of their own. 'Still they weren't able to use aura to heal themselves so it's only natural they'd have advanced medicine,' thought Yang frowning.
"The human brain is one of the most advanced supercomputers known to man but even it has its limits and like all computers it needs to prioritize functions. It's because of this that we are so susceptible to illusions and sleight of hand in things like magic shows," informed the doctor.
"When we use our aura it changes what our brain prioritize as the most important task which has a domino effect on the rest of the body. The brain has to place more emphases on sensory analysis due to our aura enhancing all our senses," he continued.
Team RWBY jumped and turned to each other in surprise as the building shook and explosions were heard. Weiss and Blake quickly checked the hallway and sighed in relief upon seeing the coast was clear before shutting and locking the door again. They all turned back to the screen watching as it changed to reveal another brain. This one was darker than the other with specific regions that were dimly lit or had no light at all.
"This however comes at a price, as the brain devotes more to your senses it begins to shut down the other non-essential parts of the brain. This includes the areas of the brain responsible for memories, reasoning…emotions. The higher the stage of development the more the brain has to shut down to survive," concluded the doctor sadly.
"With each stage there is a noted increase in aggression levels, nightmares, hallucinations, partial memory loss, paranoia and in the later stages even random bouts of insanity. Many of these victims have also reported seeing shadows and hearing 'whispers' so far the meaning of these are unknown," he listed.
Yang felt the blood drain from her face as she heard this, 'that's not going to happen I'm not losing Ruby again! There has to be a way to stop it.' Her two teammates gave the blonde a sympathetic look but Yang didn't notice, too caught up with her thoughts to see it.
"My research has shown that most of these side effects are likely due to chemical imbalances in the body. This imbalance is caused by the brain over or under producing hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline and testosterone," he reported.
"You mentioned stages Doctor, care to elaborate?" asked the commander, his voice clearly intrigued.
The brain disappeared as the screen flashed back to the doctor as he got up from the machine and nodded to the camera.
"There are five stages to aura development, these stages seem to be influenced by emotions, feelings of extreme anger, pain, fear and sorrow cause this process to accelerate while vis-versa feelings of joy, compassion and attachment slow or even stop the process entirely," he explained.
"At stage one animalistic traits can be seen on the hosts but there is no real damage to the brain. As the stages increase however these traits become more and more prominent and some odd behaviour can be observed in the subjects. At stage four most bodies are no longer to keep up with the demand, the adrenal glands haemorrhage and the brain goes into shut down followed by the major organs, then death," he continued, sombrely.
'No No! Please let this just be some kind of joke!' thought Yang as tears came to her eyes. Blake gave the sobbing blonde a hug and Weiss just looked at the ground unable or unwilling to break the silence.
"What about stage five Doctor?" replied the commander in a questioning tone.
Looking up they saw the doctor's expression grow even darker, "only one in ten victims are ever unlucky enough to reach stage five. At this stage all higher reasoning, memories, emotions, everything that makes you human are permanently lost. This leaves the victim little more than a violent animal whose sole purpose is to hunt, kill and survive. We have documented cases of them even trying to kill their own family members when given the chance. We have dubbed these subjects Ferals."
"Can they be cured?" asked the commander.
The doctor shook his head sadly as his image was replaced with the picture of a brain, only most of it was dark with the lights concentrated in one area.
"Tell me Commander what do you notice about this brain?" he asked.
"It's dark," replied the commander.
"Dark, lifeless, soulless. At this point the unused areas of the brain have become so damaged that even if the aura was shut off all you would get is a vegetable. The frontal lobes, the neocortex, the human part, that doesn't come back, the you part. They become a shell driven by mindless instinct, once they reach this stage there is only one thing we can do," said the doctor in a faraway voice.
The team watched as the image of a gun was pressed against the person's forehead before a bullet passed through its brain as the last of the lights went dark and the screen turned black. Yang walked up to the computer before turning to Weiss.
"Weiss can you copy this data onto our scrolls?" she asked the heiress.
