"Ladies and gentlemen, it has always been ours to protect and serve…"
Weiss stared at the floor of the Atlesian armored personnel carrier as it sped down the formerly sealed subway tunnel. She was ready, but would she be in time? And would this be enough? Their force consisted of a paladin, two APCs full of Atlas troops, her, and Yang, and they were almost an hour behind Blake and Ruby…
As it was, at least they'd gotten underway sooner than expected – if only because news of Yang's capture had gotten back to the Atlesian command fast, resulting in the clock getting pushed forward on Ironwood's operational timetable, but that also meant that things couldn't be as carefully planned. In any event, Weiss's prayers had been answered by Irena Stahlkreuz and twenty-four of her best men, though there was precious little time to act…
"And each one among you, for the length of his or her service, has done so with distinction…"
As the Colonel continued to address her men though, all Weiss could think about were their names: Ruby, Blake… Mina…She was wracked with guilt; she wished that she could have been there sooner, but the nagging rationality in the back of her mind forced her to continually shake her head, whispering in the back of her mind: You did the right thing… even all four of us wouldn't have stood a chance… You just have to… to hope that you're in time… This will not be like it was with Nadia…
"However…" Weiss's hands tightened around Myrtenaster's hilt as Stahlkreuz's voice steeled, and she could see Yang's fists clench out of the corner of her eye – clearly patience was a virtue that the both of them were understandably lacking, but the Colonel had a way of bringing their worried thoughts into a sharp focus, "We have now witnessed the barbarism of those who would sacrifice the innocent and defenseless to their own revenge, and so today, in the name of our sister kingdom of Vale, we come to punish…"
Right… Weiss thought, silently taking stock of the extra dust that she'd brought, let Colonel Stahlkreuz worry about justice… Your mission is to rescue Blake, Mina, and Ruby…
"Retribution is to be swift and decisive; disarm and subdue any insurgents who surrender. As for the rest… It is fitting that they should have chosen to cower in the world's largest tomb. I can think of no better place to put them down like the beasts that they have chosen to emulate..."
Weiss imagined Blake bristling at that last remark, but it was true enough, what with the Grimm masks. It was a functional address to an assembly of fighting men, and not inaccurate – even bereft of any mention of Faunus at all – and Weiss couldn't disagree with a word of it. It's her job, let her do it. Focus on yours…
"This is justice, ladies and gentlemen, not vengeance. Finish them, and finish them quickly," Stahlkreuz concluded, "ETA: Five minutes. Weapons free on arrival."
The next few minutes passed in stark silence but for the grinding treads of the armored personnel carrier and the faint treading of the Paladin, barely audible through the troop transport's armor. In all practicality though, Weiss was once more alone with her thoughts, though under the circumstances she'd rather not be. They'll be okay… You'll get there in time… They can handle themselves until you arrive… Please…Even Yang was without words – no puns, no encouraging words, no boasting. Nothing but solemn quiet until they reached the end of the road, and then everything erupted in fire and noise.
The first thing to shatter the sound of the vehicle's treads was the 108th's Paladin firing off a salvo from its missile rack and a series of discharges from its arm cannons. Next Weiss knew, the APC's own mounted guns were roaring to life, and the carriers ground to a halt. Then the armored doors flew open.
"All units! Commence attack!"
Several disciplined volleys of Atlesian rifle fire erupted in quick succession as the soldiers deployed from their transports, staggering the frantic White Fang defenders on the makeshift walls of their compound. Irena Stahlkreuz never minced words; they had come to demolish an insurgency. No time was wasted on pleasantries. Within moments the 108th's paladin had blasted the ramshackle gates asunder, obligingly inviting the outer, least fortunate defender who were still on their feet to retreat. Stahlkreuz's men moved in ones and twos from cover to cover as they advanced on the encampment, nerves unfaltering despite assaulting superior numbers in an entrenched position. In a detached sense, it gave Weiss hope that even this comparatively paltry force that represented all that Ironwood could spare might just be enough to root out this White Fang Enclave. But could they do it fast enough…? Weiss counted all of her extra Dust vials again. And will I be strong enough…?
""Look alive Schnee!" Stahlkreuz ordered, shouldering her rifle to shoot a sniper out of a window as he was taking aim in their direction. "No sloppy mistakes."
"Right! Yes Ma'am!" Weiss nodded, adopting a ready stance as Yang came up beside her, Ember Celica deployed.
"Damn. You realize we're about to charge into an actual, legit battle, right?" the Brawler asked, more in disbelief than apprehension, "so what's the plan? We helping out the White Coats here or-?"