Weiss snapped out of her shock and frowned, "maybe but it could be encrypted and it might take months to decrypt it from what we've seen of their computer systems."
The blonde just grinned before turning to the computer, "computer copy all data related to Earth auras to the scroll but skip the encryption process."
"This is against protocol, are you sure Captain?" replied the computer.
"Yes I am sure," she replied nodding to Weiss whom plugged in her scroll.
"Understood copying now," announced the computer.
"What do we do now?" asked Blake.
"We wait for the data then continue our search," replied the brawler.
Jaune slowly opened his eyes as his vision became came back into focus, revealing a large room with some sort of large structure sticking up from the ground. Giving it a closer look he frowned, unable to determine what it was. The structure looked like half a black and white banana sticking up from the ground but it seemed almost elegant in its design, the curves blending with the architecture instead of jutting out and some kind of crystals giving off a faint glow.
"Captain we have something you might want to see," announced one of his captors.
"What is it Sergeant we're very busy right now," came a familiar voice.
Looking up Jaune felt his jaw drop, "Yang! What are you doing here?" he asked in shock.
'Yang' just looked down at him equally confused before recognition flashed in her eyes. Frowning she walked down to him and nodded to his captors, whom released their grasp on his arms.
"Where's your friend?" she asked.
"Yang what are you talking about?" he asked in return.
Apparently that wasn't the answer she was looking for because 'Yang' then growled before punching him in the gut. Coughing and clenching his stomach Jaune fell to the floor, his aura spinning into overdrive as it began to heal his wounds.
"I don't have time nor am I in the mood for these kind of games, now tell me where she is," she ordered.
'She's not Yang, Yang wouldn't do this,' realized Jaune. Groaning he stood back up and turned to face her, examining her closely he began to see differences between them. They looked similar, close enough to pass as twins but it was clear this person was older than the blonde he knew. Her hair was shorter and her eyes lacked the carefree nature he often saw in Yang's.
"I don't know I came alone," he replied, truthfully.
The captain grabbed the collar of his shirt, "I don't believe you," she replied.
Jaune just gave her a weak smile as the captain readied another punch. However before her fist could connect Jaune was surrounded by a white light that blinded everyone present. The group heard the captain cry out in pain and as their eye sight returned they saw her clutching her fist, obviously hurt.
Growling she turned to look at his captors, "Sergeant take him to the interrogation chamber, I'll deal with him after this is over," she instructed.
As the man grabbed his arms they all heard a loud hum fill the room, the captain's eyes widened as they all turned to see the structure beginning to glow a bright blue light before a sphere of blue energy appeared between it and the ground.
"Doctor why is the portal activating it hasn't been 20 minutes yet!" she yelled.
"Someone's activating it from the other side," he called back, frantically.
"What no one should have that level of clearance, who authorized it!" she demanded.
There was a brief pause before the doctor answered in complete confusion, "you did."
She just blinked equally shocked, "well shut it down!" ordered the captain.
"I'm trying but the system needs your authorization, I'm locked out!" he cried.
Jaune watched in complete confusion as the captain cursed and made her way back before feeling the hands restraining him let go. Spinning around he saw the sergeant slam into a wall before collapsing to the ground, the other two following suite as a gush of wind rushed pass Jaune.
Seeing a figure appear before him he smiled, "you're late."
Ruby just chuckled as the captain spun around to face them, "you know you really should do something about the security here, it's god damn awful," she informed her, picking up a discarded knife.
Team RWBY looked up in alarm as the building shock more violently than ever before, the sounds of battle now much closer and louder.
"What was that?" asked Weiss.
"As per your orders Captain, Winter Contingency is in effect," replied the computer.
"Refresh my memory, what is the Winter Contingency?" asked Yang.
"In the event of a possible hostile takeover of the facility squads from the HQ are deployed to help defend the facility. If this is impossible they are to assist in evacuating the base personnel before the 20 minute mark," it informed them.
"What happens after 20 minutes?" questioned the blonde.
"The portal is activated for a five minute window to allow transportation to Earth before activating the self-destruct function. The resulting E.M.P from the explosion destroys any electronic equipment in the facility ensuring all data remains safe from enemy hands," explained the machine.
"E.M.P?" said Weiss in confusion.
"Electro-magnetic pulse," it replied.
"Oh you mean emp," she said in understanding.
Yang growled, five minutes was not enough time to find Ruby and get back to Vale. "Can you stop it?" she asked, hopefully.
"Negative once the self-destruct timer has been activated it cannot be stopped," said the computer.
"But you could activate the portal earlier and extend the time window? For example keep it open from now to when it self-destructs?" asked Blake.
"Under the Captain's orders, yes," it announced.
"Do it," ordered Yang with a grin.
"System link established, authorization confirmed, locking out other users. Activating Portal now."
Grabbing her scroll Weiss brought up the picture of the map from before, leading them through a maze of doors and corridors. Finally they made it to an enlarged metal door about the size of a Nevermore, nodding to each other Yang placed her hand on the aura scanner as the door unlocked. As the door rose from the ground they had to dive into cover as bullets sprayed into the doorway.
"Looks like they don't want us going back there," commented Blake over the gunfire.
"We don't have time for this," growled Yang.
Looking around Weiss smiled, "Hey Yang how thick do you think these walls are?"
Eyes widen the brawler returned the smile, "not thick enough."
Grinning ear to ear Yang forced as much aura as she could manage into her arms before throwing a punch into the wall. It is a little known fact that engineers build doors far sturdier then they do walls, after all who in their right mind would use a wall instead of a door. This fact was proven as the wall caved in, revealing a squad of soldiers taking cover behind a box of creates. Shocked at the blonde's sudden entrance they didn't notice Weiss and Blake sneak into the room from the open doorway.
"Captain?" said one of them in shock.
Yang just winked at the soldiers as Weiss threw a stasis glyph around them and Blake began to systematically knock out their immobilized foes one by one.
"Well that went better than expected," announced Yang with a grin.
They all turned around as a loud snap was heard followed by a flash of blue light, reading their weapons they prepared to face whatever was about to come through.
Leah frowned as she watched the escapee grabbed a knife from one of the downed soldiers, this could not have happened at a worse time. With most of the security force trying to hold off the White Fang on the other side the captain would have to deal with this threat herself. 'She obviously doesn't have proper hand to hand training and has to use her aura and speed to make up for it,' she observed.
"Captain be careful we still don't know the extent of her abilities," warned the doctor.
"I know you just get to work shutting down that damn portal," she replied.
Nodding she drew her shotguns from their back holsters and flicked the safeties off. Red just watched her unimpressed and to both Leah's and the doctor's surprise began to glow a blood red colour as her Earth aura traits became visible. 'Is that her earth aura? Why is it not black?' she thought, confused. Meanwhile the doctor began recording everything on the security cameras, silently lamenting the lack of proper equipment.
"You have no idea what kind of powers you are toying with," she growled at Red.
The reaper just gave her a confused look before disappearing from sight. Spinning around in search of her opponent Leah cried out as a sharp pain came alive in her arm. Looking down she saw a large gash across her right arm, hearing something to her left she fired her weapons. However Red again disappeared into rose petals as the explosive shotgun shells tore through the wall, snapping the wires stabilizing a nearby pile of creates.
"Not bad what do you load that stuff with?" whistled Red in admiration.
The blonde just growled and charged her, catching Red by surprise. Switching her grips on the weapons into the basic tonfa stance Leah blocked the incoming knife with her injured side before thrusting the other into her opponent's stomach. Coughing Red quickly darted to the side with her knife aimed at Leah's injured side again, only to meet the business end of the gun as it swiveled to face her.
Leah smiled as she watched Red go flying, "the kid might be an insubordinate prick but he does good work," she mused as the weapons rotated back into place.