As Yang was mid-sentence in her question, a dozen White Fang fighters in slightly different attire charged out of the ruined gate, better armed and more fanatical than the others if their more intricate Grimm masks were anything to go by. They were led by the same chainsaw wielding giant that had been in the arena before everything had gone to hell. Yang moved to intercept the leading brute as if by instinct, only to have Stahlkreuz to hold up a hand to halt her. "Don't waste your time…"
"But-!"
Yang's objection was cut off as the chainsaw-wielding goliath, perhaps seeing Weiss, barreled their way. Stahlkreuz positioned herself squarely in the way. She moved to take a shot, but the charging White Fang Lieutenant closed the distance too fast, so she thought better of it, instead using the barrel her rile to parry the Faunus's opening blow, catching the roaring weapon at the hilt with her bayonet. The two young huntresses in training saw a distortion in the air around the Colonel's other fist as she used her free hand to riposte the larger brute's swing with a punch directly to his Grimm mask, shattering it and staggering its wearer. Before he recovered, the Colonel slammed her boot into her foe's solar-plexus, before following up by raising her rifle once more, taking a deep breath, and firing. Even Yang cringed at the sight as rippling distortions emanated from the barrel of the weapon, clear evidence of heavy Aura concentration, and the wreckage the shot left in its wake. Weiss wasn't sure if she actually heard the brute's ribs cracking as he crumpled to the ground, or imagined it, but the results were telling enough: he wasn't getting back up.
"Holy shit-"
"I'll not risk my men rushing in without a plan. My soldiers and I will expunge these insurgents carefully and methodically," Stahlkreuz addressed both disbelieving huntresses over her shoulder before shooting another incoming fighter down, "But I understand that you two have better things to do…"
"Well you uh…" Yang inched away from the felled White Fang Lieutenant, trying not to imagine what the man's insides looked like after taking Stahlkreuz's shot, "You do seem to have it handled out here…" She turned to Weiss. "So what's the plan, Princess…?"
Weiss cocked Myrtenaster's Dust chamber. "I don't have one…"
Blake staggered, and would have suffered a flurry of blows had Mina not been there to step in to catch Adam's blade with her wire. This was not good. She was making too many mistakes and slip-ups. Adam had knocked her off-balance from the opening blow, and he'd never given her the chance to reclaim it. What was worse, Mina's having to intervene to save her like this left Ruby alone against Mercury, Emerald, and any ambitious White Fang recruit who cared to attack. They were losing, badly, and, as Mina staggered, her Aura absorbing a walloping discharge from Adam's shotgun-sheath, Blake began to feel panic. No… No! We have to get out of here! I promised…Blake's thoughts ground to a halt… I promised myself…Her heart froze, splintered echoes of her last argument with Weiss shattering all other thoughts. A promise you can't keep…
Mina swept her stakes at the ends of short stretches of wire to cut Adam's footing from under him, only to have to bend backward to dodge a slash, but all Blake saw were the sparse millimeters between Mina's smooth cheek and glistening steel. Ruby spun in a whirlwind of rose-colored steel and petals, but her speed and innocent ferocity couldn't disguise the fact that the prodigy's moves were getting sloppier moment by moment, even slowing down as Adam's minions continually descended upon her and Sustrai and Black more effectively whittled her down. She had to do something, had to get them out. Without stopping to think, she launched into a flurry or strikes against Adam, only to be parried away and fired upon herself. Reacting on instinct, Blake left an after-image to take the blow as she rolled behind him before attempting an overhead slash as she got back onto her feet. Adam dodged with a pivoting motion, though, blasting Blake square in the chest.
Mina shouted incoherently in desperate rage as Blake staggered and fell, struck senseless by the point-blank shotgun blast. Adam was unsentimental as he'd ever been though, and had whirled to face Mina one-on-one before Blake had even hit the ground, and caught Mina's first stake on Wilt's blade.
"You know, I meant to have her watch you die first, but I guess this works just as well…" He sneered past his blade.
"She is not dead yet!" Mina screamed, using her free hand to pitch two stakes into the ground at her foe's feet and detonate the Dust charges. The resulting explosion screamed in Mina's ears as both she and Adam staggered, but she didn't care. She had to defeat him, no matter what. Or he'll kill Blake… "NO!" The single word of defiance echoed faintly over her splitting migraine and the ringing in her ears and without a heartbeat's hesitation or thought for the consequences, Mina slung one, two, three of her stakes out on her wires to wrap her foe, catching him on his off-hand and winding around his arm before she heaved him forward with all her strength. The sleeve of his jacket was shredded almost at once, but his arm didn't give; he concentrated his aura and staved off the cutting wires.
"Ah… is the Bloodsucking Whore angry?" he mocked. "Sorry to disappoint, but it'll take more than this if-"
"Do not flatter yourself," Mina snarled, interrupting him as she sent a pulse of her Aura down the deadly tether, "may your blood stain the worthless ground you tread, but never my lips!"