Frowning Red dropped her knife exchanging it for a long metal pipe knocked over in the fighting. Twirling it around her Red nodded, apparently satisfied with it and gave Leah a toothy grin. The captain frowned as she got back into her combat stance, instantly re-evaluating her opponent. Bringing her weapons up in an X formation she blocked the impromptu staff with a grunt, her injured arm now beginning to hamper her progress. Still despite this it soon became clear that neither side was going to break through the other's defenses as the sound of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the hanger. At least until Red decided to start using her semblance and Leah quickly found herself sporting bruises and cracked bones as she was unable to keep up with the speed of the escapee's assault. With an aura infused kick to the gut Leah fell to the floor, feeling her ribs crack.
"You said I don't know what kind of powers I'm using, but I know full well. Aura is a tool, it is there to help us, to protect us. What's there to understand?" commented Red as she and Jaune walked over to the semi-conscious Leah.
"Sis what are you doing!" she screamed.
The thing that had once been her sister just growled at her as it stood over its fresh kill, eyeing the blonde with soulless red glowing eyes. Leah looked down at the corpse and felt tears come to her eyes as she recognized her.
"I'm so sorry Sis, Mom," she said, leveling her shotgun at its head.
Groaning she shook the memory from her head and anger began to fill her mind, "you think aura is there to protect us? You stupid naïve little girl!" she spat.
Leah frowned as she struggled to get up, 'I underestimated her, she might not be good at knife fights but her skill with a staff isn't to be scoffed at even without her semblance. At this rate I'm going to lose,' she realized. Leah looked up at her opponents with a snarl on her face, there was only one choice left she just hoped command wouldn't have her head for this.
"I swore never to use this again after last time but it looks like I have no choice," growled Leah, standing up.
"Captain that goes against every protocol in the book, are you sure about this?" asked the doctor, worriedly.
"We can't let her escape again," replied Leah.
Red frowned as she pushed Jaune behind cover keeping one hand on her makeshift staff, 'this lump of metal isn't nearly as good as Crescent Rose,' she thought, longingly. She watched cautiously as the captain closed her eyes and gasped as she saw Leah briefly surrounded by a black outline. The blonde grinned as she gripped her shotguns tightly, her eyes opening to reveal the same cat-like pupils as Red's.
"You didn't think you were the only one with an Earth aura did you?" she stated, revealing her sharp canines.
Red glared at the blonde and released her own animalistic growl at her opponent. She would show this weakling who was stronger, who was the alpha. She would dominate her, make this whelp acknowledge her as the leader of the hunt. Blinking briefly Red shook the thoughts from her head before disappearing into rose petals, only to get two shotgun rounds in her face. Momentarily stunned she only just managed to dodge the second volley thanks to her semblance. Taking cover behind a wall she tried to regain her breath, 'how did she do that? There's no way she could have followed my movements and reacted in time like that.'
"How much aura do you have left hmm? The good thing about using armour instead of aura is that you never run out," commented the doctor from above.
Using her aura enhanced senses Red heard the captain approaching her from the left, not letting her take the intuitive the reaper used her semblance to charge Leah. Unfortunately the minute she got close Red felt a hand grab her arm before twisting it. Crying out in pain she dropped the staff and watched as Leah gave a wild grin before slamming her black coated fist into her face. Red was barely able to keep herself conscious as she was sent flying into the metal wall, denting it slightly. Red coughed up blood as she staggered to her feet, noting the decrease in speed of her aura's healing ability. 'That packed more force than even Yang's punches,' she thought, groggily.
"Earth aura might not be as diverse as Remnant but you can't deny its effectiveness. Just do us all a favour and surrender," ordered Leah.
"So we can be cut up as science experiments? Sorry but we're going to have to pass on that," she informed them.
Inside Red's head her mind was racing, 'every time I try to attack her she counters it perfectly. Damn it no one can be that skilled…it's almost as if she knew what I was going to do before I did it.' Eyes widening Red dived behind cover next to Jaune, 'that's it! But how do you beat someone who can predict your every move?'
No ability is infallible Miss Rose, you would do well to remember that.
"Ruby what happened to your eyes?" asked Jaune concerned, snapping Red from her thoughts.
Blinking she turned to face her friend, "I'll explain later, listen I'll keep these two distracted meanwhile you make a break for the portal."
"But what about you?" he asked, worried.
"Don't worry about me once you're through I'll follow you in, got it?" she replied.
Jaune nodded and Red held up three fingers, silently counting down. Once she reached zero Red jumped from cover before activating her semblance. The captain spun around, her aura indicating where Red would appear next, only to find herself facing empty air. A confused expression crossed her face before being replaced by pain as Red threw an aura infused punch into the captain's gut. Seeing Leah take a hit the doctor's jaw dropped in a comedic expression of shock, which Jaune took as his queue and bolted to the portal.
"Damn it! Doctor shut it down!" called Leah, attempting to stop the blonde boy.
However before she could even touch him Red kicked her in the back of the knees and biting her on the shoulder, causing the blonde to winch and stumble, cursing as she watched Jaune disappear with a flash of blue light. Glaring at Red the blonde stood up, her face twisted into a beastly snarl. Red just smiled as she leaned against a nearby pile of creates before giving them a push. Leah watched helplessly as the pile came crashing down, trapping her underneath them.
"You know the thing about Earth aura is that predicting other's moves makes you yourself predictable Captain, I learnt that the hard way," informed Red with a smirk.
Unfortunately her smirk dropped as the sound of a gun cocking came from behind her. Slowly turning showed the doctor had one of Leah's shotguns pointed at her, near point blank range. Red felt sweat run down her back, most of her aura had been depleted by her fight with the captain and at this range she wasn't sure it was strong enough to protect her.
"Another thing about Earth aura is that if you focus too much on a single opponent it blinds you to others. Now deactivate your aura and slowly place your hands on your head," he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"You won't kill me, you need me alive," she retorted.
"We don't need you alive it is just more preferable, a corpse can give us lots of information by itself. Now I won't ask again," he replied.
Sighing Red did as he said, feeling her senses once again grow dull as she shut off the aura flow. The doctor nodded before gesturing for her to move to the side.
As she stepped to the side the doctor walked between her and the trapped blonde, "Captain are you injured?" he asked, keeping his eyes and gun pointed at Red.
"A few cracked ribs, some cuts and bruises and a broken leg, nothing major although I am stuck under a pile of creates," she replied.
The doctor nodded before giving Red a calculating look, "who are you?" he interrogated.
She just frowned, "what do you mean? You all know who I am."
He shook his head, "Ruby Rose sister of Yang Xiao Long and huntress in training at Beacon academy or Laura Doe an only child and until recently an average student from a certain high school. So who are you?" he repeated.
Red blinked, caught completely off guard by this question. She had many memories of her time on Earth sure but even Red could tell they were fragmented, she hadn't even been able to remember her own name. In contrast she didn't have many memories from Remnant but the one's she did have were in perfect detail. In truth she hadn't ever thought about it but he was right, who was she? Ruby or Laura?
The doctor noticed her inner turmoil and his expression softened into a pitying look, "did you not find it strange that you could use Remnant aura as if it was second nature but it has taken you this long to fully awaken your own Earth one?"
Red felt her shoulders slump as the weight of that argument hit home, causing her legs to buckle beneath her.
Sighing he gestured for her to get up, "come with me, you're being detained for trespassing on government property, aiding in the escape of an enemy to the state, assaulting our officers an-"
CLANG!
"Doc you okay? Doc!" called Leah.
Hearing the captain's frantic cries she looked up and saw the doctor's eyes roll into the back of his head before collapsing to the floor. Red blinked unable to believe her eyes, there standing over his unconscious opponent was Jaune.
"I thought I told you not to come back," she sighed, exasperated.
"Technically you just said to go through it, you never said anything about not going through again. Besides you're my friend did you really think I'm just going to leave you here?" he replied with a sheepish grin.
"Jaune you're an insane, suicidal, idiot and I wouldn't have you any other way. Now can you give me a hand up I'm exhausted," she grinned as he hoisted her up.
"Well we'll be seeing you around Captain Leah," she teased, turning to the trapped captain.
"Damn you," came the response.