But Adam did not stand and take his fate. He lunged forward, closing the gap between himself and Mina, slackening the tension on the wires binding his arm and allowing him to slip free and step back again. Mina had only a split second to realize what was happening before her stakes detonated, two of them firing off in random directions, pulling her off balance and breaking her concentration, while the third struck her thigh like a hammer, knocking he knees from under her.
"Such a waste," Adam muttered.
"MINA!" She dimly heard Miss Rose scream over the ringing and the gunfire and the noise as a searing pain lanced through her torso.
"MINA! NO!" Blake this time… That was good… At least her Dearest wasn't dead… Adam knew nothing… She could hold Blake when this was all over after all… She just… needed to rest for a while…
Not again! No! No! Mina NO! Please…
Blake reached weakly out for Mina as she fell limp to the cold ground, Adam's blade sliding smoothly out of her chest. Mina was bleeding… So much… So out of reach… And then a shadow moved between her and Min, and Adam Taurus flicked the blood from his weapon, spattering Blake's cheek with droplets of Mina's blood.
"You two…" He said growled after a pause for breath, "Have been far more trouble than you're worth-"
A gate to the compound's inner courtyard exploded, flying off its hinges. "Ruby!"
Blake's heart skipped a beat as a streak of golden yellow barreled into the area, charging to Ruby's aid and evening their leader's chances, but then her eyes fell upon a second rescuer. Weiss walked through the breech at a deliberate pace, Myrtenaster's still slung at her hip, and the fury etched on her icy features told Blake that she had seen Mina… Adam turned to face her, but he didn't have a snide remark at the ready. She was fresh for the fight, he wasn't, and by the sounds of it, things outside weren't going his way either. Even bleary eyed as she was, Blake could see her former leader's heavy breathing. By comparison, Weiss Schnee was an unshakable in her resolve.
"Generally I like to keep things businesslike. You're not fond of my family? Fine, I'm not either. That wouldn't matter if this was strictly business, but this…" Weiss drew four vials of Dust from her pouch in each hand, and with a flick of her wrists, all the vials shattered. "You've made this personal!"
In the next moment, Weiss disappeared in a raging torrent with the vibrancy of a rainbow. Spiraling eddies of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple surrounded her as a churning sea of fire, lightning, and shredding hail. It swirled around Weiss Schnee like an outward projection of all her anger and regret. Air and ground alike seemed to tremble as Weiss took a step forward, more power than she would ever have exerted all at once let loose by her anger. She wasn't pacing herself as she harnessed all of that power. Adam could brace himself all he wanted for what little it would matter.
Weiss tore across the space between them in a single dash, trailing Dust behind her like a comet. The Bull Faunus attempted to guard, but Weiss collided with him with the impact of a meteor, knocking her foe from his feet as her blade hammered against his with explosive force. By the time Adam had skidded to a stop on one knee though, Weiss was on him again, slamming a blow directly into his unguarded chest this time and sending him crashing into a slab of hard stone conjured up by her Dust. An unsteady Adam Taurus attempted to raise his shotgun-sheath to slow the Schnee heiress down as she walked with a menacingly measured pace to strike at him again, but each shot was either halted as the frost Dust in the glimmering hurricane crystallized into slabs or thrown off target by the confined gale-forces of the colorless wind Dust that Weiss had loosed. As she drew close, the White Fang ringleader staggered back to his feet in time to attempt another attack, but his weapon met with an explosion of blue sparks, electrifying Wilt's blade and forcing him to drop the weapon. In the next instant, Adam was launched skyward by one of Weiss's glyphs and smote by a spider's web of blue-white lightning bolts as he began falling back to terra-firma. As he struck the cold ground again, Weiss's amassed frost Dust all condensed into a dozen frozen lances to spear into the ground all around Taurus, restraining his limbs and rendering the incapacitated bull-Faunus a prisoner.
Blake's vision began losing focus as the tumultuous aura of Dust raging about the Schnee heiress dissipated, but she could have sworn she saw her own tears mirrored on Weiss's face. She'd come for them but… As Blake's dimming vision slid back to Mina's body on the ground, she realized that Weiss had been right…
"Blake! Mina!" It was Weiss's voice now; Blake couldn't hold her eyes open anymore. "Hang in there! Just hang on a little-!"
Author's Note: Hello all, second to last chapter (as far as I know right now) and I do like feedback, so if you could go ahead and let me know what you think, I'd be appreciative. That said, I do realize that I kinda had Stahlkreuz demolish the lieutenant, but I had two reasons for that. Firstly, I needed him out of the way for the last scene, and secondly, the way I figure it, if Weiss in cannon almost had him, a veteran huntress should be able to deal with him soundly enough. That said, this was the 'real' climax, so I hope that you enjoyed it, and as always, a big thank-you to KillamriX88 for running edits!