"Let's go everyone's waiting for you on the other side," said Jaune, grabbing her hand.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.
"You'll see," he smiled as they were both engulfed in a blue light.
"Jaune I take back what I said earlier you're all insane!" cried Ruby as they all ran down hallways, dodging fire from both factions as they tried to escape.
"Says the one who bluffed her way through a Schnee outpost," shot back Weiss.
"Sanity is for the weak," laughed Yang.
"At least it would never get boring," agreed Jaune.
"Blake help me out here," cried Ruby.
The Faunus just shook her head and smiled at the joking atmosphere they were sharing. After Jaune came through they were given a backlashed of information such as Ruby fighting 'Yang's evil twin.' Not long after though they were attacked by a group of soldiers while Jaune went back to help Ruby, leaving the trio to hold them off until they returned. The end result, all of them were now running for their lives as the countdown slowly continued.
"So what's the escape plan guys?" asked Ruby, confused.
Ducking as a round passed over their heads Blake glanced at her, "there's a back door we used to sneak in if we can get there we'll be home free."
"So basically keep running," summarized the reaper.
"Basically," replied the Faunus.
"There it is!" exclaimed Yang, happily.
Sure enough there was the exit, the door still open from when they used it last. Cheering at the familiar sight of a shattered moon over their heads they continued running until they'd left the building far behind. Collapsing on the street all of them took a well-earned breather as they saw police lights beginning to approach.
Sighing Yang got off the ground and gave Ruby a hug, bursting into tears, "I thought I'd lost you again," she sobbed.
"You're not getting rid of me that easily sis," replied Ruby, returning the hug.
"Umm guys not to ruin the moment or anything but how are we going to explain this to the Headmaster?" asked Jaune.
Everyone froze a single thought running through their heads, 'crap.'
"So she escaped," said the doctor.
The captain nodded, "what's the final head count?"
He looked down at his tablet, "16 confirmed KIA and another 20 MIA by the time the portal closed," he reported.
Leah sighed tiredly, "what about our smaller outposts scattered around Vytal?"
The doctor shook his head, "unknown we've lost all contact with them, last report seems to indicate they're safe at least for the moment."
"Could we use our facilities in the other kingdoms to contact them?" she asked.
He frowned, "it would take a couple of months to install the long range communication and with the amount of travel between the kingdoms being limited by Grimm delivering messages by hand is not feasible."
"I think we need to accept that Vytal is out of our influence for now," he concluded.
Leah nodded, "double the number of security we have stationed at the portal sites in the other kingdoms. Until we know how the White Fang found us they are to be on high alert, we have no idea if their locations have been compromised."
The doctor nodded as Leah walked off, "I'm going to go report this to Command," she informed him.
"If you need me I'll be down in the labs," he replied.
Heading down to his work station he switched on the machine, sighing as the usual welcome message popped up. Flicking through his recent data on the VIP he frowned, no matter what he just couldn't seem to focus on the task. Sighing he opened up Skype before being greeted with the face of an albino girl he'd seen many times before.
"Dad are you alright? You look dead tired, they're not working you too hard are they?" she asked, concerned.
"Don't worry about me, how are things with you?" he said, dodging the question.
The girl's eyes narrowed but she didn't push any further, "I've been feeling better, the nurse said I'm scheduled for another chemotherapy session in a couple of days."
He nodded, "I will cure you, I swear it," he promised.
"Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it," she replied with a sad smile.
He glanced at the data on the other screen, "I'm making progress for the first time I have some solid data to analyze," he said.
She gave him a concerned look, "just don't work yourself too hard, you need sleep just as much as I."
He smiled, "don't worry Snow Angel I'll be fine."
Okay guys so how'd you like that? Anyway red glowing eyes, mindless instincts to hunt and kill, is it just me or do Ferals sound very familiar for some reason. Also with the portal picture an Eldar Webway gate from DoW II, I tried to describe it as best as I could but it is really hard to describe them to people who aren't 40K fans.
P.S. I was thinking of doing a Civilisation Beyond Earth and Mass Effect crossover, let me know what you guys think.